The Games Machine

Elderand is a successful metroidvania take which adds nothing to the genre, but enhances what we are used to see in these games. The only drawback is a lack of action in the first minutes, but then the game starts to get interesting.

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34BigThings visual novel is a very interesting experiment, especially with that budget price and because of the excellent writing that succeeds in offering a more informed approach to the organized crime narrative. However the game struggles to convey the weight of choices and activity: this is a less influential element, but it risks depowering at least some of the impact of the narrative.

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The coin operated "classic which has never been" comes back to life thanks to one of the most visionary and iconic game designers of the 80s. And it's gorgeous.

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Blood Bowl is a beautiful game and Cyanide replicates it in every detail in its latest videogame version. Too bad the single player is ruined by terrible AI and multiplayer is plagued by incomprehensible restrictions. At least developers seem to be addressing the hottest topics raised by the community.

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Wo Long is a well-packaged, fun and satisfying soulslike in execution, however there is a general laziness, a lack of novelty together with assets and skins taken from Nioh, together with a game balance that manages to work only in the final stages.

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Scars Above is an excellent TPS with a plot that plays a leading role without stealing the show to the action. Due to a wave of alien monsters or some environmental trap and the above-average difficult, Kate Ward's every step is likely to be her last. Character growth is not as important, but anyway it remains a game that entices us to progress just to find out what new surprises are awaiting.

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void* tRrLM2(); ///Void Terrarium 2 with a well-designed dungeon crawler section could have been a great game. Unfortunately, the roguelike is far too simple and the new features added to the first chapter are really few, and mostly concentrated in crafting, making the gap with the rest of the game even clearer: you will really have to love Toriko like a daughter in order not to give too much weight to the shortcomings of everything that is not found inside the Terrarium.

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A return to the past (in every sense) for Kirby, who brings back his old adventure for Nintendo Wii by adding to the original an updated audio / video sector, unpublished mini-games, an additional adventure brand new and much more. An unmissable "package" for fans of the character and for those looking for a platformer pure and simple... maybe even too much.

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Returnal might not be the mind-bending masterpiece that I was, perhaps mistakenly, expecting after the praise I'd heard from friends and colleagues, but it's still an excellent roguelike with clean gameplay and a beautiful presentation. Word of warning though: the lenght of each run combined with the difficulty might make it frustrating for some, and graphical optimization relies heavily on the use of supersampling technologies.

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Atomic Heart suffers from that flavor of "already seen" that ends up a bit 'to distort the workmanship, an important element that could affect the experience of anyone, precisely because of the inability to create empathy with characters lived, in the end, almost as extras. A set of clichés that, however, does not penalize the success of the work in its entirety. The show staged by Mundfish has all the credentials to set good starting points, which in the post-launch could find more sense. We'll see: the potential of the setting is more than those actually exploited.

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If you consider the Final Fantasy soundtrack worthy of being counted among the heritages of humanity, then Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is the music game for you. Rich in tracks and truly suitable for everyone, with a very well-calibrated level of difficulty. Too bad they haven't modernised the aesthetic, distinctive but undeniably little more than functional.

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Company of Heroes 3 is a convincing new chapter in the beloved RTS series, and certainly a far cry from a certain, grim-future-related misstep. Four factions, a new dynamic campaign set in Italy, a classic, linear campaign where we command the DAK, and tons of units to go around, mixed with the classic gameplay we've come to love over the years. However, it feels like quantity came at the expense of polish – some animations are a bit wonky, there's some graphical issues here and there, and the AI… well, let's just say that the new (and welcome!) tactical pause feature might not be all that necessary.

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Octopath Traveler II is the worthy second chapter of a series that made the history of the genre to which it belongs. The influences deriving from the predecessor are more than obvious, but the filings made to the formula, the additions and the large amount of content make it one of the best JRPGs out there.

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Tales of Symphonia returns to the market with a rather lazy remastered. The combat system has aged badly and the polygonal models deserve more, but it still remains one of the most exciting chapters of the Tales of franchise ever.

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Recovering from the mists of time an old game like a Dragon: Ishin! may be a risky choice, but the restoration operation can be considered perfectly successful. Perhaps the overall variety doesn't quite reach the heights of insanity of the very latest chapters, but the fun offered by the classic arcade combat system is still very much up to date, classifying Ishin! as a successful exponent of the celebrated series.

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Wild Hearts is an innovative, interesting hunting game that explain the mass genocide committed by hunters. Net of a few camera defects and too many reskin, it is a solid game that brings a breath of fresh air to a genre that is a little too scared of Monster Hunter's shadow.

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Horizon: Call of the Mountain cuts the starting tape of PS VR2 with a beautiful game, conceived as a showcase of the advanced features of Sony's new virtual reality system and, at the same time, to honor an already celebrated post-apocalyptic world from a new perspective. Perhaps it is not a really killer application, those role could fall to Resident Evil Village VR, but is still unmissable for those who love the world of Horizon and faces for the first time on PlayStation VR 2.

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The original Pharaoh came in 1999 towards the end of a generation of city builders. In 2023, Dotemu's Pharaoh: a New Era retains the classic gameplay, but the lack of innovation weighs more than ever as it competes with a new generation of games in the same genre.

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While not having the quality and personality shown by the greatest boomer shooters, Dread Templar is a fast-paced, fun and deep enough retro FPS that knows its stuff.

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Wanted: Dead features a very fun combat system mainly based on the use of a blades, full of ultraviolence, combos and devastating final techniques, but it lacks a bit in everything else: the AI is inefficient, the mini-games are sometimes a pointless break between missions and the plot though interesting to follow constantly breaks up the action. Can this blade galore be enough to justify its purchase? Definitely yes, if you loved slashers of the very early 2000s, otherwise you may find the offering a bit sparse.

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