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Escape Academy captures the spirit of escape rooms in excellent fashion, wrapping up a string of thoroughly enjoyable puzzle-filled levels in a light and quirky story. Puzzle aficionados might find it a little easy, but it's a commendable first effort that left me wanting more.
Outriders Worldslayer brings a fresh campaign and endgame to People Can Fly's game, but likely won't move the needle for those not already gripped by this third person looter shooter. The chaotic front-foot combat is fun, the boss battles challenging, and some of the weapons and abilities gloriously excessive, but many of the underlying flaws remain.
DNF Duel is a ridiculous fighting game in the best way possible. Simple inputs and meaty one-button attacks provide an easy entryway for beginners, but the advanced defensive mechanics and powerful properties of your attacks create fast & frenzied action that I can't get enough of. More importantly, the simplified inputs don't sacrifice the skill-ceiling - this game is full of depth and a ton of fun even at the highest level of play.
Spellforce 3 Reforced is a relatively successful combination of two genres. Though each of them separately might be a bit too simplified to please die hard fans of them, they complement each other well. They also tell an interesting story in a world that's pretty interesting, even if it isn't that novel. If you're in need of an RTS/RPG on console, you could do much worse than Spellforce 3. If you've got a PC though, you're probably better off playing on there.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is a nigh on perfect expansion, bringing meaningful gameplay change, charming new cast members, and most importantly, more monsters to hunt. It is, for those in the know, absolutely unmissable.
I've been eagerly anticipating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge ever since it was announced. My lofty expectations were ridiculously sky high and surely a bar that could never be reached. So, it is a statement of the game's quality that it exceeded even my wildest dreams. This is the best scrolling beat 'em up since Streets of Rage 4 and in the top ten of all time. A nostalgia-injected nunchuck whack of love to the brain, Shredder's Revenge It is not to be missed. Cowabunga indeed.
F1 22 is like a slice of birthday cake a couple days after the party. Someone (probably your dad) has pinched the glacé cherry from the cream splodge on top of your Black Forest Gateau, but your mum's put some regular cherries, banana and apple slices on the plate to it to make up for it. The fruit doesn't make sense, but the cake's still pretty good. Still, you're left dreaming of what next year's cake will be like. Maybe your cake engineer will be smart enough by then to actually know who you're racing against, and maybe Will Buxton will get some new jeans that don't look like they've carved out of stone. Maybe it'll be a carrot cake.
ANNO: Mutationem's sublime blending of 2D and 3D visuals is a delight to behold and a joy to experience. Fast-paced combat and competent RPG systems all deliver so, as long as you can accept the incomprehensible plot and naff dialogue, there's a lot to enjoy.
If interactive narrative adventures are your thing, then you won't find a better experience than Steve Jackson's Sorcery! This is a glorious achievement, epic in scope, crammed full of meaningful choices, and tremendous fun to play. Highly recommended.
Neon White is a love letter to turn-of-the-decade internet weirdos. It's full of rule-of-cool anime nostalgia, ear-shredding electronic music, and dialogue ripped straight out of my group chats. It's a genuine game made for an audience rarely prioritised, but even if you don't fit the archetypical person this game was made for, you're still in for the most stylish and satisfying action-platformer I've ever experienced.
Once the sun rises and the bloodbath ends, you'll be itching to play The Quarry again to see what other outcomes there are. this is Supermassive's most refined horror game to date, but it just falls short of snatching Until Dawn's gore-crusted crown.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is another enjoyable slice of Musou action, even if it does little to advance either franchise. Fans of Fire Emblem will adore chatting to the huge cast of returning characters as much as going into battle with them.
Capcom Fighting Collection plugs the gaps left in everyone's fighting game collection, sans Rival Schools of course. With lots of customisation available for how you play, ten excellent ports and a loaded museum, you'd be remiss to miss out on this excellent piece of history.
Starship Troopers: Terran Command is an interesting experience. It doesn't do anything particularly original, or push the RTS genre in any way, but it perfectly mimics the aesthetic and humour of the original film, making for a pleasant, if somewhat frustrating RTS experience.
Redout 2 is brutal, beautiful, and insanely fast. This is the first anti-grav racing sim, and we didn't even have to wait until 2048 to get started.
Remote Life is a great shmup that's as creative as it is tense and challenging. The story and art direction are dark and grim, with more presence than is strictly necessary, but enhances the game's aethestic. If old school shooters are your thing then Remote life is one to check out.
Mario Strikers Battle League is a worthy entry in an excellent series that takes the best aspects of the previous games and hones them to multiplayer perfection. It is more difficult to recommend for solo players – although the core game is still fun – but hopefully the online mode will enable everyone to play the game at its best. Check back soon for the definitive verdict once we've had a chance to give it a try
It is a shame that Samurai Riot Definitive Edition has such numerous technical issues, because they impact what would be a decent side scrolling brawler. Without the issues, the game would be a decent thing to play. One run through the game takes approximately two hours, but in its current state Samurai Riot is just frustrating.
A colourful world, an emergent soundtrack and tight controls make Ynglet one of the most memorable indie games I've played in some time. On occasion, the level design could be a little confusing, but it was never enough to ruin my experience. From start to finish, Ynglet is an exhilarating adventure based in a stunning world.
Cotton Fantasy is a beautiful love-letter to the best parts of an iconic, decades-old shoot-em-up franchise. The characters are cuter than ever, the shooting is funner than ever, and the wide variety of play styles and bonus stages to master makes this a game worth returning to plenty of times over.