GameWatcherLatest Reviews
There’s a great ‘town defense’ RTS at the center of Age of Darkness, but the lack of polish even after its 1.0 launch is disappointing and the campaign lacks punch.
Avowed nails its priorities and delivers a fun adventure full of charm, intrigue, and weighty decisions, but its RPG muscles could’ve used more work.
Warcraft 1 & 2 remain RTS classics that any fan of the genre should try at least once, but Blizzard’s remastering efforts feel as barebones and often ill-advised as Warcraft 3: Reforged’s 2020 launch.
Indiana Jones’ triumphant return to video games is a memorable adventure that gives fans everything they wanted while concocting a delightful mix of systems and design philosophies that no one had anticipated.
Planet Coaster 2 offers a genre-best box of creative tools and community-driven features and expands on its predecessor on almost every level, but chances are you won’t be as enchanted by its management systems, which continue to be a thorn in Frontier’s side.
Star Wars Outlaws fully commits to realizing the open-world scoundrel experience many fans had been dreaming of and walks away unscathed, which is no small feat and reinforces the idea that Massive Entertainment is one of Ubisoft’s best studios at the moment. However, it needed an extra push and bolder swings to leave a big mark on the genre.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is as much of an odd RPG as its predecessor and makes little to no concessions, leveraging its many strengths and unique traits to make up for the half-baked bits.
Tomas Sala’s second Falconeer game may come across as nicher at first glance, but it’s far easier to approach and have a great time with despite some baffling inconsistencies.
Cities: Skylines 2 doesn’t rebuild the genre nor its identity, instead choosing to go bigger and deeper without losing sight of what made its predecessor work. With no better alternatives on sight, this will do.
Total War: Pharaoh will surely benefit from the shortage of AAA strategy games with real-time battles, but it may play things too safe for the most demanding fans of the series, and given it’s a full-price release, the overall scope lands dangerously close to that of the Total War Saga entries.