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NeverAwake is a true shump to its core. Despite some repetition in enemy design, this twin-stick shooter takes on the concept of nightmares and blends it into its visual style and gameplay in a way that rewards players who come back for more.
Early Access was kind to Prodeus, as the end result gives us a masterful game with incredible maps, punchy and satisfying gunplay, as well as some kick-ass visuals and sound design.
Potion Permit mixes interesting gameplay and an intriguing story, but it doesn't manage to make the most of a wonderful setting.
Squad 51 vs. the Flying Saucers occasionally overcommits to its retro vibe with punishing and unfair difficulty, but its action is tight and it's charming enough to overlook the flaws.
Nitrome and Yacht Club Games' collaboration makes for the best looking (and sounding) Shovel Knight game yet. Rock solid, tight controls and fun roguelite mechanics make this a must play for any fan of the genre.
Serial Cleaners' chance to grow brighter and bolder with neo-noir narratives, instead sees itself bogged down in run-of-the-mill nihilism that even affects the gameplay.
Soulstice's overwritten story and repetitive second half somewhat dull the catharsis of its glorious throwback hack-and-slash combat, but it's still great fun.
We put Sunday Gold through its paces, but find an uneven and unbalanced system, full of frustration despite an interesting concept and world.
Whateverland's fun premise and protagonist duo are overshadowed by bugs, poorly designed puzzles and shallow characters in a move that makes us say "whatever."
Mediocre Survival RPG gameplay and a poorly tutorialized mandatory prologue saps Made In Abyss: Binary Star Falling Into Darkness of its merits
Splatoon 3 finally feels like the full package that expertly pulls together single-player, multiplayer and a streamlined video game experience. Though some players have reported connection issues early on, the game is overall a stable and super-fun experience for anyone looking to get into Splatoon.
Metal: Hellsinger masters its genre mashup and provides metalheads and shooter fans alike with an innovative campaign they won't soon forget.
Steelrising never quite feels like a cohesive experience, but its warring halves of Soulslike combat and narrative RPG storytelling are compelling enough in and of themselves.
Preserving licensed games is a noble endeavor, and Digital Eclipse are the best in the business, but many of The Cowabunga Collection's inclusions are best left in the '90s.
What could've been a bridge between the veterans and the newcomers to Gundam instead becomes a product that will cast aside anyone looking for a crash course. The veterans should find more than their money's worth, though.
Whether or not you vibe with Restless Soul's comedy will entirely determine whether you have a good time with it. I'm growing rather tired of self-referentiality in-game humor, and I also like my jokes to come from real characters, so Restless Soul's comedy didn't entirely work for me. If your sense of humor is different to mine, you may find the comedy more tolerable, and if you do, there's a perfectly agreeable quasi-bullet hell adventure to be had here. The whole experience is rather insubstantial and lacks a solid core gameplay mechanic to hang everything else on, but it's got a lot of heart, and that counts for something.
While the gameplay concept of a labyrinthine shooter holds some promise, the gunplay is flat and mowing through enemies is extremely tedious. On top of this, graphics and some technical issues make Scathe feel rather rough around the edges.
Yars: Recharged will please fans of the 1981 original, but that isn't enough to excite in this day and age. Poorly implemented upgrades to aged mechanics and a flat presentation make this recharge run out of juice right out of the gate.
After a promising start, PowerWash Simulator begins to expand in a way you cannot tackle feasibly, but only in scale. It's one mechanic polished well enough to get by for a short while.
Soul Hacker 2 does a really good job crafting an enjoyable high stakes story and populating it with realized characters. Combat has been left mostly unchanged, which is for the better, but there's a lot to be desired in the copy-paste treatment of the large Soul Matrix dungeon.