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There's a satisfying strategy to Minos, as you lay out your maze, set your traps, and lie in wait for foolhardy adventuring parties. It's not as endlessly compelling as the best roguelikes, but you can easily lose hours within the labyrinth.
Oozing with style and buoyed by Bungie's consistently slick gunplay, Marathon has already carved out a small fiefdom in the fickle world of extraction shooters. Unforgiving but rarely unfair, that risk/reward gameplay loop will prove endlessly enjoyable to some, though casual FPS fans who want to see guaranteed progression in exchange for the time they put in will find themselves well out of their comfort zone. Marathon's staying power hinges entirely on post-launch support and the allure of new content. If the maze-like, puzzle-filled Cryo Archive is anything to go by, we could see Bungie rolling out a creative gauntlet of new gameplay experiences.
Mouse: P.I. for Hire is a good game, it plays well with an engaging story brought to life by the excellent Troy Baker. However, tonally it is all over the shop and the detective part of the game is perfunctory at best, but it gets away with it thanks to the joyous visuals and music.
I have been enjoying Starfield, but that's in spite of the game's systems and features rarely combining into a cohesive whole. As an interstellar role playing experience, it appeals to those that want to be bounty hunters, space cops or pirates, but offers little to traders and other fantasies. What it really needs is a sequel, taking this first attempt as a proof of concept to create new technology and improve, but we aren't going to see that any time soon.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a weird game. I could leave my summary there and it would be entirely accurate, but more than that, Living the Dream is YOUR weird. You can have an island of celebrity-alikes hurling expletives at each other, or an island of your friends and family interacting in increasingly bizarre ways, and that's precisely the point. There's a degree of weird that's baked into the game but, from there, what you get out of it is what you put into it.
Kotama and Academy Citadel hits the ground running and expects you to keep up from frame 1. It's a beautiful and well animated metroidvania that packs a punch when it comes to art and gameplay, but leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to creating a cohesive beginning-and-end narrative experience.
I think ultimately that Sovereign Syndicate should have focused on one character, or allowed me to choose one and have the others become part of their storyline. Then you could re-experience the game from the other characters' perspectives. As it is, the pacing just doesn't do the game any justice. There is stuff to like here, the world is deep, the story is interesting, and it's releasing at a budget-friendly price, but I have to say that a game set in a steampunk London with minotaurs, centaurs, and dwarves roaming around really seems like it could have been much more than this.
Pragmata is another stunning game from Capcom. The game world is beautifully conceived and the interplay between our lead character genuinely heartwarming, but it's the combat with its dynamic blend of shooting and hacking that is the main draw here and it makes other third person games feel pedestrian by comparison.
Dosa Divas is a culinary adventure worth going on, its unique flavour combining solid turn-based combat, a simple cooking minigame, and a story that will make you reflect on your own relationships. It's a game that explores how food and meals can be experiences that bring people together. If nothing else, Dosa Divas may inspire you to get in the kitchen, put some dishes together and share those meals with others.
The team at Milestone have been crafting racing games for more than three decades now, Screamer proving that they aren't afraid of taking risks and trying something new. From its surprisingly fleshed out storylines to its advanced racing gameplay concepts, there are plenty of intriguing ideas at works here though not all them are executed well.
The Occultist is a great investigate horror game featuring a compelling narrative and well designed puzzles. With some excellent writing and voice acting, I was hooked in to play through its modest runtime in two sittings. With a debut game like this, I'm excited to see what will come next from Daloar.
People of Note is a kind-hearted RPG with a deep affection for music. Its soundtrack won't resonate with everyone, but it's both deeply enjoyable and tight and focused, with a cast of likeable characters whose journey you'll want to see through.
An uninspired strategy RPG, Disciples: Domination offers an unremarkable experience that fails to stand out in a crowded genre. There are a few flashes of brilliance here and there – primarily with the morally challenging decisions that need to be made in the throne room – but otherwise this latest entry in the Disciples series fails to offer a compelling world to save.
Homura Hime is a blast, and it's the perfect love letter to the character action genre. In a world where these kinds of experiences are few and far between from big developers, it's so good to see an indie studio have a debut as strong as this.
A satisfying end to the story of Max and Chloe, Life is Strange: Reunion is a mature tale of the uncomfortable truth that you can't truly go back, only learn from your mistakes and go forward.
Damon and Baby is a game which is just sort of fine. It can be fun to play, but it just feels a bit repetitive most of the time, and neither the combat nor the story are engaging enough to really keep you locked in. I don't think it's a bad game, per say, but I do think it can be a bit dull, and that's just as bad a lot of the time.
EverSiege: Untold Ages strips away the ultra competitive aspects of a MOBA to create a solo or co-op game that feels nostalgic in a lot of ways. There's an awful lot to do here and loads of progression to unlock, which is always satisfying. I do hope they find a way to make the multiplayer feel more satisfying to share, and will be keeping an eye out for updates post-launch.
Legacy of Kain: Ascendance is a fun addition to the series and offers a nice shift in the wider narrative. The mix of nostalgic and new characters works well and series fans will be excited to finally play as Raziel in vampire form in particular. The combat is solid if a little repetitive, and the weird shifts in visual style are off-putting at times, but this is a good little spinoff that hopefully promises more adventures in Nosgoth to come.
Darwin's Paradox! is a lot of fun, the octopus and aliens theme is suitably absurd and comes with plenty of useful abilities that make the experience consistently unique and inventive. It is a short experience, which you should take into consideration, but it's one that's certainly worth playing.
The Switch 2's fighting game line-up is all the better for having Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O World Stage in it. In my humble opinion, this remains one of the best fighting games of all time, and the Switch 2 version looks and feels exactly as you'd hope, letting you take your one-on-one brawling on the go.