I previously played Gunpoint which is kind of a distant cousin of Ronin. But the former was way better than the latter. What they have in common is their big pixels and stories of intrusions but Ronin feels clunky and punitive, the moving system being more imprecise than Gunpoint's: the worst is when you die and retry the exact same action many times but the output is not the same every time.
Like I'm now used to saying, one more dropped game in my ABC list… ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
'Verdict on Ronin : unfinished/10'

And one more Lego game 100%ed !
I didn't know the Ninjago franchise before, obviously haven't seen the movie but it was interesting and my kids loved this new universe. They fondled the adventures of Kai, Lloyd and Sensei Wu (but they also freaked out about the giant cat and his vicious miaowing !) and couldn't wait every time we shut down the game to recreate the scenes with their real Legos. Technically, there were a few bugs but the visuals were really a big step up compared to previous games. Gameplay-wise, as usual, backtracking all the golden bricks and collectibles sometimes felt tedious but hey, getting 100% was worth it.
'Verdict on The LEGO® NINJAGO® Movie Video Game : 8,5/10'

I had loved the first episode (and liked Heist). Unsurprisingly, I really liked Dig 2.
As far as I remember, what's new in Dig 2 isn't ground-breaking, it stands just in the continuity of Dig 1 in terms of gameplay and story. I think there weren't all these puzzles in Dig 1, which are not what I preferred in Dig 2 but it's a good idea to break monotony. There was less back and forth than what I remember from the first, the perks were a nice way to introduce a bit of metroidvania in the game and the music was equally good. I heard the devs Image & Form Games released a fourth game in the SteamWorld universe, SW Quest: Hand of Gilgamech, more a RPG deckbuilding game according to Steam tags : I'll have to try it someday to check if every game they make appeals to me (spoiler : I'm 100% sure it appeals EvilBlackSheep).
'Verdict on SteamWorld Dig 2: 9/10'

Every now and then, I feel lazy enough to play a HOG, of which I have a few in my backlog, unearthed for a few pennies in some cheap bundle. This time, it was GL:TFB's turn. It was in January but I already don't remember much of story and gameplay, as shallow as they usually are. What I remember well is the cut-scenes were dirty as hell, pixelated like a YouTube video in the 56K era. Oh, and also that Prince Charming don't exist.
'Verdict on Grim Legends: The Forsaken Bride : 5/10'

This one is old (actually 2014, but I thought it was older). And it's hard, and not fun. I imagine once you're used to the counter-intuitive controls, you might enjoy it but I wasn't ready for that endeavor. It's funny because OlliOlli looks a lot like Pumped BMX +, which I still play occasionally, but OlliOlli didn't clank, don't know why. I have the second episode : curious to see if it's as repulsive to me.
'Verdict on OlliOlli : 4/10'

All I knew about K:NL before my first launch was a couple screenshots with a king on a horse and that the game's often put on higher grounds by players. Well, to me, it's a bit overestimated. OK the pixel art is charming but the gameplay loop is poor, it's so frustratingly long to ride from one side of the map to another. I managed to get past the first island but when I realized the next stages were more of the same, and that you have to figure by yourself the effects of all new buildings (a method I usually find lazy from developers, as a way to artificially lengthen games), I declared right away to my peons "I hereby abdicate".
'Verdict on Kingdom: New Lands : 5,5/10'

Since I was in the mood to embody a king, I went into Reigns (from some recent Humble Bundle). The left or right swiping gameplay for decision-making makes it probably a better mobile game than a PC game. To me, it was fun for an hour and then got old very quickly, seeing the same encounters and events over and over. Not much else to say.
'Verdict on Reigns : 5/10'

I had launched AD for the first time maybe 2 or 3 years ago. I don't know why but I decided on a February day that it was time to get it to an end. What I always found odd is the camera is still (or rather moves but keeps the same angle) while the car turns and yet, the directions are fixed ; I'm not sure it's understandable but as an example, when you see the car from behind, you push right, the car goes right but when the car is facing you, you still have to push right so that the car goes left on-screen. It's puzzling, I much prefer when the camera stays behind the car and the directions you push on the pad are the same directions the car goes. But I more or less got used to it.
The mix of drift and zen universe is also puzzling, I'm sure none other game ever tried it before: usually, when you think about drift, you imagine a loud music, flashy colors, smoke and light effects and even sometimes lightly-clothed ladies. There, you only have a B&W world with strokes of red, a gong and a small bell to celebrate any achievement in a level or the passage to another level. To say the least, it's relaxing.
I found out the devs are working on a rally game called art of rally, and the demo looks very promising.
'Verdict on Absolute Drift : 6/10'

I don't like dungeon crawler and I usually have mixed feelings about roguelike but I like card games. Oh boy, what a suspense : did I enjoy Slay the Spire, a perfect mix of deckbuilding, roguelike and dungeon crawler ?
The answer is yes because the game's learning curve is quite regular, you easily unlock new characters and new cards, and the UI is perfect: this is the best achievement of the game, everything is clear, all the buffs and trinkets effects are shown and explained at a glance. I have one main reproach and it's related to the (lack of) story: since you don't know what you're doing or why you're fighting enemies, it's hard to know when or even if you've really won. After 9 hours, I finished one run with the first character, that is to say I beat the 3 stages and the final boss. I got a Steam achievement and a little cut-scene but the game is very clumsy to signify you're far from the real end. I had to read forums to understand the different degrees of win and completion (finish with every character and then in another mode, etc). For the sake of BLAEO, I consider the game beaten but it's obviously far from completed. I'm sure I won't get really further in the game because it remains a dungeon crawler roguelike, and the deckbuilding aspect doesn't counter-weight enough these 2 deterrents for me.
'Verdict on Slay the Spire : 7,5/10'

I'm a big SW fan but like I said in my previous post, in terms of SW games, there's only one I liked among those I tried and that's KOTOR. Sorry for the Jedi Knight worshipers, go read my 2019 November post if you feel outraged ;-). I've read good things all around the Internet about SWJ:FO, so in spite of my vow of patient gaming, I was hyped enough to play it less than 6 months after the release. That even led me to install Origin for the first time (BTW I would tend to put the "obligation to install a new launcher to play the game" in the cons of the game ;-) ).
In practice, I had to force myself to get back to the game and beat it. That's a bad sign. And I did so because it was a AAA gift from a friend, moreover in the SW universe. The game has its moments but in the end, its artificiality, lacks and failures exceed the rare good points.

BEWARE, SPOILERS AHEAD !

• Pros :

• Cal is not as bad and lacking of charisma as almost everybody was afraid of when the first trailer was unveiled. He's well animated (except when he runs) and has a (mildly) interesting background. I find his face, like most other faces, is very well rendered during cut-scenes. On the other hand, Cere is a disaster when it comes to character design and animation, except if you like scary froggy eyes.

• Some climactic scenes and some places are memorable, the best for me being when you ride the giant flying beast on Kashyyk.

• The fights are well paced, you can quickly be outflanked when various enemies attack and these different enemies entail a good variety of challenges. I just regret that the only way to deal with distant foes is to deflect blasters with the saber. Like I say later, it's frustrating to feel for long like a powerless Jedi.

• Cons :

• The game is full of technical problems that kill immersion. First of all, after launching, it takes 68 seconds to arrive to the menu and then another 30 seconds to get in-game : it's too long. Then, there were the numerous freezes and stuttering. The narrow tunnels used to conceal (extra) loading times are immersion-killers and yet, there were still plenty of times where the game stuttered because of just entering new areas or failing to load smoothly new events triggered. Finally, I suffered from desynchronized dialogs multiple times during cut-scenes.

• The whole level-design full of vertical walls and of those crates thrown down there for no reason really hurt my willing suspension of disbelief. BTW, the cosmetics provided by the crates are a really thin pretext for me to replay the levels, and replayability is close to zero from my point of view. I had read the game had some metroidvania but I don't see it like that since there's no exploration and you just follow the story which almost compels you to visit back places once new abilities acquired. While I'm on the level design, no fast travel and labyrinthine-yet-corridor-like levels are a big deterrent : backtracking never felt so annoying to me than in this game. Especially when all of a sudden, the zones that were empty during the going are full of troopers for the going back (Ilum, I'm looking at you !).

• SWJ:FO gameplay is supposed to take inspirations from Dark Souls, Uncharted, Metroid Prime, all games I never played (yeah, shame on me). But I assume in those games, you start weak for a good reason and gaining new abilities feels rewarding. In SWJ:FO, it's as if you start crippled and in the end, when you've gained back all your Jedi powers, you just feel… normal. There again, the devs curbed artificially the player, with petty justifications : I would say it's legitimate to get new abilities when it's through acquiring new items (like the rebreather or climbing claws) but when it's Jedi powers you just recall through flashbacks, it seems to me pretty lame story-wise and gameplay-wise (suddenly, Cal recalls how to double somersault, force push or force pull ? Come on !).

• A Jedi archeologist ? OK, why not but the way this guy unravels the story feels so artificial. Equally artificial is the way most "Force Echoes" are limited to a few dispensable lines in the metastory. While I'm on the story, I won't come back on the fact broadly picked up that Cal bonds with people he meets in about 10 minutes (whether it is Cere and Greez or Merrin).

• Who thought adding undead in SW would be a good idea ? The moment I met those… things in Dathomir was my biggest facepalm of the game. Some fans might like the novelty but to me, it's hugely irrelevant to have undead in the SW universe. What's the next step in this don't-give-a-shit attitude ? Zombies ?

'Verdict on Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order : 6/10'