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Alan Wake II is a revolution in interactive storytelling! The sort of story that can only be told in a videogame, a fully realized vision as you can tell that it has been brewing for THIRTEEN long years. Sam Lake is a freaking visionary for delivering such a unique interactive storytelling experience in a sea of remakes and uninspired games nowadays! First off, the visuals and lighting are absolutely INCREDIBLE—definitely one of the best-looking games this generation. The sound design is SPINE-TINGLING, keeping me on my toes with every step I take. My number one complaint in the first game was the clunky gameplay, and that is completely overhauled here! The controls and movement are BUTTERY smooth. All of that, with STUNNING world design and art direction, results in one of the most IMMERSIVE environments to explore. That made all the side activities and the cleverly well-thought-out puzzles so engaging, and I couldn't get enough! When it comes to the story and characters, Saga is, from the get-go, one of the most badass protagonists! All the new and returning characters are so well written, and I finally actually care about Alan freaking Wake! The new world-altering mechanics are incredibly RIVETING, resulting in some of the most memorable gaming sequences ever! The game takes the cool concepts introduced in the first game and turns it up to ELEVEN, delivering one of the trippiest and most mind-bending gaming experiences EVER. It has put Remedy up with the S-tier AAA devs, alongside Naughty Dog, Sony Santa Monica, CDPR, and Rockstar. A masterpiece.

A walking sim with a purpose! I never liked the term "walking sim" because it's so reductive. These games are all about atmosphere, exploration, and unfolding an intriguing narrative, and Fort Solis checks all these boxes! I enjoyed the entertaining banter between Jack and Jessica as you explore the unnerving environments. Stellar cast and performances with incredible visuals. The mystery kept me glued to the screen and it all concluded with a satisfying finale.

First off, the writing in Disco Elysium is quite possibly the best writing in any game I've EVER played. It is so rich and thought-provoking, and without wishing to sound clichéd, it really is POETIC writing. The way that your character build can change the ENTIRE feel of the game is GENIUS, to say the least. The dialogue you have with the voices in your head (yes, you read that right) and with the other characters you meet throughout the game is a BEAUTIFUL examination of people and their psyche, and I've never seen anything quite like it in any medium before. At the start of the game, the city you're in might seem like a small town with nothing much to do. Then you start peeling off the different layers within the city, and you realize how deep it actually is as you investigate and open up the different areas around the city, each with its distinct feel and characters! The story of Disco Elysium is a PHENOMENAL mix of magical realism, absurd and hilarious moments, and legit detective work, and, somehow, they all fit together PERFECTLY! Your main character and your sidekick, Kim, are some of the most loveable characters, and building up your relationship with him is the most satisfying aspect of the game. The art style is gorgeous, and the voice acting is so FANTASTIC that I can't imagine how the game originally shipped without it! So yeah, Disco Elysium is a masterpiece. Stop reading and go play it. Now!

So damn cool and stylish and fun! And it kept getting cooler and cooler and more damn fun!! Such a damn VIBE. Did I say "damn" enough? Because DAMN.

One of the most satisfying combat systems, cool AF enemy and boss designs, fun puzzles and traversal, amazing visuals, and incredible sound design and music are all the ingredients for a fantastic action game, and Stellar Blade has them all!

More meta and more insane than ever!!! A freaking hallucinatory ride of an expansion! I still can't believe Alan Wake II exists, let alone getting this even crazier expansion!!

Games have never been THIS IMMERSIVE before. An absolute feat of an audiovisual experience! Although the combat system is still not very deep, it's more brutal, crunchy, and personal than Hellblade 1, thanks to the absolutely out-of-this-world visuals and audio design! While roaming around the different environments, I found myself rarely using the run button. I just wanted to soak it all in—such a mesmerizing atmosphere. However, compared to Hellblade 1, the story felt unfocused, the puzzles were a bit repetitive, and the lack of boss fights was a miss. It's a great, impactful game overall, but it ultimately didn't reach the highs of Hellblade 1, unfortunately.

Abandoned after 2 hours I really wanted to love this game... It starts off promising with the gorgeous visuals and moving music. However, as soon as you move the stick, it just falls apart. Everything feels half-baked. The dialogue options sound awkward, so many visual glitches, and it controls like a half-finished game. A big miss, sadly.

Planet of Lana is a wonderful, wonderful game! Incredible visuals, aesthetic, sound design, and music. It plays very smoothly with fun and engaging puzzles and environments. And it has a surprisingly moving story with a great sense of awe and wonder. A must play!

A game that is all about the VIBES. Playing this game felt surprisingly therapeutic, with the soothing music and ambiance and the poignant story beats. Exploration was so rewarding and a lot of fun with the verticality in the environments that made platforming around the world feel like puzzle solving! The action and chase sequences were engaging and exciting as well with the smooth animations and controls. The playtime was short and sweet. A melancholic little indie darling that is definitely worthy of all the hype and praise!

So everything I loved about Ori and the Blind Forest, the movement, the animations, the level/game design, the art style, the music... are all even better here! Everything just feels more refined and more satisfying, and the addition of the combat mechanics and the new abilities made the whole experience more addicting! This is the first 2D metroidvania game where I actually enjoyed all the backtracking to explore more of the fantastically gorgeous and rewarding world! The environmental storytelling, the new side characters, and the addition of the side quests all added more depth to the world and lore and kept me wanting to explore more and more. And I couldn't stop playing until I 100%'ed everything! I absolutely ADORED the first game, and I LOVED this one even more! Another PERFECT game. And the 4K/120fps mode on the Series X was the icing on the cake!

Ghost of Tsushima is a BREATHTAKING game visually with EPIC cinematic highs and FUN combat action that makes you feel like a REAL samurai, but sadly everything else held it down for me... The story and writing were average at best, the main and side quests got repetitive and boring, stealth and traversal felt mediocre, and the enemy AI and combat camera were just bad. Having said all that, the sword combat and exploring the gorgeous world were SO addicting and that MADE the game for me in the end.

Believe the hype. Sony has struck gold with this most adorable, joy-filled little droid! Genius level of creativity in the platforming, different abilities, music, and tech (those DualSense haptics!). And the heartwarming cameos, references, and surprises were the cherry on top, a journey through 30 years of unforgettable gaming experiences. Never had a game made me smile as much as this! I never wanted it to end. This is why I fell in love with video games as a kid. What a delight!

Not the game I expected from the creators of the brilliant HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER. Beautiful art style, however, the gameplay/movement was a bit too floaty for my liking. I can see THE PATHLESS influences, but it lacked the flow of that game, and the gameplay loop wasn’t engaging enough. I did not enjoy getting lost in this world because of unintuitive level design as well. The lackluster voice-acting and serviceable, cryptic story did not help it either.

British humor, the game. Quite a fun time!

Wow. Another surprising metroidvania this year! Incredible art style and sound design, GENIUS puzzles and level design, and probably the most clever platforming game I've ever played, making exploration a most satisfying and delightful experience. Instead of unlocking new abilities like dashing or double jumping, you unlock new tools that will help you in reaching new areas and solving the next puzzle. And those tools are the most unorthodox solutions you could ever imagine, and with no instructions or tutorials whatsoever, they somehow manage to be so intuitive! I just kept on wanting to get back to this brilliant game to uncover the next peculiar tools and experience the masterful game design! A masterpiece.

The ultimate roguelike game returns! At first, Hades II looks like more of the same with just similar weapons and abilities and a new coat of paint. However, once you start digging through it, you realize it is much more than that, in the best ways possible! More areas, more enemies, more bosses, more abilities, more characters, and more story! A recipe for an even more addicting and satisfying gameplay loop than the first game. It's unbelievable how seamlessly all those systems are interconnected together. A masterclass in game design. And this is just the early access game! Only Supergiant Games can release an early-access game that is more polished than most full games out there. Can't wait for the full release!!

Replayed on PS5 Still one of the most unique gaming and storytelling experiences.

An adventure game with a gorgeous handmade art style, but sadly, it's not fun to play at all. It's just a series of annoying chores and fetch quests with nothing really interesting to discover while you slooooowly explore the ship. The animations and controls feel half-baked, the story is serviceable at best, and the characters are very unlikable. Disappointing game, unfortunately.

Incredible setting, visuals, and music, as expected from an Assassin's Creed game. Unfolding the altered history mysteries while discovering the real history sprinkled around the open world is always fun. The decision to scale back from the enormous open worlds we got in recent AC entries is refreshing and definitely the right decision, bringing it back to its cool parkour and stealth focused roots. However, they went a little too far with the scale-back. Bare-bones combat and lackluster story and characters held it back from joining the iconic AC games pantheon.