Video Game Reviews — all publications on the topic

Hotta Studio, the creators of Tower of Fantasy, has released a new gacha game set in an open world. Flashy trailers, charismatic characters, and an unusual setting caught people’s attention, but expectations were not especially high — grand promises too often fail to match the final result. And yet Neverness to Everness actually delivers.

When War Thunder first launched in 2012, it seemed like a niche pastime for people who loved debating the thickness of the T-34’s armor. Many years have passed, and the game has evolved into one of the largest online military sandboxes on the market. First came the planes. Then the tanks. Next came ships, helicopters, modern air defense systems, drones, and precision-guided missiles. At some point, War Thunder ceased to be just a game about military hardware and became a digital archive of military evolution. However, the more impressive this behemoth becomes, the more glaringly its flaws are revealed. Today, Gaijin Entertainment’s project still holds a unique position in the market, but at the same time continues to frustrate its own audience with alarming consistency. And therein, perhaps, lies the essence of War Thunder. Let’s take a closer look at what this phenomenon is and how it’s played.

A group of scientists and specialists is carrying out a critical research mission. Suddenly, they encounter an alien entity capable of mimicry — perfectly copying human appearance. Taking the form of crew members, the creature begins killing them one by one, while the survivors spiral into paranoia: “Which of the colleagues I’ve known for months is still human, and which one isn’t anymore? And is there even any way to stop this thing?”

Today we’re going to discuss a game that made me, the author of this piece, feel like both a great architect and an extremely grumpy manager for a few evenings. I’m talking about Hotel Architect. You know, the management simulation genre is going through strange times right now: on one hand, there are overloaded spreadsheets; on the other, overly simplistic “clickers.” This game tries to occupy a spot somewhere in the middle. I’ll say right away: it’s not a revolution, but it’s a solid tycoon game, and the devil is in the details here.

Chess is perhaps the most popular board game in the world. With the advent of video games, it has been adapted dozens of times: classic rules were ported over, puzzles were invented, and unusual crossovers with other genres were explored. Almost every attempt felt clumsy. The indie roguelike Gambonanza is a breath of fresh air for everyone who loves the game, while still welcoming everyone else. Its respect for the classic and its completely fresh approach have produced a small masterpiece.

Saros is the spiritual sequel to Returnal, one of the best PS5 games, which sadly never managed to break into the mainstream. Calling it a commercial failure would not be fair either: Returnal sold more than 800 000 copies in its first year and later expanded its audience through PS Plus and the PC version. Still, by Sony’s standards, it remained a fairly niche release, and far from every buyer actually saw it through to the end. Returnal pushed many players away with its high barrier to entry, unusual blend of genres, unconventional narrative, and melancholic atmosphere, but those same elements made it one of the most memorable PlayStation exclusives of the current generation. Saros, the new game from Finnish studio Housemarque, tries to appeal to a wider audience without sacrificing its identity. Let’s see how well it succeeds.

When I, the author of these lines, logged into Lineage 2 Essence, my first thought wasn’t “Wow, I’m back in the legendary MMORPG,” but rather “Where is everyone?” For a long time, there was almost no one around me, and because of that, the game made a very strange impression right from the start. You’re simply dropped into a world that’s supposed to feel vast and alive, but instead feels empty and lifeless.

Replaced is a new 2D platformer. Don’t let the pixel art fool you. This is a major debut project from the Belarusian studio Sad Cat Studios, released after several delays. This new title combines the gameplay of Uncharted, the combat system of Batman: Arkham, and the style of Blade Runner. We definitely couldn’t pass this up—and now we’re sharing our impressions with you.

The famous MMORPG Black Desert in 2026 is a strange, almost unnatural product that has somehow miraculously survived in an industry where projects with budgets rivaling space missions die in less than six months. The game is not just alive — it functions steadily, receives updates, and retains an audience that either genuinely loves it or simply can no longer stop. But what if you decided to try this hit today? After all, the much-talked-about Crimson Desert was born from its online predecessor, so getting acquainted with Pearl Abyss’s original project is at least interesting. What does Black Desert feel like for a newcomer in 2026, especially on PS5 — I’ll explain in this article.

Pragmata is not just Capcom’s first new franchise in 16 years, but also a bold step toward narrative-driven games with maximum audience reach. It's yet another project we didn’t really expect anything from, but in the end, we got one of the best games of the year. It doesn’t revolutionize anything, but it delivers what every game should: excellent gameplay, creative mechanics, an interesting story, beautiful visuals, and the joy of flawless technical execution. Pragmata is the first game in a long time that we simply couldn’t put down, and in this review, we’ll explain why you should give it a try.

Bylina is a very strange case where the game first sells you on Slavic fantasy with soul, charisma, and a promise of something truly fresh, but then starts to fall apart in your hands after a few hours. We have an action-adventure from Far Far Games where we play as a young warrior named Sokolik. After being killed, he is brought back to life by a mysterious spirit; together, they must travel to the Faraway Kingdom to confront Koschei the Deathless. It all sounds great: Slavic myths, a dark adventure, leveling systems, magic, bosses, and puzzles—a combination that was hard for me to ignore. But then the problems begin.

Despite the wide variety of genres in modern MMOs, decent military vehicle simulators can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The most famous projects in this genre are, of course, World of Tanks and War Thunder. However, World of Warships differs from its famous counterparts only in its more niche focus on naval battles, not in the quality of execution.

All hands on deck! Muster, sea dogs! Have your rebellious souls started to miss the salty Caribbean winds and good pirate games? Do you have the Jolly Roger on your walls instead of wallpaper, along with portraits of Blackbeard and William Kidd? As you fall asleep, do you imagine the sunset over Tortuga, and does your wooden leg creak in anticipation of a storm? Then raise the sails — straight ahead lies Windrose, a fresh pirate action game about treasure hunting, naval battles, crafting, and saber fights. Today we’ll see what this game really is — a chest full of gold doubloons or a dead seagull?

Lost Ark was released to the Western market in February 2022 under the publishing of Amazon Games and within the first 24 hours became the second game in Steam history by the number of concurrent players — 1.3 million people. I decided to find out how the project is doing today and spent 30 hours in the game: completed several story arcs, got a ship, and managed to explore some of the islands — this was enough to understand what makes Lost Ark captivating right from the start.

Game graphics that look like full-fledged cartoons are not uncommon these days. But some developers don't limit themselves to just graphics, stylizing the entire project to a specific animation style. This is exactly what the Fumi Games team did in their shooter. But how well does this aesthetic mesh with the gameplay of an old-school shooter? Our article is dedicated to answering this question.

Back in the early 2010s, many of us tried online tank games at least once. The genre was so popular that Gaijin added combat vehicles to its flight simulator War Thunder and then set out to create another similar project — this time featuring post-apocalyptic machines in the spirit of Mad Max. The game was entrusted to Targem Games, the developers of the space action title Star Conflict. In 2017, Crossout finally left closed testing and impressed players with its unusual vehicle-building system combined with fast-paced action. Nearly nine years have passed since then, so let’s take a look at how the game is doing today.

Gran Saga today is an insanely expensive and beautiful anime MMO that simultaneously showcases top-tier Korean production and all the ailments of mobile gacha games. In 2026, the project is already dead on the global market, and the Korean and Japanese servers have also closed. We’ll tell you whether it’s worth starting to play.

Some games die gracefully, leaving behind nothing but warm memories. Point Blank is not one of them. This is a Korean shooter by Zepetto, released in 2008, that is still running today. It is no longer thriving and has not seriously competed with modern shooters for a long time, but it is still staying afloat. In March 2026, the game celebrated its 18th anniversary with a festive marathon featuring events and cases designed to encourage the community’s most active participation. In doing so, the developers seem to be signaling that the project still has many years of life ahead of it. Let’s take a closer look at how true that really is.

Atomic Heart fans are rejoicing today: the Blood on Crystal expansion has officially been released. This is the fourth DLC for the game, and it has long been announced that it will be the final one. So there is a reason for sadness — the story of Major Nechaev is coming to an end. In Annihilation Instinct, we subdued the out-of—control vulgar Eleanor, an artificial intelligence repair cabinet, surfed and fought geese in psychedelic Limbo in Trapped in Limbo, and went underwater in Enchantment Under the Sea in search of Rings, the main artifact of the game. What the developers from Mundfish have prepared for us this time in Blood on Crystal, and how they decided to complete their story about the struggle of man with AI, we will discuss right now.

Samson: A Tyndalston Story is a new game from the developers of Just Cause and Mad Max, which, for some inexplicable reason, the audience dubbed the next "GTA killer." In reality, though, this couldn't be further from the truth. First and foremost, this is a conceptual project whose idea sounded interesting on paper. In this review, we'll try to explain why Samson could have been a good game and why its creators are unlikely to fix it, even with the promised patches.