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The biggest problem with 'Harvest Moon Light of Hope' is ultimately the existence of competitor Stardew Valley and the associated evidence of how it simply gets better. Quests and tasks in 'Light of Hope' are extremely repetitive and only slightly loosen up the already monotonous daily life of the farmers. The extremely obscure balancing of the sources of income on the farm and the profitable secondary occupations is more than questionable and motivational. Exclusive features for the Nintendo Switch as well as the PlayStation 4, a dissipated (background) story as well as animating card expansions during the course of the game show the first ambitions of developer Natsume to bring the framing series back to its successful roots. In combination with the inorganic and lifeless game world and the futile prioritization of the main quests, 'Light of Hope' looks like an ambitious but never-ending attempt to pull the Harvest Moon series out of the swamp of trifles. At no point does the farming simulation dare a fight with King Stardew Valley's genre - the chances against the heavyweight genre would also be truly hopeless. The competitor 'Harvest Moon Light of Hope', which is over 30€ more expensive, loses not only in terms of price-performance ratio. Those who wish for an idyllic life on a farm - without cutbacks, technical mistakes and in a loving pixel look - should continue to pick up the indie hit Stardew Valley.

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Unfortunately, I am personally very disappointed with Silent Hill: The Short Message. Even though it's a free game, Konami has left a lot of potential untapped here. The creative minds could have put a bit more effort into the possible new direction of the franchise. The storyline is in tune with the times, really important and well told. Both visually and acoustically. Only the lame strolling through the predetermined corridors of the building, coupled with the unfair and completely confusing chase passages, really spoil the fun of the game. Owners of a PlayStation 5 can of course form their own opinion free of charge, but shouldn't expect too much.

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Besides the prominent pro- or antagonists like zombies and vampires in recent years, Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood positively stands out from the crowd with the rather stepmotherly treated werewolves. Unfortunately, that's almost all that can be said positively about the title. But don't misunderstand - Werewolf isn't a bad game per sé, it's just mediocre: Graphics and story look old, especially in direct comparison with other recently released titles, many parts like the skill tree seem to be seen as a must rather than a real enrichment for the game and the short game duration of about eight hours isn't convincing either. Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood seems to want a lot, but not be able to accomplish that much. At least there could have been more of the heavy metal music.

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Oh, how beautiful the game could have been. Unfortunately, so much potential was thrown away during the video game implementation of the Netflix production. Besides the fantastic puppet epic, this game here unfortunately seems like a loveless attempt to make some money out of the Netflix success. There is a lack of attention to detail at every corner. Thral could have offered so much, but nothing was taken advantage of. The story presentation alone could have looked so much better. A co-op multiplayer might have been able to give it a little bit more, but again the chance was missed. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics is nothing more than a mediocre lap strategy game to me - it could have been so much more.

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With Atlas Fallen, Deck 13 fearlessly enters a completely new competitive situation, provides a fundamental synergy thanks to coherent game elements, which ultimately creates a recognition value that can justify the entire project. The clear focus on the offensive brings an action-heavy, sometimes motivating battle to light, which never frustrates despite its performance-driven orientation, but instead benefits from its simplicity and the trivial, tactical component. As well thought-out and coherent as the combat system initially appears, the action role-playing game is short-lived in its entirety. Atlas Fallen ultimately fails primarily due to its long-term motivation: both the narrative, thanks to its staging omissions and its emotional superficiality, as well as the redundant, even lifeless game world seem like foreign bodies, squander enormous potential and make sure that you have to find yourself in the genre mediocrity - which can definitely get lost in this year's high-quality release clutter.

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I would like to get more out of Dead Island 2. But unfortunately, neither the narrative emptiness, the uninspired mission design nor the repetitive gameplay loop can really pull me along. Yes, I had fun, especially in the first few hours, enjoying the gore effects and just bluntly beating my way through hordes of zombies. But the poorly balanced progression also let me go just as quickly. The humor, too, unfortunately didn't pick me up in almost any minute. The overall solid combat system is the lynchpin of the title, though. If you had a lot of fun with the first game, you might also like part 2, because despite the long development time, it is very close to the original. However, if you need variety, a growing battle system, and generally anything beyond that in terms of story and interesting characters, Dead Island 2 is at best something for the Christmas Sale at the end of the year. After 9 years of development rollercoaster, the action game is not a disaster, but it still dares frighteningly little to stand out by anything.

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In a nutshell, Potion Permit is a good game for all gamers who are simply looking for a simple game to relax a bit while gaming. The game is pretty and can be quite entertaining, but it also has a few weak points. Those who simply want to switch off a bit at the end of the day will have fun with Potion Permit.

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Where for years one superlative followed the next, where exaggeration had to serve as a leitmotif instead of a stylistic device, where blunt self-indulgence justified an entire franchise, developer Volition now courageously trades its unique selling proposition for... well, for what, actually? Apparently against an unjustified shitstorm, an angry crowd of fans and yes, a successful new beginning. Saints Row shows itself to be much more grounded, more tangible and just in this way can make use of a modern interpretation of "exaggeration". According to the motto: back to accessibility, back to the mass market. A return that the franchise unmistakably needed more than badly. Admittedly, Volition has definitely put the game in reverse gear a bit too ambitiously. Where the tone of the game is clearly more modern, entire gameplay elements as well as the visual design seem completely out of time. A trivial skill system, a lifeless game world, flippant gunplay all seem out of place in 2022, but also undeniably bring those glorious oldschool vibes. Saints Row is still full of absurdities that are unparalleled, but is discrepantly wonderfully unexciting in terms of gameplay. If Volition could now bring the technical shortcomings into the modern age, I would completely agree with the US studio when they say: As soon as a franchise can't take any more superlatives, you just have to go back to the beginning.

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Battlefield 2042 is currently at best a small, unhealthy snack for on the go, which you absolutely had to buy, but always in the knowledge that it never really takes place nor tastes particularly good. The three big game modes offer a colorful potpourri with something for every type of player, but none of the concepts is really mature. Long-term motivation is lacking shortly after release: The lack of a checkout system seems immature in places, numerous bugs slow down the flow of the game, and missing scoreboards and ranked matches take even more tension out of the gameplay loop. Battlefield 2042 is so trimmed for entertaining fun that it completely loses sight of its possibilities. The focus is clearly on more chaos and less game depth, more trends and less team play, new superlatives but unfortunately less Battlefield. Battlefield 2042 is quick fun for a round in between, but will have a hard time holding its own on the highly competitive shooter market.

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While Shin Megami Tensei has only been able to glimpse the shining spotlight in the shadow of its sibling series Persona, developer Atlus is now making a rather timid attempt to step out of it with the fifth installment of the main series. By turning away from the traditional dungeon crawler concept to a much more open level structure, they skillfully create a synergy effect that clearly enhances the actually insubstantial gameplay loop motivationally and indisputably decorates it with a comprehensible justification. The depth of the role-playing system as well as the animating collecting mania through the whimsical demons cleverly counteract the merciless difficulty level without demoralizing the player too much. Meanwhile, the plot is largely utilitarian, even insubstantial, motivating the player to really want to participate in the storyline only in the smaller, more emotional moments. On top of that, the Nintendo Switch exclusivity clearly limits the role-playing game technically, which shouldn't be particularly beneficial for the family's race to catch up and only raises the question about the relevance of the current revision of the hybrid console once again. Even if Shin Megami Tensei still can't move in the highly praised spheres of a Persona, Atlus still manages to deliver a more than solid overall construct thanks to the given innovations, which should shorten the wait for the next full-fledged spin-off, not least for the Persona fan community. It's a good thing that the apple usually never falls far from the tree.

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Biomutant can at best be described as an unexciting and unmotivated gameplay mash-up that never really outgrows its 08/15 status. In short: The RPG doesn't hurt anyone and certainly doesn't mark a total failure, but it is still far too immature and doesn't really seem to have been thought through to the end at any point. In the end, the cuddly adventure degenerates into an undemanding and perhaps even child-friendly action game for entertaining fun, which is still searching for its own identity. Admittedly, some interesting and creative ideas have been incorporated here and there, but they never quite want to coalesce into a homogeneous mass. It seems as if Biomutant simply got lost in the abundance of its individual parts. The bottom line is that our Frankenstein monster will probably need a bit more than just a few additional seams until it is actually fully functional.

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Watch Dogs: Legion offers a solid game principle that knows how to entertain - at least temporarily. A free narrative is deliberately created here, which could playfully offer undeniable new opportunities, but narrative balances on a fine line between emotion-free narrative structure and individualizable adventure. In this breakneck balancing act, Watch Dogs: Legion loses itself in a sober, generic narrative that, due to its pale character drawings and the playful omissions that accompany them, was never really allowed to keep up with its predecessors. Thanks to interchangeable characters, an unbalanced skill system and redundant game elements, Ubisoft is only marginally able to continuously exploit the potential behind the new unique selling point. Instead, the hacker IP gets lost in a jumble of well-intentioned but half-baked game approaches that ultimately fail to prove themselves on a motivational level. The manifold solution options as well as the tricky level structures should, however, at least provide for entertaining gaming fun. Despite the new approach, Ubisoft simply doesn't risk enough to really step out of the worn out, playful structures of its predecessors and burden the game principle with a little more relevance and "unconsumption". But as the saying goes: "He who does not dare does not win!

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Summer in Mara has real potential to become a strong indie game with an addictive element. However, it still lacks too many nooks and crannies to be really fun all the time. At the moment Summer in Mara is something for those players who are looking for a very simple adventure game, which can be played on the side and doesn't demand too much attention.

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In my test I tried to stay as objective as possible, especially because otherwise I'm not really a player of such genres. And yet, in the short time I played Snowrunner, I actually enjoyed it. Although I do see some problems here: For example, the tasks are just too repetitive to be really motivated to put much more hours into the title than I have done so far. Furthermore, the gameplay is also clearly too slow for me. The only reason why I would play the Snowrunner longer would be the multiplayer - as soon as it runs stable at some point. Even though my opinion is rather reserved, I can see the hype among the target group and can understand why the title is played passionately.

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Pity. I was really looking forward to the release of 'Disaster Report 4: Summer Memories'. The title lured me by the exciting premise of not being a hero who defies a supernatural threat, but simply a man who faces a devastating natural disaster. Basically, 'Disaster Report 4' delivers exactly that and in its best moments, the title knows how to make your pulse race. Unfortunately, these moments are rare, or they are undermined by the poor technique and presentation. Far too often I found myself thinking that a sequence could have been potentially outstanding if the antiquated game mechanics hadn't gotten in the way. All great approaches are thus nipped in the bud, which I regretted painfully when testing. Not only the playful rays of hope suffer from this deficient technical framework - the entire game ailments from dusty mechanics. In all regularity we wander aimlessly through the shattered areas of the city, with no clue as to how to proceed. This helplessness also runs through various other game principles, which often leads to frustration. Nevertheless, especially sensitive scenes drew me to the controller again and again and made me sigh, how unfortunate it is, that such promising potential remained untapped.

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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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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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Alt-Frequencies has become a nice little in-between thriller that works especially well on a smartphone. Just don't expect a gripping story on triple A level and don't be disappointed by the sometimes simple puzzles. So the title does justice to its price of just a few Euros and is suitable for a longer train or car ride.

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On paper, the alliance between cult developer id-Software and the still quite young open-world enthusiast Avalanche Studios should actually work out brilliantly, the digital reality unfortunately now shows us a different picture. While id-Software masters its paradediscipline in the shooter segment not surprisingly with the unerring mixture of known retro charm and modern action fireworks, the open game world with its lack of motivation and fatal unkindness limps ahead. The repetitive quests paired with the monotonous, imposed jaunts and the flat, emotionless story, skilfully help RAGE 2 to gamble away tons of potential. If you are looking for entertaining entertainment with outstanding gunplay and can accept various weaknesses and an abundance of repetitions, you should take a closer look at RAGE 2.

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Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is a refreshing multiplayer experiment in the Naruto universe, which at first glance can't stand out from the standard anime bowler mush either because of its size or its ingenuity. Although Shinobi Striker relies on a small gamut, especially in terms of mission selection, classes and the available VR masters, he can score with his multiplayer component and motivating skill system. The reduced graphic quality, the insignificant story structure and the manageable content, however, give the title an additional bland aftertaste, which consistently gnaws at the long-term motivation. Naruto to Boruto is a nice accessory for all fans of the lively Jinchuuriki and for those who can't wait for the next serious Naruto beat-up. For all the others, the arena beatings will sooner or later offer too little added value due to the manageable size of the arena.

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