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Two separate cores of equally engaging but shallow gameplay, and a fascinating but frugal narrative, competing to see which wears the player down first.
Code Vein 2's versatile combat and build variety hold a lot of promise, and when you've settled on a good kit of weapons, it's quite enjoyable. Despite this, it's bogged down by infuriating boss mechanics, low poise, and unfulfilled potential both in its story and its open world.
Crisol: Theater of Idols is indebted to its horror-shooter forebears, but it can't match their coherence and tension, even at its best moments.
Relooted is a wonderful action heist adventure that provides a deep and poignant history lesson into the brutish acts of colonialism on the African continent and the plundering of cultural and religious property as spoils of war. Possessing great art direction, puzzle and level design, and cultural representation, the game suffers from a variety of glitches, disconnected voice direction, and frustrating wall-jumping mechanics that made it too hard to brush aside.
High on Life 2's serviceable gameplay and mostly decent comedic chops are overshadowed by severe technical issues.
BlazBlue Entropy Effect X has solid roguelike action gameplay, but is bogged down by stilted pacing and a tenuous at best connection to the BlazBlue series.
Tarsier's Reanimal is a fun and creepy adventure to spend alone or with a friend for a few hours. The co-op experience doesn't add much, but you'll be able to bounce ideas off the deeper story as you're escaping from hellish birds
Mewgenics may as well be Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel's magnum opus. It's an insanely deep, tactical strategy game with addicting breeding mechanics, and a mind-boggling amount of roguelite-variety and content to play. I'm over 100 hours in, and I still can't get enough.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is a solid remake and a delightful turn-based RPG for fans of the genre. Despite some tedium and long-winded pacing, the individual story vignettes will have you coming back for more.
Elden Ring Nightreign's first major DLC adds some interesting twists on the game's core formula, but there's just not quite enough of it.
Men In Black: Most Wanted not only knows its source so well, but also its medium. Most Wanted delivers a fun overarching story as episodic beats with interesting exploration and logic puzzles, as well as fun set pieces for shootouts. Unique controls and a welcoming cartoon atmosphere make the game a delight to be in.
Avid fans of indie cozy sandbox building games such as Make Room, Tiny Glade, and Palia will be wonderfully pleased with Log Away, offering players a chance to build and design their dream cabin retreat. However, some optimization and performance issues, and a restrictive-sized plot hindered gameplay and creativity if players are willing to overcome them.
Nightdive improves upon its original port with Blood: Refreshed Supply. It feels great and looks amazing, and the creative guns and level design will keep you hooked, even if it's initially a bit hard of a game to get into.
Octopath Traveler 0 is the weakest entry in the series so far. Its turn-based system is still top-notch, but it trades in compelling characters for a false sense of freedom.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is another fantastic beat 'em up from developer Tribute Games. With a large cast of heroes and the tag-team system, Cosmic Invasion offers a fresh experience for fans of the genre.
Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster is another great port by Nightdive, featuring modern improvements to the game's visuals and accessibility features like Gamepad support. Guns feel powerful, and enemies are equally deadly, but Outlaws is let down by its lack of gun variety and obtuse level design.
Developer Mimmox packed quite the punch with their indie gaming debut, UMAMI, and gave us more than the entire meal and dessert! As much as we can include as many food-related puns and idioms to express how blissfully enjoyable puzzle-solving is, it's the moments that remain for a long time despite its short gameplay length.
Deadpool VR is an arcadey hack and slash adventure with the promise of a Deadpool that never stops talking. While some of the cutscenes are longwinded and the melee gameplay isn't great, the shooting and movement options allow you to set up fun combos. There's a lot of replayability, but long levels might discourage you from too much backtracking.
A nightmare to navigate, but you wake up to the most beautiful clash of non-intrusive puzzle gameplay, and fully realised visual design; the game Lumines was always meant to be.
Possessor(s) is perfectly fine while it's happening, but its rote exploration and weak enemy variety mean it'll be hard to remember once it's over.