A bright colorful package that has managed to - happily - disrupt our time with the other big Roguelikes of the minute. Maybe all you really need is a few great ideas. [Issue#352, p.120]

We're filled with a sense of unease as our thumb slides upwards, but there's something else here, too: doomscrolling with a side of voyeurism. [Issue#352, p.119]

It's a game from which you'll find yourself needing to consciously unclench, its rhythm of tension and release proving borderline irresistible. [Issue#352, p.118]

In its modest, unassuming way, it's gently profound, too. [Issue#352, p.116]

Put simply, it regularly betrays the cyber-ninja fantasy it's peddling. The speedruns will doubtless be dazzling, and Ghostrunner certainly LOOKS every bit the blockbuster it isn't. How unfortunate, then, that a game about a deadly assassin should suffer from so many critical failures in execution. [Issue#352, p.114]

It captures the original's atmosphere of inescapable threat but struggles to engineer new possibilities within it, though its take on player death is worth a longer discussion. [Issue#352, p.110]

Yes, deaths you suffer might linger in the memory longer than the runs themselves, but pixel for pixel, this is as exciting in the moment as anything we've played all year. Light the fuse, stand back and prepare to gasp in wonder. [Issue#352, p.106]

That conviction gives it charm next to the bloat of certain other Star Wars games, but when you're skimming the hull of an exploding frigate, it's hard not to wish for more. [Issue#352, p.102]

If Massive Damage's kitchen-sink approach to combat systems threatens to become overwhelming, it is at least built upon solid foundations. [Issue#351, p.107]

The studio cannot seem to reconcile with itself, and in this sense, it's unwittingly proved the point its latest narrative fails to: with so many sides to consider, not all stories are so easily tied up. [Issue#351, p.106]

Assuming its most patience-testing proclivities don't put you off, there's a good chance it'll capture your heart. [Issue#351, p.104]

Despite the posthuman setting, these puzzling exhibitions are gently life-affirming, offering warmth and ingenuity in equal abundance. [Issue#351, p.104]

In the end, we're rather glad we stuck our beaks in. [Issue#351, p.102]

You'll want to see each and every one of Pendragon's journeys through, even knowing that its survivors are set to live miserably ever after. [Issue#351, p.100]

For all those little frustrations, it's clear Paradise Killer is going to stay with us for a while longer. It's a considerable achievement for this tiny studio. Kaizen Game Works: may you continue to reach for the moon. [Issue#351, p.98]

It still requires a deeper commitment than most games ask for, but the rewards positively tumble forth, year after year, generation after generation, treacherous vassal after treacherous vassal. [Issue#351, p.94]

Marvel's Avengers has a lot of good parts, a lot of indifferent ones, and an overall lack of direction. [Issue#351, p.90]

Fujio's empathetic tale could almost be a playable short from filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda; like Kore-eda's best work, this compassionate snapshot of Japanese working-class life finds pleasure and wonder in the routine. [Issue#350, p.107]

Cramming more surprises and ideas into five hours than many games manage in 50, There Is No Game is a brain-scrambling treat. [Issue#350, p.106]

There's still no one else making games quite like this, and whether you've got a headset or not, it's a joy to be transported once again so completely to the Minter dimension. [Issue#350, p.105]

Whatever its merits as a brawler, it's safe to say that in years to come no one will be ringing up game shops to preorder this one. [Issue#350, p.104]

This is a fine calling card for the Derbyshire developer: far from flawless, but clear proof that this new hybrid has a bright future ahead. [Issue#350, p.102]

It's a throwback rather than an advancement. [Issue#350, p.100]

It couches relatable stories in its highly individualistic setting, presenting it all with a mastery of varying tones so as to make its point without being reductive or mawkish. [Issue#350, p.98]

Spiritfarer loses itself in so much tiresome back-and-forth, ladling on delightful incidental details in the hope that you won't notice that each character's story has become little more than an extended shopping list. [Issue#350, p.96]

We may be in hell, but as far as the Roguelike genre goes, this is a glimpse of heaven. [Issue#350, p.92]

Despite the laundry list of issues that have arisen as a result of Asobo's ambition, in the end, it's those sudden sensations - especially the frequent feeling that we've finally got our hands on something truly next-gen, imperfect as it may be - that count for the most. [Issue#350, p.88]

If, as Roger Ebert said, movies are a machine that generates empathy, then Spelunky 2, even more so than the original, is a machine for generating surprise. And, inevitably, its close cousin: delight. [Issue#350, p.]