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About the most damning thing I can say about Anomalith is how despite combining two different genres into one experience that it doesn't succeed in conveying either one in any meaningful way. The extraction elements are watered down with the ease of dropping off items, and the lack of true horror elements makes this more action horror than survival horror. As a sum of its parts, a fairly strong narrative concept can't save this from being an all too generic experience.
Theos: City of Myths is an easy to pick up and play city builder that I had a great time with. This is one I would recommend to anyone looking to get into the genre with how simple and intuitive it really is. And if that person is you, why not try and see if you can build a Greek city that can stand up to both time and your God's wishes.
Warrior Cats: Clans of Forest is a very by-the-numbers experience that looks to bring the beloved books to life like never before. As a licensed game, it does the bare minimum to present the property in a pleasant manner and does ultimately succeed in adapting the source material. However, as a videogame detached from that, it's surprisingly basic and lacks polish in even the most basic things. From stiff movement to shallow combat, poor visuals and an abundance of mundane quests, the overall experience is an extremely bland affair.
Enshrouded has been a fantastic experience despite crossplay not being active yet. My time with it has been strictly solo, but unlike Valheim or Dragonwilds, I've rather enjoyed the single-player nature of what I currently have going. Enshrouded takes a genre and builds it around an already solid RPG adventure, one with just enough intrigue to make me care about its world, and the tools needed to explore it to its fullest.
Reka is a delight and may catch people off guard with how chill and cozy it can be, especially due to the darker tones to its aesthetic and visuals.
Few survival horror games have really presented compelling stories, and often have their gameplay at the forefront of the experience. Remothered: Red Nun's Legacy is quite the opposite, and while its gameplay isn't revolutionary, the game is nonetheless compelling and disturbing, complete with moments that will make your skin crawl.
Fire and Ashes is a fairly miserable experience, even despite the constant bombardment of technical issues. Animations are painfully bad, with enemy AI that only knows to move toward you, regardless if they are even facing you. With a story that doesn't appear until the game's final moments, and the developer's use of Generative AI, Fire and Ashes is an experience I'll forget by the time this is published.
Ultimately, Planet Zoo 2 is a good sequel to what I already considered one of the best games in the genre, even if it doesn't quite improve upon everything I would have liked it to. The addition of aquatic animals, flying birds and the expanded conservation systems are all welcome, and the sheer level of creativity and depth on offer remains incredibly impressive.
Valor Mortis feels like a promising first attempt at something different. One More Level has demonstrated that a first-person Soulslike can work, even if the execution isn't always as successful as the concept itself. With some additional polish and a little more variety, this could have been a genuinely excellent addition to the genre.
Final Fantasy Resonance is a title that could very well reshape the series going forward, if enough people get behind it. The turn-based combat is fantastic, and while the Vision system could use a bit of a refresh, it celebrates the legacy of this storied franchise in remarkable ways. Rain's adventure is one that is typical of the series, but the attention given to every single character here does elevate that typical story to new heights.
Stupid Never Dies should be fun, but it rarely gets the opportunity to be anything more than its premise. The rogue-lite structure hurts the concept of this game, as it simply doesn't have the variety to remain engaging. Combat, level variety, and progression are certainly present here, in some form, but are disappointingly shallow and repetitive, even for a rogue-lite. While the Grasshopper influence is felt across most of the game, it lacks the soul of those titles, and is a largely forgettable experience on its own.
Frosthaven has been a fun time to play, with no bugs to speak of. The visuals are clean from the simple map you see on the over world, to the isometric battle fields you fight on. You can tell the devs put a lot of time into making the world feel as real as possible. And the sounds are crisp, not to mention that the narration for the events and fights are beautiful.
Boltgun 2 doesn't have anything in the way of a compelling story, or even anything to define its aesthetically pleasing protagonists. However, smart quality of life choices and those lifted from later versions of the original Boltgun do make for a more directed and refined sequel. With strong enemy variety and far more engaging environments, Boltgun is shaping up to be a fantastic addition to the Warhammer 40K universe. I just wish I cared about the characters, even a little bit.
NASCAR 26 may not be the definitive NASCAR experience just yet, but it proves that iRacing Studios is building toward something special. Its rewarding handling, smarter racing, and greater strategic depth capture the tension of stock-car competition better than any console NASCAR game in years.
It's hard to imagine a better game built in the Hellraiser world than what Saber Interactive has created here. From its violence, sex, and aesthetic, the experience here is unequivocally Hellraiser, both in body and soul. Few license games nail the source material as good as what Saber has done here, and fans of both the films and survival horror are in for the treat, just make sure to play this with the curtains down.
Jonathan Blow has always had a talent for making puzzle games that are much more complicated than they first appear. Order of the Sinking Star very much continues that trend, and in many ways feels like the biggest example of it yet.
Forever Ago tells a deeply human story about grief, love and the memories we carry with us, without becoming overly sentimental or constantly reminding you what emotions you are supposed to feel. At a particularly stressful point in my own life, it gave me something unexpectedly comforting, and that is an experience I am unlikely to forget anytime soon.
Ultimately, Star Wars: Galactic Racer surprised me. I expected an enjoyable Star Wars racing game, but what I got was something with far more depth, progression, and staying power than I anticipated. The roguelike campaign structure occasionally gets in the way of its surprisingly ambitious story, the similarities between tracks on individual planets can become noticeable, and some of the walking sections feel unnecessary from a gameplay perspective. None of those issues change the fact that the actual racing is exceptional.
Dragonwilds is a slow and steady grind that while can be rewarding, still feels a bit rough around the edges, making me wonder if more time in Early Access could have refine certain parts of the whole experience. Still, if you've been itching for a survival game that isn't built around more realistic visuals, or you are fan of RuneScape, Dragonwilds does offer a compelling and fairly faithful conversion to the survival genre, just make sure you play with friends, and watch out for those blasted hunters.
Ace Combat 8 surprised me in almost every possible way. Its arcade-focused flying remains incredibly easy to pick up while providing enough depth to make mastering its aircraft and dogfights immensely satisfying.