Gaming Professors

Compared to other virtual reality rail shooters, The Dark Pictures: Switchback VR stands out for its solid production values and, to some extent, serves to showcase the strengths of the PS VR2 platform. However, in terms of gameplay, it falls somewhere in the middle. The game can therefore be recommended primarily to fans of the genre whose appetite for digital shooting outweighs their disappointment with its minor shortcomings.

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Immediately after its release in 2020, Hades caused quite a stir and was a hit with both critics and players. And rightly so. If you’ve fallen in love with the rogue-lite genre, there’s basically no reason to play anything else. Hades has left all its competitors far behind and leads the pack with its gameplay, strong story, likable characters, and pleasantly high difficulty—one that’s challenging without being frustrating.

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The remastered Quake II is the best possible version of this game, which stands as one of the cornerstones of the modern first-person shooter genre. It’s a must-play for both newcomers—who weren’t even born when the original game was released—and gaming veterans alike. Thanks to thoughtful improvements to the audiovisual presentation and gameplay, as well as added content, they’re in for a slightly different experience.

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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will likely get lost very quickly in the flood of other, much better games that will at least try to win over players in some way. If you weren’t impressed by the content of Starfield, for example—which many players also criticize for its merely average story—then Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora will likely be an even greater ordeal for you, as it was for me. The game didn’t impress me at all, and it’s exactly the kind of game I’ll play once and never again. Six out of ten.

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We waited three years for Farming Simulator 22, only to be greeted by a winter season that was promising but underdeveloped, along with a host of outdated systems that the developers haven’t touched in years. The game’s saving graces are its more attractive machine models and animations, a vast array of options, and—most importantly—endgame content in the form of production chains, which are the main reason fans of the genre should pick up this new installment. Despite its shortcomings, players can easily spend hundreds of blissful hours playing it. Simply put, there’s still plenty to tweak, and the developers should take into account what players actually want.

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If you’ve ever played Return of Obra Dinn, like I have, you’re sure to enjoy this game as well. You’ll put your detective skills to the test as you search for even the tiniest clues and uncover various connections between characters. It’s just plain fun to put your brain to work. The developers at Color Grey Games have done a really good job. The Case of the Golden Idol is an interesting and entertaining game with a surprising story, which I definitely recommend to fans of the detective genre.

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Spells & Secrets offers a magical world full of action, spells, and challenges. With an endless castle maze and procedurally generated challenges, players will enjoy a classic roguelike experience set within a wizard academy. Unfortunately, the game suffers from a lack of variety and depth in its story. Local co-op and pleasant visuals add to the fun, but repetitive environments and other minor issues can detract from the game’s overall impression and potential.

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Thief Simulator 2 is a great example of how creating a sequel to a simulator can pay off—but only if you know how to do it right. Although the change in developer might have seemed like a bad decision, it certainly wasn’t. It’s clear that the developers took great care with the final product. They’ve introduced a lot of new content, so players can spend several more hours robbing houses with a bit of adrenaline pumping through their veins.

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In my opinion, Thief Simulator is an original game that offers a ton of thieving gadgets and possibilities. When breaking into a house, the game does a great job of drawing you into the action and transferring the character’s nervousness and adrenaline rush to you, the player. However, there’s always room for improvement, so I’m curious to see how Nobble Muffins handled the second installment and what new features the game has to offer.

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Terminator Resistance is without a doubt the best game the developers at Teyon have released to date, and it’s what has earned them a place among the industry’s most respected studios. It’s a fantastic old-school shooter that’s fully licensed and set in the Terminator universe. If you can overlook a few flaws, you’ll still have a blast playing it even today.

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Journey to Foundation is a technically unpolished and conventionally designed game, but it makes up for its shortcomings with its narrative qualities and effective use of Isaac Asimov’s literary saga. Although it doesn’t feature any new mechanics, its core concept sets it apart in a refreshing way from most of its competitors in the VR gaming space. Players who want to avoid disappointment should simply keep in mind that this is primarily an adventure game, not an action shooter or a complex RPG.

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Personally, I appreciate that Above Snakes isn’t extremely difficult, which gives me the chance to enjoy the game at my own pace—whether it’s building, crafting, or progressing through the story. The game is fast-paced and has a nice visual style. Sometimes you have to search a bit longer for resources, but it’s still a lot of fun. I really enjoyed customizing the map to my liking and creating large lakes or dense forests. The story is interesting, though perhaps a bit drawn out toward the end.

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There’s probably no need to say much more: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III is, at its core, entertaining, but it’s simply another entry in a series that, for some reason, is unable or unwilling to bring about any major revolution and continues to revolve around the same gameplay, the same content, and—unfortunately—a below-average campaign this time around. While the campaign did attempt to introduce an innovative element in the form of open-world missions, the idea ultimately feels half-baked and actually drags the single-player campaign down even further. Five out of ten.

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The Texas Chain Saw Massacre is an interesting game, visually very well done. It’s definitely quite brutal when it comes to killing the survivors. I like that the game allows players to communicate with each other. The problem for me personally, however, is its high price and the imbalance between the family (which clearly has the upper hand) and the victims. I definitely appreciate the concept, the execution, and the inspiration drawn from the movie that the developers tried to bring to the game. However, I’m not sure if that will be enough to keep the game from slowly dying out in a few months, just like Friday the 13th: The Game.

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The Invincible is a relatively (but appropriately) short sci-fi adventure game set on the desert planet Regis III. The story is inspired by Polish author Stanisław Lem, and its game adaptation is top-notch. You’ll need higher-end hardware to play this game, as its beautiful graphics will demand it. The atmosphere is enhanced by a musical score that adds an even better touch to the overall experience. All in all, I definitely recommend this title from the independent studio Starward Industries to all space game enthusiasts.

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Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered is a masterful remaster of a very good game that fell by the wayside not because of any shortcomings, but rather because it was released at the very end of the Nintendo 64’s life cycle and the entire fifth generation of consoles. Sure, while the first two Turok games are unmistakable, the third installment bears similarities to games like Quake II, Unreal, SiN, Half-Life, or Perfect Dark. But that also means it’s more accessible to a wider range of players. In its superbly remastered form, it can hold its own against modern “boomer shooters,” and fans of the FPS genre should definitely not overlook it.

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Hellboy: Web of Wyrd is like when a dog and a cat tried to bake a cake. First, they start making the cake batter, into which they want to add flour, milk, an egg, and sugar, but then they decide to salt it and fry it in lard. In other words, they offer an original story and easy controls, but in the end, they decide it would be too good to be true, so they only do it halfway. It’s the same with the rest of the cake. They want to give you fresh fruit in the form of luxurious graphics that look like they came from Mignola’s pen, but in the end, they decide it’s better to give you four-year-old canned fruit in the form of the most boring battles you can imagine. So far, it’s the best Hellboy game, but being the best of the worst still isn’t worth mentioning.

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Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged isn’t a revolution, but rather an evolution of the first game, one that has ironed out some of its shortcomings—such as the limited number of race modes and the sometimes excessively high difficulty—while also adding new features, like the ability to push your opponents out of the way. Unfortunately, it’s still not a perfect game, and there are a few aspects that Milestone should improve upon in the future. Even so, I can recommend this sequel to both owners of the first game and newcomers who haven’t tried the series yet. Seven out of ten.

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The game Liberté has a good concept and premise. Unfortunately, after playing for a few hours, it becomes repetitive and feels like it’s on a loop. I felt a bit like I was in the movie Groundhog Day. The game feels unfinished to me and is full of technical issues. I hope the developers at Superstatic will release a patch to fix these issues and add some extra maps. For me personally, the game is quite a disappointment.

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If I had to sum up this unconventional installment, I’d have to say I’m thrilled. The game is entertaining, whether it’s the conversations between characters or the tactical battles. I’m not a Persona expert—I’m personally more familiar with the Disgaea series—so tactical battles weren’t entirely new to me. I can say that even complete beginners can handle it without any problems on the lower difficulty settings. The game isn’t very long; it’ll take you around thirty hours to finish. Plus, the music is the icing on the cake. The only things I’d criticize about this title are the limited variety of enemies (the fact that they just change their outfits doesn’t count as variety) and the price of the game. It definitely could be a euro or so cheaper.

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