Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is an excellent port that brings a pleasant and captivating tactical experience to the Nintendo Switch 2, already praised on other platforms since 2017. The gameplay is identical to the original, and compared to the PC, Xbox, and PS5 versions, it includes the Aiko’s Choice DLC, making it the Complete Edition developed by Mimimi Games. The game retains the strengths of the original and its few weaknesses, offering deep strategic gameplay and a solid technical foundation, although the learning curve is steep and even the lowest difficulty setting may pose a challenge for less experienced players. Notably, the ability to use the Joy‑Con controllers as a pointer is a great solution for tactical games on consoles. However, in handheld mode, the game is hard to read on the 7.9‑inch Switch 2 screen: even when zoomed in, on-screen elements appear quite small. In conclusion, Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is an excellent old-school stealth strategy game arriving on Nintendo’s new flagship console.
Ultimately, Marathon presents itself as a kind of digital Rorschach test in which each player projects their own tolerance thresholds for frustration and aesthetic fascination: it is a work dedicated to gunplay fetishists who demand a physical response to every mouse input, and to those who, tired of the reassuring linearity of modern blockbusters, seek the thrill of fragmented and brutal storytelling. The shift toward the extraction shooter genre proves to be a bold strategic move to test the limits of competition, attracting anyone curious to see how the DNA of 1994 has mutated under Ziegler’s vision, while simultaneously forcefully repelling those who look for a guided approach or a minimalist UI. It is not a game for those who detest extraction anxiety or the permanent loss of loot, since the absence of waypoints and the informational overload of the HUD require a cognitive investment that many might find exhausting. Those with modern hardware and ultrawide displays will derive the greatest visual pleasure from this chromatic jungle, but they will still have to reckon with a system that gives nothing away and turns every mistake into a definitive erasure. Marathon, ultimately, is a technological shell that admits no compromises: either one accepts living within its distortions, or one is rejected by the system like obsolete code.
John Carpenter's Toxic Commando offers a solid experience. It doesn't do anything particularly new and focuses on just a few elements, but it handles them well with care and obvious devotion to the source material. The missions aren't too varied at first, but the frequent occurrence of grotesque, unexpected, or crazy situations makes every game enjoyable. The bots also work well.
Blue Prince is a must-play experience for mystery lovers that wisely blends roguelite elements with exploration and puzzle-solving. Retracing your steps, repositioning rooms in different ways, and using the tools you find along the way make every run, every day, both satisfying and essential to reaching the notorious 46th room. This is undoubtedly a production crafted with ingenuity, making its official debut on Nintendo Switch 2 in an all-around well-executed port. There are of course some technical issues — a few textures can appear slightly blurry and the framerate doesn't reach the peaks of the current generation — but let's be clear: Blue Prince is not a game that relies on buttery-smooth performance as its main selling point. Instead, it is a true adventure where paying close attention to every room, taking notes, and applying what you've learned to go deeper into the mansion is what really matters. No matter how many days it takes: Blue Prince pits you against yourself, makes you question everything, and sometimes makes you feel like a genuine genius when it comes to solving its puzzles.
GreedFall: The Dying World, unfortunately, doesn’t stray too far from the kind of productions developer Spiders – and publisher Nacon – have delivered over the years. It’s a game full of promising ideas and solid RPG foundations, yet it ultimately stumbles when it comes to execution. The final result is still enjoyable and offers plenty of elements that RPG fans will appreciate. Its world is fascinating, the moral choices are engaging, and the tactical combat system works well. However, the experience is held back by scattered bugs, AI that isn’t always reactive, and a graphical presentation that could use some polish, with several on-screen elements – subtitles included – appearing frustratingly small. It’s hard to say whether these issues stem from budget limitations, the need for more development time, or a team that hasn’t quite reached full maturity yet. What’s clear is that GreedFall: The Dying World feels like a hidden gem in the rough: a game with clear potential, but still weighed down by imperfections that we hope future updates and patches will address. Spiders’ talent and the strengths of its games are not in doubt, yet that definitive leap in quality still seems just out of reach. Even so, GreedFall: The Dying World remains an easy recommendation for RPG fans willing to accept a few technical compromises in exchange for an ambitious and atmospheric role-playing experience.
The Project Zero 2 remake has a value that goes far beyond technical specs or cold numbers. It's proof that a certain kind of horror — one that steers clear of gore and spectacle at all costs — can still work in a market this 'distracted' and increasingly drawn to quick thrills. Tecmo Koei has taken its most accomplished and beloved entry and transformed it into something new, capable of attracting even those players who, until now, had kept their distance from the kind of unsettling, supernatural atmosphere that defines the Project Zero series.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered is not the product we expected following the remaster of the two Soul Reaver titles. This release feels like another "nostalgia bait" operation that is, frankly, difficult to justify. One commendable addition is the over-the-shoulder camera, which significantly improves the game's quality of life and assists during both platforming sections and combat. On the other hand, new mechanics such as the local map and the "foresight" ability feel negligible, adding very little to the overall experience. The graphical enhancements applied to the environments are bland and barely noticeable; in fact, they occasionally break the atmosphere of the original game. While the character models are highly detailed, the development team seems to have taken too many liberties in redesigning some of the key protagonists. From a gameplay perspective, the title suffers from the exact same issues as the original 2004 release: it remains repetitive and tedious, both in its combat encounters and its environmental puzzles. Ultimately, Legacy of Kain: Defiance Remastered stays afloat solely thanks to the masterful narrative and world-building of the original game, but it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth.
WWE 2K26 is an impressive game that captures the magic of WWE. It's three games in one, maybe even four, each with remarkable depth and each enriched with a host of new features in this edition. There's always room for improvement, but this is one of the highest peaks in the series.
Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf is a work of extraordinary beauty that confirms Wishfully’s knack for creating stunning and enchanting worlds. Children of the Leaf also serves as a demonstration of maturity for the studio. They’ve showcased their core strengths, like superlative storytelling and an artistic direction that rivals high-budget productions, while making amends for past shortcomings by refining the gameplay mechanics that raised some eyebrows in the first chapter. However, there remains an underlying over-reliance on references, both artistically and mechanically. While pleasant at first, this becomes somewhat cloying in the final hours. The game would have certainly benefited from a touch of "arrogance" on the part of the developers. Planet of Lana 2 is a title that comes agonizingly close to perfection, yet falls short due to excessive caution. It teases grand ideas but offers only a taste of them; the most frustrating part is that it does so with full awareness of its own immense potential.
