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With a gorgeous art style, challenging but deeply rewarding combat, an interesting story and an approachable take on the soulslike formula, Clash: Artefacts of Chaos is a welcome new form for the Zeno Clash series. It has a few rough edges that will hopefully get fixed with a patch, but despite them, this is an easy recommendation for fans of Dark Souls or Zeno Clash alike.

It’s not perfect and there is not much variety but when you do play it, you can’t help but enjoy it for what it is. I guess it must say something if I enjoyed playing this more than I did the Avengers game.

I See Red promises high-octane and snappy action which, by and large, it delivers on, aside from some mechanical looseness. What slows this violent rampage down to a meek crawl however is the repetitive corridor traipsing, bullet-absorbing late-game enemies and blunted visual style. You’re better off replaying Ruiner to enact bloody vengeance.

A delightful refreshing new story for a cosy sim blends with an extremely creative puzzler in Lonesome Village, which features a cute art style and relaxing vibes throughout. With a few patches to address crashing, it could be among the best in the genre. Even with these issues though, the game gets my recommendation with a caveat to save often so you don’t lose your progress.

MADiSON channels the best instalments of the first-person horror genre to deliver a frantic, nerve-shredding and atmospheric tale of demonic possession. It delivers the scares often and will have you tentatively looking over your shoulder at that shadow that definitely wasn’t there before. It’s been a while since I felt this much trepidation moving through a cursed home, but it feels frighteningly good to test this demonic presence again. A must play for horror fans this year.

A spot on throwback to the hedonistic and violent days of the Manga animation brand, Mullet MadJack is top tier indulgent fun. Its insane pace, somewhat too on-the-nose allegories for consumerism, and blinding visuals, make it a blast for that repetitive, quick-fix roguelike fan.

A fantasy adventure with tough-but-fair combat, a well crafted story and a punchy pixel art aesthetic, No Place For Bravery is the next ‘must play’ game in the 2D/dungeon-crawler renaissance. While it’s still not perfect, the game is much more stable now that it has received a patch and despite a few spotty frame rates, this is an easy title to recommend.

Ponpu is weird, wacky and regularly wonderful. It’s a slick take on Bomberman that understands what made the original games so great and evolves it for the modern day. It’s a shame that the multiplayer modes are undermined by ineffective identifying marks that make it difficult to see who’s who. Thankfully a decent sized and suitably challenging single player campaign makes up for that.

Boasting an incredibly unique, creative and gorgeous aesthetic with an exceptionally intriguing, well-told narrative, The Eternal Cylinder manages to still be rewarding even when its gameplay and mechanics become tedious and uninteresting. You’ll certainly be tired outrunning this circular vortex of death, but the tale is worth seeing through for the sights along the way. 

Unusual Findings is bursting with pop culture references, visuals and sounds from the 80’s. The adventures of Vinnie, Nick and Tony has obviously been inspired by Stranger Things and that works for it. While it’s enjoyable overall, it lacks direction and logical signposting in some areas which can make it tedious.

Vlad Circus: The Curse of Asmodeus is the follow-up I wasn't expecting, and one I wish could have been better. The gameplay is lighter, the story less rich and the tone even more bleak than Descend Into Madness. If this wasn't attached to a good prequel, this would be overlooked.