The first thing that dispels most of the prejudice is the game's prologue, which is bombastic and well-directed. The game throws you into the role of Koen, the eldest son of a peasant family in Vale Sangora. This is a classic "Slavic" backdrop characteristic of the 14th century.

You don't hear half of it because bullets from some kind of Maxim gun are flying around you. The world turns to grey as you throw yourself into a conveniently placed crater. Maybe they planned to build some kind of skate park there but gave up after digging; who knows, although it's strange they planned so many of them

The good news is that most Steam Deck errors fall into a handful of repeatable categories, and once you know the pattern, the fix is usually quick. Network errors like 105 and 150 almost always trace back to a DNS or connectivity hiccup. Black screens and freezes are often tied to a bad update or a rogue plugin. SD card errors usually mean a duplicate folder or a corrupted file system. None of these require you to be a Linux expert or send your device in for repair.

Another extraction game? Somewhere out there, there are still people on management boards who get a self-satisfied thrill from the thought of having an extraction shooter in their portfolio, because they think they too will succeed like Fortnite and other copy-paste games. Of course, nobody stops to consider that the extraction genre already has more games than there are blatant Flappy Bird clones.

An environment that is cold and vast, and ready to "amputate" your enjoyment over one bad decision (provided you don't like to "rewind"). We went into this story expecting a competent but formulaic "Haunted House in Space." In the end, we rewound the ending three times because we didn't like the epilogue, and that somewhat spoiled the enjoyment. We gave in to temptation. That's motivation enough — or demotivation enough — for you to take a look at this title.

When I launched HALO: Campaign Evolved, that same sound returned, only now renovated, deeper, richer. For a moment, I forgot that I was sitting in my living room at my desk with my child on my lap. Instead, I found myself in a room where chaos from a torn-open box was decorated with the hum of cables and the terrible guilt of an approaching December exam period.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater takes players back to the Cold War, before Solid Snake even existed. We step into the skin of Naked Snake, whose story only reveals its full weight once the campaign ends and the chain of events that follows becomes clear. The plot remains the same as in the original: an infiltration into the Soviet jungle, a rescue-and-assassination mission, and a fight to survive both the animal kingdom and human stupidity.

Gothic Remake is that game. And somehow, without any conditions and without any shame, I recommend it to everyone. Yes, even you who are used to the Rewind function from Race Driver GRID. Yes, even you who are used to relentlessly GRINDING opponents in DOOM. Yes, even you who shamelessly breeze through Wolfenstein on Blaskowicz difficulty with a pacifier in your mouth. From time to time, it's good for the brain to be gently pulled out of its comfort zone.

The Adventures of Elliot drew me into its world despite not doing anything revolutionary. It has completely legitimate flaws, but despite them, the combination of exploration, fun combat, visual style, and a pleasant story is capable of keeping you in that laid-back rhythm that's hard to tear yourself away from. As a parent, I'd say it's an easy recommendation if you're looking for a relaxed, feel-good adventure. ​

In hindsight, I think that was a good decision, but also the reason I never played Star Fox 64. So when I was offered the chance to review the remake, it felt like a kind of redemption and an opportunity to finally see exactly what I had missed nearly three decades ago. For those unfamiliar with Star Fox, it is an arcade-style space shooter.