DeVuego

What initially sparked my curiosity with its absurdity quickly turned out to be one of the most entertaining games I've played this year: Denshattack! is the perfect combination of games like Jet Set Radio, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Skate while simultaneously being so stylish, colorful and fast-paced that it's often difficult to grasp everything that's happening at once. The game never lets you catch your breath thanks to it introducing new mechanics, mission structures and gameplay elements regularely. Especially if you're aiming for gold medals in the various levels and chasing high scores there's endless hours of fun waiting for you. Plus the awesome soundtrack is perfectly tailored to the game and its visual style and just slaps.

007 First Light tells an authentic and highly entertaining origin story of the well-known MI6 agent, taking the best ideas from the Hitman series and perfecting them with franchise-typical elements. This worked best for me in the more open missions, but the shootouts, car chases and explosion-filled action sequences are absolutely essential to James Bond and I thoroughly enjoyed them. In some places the game could have used a bit more technical polish but I hope we'll see much more of this version of James Bond in the future.

Luto is an exceptionally well made psychological horror experience and especially as debut game from an indie studio it's an impressive achievement. The game's pacing is neither too slow nor too fast and is truly well-crafted and some of the puzzles are really challenging. If you're willing to embrace the somewhat stripped-down gameplay, you'll find a well-written story that's not only entertaining but also emotionally engaging.

Everdeep Aurora offers a retro-styled game world that's fun to immerse yourself in and a story that, while it could have done with fewer text boxes, still works well with its various endings and lovable characters. The different endings make it worth listening carefully and exploring everything attentively and the 7-8 hours you spend underground with Shell will fly by quickly.

Even if not all the bugs and errors were ironed out we're still treated to an incredibly charming indie horror that wears its inspirations proudly on its sleeve and will make fans of the old PlayStation era very happy. Post Trauma tells a deeply moving story, perfectly exploits the strengths of fixed camera perspectives despite its technical weaknesses and is ideal for a playthrough in one go. The puzzles are never unsolvable, but still keep you entertained, the combat is more of a secondary concern, and the game would probably have worked just as well without them.