IGN

• SWITCH
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Xenoblade Chronicles X was already one of the Wii U’s best games, and this Definitive Edition has escaped the destruction of its old home like the White Whale and settled down nicely on Switch. The quality-of-life improvements here are enough to justify another trip to Mira alone for veteran players, and it’s the perfect opportunity for newcomers to explore its beautiful landscapes for themselves. Its combat systems are deep and engaging, and the massive open world never got old to run, jump, or fly across. Its main story may not quite live up to the standards of the series, but a likable cast of characters and plenty of compelling side missions mean Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is still an adventure worth writing back home about.

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

Assassin’s Creed Shadows takes a flashing blade to the series’ established norms, trimming them to a more precise form in lieu of chopping them down outright. Combat is aggressive and requires more intentional parrying and skill management than in the past, and exploring the gorgeous provinces of Sengoku-period Japan is encouraged thanks to the revamped map that deemphasizes collecting icons and checking off lists. Naoe and Yasuke are well-realized and memorable protagonists, even though most of the story they drive follows pretty predictable paths. Both have unique playstyles that bolster each other’s weaknesses, but they are ultimately imbalanced by the fact that you can make use of the stealth and exploration skills of the master shinobi far more than the superhuman strength of the samurai. This isn’t the Assassin’s Creed that will change the minds of folks that never connected with the series before, but for those of us with lots of hours logged in the Animus, the sum of Shadows’ parts provide a refreshing realignment of the series that you should not skip.

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

A couple of microtransaction-fueled missteps aside, WWE 2K25 is really the best wrestling game since… WWE 2K24, which was also pretty great. It looks fantastic, still feels good, and there’s a lot of it, including small but welcome updates like intergender matches or bigger updates like the new MyRise and Showcase modes. It’s an upscale wrestling buffet, if you will: It’s pretty scrumptious, there's a wide selection of dishes on the table, and you could spend an awful lot of time in the squared circle if you’re not careful. Speaking of, I need to get back to it. I have some more Showcase things to unlock, Universe is calling my name, and… well, you get the idea.

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

In the heat of the action, FragPunk feels great. The hilariously mad Shard Cards make every round distinct, and with so many potential combinations, it is hard to imagine its signature game mode growing tiresome any time soon. It’s just a shame that the economy and reward systems built around it are such a mess, and the unlockables that you are supposed to work towards earning aren’t very interesting. It’s still exciting to play, especially when all eyes fall on you in a match-ending Duel – but when the thrill of victory alone loses its luster, there isn’t a compelling reason to stick around for the long haul unless what you earn and how you earn it changes significantly.

• PC
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Every inch of Wanderstop pushes the conventions you’d expect of similarly wholesome games. Its vibrant colors, quirky characters, and enchanting music are used to tell a compelling story that forces you to grapple with both its lead character's insecurities as well as your own. It’s a powerful adventure not just about burn out, but about how deeply painful it is to free ourselves from coping mechanisms that may have previously kept us secure. At the same time, Wanderstop’s simple but satisfying tea brewing experimentation serves as a safe and entertaining space to do that deep digging. There aren’t many games like Wanderstop out there currently, but for all our sakes, I hope there will be soon.

• XSX/S
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

Carmen Sandiego’s latest adventure harkens back to the series’ origins while modernizing it in a few key ways. It could do with some refinement, as some of the activities are more fun than others, but it’s overall an enjoyable (if simple) detective game that will test your knowledge and tease your brain. For kids, Carmen Sandiego offers an age-appropriate challenge that makes learning entertaining — just like the edutainment genre set out to do so many years ago. For kids at heart, it’s a breezy adventure that’s worth dusting off your virtual passport and taking another trip around the world.

• PS5
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

An expertly crafted and absorbing co-op adventure that pinballs from one genre extreme to another, Split Fiction is a rollercoaster of gameplay ideas and styles that are usually discarded as quickly as they’re introduced. This keeps it fabulously fresh for its full, 14-hour duration. With no idea sticking around long enough to get stale before making way for the next, it’s a victory of imagination and restraint in equal measure. Hazelight may have been rewriting the co-op rule book for a decade now, but Split Fiction is a new chapter that you (and a partner) cannot miss.

• PC
• PS5
• XSX/S
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Two Point Museum is a rewarding, deep, challenging, and highly entertaining tycoon game that demonstrates Two Point Studios has really hit its groove with this third iteration of the idea. The variety of different exhibits to unlock and level up, the thrill of discovering new expedition maps, and the array of clever and easy-to-use management tools make designing and running a museum joyful and consistently rewarding. I've sunk more than 40 hours into it already and I could easily see doubling that without running out of stuff to do. Call the curator. They're really going to want to take a look at this.

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

Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the traditionally rough edges of the series in smart ways, reducing as much friction as possible that could get in the way of you grabbing any of its exceptionally fun weapons and planting them firmly in a monster’s hide. But in that quest to make Monster Hunter more approachable, Wilds has carved a little too close to the bone in some places, trimming its challenge back so much that I barely needed to dig into its in-depth equipment system at all this time to become an apex predator. Its more flexible combat is some of the most fun I’ve had with the series, but like the blustering lighting storms of its gorgeous desert, it'll burns brightly but briefly until Capcom unleashes some real endgame beasts to challenge us.

• PS5
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

Propelled by a breezy and often completely bananas treasure-hunting tale, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a delightful spin-off that seamlessly shifts between street thuggery and skulduggery. Majima’s Sea Dog stance is one of the most fun and flexible fighting styles I’ve enjoyed in the series to date – at least in its classic, combo-based form – and I welcomed the challenge of carefully balancing my crew lineup in order to survive the many turbulent naval battles. While its overworld maps feel a little padded out with recycled island settings, Honolulu itself is jammed with unpredictable substories and overhauled activities that meant every moment of shore leave was full of surprises. Absolutely heaving with buried treasures and varied pleasures, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a consistently captivating voyage that kept my timbers shivering whether on land or at sea.

• PS5
• 8 / 10
• États-Unis

With substantial changes to how it looks and plays, PGA Tour 2K25 feels like a different game from its predecessor. The new swing mechanics, paired with the significantly improved graphics, makes for a much more realistic ambiance, even with a lethargic performance by the announcing team. The highly customizable MyCareer campaign mode shines as one of the most enjoyable parts even though it has a tacked-on personality system, occasional unnecessary connectivity issues, and of course microtransactions. PGA Tour 2K25 is still a few strokes behind EA Sports PGA Tour as the best golfing simulator around, but if it continues to improve like this with each new iteration, we may see it close that gap relatively soon.

• XSX/S
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

With awesome worldbuilding and stellar character writing, Avowed reminds me why I fell in love with Obsidian’s RPGs in the first place. However, the bigger picture is that it plays it quite safe, with a by-the-numbers fantasy adventure that’s more familiar than evolutionary, and there’s bear-ly any enemy variety to keep its swords-and-sorcery battles interesting for long. Even if it doesn’t swing for the fences or leave a memorable mark on the genre, though, it’s still perfectly competent with all the tried-and-true stuff I expect, including chaotic combat, leveling systems and a loot progression that lets you build the kind of character you want to play, and meaningful decisions that can have a massive impact on the world. Plus, the whole thing’s surprisingly technically stable compared to its reliably unreliable peers. I enjoyed my time parkouring my way through Eora and think you will too – just don’t expect Avowed to show you anything you haven’t seen before.

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

With Civilization 7, the desire to streamline and simplify this legendary 4X series feels like it has gone a bit too far, particularly when it comes to the interface. It’s frustratingly inadequate at providing me with the information I need to play well, or even understand what's going on sometimes. Even so, it does have improved warfare and diplomacy, a bit of added narrative flair, as well as mostly gorgeous graphics and sound, so it can still give me reasons to keep clicking one more turn late into the night. There’s good reason to believe that with Firaxis’s usual pace of patches and expansions it can refine its new ideas and become everything it ought to be, and while what’s here right now is at least still a fun time, it’s also a bigger step backward for the series than we’re accustomed to when a new age dawns.

• PC
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

Armed with excellent melee combat and an exceptional story, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one part sequel and one part coronation, bringing a lot of the original's ideas to fruition.

• PC
• 6 / 10
• États-Unis

Sniper Elite: Resistance is a modest retread for the Sniper Elite series, rather than an exaggerated goose step forward. A near total lack of innovation makes Resistance seem like little more than a Sniper Elite 5 remix, rehashing everything from the skill tree to the traps and enemy types, and serving up some sniping sandboxes that are for the most part a bit too similar to locations that have featured in the series’ prior entries. Its bonus propaganda missions are fun but fleeting, and its X-ray kill-cam still blasts balls and brains to bits but no longer blows my mind. Those only just getting on board with the series will undoubtedly find a bit more to like, but I’d argue that on balance, Sniper Elite 5’s superior story sandboxes and otherwise similar feature set makes it a much better buy even three years on from its release. Sniper Elite: Resistance is a solid stealth-based shooter, but it fails to set its sights high enough in order to pull off a truly spectacular execution.

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

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector does not stray too far from what made the first one a cult hit, but it doesn’t need to. It tells a rich and poignant story about the complex nature of control on one’s self when that self is a machine that can be rebooted and hacked, finding and enriching community in the face of overwhelming odds, and expressing personhood both to oneself and to others. It’s visual novel-like presentation is heavy on reading and dice rolling, so its not exactly pulse-pounding, but the retooled character classes and stats, new crew missions, and stress mechanics provide just enough feedback and create a sense of precarity throughout that it stays engaging.

• PC
• 7 / 10
• États-Unis

When Eternal Strands is good, it’s very good, thanks to exciting boss fights that iterate upon Shadow of Colossus’s gigantic encounters better than just about any of the other games that have used it as inspiration. While its story is underwhelming and some aspects of its gear progression are especially convoluted, the combat is built on an extremely strong foundation thanks to a versatile set of powers that encourage and reward creativity, especially in the showstopping Great Foe battles. The novelty does begin to fade after a while, especially when you’re forced to fight those same bosses and enemies again in the same locations, occasionally with frustrating weather effects, but the high points of Eternal Strands mitigate the low points enough to still make it an action RPG that’s easy to recommend.

• PS5
• 9 / 10
• États-Unis

If Dynasty Warriors: Origins is meant to be a new beginning, it’s one that gets off to a masterful start. It doesn’t just have the largest amount of enemies the series has thrown on screen at once, it also deepens its combat, improves its storytelling without getting in the way of the action, and provides a healthy amount of replayability and postgame content – all while looking better than ever. Your amnesiac hero is a bit too much of a blank slate at times, but the impressive ensemble cast made this story sing as I grew to care about the characters around him, big and small. Origins is both a great entry point for newcomers and a triumphant return for veterans like me who felt the last few entries had become stale or missed the mark. It feels like the series I once loved is finally back.