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Ultimately, Castlevania: Belmont’s Curse doesn’t just mark the end of a twelve year mainline game drought, it answers the question posed at the very beginning of this review with a resounding yes. It is an emphatic, confident return to form. While a few weapon categories fall into redundancy once you have the iconic whip in hand, that minor imbalance is easily eclipsed by how thoughtfully Evil Empire has built the rest of the game.
Order of the Sinking Star’s sprawling world is a triumph of puzzle design, giving its countless mechanics room to develop, intersect, and surprise long after their initial introduction. Yet while its interconnected structure gives the gameplay a genuine sense of depth, the same cannot be said for its narrative. Its verbose dialogue, meandering audio logs, and self-conscious musings on game design seem to reach for the sort of philosophical complexity that defined Blow’s previous works, but rarely offer anything worth reflecting on. The result is a game whose puzzles continually reward curiosity, while its attempts at profundity leave me wishing there was less to read and more to solve.
For those who want a neatly packaged, slightly eerie, yet beautiful escape to another world, Allogloom is amazing. If anything, I wish I could’ve had just a little bit more about the spaces we visit to see what was happening in each area. Again, this isn’t anything that’s a true negative, but I did end up with just a few questions on some of the areas we find ourselves. I want to learn more about the settings that have been created for Nora. The areas she finds herself in all seem to have their own reasons for being and I’d want just a little more to understand why. But even without this, Allogloom is a game worth your time if you want a bit of horror with your point and click games.
Valor Mortis is the kind of ambitious swing that soulslike fans have dreamed of for years. Witnessing the horrors of war through William’s eyes is one of the best stories brought to the genre in recent memory, and its dark setting of an alternate 19th century Europe carries as much weight as the narrative itself. The gameplay seamlessly grafts the brutality of the soulslike genre with the fast-paced fluid movement of the Ghostrunner series. Valor Mortis is a genuine triumph, and one every soulslike fan needs to experience.
Hellraiser: Revival is stunning. Saber Interactive has nailed an original story worthy of the name Hellraiser, which should solidify it as entry number 12 in the Hellraiser franchise.
If you’ve played a bit of DD2 but dropped it because of performance or a quality-of-life feature you felt was missing, try 4.0; if you like the new-and-improved DD2, I would highly recommend jumping into Dark Arisen next. If you love the idea of a grand fantasy adventure and experience a truly unique and immersive single-player game where you feel as if you’re actually accompanied by real players going on treacherous adventures together, with great moment-to-moment gameplay, then please, please play Dragon’s Dogma 2, then continue your adventure into Dark Arisen DLC and the cold lands of Norgan.
The greatest compliment that I can give to Silver Pines, is that if David Lynch envisaged a Twin Peaks game, I expect it’d look something like Wych Elm’s sensational Metroidvania. The collision of a Twin Peaks-like town, 2D survival horror gameplay and Castlevania exploration was an ambitious project, but I’m delighted to say it has comfortably delivered. The town of Silver Pines is a wonderfully sinister place to explore, it’s story deep and intriguing, and presentation a horrific delight. Silver Pines is the best horror game you can play for Halloween 2026.
Silent Hill: Townfall continues to prove that taking Konami’s long dormant horror franchise on a world tour was the right choice, as Screen Burn has crafted an excellent narrative that gets the most out of its setting through weaving unique cultural trauma with the series’ distinct exploration of grief, backed by some stellar performances and visuals. Though the gameplay also has some great moments of its own, particularly in its puzzles, combat often stumbles into a mess of frustration and tedium, leaving the experience feeling admirable but uneven.
Fuse Games have truly given Millennial gamers like myself that spiritual successor to Star Wars Episode I: Racer that we never got. And to them, I give them all the grace that a post-Empire galaxy allows us.
Whether it’s your first time or the encore, Ghost of Yotei Complete Edition is the best way to experience Atsu’s story. The Echoes of Sekigahara story expansion gives fans some much-needed backstory on our heroine’s mysterious past, while the Most Wanted mode lets you carve your way through hordes of enemies with a roster of familiar faces. In a year already drowning in must-plays, don’t let this one slip through the cracks a second time
Much like the warship you are trying to survive, Moros Protocol is mired in issues, including new ones brought about by the console port. Its gorgeous pixel art visuals and exhilarating gunplay are not enough to fight back against the onslaught of UI frustrations, boring progression, and a wasted roguelite system, which leads me to conclude that this is one interstellar signal that you might want to ignore.
While Graveyard Keeper 2 looks and sounds great, with increased gameplay elements and an improvement from the first iteration, it’s a game that leans too heavily on tedium where the in-game grind is no longer cozy; it’s just plain ol’ grind.
E-Day succeeds in telling the story of Emergence Day in a gripping, desperate, and most importantly, fun way. The culmination of 20 years as a franchise, refining everything the series is into a must-play XBOX title that takes you on a gloriously brutal, emotionally-satisfying, and epic, cinematic adventure.
I firmly believe the Aurora 5 will one day be entirely worth boarding, but for now it needs to come out of the black hole with a drastically improved map and many bugs squashed. This is a mature, well-told story aboard a genuinely brilliant space ship which is fun to explore in any way you wish to approach it. RetroSpace needs a handful of updates before I can offer the 8/10 I’d have loved to give.
As a big fan of both Star Wars and tactics based games, Star Wars Zero Company hits all the right notes. The tactics gameplay is expansive and wonderful, the story and characters are expressive and absolutely fit into the world that George Lucas wrote almost 50 years ago. If I was to just give a score off those two elements, I’m sitting right around a 9. But with all the crashing, hiccups and bugs throughout my 30-40 hour playthrough, it’s hard to recommend that people spend the full price on this game currently. It’s something I will not be going back to until all these issues are ironed out.
I adore Dressmaker. It is easily one of my top played games of the year. It’s nostalgic, cozy and the story is so memorable. The concept is so charming and the ability to replay and try new designs as well. For some players, I can see the gameplay loop being a bit repetitive, but personally it’s comforting and adds to the appeal. Sometimes all it takes is a needle, thread and a little nostalgia to leave a stitch on your heart.
While Mojang and Double Eleven may have played it a little too safe with Minecraft Dungeons 2, it is still a very enjoyable game. While the switch to an open world map is quite different, the rest of Minecraft Dungeons 2’s mechanics remain largely the same. They manage to expand on the equipment somewhat, but by and large the sequel plays the same as the first game. If you were hoping for a dramatic evolution in the Minecraft Dungeons formula, you may be a bit disappointed. However, if you were simply looking for an expanded, more fleshed out experience, Minecraft Dungeons 2 will hit all the right notes for you.
Beast of Reincarnation sells itself as a twisted amalgamation of some of the best in the business but falls short of feeling like anything more than a game well in over its head. The combat loop with your furry companion is almost enough to save it, but the repetitive nature of it all in motion is a mountain too steep to climb. If you’ve got Game Pass, it’s worth a shot for the price of admission alone, but I’d think twice about picking it up at full price.
Well Dweller is a joy to play from start to finish. From its beautiful and varied landscapes, sinister bosses, ambient music, and excellent gameplay mechanics, to its beautiful worlds and character designs, you’ll have a hard time putting it down. A Metroidvania that could, and should, be held up as an example of what games from the genre should be.
Nocturne aims for an ambitious fusion of sci-fi storytelling and rhythm strategy, but the grindy combat and superficial RPG systems prevent it from coming together effectively, making it difficult to recommend.