Payday 3 has its enjoyable moments, bringing its well-known cooperative heists into a new game engine. However its lack of content, outdated gunplay, underwhelming AI, and unfinished cutscenes leave a lot to be desired. If you're a series fan looking for a substantial step-up in this sequel then this isn't it. However, if you're after a multiplayer title to clown around in for a few hours, this will suffice.
Super Bomberman R 2 is a step in the right direction for the series with the addition of a lengthy campaign, a level editor, and a whole new game mode. With more puzzles to mix up the repetitive gameplay and a little more polish to iron out the visual clutter, frame rate drops, and long load times, Bomberman could be super yet again.
Chants of Sennaar has a terrifically unique focus on translation, portraying the differences between various cultures’ languages excellently through its enjoyable puzzle-solving. With no other game quite like it, we’d highly recommend getting lost in translation here.
Although Somerville has some standout features, gorgeously peaceful environments, and atmospheric, silent storytelling, they're somewhat dulled by its terrible controls, awful performance, and lack of exposition. Being restricted to walking pace and the path forward often unclear, you frequently end up walking into invisible barriers. There are huge drops in frame rate throughout, especially when loading new areas, and the lack of names and backstories for the family you're playing leaves you frustrated with little to no attachment to them and their eventual outcomes. If you’re looking for a short, touching title to tide you over until the next big release, this may be worth a look, but with all its issues, it's better off left alone in the dark.
The game takes the familiar formula of the series, featuring compelling puzzles, chaotic combat, and perfect presentation, and sticks by it. With a whole new campaign and a wide variety of fresh and familiar abilities, Trine 5 appeals to series fans both new and old.
The always-online multiplayer aspect comes with the usual latency issues: you’ll be chasing someone and land an attack but the other person has already run past you, meaning your attack doesn’t hit. We also ended up shutting doors on ourselves rather than behind us due to this issue — it's incredibly frustrating and can be the difference between a win and a loss. Combined with the occasional visual bugs, precise positioning for interactions, clunky user interface, long lobby wait times, and lack of content, this leaves The Texas Chain Saw Massacre on the floor bleeding out.
Blasphemous 2 takes the foundations of its well-received predecessor and builds upon it in all the right ways. Tweaking combat to make it faster, smoother, and more accurate, removing insta-death scenarios to make platforming more manageable, and packing the game full to the brim with secrets and collectibles. The great attention to detail in the presentation and high level of polish make Blasphemous 2 a delightfully memorable experience that players will look back on fondly for years to come.
Although Dr Fetus’ Mean Meat Machine is presented gorgeously and provides an interesting twist on the genre, it lacks the meaty content required to keep players engaged. The steep difficulty results in frustratingly repetitive level restarts, and with all stages locked with no hints, tips, or level skips the majority of players won’t see it past world one. There’s definitely more enjoyable ways to beat your meat elsewhere.
Budget Cuts has thrilling stealth gameplay that'll have your heart pumping as you dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge your way past robotic pursuers. With a solid length campaign, headset haptics, and an intriguing story, you'll want to see this one through to the end. Although some major hand tracking issues and jagged visuals cut the immersion, we'd still recommend you optimise your time and give this one a shot.
Nock is a super addictive bow-and-arrow soccer title with accurate physics, on-point hand tracking, and impressively satisfying traversal that’s almost impossible to put down. The few niggles here — similar arenas and lack of visual environments — aren’t enough to detract from the core gameplay. Nock virtually hits the bullseye, and we’d recommend you give it a shot.
If you can overlook the glaring issues Glitch Busters has with its poor presentation and basic AI, then there's fun to be had with friends in the form of some enjoyable boss fights and vehicle-based levels later into the campaign. However, without a buddy by your side, it's not worth trawling through the rest of the game with a bunch of useless peas to get there.
Tin Hearts is a charming Lemmings spiritual successor with a moving story that's perfectly presented with gorgeous visuals and relaxing music. The few bugs and frame rate issues aren’t enough to prevent us recommending this excellent title. This isn’t one to march on by.
Walkabout Mini Golf is an enjoyably easy to pickup and play virtual reality golfing experience with superb physics, a wide array of courses, and the delightful inclusion of treasure hunts and collectibles — a whole-in-one experience. We’d highly recommend you round up some friends and join the club.
Revita is an easy to pick up but tough to master twin-stick shooter, presented with gorgeous visuals and catchy music. It’s addictive gameplay loop, balanced risk/reward mechanics, and abundance of content puts it in strong competition with the biggest and best in the genre (The Binding of Isaac, Dead Cells, and Enter the Gungeon) for the top spot.
Stray Blade is an enjoyable entry-level Souls-like RPG with a beautifully built world to explore. Its intriguing narrative and comical companion, Boji, will keep you entertained for its full 20-plus hour duration. Although bugs and frame rate issues are present, we would recommend Stray Blade to those looking to get a foot in the door of the Souls-like genre.
Nuclear Blaze is an enjoyable pixel platformer that gets all the basics right but lacks any meaningful depth to keep you engaged. Its vast array of difficulty options can be praised for making it accessible to all, however its incredibly short runtime makes it a very passable experience.
Ultimately, Teslagrad 2 is an agreeable successor with satisfying traversal and enjoyably challenging puzzles and boss fights. But with a short runtime and a lack of hints and guidance it fails to really improve upon its predecessor. If you enjoyed Teslagrad and are looking for more of the same, this sequel will suffice.
With a punch of extra content, Creed Rise to Glory: Championship Edition builds upon its predecessor in all the right ways, improving on the controls, visuals, and spread of content. It’s just a shame that the short, repetitive campaigns, omission of any headset haptics, and occasional tracking issues still leave it short of a knockout blow.
Across the Valley has a lovely hand-drawn art style and some good simplistic gameplay ideas, but its execution isn't up to snuff. It’s wide array of bugs, repetitive gameplay, and lack of content leave this farm without its Push Square or Red Tractor approval.
Last Labyrinth fails to provide an enjoyable VR experience. Unless you are a sadist who takes pleasure in witnessing a little girl get brutally murdered, we'd suggest you give this one a miss.