The Games Machine
HomepageThe Games Machine's Reviews
Vampire Crawlers attempts to recreate the feeling of playing Vampire Survivors through a turn-based dungeon crawler and roguelite deckbuilder hybrid. The experiment is largely successful, although the pacing suffers from a mid-game that relies too heavily on farming, and as it stands, replayability is very low. The situation could improve with the previously announced updates, but what these new features will bring remains to be seen.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Over-the-top violence? Check. Iconic memes from the original series? Check. A solid battle system that cleverly borrows the best ideas around to deliver something uniquely its own? Double check. Honestly, there are very few reasons not to jump on board.
Review in Italian | Read full review
MotoGP 26 is a solid and conservative entry. It could probably have been more daring and explored some ideas in greater depth, but the in-game feedback is spot on, as is the content management between the campaign and supporting activities.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sol Cesto is a roguelike that turns probability into pure gameplay: you choose a row, but the outcome is random, with percentages shifting every turn. What starts as a simple system gradually deepens through modifiers, abilities, and items that let you bend the odds in your favor, resulting in surprising strategic depth. Its main drawback is a slow progression and a heavy reliance on randomness, which can make runs frustrating even with strong builds. Still, it stands out as an original and clever experience within the dungeon crawler landscape.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Saros is a confirmation of the talent and skill of the team at Housemarque, delivering a highly accessible action roguelite that is by no means easy. Both the aesthetic and narrative aspects are outstanding, and the game places the pure gameplay experience at the center of everything-dynamic and incredibly fun. A game that comes close to perfection.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Little Nightmares VR: Altered Echoes takes the series into virtual reality territory, skillfully reworking its structure and perspective. VR could have been used more with the puzzles, and the visual polish on Meta Quest 3 isn't perfect, but Iconik's experiment is certainly a success: it's too short, but what an atmosphere!
Review in Italian | Read full review
When a game works as it should, Last Flag is fun, and this can often happen during the first few hours. It's just a shame that, as things currently stand, it fails to sustain its grip on the player over time due to several limitations.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Quote not yet available
Review in Italian | Read full review
Quote not yet available
Review in Italian | Read full review
Lord of Hatred doesn't revolutionize Diablo IV, it just brings order. The endgame is less rambling thanks to War Plans, while the various game systems benefit from other new features and a renewed depth. There are some less convincing aspects, but overall it's a step in the right direction.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Starship Troopers Ultimate Bug War is a solid experiment in old-school 2D FPS design-fun and ferocious. It's a shame it only lasts around four hours, and in the gameplay-both as humans and aliens-you can glimpse some untapped potential. Still, it feels like the right foundation on which to build a bigger and better sequel in the future.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mouse: P.I. For Hire is a first-person shooter that manages to transform extraordinary art direction into a solid and fun gaming experience. It has some (little) limitations, but it's a truly promising debut for Fumi Games.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Quote not yet available
Review in Italian | Read full review
Pokémon Champions is, all things considered, exactly what you'd expect - give or take a few too many rough edges. In fact, looking at the game's monetization and other titles in the Pokémon ecosystem, you could almost say we got off easy. At least, for now.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If trying to describe what Tomodachi Life: A Dream Life is all about is complicated, attempting to evaluate it is almost subversive. It can be one of those games that ends up sneaking its way into your daily routine, or an experience that's off-putting right from the start. I found it charming and challenging-in the sense that its sense of humor would test anyone-but I'm someone who enjoys being thrown off balance by culture shocks.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Quote not yet available
Review in Italian | Read full review
While I can respect the effort the developer put into this game, The Occultist simply isn't very good. Its puzzles are fairly basic, the enemies are more of a nuisance than a threat, the setting is too reliant on genre tropes, and to top it off, both bossfights bugged out upon death and made it impossible to progress (remember to backup your saves, just to be sure). Doug Cockle offers a good performance, though.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Mega Man Star Force Legacy Collection is a more ambitious project than the source material might suggest. Not everything works equally well - some aesthetic choices remain questionable - but the technical and structural work demonstrates a clear intention: not merely to preserve these games, but to bring them back into circulation in a form that still makes sense today. In this context, the RE Engine is not merely a container, but a tool that demands a fresh interpretation. And even when friction arises, it is precisely in that tension between fidelity and transformation that the collection finds its identity.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Quote not yet available
Review in Italian | Read full review
More than twenty years after Defiance, Legacy of Kain: Ascendance proves to be a crushing disappointment. Instead of honoring the saga's complex narrative background, the video game by Bit Bot Media offers a clumsy retcon that feels like an awful fan fiction. In terms of gameplay, we are faced with an uninspired 2D platformer devoid of any real challenge that can be completed in less than three hours, alternating between inconsistent visual styles and an annoying soundtrack. This is definitely not the game we deserved, especially after such a long wait.
Review in Italian | Read full review