Digitec Magazine

“Emio – The Smiling Man” is a suspenseful and at times disturbing crime thriller. The last third of the game in particular completely blew my mind and left me sitting in front of the screen with my mouth open. The uneven pacing of the narrative and the somewhat outdated gameplay formula with its trial-and-error approach spoil the excellent overall impression. In terms of audio-visuals, “Emio” is convincing across the board. Beautifully drawn game characters and backgrounds bring the interactive story to life, while the catchy soundtrack provides the ideal background music. I hope we don't have to wait another 30 years for a new detective adventure from Nintendo.

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Visions of Mana plays and looks wonderfully – except for it's stiff character animations. The story is exciting, the battle system offers plenty of variety and the world invites you to explore. Unfortunately, it takes a long time to get there. The story and gameplay suffer from inconsistent pacing. By the time I'm let off the leash, more than half the story is over. For fans of the “Mana” series and Japanese role-playing games in general, “Visions of Mana” is a must-play despite its weaknesses. I still enjoyed my 25 hours or so in the world around the Mana tree. I'm used to Japanese role-playing games always taking a little longer. If you can live with that, I can recommend the game to you.

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New editions of old games are a balancing act: they have to feel like they used to and at the same time they have to meet the demands of modern audiences. Age of Mythology: Retold manages this balancing act spectacularly well. This is exactly what a remaster should feel like.

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"Cat Quest 3" is a harmonious action adventure in a magical world where there is something to experience or discover at every turn. From the first to the last minute, it offers pirate fun.

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I love Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. The game feels like a cult classic from the PS2 era. The exciting mixture of tower defense and hack'n'slash is a hell of a lot of fun and gets better and better as the game progresses. At times, the combat becomes too chaotic. Graphically, the game makes a solid, if unspectacular, impression. In a world full of huge, highly polished and generic AAA games, “Kunitsu-Gami” feels like a breath of fresh air from a simpler gaming past. I want to see more small, experimental and crazy games like this from big publishers.

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The concept of “Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition” is simple and ingenious. The little speedrun challenges are nerve-wracking and addictive — both in single player and in local multiplayer or online mode. Overall, I would have liked a few more NES classics and more game modes. But for the relatively low price of the game, you still get an extremely entertaining retro package that lets you experience NES classics in a completely new way.

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“Dungeons of Hinterberg” is my game of the year so far in 2024. I can recommend it to you if you are even remotely interested in adventure games, socially critical stories or the classic "Zelda" dungeon design. The 17-hour adventure is an ingenious mix of “Zelda”, “Persona” and Alpine magic. It challenges my gray brain cells with clever puzzles and invites me to relax with life-sim elements and a charming Alpine vibe.

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Your most important weapon in "Anger Foot" is your powerful foot. You use it to kick criminals around at full sprint. Together with the booming techno soundtrack, this makes for a fantastic and sweat-inducing action spectacle.

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"Workers & Resources: Soviet Republic" now offers a fully comprehensive overall package and in my opinion is one of, if not the strongest city builder game out there. The new DLC maps round off this overall package and make the game even more fun to play. For the test of the full release version, I immediately lost myself in the game again and have since spent another 30 hours in it, bumping my total playtime up to over 90 hours.

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Super Monkey Ball: Banana Rumble is a fun game that particularly impresses with its extensive adventure mode. The majority of the 200 levels are challenging and creatively designed. In some levels, the game suffers from frustrating controls, an annoying camera and performance problems. However, I can almost entirely avoid these frustrating moments with numerous help functions and cheats. The competitive mini-games are disappointing, though. They struggle with frame rate stutters in both offline and online multiplayer. For the budget price, however, you still get a decent package with plenty of replay value.

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Luigi's Mansion 3 is a successful leap from the 3DS to the Switch. For me, the remake of the 3DS classic is the best game in the series. Even if it sticks to a more linear and mission based style compared to Luigi's Mansion 3. It's an atmospheric ghost game with a slightly different approach. Instead of being creeped out and fighting for my survival, I can relax and explore different mansions with lots of personality and cute details.

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Autopsy Simulator offers an exciting, entertaining story - provided you have no problems with performing virtual autopsies on corpses. You shouldn't expect too much from the gameplay. For the most part, the game plays like a tutorial - it's a far cry from a "simulation". Perhaps this will change when the "Autopsy Only Mode" is available. If you are willing to shell out 28 francs / euros for a good story, you can still pick it up.

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Ninja Theory tells a gripping and adult story in a surreal world that is incredibly beautiful to look at despite its horrors. If you like cinematically staged games with a gripping story, go for it.

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Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a classic Mario role-playing game that every fan of the chubby plumber should play. If you've already played the original, it's worth taking another trip into this paper world thanks to the completely revamped graphics and soundtrack. The simplified role-playing mechanics and the interactivity of the turn-based battles make the game accessible even to beginners and players who don't usually like RPGs. The numerous environments impress with their quirky humor, excellently written characters and a beautiful paper look. What I didn't like were the annoying backtracking passages and some tedious mechanics. They unnecessarily slow down the pace as the game progresses.

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Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a great throwback JRPG. From the very first minute, I feel at home as an old Suikoden fan. The fun characters, exciting mini-games, dreamy landscapes and catchy soundtrack transport me back to the 90s. The story may not be earth-shattering, but it is still exciting and takes Suikoden as its template. On the other hand, I would have liked to see more innovation in the battle system compared to its spiritual predecessor. It feels outdated.

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Tales of Kenzera: Zau captivates me with an exciting, personal story and a great presentation in an unusual setting. Less gripping are the generic Metroidvania gameplay elements. There should also be more enemy variety and more challenging enemies. Due to the relatively short playtime of around eight hours, the lack of variation is not an absolute dealbreaker. If you're looking for a short action platformer with an emotional story, I can recommend this game. If you're looking for a Metroidvania in the style of Hollow Knight, you'd better pass.

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Apart from the poor story mode, Endless Ocean Luminous is a lot of fun for the first few hours of play. I am constantly rewarded with beautiful underwater worlds and exciting facts about various animal species. The game feels like a playable virtual aquarium. The more I discover of the underwater world, the more tedious the experience becomes. The gameplay loop of Endless Ocean Luminous reveals itself to be simple and superficial, the rewards trivial and unsatisfying. The initial intrinsic motivation to learn more about the animal species of the Veiled Sea gives way to a purely extrinsically driven appeal that revolves solely around increasing levels and scores. Even the largely well-done online mode doesn't help much. It's a shame, because the game's fundamentals show a lot of potential.

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Stellar Blade is a brilliant PS5 exclusive with tons of over-the-top action. It mixes numerous elements from other games and genres to create a unique work of art. The aesthetics of the sci-fi world and the oversexualized protagonist are contrasted with ultra-ugly and superbly designed enemies. The dreamlike soundtrack perfectly underlines the melancholy atmosphere of the desolate sci-fi world. Graphically, the game looks excellent with a few exceptions and is one of the prettier games on the PS5. The combat system is fast, fluid and intuitive. Aside from the spectacularly orchestrated battles, there is plenty to discover with excursions into other genres. The frustrating platformer passages, the moderately exciting side quests and the largely empty open game areas tarnish the otherwise fantastic overall impression a little.

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"Harold Halibut" is an atmospheric adventure game with a lot of heart and a unique style. It just needs to be shortened in the right places, then the pacing would also be right. But even so, I'm glad I stuck with it to the end and I can recommend it to you too.

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"Children of the Sun" is a clever puzzle shooter with unique game mechanics. Controlling the bullets you fire is a lot of fun. Scoring headshots is bloody and satisfying. I'm motivated to find the perfect path through the levels, even though some of the larger game environments can feel exhausting. The audiovisual presentation delivers a surreal and disturbing atmosphere. Despite the low purchase price, the game is a little too short at just around three hours of playtime.

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