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Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a worthy "continuation" of the saga for me. Personally, I like the amount of open combat and acting from the shadows. Fans will have to break free a bit from Ezio and the awesome missions where you weren't allowed to be discovered. That rarely happens. Valhalla is just great, fun and offers a lot of playtime for the money. This is marred by the sheer number of bugs. On the one hand, there are some people who were fortunately not affected by them, and on the other hand, like me, where everything just goes wrong. With patch 1.0.2 I was on the verge of leaving the game for now, if I hadn't gotten it for a test. 1.0.4 is unfortunately not much better. There, completely different errors have crept in with me. Against Valhalla, Unity was a smooth release, to put it in perspective. Unfortunately, all these errors overshadowed the really well-done game, whereby there were probably also problems with digital pre-orders at the time of release and fans couldn't even start on time. So much went wrong that the mixed ratings don't surprise us. Assassin's Creed Valhalla is definitely a worthy Assassin's Creed, if you look past the flaws and take in the overall concept. Hardcore fans can already grab it, but if you don't necessarily want to play AC "right away", wait for a few more patches until a certain stability is established and you can play without fear of your score being destroyed or a quest not starting.

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The graphic of 18 floors is very nice to look at. Only rarely does a slight edge flicker cloud the otherwise excellent overall impression. Also in terms of sound everything is very harmonious. Only the controls can be described as more than choppy and brings the player to despair at times. The puzzle adventure on the PS4 can only be controlled with two move controllers and too often you have to start several times to get hold of an object. In addition a free movement control would have been desirable and also extremely advantageous. Because you can only move by teleportation, you have to readjust one or two times to get to the desired position. In 18 floors there is English voice output, but German screen texts. All in all we liked the game design and the audiovisual presentation of 18 floors quite well and for puzzle fans there is a clear recommendation to buy.

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Predator: Hunting Grounds has a lot of potential that is currently not being exploited. The asymmetrical game principle is basically well implemented, but unfortunately it is thrown over by the immature balancing. The template is made for this and it is to be hoped that Illfonic will add a little more. Revise the balancing, add a few maps and please improve the technique a little bit, then the whole thing can still develop.

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WarioWare: Get It Together! is a nice collection of different microgames under time pressure. Very often I found that you have much less time to understand and master the individual games. Fortunately, there is a training mode where you can work off these disadvantages. Unfortunately, however, long-term motivation falls by the wayside. After a good three hours, the main part is done, and if you invest a few more hours afterwards, all the microgames are done at least once. The cosmetic changes also don't bring the freshness that the developer probably imagined. It would have been more interesting if each character had special skins. What the title definitely shines with, however, is the multiplayer. Online or locally, you will have fun with the creative games and crazy sceneries. For single player, the air is out very quickly and you have to think carefully about whether you want to pay the full price.

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Outriders has been struggling with various problems since launch. The servers are now stable, at least I can speak for Xbox and Stadia, and fortunately I have been spared the worst bugs. The developer "People Can Fly" works daily in the background on the stability as well as availability of the game and keeps the community up to date at all times. You can get first-hand information via Twitter and Reddit. With Outriders, a shooter was created that unites gamers of all platforms via crossplay, but unfortunately does not support crosssave. Personally, I'm extremely annoyed that you have to collect the mods again for each character. After more than 50 hours, I still don't have all of them from level 2, let alone the third. The story surprised me because it's actually pretty good. I didn't expect to be served a viable story to such a shooter. Not one sequence or conversation did I want to skip, which is saying a lot. I'm having an incredible amount of fun with Outriders, but you also have to be patient, because not everything runs as smoothly as the developer would like. Especially a bug that deletes your entire inventory is still being acutely analyzed, although changes have already been made on the server side. Therefore, I only recommend Outriders to a limited extent. If you can wait, you should do so at the moment. In a few weeks, the shooter will surely run very stable and largely bug-free. If you disregard the problems and think a few weeks into the future, Outriders is/will be a clear buy recommendation.

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Remothered: Tormented Fathers is a quite successful "Hide-and-Seek" horror game. The atmosphere is harmonious and the story is sweeping. Some people might find the constant running and hiding annoying, but once you have mastered it, you will be rewarded with an interesting story.

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void tRrLM(); Void Terrarium is a rogue-like title as there are quite a few already. But there are special features that made me play the game longer than I first thought. On the one hand you have a wonderfully mysterious relationship between the robot and Toriko. The girl seems small and fragile and the robot has the same characteristics. But in the course of the story it turns out that the robot is more than nothing and fragile, it is strong and brave! Exactly this development has been well done and NIS America has made the best use of the emotions and the setting.

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Orcs Must Die! 3 is recommended for both newcomers and veterans to the series. With the mobile Stadia App the battles can also be fought on the sofa without access to the TV. In my case, I used a Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Lite, which, like its big brothers, is officially supported. If you don't have an alternative to the Google controller, you can also connect it directly via the app since the last big update. The touch function didn't really score here with the sometimes quite hectic gameplay. A nice continuation of the storyline, cool music, funny sound effects and absolutely smooth gameplay leave little to be desired. The entry into the genre is made easy for newbies, but also old masters are challenged. Varied scenarios provide enough variety and let you start the tower defense game again and again, even if it's just for a quick match. I'm curious in which direction Orcs Must Die! 3 will develop and how it looks like with more content in the future.

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I like the principle of Battle Royale in combination with Bomberman quite well, although it takes some time to get into the game. Konami already thought about all the important components at the start: Battle Pass, ranks, cosmetic items, different characters and emotes! I'm sure you'll catch some gamers, including me, and entice them to daddle. The gameplay is fluid, even if it is hectic in some places. But this is not surprising on the small maps and more and more exploding bombs. What I miss is a kind of campaign that you could finish with your friends. Private games can be depicted, but they are something different. For a real bomberman of the old school, I simply lack such content. On the other hand, Super Bomberman R Online doesn't want to be just that anymore and for ~10€ you get a lot of fun and playtime. Stadia Pro users benefit twice as much because the game is included in the membership.

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For me Xuan Yuan Sword 7 was a wonderful surprise, discovered shortly before release and convinced by a trailer to take a look, I was not disappointed. The game is so wonderfully unobtrusive and definitely doesn't crave the "RPG Hit 2021" trophy, and despite a fast travel system, it's so pleasantly linear. It offers pretty much all the aspects you'd expect from a role-playing game and still only has one thing in mind, which is to keep the player well entertained and I really liked that. That's why it's also a 内幕消息 for me.

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I'm always happy when I hear that remakes or remasters of JRPGs will be released, and Legend of Mana was no exception. After the well-done Trails of Mana, I was in enormous anticipation, but unfortunately it was not satisfied. Legend of Mana is a role-playing game that was innovative in the area of presentation and storytelling 20 years ago. But today it can't keep up these aspects. Is it on the one hand because the style mix of new backgrounds and old sprites really harmonize in my opinion, on the other hand also because of the weak protagonist. With this character, I never felt as if he had a purpose or development in the game. What saves the story, however, are the wonderful supporting characters. The charming characters, were able to keep me glued to the game even over a long period of time. It should also be noted that although the main plot is missing, the short stories were convincing. For gamers who don't have much time to follow a long story, this aspect is convincing. Exciting stories can be experienced again and again in small bites. All in all, you have to have a love for old JRPGs and innovative ideas to like Legend of Mana. But if you get involved, you'll experience a smorgasbord of different stories and loving characters in a good forty hours.

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Conarium is a successful, playable H.P. Lovecraft story. The game can be mastered without major problems, but doesn't rely on hard head shots in gameplay and puzzles. Conarium is a classic point & click adventure with a playing time of about four to five hours, which convinces by its atmospheric implementation.

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Code Vein makes the entry into the Soulslike genre relatively easy. But that doesn't mean that the game becomes a pleasant walk through the forest. You will die and not once or twice, but very often, but Code Vein takes the player by the hand. The story is served to you on a plate. You don't have to puzzle the story together with item descriptions. But the constant comparison with the titles of From Software is not really necessary, because Code Vein has its own features that are way ahead of Dark Souls. So the blood codes are an enormous enrichment in the game. You can adapt the game to the situation so that no frustrating moments arise. In my opinion, the title is more of a souls-lite. The game remains challenging to the end, but I never had the feeling to have such a subjective difficulty as in Dark Souls. If you have a soft spot for anime and want to try a game similar to Dark Souls, Code Vein is the right choice. It offers everything you need to get started in the genre.

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For OlliOlli World, I first looked at the predecessors, since I hadn't played them up to that point. Although the current part builds on those, you can feel the improvements not only in the graphics. The demanding gameplay is certainly quite special, because I don't recommend the skater game for casuals. You will only get frustrated. You need time and especially patience to master the controls and complete the levels perfectly. If these "requirements" are met and you enjoy skating, then you are in the right place. The colorful and fun OlliOlli World then knows how to thrill and captivate you. In the end, I enjoyed it so much that I also played the predecessors more intensively. OlliOlli World is a successful video game, which is easy to learn, but hard to perfect with its great variety of tricks.

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Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is really successful and has improved on its predecessor. Great approaches in game design, fantastic maps, great sniping, great designed missions, that's really fun.

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Mario Golf: Super Rush joins the ranks of Nintendo's various simulation games. Even though the title has more simulation aspects than other representatives, like Mario Kart or Mario Football, the game is fun. However, with Battle Golf, you get the typical and insane gameplay presented. When it comes to the adventure mode, I would have liked to see more variety in terms of character selection. It's all well and good if you can experience the adventure with your Mii, but I would have been more pleased if I could go on this journey with Warluigi. But in the end, you only get real fun when you play with several people. Mario Golf: Super Rush offers both online mode and local co-op. These modes are well done and do what you expect. All in all, golf fans will get their money's worth and have a lot of fun with the title. However, if you have nothing to do with golf, it will be difficult to enjoy the game.

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Mario Kart Live - Home Circuit is a new version of the classic racing game. The AR features are refreshing and a lot of fun. Bringing the aspect of the race track into the living room was a clever move by Nintendo. With the right size there are no limits to your fantasy. The co-op mode is unfortunately not possible online. You are limited here to the local version. Why Nintendo considered this step, I did not understand. I imagine it to be especially funny to play with players all over the world in their living rooms.

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Need for Speed as a series is not easy at the moment, although most games were not bad at all. But with every new announcement a large part of the fans hopes that either "Underground" will appear in the name or even better that the game will pick up the concept. Especially Need for Speed Underground 2 has a huge fanbase. If a remaster is announced, the fans have a justified hope that it could be their favorite. If you leave the disappointment that it didn't happen like that aside, you have to say objectively that you made a comprehensible choice with Need for Speed Hot Pursuit. The title came off quite well, basically reflects the concept of the series and is quite fun. One will like the single player area, the other one prefers the multiplayer mode and surely there are many who find good entertainment in both variants. Visually the game is no revelation even as a remaster, if you look at Need for Speed Heat for example. But they managed to eliminate the technical flaws of the original version, like edge flickering and muddy textures, and with greater visibility, higher resolution, new environment elements and better performance they made the whole thing a fun title even in 2020. Since this is not a full-price title either, a fan of action-packed frenzies is definitely entitled to strike.

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Yes, Warrior's Orochi 4 Ultimate sticks to its principles. You shred your way through masses of enemy hordes and get an increasingly strong troop. The game principle is clear and simple. The total package brings a lot of features that were necessary. Especially the aspect that you can now exchange the holy treasures is something I wanted. The story around Gaia and Hades brings new life into the otherwise boring plot. If you haven't bought Warrior's Orochi 4 yet and you have a preference for the genre, you can confidently go for the Ultimate version.

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Monkeys, man's best friends! This motto can be applied very well to The Survivalists. Without the hairy companion, you are very quickly lost at the title. The game offers a solid sandbox survival adventure with strengths and weaknesses. The crafting aspect is the highlight of the title. Many different items need to be built by the stranded person to make island life bearable. Also the constant hunger is not as bad as it sounds at the beginning. Since the food can't rot, you can build a big camp. On the negative side, it should be mentioned that crafting often gets in the way of itself. If you want to create several objects at the same time, you can do this in a detour. Also, if you have several monkeys, it can get confusing if you want to teach a certain monkey something. All in all The Survivalists remains a beautifully designed survival game with an enormous learning curve. The different biomes are nice to look at and a long-term motivation is definitely given by the different generated worlds.

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