The love, care, and attention that's gone into making Hollow Knight: Silksong is already very evident in its vast array of gorgeous environments, earworm audio, and tough but fair platforming challenges. Pharloom is a land we just can't get enough of, and we can't wait to see where Team Cherry will take us as we work towards the conclusion of the campaign.
Redacted has all the addictive core elements of an enjoyable roguelike: a good variety of weapons, abilities, and synergies with a well-polished presentation. The racing rivals and random events keep runs feeling fresh, although its comparatively short runtime and relatively lackluster melee combat prevent it from being one of the greatest.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a much tighter, more focused platform fighter than the first entry in the series, with more gratifying combat and some truly imaginative move sets. Although its campaign is repetitive and there are frequent crashes to contend with, this sequel still manages to land a solid knockout blow here.
The Talos Principle 2 follows in its predecessor's shoes by nailing down a brilliant philosophical puzzle sequel with new and improved mechanics. If the puzzle solving doesn't get your brain ticking, then the in-depth philosophical discussions surely will. With exceptional puzzle design, glorious presentation, and thought-provoking conversations, Croteam has created a follow-up to be remembered for years to come.
Soft locks, crashes, and bugs burden this gorgeously presented Christmas story. Until this nightmare before Christmas is patched, we'd suggest finding something else to place under your Christmas tree.
Wizard with a Gun is an enjoyably frantic twin-stick survival shooter. Although its iffy controls and occasional frame rate drops dampen the experience, its extensive crafting, upgrades, and base building systems overshadow the issues. If you're a Don't Starve fanatic or just after an enjoyable co-op title, we'd recommend giving Wizard with a Gun a shot.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged is a highly polished, fast-paced, fun, and robust racing sequel that builds upon its predecessor in all the right ways. Addressing almost all our criticisms of the previous title by adding impressive core mechanic modifications in the form of jumps, dashes, and new terrains, removing loot boxes, and adding obstacle immunity skills, Milestone has created a fantastic follow-up arcade racer to be reckoned with.
Cricket 24 fails to build upon the series’ solid opening partnership from its previous instalments in a significant way. Its enjoyable core gameplay is practically identical to Cricket 22, with the only noticeable addition being franchised tournament formats. Its abundance of bugs and glitches, and barren online lobbies, leaves little reason to take another swing at the series if you’ve already played an innings of a previous title.
Payday 3 has its enjoyable moments, bringing its well-known cooperative heists into a new game engine. However its lack of content, outdated gunplay, underwhelming AI, and unfinished cutscenes leave a lot to be desired. If you're a series fan looking for a substantial step-up in this sequel then this isn't it. However, if you're after a multiplayer title to clown around in for a few hours, this will suffice.
Super Bomberman R 2 is a step in the right direction for the series with the addition of a lengthy campaign, a level editor, and a whole new game mode. With more puzzles to mix up the repetitive gameplay and a little more polish to iron out the visual clutter, frame rate drops, and long load times, Bomberman could be super yet again.
Chants of Sennaar has a terrifically unique focus on translation, portraying the differences between various cultures’ languages excellently through its enjoyable puzzle-solving. With no other game quite like it, we’d highly recommend getting lost in translation here.
Although Somerville has some standout features, gorgeously peaceful environments, and atmospheric, silent storytelling, they're somewhat dulled by its terrible controls, awful performance, and lack of exposition. Being restricted to walking pace and the path forward often unclear, you frequently end up walking into invisible barriers. There are huge drops in frame rate throughout, especially when loading new areas, and the lack of names and backstories for the family you're playing leaves you frustrated with little to no attachment to them and their eventual outcomes. If you’re looking for a short, touching title to tide you over until the next big release, this may be worth a look, but with all its issues, it's better off left alone in the dark.
The game takes the familiar formula of the series, featuring compelling puzzles, chaotic combat, and perfect presentation, and sticks by it. With a whole new campaign and a wide variety of fresh and familiar abilities, Trine 5 appeals to series fans both new and old.
The always-online multiplayer aspect comes with the usual latency issues: you’ll be chasing someone and land an attack but the other person has already run past you, meaning your attack doesn’t hit. We also ended up shutting doors on ourselves rather than behind us due to this issue — it's incredibly frustrating and can be the difference between a win and a loss. Combined with the occasional visual bugs, precise positioning for interactions, clunky user interface, long lobby wait times, and lack of content, this leaves The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on the floor bleeding out.
Blasphemous 2 takes the foundations of its well-received predecessor and builds upon it in all the right ways. Tweaking combat to make it faster, smoother, and more accurate, removing insta-death scenarios to make platforming more manageable, and packing the game full to the brim with secrets and collectibles. The great attention to detail in the presentation and high level of polish make Blasphemous 2 a delightfully memorable experience that players will look back on fondly for years to come.