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With A Plague Tale: Innocence, the French Asobo Studios present an intense stealth adventure that immediately captivates you with its gripping story about the siblings Amicia and Hugo, always carried by a dense atmosphere, beautiful locations and authentic medieval backdrops. Over 12-15 hours you will be guided through the varied events at a pleasant pace, not only getting to know the horrors of war and the "Black Death" as well as the machinations of the Inquisition, but also quiet moments, helpful inhabitants and companions growing close to your heart. A Plague Tale: Innocence entertained me wonderfully and even surpassed my anticipatory expectations. On top of that there is the wonderful soundtrack of Olivier Deriviere and therefore my conclusion that you shouldn't miss this narrative experience.

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When it comes to zombies, I MUST have a look - and look, World War Z is a hell of a lot of fun. When you are exposed to this gigantic zombie mass for the first time and desperately try to hold a position, your fingers get sweaty. Especially at the beginning it's these moments that hide many technical shortcomings. But after several hours the "Oh, man!" and "Fuck, really now?" moments accumulate. If the developers diligently polish up here and add new content as planned, then these annoyances gradually disappear and allow an undisturbed look at a surprisingly good and fun co-op game, which could actually be a serious alternative to Valves' aging king on the Undead Throne.

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With five population levels, two maps and heaps of goods, the Endgame of Anno 1800 is much more difficult to coordinate than in past parts. But this is really to be understood as a compliment. No matter how many hours I sink into an endless game, there is still a set screw here or a chain of goods there that I would like to turn. Whether it's building more banana plantations, optimizing trade routes or outsourcing the entire heavy industry to another island, there's always something to do. The fact that I sat in front of the computer until half past three at night and watched the little men working speaks for itself. Herewith I can make a clear recommendation for Anno veterans and construction game beginners to buy. You will all have dozens of hours of entertainment with this wonderful piece of software made in Germany. Bravo, Blue Byte!

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SteamWorld Quest is another showcase for the creative talent at Image & Form who have crafted yet another charming robot adventure in a new genre, that, once again, manages to entertain with lovely characters, strong gameplay systems and slick presentation - even though the freshness wears off after a while of playing as the game relies a bit too heavily on its card-based battles and deck building.

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To make it short and sweet: The direct predecessor was much more transparent and better playable than Tropico 6. The small bugs and larger coughing fits of the engine finally add up to a massive disturbance factor. Tropico has always been one of my favorite urban simulations. Not quite so serious, always with a dash of humour and always clear. Here the fourth developer studio tries its hand at the brand and unfortunately adds more negative than positive points to the mix. If you're interested in playing dictator you'd rather grab Tropico 5 and wait for the next offshoot with the homemade rum in your hand.

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Trials was expanded from a wonderfully purist arcade title to a big Game as a Service - including Lootboxes, real money integration and embarrassing ingratiation with the Fortnite target group. So at least I don't enjoy trials anymore, although the playful core belongs to the best of the series. Too bad about the great level design.

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Unfortunately, I didn't like Trüberbrook as much as I thought at first. The really charming artstyle and the great scenery are combined with a nice story, but technical weaknesses look out at all corners and edges. Whether it's the sluggish camera, the uninteresting opponent with the soporific voice or puzzles without inspiration. I don't want to punish all of the puzzles here by far, because some are really well guessed and have a crazy solution. However, the few negative examples are all the more important.

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Baba Is You constructs a game principle of immense depth and complexity, which fascinates and occupies over many hours - and never loses its fascination. For all fans of puzzles: Baba is Win!

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Precise controls, fast and action-packed twin-stick shooting for up to four players on one console: Assault Android Cactus is simply fun.

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Tower Defense meets arcade action - and the mix works: X-Morph: Defense thrills with its chic presentation, thrilling battles and outstanding map design on the Nintendo Switch.

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If you had a lot of fun with Far Cry 5, you will appreciate New Dawn. The usual good gunplay and the traditional open world work for the chaos on the streets of Hope County again this time. The cross-references to part 5 and Easter Eggs to other Ubisoft games are also well placed and encourage you to continue playing. But that was it. Especially the artificial "intelligence" and the flat characters quickly spoiled the fun of the game.

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Pode is a wonderful puzzle discovery adventure, which not only fascinates me with its colourful and varied scenery, which you can let shine in every room, but also with the two cute actors Boulder and Glo. For about seven hours I was entertained wonderfully, always curiously entering the next level, exploring its puzzles and secrets, and always had a smile on my face. Pode doesn't reinvent the puzzle genre, but offers harmonious and well thought-out mechanics that encourage puzzling and equally challenges the good mood spray. Practical that you can enter the journey together in a co-op as well as a single player. The atmospheric soundtrack rounds the whole thing off and delivers an all-round feel-good game that you shouldn't miss.

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Liar Princess and the Blind Prince is a lovely puzzle game experience that has entertained me for about five hours. The story doesn't contain any highlights in the course of the game itself, but it is still told in an interesting way and it shakes hands with the constantly growing challenge in gameplay. A look behind the hand-drawn fairy tale story with Japanese sound reveals a fine message, which also has an effect after the end of the game.

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Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom not only does justice to the Wonder Boy series, but improves the familiar concept in many areas. The game has convinced me from the first to the last minute, and it's a pleasure to jump through the beautiful kingdom with Jin, solve puzzles and defeat demanding bosses. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a must-have title for anyone who likes jump'n'runs or classic action-adventures.

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Travis Strikes Again doesn't live up to the name No More Heroes or the talent of Suda51 and bores for almost seven hours with blunt action, uninspired level design and the eternal unwinding of the same processes.

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Away: Journey to the Unexpected describes itself as a Feel-Good-Adventure right from the start and when it reaches the right target group, the four-hour adventure might also be a bit fun and feel good. The cuddly child comic style with a hint of anime, the uncomplicated gameplay - albeit with pitfalls - and the story are basically a round thing. Whether this is sufficient in form and scope as a gaming experience, everyone must decide for themselves. For me personally it was okay as a game snack for in between, but didn't bring me any highlights or the often quoted Feel Good atmosphere, felt shallow and will therefore quickly disappear from my memory.

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The fact that Metro Exodus also works for me as a newcomer to the Metro series and that I can now comprehend the often quoted strengths of the shooter cannot be denied. The balance between survival-, shooter- and stealth-gameplay, exploring the extensive areas and returning to narrow dungeons and tunnels, which are garnished with horror elements, is well done. I also liked the wonderfully refreshing reduction to the bare essentials in terms of HUD, markers and other ballast very much and intensified the immersion immensely. In the end, Metro Exodus entertained me well for about 20 hours, but didn't completely convince me. Nevertheless, the experience is worth a recommendation to me and Metro fans will probably take it anyway, although 4A Games has not only remained true to its strengths, but also to its weaknesses.

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Vane awakens the hope for an exciting, gloomy gaming experience in the style of Inside or Journey, but ultimately fails in the implementation and also offers hardly any fresh ideas over his short playing time.

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An almost perfect trip to Raccoon City shows what remakes have to look like. Now please take a look at the remake of the third part!

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One has to appreciate Causal Bit Games will that they tried to further develop the formula of the clear role model, which is of course Ghouls 'n Ghosts. It would have been better, however, to hand over the story mode only when it is free of it's faults and better designed. It's annoying that the difficulty of the game too often lies in finding the easiest and luckiest route through the dungeons with every new screen death, while the arcade mode seems to be much more polished. So Battle Princess Madelyn remains a likeable game which brings fun for a few hours due to the arcade mode. This and the charming character design can't fool you about the numerous annoyances, and so Madelyn finally awakens one thing above all else: The longing for Knight Arthur.

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