"There's simply not enough variation here to keep Exoprimal feeling fresh after a dozen or so hours"
Observation has no trouble grabbing you from the go, with gripping central mysteries and questions that demand answers. Painstaking progress through even the simplest commands and instructions counteract any sense of progress in Observation, and ultimately dilutes and cheapens the experience.
Journey to the Savage Planet puts you in a brilliantly colorful world, and tasks you with exploring to your heart's content. The moment-to-moment exploration is enjoyable, but the act of combat offers very little in the way of a challenge. The score and insane FMV adverts give Journey to the Savage Planet a lot of personality, but the tiresome parody nature of the writing really lets it down.
There are missteps and a few bumps along the way, but this soft reboot of a long-running series emerges a triumph.
Gwent: Rogue Mage is a great evolution of an already-satisfying foundation. The roguelike trappings of travelling across an ever-changing board full of shifting events and encounters meld wonderfully into the action of Gwent battles. Some redundant events and bothersome bugs aside, this is a real treat.
Salt and Sacrifice is a riff on what came before, but not an entirely successful one. A tense, fraught combat system with gallons of customisation options carries Ska Studios’ sequel, and boss fights are entertaining if overly tough at times, but the storytelling and narrative designs of Salt and Sanctuary can’t hold up their end of the bargain.
Although the playable roster of The Hinokami Chronicles is feeling the lack of demons right now, there's a lot to enjoy from the characters who are there. This 3D fighter delivers on the promise of a power fantasy of Gotouge's manga epic.
Whether you're a newcomer or someone steeped in the history of the Neo Geo classic, Windjammers 2 is arcade action in simple and enthralling form, beckoning you in with a low skill barrier, dazzling art style, and an eclectic mix of characters.
Deflector is a pretty hectic early access action game that's got its risk to reward ratio a bit off balance. It's also pretty buggy right now.
Floppy Knights, with its caring protagonist and welcoming style, is a really enjoyable tactical card game that offers more the longer you spend with it. It's a joy to experience.
Vile Monarch's post-apocalyptic city-builder puts its people first to great success but walks a fine line between providing too much or too little to do.
A brilliant combination of rhythmic motions and a deep action-packed battle system make for a compelling adventure. Hi-Fi Rush is only let down by its writing and character development, or lack thereof.