Tactical Breach Wizards puts the magic into military tactics games
Summer games previews
Grab your Ouija board: behind Fear the Spotlight’s 90s-inspired horror
July 2024
Summer games previews
Star Wars Outlaws: what to expect from Ubisoft’s galactic adventure
Set in the year between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Outlaws follows Kay, an ambitious street thief as she plots a giant heist. We meet the gang behind the gang
Summer games previews
‘The windmill is pretty flirty’: Building Relationships, the game where you take a house out on a date
In this uniquely absurd mishmash of adventure and dating game, you are a house looking for love on an island of eligible bachelor pads
Summer games previews
‘I’m not sure if it will sell, but it should exist’: Horses, a surreal Lynchian horror game
Flock review – chill creature-collecting flying game is shear bliss
Zenless Zone Zero review – stylish, enchanting and seductive
June 2024
Still Wakes the Deep review – The Thing, but on a Scottish oil rig in the 1970s
This horror game creates great atmosphere with its acting and visual design, but is regularly brought to its knees by uninspiring gameplay
Civilization 7 and more announced at Summer Game Fest
The latest title in the long-running strategy series was the biggest reveal at an event that celebrated small indie titles as much as big hitters
SpaceWar is back! Rebuilding the world’s first gaming computer
A large team of tech nostalgia enthusiasts have made a PiDP-10, a replica of the PDP-10 mainframe computer first launched by the Digital Equipment Corporation in 1966
May 2024
XDefiant review – Overwatch meets Call of Duty in an Ubisoft theme park
You may feel a touch of deja vu as you mow down rivals with your M16 – but although it’s unoriginal, this free six-person shooter is slick and enjoyable
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes review – eerie visuals and a thrilling story
This compulsive atavistic mystery is told through bewildering yet tantalising non-linear narrative strands that the player must tease apart
What is Manor Lords? The medieval city-building game that sold a million copies in a single day
Developer Slavic Magic’s feudal simulator is Steam’s latest early access sensation, but there’s a seven-year story behind its overnight success
April 2024
My undying love for the painfully uncool Amiga
Dominik Diamond
It may have looked like something you’d see a bank teller use, but it withstood heavy battering. And it ran the coolest games
TopSpin 2K25 review – game, set and match to an engrossing tennis sim
Whether you’re playing as a real-life pro or your own wacky avatar, this subtly calibrated title will have you perfecting your lobs and dropshots for hours
A skate through cyberspace: on the edge with the Now Play This festival of experimental video games
This week, Somerset House houses a selection of avant garde games on the theme of liminality
March 2024
Alone in the Dark review – Jodie Comer and David Harbour can’t save this soporific horror
The stars are lost in a swamp of poor writing and buggy combat in this wearisome reimagining of the 1992 survival classic
CorpoNation review – will you betray the 1990s Orwellian megacorp?
From working in your ‘lifelong role of sample sorting’ to playing mandatory video games when you clock off, this sinister, retro-futuristic game will have you questioning your freedom
WWE 2K24 review - arcade fighter celebrates 40 years of Wrestlemania with slapstick spectacle
Visual Concepts pulls off an incredible reversal on this formerly beleaguered series, just in time for Wrestlemania’s big 4-0
February 2024
Helldivers 2 review – the most fun I’ve had with a co-op shooter since Left 4 Dead
With super-tight gameplay, an outrageous amount of feedback and tons of ludicrous, senseless sci-fi violence, this sequel is a total joyride
