Gaming Trend

• PC
• 70%
• États-Unis

Bladed Fury doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s got its 2D hack and slash fundamentals down to a science. Its beautiful hand-drawn art style and great enemy designs bring its mythological rendition of ancient China to life, even when its story fails to.

• SWITCH
• 80%
• États-Unis

Using only text messages, Bury me, my Love develops two relatable main characters and tells the engaging story of a Syrian woman’s search for refuge in Europe after her sister is killed in a bombing. The game rewards multiple playthroughs with its compelling writing and interesting storylines, though replaying the same passages can be tedious.

• PC
• 85%
• États-Unis

Ashen uses the Souls-like formula to tell a very different, optimistic story about community. Whether you’re playing alone, with an AI companion, or with another person, combat with the game’s varied enemies and bosses is challenging and satisfying. Ashen’s world feels real and lived-in, and getting to carve out your own settlement and watch it prosper is truly satisfying.

• PC
• 100%
• États-Unis

Gris is an incredible achievement, using its art, music, and gameplay to tell a thematically consistent story about a woman overcoming her grief. Despite the weighty subject matter, the way its protagonist’s triumph over sorrow is reflected in increasingly fluid and diverse platforming makes it a joy to play. While Gris is low on challenge and impossible to fail, it still feels exciting. Even if it doesn’t sound like your kind of game, Gris absolutely deserves a try.

• SWITCH
• 80%
• États-Unis

I am the Hero is a short and sweet beat-em-up that mixes an accessible yet comprehensive gameplay system with some challenging gameplay and unique aesthetic. Pick this one up if you’ve got a hankering to destroy the forces of evil with punches and kicks!

• XONE
• 85%
• États-Unis

Just Cause 4 is another solid entry in a franchise that continues to bring me hours of over-the-top, hilarious action. It doesn’t do enough to evolve the franchise, and doesn’t make enough use of the new weather effects, but the new tools available to Rico and the improvements in customization options is well-worth the price of entry.

• XONE
• 80%
• États-Unis

Thronebreaker is a masterful RPG with a version of Gwent that is well-suited for a single-player experience. Even if you aren’t into card games, this one is worth a try for the story and RPG mechanics alone.

• SWITCH
• 90%
• États-Unis

Katamari Damacy Reroll is as simple, silly, and superbly entertaining as it was more than a decade ago. The main experience stays intact, but the remaster does enough to make anyone interested in this game smile. Here’s hoping that Bandai Namco takes this reimagining and invests in the original sequel next.

• PS4
• 45%
• États-Unis

The Last Remnant is an interesting experiment in expanding the traditional turn-based battle system, but there are enough annoyances in that system and weaknesses in its setting and characters to keep this from reaching the heights it’s clearly reaching for.

• PC
• 65%
• États-Unis

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden’s blend of turn-based tactical combat with stealth is interesting, but not always successful, and its story doesn’t take advantage of its unique setting. Although the ability to explore the world and sneak up on enemies adds a fun twist to the genre, it brings unwelcome complications and technical hiccups as well. I also ran into numerous performance issues, including game-ending freezes, that strained my initial fondness for the game.

• PC
• 85%
• États-Unis

60 Parsecs is a simple game about not dying in space. While not complex in gameplay, 60 Parsecs is incredibly deep with strategy, problem-solving, and smart resource planning. The game expertly blends a cartoonish and goofy world with some of the darkest elements of death and isolation. 60 Parsecs is a surprisingly fantastic game that has a large amount of replay value. It’s well worth a look.

• PC
• SWITCH
• PS4
• XONE
• 85%
• États-Unis

The First Tree tells an incredibly personal and melancholy story about the loss of a loved through the eyes of a fox within a dream world. Wandering through beautiful, abstract worlds, you learn the narrator’s story as the fox searches for her missing kits. It has a surprising number of platformer elements, given the nature of the game, but doesn’t distract from the beautiful story within this short exploration game.

• SWITCH
• 55%
• États-Unis

Coffee Crisis takes the interesting concept of the classic beat ‘em up with a metal and coffee theme and attempts to run with it, only to trip over itself with a questionable implementation of modifiers that can’t be selected normally, as well as bare-bones combat. All of the pieces of a quality beat ‘em up are present in this game, but it’s not quite put together yet.

• SWITCH
• 90%
• États-Unis

ABZÛ is nothing short of a work of art. Diving through its gorgeous cel-shaded ocean with the title’s sweeping orchestra in the background enraptured me from the first moment of the game. This is an experience that shouldn't be missed.

• PS4
• 70%
• États-Unis

World of Final Fantasy Maxima is by no means perfect (it, in fact, has many notable flaws) but I had a fun time indulging in my love of Final Fantasy and with a Pokemon twist. This new Maxima add-on only makes the overall experience better, but is a fairly light package for anyone that played the base game already. If you were champing at the bit for any new content, then this gives players some new monsters to collect, but it ultimately is more additive than transformative.

• PC
• 75%
• États-Unis

With a more heavy focus on action, Darksiders III is a return to the roots of the franchise, and away from the RPG elements of its predecessor. Whether that appeals to you or not, there’s more than enough fantastic story elements to bring any fan back to see how Fury’s story ties to her Four Horseman brethren. Let’s just hope Gunfire Games can apply one last coat of polish over the controls and checkpoint system to elevate this game to where it belongs.

• SWITCH
• 80%
• États-Unis

Pokémon Let’s Go is a curious game which bucks the established trends of mainline Pokémon titles. The series’ signature, turn-based combat takes a backseat to the experience of simply existing in the world of Pokémon, capturing Kanto’s ‘mons with brand-new, well-executed capturing mechanics. This game lacks many of the “hardcore” features that scores of fans, myself included, have come to expect from a new title. However, in the wake of these features is a Pokémon experience that engaged me in a manner unlike any title in the series’ past.

• XONE
• 85%
• États-Unis

It’s a strange thing to find yourself smiling so much while playing a game that has you carrying out a series of grisly murders, but that’s exactly what Hitman 2 does. Whether you’re disguising yourself as a cupcake salesman to get close to a target, or spending an hour to make someone’s death look like an accident, Hitman 2 is the best stealth action game of the year.