Daemon X Machina is an action game released by Marvelous for Nintendo Switch and PC in 2019. The only difference between the NS and PC release is that on PC the game runs more smoothly, of course. As the game isn't graphically demanding, you will have no problems running this game above 90 fps at all.

You're playing as an avatar (Outer) who is using a highly customisable mech (Arsenal) to accomplish your mission. Since you're practically a mercenary, you will engage in various missions ordered by different consortium nations operating within the Oval Link (a barrier to contain Femto particles (particles that fell to the planet when the moon broke apart during the Moonfall)).

Missions mostly consist of defeating Immortals, but the further you go through the game, the more you'll engage with other mercenaries as different consortium nations have different objectives. Overall the missions are divided into 5 ranks, each rank increasing the difficulty. I felt that at least half of the missions weren't intriguing enough, practically I went several times on the Fandom site to check how many missions I have yet to finish to get access to the higher rank.

The story also isn't really interesting at the beginning and there is barely some story until the last rank. Between some missions, you get several story-related cutscenes which raise the feeling that something is coming, but none of it is presented before you get access to the last rank's missions. Half of the game I wasn't even sure if whatever other mercenaries were talking before and after the mission, was important. One more reason it was hard to understand the story, especially at the beginning, is because of how many mercenaries you meet, not realising that almost none of them has a major impact on the story.

The best part of this game is the combat (gameplay) and the mech customisation options. On the battlefield, you can bring up to 4 different weapons (I recommend equipping all slots since in boss fights you'll probably end up without ammo near the end), a shoulder weapon and an auxiliary. There are also decals which further increase the customisation options but keeping in mind that you'll watch the back of your Arsenal, I see no use of them.

The shop is used to buy and sell equipment, mostly to sell them since the buy option isn't used as much as in other games. The only thing you can buy is processors, the only thing you can't loot from defeated AIs and other mercenaries's Arsenals (mechs). You can also craft better weapons, which require the base weapon and a material used to augment it.
Most of the earned currency in the game (you're a mercenary, so, you're paid after every mission) you're gonna use it to buy skills from the Lab section found in the main hub, which according to the description are either for you Outer or Arsenal.

I forgot to mention that you also can leave your Arsenal (that's why there are two different skill sections) when it's heavily damaged. You are not as powerful as if you were in your Arsenal, but some missions will demand you not to use your Arsenal, but to engage on foot.

All in all a game that concentrates more on the gameplay than on the story itself. To sum up, the game is decent, but the quality isn't still there yet to call this game great.

Deliver Us Mars is an adventure narrative-driven game developed by KeokeN Interactive and released by Frontier Foundry in 2023.

You take control of an astronaut named Kathy. Her father, Isaac, left Earth years ago after abandoning a mission to save it from environmental disaster. You and three other astronauts (Claire (her sister), Sarah and Ryan) are searching for Isaac and the technology that may still help save Earth located on ARKs Vita.
The story overall is great and it was hard not to play this game in one sit, both acting and voice-acting were great. The game is nine chapters long and it takes approximately 7 hours to complete. Within that period, you'll explore Mars and find out what happened with the crew that colonised Mars through holograms and other collectables. Along your journey, you will also need to solve several well-thought puzzles that are not demanding at all. You also have a robot by your side who not only keeps you company but also deciphers holograms, opens locked doors and helps you during puzzle-solving.
The game, since it's narrative-driven is mostly filled with cutscenes. It's more a movie, than what it is a game. You play most of the time in the third-person perspective, but some parts, like launch sequences (the best parts of the game), are played in first-person. In my opinion, at least for me, the first-person gameplay parts were quite immersive and I would probably enjoy this game even more if it was almost completely in first-person perspective.
The story here reminds me a lot of the movie Ad Astra, where, even though Roy McBride showed how steady and calm he was in all situations (no matter how dangerous they were), later emotionally broke after learning that his father was still alive (who also like in this game Isaac left Kathy, left Roy while he was very young). Here the case is similar and the characters aren't as professional as you would expect an astronaut to be and soon after coming on Mars emotions begin to influence their decisions, especially Kathy who even though had marvellous amount of knowledge, doesn't have any expertise in environments outside Earth and couldn't stop herself into making decisions that could possibly ruin the entire mission.
The game has some slight performance issues, but nothing game-breaking, only at some parts there were some light frame drops and that's it.
The soundtracks were amazing, they were spot on for a game like this. Calm as the environment found on Mars, nothing more than a vast wasteland with no hope of ever becoming colonized.

All in all, this game offered both great story and gameplay. The characters, even though not looking professional as astronauts are quite likeable and easy to connect with. To sum up, I would adore it if the whole experience was from a first-person perspective.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is an action-adventure, open-world game released by Bethesda Softworks in 2022.

You're playing Akito Izuki, a boy living only with his sister Mari since their parents died. Before the main event occurs, Mari finishes in hospital after a fire strikes their house and Mari doesn't leave it in time.
After she ended up in the hospital, Akito was driving towards it, when a mysterious fog spread all over Tokyo. Before the fog engulfed him, the spirit of KK possessed him, saving him from the effects of the fog. The fog turned everyone except Akito from their physical form into a spirit. Behind all that fog was a man in a Hannya mask, who wanted to use Mari as a vessel to connect the world of the living and the underworld.
Your job is to save Mari and defeat the Hannya. Fortunately, even if the world feels lonely since you're the only one alive, KK will always be with you (KK was part of a team of investigators who tried to stop Hannya but failed). The reason why you survived the fog is because of KK's special powers that use ether found around to create spells. You can use three elements, both of them have a light, heavy and special attack. There are also talismans that you buy along the way and they are similar to element attacks. You also have a bow to use, which is quite helpful and strong, which I ended up discovering too late in the game. I recommend playing this on harder difficulty, it's much more enjoyable, especially later in the game, when, after unlocking many skills, you will be powerful enough to defeat all enemy types without any problems.
Along your journey, you will be able to help spirits that didn't yet pass on. Those side quests aren't long and even though they all have different ideas and background stories, they just feel repetitive sometimes. Fortunately, Spyder's Thread update not only gave us a new rogue-lite mode (which I didn't try since I was satisfied with the main game enough) but also new side quests and new enemy types. The best side quest is "Fear for the Children", which is also the scariest one. The game isn't scary, you will probably have a few small jumpscares at the beginning when you end up encountering a new enemy type, but after that, only the already mentioned side quest will be scary.
I loved the graphics, and the colours they used to represent how colourful Tokyo was before the fog. The rain that falls most of the time. The yokai found all over the city, where each type of yokai will give you a different and short side activity to complete to absorb their power.

All in all, I loved almost everything in this game. The only thing that bothers me, apart from the sometimes repetitive side content, is that we didn't end up getting an output of what we achieved after we cleared the fog, The game doesn't show you what you've achieved. We got the credits too soon, in my opinion. I also didn't enjoy how the story ended, but not every story must have a happy ending.

Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke o: Kuchibiru to Kiss de Tsubuyaite or translated A Kiss for the Petals: A Kiss Whispered to the Lips is the sixth Japanese adult yuri visual novel in the series. It was released by the Doujin group Fuguriya in 2008. on PC.

We are following the same two students from the first title (Sono Hanabira ni Kuchizuke wo). Still, now Nanami Oda's love affair with one of the school's idols, Yuna Matsubara, remains a secret. However, both of them are having trouble concealing their true feelings from everyone and some untrust starts to accumulate between Nanami and Yuna.
The visual novel overall uses the same art style (which I liked) from the first game. This time the writers showed that they have much more experience in writing (since this is the sixth title in the series) which is why I felt that the "interactions" were built around the story, not the way around how I felt in the first one.
The visual novel is fully voice-acted with many "interaction" scenes, which can be later revisited in the extras section in the main menu.
There are also some dialogue options, which only affect a few dialogue lines, but the outcome isn't affected.

All in all, a full voice-acted visual novel where the dialogue options don't affect the main story. Overall I liked the art design and the story was more enjoyable, there was more variety and more ideas implemented making the story far better than the first title.

Slime Killer is a top-down TDS action game where you have to destroy a huge number of slugs with a variety of weapons that come from all sides of the screen, the more slugs you destroy, the higher the score.

What you see around you is practically the whole area where you can move around, so not much. There is a variety of different slugs, but they don't do much aside from having different movement speeds and appearances. The game looks like an old mobile game.

All in all, for me this should be a free mobile game, not even close to a PC game and especially not a game with a price tag. To sum up, this game isn't worth your time.

Ghostwire: Tokyo - Prelude: The Corrupted Casefile is a concise visual novel used as a prologue to the game Ghostwire: Tokyo.

This short visual novel is a free experience for all who want to buy or are already playing Ghostwire: Tokyo. Unfortunately, this visual novel isn't voice-acted and is quite short, only around half an hour to complete. Also, it doesn't explain much, it doesn't give us any information about either the plot of the game or the history of KK and his crew, aside from this one mission. Probably because we will find that out in the game, but as a prologue it doesn't do its job properly.

All in all, a short and quiet experience that is only backed up with soundtracks that can be found in the main game, since it's not voice-acted. What in my opinion every visual novel must have is an auto mode, but instead, you need to click or press for the next line.

Epistory: Typing Chronicles is an adventure typing game officially released in 2016, by Fishing Cactus.

You play as a girl who is riding a fox with three tails. The gameplay is straightforward, you type the words that are located above the enemy or obstacle. But throughout the story, you will learn how to use four elements: fire, ice, spark and wind. Those elements will not be only used to surpass or defeat certain enemies (enemies whose letters are coloured with the same colour of the element needed to defeat them), but also to use each element's ability (for example, fire, burns the word after the written one; ice, freezes the opponent for some time;...).
The story is sometimes hard to understand, and at times it feels disconnected because it follows the writer's writing process, which is represented by how the world unfolds.
As you type your way through this adventure, you will get typing points, which are used to get access to certain parts of the map and to get upgrades. I recommend first upgrading your elemental abilities since I've found those abilities helpful, especially when fighting at nest sites (a site found on the map from where, when you stand at the designated spot, enemies will start coming to you from all sides).
Something which I highly recommend using is the adaptive difficulty, which is already enabled as default. This difficulty option learns how fast/slow you type and according to that it makes the game harder/easier.
The only thing I found sometimes irritating is that in the last two chapters the nest fights took too long to finish and sometimes in them, there were too long intervals between enemy waves, which further prolonged the fight.

All in all, a relaxing game, with a beautiful paper-like art style, with both great and relaxing soundtracks. It's not long, not boring. I recommend it even to those who can't type fast on their keyboard since this game offers the adaptive difficulty option. To sum up, it's a sweet and relaxing adventure.

Kid a Mnesia Exhibition is as the name suggests, not a game (and the developers say also that at the very beginning of the experience), but an exhibition or a tour in a virtual museum and also a free one.
This experience serves as a digital exhibition of music and artwork created for the Radiohead albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001).

I honestly never heard of them and I haven't listened to any of the songs made by them until today, until this experience.
I have to admit that this experience, was an interesting one, even though I didn't understand the purpose of most of the rooms.
How long this experience lasts, depends on you, on how long you want to stay in each room, but approximately this experience doesn't last more than two hours.
Since this isn't a linear experience, but something similar to a labyrinth, you have to find a community-made map since, unfortunately, there isn't a map implemented within the game, which means that you can easily not experience a room if you don't keep track on which rooms you've visited.
Also, as I said before, I didn't understand most of the artwork, especially me, a physics student whose right side of the brain (responsible for creativity) is much less developed than the left side (responsible for logic). I would've loved to have a text-written guide that explains to me the purpose of each room, which maybe can be set to pop up after opening the main menu, I don't know.

All in all, this was a nice experience, even though I didn't understand much, which is probably because of my unfamiliarity with Radiohead and their work. To sum up, this experience isn't probably for everyone, but since it's free, I would suggest trying it out, it's not long and it's something that most of us haven't yet seen. I think that this probably ended up being a better decision than having a physical installation artwork.

Saints Row is the latest entry in the action-adventure video game series created by Volition and published by THQ and Deep Silver. This game was released in 2022. and due to negative reviews Volition shut down in August 2023. and the IP was transferred to Plaion.
You are taking control of the boss to create a new criminal empire led by The Saints in Santo Ileso. Along with that, you have three other companions (Neenah, Kev and Eli) to help you achieve that.

*Note: Since this is the first Saints Row game I've played, I will not be able to compare it to previous titles nor I don't know what is the set standard for a Saints Row game.
Also, I won't be able to say anything about the coop features this game offers since I didn't have the possibility to try them.

I already knew about all the backlash towards this game, but I wanted to try it anyway, having low expectations. At first, I was amazed by the game, but the more I played it, the more issues, bugs and unrealistic features I encountered.
Vehicles having a health bar is okay, but somehow you don't take any damage except visual when you crash into a vehicle on purpose, you take damage only if you're crashing into the environment or when someone else crashes into you.
The traffic system is great, but if you're standing, waiting for a green light, the vehicles behind you think that you're obstructing traffic on purpose and they will try to surpass you even though the light is still red (I know no one will be obeying the traffic laws, but since this is an open-world with traffic, I wanted to try to see how realistic the game is).
The story overall was funny at times and unrealistic at others, especially when you're hijacking the Panteros' convoy and Marshall's train and while doing that, the convoy and train are driving in an infinitely long straight map.
The difficulty options are adjustable along the way, which is great, since the more I was upgrading my weapons, the easier the chosen difficulty seemed to be.
You have the possibility to upgrade both cars and weapons up to three times with money, cars also have a few other upgrade options, but all of them have a Signature Ability which is unlocked after completing a certain challenge for that car/weapon.
The best part of the game is the customisation, cars, weapons and you (the boss) can be customised in many ways. You have many options to customise the appearance of your boss. You can get clothes in shops found around town. It is worth noting that there is a bug when adjusting the colours of clothes. Many of the clothes will not give you the possibility to change the colours at first, especially clothes with some brands and underwear. To be able to change them you just have to switch back and forth a bit until you get the option since all clothes can change colours.
The physics in this game are also unrealistic at times, but nothing too severe to disrupt the gameplay.
The city of Santo Ileso is in my opinion quite deserted, there aren't as many people wandering or driving around the city as someone would expect.

Unfortunately, this game pays more attention to venture missions rather than story missions since you're building a criminal empire and by doing that, the game has many repetitive missions. Well, you don't have to do them, but if you want to earn as much money as possible to be able to build the last building as soon as possible, you will have to do them. The game also contains several types of side hustles (side missions) which are also repetitive and not required to complete. The story itself wasn't quite long and you will spend more time doing side activities.

All in all, wherever there was a good feature not far a bug or something unrealistic would be hidden to make the game less enjoyable. The game in its current state (April 2024.) is still filled with various minor bugs that do not affect the gameplay much, but they do make the game less amusing, it's probably much better than what it was when it was released.
To sum up, this game is good, but there is much that needs to be done to make it a more pleasurable experience.

Adios is a cinematic first-person game where you take the role of a pig farmer who has to let the mob use his pigs as a way to dispose of bodies. You relive the day when he finally decided that he is done with it and what is going to be his last day.

The story is emotional, yet still very short (you will finish the game in an hour) and forgettable. You spend the whole time doing chores and talking to your old friend who, in the end, will be your killer. He tries to convince you to change your mind, since he knows that after ending up with the mob, there isn't a way out.
During the story you will find out why he decided that he can't do that anymore and why he has to dispose of the bodies.
The atmosphere gives you the feel of loneliness and emptiness the main character feels and how he has already accepted his fate, knowing what the consequences are, but he doesn't care as he wants to do at least one good thing before he leaves this world.
Voice acting is the best part of the game, but the character models aren't that good, and the character models are what you're gonna look at the most.
This game has dialog choices to keep players more engaged through the story, but unfortunately, most of the time you're limited to only one dialog option, which doesn't make sense as two of them are presented, but one of them is grayed out. So, even though you have the freedom to choose what the main character will say, most of the time, the prior choices heavily limit your next dialog options by giving you only one of the two options available.
The subtitles aren't always accurate, sometimes they leave out a part of the sentence, probably because they wanted to put the whole sentence the “person A” says on the screen, before the “person B” replies.

All in all, a very short experience that, in my opinion, isn't worth the full price, nor anything above 50% of the initial price. The only thing left to say to this game is Adios.

Horizon Chase Turbo is an arcade racing game released in 2018. and is heavily inspired by the SNES game, Top Gear.

If you play the Campaign mode, you will experience almost all of the content in this game. The only thing that needs more of your time to be unlocked so that you've access to everything this game has to offer are the Tournaments and Endurance modes. which upon finishing them, you will receive the last cars available in this game.
It offers a great amount of content when keeping in mind how many tracks and cars this game contains. The fuel system adds depth to the game. How fast you use fuel depends on the stats of your car and to not finish the race without fuel you have to collect fuel canisters along the track which are located always in the same spot.
Also, you will notice that during some races the weather changes, from clear to rainy. Unfortunately, rain and snow look terrible if you take your eyes off the road to watch them.
I also find this game highly frustrating not only because of how unforgivable the crash physics are (if you find yourself between several cars and one of them bumps into you, you will become a pinball ball, losing several places as every bump you take along the way makes you more and more slower than before), but also how the AI defends themselves (they often, especially the one in 1st place, track your movement and try to block you so that you hit him in the rear, making him a bit faster while you lose a great amount of speed), even though there is no rear view in this game.
Unfortunately there is no online multiplayer, only splitscreen. If online multiplayer was added, this game would be a bit more enjoyable.

I managed to finish the Campaign with 100%, all gold trophies and all tokens collected (tokens found on the track), but after that, I didn't want to go through the same frustration one or two times more by driving the same tracks on harder game modes. This game has a lot to offer and it's overall decent for those who want to relive the good old days of arcade racing games (like Outrun, Top Gear and Hang-On) or for those like myself, who didn't have the chance to be alive at that time to play them.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider (SOTTR) is an action-adventure game released in 2018. and the Definitive Edition of the game was released in 2019 and includes all previously released content (weapons, outfits, skills and challenge tombs). The game is the last entry of the Survival Trilogy which started back in 2013. with Tomb Raider.

We follow Lara Croft three years after the story of Rise of the Tomb Raider (ROTTR) where she is trying to stop Trinity from taking the Dagger of Chak Chel before her. She managed to get it first, but she didn't know taking the Dagger would trigger the Cleansing, a Mayan apocalypse that ends in a permanent solar eclipse. To stop the apocalypse, she has to find the Silver Box of Ix Chel, but neither Lara nor Trinity (who soon takes over the Dagger from Lara) has it at that moment. So the larger part of the game will be her trying to find the Silver Box before Trinity and the culmination of the Cleansing.
When first starting the game, you will be prompted to choose the difficulty and unlike previous games, here according to your preferences, you can choose an overall difficulty option or separately choose Puzzle, Exploration and Combat difficulty. For those who want for example harder puzzles and easier enemies, you can choose that without any problem.
What you will also soon notice is that SOTTR survival elements aren't as important as stealth, which in ROTTR was the contrary. The resources aren't limited and at the end of the game, you will surely have at least one weapon in every category fully upgraded.
Also, as in previous games, you have additional optional and challenge tombs that most of the time have a gear requirement, but most of the tombs are now located in locations that you're going to revisit due to the main story and side missions that are given by mission givers. This in ROTTR was a small problem since I wanted to finish the tombs while I was exploring, but to be able to finish them, I needed a specific gear that I ended up getting after I had already left that location.
The core gameplay is similar to previous titles but also improved in every aspect. The story is also better than any other Tomb Raider game in my opinion. Both ROTTR and SOTTR has a great story, but I liked SOTTR's story a bit more.
You can buy weapons, resources, and both weapon and inventory upgrades with money found by looting enemies or exploring. The Peruvian landscape is beautiful and full of wonders to see, making this the best looking Tomb Raider game so far.

The additional seven challenge tombs which are included in the Definitive Edition of the game can be found in the Challenge Tombs section of the Main menu and in the game itself are found as side quests given by mission givers with a yellow circle in the lower right corner of the marker. These tombs and missions last longer and they are a little bit more difficult and unlike normal optional tombs, a loading screen is shown when entering the tomb. Also, when you finish the tomb there isn't a way out, but you'll be immediately taken back to the spot you were before entering the tomb. The tombs overall are great and offer additional hours while going through the main story.

All in all the best game in the Tomb Raider's Survival trilogy, offering a great story, great gameplay, great setting and graphics. Stealth is greatly improved, and it is probably the most important aspect of the game while tuning down the survival elements which aren't the main aspect as it was in ROTTR, which makes sense when taking in mind the locations where the story unfolds.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Cold Darkness Awakened is an expeditions mode released in 2016. and is already included in the 20 Year Celebration version of the game.

You enter a decommissioned Soviet weapons bunker which was under Trinity's control, but Trinity has released an unstable pathogen, which caused the people there to regress into an aggressive zombie-like state with less visibility but better hearing. Your objective is simple, to shut down the facility, but the path to it is really dangerous. If a zombie hears you, many zombies will soon swarm you making it hard to defeat them, escape is the only option.
In my opinion, the zombies are too aggressive, they come out of nowhere in a few seconds.

All in all, an add-on that adds an hour or two into this game, but there isn't much room for error, since the zombies if detected will swarm you easily and two hits are enough to get a game over.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Endurance Mode is an expedition mode that is already included if you have the 20 Year Celebration version of the game.

Endurance Mode puts you in the Siberian Wilderness where you have to survive for as many days as possible while trying to find as many artifacts as possible. While doing that you also have to be careful not to raise your hunger and low temperature level.
Don't think it's going to be an easy challenge, the Siberian wilderness will try to test you out more than you think. Also, don't forget that not only wild animals will try to kill you, but also Trinity is on the lookout for more artifacts as well.

All in all a great add-on that uses the environment where the main story was set to make a semi-survival game mode that adds more hours into the game.

Rise of the Tomb Raider: Baba Yaga - The Temple of the Witch is an optional tomb found in the Soviet mine. The game add-on is already included in the 20 Year Celebrations edition of the game.

Since this tomb is purchasable, it has to be worth your money and time, so what it offers is a great boss fight and of course a tomb larger than the optional tombs found within the game, but you have to know that in the end, you will finish this in less than an hour.

All in all, a great add-on, but honestly the price it's a bit debatable since it's only an hour long.