A brilliantly finely-tuned - albeit somewhat malnourished - piece of arcade first-person action for the bunnyhopping, circle-strafing, monstrosity-massacring crowd. Highly recommended.
Even if Crypt of the NecroDancer lacked its trademark rhythm-action mechanics, it would still stand out as a cleverly designed, feature-rich, immaculately streamlined take on a classic roguelike formula. As it is, it's extraordinary.
The first game in a very long time to put an honest smile on my face. Smart, silly, and unfailingly creative from beginning to end. It's not much of an RPG, but only because it's too busy accomplishing so much more.
Not content with merely being a fairly impressive piece of writing and first-person puzzle design, The Talos Principle sets out to expand your horizons, and will most likely succeed. Croteam's foray into territory beyond absurd, large-scale first-person shooters is not without faults, but it proves without a doubt that they aren't the one-trick pony you thought they were.
A fast, punishing, stylish first-person shooter with a unique character-action-style formula and nuanced combat to boot. Hardcore and rewarding, if you can get a handle on it.
Much more than a pretty face, Ori and the Blind Forest is a remarkably solid – if somewhat disappointingly conventional – Metroidvania with a drop of 90s Nintendo magic flowing in its veins.
A polished, charming, endlessly surprising twin-stick roguelike celebrating all that is rooty, tooty, point and shooty.
Bleed 2 is a lovely little slice of modernized run and gun side-scrolling pandemonium that evokes the likes of Contra without paying needless lip service to its heritage. Good stuff.
The McDonalds ball pit of first-person shooters: disorganized, colourful, daft, and a surprisingly good time considering its limited avenues of entertainment. Shadow Warrior 2 is well worth your attention.
A not-half-bad meeting of twin-stick bullet-hell and contemporary 3D brawler mechanics that’s brought to life by colourful boss designs and elegantly-balanced difficulty. Immensely satisfying.
Over-the-top and frequently overwhelming, Ruiner might be the first cyberpunk game to give an inkling of what it'd be like to have a deluge of sensory stimuli downloaded directly into your head. A guilty pleasure, and a damn good twin-stick shooter to boot.
Digs up a subgenre that hasn't been touched for nearly two decades, turns it around, and aptly demonstrates what we've all been missing out on: a unique tactical stealth-action experience that's at its best when things go off the rails.
The kind of game that would surely earn the accolade of “cyberpunk bartending at its finest” if any other game had ever tried cyberpunk bartending. A character-rich visual novel that's as stylish as it is weirdly compelling.
The Surge is a remarkably solid action-RPG that uses its premise to wedge a number of interesting design quirks into a familiar formula. Not terribly deep, but a wrench-swinging, robot-pulverizing good time nonetheless.
However stunted and underexplored its more traditional gameplay segments might be, Quadrilateral Cowboy is a clever, creative, elegantly delivered jaunt through a retro-cyberpunk world that’s just warped enough to make sense.
If the words 'cyberpunk stealth immersive sim' make you weak at the knees - and they ought to, really - you'll find Neon Struct to be a fun little tribute to the games that made those words special.
Transformers Devastation is not quite Platinum's A-game material, but it's more than we could've ever possibly expected from a franchise tie-in. A tad anemic and weighed down with extraneous systems, but a damn fine experience nonetheless.
The Red Strings Club is a clever (and occasionally quite confronting) narrative experience that blends a compelling cocktail of ethical quandaries and social engineering, with a fresh slice of low-stress minigames. Served chilled.
Just Cause 3 is a big, messy, slightly-samey sandbox that excels at destructive physics experimentation and not much else. Good for unwinding, but gets old sooner rather than later.
Turns out that the barriers to entry on this cult classic were a lot bigger than a rough translation and some poorly-aged textures. A perfectly competent re-release of a fascinating, harrowing, and utterly draining experience for those with unshakeable persistence.