IGN

• PS5
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

The original Death Stranding held promise: A complex, often confusing, but never contrived first draft. A reflective journey across a lost America, it established a world and its rules with a flourish, even if I found it stumbled along the path. But in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, Australia plays host to an expanded vision and is a more accomplished achievement in nearly every facet. It removes almost all of the friction that weighed down its rookie effort, delighting with a truly unpredictable story full of intrigue and malleable stealth-action playgrounds hidden in its vast, hauntingly beautiful version of Australia. Yes, at times, it is unapologetically weird – but that isn't what defines it. It's an inventive journey packed full of both shock and awe, the sort of bold work that deserves to be encouraged. No, it isn't perfect, but it's incredibly exciting and original, never once straying from the path less trodden, and I love it all the more for it.

• PC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

The Alters is a highly atmospheric sci-fi character study of one man who meets the effects of the formative choices he’s made throughout his life face to face. Managing Jan’s relationships with his alternate selves while extracting enough resources from a hostile alien environment to survive is a balancing act on top of a balancing act, and it cleverly builds up the pressure over the course of its story. Exploration of these barren but eye-catching maps presents a series of puzzles and threats without resorting to blasting aliens, and the conversations and moral dilemmas that arise from Jan’s clones are a novel way to approach a game like this. It’s clearly not a big-budget game with resources to throw at cinematics and character models, but it does a lot with a little to tell its story effectively, and its occasional interface quirks don’t get in the way of that.

• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

Atomfall is a gripping survival-action adventure that takes some of the best elements of Fallout and Elden Ring, and synthesises them into its own fresh mutation. It presents a picturesque chunk of English countryside littered with alluring structures to pique and reward your curiosity, eccentric locals to meet, and absorbing mysteries to unravel, and uses classic iconography from British sci-fi and horror to consistently unsettling effect. In spite of some enemy behaviours that are occasionally less stable than a reactor in meltdown, Atomfall is a compelling, post-apocalyptic survival story that satisfyingly bends to your choices and discoveries no matter which direction you take.

• PS5
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

MLB The Show remains one of the best sports series around. The new upgrade system and the amateur portion of your player’s journey have reinvigorated Road To The Show, while the shift away from Sets and Seasons has righted Diamond Dynasty’s biggest wrong. While it’s a bit of a bummer that the Storylines feature isn’t living up to its full potential, it remains a worthwhile and important inclusion that has reach beyond the game of baseball. All the small touches, such as updated infielder reactions and new quick time events like the swim move, have the on-field action in a great place, too. It’s not always easy for an annual franchise to justify the move to a new entry, but in the case of MLB The Show 25, it does more than enough to make me glad it has arrived.