Game Grin

Alcohol, chickens, kebabs, space and coffin robots in bowler hats. 1950s Soviet visual stylings and hamster smoothies. Mayonnaise, kebabs, flying ZAZ cars and laser blasters. There’s so much to love about this game. Buy it.

An enjoyable game, with an interesting premise which is bogged down and held back by an underwhelming PC port. The gameplay does feel great, so if the technical faults are ironed out, Nioh 2: Complete Edition is certainly a title to keep an eye out for.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is easily the best game in the series yet with a compelling story and refined gameplay to boast.

Whilst this isn’t a game that represents great value, it’s still excellent fun. Bowser’s Fury is a nice, if a little short, addition to a game which didn’t get the attention it deserved due to the failure of the Wii U.

Destruction AllStars can be an enjoyable Twisted Metal-like experience for those nostalgic for that, but once you feel the frustration of the crashing mechanic and realize there isn’t much to work towards, you’ll probably turn around and use that nitrous in the opposite direction.

Olija is a fun and engrossing action-adventure game that has you fighting foes and solving puzzles with a magical harpoon. A little on the short side, but a fun experience that leaves you wanting more

Sword of the Necromancer is an enjoyable game with a story that really makes you want to play more, though after playing through the same sections multiple times with a lot of the same enemies can get repetitive after a while, especially once you get to the end and realise you need to start over for the full ending.

If a mini meander of mind-bending meow-sochistic mouse mazes sounds like a good trip to you, then PUSS! Is undoubtedly a great recommendation. Otherwise, the purposefully stringent controls, disorienting gameplay, and rage-inducing cheap-shots might rub folks the wrong way.

A charming top-down dungeon crawler without quite enough challenge or content. Gods Will Fall is worth grabbing on sale, even if you won’t ever be worshipping it.

As someone who’s experienced and loves faster-paced fighting games, this is an easy win and Under Night’s formula tweaks help keep just different enough you feel like you’re mastering a weapon. However, this isn’t for everyone and if you’re after something more feature complete like a proper story mode.

Not a bad expansion by any means. It’s just that fundamentally its current balancing of monster hitzones, impediment of clutch claw mechanics, and process of endgame grinding/gearing elongate an already long process into a longer one than necessary.

This is honestly one of (if not) the best quality gacha I’ve played. It’s easily recommendable to others for its somewhat unique take of being a tower defence game. The monetisation model is fair and the game gives enough resources that you don’t need to spend money. But now that I’ve made spreadsheets for this game, I’m too deep into this gacha hell now.

While Super Meat Boy Forever is a good game, it really doesn’t compare to the original sense of precision movement and extreme difficulty that stuck out to the fans.

Blue Fire is a game that does its best to tie together the best parts of other games, but doesn’t quite make it work. Its platforming is great and offers a great challenge, but combat and level design needs work. What’s there is good, but it could be much better.

The gameplay loop of Warframe remains the same, but the smooth frame rate and great loading times will be a great benefit to long term console players as they move to the PlayStation 5. If you’re a Warframe fan, you can look forward to a much sharper experience.

Speed Limit is an incredibly fun, intense, action-packed game that never slows down, it always keeps you on your toes. It is amazingly addictive, and has a great old school feel with the graphics and gameplay. This is a must play game for everyone!

A fantastic addition to your VR library, it will keep you moving even after a gaming session, when one of the fantastic selection of songs gets stuck in your head.

Simple enough to draw you in, yet complex enough to keep you interested for the long haul. Skull: The Hero Slayer expertly balances risk-and-reward elements with player skill to make a wholly engaging action platformer.

A game that has a lot of potential, but the Switch version is full of glitches and even with jump scares the parts that do work just aren’t as creepy as they could be. The game is very repetitive and gets boring really fast.

A fantastic sequel soaked in atmosphere and tension. Little Nightmares II surpasses its predecessor far beyond what anyone would have expected. An outstanding finale which stretches from the finale boss fight from the closing credits will have fans desperate for a third installment.

Fun retro-styled twin-stick shooter that feels satisfying to play. Wears its early Konami inspiration on its sleeve whilst taking it to new places! Easy to recommend to shmup fans!

Black Mesa remains true to the original Half-Life with updated graphics, improved sounds and redesigned levels. However, the graphics still look old for a “modern” game and loading screens are still a pain as it freezes the game for a few seconds.

60 Seconds! Reatomized is an entertaining survival game that offers some fun replayability and wacky moments with the McDoodle family, but it lacks the fine-tuning it needs to make it great.

Submarines, Bionts, Dystopia and shooty shoots, what’s not to love? Buy this, slap on your cowboy hat, and stick some Linda Ronstadt on as you drive “every kind of rig that’s ever been made” in the deep blue.

Spellbreak offers a breath of life into the lungs of the battle royale genre. New battle royales have to fight hard to keep their head above the water that is infested by the titans that are Fortnite, PUBG, Warzone, and Apex Legends, but Spellbreak’s innovative gameplay might just be what the genre is looking for.