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Orcs Must Die! 3 is an intrinsically enjoyable and fun game. With deep mechanics, a wealth of content offerings, rewarding progression and impressive level of scale, it’ll delight those of the strategy and action background. It’s narrative is harmless and its technical capacity teeters under the weight of its ambition, but these do little to detract from the brilliant fun you’ll undoubtedly have playing it. Orcs Must Die! 3 is more than worth your time and will be a game I’ll be playing a lot more of.
Cris Tales is a stunningly gorgeous indie, with art that’ll make your jaw drop. However many of its time mechanics are relatively skin deep, and it lacks the kind of depth its art inspires. It’s also not the epic it claims to be. It’s a love letter to classic RPGs, if within that same analogy those classics are the full novel.
An inventive isometric slasher, Death’s Door feels like all the best bits of Souls-like structure and none of the bad. Its Zelda-inspired combat and systems are firmly at the challenging end of the spectrum, but are also pretty addictive, and mix well with a bleak yet unique story.
The most essential game in the series for years, F1 2021 is a thoroughly enjoyable, accessible and gorgeous racing game. The new Braking Point narrative aspect is a triumph and there’s content and assistance options that will likely please most F1 fans.
Out of Line is a 2D side scrolling platformer puzzle game. The game is gorgeous, and just enough challenging that you won’t rage quit. Join San on this cute adventure to help him escape a terrifying factory. The art style is beautiful, the mechanics are extremely smooth and sound. For those who like relaxing short games, the gameplay runs at around 2-3 hours, and for what it it is, you are getting a lovely evening of gameplay that won’t make you feel panicked or pressured to race to the end. The only thing you may come away with is more questions than answers when it comes to the story. A lack of context plays a role in this, and it does not get clearer. However, each player may have their own answer to what the story held.
A 2D slash-em-up that’s as instantly forgettable as a ninja flashing past in the night, Within the Blade succeeds at fast-paced kills and decent bosses, but fails to design for stealth or differentiate itself in a genre full of superior experiences.
Sniper Elite VR is a commendable attempt to bring bone-crushing, organ-splitting violence to your eyeballs. Its attention to detail, authenticity and amount of content make it a solid package. Unfortunately, a lacklustre story, inconsistent movement tracking, wonky physics and poor AI knock this scope off target. There’s indisputable fun wrapped up in nailing that perfect headshot, especially in VR. It’s just a shame the technology holds it back from landing a clean shot.
Where The Heart Leads is an acquired taste. For those who demand action from their games, or life and death decision making in your narrative titles, this one won’t be for you. The stakes in this game are family sized, the decisions made at a workaday level and the cast almost ordinary. Even with a few niggles though, some smart writing and plenty of charm create a series of characters you can care for. It’s easy to get invested in their fate and to find the decisions directing their lives challenging to make.
Despotism 3k has a solid strategy resource management core and some excellent, creative text dialogue events oozing with humour. It also has one of the most punishing and demotivating RNG event simulators that can break each of your runs without mercy and will happily kick your progress to the curb. It’s a decent game, but just like its real life despot counterparts, holding onto ultimate power will always be impossible to enjoy when a Cthulu monster decides it doesn’t appreciate your delusion of grandeur.
Crash Drive 3 might be rough round the edges but it’s a content filled playground of stunt ramps, loop-de-loops and tank battles that’s worth a look. Played alone it’s plainly average but with friends, the game comes alive and thanks to cross-play, it doesn’t matter what platform they’re using. It’s big, it’s dumb and it’s regularly exhilarating. This entry is real growth for a series that is coming into its own.
A triumphant new IP from Bandai Namco, Scarlet Nexus is probably the best RPG of the year so far. Its compellingly dark story will keep you guessing through two necessary playthroughs, while its engaging psychokinetic combat is in a class of its own, albeit with exceptionally streamlined progression. Throwing your toys around has never been so much fun.
Curved Space is a decent twin stick shooter which has a variety of weapons, striking level backdrops, satisfying upgrade systems and a cool leash mechanic. Sadly, it’s significantly let down by repetitive objectives, technical issues and level design which is aesthetically, but not practically, interesting. While not a bad game by any means, Curved Space sadly fails to capitalise on its promise despite its solid offering of modes.
It might be overwhelming for newcomers, but stick with it and MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries offers some surprisingly deep and rewarding giant robot combat. The management side might confuse, but stick with it, and you’ll enjoy the ups and down of mercenary life.
A gorgeous virtual recreation of The Search for the Stolen Maze Stone, this game is damn near essential for fans of the Pierre the Maze Detective book series. It won’t be for everyone, but it brings some stunning artwork to life and adapts the concept of the book into an enjoyable game.
Mythic Ocean is a choice based visual story game. With 3-5 hours per run, you build relationships with Gods in order to choose which God can create a new world. It is up to you how the world plays out based on your choice of interactions with each God. It is not a game that punishes you with any danger, and brings a relaxing explorative tone to the player – but it is a hands off experience. Sometimes this is at its own detriment, with no cues or indications of what to do at times which can lead the player swimming in circles. This game is short and sweet, but does try to make the most of a lot of potential it has.
Alex Kidd in Miracle World is a good upgrade, with a loving nod to the Master System classic upgraded with terrific visuals and a wonderful soundtrack, but not much else has changed. It’s oddly easier to control when played in the original visuals mode, whilst new Alex feels somewhat floaty. Regardless, the ruthless difficulty – when not using infinite lives – will polarise modern gamers, and the padding to extend the game time feels like exactly that and little else.
A precision platformer with a novel, magnetically charged traversal method, Super Magbot is a quality game. The storyline is a little lacklustre but challenging yet satisfying game design makes for a very moreish experience.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is a prime example of sequel done right. A few technical issues that highlight the mid-line entry of the game don’t dampen the experience. The sniping, its core tenet, is where the money is. About half a mile away, in someone’s head. Go and get your money’s worth.
Green Hell is a surprisingly great game which has exceptional depth in its mechanics, an immaculately detailed and immersive world to explore (and die in), with a story that has absolutely no right to be as fantastic and deep as it is. With a wealth of options in modes and difficulty settings, wannabe survivalists will be hard pressed to find a deeper, more rewarding experience. Despite some minor technical flaws and a punishing opening, Green Hell is a game fully deserving of your time and investment.
Chivalry 2 is an immersive, chaotic, gory, hilarious, carnage spilling thrill ride of a game which will have you storming castles like a true knight of old one moment, before bewildering you with someone beating you down with a loaf of bread. It’s a fantastically enjoyable experience which is unfortunately held back by a light content offering and some technical as well as balance issues. While this knight may have taken an arrow to the knee, it battles on to launch a cabbage at you another day.