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STAR WARS: Galactic Racer is fast and dangerous ‘runs-based’ game with surprisingly deep mechanics without losing sight of what makes an arcade racer fun... Sci-fi arcade racers should be ridiculously quick and feel like your vehicle might fall apart at any moment, and for me, that's what makes this a genuinely impressive racing game in its own right.
Fire Emblem: Fortune’s Weave delivers another comforting title, bringing a lot of what worked from recent titles Three Houses, Engage, and Echoes all into one. While its story is grandiose and epic, it’s longer than it needs to be, leading to a massively bloated Part 1 and a weirdly streamlined Parts 2 and 3.
Dressmaker is a delightful game that can be enjoyed in short bursts or for hours at a time.
Box Knight reflects the workplace frustrations we have whenever a company gets acquired. By fighting back and showing what capitalism should provide, it’s a cathartic experience. It’s a tough game to play, and if the premise doesn’t appeal to you, you likely won’t continue playing. Give it a chance, and you might find your next best way to relieve after-work stress.
Orbitals is an absolutely stunning love letter to classic anime, perfectly capturing a beloved 20th-century aesthetic and delivering an engaging and beautifully told narrative to boot. Beyond its visuals, it lets you and a mate explore an intriguing intergalactic universe and wield a fun array of space-tech to get through each of its tight puzzle-platforming sequences. It’s joyful, stylistic, heaps of fun, and doesn’t outstay its welcome – a perfect excuse to cuddle up on the couch with a loved one.
Rhythm Paradise Groove is an enjoyable experience for players of all skill levels when it comes to rhythm games. Easy to pick up for short bursts of playtime, and with a smooth difficulty curve, this is a great instalment to the franchise, and one that can provide a great entry point into the genre. With over 80 new games to play and 30 unique co-op and competitive minigames to jump into at any time, plus a whole host of extra activities to check out, there’s no shortage of fun to be had.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is an agreeable set of straightforward action-adventure environments and gameplay to the point that it ends up feeling like a shadow of the emotionally devastating, narrative-driven stealth series that founded it. Fortunately, the stunning visuals and intricate designs of the island’s many landscapes, tremendous music, an engaging central mystery, and the delectable challenge it offers on its higher difficulty levels more than make up for the parts that left me soured.
Star Wars: Zero Company is a cinematic tactics extravaganza of Star Wars storytelling and strategy. A memorable and diverse cast of dysfunctional characters at the margins of the galaxy carries you through an adventure of stellar scripted and emergent moments, a sandbox of compelling tactical decisions and an assured debut of a videogame from Bit Reactor that scratched my tactical itch with the strength of a superlaser.
Mortal Shell II is a promising evolution over its predecessor, yet it doesn’t feel as polished as it perhaps aspires to be. With its occasionally repetitive and frustrating-to-navigate environments and lack of much of a plot, some imperfections may turn away some players. That said, Mortal Shell II’s large variety of Shells, weapons and Tarstones and engaging combat system ultimately provides a mostly satisfying experience for Soulslike fans.
FEED IT takes something painfully complex and distils it into a surreal horror experience without losing sight of the disturbing realities. It focuses on psychological abuse, control and survival then lets the low-fi visual atmosphere do the work. It’s quick, but branching endings and its meaningful themes make its hour-long runtime worthwhile. Short, nasty and very uneasy but sometimes that's exactly what horror needs to be.
Ledgerbound is a bit like a misprinted form – the ink is messy and muddled in places, but you can still make out its function well enough.
Wild Blue Skies reminds me why arcade shooters were so much fun. It blends the best bits of on-rails action and Saturday morning cartoons into something nostalgic without feeling dated. The basic story and awkward weapon controls hold it back from greatness, but the tight gameplay and gorgeous presentation make this a hell of a pick-up-and-go replayable joyride. It doesn’t reinvent the arcade shooter, but I do think it nails the landing.
MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls is by no means an awful fighting game, but this PC version does it no favours. It’s a game held back by shockingly poor optimisation and performance issues that affect everything from menu navigation to gameplay, and while its core Marvel fanbase might not necessarily care, fighting game players like myself do. It will take some time, but until the developers manage to patch everything up, Tōkon is a miss on PC.
For better and worse, Duskfade is a love letter to the mid-2000s Ratchet & Clank-style adventure platformer. While there’s plenty of passion behind its tale of hope in the face of grief, it’s unfortunately let down by awkward storytelling and a number of uninspired gameplay segments that hurt its pacing. There’s decent enough platforming action to be found across the game’s beautiful (if over-designed) world, and players willing to temper their expectations a little will find a perfectly fine 3D adventure experience in Duskfade.
Rita succeeds in blending word puzzles with a difficulty that doesn’t scare people off. You can explore the world and enjoy a nice story without tearing your hair out. Some puzzles may stump you because the answer wasn’t what you were thinking, and finding every collectible can be hard. Stay for the story and appreciate the occasional challenge to find the appeal in this cute game about a family of cute chicks.
If Beast of Reincarnation is any indication of Game Freak’s capabilities when they’re taking a break from the Pokémon franchise, maybe they should be doing this sort of thing more often. Beast of Reincarnation feels fantastic to play, with a post-apocalyptic world filled with vibrant scenery and wildlife. I do wish that the narrative and characters were more engaging, but if you can look past that and appreciate the combat, you’ll find a lot to love from Beast of Reincarnation.
Big Walk is a big win. Evolving the social game format in a way that feels almost unrecognisable, House House has produced something that is as compelling as it is confident in achieving what it set out to achieve.
Truck-kun is Supporting Me from Another World?! is such a silly concept made from a ridiculous meme in the isekai genre of manga and anime. That is to say, Strange Scaffold understands the conventions of the genre, and includes some fantastic character designs and a great ska-inspired soundtrack.
Helix: Descent N Ascent is a unique puzzle game that understands exactly what makes a puzzle so fun to complete.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is a bold remake that succeeds more often than it stumbles. The new Operation: Meteorite missions and stunning Unreal Engine 5 presentation make this far more than a straightforward remake, even if modern gameplay tweaks alter the pacing and feel. For newcomers, especially those who only own a PlayStation, it’s the best entry point the series has ever had. For veterans, it’s a compelling reason to return to Alpha Halo one more time, and probably not the last.