Oxenfree spins a supernatural mystery with some truly brilliant touches, but without especially interesting characters or mechanics, it's little more than a spectre of its true potential.
A polished, varied isometric shooter with a dollop of strategy about blowing up makeshift mechs and flattening a cyberpunk SimCity build, one apartment block at a time. Difficult to get comfortable with, but rewarding once you do.
It might not be the most original game to grace the world, but by taking a familiar concept, putting a different spin on it and polishing it 'til it gleams, Fenix Rage makes platforming fun again. Good stuff.
Charming, playful, and scrappy as a sweep's stovepipe, A Hat in Time has its ups and downs, but if it can win your heart, it's well worth the ride. A modern platformer that can truly hold its own.
A bit of muck and rust here and there can't hide the truth: Convoy is a ruthless, colourful, and occasionally very satisfying jaunt across a randomly-generated wasteland. A fine roguelike, especially for FTL fans.
Legend of Grimrock 2 is a victim of its format, often made needlessly clunky and restrictive in the fruitless pursuit of nostalgia, but when it comes to pure, fascinating, exploratory dungeon-crawling, few can hope to top it. A worthy purchase for those patient enough to dismantle it.
A thick, slightly-lumpy slurry of action funnelled directly into your mouth. It's a bit rough around the edges, but ultimately succeeds at what it sets out to do.
When it's on top of its game, Redout is a nuanced, no-nonsense anti-gravity racing experience for your inner speed demon to gorge itself on. When it's not on top of its game… well, it's still pretty good.
It falls a bit flat on some of the more traditional fronts for an open-world shooter, but The Signal From Tölva still makes for an atmospheric, absorbing trek across a strange and ancient landscape. Impressive effort.
It may not consistently live up to the standards of Volition's recent pedigree, but Agents of Mayhem's cackling supervillains, destructive vigilantism and satisfying combat make for a jolly good open-world adventure nonetheless.
All the creative problem-solving satisfaction of algorithm design with minimal nuisance coworkers. Algo Bot is a little bland and tiresome at times, but it's still far cleverer than you and I.
Novel and cleverly designed, Roguemance makes for a delightful, tempestuous little fling while its ideas are still fresh, but its failure to make the most of them may leave you with a spot of premature exhaustion.
Exploration through stylish worlds with a dash of subtle, paranoia-inducing surrealism makes this a strong—if somewhat tedious—walk-em-up, but for a game building off the memory of a literary legend, the actual narrative leaves a lot to be desired.
For all its design missteps, Clustertruck makes a one-note experience more engaging and exhilarating than it has any right to be. A wacky 'try, die, retry' first-person-platformer with some unexpected subtleties up its sleeve.
The latest 8-Bit strategy game isn't without its shortcomings, but its offer of streamlined, accessible, Starcraft-esque retro RTS combat is no less tempting than those that came before it.
Painfully unsatisfying for what its ambitions suggest, but a well-crafted boss rush and a solid example of masocore gameplay outside a platforming format nonetheless.
Rather clever physics-driven climbing mechanics marred by the game's lack of willingness to actually do anything with them. Still, Grow Home manages to be a cheap, pleasant surprise of exactly the sort we ought to encourage.
Strangely compelling in spite of its shortcomings, Shadwen is an unusual stealth game with a head full of ideas that never quite get the support they need to bear fruit. Worth a try.
It’s not going to win any hearts and minds any time soon, but as an open-ended stealth experience, Styx: Shards of Darkness more or less does its job without major stumbles. Less of the lip, though, please.
Creative and charming, McDROID is an endearing little adventure with some hefty core gameplay chops that very nearly carry the game all on their own. Sadly, it nevertheless gets dragged down by an over-aggressive difficulty curve, a heavy reliance on repeating content, and some major lapses in polish.