IGN

• PC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

Among Us VR is a great ground-up reworking of a classic social game that feels right at home in virtual reality, remaining faithful to Innersloth’s hit while feeling fresh in a new perspective and with a few sneaky new tricks in play. This still feels like the same game many of us fell in love with years ago, yet thanks to new elements like proximity voice chat and mini-games made to work with motion controls, Among Us VR revitalizes action across The Skeld. Additional maps and cosmetics can’t come quickly enough, but if they’re up to the standard that Schell Games has set with the one that’s currently available they’ll be worth a bit of a wait. This is easily one of the best VR adaptations of an existing game yet.

• PS5
• PS4
• 10 / 10
• États-Unis

An enthralling spectacle to behold and an even more exciting one to take the reins of, God of War Ragnarok melds action and adventure together to create a new, unforgettable Norse saga. Impeccable writing, pitch-perfect performances, knockout action – it’s a complete work of art from top to bottom. Reflecting its core themes, it's everything a sequel should be: respectful of its legendary lineage, but not afraid to take it to exciting new places. God of War Ragnarok is an almighty achievement and creates a new high that makes many of its peers look positively mortal by comparison.

• PS5
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

Sonic Frontiers is a delightfully weird and experimental evolution of the Sonic games so many of us grew up with. Its series of open-world islands are filled with so much variety and pieces of Sonic history, from classic platforming stages to silly minigames, that they’re enjoyable to explore even when awful graphical pop-in is a constant hedgehog spine in your side. Some of the new stuff Frontiers tries out, like the smart toggling between 2D and 3D perspectives out in the open world or the Cyber Space levels, are fantastic ways to pack as much Sonic goodness as possible into one package, while others – especially combat – are uninteresting experiments gone wrong. Still, I largely enjoyed my time running around in Frontiers, making it feel like a very promising first attempt at what could be a bright new era for Sonic and friends.

• PC
• IOS
• ANDROID
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

Marvel Snap upends the collectible card game genre with some truly fresh ideas, impressive strategic depth, wonderfully slick presentation, and a fantastic use of the Marvel licence. Not everything it attempts is an outright win, however. Its high variance gameplay can be frustrating, but is mitigated by the short games and ability to retreat mid-match, while the collection system represents a bold move away from the norm of buying into a collection, but ultimately feels slow and unsatisfying beyond a certain point. Even so, Marvel Snap deserves a place in the pocket of card game players and Marvel fans alike.

• PC
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

The Valiant is a serviceable, squad-based RTS that serves up some usually well-balanced sword-clanging action for its heroes and their small bands of merry men, though it wears a bit thin once it’s evident how repetitive and backtrack-heavy the battles can get. There’s a sturdy story to drive it forward, though it too is let down at the last moment by an ill-considered final battle that renders all your decision-making throughout the campaign worthless. And while The Valiant does have multiplayer, don’t count on being able to find any opponents to clash with online.

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• XONE
• XSX/S
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

When you get into the guts of it, WRC Generations is by no means a drastic shake-up on its quality predecessors, even if there have been some small but welcome improvements to the career mode and customisation tools that have spiked my enthusiasm. It does, however, deserve credit for both the very respectable range of relevant rally cars it features, as well as its absolute mountain of rally locations. With almost every country to host the WRC over the last decade represented, WRC Generations may be KT Racing’s last WRC game, but there’s nothing least about it. The kitchen sink philosophy has resulted in a fantastic and uncommonly generous package for gravel groupies, asphalt addicts, and mud-slinging maniacs alike.

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• XONE
• XSX/S
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

Call of Duty’s shooting is once again in a prestige class of its own, which means Modern Warfare 2’s campaign always manages to operate on a minimum quality bar that delivers a satisfying punch. But beyond each thunderous pull of the trigger is an underwhelming story and level designs that are too concerned with replicating the successes of previous campaigns rather than embracing its own good ideas for more than a single mission apiece. In the areas it does innovate it almost always stumbles, although there does remain some enjoyment to be taken in its momentary flashes of inspiration. Overall, though, this is sadly a lackluster follow-up to Modern Warfare 2019’s refined take on a Call of Duty campaign, and an experience that’s already fading in my memory.

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• XONE
• XSX/S
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

The Divine Force isn’t necessarily a standout in this long-running series, but it is a much more successful effort to bring Star Ocean into the modern age than its predecessor. The revamped battle mechanics do wonders for its previously limited combat system, offering more freedom and flexibility than ever before. The main cast of characters is also charming, even if the world they are exploring and the animations that accompany them are far less captivating. I wish its interface issues were less obnoxious, but even so, The Divine Force at least proves that Square Enix’s sci-fi JRPG certainly deserved another shot.

• PS4
• PS5
• XONE
• XSX/S
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

It’s a shame that Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord lets you auto-resolve its glorious action/real-time strategy combat but forces you to endure dozens of hours of laborious and repetitive activities on its dry, flavorless overworld map. If I could skip over the bugs, shallow grinds, and frustrating non-combat activities around building up your faction and quickly return to battle it'd be easier to recommend. When it comes to simulating a medieval warfare at the ground level between hundreds of soldiers down to every swing of a sword and clash of shields, this is the only game in town.

• PC
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

Victoria 3 is the kind of game that sucks me in and doesn't let me go, whether I'm trying to turn Hawaii into an anarcho-communist utopia or make Afghanistan the centerpiece of the global economy by monopolizing the opium trade. The scope and depth of its simulation is remarkable. I would need to double the length of this review just to explain the enormity of it in full. And that's only outdone by the fact that it actually runs well. I wish there was a fair bit less overall jank and weird AI behavior taking me out of the illusion, and the warfare system feels very work-in-progress. But that hasn't stopped me from playing it until the sun comes up more than a couple times in the last few weeks. It's a great first step, with an even more promising tomorrow.

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• XONE
• XSX/S
• SWITCH
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

New Tales from the Borderlands successfully recaptures a lot of Telltale’s original magic with a fresh, funny, and affable new set of main characters, but unfortunately it also introduces new problems – both in the story and in some half-hearted game mechanics – that gum up the works. You don’t need to have played the first Tales in order to enjoy this one, but if you’re going to choose one or the other, stick with the original and circle back to this pseudo-sequel with tempered expectations if the first one grabs you as much as it grabbed me.

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

Gotham Knights is a consistently disappointing return to Batman’s troubled city and a distinct step backwards from the past decade-plus of Batman games. Even if running around Gotham in two-player co-op can be decent fun and each of the four playable crime fighters are well executed in their dialogue and distinctive moves, too many of the fundamentals fall short for me to recommend it. From the inconsistent frame rates, to the weak story, to one-note combat that rarely feels good, there was virtually always something going wrong to make sure I wasn’t experiencing the triumphant return with my friends at my side I had envisioned.

• PC
• SWITCH
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

A Plague Tale: Requiem is an impressive sequel to one of my favorite action-adventure games, upping the ante in almost every way. It doesn’t do a ton to distinguish itself from its predecessor in terms of its actual gameplay mechanics, but with a depressing yet awesome story, fantastic graphics, and rat-filled moments that I’ll never forget, this unique adventure very much deserves your attention. I certainly wish it were more ambitious with its stealth action sandbox and took more risks than it does, but it’s still a worthy follow-up that left me with some great memories and a few recurring nightmares.

• SWITCH
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope takes the excellent tactical combat ideas of Kingdom Battle and runs absolutely wild with them. Its goofy characters still have the ability to bounce off of each other, but they’re now free of the rigid grid and wonderfully customizable thanks to the mix-and-match Sparks that give them new and reliably interesting powers. Between fights you get to catch your breath in the large and brilliantly colorful open worlds, solving its light puzzles and being puzzled yourself by its oddball story. It’s extremely gratifying to play an ambitious sequel that fixes all of the main issues I had with the original, and then some.

• XSX/S
• PC
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

If Scorn were much longer than it is, I think it would have overstayed its welcome. But the fact that it's such a bite-sized sprint through the grisly and surreal made it memorable and satisfying. The frustrating combat, mercifully, only haunts a fraction of that playtime. But the superb, darkly mystifying art direction and ambient soundtrack suffuse the whole thing like rancid blood bringing a creaky corpse back to life. It's an uneasy, sometimes disorienting experience from end-to-end. Yet, it's one I don't regret plunging into.

• PS5
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

Even after a year off, PGA Tour 2K23 returns offering minimal progress from its preceding, prior-generation edition. A new three-click swing is an unforgiving mess, it’s somehow worse at emulating the look and feel of televised golf, and the few spurts of personality that’ve been layered on can’t counter developer HB Studios’ penchant for preserving pro golf’s elitism above all, or the apparent terror of breaking from that form. At least PGA Tour 2K23 can define itself through the properly challenging golf sim at its heart and the barebones career mode that stands all but alone in its menus.

• PS5
• PS4
• XSX/S
• XONE
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

It’s overdue, but NHL 23 finally looks and feels like it belongs on these beefier consoles. The visual tech upgrade adds stellar reality to the on-ice play, which also benefits from players who are willing to dive for the puck to make a desperate goal or save. It gains new energy from crowds reacting to the action like real crowds would, bringing a definitive audio design that’s best-in-class for stadium effects. Franchise mode customization greatly expands, and seeing women in the fold for the first time feels right – and also overdue. At the same time there are several modes that are outright ignored, including the Be a Pro single-player campaign, and its microtransaction-driven Ultimate Team mode comes with the usual caveats about its predatory, profit-driven nature.

• PC
• PS4
• PS5
• SWITCH
• XONE
• XSX/S
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

It’s a shame that LEGO Bricktales can often get in its own way, because it’s a fun adventure that breathes new life into what a LEGO game can look like. Building brick structures feels almost as good on the screen as it does in real life, and even when I was feeling frustrated by limited camera controls or an obscure objective, I still found myself smiling and fist-pumping when I finally found my way forward. LEGO Bricktales is full of good ideas, and while there will always be a place for the licensed LEGO adventure games, this is a change of pace I’d welcome more.