IGN

• PC
• 4 / 10
• États-Unis

When its performance is stable and you’re explosively blasting your way through robots, MindsEye can masquerade as a serviceable action shooter for a few minutes at a time. Its near-future setting and driving feel also impress. However, its flashy graphics and cinematics can’t otherwise hide its distinct lack of substance. High on ambition but low on original ideas, MindsEye’s rigid mission design renders its open world largely pointless – and it’s consistently undermined by vanilla combat, janky AI enemies, and its sloppy frame rate and bugs. Throw in its insultingly unfinished free roaming component and it’s clear it was simply not ready to be released. If you had your sights set on MindsEye, think again.

• SWITCH2
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

The Nintendo Switch 2 is officially off to the races, and Mario Kart World is a great way to get things started. The first brand-new Mario Kart in a decade makes huge changes to the established formula, but ironically, the best parts about it closely follow the blueprint of every entry that’s come before: unbeatable local multiplayer racing on well-designed tracks that more than live up to the series’ legacy. World’s tight controls, celebratory soundtrack, and universal polish marvelously complement the action, and I can’t wait to see how top players will take full advantage of its exciting parkour mechanics in the months and years ahead. The way Nintendo built 30 courses into an interconnected series of highways is undeniably impressive, too, but Mario Kart’s first attempt at an open world is also fairly uneven across its variety of modes. The clear standout among the new ways to play is Knockout Tour, a thrilling battle royale that makes the best use of World’s intertwined roads. But when you add in frustrating online multiplayer limitations and some head-scratching design decisions around the interface and unlockables that will hopefully be fixed in future updates, World feels like it was hit with a blue shell right before the finish line. Still, Mario Kart World’s chassis is so strong that, with a few key tune-ups, I’m confident it will eventually end up popping champagne in victory lane.

• SWITCH2
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is a charming concept, mixing an interactive instruction manual with minigames and tech demos that show off the Switch 2’s coolest features in a hands-on way. The execution of that idea, however, is a somewhat muddled collection of quaint distractions and missed opportunities dressed up as a completionist checklist without much point. This digital showroom is littered with dry informational slideshows that only occasionally feel like they are actually allowed to share something interesting. And while the minigames can be briefly amusing, it was almost never in a way that made me excited to push my high scores or check every single box. Tie that up in a world that’s cute to look at but obnoxious to progress through, and you’ve got a Switch 2 showcase that I certainly had fun with at times, but left me wishing I had just been exploring my new console with an actual game instead. It’s not worth your money and, even if it were the free pack-in game it feels like it was always meant to be, it would only barely be worth your time.

• PC
• PS5
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

When Elden Ring Nightreign is played exactly as it was designed to be played, it’s one of the finest examples of a three-player co-op game around. The eight character classes are each fun to use and feature a surprising amount of depth despite their limited movesets, the new Nightlord boss battles are among the best FromSoft has ever crafted and make the most of the three-player dynamic, and the fast-paced, race-against-the-clock nature of each run leads to exciting moments of split-second decision making and frantic rushes to try and finish up a fight before the circle closes in. But a lack of crossplay, duo matchmaking, and built-in communication tools makes it hard to create the conditions needed to have this kind of experience unless you’re bringing two real-life friends on every run, and if you want to just play by yourself, I can’t recommend it because of the poor solo mode balancing. All of this amounts to an ambitious spin-off that’s exhilarating when you’re able to create the proper conditions, and one that quickly flips to incredibly frustrating when you’re not.

• PC
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

Blades of Fire’s blacksmithing burns bright, but it doesn’t forge a sharp enough edge to put its customizable weapons to good use. The combat is serviceable but overly simplistic, and the mediocre story often failed to evoke any kind of emotion in me at all, positive or negative, as it just goes through the motions from start to finish. The unintuitive map also frequently left me running in circles, making what could have been a fun hunt for secrets feel more like a chore. And when those pain points are compounded by unflattering comparisons to the games it so clearly took inspiration from, Blades of Fire just can’t cut it.

• PS5
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

In its best moments, Deliver At All Costs is as entertaining as it is uneven. For every truly creative cargo haul twist there’s another that’s uninspired or lacking in intensity and urgency, and although there’s certainly fun to be had crashing through its many structures like a bully through a sand castle, the novelty wears off long before it ends and all you’re left with is an impressively realised 1950s world with depressingly little else to do in it. Throw in a silly, slapdash story and some toys for your truck you’re largely forbidden from playing with, and Deliver At All Costs is one shipment that’s far from the complete package.

• PC
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

The Precinct’s focus on proper arrest protocols and penalising excessive force requires a certain level of patience that not everybody will possess (and it’s a system that eventually wears out its welcome) but I genuinely enjoyed prowling the city for procedural crimes while the story lasted – and the soggy, neon-splashed ’80s setting works wonders. Fallen Tree Games had a previous crack at emulating the top-down shenanigans of classic Grand Theft Auto back with 2019’s American Fugitive, but putting the action on the right side of the law in The Precinct has proven to be far more arresting.

• PC
• SWITCH
• PS4
• PS5
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade can be fun for a bit, but with repetitive levels that lack a significant challenge for most of the three campaigns, it doesn’t stay that way for long. Though its quick and basic combat is solid, the potential of its diverse weapon selection to bring variety and nuance to battle is undermined by how easy so much of it is without really investing in them at all. Not to mention you’ll see all there is to see, enemy and level-wise, by the end of the first chapter of the first character you choose. And when its stories fail to do much more than provide a flimsy bridge to the next group of baddies to kill, you might be convinced pretty quickly to let sleeping legends lie.

• PC
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Doom: The Dark Ages may strip away the mobility focus of Doom Eternal, but replaces it with a very weighty and powerful style of play that is different from anything the series has done before, and still immensely satisfying in its own way.

• PS5
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about The Midnight Walk since I saw its endings. It’s something I know I’ll come back to so that I can wander this dark world again. Not because I’m looking to complete a checklist, but because everything I’ve learned has recontextualized the emotional stories I saw and changed what I believed about the world. I want to hear the mournful, haunting music again, and spend more time by the fire with these characters. I want to travel with Potboy, my charge, my companion, my friend who says so much without ever speaking a word. The Midnight Walk is not long — I would put my playthrough at around seven or eight hours, and I took my time — but it is gorgeous and touching, and it took hold of me early and never let me go until I took the last step on my journey. It isn’t mechanically ambitious other than to play with perception in unexpected ways, and it challenged me to go into the dark unafraid, and find truth, and companionship, and I did. Out of darkness, light. One cannot exist without the other, and neither offers every answer. I lit a match, and found my way, and I was not alone.

• PS5
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

In so many ways, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 reminded me of numerous classic and contemporary RPGs I love, but developer Sandfall truly understood why those games are special and made the pieces it borrowed its own. The creative turn-based combat system is brilliant, keeping me engaged while impressive visual flourishes bring it all together. The story can be a touch messy or melodramatic at times, but there’s an earnestness to how it frames mortality, grief, and the small moments of joy we find. It doesn’t shy away from the different, destructive ways we may handle loss, either – all of which is delivered through fantastic performances from an A-list cast that give its story the heart it needs to really hit. The contrast between its artistic sensibilities and old-school RPG design philosophy shows a clarity of vision, as if it was scoped just right to focus on the things that matter most, making it a true modern throwback. And so, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 stands strong alongside its inspirations, and I hope that it too can be an inspiration for those who come after.

• PC
• 5 / 10
• États-Unis

Steel Seed is cursed by mediocrity. Its combat is a low point, so abrasive that I’d rather restart whole areas when I got caught rather than have to navigate its jank. But it’s real problem is that everything else, from the bland characters and predictable story, to the forgettable locations that the tale takes you through, to the initially fun stealth sections that eventually wear thin, will lose the fight for a spot in my memory as soon as I’m done with this review. That’s a real shame, because there are a small handful of shiny chrome moments to find here, but they are buried under a whole lot of rust.

• PC
• XSX/S
• PS5
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is an interesting Frankenstein of action-RPG ideas that never quite comes to life. It’s easy to see the potential in everything from the grim and creepy setting, to the 2D soulslike mechanics, to the metroidvania exploration – but the actual execution of each is only skin deep, trying to juggle too many things at once and falling short for all of them. The intricate RPG systems and character classes do a lot of the heavy lifting for the otherwise subpar action, but even that can’t disguise the dull and repetitive combat, with weak boss fights that serve as flaccid finales to each level. There are plenty of good ideas in the dark fantasy world of Faelduum, but none of them come together in the way I’d hoped.

• PC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

When it comes to all the most important parts of a fighting game, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is up there with the best of the genre. Its fighting system is a wonderful update to the classic SNK style of one-on-one combat that feels similar to Street Fighter 6, but just different enough to exist as an alternative to it; the roster of 17 is varied and interesting, even with the strange addition of two real life guest characters; and its netcode, while not on the same level as games like Street Fighter 6 and Guilty Gear Strive, is at least relatively close to it. Many things around that rock solid center are a bit behind the times, from the bare minimum teaching tools to an ugly menu UI that can be frustrating to engage with. But while that means Fatal Fury has some cobwebs to shake off from its 25-year hibernation, the end result is still an excellent return to the fighting game scene.

• PC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

Commandos: Origins puts a strict focus on stealth, and the result is slow-paced, challenging, and consistently satisfying when all your plans come together.

• PC
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Blue Prince is the kind of puzzle game that dug deep into my brain and didn’t let go. Its complex mysteries weave brilliantly into the careful decision making of how to lay out the mansion’s rooms on each randomized run, leaving me building floorplans in my sleep almost every night after I played it. The story that slowly emerges within this fascinating place is also a compelling one, and it had me hungrily hunting for clues and combinations for many hours after I reached the credits while also poetically tying into the mechanics that lead you to them. Hitting a dead end you did everything in your power to avoid can frustrate from time to time, but this sprawling estate has so much to uncover that the randomness never stalled my progress for too long. If The Witness, Portal, and Myst are already emblazoned on the Mount Rushmore of first-person puzzle games, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Blue Prince carved alongside them soon enough.

• PC
• XSX/S
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

South of Midnight is a straightforward but well-executed action-adventure game on the surface, with a simple but satisfying mix of combat and platforming. It’s focused, filling out its 12-hour runtime nicely without ever dragging or relying on unnecessary padding. Beyond those basics, however, is a certain heart and artistry that elevates the whole package, inviting you to peer into the deep American South through its folklore, nature, and culture. It might not be the most profound exploration of family life, but it’s delivered in ways that feel authentic. From its striking art style to the evocative tunes that bring big story moments together, Hazel’s journey is a captivating one no matter where you come from.

• PC
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

As a huge fan of developer Bugbear since the original FlatOut in 2004, Wreckfest 2 is definitely already speaking my language – and it really does feel great when you’re in the thick of it, crashing and carving your way through rival cars and destructible scenery on a scale I’ve never seen before. The slim amount of content and abundant crashes to desktop in the early access launch, however, make Wreckfest 2 in its current form more of an investment in what’s to come than an imperative you should change course to experience today. It leaves a mark on first impact, but a few sessions later and I feel like I’ve squeezed all the fun I’m going to glean out of it for now.