The Games Machine

Life is Strange: True Colors catches up with the original Life is Strange on a narrative level and, unsurprisingly, improves the experience with superior graphics quality, remarkable voice acting, and a beautiful soundtrack. Once stepped out of the bus, it will be easy to totally identify with Alex and be carried away not only by her search for truth but also, more simply, by the everyday life and warmth that only a place like Haven Springs can offer.

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Golf Club: Wasteland is a masterpiece in the art of telling a big story in a tiny game. Ruins of our Earth, devastated by climate change, speak to the player through the music and the chats of the great Radio Nostalgia and the ironic neon signs of Alphaville. In the meanwhile, the silent Charlie from Mars plays an intense and challenging arcade golf game, where you can never tell what happens next. It's rare to find so much greatness in a small indie game.

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The Medium on PS5 is pretty much as good as it was on Xbox Series X, despite some graphic flaws and loading issues. Luckily, the DualSense features manage to fill the gap.

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The franchise doesn't make the hoped-for leap in quality, it just takes a step in the right direction: this will hardly be enough to satisfy the most demanding drivers or those who already own WRC 9, but several off-road enthusiasts may still consider it more than enough to have fun.

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A complex, amazing Zelda-style action adventure set in a beautifully crafted world with plenty of towns, creatures, buildings, shops and NPCs. There's a lot to discover and a lot to play, although some mechanics might feel dated to younger players. The game suffers from some still-to-be-fixed bugs which can be annoying. Overall, NAPS Team did a great job, and brought us a game that Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli could have done themselves.

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Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is like a 90's game: good for short sessions of play, with only few modes, a cheating AI and a lot of pressing the same button over and over. Despite all that, it manages to be entertaining for a few hours, but you'll soon get bored of fighting the same boxer but with a different skin. The strange, over the top narrative Arcade is enjoyable, but with just one more mode (Versus), there's no way to get to the twelve round without getting tired of its basic mechanics.

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Madden 22 is not a huge step forward in a series that needs to shift gears to return to its former glory. There is no shortage of interesting ideas, too bad that there are quite a few gameplay issues and that some game modes (Face to the Franchise, for example) are way too boring and uninteresting.

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In a crowded roguelike landscape, Dreamscaper tries to stand out by adding a narrative, advendure-like mini section, which is so well-crafted and interesting that it almost overshadows the action segments. The game offers good graphics and a cool soundtrack, but also repetitive puzzles and unconvincing enemy design. Luckily, the combat system is excellent, which makes a great pick for any action roguelike fan.

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Lake is a truly beautiful narrative adventure. The sound design is excellent and the story progresses in a delicate way, with feeling. An oasis of relax in a chaotic world that is always in a hurry.

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Sonic Colours: Ultimate improves on the fine game released many years ago on Wii, but after all this time it was fair to expect something more, especially for the hedgehog's 30th birthday.

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No More Heroes 3 is a glorious sequence of boss fights, spectacular, fun and crazy, but surrounded by a really bland open world. If you're a fan of Travis it remains a recommended game, especially considering the previous games adopted a very similar structure, but everyone else would do well to wait for a price drop.

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Twelve Minutes takes advantage of a time loop to tell us an intricate story, managing to motivate player's creativity in trying to prevent seemingly inavoidable situations. Featuring a breathtaking voiceover, it lacks in credibility when it tries to amaze and horrify at any cost, while successfully managing to blow the audience away. It will give you a fulfilling afternoon, and if you love point and click adventures you shouldn't miss it. You can easily see the first two or three endings, but unlocking them all needs quite an effort.

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A remarkable sequel to one of the best Metroidvania ever made. Despite some minor flaws, Axiom Verge 2 represents a new building block in the fascinating and growing universe crafted by Thomas Happ. Can't wait for the next chapter.

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Incredible attention to detail, an impressive physics model and a focus on the bike maintenance make RIMS Racing a strong first entry for a new IP; however, the erratic AI and self-harming design choices reduce the overall enjoyment of the game. Also, day one DLCs are never a good look.

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The very existence of Psychonauts 2 demonstrates that good ideas have to overcome a thousand difficulties before being realized, but in the end they somehow impose themselves. It took years for the first chapter to overcome people's skepticism but, day after day, it has built up a fan base so large that we were finally able to play with a full-fledged, high budget sequel. And it's beautiful. Pleasant, original, colorful, compelling. Do you need more adjectives to be convinced?

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Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a valid cooperative shooter, one where you can just drop in and shoot stuff with glee, or put your coordination and teamplay to the test if you're looking for a challenge. There are friendly AIs, but they aren't great and solo play only works at the lower difficulties. Finally, while the game is competent and fun, it also shows its low budget.

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King's Bounty II is a decent turn-based RPG, but it's also one of the most derivative games out there.

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A year later, Ghost of Tsushima is still a great game, and this Director's Cut is the definitive version, especially if you own a PlayStation 5. It's a great experience, but it's mainly for newcomers: the improvements are welcome, but hardly enough to tempt veterans of the original.

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Road 96 is a nice revelation. The slow start gives the wrong impression of a game similar to many recent narrative adventures: well written, but without that peculiar something that can make it shine. Instead, its formula based on the repetition of the paths and on the procedurality of the encounters proved to be a great strength in the long run, capable of adding depth to the game and distinguishing it from its (valid) predecessors. More than this, it's the perfect game for summertime: a good song on the radio, the long road ahead of us, sunglasses on and a future where plenty of choices await.

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Sadly, Humankind isn't Amplitude Studios' magnum opus. Its interesting concept of civilization mix-matching is constantly let down by an uncompetitive AI and all sort of balancing issues.

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