I love how the sonic fanbase loves the Sonic franchise to death, so I did something I didn't think I'd ever do: I played Sonic Mania and I gotta say - I'm pleasantly surprised. I totally see why those games are beloved by fans, they are filled to the rim with beautiful visuals and a soundtrack that forces a never-ending adrenaline rush. I enjoyed my time with the game up until a point, where the difficulty made progressing just a bit too tedious for me. It's not like I can't beat the stages or I won't ever beat them, but playing the levels over and over again to finally do it just takes too long for me - at least in a situation where I have 300+ games on my playlist and just not enough time. In a different time period I'd probably have played the shit out of this and who knows, maybe I will one day. Just at this point, I want to focus my time on games I want to play more immediately. I'm glad I took the dive tho, so I at least now know how it feels to control the popular hedgehog.

Raft is one of those survival-games you see on steam and think: do I need another iteration of this? Is there enough distinction to the billion other versions in this genre? But then you fall in love with the idea of building a house on the motherfucking ocean like it was nothing and you go for it.
Despite it's limitations in direct comparison with other more popular survival games, Raft has a lot going for it. The main differentiator for me, was the chill pace and atmosphere of the game. Much like why Valheim was such a pleasure to play, Raft is a getaway and doesn't really put a lot of pressure on you and is less punishing then we've come to expect from the genre. There are some game design decisions however, where I would have liked a similar approach as in Valheim - especially the amount of food and water you need to just survive. At some point in the game it doesn't really matter anymore, but up until then you are basically in a constant loop of providing food and water which artificially extends the time for you to do the real fun stuff in the game. That is building a fully furnitured multi-story raft that defies the laws of physics and also traversing the ocean to uncover a mystery that is nothing superb, but still gives enough incentive to spend roughly 25-30 hrs in the game.
I can recommend this game to anyone who doesn't get enough of survival games and wants to have some chill hang-out sessions with friends.

I've not "beaten" the game obviously and I definitely will play it for the forseeable future on and off again, but after visiting a lot of places that came to my mind first, I feel like I can talk a little about the game.
The Flight simulator is - as it has always been - for nerds. For people who are fascinated by airplanes, their technology and the insane amount of planning it takes to take off with these aircrafts. There is so much detail (it's a simulation, duh) that you can spend hours upon hours to understand the intricacies of different airplanes and how tightly controlled the airspace is.
It is also for those nerds, who would love to travel a simulation of our world from the comfort of their chair or couch - just for the heck of it, with a controller and very light control schemes.
But to me, this iteration of the simulator, is also for everyone who is interested in cutting edge game technology or technology itself actually, because what the devs have put in here is nothing short of a miracle. It's the piece of software that will be the reference point for a lot of things to come in the future. I'm simply not capable to explain it all, so I highly recommend the videos of digital foundry or some others on youtube that explain the multitude of unbelievable systems that went into this.
But not only fans of technology will be pleased to see a flight in this game. I can imagine showing this even to people who are not remotely into games or anything like it and they will be awestruck by the realism and the idea of having the globe at your fingertips - immediately wanting to visit home or places you have visited before. If you have the chance to do so with a proper PC or the series x, just take one flight and soak it all in - it's magical, it just is.

Miles Morales doubles down on everything that was great in the original game and adds so much more to it that I loved: a black centric superhero story, a wonderful and diverse cast for a video game, insane action sequences, ray-tracing, 60fps and a lot more NY, especially Harlem vibes. (the soundtrack is golden). It's still mind-boggling how fluid the animations in this game are, no matter where you grapple, how you walk on walls and jump off them, Miles always does it elegantly and with style. Traversing through this open world never ceases to be a joy. The fighting is exactly the same: beating up enemies is so well made, that it feels like you are watching an animated movie that has orchestrated fights. It just never gets old.
The original game (among others) already proved Insomniac as a top notch first party developer for Sony, one that can deliver technical mastery and presentation just like the other sony studios. I can't wait to see what will be next for them <3

Deep Rock Galactic is the prime example of a game where I was extremely hyped by user reviews on steam and it ended up being a merely good game. I gotta give reviews, especially user reviews on steam less importance.
I was expecting there to be a lot more content and a lot more progression and leveling of skills and gear. It’s been out of early access for a while, so I reckon there won’t be coming much more regularly.
It’s concept however is very nice, it has been a lot of fun playing in coop for a couple of sessions until you far too early reach a point where you feel you’ve done this already. The biomes are beautiful and the mission types that are in there are distinct enough, so that exploring the procedurally generated caves is quite fun. But the payout after each mission has got to be the least exciting ‘filling of bars’ and ‘accumulating $$$’ I’ve ever experienced in a game.
It’s a shame we have abandoned this already after beating the campaign, because I feel like the game never really reached its full potential.

Returnal is the first true next gen experience (other than maybe Astros Playroom) I had, since I was lucky enough to get the PS5 day one. I didn't really expect to play it early on or maybe at all. But the high praise from this community and the atmosphere evident in the trailers made me wanna jump into this.
Returnal is a surprise hit for sure. Even if it's areas are limited, they look beautiful. The sound design is superb and helps give the entire game a cinematic feel, that could fit into the Ridley Scott catalogue easily. You will feel right at home if you're into dark sci-fi horror aesthetics.
It's impressive how the game blends a roguelike gameplay loop with a mysterious story sprinkled in between the runs and areas. It never feels out of place and helps keep the interest even if the repetition of some areas might get tedious for some after a while.
The gameplay itself is what you would expect when you're into the genre. It's roguelike done right, but not perfect. I missed a greater sense of progression I felt in some other games of the genre, that made the losing and repetition of areas feel less like a punishment, but more like an integral part of the experience and getting better. I couldn't help but feel some of the runs I did here to be a complete waste of time because of a little mistake I made at the end. This especially gets frustrating, when you are forced to do multiple areas in one run.
However, if you spend 70+ hours in this game like I did, you will get better of course and you will see a significant difference to your early runs. By the end of grinding I was able to go through the entire game without using more than 1 or 2 resins. I felt extremely powerful as my move set and weapon usage became more and more sophisticated. It felt like playing a third person Doom Eternal in that sense and that's one of the highest compliments I can give. Movement is impeccable - fluid and responsive and perfectly underlined by the haptic feedback of the Playstation 5 controller.
Getting the Platinum and unveiling every bit of story there was to find, was fun for the most part, but ended up being a very heavy grind that will be the last time I go for a trophy that's rng based.
Overall I think I can only recommend Returnal to a certain kind of player. If you know what you're in for and expect to die a lot, than you will definitely have a great time. If not, you should reconsider spending any money on this.
I'm extremely interested in what Housemarquee will come up with next, as their AAA third person shooter roguelike debut is impressive.

I never would've thought I'd love Death Stranding as much as I did. I knew nothing about the game itself, but I am not a fan of Kojima (hot-take: metal gear solid V was boring as hell) and I think in a lot of his games there are things that work well and don't work for me at all. Death Stranding ended up being that kind of game again, but the things that worked so well for me, made the 100 hours I spent in this game feel like no time. I'm pretty sure the game resonated so well with me, because of my current situation IRL. It's been a very personal and emotional journey for me, but more on that later.
Delivering packages to reconnect an USA that looks like Iceland encompasses things that I'm a sucker for: simulator-games have always been a guilty pleasure for me. I've spent countless hours playing Euro Truck Simulator or even Farming Simulator. Iceland on the other hand is on top of my travel destinations since I first heard Sigur Ros in 2005 and pictured their music the perfect soundscape for any remote place on our planet.
So it only makes sense I felt an immediate urge to explore the areas of the game as well as indulge in the game mechanics.
It’s weird because on paper I shouldn’t like a game that basically is a series of fetch requests, a quest type hated by so many (also by me) in other open world games. But it somehow works. Planning a trip with fragile cargo through uneven terrain, using a multitude of accessories and vehicles, all while a timer ticks makes the successful delivery feel like an accomplishment every single time. Where the genius of the game-design lies however, is the implementation of the multiplayer that perfectly compliments the gameplay elements as well as the overarching narrative and message of this game. I have felt a sense of community even though I have never seen another player in my game, only the things that were left behind for me to use. It is heartwarming to see all of the work others have put in, knowing that others will benefit from it. That motivated me to go the extra mile on so many routes, building networks of zip-lines over mountains and through BT-ridden areas and safe-havens for other porters to take a break.
I was once in a discussion with someone about how I thought TLOU2 was the quintessential game of 2020 for me and how they thought Death Stranding was the quintessential game. At the time I couldn’t really fathom how one would think that over TLOU2. Now that I have played the game, I kinda understand what they were getting at. I think both games are quintessential, but what distinguishes TLOU2 and Death Stranding is how both games approach conveying the same message. Imho you could look at it simplified by having an optimist view or a pessimist view on things. TLOU2 puts you through misery, pain, grief and lets you side with people who struggle to cope with their reality and end up doing things that are wrong and sometimes despicable. Having the audience live through that and getting them out of the comfort-zone they are bound to reflect on those actions and hopefully learn from it. Death Stranding however puts you in a world that is already broken apart and gives you the task and tools to make it a better place again. Every delivery is part of a hopeful process, of reconnecting and rebuilding. Both games have a vision of how the world might be better for all of us, coming from polar opposite directions though. Artistically I prefer the way the narrative works in TLOU2 and I personally think it might have a heavier impact on people. But I totally understand why one would prefer it the other way around. Maybe it’s not thorough enough to get my point across, but I’m just rambling here haha.
Death Stranding is a stylishly orchestrated game that feels very polished, every cutscene has great acting by a diverse cast and careful cinematography, the game has top-notch sci-fi sound design and a very unconventional choice of music that’s a fitting puzzle piece for the feeling the atmosphere of this game evokes. From a technical and game-design standpoint this game is nothing short of spectacular and a testament to the vision and aspiration of Kojima. Where he lacks significantly however imho, is writing. I have always loathed the militarism and patriotism on display in previous games, but more so the way he writes dialogue and the way he explains the more abstract concepts he tries to tackle. It all feels very pseudo when he tries to be important and often feels like written by a 6 year old when he tries to be lighthearted. And those names, I mean come on: Deadman? Die-Hardman? Mama? BB? I now, more than ever, wish he would adapt a story / hire a good writer and stick to the other parts of game development.
I said earlier, that this game was a very personal journey for me. I’m currently living through one of the roughest patches of my life and even with a pandemic behind me where isolation was kind of mandatory, I don’t feel like going out or talking to people, heck often times I don’t even want to be with myself. Venturing out into the wilds in Death Stranding was a therapeutic experience for me, offering the isolation and escapism I desperately needed. Usually I don’t speed through a game like that, but every free minute I found I put on my headphones and went out there, on my own. Contemplating while delivering, being sentimental when listening to the music, feeling a sense of accomplishment I seemingly can’t get anywhere else right now. It’s a pretty sad thing to say and I’m happy I was able to spend some of those dark hours in a virtual world. Because now I feel better, it took time, but I feel better. And my desire to socialize was rekindled by all the porters I met and connected to the UCA. So now I’m ready to venture out IRL again, but also enjoy playing games with others again: so, wanna play?

I was going into this thinking I'll love it a lot more than I actually did in the end. Sadly. I think the reason might be, that I think the telltale structure feels kinda outdated? Or I'm oversaturated? Don't know, but that might be unfair to the game. Because it's definitely one of the best telltale kind of games. It has a very cool noir atmosphere and detective story, which I love a lot. There is just enough mystery to keep you engaged until the end and then some more. But I didn't really find my way into the setting and the characters. It's weird though, because in theory I loved how those fables where thrown into a gritty ny noir setting, but apparently there was still a disconnect for me somehow. I can't really put a finger on it though and I'm starting to ramble here, so I'll just leave it at that. :D

To The Moon is a special little game. It's obvious it was made with the rpg-maker, as it feels rough around the edges and VERY limited in terms of gameplay. But the Vision of Kan Gao more than makes up for the technical shortcomings of this game. It's beautifully written, at times funny with a lot of pop-cultural references, but more often emotional and sad. This all is complimented by beautiful melodies in a piano-dominated soundtrack, that reminded me of the great ones in games like final fantasy.
Every person who knows me, knows that "The eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" has been my favorite movie since 2004. It's one of the biggest compliments I can give, to say, that I felt some of those vibes while playing this game. There are definitely huge differences in the complexity of the writing and the themes, but the general idea reminded me a lot of it. The idea of moving through someones memories back in time is such a sentimental act and also a very strong narrative construct. Knowing the destination gives all of the previous stages in life a different vibe, revealing the true underlying conflicts bit by bit and learning which puzzle pieces led to the outcome. Whereas "Eternal Sunshine" made a life-changing point with it's narrative for me, To The Moon delivers a level of cheesyness I can respect and we all might need from time to time. This probably would end up on many "made-me-cry"-lists. I highly recommend this game to anyone who is in the mood for that.

Playing Bayonetta in 2021 for the first time is a weird thing really. It's easy to see how it must have felt playing it on release. This game is exhilarating, filled with so much over-the-top stylish action, so many insane set-pieces, creative boss fights and overall addictive fighting-mechanics. From a game-design perspective - even though it feels a bit dated - I had sooooo much fun beasting through the hordes of enemies. On the other hand it put me in a weird place. The cringeworthy oversexualization of her is something that threw me off just too often. The camera angles, the way she moves in preparation for basically any attack and her taking off her entire clothes for a super-attack. It's just all something, I wouldn't accept in any other game. It kinda gets drowned in the absolutely bonkers, yet forgettable story, but I just didn't feel comfortable watching those cutscenes and dialogues. The rest of the cast isn't that much better sadly: it's filled with basic stereotypes.
But maybe I shouldn't think about all of that any longer and just leave it at the fun I had for 15 hrs.

Playing Disco Elysium is like reading a great book, is probably what most of you will hear before playing it. I'm not the biggest bookworm, especially when it comes to fiction books. So the expectation to be reading a lot, was definitely not the selling point for me. But I just coulnd't ignore all the praise for this game and HAD to go for it. From the first moments on, you will see what I mean, when I say, you probably have never read anything like it in a game.
Disco Elysium is unique in many many different ways. It's a point and click detective thriller, mixed with classic tabletop-rpgs, developing in a world that is painted with so much attention to detail, that has an incredible amount of characters that are distinct and with so much depth and backstory, it's hard not to be fully transported to this strange place that evoked a multitude of emotions from me. As usual, I will not deal with the story itself in my review, because the beauty of this game (as in many other games) is, to explore all of it on your own.
I want to praise the way it's played instead, because for the most part you have complete freedom of how you want to look at the world, how you want to process the things you see and how it influences the way you want to interact with everything. Instead of spending XP on strength, dexterity or vitality, you will be spending points on drama, volition, empathy, visual calculus, inland empire etc. etc. Whatever you choose upon character creation and also while playing the game, will affect the text and dialogue you will be exposed to. A lot of dialogue in this game will be internal dialogue, as you debate with many different sections of your own brain and emotions. This results in the fact, that there is no right or wrong dictated by the game, just a variety of emotions and thoughts you could be giving into or not. And I mean that. I have played many games where you could decide certain things and sometimes it was as basic as black and white decisions about good and evil, sometimes mixed with a lot more shades of grey. Disco Elysium miraculously manages to continously confront you with decisions that will leave you in the dark in terms of outcome. Your decisions could have far-reaching effects or not matter at all. What you think about will range from nuanced things to highy complex, from slap-stick stupidity to exhausting political discourse. The game gives you the world, the characters and the storyline but leaves all responsibility with you. You can be a plastic-bottle-collecting drug-abusing detective that irresponsibly runs the investigation into a brick wall, you can be a fascist imbecile inciting violence and chaos or you can be a mentally unstable, yet tender detective that cares about the fate of the people he interacts with. It's all there, delivered in the endless dialogue trees. This game forced me to get rid of the habit of exhausting all dialogue trees, because there are things you can say that could abruptly end the conversation, the quest or even the entire game. You have to be constantly aware of the fact, that this game doesn't warn you, it wants YOU to think. And it made me do just that. I sometimes ended a game session with a laugh, sometimes with a tear in my eye and sometimes with a lot of dilemma to chew on and think about. This game made me question myself and how I look at the world IRL. This is an impressive feat and something I usually hear from all the bookworms in my life. Maybe it's time I'd become one myself.

I’m so angry at this game rn. When I first started it, I was surprised by how nice it looked and felt to play. I really got hooked and went for the platinum, even tho I read everywhere that it’s super hard. Up until level 4, I s-ranked every single sub-section and it was doable for me, because I really found the flow. When I just now wanted to get back to it, one of the sub sections got saved as a b-rank, because the game got closed and that was the last ranking I achieved. Now I can’t even go back to that sub section and have to replay every single subsection up until this point, to get that trophy. That’s unbelievably punishing and just unnecessary. It took me quite a while to get there and I definitely won’t do it again.
I can recommend the game to anyone who is into rythm-games, it’s super slick. But after playing it for a couple hours you will notice there is a total lack of variety. Every level feels exactly the same. It was fine as long as I was chasing the platinum trophy, but in retrospect the game needs a lot more variety to be interesting for the time-investment it asks of you.

Assemble with Care is like that song, that's just vibing, that makes you feel wholesome for a while, but is definitely way to short, so you listen to it on repeat to stay in that zone and savor that feeling - it's your best bet on escapism in a world that seems grim. So basically this game - to me - is 'Feel it all around' by Washed Out.

It's also a love letter to retro technology and the way tinkering with it gives you a certain kind of satisfaction, which stands in contrast to the consumerism we developed with the advent of the internet and next-day delivery of virtually everything you could want. Technology is getting more sophisticated and harder to repair and we are evolving into a throwaway-society. It feels good to take something and just make it work again.
The game has a diverse cast, an amazing art-style and a wonderful soundtrack. There is not much you do, but I can't see anything I don't like about what you do. It's these kinda concepts, that seem hard to pitch and not really like a game in the traditional sense, that make me excited for what the future of videogames might hold for us.

I’ve been praising a lot of games lately, mainly because I’m working through a backlog of highly rated games I’ve missed out on for so long. I’d have never expected to have ‘it takes two’ be part of this hype-train I’m currently riding. And to be honest, this ended up being the most fun I had in a videogame in like forever. I have to reiterate the word fun here. Fun. It’s ingrained into the very fabric of this game. It’s built upon fun ideas and executed with perfection. In that regard I don’t think the Devs from Hazelight have to shy away from comparisons with the patent-holders of fun, the Mario developers over at Nintendo.
From the very first moment up until the end, you won’t be bored the slightest, because the creativity on display here is mind-boggling. Think of all the other games you’ve ever played, where there are those memorable sequences you would have loved to be longer, because they were just so fun to play. Think jumping, grinding, flying, sliding, swimming etc etc and then imagine it’s all you are going to do for the next 12hrs or so. This game IS that fun part of other games. There is nothing ‘not-fun’ to do here. I’ve played through this with my sister and we started making a list of things we would have loved to do as kids and with time, ALL of it ended up being part of the game. I’m not even exaggerating.
Combine having fun all the time with ever-changing environments that are as beautiful as they are a joy to explore. You will always find something enjoyable if you look around the next corner. I recommend taking your time and finding everything this game has to offer. I still can’t believe how much love and effort they put into building so many many different locations.
All of this would be great if you played it alone, but the genius part of this game is the cooperative gameplay. Every single level, every single boss fight, basically everything you do together is fine-tuned to a level of perfection I’ve not ever seen in a game like this. The tools they give you change with every environment and this manages to keep the game fresh throughout its entirety. There is no mechanic, nothing you do, that overstays it’s welcome. And these are no basic changes in gameplay, sometimes a new level feels like a completely different game. It’s very obvious the developers love videogames and they convey that at every single opportunity they get. It’s a celebration of videogames, as much as Astros Playroom was a celebration of 5 generations of PlayStation.
It’s also beautiful how they managed to make all of this gameplay meaningfully connected to the plot of the game. As usual I don’t want to spoil anything of the plot, so I can’t really tell you about what I mean by that. Just know, that you’re in for a ride.
This game caught me by surprise, because I didn’t particularly enjoy ‚A way out’. And I’m so glad I didn’t wait to play this. I hope this will be a serious contender for game of the year. I want more of this.

Playing this in 2021, having lived through a year of a pandemic, made this a lot more eerie than I expected and therefore also somewhat heavy-weighing.
The game itself is of utter beauty. The production values are insanely good: the visuals - especially the lighting may it be natural or supernatural it always is a sight to behold. The voice acting - for a game that relies solely on conversations you hear, they really made sure it’s top notch. The soundtrack - it’s Jessica Curry, what more need I say. The atmosphere is superb and I like walking simulators (even though the walking speed is an insult :D), but somehow it didn’t leave the impact it probably was supposed to. I did not care for all of the characters in here and the conclusion left me unsatisfied. Still - I can recommend this game to anyone who is into the genre.