The Adventures of Elliot borrows exhaustively from The Legend of Zelda.
Saros is a perfectly tuned bullet hell of astonishing kineticism.
An impish sense of humor blows through Titanium Court, less a breeze than a gale.
People of Note is a nuanced turn-based RPG but a forgettable musical.
The predictable misfires are overshadowed by the beguiling erraticism of Grime II’s world.
To its immense credit, the choices you make across the game feel electrifying.
The game spurs you to tap into, and relish, the nuance and dynamism of its combat.
The combat is beyond reproach, but the game mistakes violence for drama.
The Ivalice Chronicles brushes a foundational work’s sharp teeth.
Hades II’s use of the roguelite form compellingly evokes the oral tradition of Greek myth.
This seven-years-in-the-making sequel is a work of vast, idiosyncratic personality.
Across Ragebound, the action becomes breezy, even meditative, as muscle memory kicks in.
The game’s politics, like its labyrinthine world, gesture at meaning but find nothing to grasp.
Nightreign is a thrilling roguelite riff on FromSoftware’s open-world masterpiece.
Despite the artificiality that creeps into the game, its intimate moments remain resonant.
Mandragora conjures a deftly oppressive atmosphere throughout its campaign.
The new season packs a bite, but it still feels as if it’s prowling on familiar ground.
The series fails to shake off the cynicism of its commercial function and blinkered politics.
This atmospheric Metroidvania is mechanically, emotionally, and philosophically electrifying.
The series is too staid to capture the idiosyncratic, fiercely political spirit of its source material.