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To summarize, it can be said that Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown makes a big promise in many respects, but it cannot keep it. The atmosphere is disappointingly empty, the story is irrelevant and the balancing is sometimes so poorly thought out that it completely spoils the fun of racing. The graphics, although beautiful to look at, suffer from a high performance hunger and the server problems make the multiplayer practically unplayable. Only the driving experience and the sound are convincing, but are not enough to compensate for the numerous shortcomings. If the developers manage to fix the numerous technical problems, the game could at least become an average racing game.

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The Silent Hill 2 remake does an excellent job of bringing the old-school horror of the original into the modern age without copying it. The mood created in the gloomy and deserted town, which becomes more and more blatant and intense as the game progresses, pushed me to my limits time and again as I played, without a succession of intrusive shock moments. Instead, the game thrives on its atmosphere, which is uncomfortable at all times and then becomes really threatening later on. Added to this are sparse lighting conditions, an exceptionally good soundtrack with surreal and consistently unpleasant soundscapes and an overall really good graphical presentation that presents the horror in the best possible light. With its successful mix of well-balanced puzzles, attentive exploration of the environment and powerful close and solidly implemented ranged combat, the new edition of Silent Hill 2 entertained me throughout and wrapped the classic horror gameplay a la Resident Evil in an appealing modern guise. Textures that sometimes load quite late when examining objects, a somewhat jerky performance here and there or the visible blurring at the edges, especially with the hair, which occurs during movement, nevertheless scratch the façade a little. The selection of enemies is also not overwhelming and somewhat monotonous, especially in the long run. Overall, however, the Silent Hill 2 remake manages to retain the splendor of the original and open a door for new generations into the anything but inviting Silent Hill, which every horror fan should have seen.

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Overall, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a worthy successor that offers a successful mix of intense battles, impressive graphics and a captivating story. The atmosphere of the Warhammer world is masterfully captured, and the action-packed encounters provide thrills and adrenaline. Despite minor flaws, such as the repetitive design and unreliable AI, the game manages to excite both old fans and newcomers alike. With its successful gameplay, extensive content and cooperative approach, Space Marine 2 is a must for anyone who wants to immerse themselves in the brutal world of Warhammer 40K. Especially with two friends, the game is incredibly fun and will keep Warhammer fans glued to their consoles for more than one playthrough.

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The Casting of Frank Stone is a game that skillfully showcases both its strengths and weaknesses. The story, which revolves around the mysterious serial killer Frank Stone, creates a lot of suspense through different time levels and a dense atmosphere. The cinematic staging, which alternates between dark, oppressive locations and surreal dream sequences, is particularly impressive. Supermassive Games manages to perfectly capture the creepy atmosphere of a classic slasher film. Unfortunately, the title character Frank Stone himself remains rather pale. Despite his central place in the story, we learn very little about his background and motives. As a result, he remains rather one-dimensional as an antagonist, which takes away some of the story's depth. Anyone hoping for psychological insights may therefore be disappointed. In terms of gameplay, The Casting of Frank Stone offers some interesting approaches, but they quickly become repetitive. The mechanics around stopping Frank with the camera or repairing generators are strongly reminiscent of Dead by Daylight and are a nice homage, but lose their appeal as the game progresses. In many moments, the gameplay feels more like a chore than a way to build up the suspense. Graphically, the game scores with impressive lighting and strong cinematic camera work that perfectly captures the creepy atmosphere. Unfortunately, however, this immersion is severely impaired by technical shortcomings. Performance problems such as frame rate drops and long loading times are common throughout the game and significantly disrupt the flow of the game. This is particularly annoying in a game that relies so heavily on its atmosphere. All in all, The Casting of Frank Stone remains an interesting, albeit flawed, horror experience. Those who can get involved with the story and the surreal atmosphere will experience exciting moments, but will also have to put up with technical problems. With a patch, however, the game could become a much more rounded experience.

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Funko Fusion will immediately strike a chord with many fans and reaches a large audience through its variable selection of franchises. It clearly draws on the formula of the Lego Travelers Tales games (parts of the development team were already involved in these games), but unfortunately still lacks the finesse and maturity shown in the original. All the building blocks and tools for a good game are there, but disappointingly, there is a lot to criticize, especially when playing for longer. Even after the release, we found a few game-breaking bugs, some of which have already been eliminated by patches. These range from bosses not spawning, minions spawning infinitely and misplaced assets that made level progress impossible. The fact that there is no save function within the levels and that you always had to start again from the beginning after restarting led to slight frustration, also because the collected collectibles also had to be collected/acquired again. We are definitely waiting for the patches (the first of which have already been delivered based on player feedback). Funko Fusion has a lot of potential and virtually endless expansion possibilities thanks to the franchises already represented by Funko, but it still needs to be reworked for a lot of fun. Addendum: Larger patches with a long changelog have already been delivered, so an improvement is definitely possible.

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