TheGamer's Reviews
All in all, Zero Parades has that ever-elusive quality of convincing you to keep playing: to find out what happens next, to unravel the narrative, to keep experiencing Portofiro.
It would be easy to say that Forza Horizon 6 is simply the best version of itself so far, and leave it at that, but that undersells what it truly achieves. It is an accumulation of its past five iterations, but somehow remains light on its feet.
InKonbini: One Store. Many Stories offers a short but very sweet slice-of-life game that makes you value the quiet moments and fleeting conversations you have with strangers. Much like our favourite convenience store snacks, it offers plenty of flavour in a bite-sized chunk that keeps our appetite satiated until the next eye-catching game comes along.
Although there are lots of ways to upgrade and decorate your van - which, I suppose, is just about the only saving grace of this game - I had absolutely zero interest in doing so.
Directive 8020 offers a few changes to the series template, and all for the very respectable reason of wanting to evolve and iterate the core gameplay fans know and love. Turning Points is a fantastic new addition, but the new stealth sections quickly became repetitive. Still, you can see the promising seed of what that idea could grow into in future games.
Despite the limited gameplay and slightly repetitive nature of wandering around rooms to click on objects, Mixtape is an experience I’ll remember for a long while. The sharp dialogue that feels real and stays the right side of grating, easy-going storytelling, excellent soundtrack, and supreme confidence to play around with the medium make Mixtape well worth tuning into, even if some will be put off by a perceived lack of things to do. I still haven’t really figured out if Mixtape is a video game, but I do know that I thoroughly recommend you give it a spin.
At the moment, Everything Is Crab is in a great state, but I think it’s missing a lot of content for more replayability and variation from run-to-run. I can see a ‘meta’ developing quickly, too, which will reduce choice even more. That being said, even in its current evolutionary form, I’d say this is one of the better roguelikes so far this year.
If you are looking for an interactive story-based cozy game, this is a rad choice. However, don’t expect much more from Wax Heads than a well-executed moral stand against an increasingly AI-loving, money-grabbing and overly-polished world of entertainment.
Dead as Disco is not only my favourite game I’ve played so far in 2026, but one that I can see being a true all-timer as more content is added and it’s polished up even more.
Masters of Albion’s little quirks and British humour make it endearing and funny, adding some much-appreciated details to what makes it stand out, like its crafting and odd building mechanics.
Invincible VS is a strong fighter that expertly captures the tone, spirit, and bloody chaos of the beloved source material.
All in all, Vampire Crawlers is a tremendous achievement. Everything here works almost flawlessly, with a gameplay loop that is quick, sharp, and smart. Genre transitions within the same game series rarely work so wonderfully, but Luca Galante and Poncle have created an incredible experience that will make you crave more, even if it overstays its welcome a tad for completionists.
Aphelion has everything I’d expect from a competent DON’T NOD project, from the sound design to the story to the characters and beyond. The narrative and two leading protagonists captivated me with struggles that felt well-acted, thematically rich and consistently surprising. I cared, and would have been utterly devastated if they had never made it back home.
Aside from those infrequent technical issues, this is a smooth, comforting, and narratively rich experience. Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth's balance of warmth and depth is everything I want from a cozy game in the modern era. I can already anticipate that I’ll be returning to the charm of Moominvalley in a few months, when the Lady of the Cold visits me as well.
It feels like one big adventure, and you’re only privy to one piece at a time. Delving into the depths of a foreign planet would usually be off-putting to me as a cozy gamer, but the world of Carcosa drew me in.
I enjoyed my 15 or so hours with Tides Of Tomorrow, but I won’t be replaying it. It’s a game that you could definitely replay if you vibe with it, because there are plenty of different choices that you - and whoever goes before you - can make, but I feel like I’ve got my fill of the world, and was generally satisfied with the outcome of my narrative. Even if I heard most of it before I got there.
Bright skies, calm waters, and a version of Sanctuary that hasn’t collapsed yet. So when it inevitably does, when Mephisto tightens his grip, and everything starts to crumble, it lands with more weight than it otherwise would.
Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is, crashes and caveats aside, an excellent game. Key is a triumph, the puzzles are imaginative, and the final chapter earns everything it demands of you. I’ve spent about 12 hours with it and I find myself wanting to talk about it with everyone who has ever shared even a flicker of an interest in Lovecraft with me. It’s a cosmic horror that brings classic tropes into futuristic dressing and manages to do that well. What’s not to like?
The more you put into this game, the more you’re going to get out of it. For me, it already feels like it has all the ingredients to become another cult classic masterpiece that will go down in history.
Sad Cat elegantly depicts these themes, and I believe anyone who plays Replaced is going to have an enlightening experience, which I imagine is exactly what the studio was going for.