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Obsidian Entertainment is making a flight of fancy with the role-playing game The Outer Worlds, which Bethesda was denied last year. Despite the strongly linear structures and the half-open, lifeless areas, The Outer Worlds indisputably follows in the big AAA footsteps of the Fallout franchise without embarrassing itself. Thanks to the great variance of decision possibilities and the deeply rooted moral system, the American studio also enhances the marginal complexity behind the role-playing construct, which above all benefits the narrative with its humorous touch and entertaining social criticism. Obsidian Entertainment simply relies on the player as an unforeseen variable to counter repetitive influences. With the versatile solutions and the opaque moral component, the Fallout New Vegas developer finally gives Bethesda instructions on how to pull up the controls of a crashing plane.

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Blacksad: Under the Skin is an exciting adventure game that will take you back to the 50s. Only in the technical implementation there are flaws that cloud the overall picture of the game. Apart from that, Blacksad entertains well and offers some entertaining hours, especially for fans of detective stories.

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Death Stranding manages to establish a whole new kind of action adventure and is unique down to the last detail. The gameplay is driven primarily by the complete player networking, so that "Death Stranding" allows a whole host of exciting interaction possibilities. The story itself is as gripping as it is bizarre and dares to address serious social issues. Also from a technical point of view "Death Stranding" shines in absolute perfection and leaves no reason for complaints. If you can and want to get involved with "Death Stranding", you will experience a game of a special kind, that courageously goes its own way.

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"Concrete Genie" is a magical action-adventure, which tells an emotional story in a gentle way. It's a lot of fun to swing the brush and create colorful djinn out of nothing. The artful puzzles provide the player with ever new story snippets and also invite to a cute interaction with the friendly spirit beings. If you are looking for an extraordinary game that appeals to the player's creative talent, "Concrete Genie" is a small work of art among the games.

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Altogether The Surge 2 is a successful sequel, which not only reinterprets the usual Souls mechanics, but has completely developed its own gameplay mechanics and puts them in the foreground. It plays faster and more fluently than its predecessor. The combat system is simply successful and is enormously fun with the wonderfully animated finish moves. Only the less impressive design of the bosses and thus also the boss fights lag behind those of the predecessor. The basic story of the game is very interesting and even has some social criticism traits. However, the plot quickly degenerates into a boring scavenger hunt. However, this doesn't harm the motivation to explore the interesting world, to find and level up Loot.

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No matter how you turn it around, Ubisoft makes an exemplary crash landing with Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint. What seems promising in theory, has serious problems in practice - this time Ubisoft's generic formula is much harder than expected. Ubisoft relies on a simple milkmaid calculation, which in the end doesn't work out surprisingly: more levels, more loops, more content, but also more of the bugs and the tiring uniformity. A service game through and through, where the entertainment factor has to stay on the sidelines for the benefit of the commercial idea. Hardcore fans will still be able to make peace due to the immense size of the game and the continued support, everyone else should at least wait until Breakpoint has survived his teething troubles.

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"Code Vein" may at first glance remind you of the genre bombast Dark Souls, but thanks to original ideas the game manages to go its own way, especially when it comes to gameplay. With the blood codes, the skill system is very comprehensive and gives players the opportunity to adapt their own fighting style at any time and use it strategically. The helpful AI companions will also come in handy for players who quickly reach their frustration limit with Dark Souls and Co. The level design itself invites you to discover and puzzle, but in terms of design it still falls short of its potential. Code Vein" is an action-packed anime RPG for friends of the genre as well as newcomers, which shines above all in its battles.

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Borderlands 3 is able to skillfully enhance the unique selling points of its predecessors without losing its characteristic focus on cooperative gameplay and its motivations. Numerous minimal modifications within the varied maps, the pronounced individualization options within the skill trees as well as the original boss fights make it possible for Gearbox's successful series to secure the place on the genre throne as a matter of course. Despite the rather uniform main missions, the generic antagonist and its technical deficits, the co-op shooter overcomes the motivational hurdle, not least because of its improved loot offering and the mature endgame concept. With Borderland's 3 humorous charms including his loving cell sading graphic style, we are no less faced with a timeless co-op adventure that might turn our leisure activities upside down for the time being.

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"The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" proves to be a charming remake with a modern look and the popular game mechanics of the original. Once again, the mystical island of Cocolint will be the setting for puzzles, research and immersion in a world full of wondrous creatures. Although "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" has a contemporary look, connoisseurs of the classic will quickly recognize the individual locations and enemies. Only the dungeon editor still lets air up and offers a rather entertaining pleasure. Zelda lovers and retro fans can indulge in nostalgia with "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" and should not miss this title.

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With "Blair Witch" the developer studio Bloober Team has succeeded in creating a solid horror title, which offers good story technical approaches, but can't fully exploit its potential. Even though the atmospheric sound and the use of dark colors completely convey the feeling of disorientation, the game lacks captivating gameplay mechanics. The interaction with the animal companion as well as the use of flashlight and cam fits perfectly to the setting - but the very generic puzzles quickly cause boredom. And even if the first minutes of the game guarantee a real goose bump feeling, you'll be sobered when you notice that the eponymous Blair witch doesn't really make a big entrance in "Blair Witch". Fans of atmospheric horror games can get their own picture of the Black Hills Forest - but you shouldn't hope for the big scary scenes.

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Remnant: From the Ashes is an uncompromising Loot-Shooter in the Souls garb, who doesn't succeed in combining the best of both worlds despite his great ambitions. But if you disregard the small technical weaknesses and some questionable design decisions, Remnant knows how to motivate over longer distances, not least thanks to his reward system. The new procedurally generated levels are a nice, diversified bonus, but not every genre fan should like them. If you've always wanted to play a Soulsbourne title together with friends, Remnant: From the Ashes is undeniably the best chance.

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Wolfenstein: Youngblood manages, at least against the competition, to create a coherent, cooperative game structure, which, however, is stumbling especially on the motivational level. The initial narrative profundity paired with the excessive, hyperbolic spikes neither manage to successfully level the following story neglect nor the missing sympathy of a Wolfenstein. The usual level of difficulty and the resulting tactical scale can at least temporarily comfort the viewer about the repetitive structures and banalities within the quest structure. Meanwhile, both the solid technical framework and the visual dedication, along with Bethesda's attractive Buddy Pass offer, manage to give Youngblood at least some of the raison d'être it desperately needs. What remains is an entertaining journey into the abstruse realms of the parodistic 80s, which thanks to a high degree of uniformity and an inconsistent narrative ultimately gambles away immense potential.

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Night Call feels like solving a puzzle without having seen the picture on the packaging. It therefore works best when you drive through the wet streets of Paris, throw yourself into the conversations and just let the case come to you. It turns out to be a dark secret who the killer is after all. One thing's for sure: the killer himself is the least interesting narrative element in the game.

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A little minecraft and a pinch of Harvest Moon paired with action RPG elements make Dragon Quest Builders 2 a fun game with a few smaller corners and edges. If you can get along with the mass of text and the rather simple story, you get a really fun game that can captivate for hours.

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Judgment is an exciting detective adventure that follows the paths of the Yakuza series. The new characters are all sympathetic, while the story is a motivating pacing. Thanks to the new game mechanics a fresh breeze enters Kamurocho, sweetening the return of Yakuza fans to Shinjuku. In a direct comparison with star lawyer Phoenix Wright, however, the Japanese detective gets the short end of the stick. The game never has a too big claim, we searched for tricky cases in vain. An English voice output, a completely self-sufficient storyline and the accessible level of difficulty make the title a successful entry point, especially for newcomers, that wonderfully shows what kind of games the guys and girls of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio can create.

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The Nintendo Switch port of Dead in Vinland leaves me with mixed feelings. While managing one's own village and several individuals is a lot of fun, the fear of the permanent death of a character drives me and the size kills me in a positive sense, unfortunately I can't ignore the quirks of the title. The fighting system lacks the necessary depth and the finishing touches, the presentation of the many texts in handheld mode is cruel and the dialogue system isn't flawless either. For the rather low price, however, genre fans get a concentrated load of Survival RPG here, which can tie them up over 40 hours before the switch. But for that you have to be able to overlook the errors.

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Stranger Things 3: The Game is a must for all fans of the series. With its 16-bit look, beautiful animations and great soundtrack, it captures the charm of the Netflix production almost perfectly. Also, the split-screen mode is simply great, because this feeling of playing together fits very nicely with the series and Netflix in general. In my opinion, you can ignore the slight jolts during big brawls and the relatively poor gameplay, because otherwise the whole package is convincing. For someone who hasn't warmed up with the series yet but wants a retro-adventure, the current price of about 20€ could be a bit daunting.

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"Super Mario Maker 2" not only proves to be a worthy successor, but also adds a lot of fun in terms of construction. Nintendo has raised the voices of many fans and offers players comprehensive editors with which creative minds can let off steam for hours on end. While the Adventure mode doesn't offer a thrilling story, it's designed to give newcomers to building a good impression of the interplay of different level elements. But of course pure gamers also get their money's worth and can try out the absolute highlights among the creative works of other players thanks to various rankings and a comprehensive detailed search. Both die-hard Mario fans and creative builders will once again get their money's worth in Super Mario Maker 2.

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On the whole, I definitely had a lot of fun with Team Sonic Racing. Graphically and sound technically I was really convinced. Unfortunately, as a switch player, I had to lose a bit during the performance. Team Sonic Racing is a solid, arcadic funracer and, despite some criticism, cuts a good figure. The adventure mode, which unfortunately didn't go down so well with me, doesn't offer a profound story, but crisp challenges and some variety. But Sega: The technology and the concept are great, but please take the "Sega All-Stars" on board again next time. Finally, I can only warmly recommend PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC gamers - even switch owners can access it courageously, but Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is still the undisputed front-runner here.

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"Observation" turns out to be an exciting sci-fi thriller that makes use of a unique concept and gives the player a completely new perspective. With each additional puzzle, the player delves deeper into the dark history of space and is driven by the question of the original events. Even though the game concept and storytelling are convincing, the gameplay is sometimes a bit difficult due to the catchy and partly generic puzzles. All in all, players with "Observation" get a thrilling sci-fi adventure, which can convince with its story as well as audio-visually.

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