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Two Point Museum inhabits the same space as the other entries in the series, confidently maintaining approachable levels of depth. Although its campaign comprises fewer stages, they're more involved. Managing staff, finances, and exhibits comes with a good amount of familiarity. Still, I always looked forward to creating the next cultural hellscape that only vaguely resembled an actual museum and still functioned. While expeditions get old much too soon, the six exhibit themes on show alongside the oddball humor of item descriptions, and radio shows do the heavy lifting, succeeding to offer enough reasons to see the campaign through and dabble in the sandbox mode. Two Point Museum continues to capture that olden Bullfrog charm expertly, but the series is starting to feel like it's not far away from belonging in a museum.
There's a great 'town defense' RTS at the center of Age of Darkness, but the lack of polish even after its 1.0 launch is disappointing and the campaign lacks punch.
Civilization 7 is a focused and compelling refresh of the decades-old formula that will keep most players coming back for more, yet parts of its condensation don't work as well as the whole.
Avowed nails its priorities and delivers a fun adventure full of charm, intrigue, and weighty decisions, but its RPG muscles could've used more work.
Idun's gameplay loop, progression systems, and moment-to-moment thrills mostly compensate for its padded main quest, rough edges, and disappointing AI-generated voice acting.
Sniper Elite: Resistance delivers the expected stealth-action combo the series is known for, wrapping it in a forgettable narrative about stopping the Nazi war machine from totally winning the war yet again. But even as it's a functional title, with levels that offer a decent amount of freedom and X-Ray kills that remain satisfying to watch, this follow-up ends up feeling like a tired, unnecessary rehash of its predecessor.
Warcraft 1 & 2 remain RTS classics that any fan of the genre should try at least once, but Blizzard's remastering efforts feel as barebones and often ill-advised as Warcraft 3: Reforged's 2020 launch.
Warcraft 1 & 2 remain RTS classics that any fan of the genre should try at least once, but Blizzard's remastering efforts feel as barebones and often ill-advised as Warcraft 3: Reforged's 2020 launch.
Indiana Jones' triumphant return to video games is a memorable adventure that gives fans everything they wanted while concocting a delightful mix of systems and design philosophies that no one had anticipated.
Stalker 2 is unlike anything else in the FPS market right now, but design flaws that only become more baffling the more you play and an embarrassingly long list of minor bugs, performance hiccups, and game-breaking issues undo nearly all the good done in other areas of the game. An engrossing experience lies beneath all the clutter, but it will take time to unearth it.
Planet Coaster 2 offers a genre-best box of creative tools and community-driven features and expands on its predecessor on almost every level, but chances are you won't be as enchanted by its management systems, which continue to be a thorn in Frontier's side.
A largely straightforward motorsport management game with a distinct visual style, Golden Lap manages to offer tactical race simulation with off-the-track drama in a minimalist package. It may not satisfy hardcore petrolheads, but for slightly more relaxed race enjoyers, it's a fine sim experience.
As was the case with its predecessor, Frostpunk 2's city building and society management layers aren't particularly deep on their own but fuse into a cohesive whole that grips you soon after you arrive in its frozen wasteland.
Space Marine 2 is an old-fashioned triumph that eschews modern trends and vapid bloat in exchange for relentless, gory action and a fully-featured Warhammer 40K package that's presented in gorgeous fashion.
Star Wars Outlaws fully commits to realizing the open-world scoundrel experience many fans had been dreaming of and walks away unscathed, which is no small feat and reinforces the idea that Massive Entertainment is one of Ubisoft's best studios at the moment. However, it needed an extra push and bolder swings to leave a big mark on the genre.
Wrestling with Conscript's controls is, without a doubt, its main source of dread and horror, which is likely not what it was going for in the first place. When its combat mechanics don't get in the way, the sound design helps instill a sense of unease, but fear is thoroughly absent beyond a few choice first encounters.
Although flawed, Thrones of Decay is a desperately needed step in the right direction for Total War: Warhammer 3. The strong roster of Legendary Lords alongside new units that add flavor and fill gaps in their factions' rosters do the heavy lifting. They offer compelling reasons to revisit or try out their respective races, especially if you also factor in the reworks coming in update 5.0.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is as much of an odd RPG as its predecessor and makes little to no concessions, leveraging its many strengths and unique traits to make up for the half-baked bits.
Tomas Sala's second Falconeer game may come across as nicher at first glance, but it's far easier to approach and have a great time with despite some baffling inconsistencies.
Millennia's take on the historical 4X formula is fascinating, but the wonder wears off soon due to misplaced priorities and omissions that are hard to overlook.