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While playing, you feel like you’re right in the middle of a Bond movie that races by at breakneck speed. One moment you’re trying to sneak through an office unnoticed, and five minutes later you’re in a thrilling car chase through London or shooting everything that moves to pieces. 007 First Light is a game that takes on a lot, but succeeds in almost every aspect. It never gets boring, though we would have liked the pace to be a bit faster in the first few hours. But once your first mission really gets going, it’s non-stop fun all the way to the finish.

Do you remember what it was like to be 17? When your whole world revolved around your favorite bands, and being grounded on the day of a party felt like the worst disaster ever? We’d almost forgotten it ourselves, but the sublime “Mixtape” brought us closer to that time than we’d been in twenty years.

The result is a charming and adorable-looking game with a low difficulty level. You don’t have to fight, you can’t die, and there are no complicated puzzles to solve. You set the pace yourself. Especially for a younger audience, this can be a very enjoyable journey of discovery. For adults, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book might be a bit too simple, but the calm gameplay is still a treat for them as well.

Tides of Tomorrow is a special game. The fact that you’re playing almost literally in someone else’s footsteps is not only a clever concept but also incredibly well executed. If we’re being really strict, we could call Tides of Tomorrow a one-trick pony. But if that one trick works so well, there’s really nothing wrong with that. It’s a shame that the story and the environment aren’t up to the same standard, but we still have a lot of respect for what the French studio Digixart has created here.

The game certainly has its limitations, but all of that pales in comparison to how much fun it is to step into the shoes of Batman and his friends—even if it’s in a blocky version full of charming Lego humor. Gliding and soaring above the dark streets of Gotham may not feel as epic as web-slinging in Marvel’s Spider-Man, but it’s so enjoyable that you’ll hardly ever use the built-in fast travel to get from point A to point B in the blink of an eye. Developer TT Games has already released three Lego games starring Batman: Lego Batman 1, 2, and 3. Well, the fourth time’s the charm, because Legacy of the Dark Knight is perhaps their best Lego game to date.

The game’s style is somewhat reminiscent of Cuphead, but without the high difficulty level. The gameplay is simple, the soundtrack is atmospheric and jazzy, and it’s chock-full of puns and nods to old cartoons. The many secrets to discover by exploring every nook and cranny are reminiscent of classic video games, but fortunately, this entertaining indie game is above all its own unique and stylish, hand-drawn self.

The developer didn’t turn a blind eye to the shortcomings of its predecessor, Returnal. Saros has kept the best parts—the controls are wonderfully responsive, your character runs and jumps at a brisk pace, and the atmosphere is delightfully dark—and made adjustments where necessary. Still, you’ll inevitably die while playing; that’s just part of the genre. But with every session, you get better and stronger, and you’re better equipped for your next run. The dopamine rush this creates makes the game—at least for us—incredibly addictive. Saros plays it safe and, while challenging, is perhaps less daring and revolutionary than Returnal, but that makes the game more accessible to a wider audience.

The result is a fun whodunit, but really, the mystery is just a side note. Life is Strange: Reunion is above all a beautiful character study—one that could have easily gone on a bit longer. Our advice: make sure you’ve played the previous games first. Only then will you truly appreciate how beautifully Max and Chloe’s farewell is handled.

It’s not a completely new game, but a collection of older titles. Or rather: the very first Rayman game in five different versions. Versions for the PlayStation, the Atari Jaguar, the Game Boy Color, and more. You do get over 120 bonus levels and extras like a documentary on top of that. Great for nostalgic gamers. Nevertheless, this is a bit of a downer of an anniversary. Due to technical issues, it was practically impossible to play the game smoothly on the Nintendo Switch 2. On multiple occasions, the video and audio completely froze, leaving no choice but to shut it down.

There are some games that make you think, “How come no one thought of this before?” Well, Pokémon Pokopia is one of those games. It’s a cozy game like Animal Crossing, with a touch of Minecraft—all mixed in with Pokémon. It’s cute, relaxing, and surprisingly deep. Pokémon Pokopia is a cozy game of rare quality. It almost evokes nostalgic feelings of a time when the world stood still and we all escaped en masse to a video game island for hundreds of hours.