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As an overall package, Jackbox Party Pack 9 is another hearty five-course meal of fun party games. Some games take a little time to grasp the concept or lack a certain pizazz, but there's the dependability of Fibbage 4, inventive format of Roomerang, and even the trivia game Quixort finds an interesting niche to tease your brain with. A good entry in the long-running series, but not quite an all-timer.
Scorn is clearly a labour of grotesque love, feeling unlike almost any other game out there. The alien are satisfying, the lack of handholding adds to the sense of a hostile world, and the nihilistic drive of the game in subjecting your character to further degradation really makes it stand out. It is a game that will live long in the memory, but it is the very definition of a divisive experience.
There's a lot that's new and different in Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, creating a more freeform, looser feel to the game's world exploration and combat alike. Not all of the changes stick the landing, but the drive to reinvent and evolve is admirable and this is still easy to recommend for fans of the original and turn-based tactics in general.
A Plague Tale: Requiem gave me the chills. The graphics, sound design and writing are all phenomenal, and the gameplay is fantastic. There are a few issues with sneaking sections feeling samey, the puzzles being a little too easy, but these are forgivable for just how excellent Amicia and Hugo are as characters. If you enjoyed the first game, or you're just looking for something narratively compelling, Requiem is the game for you.
Overwatch 2 has a lot of common ground with the original, but it's managed to take what we know and breathe a new life into a landmark hero shooter. The fact that it's now free-to-play means more people can enjoy this truly wonderful shooter, though the monetisation feels heavy handed compared to other games.
Lego Bricktales is a wonderful adventure that's full of the charms of playing with the iconic construction toy in real life. It's a gorgeous digital rendition with all its exquisitely crafted dioramas a delight to behold, and with puzzles that lean on Lego's greatest strengths. Just beware that the Switch version is hampered by intrusive performance issues in places.
PGA Tour 2K23 is a good improvement over its last iteration, making things more accessible with the 3-Click system and the Topgolf mode. There's still areas for improvement, but this is definitely a step in the right direction.
Dakar Desert Rally promises a lot, and delivers on a good portion of it, recreating the renowned rally event in spectacular fashion. While players may have to wait for all of the features on their wishlist, there's a huge amount of enjoyable rally racing to get stuck into.
The best thing about Marvel Snap is that it requires so little effort to play yet has brilliant strategic depth. Matches are so quick that you'll rarely feel the sting of disappointment upon defeat, while each win pushes you towards the next card reveal. Like any live service game, it's constantly evolving with balance patches a roadmap teasing new content and features. Let's just hope we'll see the developers lessen the grind and give players more ways to unlock their favourite Marvel heroes and villains in future.
FIFA 23 is the most expansive game in the series' long history; women's football has never been better represented, there's fun new activities like Volta Arcade, and there's still all of the classic modes. Still where FIFA 23 takes steps forward in some areas, it could still be better in others. The action on the pitch is fun and engaging, but the user interface can be clunky, and modes like player career mode feels like an afterthought with largely superficial changes, compared to the investment in Ultimate Team. FIFA 23 is the end of an era and goes out on a high, but still has the hallmarks of the series' gradual yearly evolution.
No Place For Bravery has some real strong points and I really enjoyed the story in particular, but they're counterbalanced by weaker elements within the combat that meant I wasn't really excited by the whole package. It's a decent effort that will kill a few hours, but not much more than that.
With all the wit and charm that you would expect from Gilbert and Grossman's writing, Return to Monkey Island is a decades-long reverie made reality and absolutely essential for fans of the series.
The DioField Chronicle delivers a unique real-time spin on the usual tactics RPG experience, but it's marred by a boring story, unlikable characters, and inconsistent presentation. While the one saving grace is the addictive and always rewarding combat, missions fail to deliver the evolution or variety that some might expect. Overall, it's an interesting game, but not an altogether great one.
The Tomorrow Children is a weird, unwieldy game that had me sighing at just how obtuse it is while still somehow simultaneously entranced. The social action concept is a strong one though moment-to-moment gameplay will quickly become too much of a grind for most players. Hopefully it can find a new audience but, at the very least, it will help rehouse those fans who adored the original release and mourned its server shutdown.
Serial Cleaners comes with a new style and attitude, taking inspiration from some of the great crime films of the 80s and 90s to tell a four-sided tale. It's an enjoyable return for the original game's quirky take on crime scene cleaning, but only takes a few small steps forward, leaving the limits of its stealth-action gameplay evident to see.
Metal: Hellsinger is exactly what I hoped it would be – a balls to the wall, headbanging, visceral experience that nails the aesthetic and feel of the premise. The soundtrack is superb and perfectly suits the setting and narrative, and everything is carried along by an interesting and well-voiced narrative. Even if you are not a big fan of metal (and why the Hell wouldn't you be?) this is an excellent rhythm shooter that absolutely slays.
Madden 23 is still Madden, but little more. If you've been wanting an NFL game that offers something wholly new, or one that can match the NBA 2K series for production values, then this isn't the place to find it. However, there's some key incremental improvements happening here which make Madden 23 a tighter, more engaging experience for fans, and one which will happily see you through this year's NFL season.
Disney Dreamlight Valley is already proving itself to be a feature-rich and engaging game, with a really addictive "one more quest" feel to it. Once the issues are fixed, and with some more characters added to the game, this could become the best Disney game in years. Now, if you excuse me, I'm off to continue plugging hours into the game until I get Stitch in my valley as they're teased in the loading screens and I want to befriend them.
I really wanted to like Bear and Breakfast more than I did. It isn't a bad game, it's just lacking the polish that could make it exemplary. With some simple quality of life improvements like faster movement, and cooking and crafting from the box, we could have a much smoother game on our hands. As it stands, it's a little too jarring - much like waking up at one of the rooms I built for my visitors...
Made in Abyss: Binary Star Falling into Darkness retains very little of the heart and soul that made the anime and manga it's based on so appealing and engaging. There's a promising survival RPG campaign in the Deep in Abyss mode, hampered by some annoying game design decisions, but the fact that you're forced to trudge through a barebones adaptation of the anime in order to unlock it just makes a bad experience even worse.