Across three hours, In My Shadow has a few puzzles that might make you stand up in your chair. But the rest of the dull, fiddly shadow-moving experience will make you wish you turned out the lights and had a nap instead.
Subnautica: Below Zero is a good survival game, even if the new frozen land areas are not fun to explore and the story has several pacing issues. Fortunately, the solid progression system and mastery of the sea makes it easy to recommend for fans of the original.
While the bunker in Paradise Lost is interesting to explore at first, it is not packed with enough narrative content to match its ostentatious surrounds. This brief walking adventure quickly becomes frustrating as you wait for the mostly unsatisfying story to reveal itself.
The dark and creepy world from Tarsier is still as excellent in Little Nightmares II as it was in the original. With decent puzzle-platforming, and a few new mechanics to keep things fresh, the sequel revels in all things big, small, and grotesque.
The Medium is a flawed horror experience with an interesting story and a visually captivating spirit world. Fixed camera angles add excess clumsiness and the terrible framerate drops make it difficult to enjoy the split-screen views. With some glacial pacing and a lack of genuine scares or challenges, it fails to create a strong bond with either of its two worlds.
Night City is a place of splendor and possibilities. Its many interesting corners have remarkable visual detail and diverse tasks that allow players to be aggressive or stealthy. Appealing characters and their tangled stories elevate Cyberpunk 2077 and it is only the technical issues and a few missing features that keep it from reaching legendary status.
Call of the Sea is a new take on Lovecraft's lore with a vivid introduction that enhances the moments when the game transitions into darker waters. With an interesting story and solid puzzles, it is an adventure game worth playing.
Twin Mirror is a teaser for an exciting adventure that it never delivers. There are some good ideas here, like the interesting Mind Palace world and a helpful imaginary twin, but they needed to be expanded. Ultimately it has a short and bland story, with minimal interaction, limited player choice, and a lack of memorable characters.
Although short on content, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a dependable entry in the franchise with fast action and a variety of solid modes. The great zombies level and the nostalgic campaign are definitely the highlight, and the competitive multiplayer should become strong once it gets more maps and tweaks.
DIRT 5 takes the series back to a more arcade style but the career lacks variety, the vehicle handling is often sluggish, and the basic multiplayer setup is a discouragement. Without a rally mode, the only strong feature is the ability to make and share tracks, but that is not enough to stave off some technical issues.
Amnesia: Rebirth is a step back for Frictional Games. It offers little substance in the way of puzzles, exploration, survival, or psychological horror. Aside from an excellent sequence within a spooky fort, the rest is an uninteresting mess that relies too much on scripted detours.
Torchlight 3 is a passable action RPG with decently crispy combat and satisfactory classes. But the workmanlike boss runs, unexciting gear, dull story, bizarre Fort design, and multiplayer issues all keep it below both its predecessors and competitors.
Serious Sam 4 plays like its predecessors when it comes to the general shooting, featuring open areas and hordes of enemies. But it could have been better if it cleaned up the various technical and presentation issues that ruin the fun.
WRC 9 finds itself in a healthy position with a fantastic driving model and a broad range of awesome rally stages. With pleasing visuals and a decent team management component, there are only a few issues that keep it from overtaking the competition.
Tell Me Why tackles a difficult subject quite well thanks to interesting central characters who interact maturely and drive the story forward. But limited use of telepathy, immaterial player choice, and a generally boring delivery tarnish this morose tale.
Amanita Design has moved away from their usual adventure style to build one awesome puzzle-platformer. Thanks to a near perfect learning curve, painted detours, and a stunning visual and musical package, Creaks is a must for fans of the studio and puzzle aficionados alike.
Maid of Sker is a competent horror adventure where the player explores a well-designed 19th-century hotel. But its clumsy stealth, forgettable puzzles, and lukewarm scares prevent it from hitting the high notes.
Desperados III is a great tactical stealth game with five diverse characters traversing through large open levels with alternate routes that enhance replay value. Picking off patrols and executing multiple actions works marvelously through both the swamps and the frontier towns. And with high quality presentation, this is one entry that fans of the genre shouldn't miss.
There is an interesting story in Someday You'll Return and a potion-crafting system that works suitably well, but players must endure an overlong adventure through a confusing forest with questionable puzzles, bad stealth, and too many clunky mechanics.
Oneiros is a simple puzzle game with concise escape rooms and a few surreal levels. Its third chapter is the strongest, thanks to more traditional adventuring, and is enough to see this indie game break from the pack.