VideoGamesCritic | The one source of truth for gamers

How this trust score was computed

Trust blends alignment (40%): does the outlet rank games the way players do; decoded accuracy (30%): after translating the outlet's own scale habits (a '7/10 means mediocre' scale is decoded, not punished), how well its reviews predict player sentiment; and player-side (30%): on games where press consensus and players sharply disagreed, whose side it took. Recent reviews weigh more (2-year half-life), and the blend is shrunk toward a neutral prior (60) so small samples can't peg the scale. Player quality is launch-window Steam sentiment, so outlets aren't punished for reviewing a launch build that later got patched.

Alignment (40%)

Decoded accuracy (30%)

Player-side (30%)

Controversy record: on 17 games where press consensus and players sharply disagreed, this reviewer sided with players 12 times.

Computed 44m ago · full methodology →

Outlet vs. players

Each dot is a game both this outlet and players scored. The dashed line is perfect agreement: dots above it mean the outlet was more generous than players, below it more harsh.

Biggest disagreements with players

The receipts: games where this outlet's verdict landed furthest from player sentiment.

Recent reviews (176 tracked)

75
FarlandsJul 16, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Escape the rat race and build your dream farm on a barren planet in this charming indie sim that nails the cozy agrarian fantasy. That’s the TBB Curator blurb, and it captures what Farlands does well — this is a warm, pretty, personality-rich farming sim with a space hook that genuinely earns its place rather than sitting on top as a theme. The honest caveat is the one the community keeps circling: Farlands is very good and not yet distinctive. It borrows well, it executes competently across a lot of systems, and it hasn’t quite found the one thing that makes it unmistakably itself. The guidance gaps and the early-game space tedium are real friction. But the people who criticise this game most thoughtfully are doing it from 13 hours in and still logging back on, which tells you what you need to know about the loop. For $17.99, with two years of delivered Early Access behind it and a completed roadmap, this is an easy recommendation for farming sim fans who want the formula with something new attached. If you loved Stardew and wondered what it’d feel like with a spaceship, this is that game, and it’s made by people who clearly love the genre.”
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90
Denshattack!Jul 15, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Denshattack! is a stylish adrenaline rush that nails the blend of trick-based action and cyberpunk aesthetics in ways most games can’t touch. That’s the TBB Curator blurb, and for once it might be underselling it. This is one of the most confidently weird, mechanically sharp, visually loud games of 2026, and the fact that it’s a trick game about trains is the least interesting thing about it once you’re actually playing. Undercoders took a premise that reads as a joke and built something with real technical depth underneath it. The controls are excellent. The skill ceiling is enormous. The presentation is gorgeous. The bosses are completely unhinged in the best way. The story and characters are better than they had any obligation to be. It runs at 200fps on modest hardware and 60 locked on a Steam Deck. It’s twenty dollars. The boss jank is real and the story runtime is on the shorter side — but this is a score-attack arcade game, and judging it on story length is like judging Tony Hawk on its narrative. The content is in the mastery, and there’s a mountain of it. If the trailer looks exciting to you, buy it. That’s the whole recommendation. Almost nobody who’s played this game has come away anything less than delighted, and the ones who list complaints are listing them from the other side of forty hours of medal-chasing.”
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80
Moss: The Forgotten Relic Jul 14, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Moss: The Forgotten Relic weaves enchanting storytelling with satisfying action, creating an indie gem that genuinely tugs at your heartstrings. That’s the TBB Curator blurb and it holds — but the more precise framing is this: Moss was a VR masterpiece, and The Forgotten Relic is a very good flatscreen adaptation of a VR masterpiece. Those are different things, and which one you’re getting depends entirely on what you’re bringing to it. If you’ve never played Moss and don’t own VR: buy this. Two acclaimed games, all the DLC, twenty dollars, a mouse you will absolutely become emotionally attached to, and one of the most distinctive presentations in the medium. Use a controller. Pet the mouse. If you’ve never played Moss and do own VR: play it in VR. This version is good and that version is extraordinary. If you’ve played Moss in VR and are considering this: you’ll enjoy revisiting it, the bubble controls on the right stick are a genuine improvement over motion controls, and Book II being bundled in is worth it on its own. Just know going in that you’re returning to a world you used to be able to sit inside.”
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80
The Caribou TrailJul 7, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“This haunting WWI survival game strips away combat glory to expose war’s true horror through the eyes of three desperate soldiers. That’s the TBB Curator blurb — and the word “desperate” is doing work the community reviewers might replace with “determined” or “courageous” or “funny, right up until they’re not.” The Caribou Trail is one of those games where the brevity is the point. It gives you exactly as much time with these men as you need to care about them, and then it shows you what history did with them. $9.99 for a three-to-four hour narrative experience will always be a conversation about value frameworks. For players who see a short game as a short film — a contained artistic experience that doesn’t owe you duration — this is an easy recommendation. For history enthusiasts, WWI readers, or anyone from Newfoundland or the broader Atlantic Canadian community, it’s essential. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment deserves the representation. The Caribou Trail gives it to them with evident love. Also recommended by the developers’ first game — Two Falls (Nishu Takuatshina) — if you want more from Unreliable Narrators.”
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70
NBA THE RUNJul 3, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Take your favorite NBA stars to streetball courts worldwide in this fast-paced 3v3 experience that nails arcade basketball fun. That’s the TBB Curator blurb and it’s accurate about what the game is at its best — but the “nails it” framing needs the launch caveat attached. NBA THE RUN has the visual identity, the licensed talent, the rollback netcode, and the defensive design to be the arcade basketball game the genre has been missing. It does not currently have the offline content, tutorial, keybind support, or camera options its price point should include. The community consensus aligns with that tension: people who went in with the right expectations — competitive online 3v3 arcade basketball with friends — are largely having a great time. People who went in expecting NBA Street, solo content, or a game that fully explains itself on day one are bouncing off. Both reactions are fair given what launched. If you have people to play with and can live with the current rough edges while the roadmap plays out, NBA THE RUN is worth the money. The Summer Heat Season update is already confirmed, and the bones here are good enough that a few solid content updates could meaningfully shift the recommendation. At $29.99, it’s a conditional buy now and potentially an easier one later.”
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75
Solarpunk™Jun 24, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Solarpunk brilliantly blends survival crafting with exploration across stunning floating islands, making it absolutely worth your time solo or with friends. It is a focused, honest, genuinely pleasant experience for the audience it’s built for — the kind of game you play for two hours on a rainy evening and lose track of time in. The 20-hour content window and limited island variety are real shortcomings for players expecting more scope, and the launch bugs are a genuine friction point that patches are steadily addressing. For cozy survival crafting fans who want clean energy aesthetics, an airship, quiet pigs digging for truffles, and a little drone with an adorable face bringing them resources — this is exactly the game they’ve been looking for.”
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65
Dark ScrollsJun 22, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Dark Scrolls brilliantly blends bullet-hell intensity with platforming prowess, delivering a roguelite experience that’s genuinely challenging and packed with personality. The Mixed score at launch is honest about the problems — zero onboarding, run-ending bugs, balance inconsistency, visual clutter — but it undersells what the game is when those problems don’t get in the way. The perk combo system is original and satisfying. The character roster has real depth. Co-op is an excellent use of $7.99. doinksoft clearly has interesting ideas here, and if they address the onboarding and stability issues in post-launch patches, this could shift to a clear recommendation without caveats. Right now it’s a conditional one: buy it if you’re comfortable learning a system by doing, especially if you have someone to play with.”
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80
Gothic 1 RemakeJun 21, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Alkimia Interactive has crafted a faithful remake that captures what made the original a genre-defining masterpiece: a genuinely reactive world that respects player freedom. Gothic 1 Remake is flawed in specific, addressable ways — the combat plateau, magic balance, lockpicking frustration, compressed endgame — but none of those flaws undercut what the game fundamentally achieves. The Colony breathes. The world doesn’t care about you until you make it. And walking through the New Camp cavern for the first time, watching your eyes adjust to the darkness and the glow of the huts, remains one of the most transportive moments 2026 has offered. For fans of the original, this is the homecoming they deserved. For new players, this is the best possible introduction to one of the most distinctive RPGs ever built.”
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85
Forza Horizon 6Jun 19, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Brace yourself for an adrenaline-fueled joyride through Japan’s stunning vistas in a car enthusiast’s dream playground. Overwhelming variety and stunning realism await. Forza Horizon 6 is the best open-world racing game available right now — a franchise peak for the Horizon series that delivers on the Japan setting with a map that rewards every hour you put into exploration, Touge Battles that add genuine racing depth, and a multiplayer ecosystem that is chaotically alive in exactly the way the franchise has always done best. The monetisation structure is a legitimate grievance and the franchise formula hasn’t fundamentally evolved — but when the formula is this well-executed in this setting, those criticisms feel like footnotes rather than dealbreakers. The cars feel great, Japan looks extraordinary, and online is BowieKnife99 dependent.”
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75
Crushed In TimeJun 10, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“This elastic point-and-click adventure with Sherlock and Watson is a delightful surprise. The creative time-travel mechanics and clever humor make it absolutely worth your money. Crushed In Time doesn’t reach the emotional heights of There Is No Game: Wrong Dimension, and its final chapters strain under puzzle design that can’t quite maintain the earlier consistency — but the studio’s voice is as distinctive as ever, the mechanic is genuinely inventive, and the writing carries the experience even when the puzzles test your patience. For fans of Draw Me A Pixel or the genre at large, it’s an easy yes.”
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80
Voidling BoundJun 9, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Hatchery Games has crafted a genuinely fresh take on monster taming that actually justifies the shooter mechanics, making every creature evolution feel rewarding. Voidling Bound is the creature-collecting action game the genre has been owed for a long time — polished, inventive, deep in the systems that matter, and priced at a point that makes the decision trivially easy. Mission variety is the ceiling on how high the score goes, and co-op is the feature that would push a sequel into must-play territory. What exists right now is already excellent, and the developer’s commitment to updates gives good reason to believe it gets better from here.”
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75
LEGO® Batman™: Legacy of the Dark KnightJun 8, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“A fun LEGO twist on the iconic caped crusader’s tale, this game mixes solid combat with Gotham’s charms. Great for Batman fans seeking a lighthearted adventure. Legacy of the Dark Knight is TT Games’ most ambitious and most successful LEGO game in years — a genuine Batman experience wrapped in the LEGO brand’s best qualities, with a campaign that earns its runtime and a Gotham worth spending time in. Its weaknesses — the thin roster, the post-game content drop-off, the performance wrinkles — are real, but they don’t diminish what the game does right. Which is quite a lot.”
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75
Tour de France 2026Jun 5, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Tour de France 2026 delivers authentic cycling strategy that rewards tactical thinking and perfect timing across brutal mountain stages. The rain system is the genuine standout — it’s the kind of addition that changes how individual stages feel and forces real strategic adaptation rather than just looking good. The two new licensed races, the Team Time Trial overhaul, and the official 2026 route make this a full-featured release at its price point. The controller-only requirement on PC is worth calling out clearly before purchase, and the visual resolution limitations are real, but neither changes the core experience for players who are here for the cycling.”
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90
SektoriJun 3, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Sektori is a relentless twin-stick shooter that perfectly fuses breakneck gameplay with pulsating techno, creating an intoxicating audiovisual experience worth your money. At $14.99 it’s one of the easiest purchases in the Switch 2 library, and one of those rare arcade games that can genuinely absorb hours without feeling like it’s demanding them. If you own a Switch 2 and like this genre at all, there is no reason not to have this game.”
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80
Call of the Elder GodsJun 1, 2026 · Zachary Holmes
“Call of the Elder Gods is the better game — more ambitious, more visually impressive, with stronger puzzle design and a story that actually wants to go places. The writing still has rough edges, the budget limits show in the facial animation, and one puzzle late in the game is a genuine misfire. None of that changes what the game accomplishes across its best sequences, or the fact that Out of the Blue have built something with considerably more range than where they started. If you played Call of the Sea and wanted more, this delivers more in almost every dimension. If you haven’t played the first game, both are on Steam and the bundle is worth the price.”
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TheBigBois

How this trust score was computed

Outlet vs. players

Biggest disagreements with players

Recent reviews (176 tracked)