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All told, Resident Evil 2 is an utterly fantastic remake, reimagining a 90's classic for a modern audience with modern sensibilities.
I loved it, though I barely understood much of it. It's a wild ride despite being mostly walls of text.
I might have mentioned that Crusader Kings 2 was one of my favorite games. All I really want out of a game - any game - is to lose myself in a good story. Crusader Kings gives me that, fresh, every time I sit down to play. Crusader Kings 3 is at the start of its own story - I'm estimating we're going to see around 300 DLCs for this beast before it's all said and done - and already through its clarity of interface and intelligent design decisions I can see years of amazing "OH MY GOD, you'll never guess what happened in CK3" moments clogging up Felix's email inbox as I continue on my own journey with this wonderful, wonderful game.
Resident Evil Village may be the best Resident Evil of all time. It certainly is up there with the best of the series, but that heavily depends on your kind of RE game. If you enjoyed RE4 or RE7 then you'll probably like this one. And if you enjoyed both of them as much as each other then this very well could be one of the best. It certainly is for me.
Thankfully Stealth Inc 2 is a game which never outstays its welcome, providing a frenetic puzzle platformer which entertains from beginning to end. If you're a high-score junkie you'll like get even more mileage out of this, each of the game's 60 Test Chambers provide you with extensive rankings breakdowns and fastest times, something which requires a little too much patience for these now-weary hands.
With an entry price of $5 the developers humbly invite you to take a dive into their dream and judge it worthy of your time. The sales numbers and, surprisingly, the strong support from the Steam community speak for themselves. This game will not appeal to a massive portion of the gamer population, as it shouldn't have to, but to those who do like it, it's the perfect game. Dontnod know their story storytelling, and here's hoping it's only going to get better from here on out.
If you take into account the limits of the genre itself, then Helldivers is a fantastic way to keep yourself busy for hours at a time, Helldivers is a surprisingly immersive game with intuitive mechanics and a rewarding levelling system. Repeating seemingly the same mission over and over does get a little staid, but the variable objectives and procedurally generated worlds go some way to fixing that. Not taking itself too seriously, this is friendly fire fun for all.
While this episode lays a good foundation to the upcoming adventures, it admittedly does little more than introduce the characters which will eventually help/hinder you when you need them most, but that's not to take away from what it achieves. If you love point and click games or narrative-driven games, Life is Strange is one title you will hate to miss out on. For the low entry price of $5 for the first of five episodes you can easily play it and make an informed decision on whether you would like to follow Max on her journey of self discovery. I know I will be.
All in all Grand Theft Auto V is a natural evolution of the series, and it does indeed make it seem difficult to comprehend where exactly they can take it next. There's certainly a few areas that could do with some polish, but fans of open-worlds will find one of the most accomplished games in years, and, despite hours and hours spent prodding around, I think there's some many secrets still for me to find. One thing's for sure and it's got my appetite whetted for the PC version, because once the modding community gets their hands on this it's going to be a joy to see.
Contrary to what we were perhaps expecting, Alien Isolation performs incredibly on PC. Armed with just a GeForce GTX 750 Ti we were able to max everything out and achieve respectable frame rates without a hitch. The Creative Assembly's technical marvel is a visual and atmospheric tour de force, particularly once all of the volumetric fog and dynamic lighting is enabled. Don't spend too much time gawping at the environment though, you're always only seconds away from a grisly end.
Shadow of Mordor is a fun action title that continues to sprinkle enjoyable tactical options in front of the player even in the later stages of the game. It keeps a combat heavy, tried and tested formula from becoming stagnant, while borrowing mechanics from a variety of game franchises it nevertheless comes from a gaming pedigree itself. Where Assassin's Creed and Batman are becoming repetitive, Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor has managed to create an open world action fantasy RPG that has new life, albeit, slightly undead.
In the end though FIFA 15 is all about the spectacle, and on that it delivers and then some. It feels like an epic Super Sunday clash and whether it's a 0-0 draw or a 5-4 spectacular it always feel a nail-biting, unpredictable, and tense experience that replicates all of the emotions of the beautiful game.
In terms of the quality of this remake Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty is almost unrivalled. Just Add Water has gone above and beyond what fans of the series were expecting, and as a piece of fan-service it's second to none. It's the puzzle-platformer equivalent of remaking Baldur's Gate in Frostbite 3; a graphical and gameplay tour de force worth any fan of the genre's time.
It's not a perfect game, and there are a couple of small issues. But they really are small. I had two CTDs, and a few instances of Sniper Elite 3 freezing up for about fifteen seconds during the bullet cam. Once, I seemed to be unable to relocate, with the attention marker stuck on my player, despite the fact that I fled into a series of empty underground tunnels. The game relies perhaps a little too heavily on the 'OMG' tactic of dropping a tank into a level as a mandatory boss fight. But for everything that Rebellion has got right here, these are minor flaws. Sniper Elite III is so enjoyable because it's a stealth game done right.
Transistor is a beautiful, absorbing and well thought out game that encourages you to get creative with its system and carve out your own approach to defeating your opponents. Want superb aesthetics, compelling backstory and tactically engaging gameplay? Look no further.
Wolfenstein: The New Order is an FPS tour de force that is absolutely essential to fans of the genre. What it lacks in multiplayer it more than delivers in singleplayer, offering up a lengthy, engaging and dramatic campaign that continues to best itself throughout its duration. Like a parting shot from yesteryear it's unashamedly old-school and offers practically nothing new, but when the whole package is this cohesive it can be difficult to complain.
But whilst Child Of Light not may carry the sheer narrative depth of story of a 100 hour, £40 full RPG release, but there are few games out there that will provide you with such a polished, enchanting experience for £12. It's a must-play for fans of the genre, an unforgettably ethereal experience that seamlessly merges childhood nostalgia with its own gameplay innovations and unique, memorable style.
This isn't a package made for those who've already explored Yamatai, this is for those first setting foot into Lara's adventure. For them it's an essential purchase, for everyone else it really doesn't matter.
Resogun, as it stands, is almost as close to perfection as you can get for a title in the shoot-em-up genre, if you're a fan then you can do no wrong. The campaign might be slightly limited and not varied enough for some, but these are niggles that do little to detract from the core experience.
Wadjet Eye has put out yet another classic sci-fi adventure game, packed with entertaining characters, thoughtful and original puzzles and plenty of nostalgic goodness. If you're the least bit interested in point n' click or sci-fi, Technobabylon is well worth a punt - and don't forget to check out earlier titles such as Gemini Rue and Primordia if they passed you by before.