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As someone who usually steers clear of horror, Reanimal is one of the few games have been actively excited for – as a fan of the first two Little Nightmares games, I expected nothing but the best from Tarsier Studios and they delivered spectacularly. An unsettling, well-paced horror that serves up both a stunningly designed world as well as enough subtext to keep video game essayists in work for a decade, Reanimal is a must-play.
Overall, Relooted is a unique hybrid of puzzle-platforming, infiltration strategy, and momentum runner with a historically informed geopolitical narrative. That sounds like a lot. because it is a lot. This game is incredibly ambitious, both thematically and mechanically, so even though it is not a triumph on all occasions, it really does punch above its weight for a small South African studio. Shallow in some parts more than others, yet incredibly provocative throughout, this game increased my respect for global cultures and broadened my western lens on African archaeology and anthropology.
If you are looking for a comically gory, esoteric escape into a world of time-space nonsense through the lens of a hack ‘n’ slash game, Romeo Is A Dead Man has you covered. It certainly doesn’t manage to hold its pace with the story exposition, minigames and QTEs creating an obstruction instead of an engaging tale, but the action, the characters and the simultaneously hilarious and jarring dialogue make the game worth trying out.
The game asks you once again: who do you trust? And who are you willing to fight for? Are you ready to face the consequences of the choices you’ve made? Do you even realise how serious those consequences can get? Just like Sybil, Kaneeka’s mother, Scarlet Hollow seems to be answering questions by raising even more questions. But answers are coming, and you might not like what you’ll get.
Love Eternal is a remarkably tight precision platformer with exhilaratingly joyful movement mechanics. It also has a fascinating and disturbing story to tell about loneliness and our desperate need for love. The unconventional telling of this tale – the subverting of genre expectations and the liberal use of surreal symbolism – is surprising and original and helps to create meaning amidst the apparent chaos of complicated lives. The platforming is tough, and the experimental narrative requires a little patience, but this is an astonishing piece of work that fully rewards the effort.
Under the Island is a wonderful trip down memory lane, both for millennials and Gen Xers who rode the highs of the 90s and for the games we played. It’s a love letter to top-down Zelda games, and the love is deeply felt in the creative mechanics and wonderful art style. The story may struggle to find footing, but the gameplay is the hero here. Armed with a hockey stick and a sense of urgency, Under the Island is a worthy play for folks looking for a nostalgia-laden adventure.
It’s easy to see that The Perfect Pencil was made with a deep love for the genre, impressing its own unique spin on each element of the gameplay for better or worse. A well-written and deeply meaningful story ties all of these elements together spectacularly – don’t let the whimsical appearance fool you; this game doesn’t pull its punches. Sadly the game also loses half a star due to a lack of accessibility options.
Hermit and Pig goes to unexpected lengths, and it’s a better and more timely game for it. The narrative is sharp, the battles immersive, and the characters rich. It’s a tightly packaged game that balances playfulness, wit, and bite across a rural community scratching out a way of life threatened by corporate greed. Hermit and Pig are unlikely but extremely likeable heroes that will endear any fans of offbeat, satirical RPGs.
The lack of any connectivity makes Anthem#9 feel more like an arcade game, which hurts, as this world is ripe for exploration. The deep and robust battle mechanics and bright visuals help to feed your attention, but even those are not enough to maintain long-form interest. Passionate roguelite players will find a game that will sing through its unconventional ways of handling the genre, but the rest of us might need to look elsewhere.
Successfully building upon the first game in every way, Planet of Lana 2 delivers a fascinating and sometimes emotional experience heightened by stunning visual and sound design. The time taken to explore Mui’s backstory and the machine's connection to the world in general is such a welcome addition and only aids in making this feel like more than just a platform game. Fans of the original and newcomers alike will have one heck of a ride, and I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.
Kami, the mountain that Aava sets out to summit in Cairn, is a harsh, unrelenting cacophony of jagged edges, pushing the player back at every turn. But through the smallest movements, there is a building sense of triumph as you make the ascent to the peak, which The Game Bakers masterfully designed into the cliff surfaces and tense gameplay. The occasional slip, left without feedback, stings and can disjoint the game’s pacing, but ultimately in Cairn there is a new perspective on games that centre their design on difficulty and force you to reconcile how and why you’ll endure their friction.
This is an inventive and ambitious platformer built around a striking movement system that turns shooting into traversal, rewarding precision, experimentation, and patience once it clicks. Its colourful presentation, varied encounters, and flexible upgrade systems show clear confidence and creativity, but the demanding movement and uneven difficulty curve can make the experience feel more punishing than inviting at times. While Assist options help smooth some of those edges, Baseless remains a game that asks a lot of its players and will resonate most with those willing to fully commit to mastering its systems.
TR-49 is a challenge to the modern gamer’s attention span. It asks us to slow down and listen to the whispers of the past, to become readers before we become players. It is a work of restraint, a puzzle box that, once opened, cannot be easily closed. It lingers in the mind like a half-remembered melody, the kind of game that stays with you long after the screen has gone dark.
For Berangin Creative’s debut game, Keejora is good first attempt. Even with the game’s problems, there’s still just enough here to make for a worthwhile playthrough, but the game’s unutilised potential brings down what could have been something quite special.
If, like me, you are a Metroidvania geek, you’ll have a great time with MIO, just as long as you don’t come in with too high of an expectation, and for everyone else – especially people who turned away from Silksong – this might be the Metroidvania you’ve been looking for.
Big Hops exemplifies how 3D platformers ought to look and feel, with a nonstop pulse of adrenaline from start to finish. Control over movement is pinpoint precision, and momentum is easy to gather. Hop’s tale of self-confidence against a gaslighting quest-giver inspires while the player bounds their way through meticulously designed worlds where problems need solutions and gaps need to be crossed. Big Hops blows open the doors to 2026 with a stellar must-play right out of the gate.
I’m a bit of a sucker for games that tackle themes like grief and loss, and Death Howl is a prime example of how to not just use story beats to do that but include gameplay in that storytelling as well. There is beauty in the determination and grit that Ro shows, but it feels like there are things she still needs to learn about herself as well. Exploring that story and playing the wonderful grid-based and card-based combat is exquisite, if you’re up to dealing with dying over and over again.
Plenty of skateboard games nail what skating is all about, even if your opinion on what that actually is differs. From Tony Hawk to the Skate and Olli Olli series, there’s always a part of skateboarding culture that is perfectly translated. Skate Story doesn’t try to be any of those games and still nails that feeling too, even if you are playing as a glass demon trying to swallow the moon. Cruising around has rarely felt this good, and the surrounding atmosphere is just brilliant, from the setting to the music and everything in between.
For a series that has experienced highs and lows, Anno 117: Pax Romana is an astounding high that proves just how good the city simulation genre can be, with a near-flawless approach to gameplay, UI and visual design – the only thing holding the game back is a story lacking in weight, with the female protagonist having an interesting subplot, but the majority of the main story boiling down to a slight inconvenience in the overall experience.
A heartfelt, visually striking Metroidvania with meaningful storytelling and sharp platforming. While its boss encounters and accessibility suite fall short of its strongest ideas, Constance delivers an emotionally rich journey that’s well worth experiencing.