Here are the closing paragraphs for the reviews, fresh from my digital copy:
Nintendo Switch Sports (Switch)
(…) To fully appreciate Nintendo Switch Sports, then, requires recalibrating your expectations. Is it skeletal or merely streamlined? It has clearly been put together with immediacy at top of mind, but consistency follows closely behind. True, we don't have any encounters with AI opponents to match the unforgettable face-off against paddle-wielder extraordinaire Lucia, but nor do we come close to nodding off during a languid cycling session. (It's worth noting, too, that this is poorly suited to the concentrated play demanded by the review process. It has clearly not been designed to be played for extended periods.) Three net sports might seem excessive, but each is different in rhythm and tempo. (…) The process of playing globally has been made as straightforward as possible: each sport is restricted to a single mode, and you can search for up to three at once, cutting down wait times. Yet there are tradeoffs: experience points go towards randomly selected cosmetic unlockables from gear sets available during a three-week window. Offline players are left with a miserly selection of customisation options - a shortcoming Nintendo should really try to rectify. On the subject of omissions, there's a good reason why we've barely touched upon the controls: while playing Nintendo Switch Sports, we don't have to think about them. This is one of the most intuitive motion controlled videogames yet created, and it's hard not to think Nintendo chose wisely in making that its primary focus for what is a credible successor to one of its biggest hits. Unlike our expectations, then, there is very little recalibration required. Without seeking to damn a fine game with faint praise, another succinct design philosophy comes to mind: it just works.
8
Rouge Legacy 2 (PC (tested), Xbox One, Xbox Series)
Not every class is equally successful, especially when you're trying to makes progress: the Gunslinger requires some serious wrangling of control schemes, while the Bards bounce attacks are infuriating in spaces with low spiked ceilings. And there's a sense that some have been designed by a process of subtraction rather than addition – once you've sampled a character who can aim their slashes on a diagonal, or whose special dodge includes a few frames of invincibility, it raises questions about why they're not there by default. But none of this particularly matters as you pinball through whatever variants get thrown up. In all the combinations of class, traits and relics (see 'Antiques Rogueshow'), you'll encounter many versions of the game you've never seen before, and may never again yet another reason to go back for yet another run. And as you try to figure out how to navigate the quirks of a synaesthetic samurai whose attacks are most effective when she's hurt, or a slow-falling paladin whose sword sets things alight, you probably don't want to charge straight into the later, more dangerous areas. Instead, you might actively seek out the familiar. Somewhere you've been before? Oh, thank god. At least you know how some part of this works.
7
Salt And Sacrifice (PC (tested), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5)
These elements combine with a fluid combat system that, while lacking heft, still provides a satisfying challenge. Unfortunately, it's let down by a lack of balance. Dodging attacks is far more effective than blocking, or even parrying, so any build that favours these techniques - or relies upon heavy armour - feels disadvantaged. The easy access to powerful, quick and accurate ranged weapons and glyphs weights things even further in favour of staying light on your feet. It's not a fatal flaw, but it's enough to seriously discourage build diversity and may lead players to struggle much more than they need to, especially in the early game. That aside, Salt And Sacrifice shrewdly builds upon its forerunner's groundwork - offering enough depth to enthral the most ardent admirers of the Soulslike genre, while its robust 2D platformer fundamentals make it much more approachable than many of its peers. That dimensional shift, coupled with those lifts from Monster Hunter, allows it to walk a fine line between freshness and familiarity. Despite our misgivings we devour it, just like those mage hearts.
7
Teardown (PC)
It's teeling that, as our gateway car peels away to safety with ten seconds remaining, our first instinct is to try again. After all, we managed to grab four of the seven objectives; surely there's a way of squeezing in a fifth? It's entrancing enough that we suspect we'd be content pulling off the same heists over and over, exploring the wiggle room of those variables, but Teardown's campaign mixes things up. To begin with, this might be as simple as a change to the type of objective: a static terminal poses a different problem to a safe that needs carrying, or a sports car that can be driven off. At other times the nature of the threat is different, the binary failstate of the clock replaced with an attack helicopter overhead or patrolling robot guards, a tornado that can toss your objectives around like toys, or lightning that punches holes in the scenery. Elsewhere the nature of your mission changes: there's a race, a chase sequence, a few straightforward demolitions. It's welcome variety, but these are ultimately distractions; action set-pieces in a film where you've really paid the price of admission to watch people finding novel ways to steal things. But they don't detract from that solid core of heists - the one part of Teardown that can't be knocked down.
8
Citizen Sleeper (PC (tested), Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series)
Citizen Sleeper doesnt shy away from weighty topics, and excels in managing to explore these while feeling intensely personal. Can you experience true freedom in such desperate economic conditions? As a sleeper destined to live a life of hardship, is it worth the struggle to carry on? Through both its core systems and character plotlines, Citizen Sleeper considers these questions and more; rather than explicitly coming down on a particular side, it invites you to decide where your priorities lie - which determines the ending you'll get. As the endgame approaches, you realise you've built a life for yourself on the Eye. It's not glamorous, but you have a stable income, some savings, and friends. Without the imminent threat of starvation or poor physical condition, Citizen Sleeper trades some of that earlier intensity for meditations on specific themes and plot points. It concludes that with allyship and mutual aid, you can create a life for yourself in the gaps between the systems that threatened to crush you. And, for all its hardships, that life is worth living.
8
Dorfromantik (PC)
The v1.o release does add a couple of new modes for the less patient: a hard mode with fewer quests, and a quick mode that ends after you place 75 tiles. As much as it may be sacrilege to Dorfromantik's mellow flow, however, we would have preferred something a little more adventurous - perhaps some bespoke challenge boards with obstacles to work around, or a wider range of quests. As refined as the relaxing challenge is, between the two sides of our brain sits a nagging doubt that maybe it's not quite stimulating enough after all. As the magic of its meditative pretensions wanes, we decide to repurpose Dorfromantik as one of our go-to podcast games. Those long sessions are ideal for catching up on a few episodes, while we attempt to climb the online leaderboards. The solution to the game's own internal puzzle, then, is to slot something else into the gap, to connect those disparate edges.
7
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (PC (tested), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series)
The Stanley Parable has been remade before, remember, and this represents at least as big a step as the one from mod to initial release, in terms of "new content" - a phrase with which Ultra Deluxe has an awful lot of fun. As a second game grows out of the side of the first, finding new places to cram in jokes and twists, it becomes increasingly fixated on questions of legacy and expectation. Tongue remains firmly in cheek, of course, but there's a twinge of honesty in the acknowledgement that this is a work from developers who haven't quite managed to punch through into the public consciousness the same way since. Ultra Deluxe deserves to change that.
8
Moss: Book II (PSVR)
As before, you use motion controls to guide your sphere of influence, moving objects, stalling enemies and healing Quill. But you also sweep it across dead vines to produce leafy handholds, or create floral bridges between platforms. And you team up to activate special moves bound to a trio of weapons. Quill's sword lets her dash over long gaps; a hammer forces down pressure plates; a chakram embeds itself in scarred scenery before being whistled back, slicing through nodes powering energy barriers on the way. While the process of activating them underlines the importance of teamwork, though, it's too time- consuming to be a valid strategy in combat - which, given the lack of enemy variety, is the game's weak link. Elsewhere, Book II makes a virtue of its increased scope. Breaking out of the original's dioramas, it presents a succession of sumptuously assembled environments that stretch off into the distance, our hero made to feel even smaller and more vulnerable. That scale is emphasised in two expertly staged boss fights that provide a much stronger climax, and a conclusion to Quill's story that seems definitive. If this
is the end, we'll miss her - and thanks to Lico and co, we walk away imagining the reverse might also be true.
7
Trek To Yomi (PC (tested), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series)
Those with true balance will have foreseen the caveat to come. Trek To Yomi's combat fails to match its visual swagger. Poor feedback and nagging inconsistencies are its biggest problems, while its inelegant solution to raising the challenge in the final stretch is simply to throw more enemies at you, forcing you to fall back on the most efficient combos. It comes close to being the exception to the rule that substance is more important than style. But by the end, Hiroki's journey has begun to feel as arduous as the title suggests.
6
Tandis (PC)
In some of the later stages, it's hard to understand how you'd reach the solution without this assistance, which makes it a little unsatisfying as a puzzle game, even if you need to do more to finish the job. It works better instead as an unconventional sculpting tool where you can accidentally (or with careful adjustment) mould something weird and wonderful; indeed, Bahrami has included an export function, letting you customise and then save your creations as OB] files. It may lack the elegant simplicity and playfulness of Engare, but Tandis succeeds as a meditative plaything that once again encourages us to see the beauty in geometry.
6
Kaiju Wars (PC)
You're bombarded with new systems from the off, to which the natural response is: that escalated quickly. While missions are varied (one minute you'll be flying a mega-bomber toward an ocean lair, the next deploying air tankers to prevent the propagation of woodland fires caused by a flame-winged kaiju), the luck of the draw can play too big a role, with some missions seemingly designed to be failed before you hit upon the very specific route to success - and even then, battles can feel excessively drawn-out. Yet that feeling of being on the back foot fits the theme every bit as well as its gaudy palette and offbeat presentation. It doesn't always hang together perfectly, but its earnest affection for its subject proves an effective adhesive, and perhaps the best compliment we can pay Kaiju Wars is that it persuasively captures the thrilling, manic energy of the best monster movies.
7
Eternal Threads (PC)
There's little, then, in the way of meaningful deduction; rather, you're rewarded more for being thorough. Yet between the strong character work and the thrill of immediately getting to witness the effects of your lever-pulling, the means comes to matter rather less than the ends. Besides, you're still given the opportunity to feel smart: nosing through drawers vields items that can foreshadow later developments, though others deliberately lead you up the garden path, with one particularly effective red herring regarding the cause of the fire. Other mysteries, big and small, pile on the intrigue - especially when one character starts to sense a presence in the house. Are they somehow aware of you? This particular subplot pays off wonderfully in the game's secret ending, a hair-raising climax that makes all that temporal tampering worthwhile.
7
Preview for the next issue:
