Saturnalia is a game on the shorter side (well, if you are as bad as I was at it, it may go longer) but in terms of indie horror, it lands on the successful side of the fence. The kaleidoscope-esque quality of walking through the darkened streets with nothing but a match to guide your way will leave you with an anxious knot in your stomach. Saturnalia won’t be for everyone but if you love how artistic that indie horror can be, you will definitely enjoy yourself.

No, it’s not a full-blown Animal Crossing game, but who could expect it to be? If you need something charming, addictive and inexpensive to distract you, Pocket Camp is the perfect handheld vacation.

Tormented Souls is a great addition to your Halloween lineup by appealing to the new generation with good music and good graphics but catering to the older gamers with nostalgic gameplay, storyline and mechanics. It’s not perfect but it’s a good time.

Dead or Alive 6 is certainly a looker; make no mistake about that. It’s even really fun to play at times, and anyone from season veterans to button-mashers can get in on the action with no problem at all. But everything else about the game makes it difficult to recommend unless a free-to-play version launches down the line.

With a touching look into the backstory of Gamora and Nebula and an existential question over the morality of life, Guardians of the Galaxy episode 3 sets up an emotionally provocative endgame with a superbly fleshed out group of characters.

Just Dance 2017 on the Nintendo Switch is a great debut for the genre on the new console, and speaks to the promise of more great Joy-Con motion-controlled games to come.

Despite it being a short game outside of its high replay value, Shu is a charming and beautiful 2.5D platformer that has a lot to offer between its calm stages and its more frantic moments.

I’m not really sure what my favorite part of Heidelberg 1693 was, really. I love the aristocratic time period, the colors and varying environments. The ending is a hell of a lot of fun as well but I won’t spoil that for you. If you are a fan of platformers or even on the fence about them, this is one of the good ones that will win you over with its looks alone.

A solid arcade style professional football game that still makes things work without the NFL license thanks to the NFLPA so gamers can still use their favorite current players and the legends of yesteryear. The fields are beautiful, the plays are pretty satisfying and the Wild Card system is, well, wild. Uniform options can get crazy which is fun as well. Many of the attributes and labeling of the player cards are off but once you get past that, you have just a good old solid arcade football game.

Terrible puns aside, Shadow Warrior 2 is wildly good fun. The immediate gratification of the combat is what keeps the game enjoyable throughout, but Flying Wild Hog has backed this up with several layers of RPG mechanics to support and enrich the game’s strong sense of variety. Find some friends to experience the game at its best in co-op mode.

The awkward story mode, lackluster roster and poor presentation overall don’t live up to the standard of the series. Though casuals should probably proceed with caution, Infinite has a decent game just lying beneath everything bad about it; it’ll just take those patient and forgiving enough to find it.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet needed to be playtested a lot more before release. There are some genuinely jarring issues, but they don’t take away from the fact that there’s a really fun game here at its core. The storyline is better and more real than almost any Pokemon storyline I’ve seen in years. It’s hard to miss the flaws in this game, but if you’re a fan of the series, it’s far more interesting than it is disappointing and I’m glad I spent my time playing the game.

An oddly-paced episode is made up for with a deep characterization of the Guardians of the Galaxy, further supplanting the series as a character-driven comedy adventure game. With an unclear look into where the future lies, the next chapter could make or break this series.

Where Winds Meet is one messy and unapologetically dense online game. It tried to mix all the good and the bad of open-world games and staple features of live-service releases -- whether it actually works or not. But it's the first time a wuxia game, or even an MMO in general, has truly felt like a living, breathing world -- not just a theme park of instanced dungeons and fetch quests. Anyone hunting for their next timesink, whether solo or with friends, will find Where Winds Meet surprisingly easy to get hooked on.

Just Dance 2018 was a fun game, but not one that left me breathless. The addition of Kids Mode was smart and will appeal to an even broader audience. But this franchise needs some competition in order for them to amp up the content of the game because frankly, it’s just not worth $59.99.

What you get with Team Sonic Racing is what you honestly better than you might expect from any modern game bearing the Sonic moniker. It’s a flawed but mostly competent kart racer that is budget priced and might be fine for kids who like the blue hedgehog and his furry friends.

After a disappointing second salvo, The Council episode 3, “Ripples,” rebounds with full gusto. Bringing a narrative and gameplay balance, players are given a better picture at what the series aims to accomplish and keeps them hooked onto what happens next.

A high octane visual thrill ride that offers an intense workout, DOOM VFR is on par with some of the best VR first-person shooters out today. It may feel that some aspects are broken, but the game’s few limitations can be chalked up to the hardware for the most part. Especially for those who own a PSVR Aim Controller, DOOM VFR is a must-buy.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet needed to be playtested a lot more before release. There are some genuinely jarring issues, but they don’t take away from the fact that there’s a really fun game here at its core. The storyline is better and more real than almost any Pokemon storyline I’ve seen in years. It’s hard to miss the flaws in this game, but if you’re a fan of the series, it’s far more interesting than it is disappointing and I’m glad I spent my time playing the game.

Like the world it’s set in, Days Gone is a game that’s a little rough around the edges. Yet it persists, taking characters that are easy to write off and fills them with a surprising amount of heart.

In setting up an explosive finale, the player's predictable busywork and inconsequential story as Javier fall into predictable, repeated tropes. Barring the final moments (some of which flip conventions on their head in a genuinely interesting turn), Telltale cannot decide how to make their protagonist compelling enough without servicing the narrative needs of others. Hopefully, the final episode carries forward with its momentum and salvages a worthy capper to the story of A New Frontier.

A meandering plot, a formulaic, by-the-numbers gameplay flow and contextually redundant choices undo the good work and story built up to this stage, leaving players asking how could so much go so wrong, so quickly.

An intriguing and exciting concept that is completely removed due to its monotonous and repetitive execution. Fans of the narrative genre will appreciate the game and its new approach, but quickly realize where it falls short. As a result, we go from a revolutionary concept for the genre to an average title overall that can only be improved upon with future titles.

After a high-stakes opening salvo, Batman: The Enemy Within episode 2 feels more like a retaliating sling of an arrow. With the exception of an intriguing interpretation of this episode’s focal antagonist, Telltale Games misfires on many facets of narrative and gameplay design.

Rally Arcade Classics succeeds in one important area: it brings back the approachable feel of classic arcade rally games. It’s fun in short bursts, and fans of rally racers will find plenty to enjoy in its car roster and gameplay. At the same time, the grind-heavy structure, lack of polish, and absence of true online racing hold it back from being a must-play. In the end, the value will depend on what you’re looking for. If you want a simple, content-rich throwback you can chip away at for hours, it’s worth a look. If you’re after a polished arcade racer with modern production values and multiplayer, you may want to wait for a sale, or stick with the classics it’s inspired by.

Even though the game is fun in its own way, at launch there just isn’t enough about The Texas Chain Saw Massacre to make it anything but mid. Hopefully given time, it will get new content but all we can do is wait and see.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered has some noticeable graphical improvements, but not enough to overshadow the gameplay flaws of the original. At $30, the game is only really worth it for hardcore fans.

You can almost hear BioWare repeatedly mashing the “Series Reset” button during a play-through of Mass Effect: Andromeda, but the game’s deviation from what we’ve come to expect from the franchise is largely characterized by a downgrade in quality almost across the entire board. Mass Effect: Andromeda attempts to redefine the potential for the franchise as it moves forward into the current generation, but the establishment of this new fiction makes for a disappointingly inconsistent experience.

There’s not enough here beyond simple questions and answers to hold your attention for long, and that makes the game’s tedious pace drag on even worse. Get yourself some Trivial Pursuit and the drink of your choice for a far more enjoyable evening than this.

Despite the core gameplay being a remarkably basic RPG, Nintendo more than makes up for this by creating a world that makes fun of RPG tropes while giving you full ownership of every single character in the game. This allows for randomly generated funny moments and a feeling of ownership not found in many other titles. If you’re looking for a serious RPG, it’s not here; but, if you’re looking for a fun time filled with memes and light-hearted fun, you’re not going to do much better than Miitopia.

In Sound Mind is frustrating at first but will draw you in with dark themes, bright colors, engaging environments and some pretty awesome gameplay mechanics. It’s not the scariest game that will release this Halloween season, but it’s certainly a competitor.

Peach Beach Splash is a lovely addition to the Senran Kagura franchise. The game acts as a wonderfully fun third-person shooter, with immense levels of customization available right out of the box. Unfortunately, it does at times feel held back by its over-the-top, lewd, anime roots.

While this is a rather niche title given the anime graphical style and Soulsborne type of gameplay, Code Vein sticks a decent landing. But with some performance upgrades and further refinements to the combat via patches, this could be a much heavier hitter.

Despite a pleasing aesthetic and overtures at greatness, Yonder’s clunky menuing, excessive fetch questing, and empty story deprive it of the greatness it reaches for. There’s a lovely game buried within Yonder The Cloud Catcher Chronicles that I want to enjoy, but it’s far too shrouded in Murk to properly get at for now.

Through both visual and auditory queues, Zoink Games had their work cut out for them by making a wordless, interactive story play out as a 3D platformer using atmospheric presence to tell a tale. But with very, very few exceptions, they pull this off with near-perfect artistic grace.

For me, Rogue Incursion is everything I’ve been waiting for in an Alien game. It’s a tense, scary, atmospheric game with a strong story. It balances combat with survival horror, and it’s got its own new storyline that’s nestled deep within the Alien universe. I’ve seen the game described as a “cinematic experience,” and I have to agree. All the pieces work perfectly, making it feel like you’re playing through a brand new Alien movie.

No Straight Roads is a big and colorful musical experience with heavy JRPG influences that lets you fight the man, give power to the people of Vinyl City and bring joy, all with the sweet power of rock and roll.

Ancestors is a beautiful game that pits you against all odds in the simulated perspectives of our forebears. Go about through millions of years of evolution, but don’t expect your hand to be held throughout. It’s about exploration, survival, and learning. Curiosity and patience have to be your biggest drivers to get by. Aside from questionable AI choices and oftentimes monotonous tasking, it’s an interesting experience.

Even though the game itself looks stunning and sounds beautiful, the movement mechanics are eye-twitchingly slow and there is a game crashing checkpoint bug. While not as disturbing as people claim, the story of Martha is Dead is a punch in the gut for sure.

Pokemon Unite busts out the gate as a very solid, very easy to pick up and play MOBA game. Even as someone who does not like MOBAs, I found myself getting really into the rounds and figuring out the tools quickly. Cute visuals, fun unlockables and a fun variety of play styles keep matches fresh and a quick chat feature helps avoid the toxicity that normally sticks to MOBAs like glue.

Though interactions with noble aristocrats throughout the manor retain their charm, these moments are undercut by poor technical performance, disappointing pacing and an unfocused series of story beats. “Hide and Seek” flirts with squandering the series’ potential.

Right now, in setting up a grander story, Guardians of the Galaxy can coast on its style. With a shocking revelation setting up a world of possibilities going forward, there’s plenty of promise here. Whether or not the story goes places will make or break this series, but “Tangled Up In Blue” sets up a dynamic cast that will be fun to follow on their journey.

Mario Golf: Super Rush is a solid hit for the Mario Golf franchise. It’s probably as fluid as it has ever been. It plays very well and is really easy to pick up, even for people who have never touched a golfing video game. Unfortunately, it falls short in terms of content, which only really allows it to be enjoyed in bursts.

Vampyr sports an interesting cast and a compelling morality tale with unexpected twists and turns, but it's horribly weighed down by performance issues, dull combat at best and a city that's a chore to traverse.

Mr. Shifty is a competent and mostly enjoyable top-down brawler with an instinctive, visceral combat system. The teleportation mechanic is a standout addition to the game that makes players feel more like a superhero than a thief. But that feeling is short-lived, as the game fails to meaningfully introduce enough new elements to keep the gameplay from feeling formulaic and repetitive. With essentially no replayability, Mr. Shifty is a mildly entertaining title that did not fully capitalize on its potential.

While it does have some surprisingly great acting and emulates giant robot combat quite well, I would wait just a bit. Neither of those features is impressive enough to make up for Archangel VR’s boring gunfights and somewhat tedious characters.

Ripe for narrative potential, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a brilliant concept overwrought with unnecessarily padded questing, turning a winning linear FPS formula into an ARPG grind fest.

The Walking Dead A New Frontier has a story worth telling at the heart of it, and Telltale eventually gets there, but the narrative stumbles at almost every turn. Repetitive gameplay, technical glitches, and the constant overshadowing of one character by another significantly blunt the set-up of the season’s cutting finale. The journey must continue in the inevitable fourth season, but I hope Telltale devises a better game plan for when that time comes.

A middling exploration game with subpar fighting mechanics, it’ll be harder to enjoy Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles if you’re not already a fan.

Wonky controls, strange visual choices, and a lack of any connection to the character or the world made this entire experience one that feels like this game may be for someone, but definitely not me.

With so much potential under their belt after their last successful release, Supermassive dropped the ball with The Devil in Me, leaving players with crappy graphics, crappier mechanics and the crappiest of characters.

The retro vibe and attempt at nostalgia can’t save The Rumble Fish 2 from itself. Poor design, hit boxes, input delay and lack of direction see it suffer a K.O. by its own hand.

Amazing graphics and talented voice acting isn’t enough to save The Callisto Protocol from the beast that is bad game mechanics. The game is its own worst enemy.

Unfortunately, the tediousness of the game’s mechanics erases some of the magic of seeing your dinosaur park come to life.

Knack 2’s fun combat sparkles in its precision and the simple satisfaction of watching and hearing enemies (and yourself) crumble to pieces, though it falters somewhat if you don’t bring a friend along. Its story is beyond laughably bad. If you and a pal go make yourself a snack every time two characters open your mouths, you’ll adore Knack 2 and find it a refreshing improvement on its predecessor.

Much like No Man’s Sky, Sea of Thieves has the foundation for a game that could be incredible. Unfortunately, it’s current state is more akin to something that should be a $20 Early Access title. The game is also most optimally played with friends, as randoms are typically hit or miss. Solo players probably shouldn’t even bother.

Though it touches on some interesting ideas, Hey! Pikmin never ventures outside of the comfort and safety of a standard Nintendo handheld platformer. Still, its relaxing, low-stakes gameplay may prove enjoyable for many, particularly those looking for a respite in an otherwise fast-paced genre.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 can be a lot of fun— if you have people to play it with. Most of the events are simple to jump into. Party games with motion controls make local play all the more fun. The inability to play certain games with more than two people and the omission of certain characters from all events can take away from the variety, but it’s a solid game at its core.

State of Decay 2‘s survival mechanics and combat are enjoyable at first, but quickly grow stale after repeating the same actions over and over. It has a few shining moments, but its execution is ultimately rather lackluster and shallow. The only true horror in this zombie survival game is its numerous technical issues.

I’ve played many difficult platformers in my time but this isn’t the way to go about. Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection does everything you’d expect out of a game from this famous franchise but painful controls and lifeless graphics make me question why something as advanced as the RE2 Engine needed to be busted out when this game looks like it was done completely in Flash.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season episode 2 does well enough outside of its circumstance, but without the certainty of obtaining proper closure I cannot, in good consciousness, recommend supporting this episode as Clementine’s final chapter.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red/Blue Rescue Team was an amazing game, stuffed full of content to keep the player going for hundreds of hours that kept many kids entertained for many a car trip. With Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, Nintendo throws a fresh coat of paint on it and streamlines some of the menu searching. Nintendo was able to put a great title on the Nintendo Switch and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX helps bring longtime fans, who had felt isolated and betrayed by previous Pokemon titles to hit the Switch thus far, back to the console. Hopefully the Pokemon Company can keep moving in this right direction.

Lost Sphear tries so hard to be like RPGs of the past that it forgets to build on those or establish its own identity.

NBA 2K21 remains a top-tier basketball simulation game, although one that has seemingly maxed out its potential on current-gen systems. Things like the shooting difficulty can and will be adjusted with patches over time. If you put in the time and work, you’ll probably learn to love the new skill gap it provides, but it’s definitely not for everyone. And that’s where NBA 2K21 misses its mark; it feels geared more towards the hardcore competitive community, leaving casual players and fans feeling lost and overwhelmed.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed had the potential to be a rockin’ asymmetrical game with references to the movies we love. However, redundancy, cross-play issues and lack of content make it a mediocre installment.

Unlimited World Red shines when it puts forth an effort such as in the combat or original characters. Unfortunately, those bits are found too sporadically to make up for the game’s glaring flaws.

The environments are gorgeous and the game runs smoothly across all platforms, but uninspiring gameplay and a lackluster story leave much to be desired in this entirely mediocre action-adventure platformer.

A graphic adventure title cannot coast on its cast; the story must remain a gripping journey through its narrative design and storytelling. Guardians of the Galaxy episode 5 fails to deliver on both accounts, presenting a mishmash of conflicting ideals and tension-killing slowdown right on the verge of the story’s climax.

Frantics is a novelty by virtue of Sony’s continued exploration of how phones can be used as controllers on a console, and I was impressed with how well that tech worked, but that’s mostly where my interest ended. Frustrating tutorials and a lack of options made a small set of already middling minigames a chore to get through, even with friends involved.

Misplaced hype? Nostalgia done poorly? A shinier clone of Banjo-Kazooie? Yooka-Laylee is a prime example of all of these things, serving up fifteen passable hours of entertainment yet not managing to surprise at any point along the way. But while those looking to revisit their youth will likely find the game enjoyable enough, Yooka-Laylee is also a testament to why the book should stay closed on the lessons gaming has already learned.

The Company Man is a serviceable platformer that shows a lot of promise with innovative ideas and clever premises. But it fails to live up to expectations and feels like a missed opportunity to be something more. If you’re looking for a Mega Man clone with some solid workplace puns then this has you covered for about three hours.

Rocket Arena is a fun game that offers a lot of features that players ask for all of the time in other games. You’ll have to ask yourself if you like this style of gameplay and the art style, but the game is well designed and a blast to play. If it goes free to play eventually, I think it can have sustained success.

Genital Jousting is fun for a time–good for some laughs, good for a silly time with friends, and good for a long, hard think about how we represent masculinity and male genitalia. Its deserted online play and short story aren’t markers of something with long-lasting appeal.

Just Cause 4 has more of the same destruction and mayhem the series is known for, but the game has a litany of technical issues and empty mechanics that make it impossible to recommend.

I laughed along with Human: Fall Flat much more than I’ve done so with a game for a very long time. By putting a little more finesse and care into building the parameters of its goofy concept, it’s far more enjoyable than your average “Gabe Newell Physician Simulator 5000” found on the daily sales page of Steam, making this purchase well worth its slightly steeper asking price.

Wonder Boy returns except it’s actually Monster World and you’re a girl. This is the least confusing part of this mess of a remake featuring Dreamcast era graphics, poor translations, and lazy settings and textures that create a situation that is less of a history lesson on Wonder Boy and more an essay on why some things should just be left to history.

Destroy All Humans 2: Reprobed is even more fun than the first remake with improved and colorful visuals, smooth gameplay and the same amazing sounds that we know and love. Some games don’t need to be improved but we sure are glad this one was.

MediEvil is a colorful trip down memory lane filled with gorgeous, updated graphics, the same amazing OST and improved (yet still retro) gameplay mechanics. This will make you feel like a kid again.

Despite some fun new weapons, a new playable character, and some challenging post-game content, Pulse of the Ancients, the first DLC offering for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity’s Expansion Pass doesn’t add much in terms of new stages, storylines, or campaigns. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity – Pulse of the Ancients likely won’t entice back players who have already completed the main campaign with its lack of strong post-game content, but for players looking to get a few more hours of gameplay, it will more than provide an adequate experience.

While I didn’t go into this game with high hopes my expectations were shattered as it turned out to be a creative and fun take on the type of game I spent the last several decades somehow never getting bored of. From a return to unlockable characters without microtransactions to a really clever, almost rouge-like stage set up, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragon is a must have for fans of beat ’em ups.

The Longest Five Minutes embraces bits of the best and worst of old-school RPG nostalgia at times, then kicks them all to the curb with its own twist. RPG fans will find it worth playing for the superb music, adorable sprites, and the enjoyably unusual structure of the tale as a whole.

What started out as a promising, unnerving recreation of a tabletop RPG became a rushed, unfocused mess racing to the finish line that leaves players’ input almost meaningless. Call of Cthulhu is a dressed-up horror walking simulator that pitched itself on misleading terms, bungling its story while being light on gameplay or its RPG roots.

For 35 years, Aliens fans have experienced letdown after letdown with video game adaptations. Aliens: Fireteam Elite finally delivers an authentic experience true to the films that accurately captures that ultimate bada** feeling of suiting up as a Colonial Marine and mowing down swarms of Xenomorph.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes has some fun references for longtime Suda 51 fans but ultimately is a merely okay top-down action game dripping with missed potential promised by its premise.

Despite its nostalgic appeal, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT still has a long way to go before it can stand with other recently-released fighting titles. With a little love, a little bit of fixing and something to compensate for the game’s lag issues, Dissidia Final Fantasy NT has the potential to be a great experience.

Despite the enormous potential of the ideas behind its job and relationship systems, Miitopia falls short in almost every department except quirkiness. At least the screenshots will be a good laugh.

Kirby’s Dream Buffet is cute and is undeniably Kirby, but so is a still picture of Kirby. A stunning lack of variety mixed with surprising lag issues for a game with so few players equates to a massive swing-and-a-miss that is likely to kill people’s interest long before Nintendo ever gets around to fixing its network issues.

WWE 2K18 sees the series spinning wheels in nearly every aspect. Sure, the game looks great and the Creation Suite is just as good as ever, but with every other mode and even gameplay lacking improvement in some ways, it feels more like a jobber and less like John Cena.

Roguebok is a card-based roguelike that takes many elements from successful games like it but fails in its execution with them. Muddled sound, blurry graphics, stuttering animation, illegible text, no accessibility options and an overly boring story makes this a game I’d probably just avoid completely.

At the end of the day, I have to wonder who Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers is really for. If you just want a competitive multiplayer game on the Nintendo Switch, there are better options.

Technical hurdles can be frustrating to overcome, and there’s very little replay value with the same group of people, but if you regularly host friends and family, even those who don’t play games much, Hidden Agenda makes for a surprising and enjoyable evening.

Super Meat Boy Forever would be a great iOS or mobile game; but, unfortunately, that is not what Team Meat delivered. It feels cheap in its gameplay and bits of its presentation. Although, it was nice to see Edmund McMillen have fun with his animations.

Detective Pikachu 2 makes a lot of fun choices to make sure gamers know the story will differ from the movie. But different doesn’t equal interesting. While there are many interesting plot points, they are separated by miles of incredibly simple and boring game play that challenges players at the same level most children’s programming does, by waving the answer directly in your face. Younger gamers will get a kick out of this low stakes detective story but older gamers are in for an absolute slog.

An interesting concept that falls apart in its execution, Truberbrook is an amalgamation of disappointments.

Great ideas, good connections, some decent customization, and large battles only get you so far. Every place Chivalry 2 seems to succeed, you quickly find a shortcoming. While not terrible, it’s a tough game to recommend to just any player.

Although I, personally, found the content unsetting, from a gameplay standpoint, Gal*Gun: Double Peace delivers on what it says it does. It’s a pervy take on the classic rail shooter that can be beaten in about two hours. Multiple endings and unlockables increase replay value. Enemies engage in repetitious actions and their variety lacks, but the boss fights are enjoyable. It’s the stuff leading up to them that is just bizarre though.

A return to classic linear FPS gameplay is lost beneath a pile of broken mechanics, terrible dialogue, repetitive villain design, and some of the most boring environments I’ve ever seen. Serious Sam 4 is a remarkably dated game that should be reserved for the most “serious” of Serious Sam fans.

If you’re looking for a solid point-and-click title, you need to look no further than TOHU. While the story can get a little vague, discovering this beautiful world is an absolute delight. The puzzles are difficult but fair, the art is stunning, and the music is stellar. A system without TOHU is incomplete.