DeVuego

As a horror obsessive, I hope others like me push through the game's frustrating puzzles and dense plot to see Luto's best parts, because they're numerous and unforgettable. This being Broken Bird Games' first project makes me incredibly excited to see where the team goes from here. I often wonder what P.T. would've looked like as a full game. We'll never know for sure, but it would've been lucky to be something like Luto.

Broken Bird Games' debut is a twisting, experimental horror game that goes places you won't see coming.

Thanks to its blend of platforming, puzzles, and "combat," all set in a colorful world, Creatures of Ava reminds me of a kind of action-adventure game that is seldom made anymore. It's both nostalgic for yesteryear while also creatively reinventing traditional elements of the genre. It routinely defies tropes in every corner of its world, yet still feels like the sort of game that is approachable, familiar, and easy to love. With a story that goes harder than one might expect and gameplay that routinely throws new tools and challenges in front of you, Creatures of Ava is surely one of the year's coolest surprises.

Evil Dead: The Game is faithful, but sometimes to a fault. If there were more game modes or even more varied objectives in its one attractive game mode, it would feel more like a game for horror fans to play for a long time, maybe even moving competitors like Dead By Daylight or Hunt Showdown off their vaunted pedestals. As it stands at launch, however, Evil Dead only reaches beyond something pretty good when it's played with a close-knit group of Evil Dead fans. General horror or co-op enthusiasts may get some mileage out of it, but Ash and his boomstick are storming into a crowded field of competitors and can't quite overcome the horde of similar games already available.