I, the author of these lines, kill the boss — and get thrown straight back to the start screen. No credits, no final cutscene, just the main menu. I sit there and realize I've completed the entire Early Access campaign in two hours. And thank God I wasn't spending my own money on this, because I have never played such a shoddy piece of work in my life.

At some point the game tells me: "You can't save these people anymore, get out." Naturally, I go in to save them anyway — because otherwise, what was the point of any of it. And that's 007 First Light in a nutshell during the first few hours: it constantly pretends a proper Bond experience is just around the corner, while handing you yet another tutorial segment, yet another whispered hint, and yet another excuse to jog between waypoints.

After four hours, I had the distinct feeling I wasn't playing a game but sitting through a very expensive junior agent training course. A brief opening sortie where we're the only survivors after a missile strike, then the base, then a spy den, then an introduction to the watch and its tricks. All of it stretched out longer than necessary. But let's go into detail.

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.

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.

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.

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.