Rock, Paper, Shotgun's Reviews
A beautifully written tale about loss, friendship and the ties that bind us together, set in a sumptuous oceanic post-apocalypse. It might not quite stick the ending, but it's the many journeys you'll take getting there, not the final destination, that really make Saltsea Chronicles sing.
Every single change Pharaoh makes to Troy is for the better, and some changes are so good that it's going to be difficult to play any Total War without them going forward. But the fundamental issues of Total War - mainly enemy battle AI - are far too entrenched to fix in a few years, and the bronze age setting doesn't allow for enough unit variation to make up for them.
A strong turn-based foundation and colourful setting held back by grind, blind chance, and a need for efficiency over tactical variety.
Assassin's Creed Mirage takes some of the best bits from the whole series and puts them together in a smaller, more focused, stealthier package. This is how big companies can make better games.
Big patch energy and some glaring omissions aside, it's still an FPS that generates thrilling moments and has the framework in place to supersede its predecessor. Just give it time.
Station To Station is a short but lovely train-themed puzzle game, perfectly balanced, and you'll play it in pursuit of a more beautiful engine.
Masterful geography makes this world-hopping puzzler not only a series of clever problems, but a grand exploration of a wonderfully realised cosmic universe.
Its pop culture noir stylings might not be for everyone, but for others El Paso, Elswhere is a cosmic third-person shooter from a forgotten age that will make you dwell on your worst break-up while you shoot werewolves.
Tedious crafting, soulless resource gathering and one long spiderweb of dull, interlocking fetch quests make Mineko's Night Market even less fun than paying off your Tom Nook mortgage loan.
Payday 3 has some good, complex levels to do your co-op heisting, but the matchmaking and levelling systems make it harder to have fun with other players.
A brilliantly written and performed spy-thriller set in the middle of Night City and of Cyberpunk 2077's overarching story.
An instant must-play for Soulslikers, with fantastic flexibility in its combat and old fashioned rigidity in its challenges.
The dependably bloody fighter franchise mixes things up for Mortal Kombat 1, but don't call it a reboot.
Complete with Sega-blue skies, a funk-filled soundtrack and visually distinct crews, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is the Jet Set Radio sequel you've been waiting for.
A steampunk-themed side-scrolling shooter with a shotgun that's also an umbrella, Gunbrella crams plenty of frenetic, brolly-based combat into its brief playtime
This realtime 4X makes great use of Dune's furniture in crafting a compulsive, busy, and well-made strategy game, and its new campaign is a great addition. But the soul of Dune remains elusive, leaving its desert planet feeling barren in the wrong ways.
An Indiana Jones-ish mystery, Hauma's comic book style leaves an impression, while the plot is playing with a deck entirely of wild cards.
A zero-pressure dungeon roguelike that offers some familiar comfort even if it doesn't take full advantage of its Saturday morning cartoon schtick.
An intriguing blend of Persona, coffee brewing and reverse tower defence dungeons that doesn't quite cohere into a tasty whole.
A genuinely impressive space RPG that ultimately loses some of its Bethesda charm in the vast reaches of its galaxy. It's so big, it feels small, cold and unlived in.