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So whether you're off finding lost forgotten celtic artefacts in the Scottish Highlands, delving deep into ancient Egyptian tombs, or scaling the heady heights of Shangri-La, it's clear that Renowned Explorers has a lot to offer. While in truth, it's possible that some might tire of its regimented systems and board game esque beats, the fact remains that Renowned Explorers still stands as one of the best surprises of the year so far that wannabe adventurers of any age can enjoy.
Nova-111 is a clever, albeit brief puzzle adventure romp, featuring an intelligent fusion of setting and gameplay elements. The phase-shift and time manipulation have been done before, but Nova-111 wraps it all together in a charming and humorous package that should provide you with an evening or two of decent entertainment.
Wily for the first time, what Capcom have essentially wrought with the Mega Man Legacy Collection is a consummate assembly of the franchise's 8-bit era outings. Brought back to life in their original retro splendour and meaningfully augmented by both a longevity expanding challenge mode and a museum mode that files the depths of the series considerable history, minor flaws and a crushing, yet tolerable, difficulty are not enough to dull the enduring appeal of this great collection of titles from yesteryear.
By offering players a choice between the Hammer and the Anvil, Relic has prevented the British army from feeling like a retread of the formula established in the original game. An excellent addition.
Though they demand the occasional spot of physics engine fudging to progress, puzzles are generally fun and challenging without being frustrating. It may not quite master its new perspective, but Trine 3 is still a charming, light-hearted romp that's well worth your time.
Smart, funny writing and some efficient world-building help avoid the self-important pomposity common to the fantasy genre. Some may miss the scale and strategic variety of other games in the same field, but if you're bored of the familiar fantasy 4X template and you're looking for something that feels fresh, Sorcerer King comes recommended.
Technical hiccups aside, Blues and Bullets is a raucous and relentlessly entertaining inaugural entry into the episodic adventure genre. The deft melding of historical characters and neo-noir stylings, together with a hefty dose of artistic license and appealing sleuthing gameplay mechanics all accrue to make Blues and Bullets one of the best surprises of the year so far.
Deserving praise for encapsulating the sort of Japanese-themed action RPG shenanigans that PC owners rarely glimpse, it's nonetheless fair to say that Ghostlight's latest is far from perfect. For those willing to forgive its more archaically-rooted foibles however, Way of the Samurai 4 very often proves to be a hugely entertaining prospect while providing a gleefully quirky look at one of the most enticing and formative periods of Japanese history.
Give it a few patches and hopefully we'll have a must-have game on our hands, but even right now you shouldn't regret a purchase. Jolly good burglary, old chap.
Nevertheless A Nest of Vipers ups the ante considerably and makes for a fine build-up to the finale. I personally can't wait to see what will happen, and whether my prediction that it's possible to lose the whole game based on your choices pans out.
In the end, Traverser is a game that shows great a deal of promise in the early going, with its interesting setting and accomplished visual style making the game tremendously easy to get into. Once in for the long haul however, Traverser begins to reveal an affair less compelling than its first impressions would suggest. With shoddy controls, uninspired puzzles and frustrating boss encounters all detracting from an otherwise entertaining experience, the result is a title that is merely enjoyably average rather than truly great.
In those moments, it's easy to forgive the lack of polish. Vector Thrust is an enjoyable revival of a largely forgotten genre, and if you've been craving some rocket-fueled dogfighting action, you should definitely check it out.
A bold take on the long-forgotten FMV adventure genre, Her Story might be old-fashioned and light on what some might describe as traditional gameplay, but its sophisticated narrative and entertainingly novel take on detective work both allow it to soar far beyond the zenith of its seemingly outmoded remit.
More than anything else, from a technical standpoint Bladestorm: Nightmare is a disappointingly subpar port of what is effectively a last-gen console game. With the tremendous amount of grunt available to them, the developer should have produced the definitive version of the game, instead of the poorest which really, is a position that no PC gamer should ever find themselves in.
There are some balance issues to tweak, and the game's performance could stand to be smoothed out a little – I occasionally experienced some odd end-of-map FPS stutter – but those are relatively minor imperfections. Dirty Bomb is well worth your time already, and I'm excited to see what Splash Damage has in store as the game continues to develop.
Despite its issues I still feel Kholat is a genuinely disturbing experience, full of atmosphere, tension and visually impressive for an Unreal Engine 4 game. Its faults take it out of the really awesome category but I personally loved it and how it blended horror with unravelling parts of a real world mystery. As it is I believe Kholat is still worth playing but just be aware that frustration and tension will be present in equal measure.
Massive Chalice is lots of fun and highly addictive. Yes a lot of the best things about it come from it being highly influenced by XCOM: Enemy Unknown, but it not only captures a lot of the spirit of our Game of the Year 2012 but Double Fine also manages to provide their own unique spin on it with the Game of Thrones-style setup.
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing 3 is a good-looking game but the lack of features from the previous entries are a sore point. Allocating skills and levelling up are hindered by a very cluttered UI that would put any newcomer off and the range of classes feels a little false given how similar some are to each other.
Game of Thrones is really beginning to kick in to high gear as things start to possibly look up for the Forresters in Sons of Winter, but most importantly the characters start to get much-needed shots in the arm.
Magicka 2 offers a smoother, more comfortable experience than its predecessor, but that doesn't mean the series has lost its signature charm. It's still insane, madcap fun, that somehow manages to make an absolutely unintuitive control system into a strength rather than a weakness. Played as a drop-in multiplayer game, it's an entertaining, amusing hack and slash. With a group of friends, it's an absolute riot.