Call of the Sea is a visually beautiful story of a woman’s road to self-discovery and acceptance against a backdrop of Lovecraftian lore and storytelling. The great length and colorful graphics make for a medium-sized adventure, as long as you don’t rage quit from one of the puzzles.

It is rare when I find a game that tries to capture real people and nails it so well. Every aspect of Life is Strange: True Colors — from the dialogue to the characters to the paths they took — is real and vivid, and I fell in love with all of it almost immediately. If the ending doesn’t get people talking for the next several months, we’ve failed as a society because the entire final two chapters were impossible to look and walk away from. The game is an absolute gem and shouldn’t be overlooked.

TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge not only recreates the joy of encountering a Ninja Turtles classic arcade game from back in the day but perfectly mixes in modern-day conveniences like advanced combo controls, a multitude of moves, and characters that genuinely feel like they play differently for a more varied experience. Combined with all the deep cuts to the original 1987 cartoon and a powerful soundtrack featuring many songs from surprising sources, you have a powerful love letter to a long-running franchise you’ll want to return to again and again.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin takes the various things that made the first Monster Hunter Stories game such a fun ride and improves upon it by adding a bigger, more gorgeous world, new gameplay mechanics and an easier-to-access multiplayer. From exploring and finding new companion monsties to the engaging battle system, everything this game does is done remarkably well.

The fact alone that this game is capable of being played on the Nintendo Switch without it overheating into a miniature sun is, in itself, an achievement. But the complexity, freedom, and creativity that Tears of the Kingdom is chock full of makes this an absolute wonder. It has something for every body, whether it’s mystery, puzzle-solving, exploration, combat or story. It is all here in abundance.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a beautiful and eerie jaunt through the streets of Japan, coming face to face with lore and legend while fighting for your own quest and purpose. With seamless gameplay and fighting mechanics, 40 hours of exploration will seem like no time has gone by and it will leave you wanting more time running the glistening streets of Shibuya.

Metroid Prime was already a fantastic game in a fantastic series but the remaster is a complete labor of love. Cleaned up, detailed, and given a performance overhaul the game is one of those rare moments where a remaster doesn’t destroy the image of a game you have in your head via “nostalgia goggles.” It feels like a modern entry into the series that’s both welcoming for new and returning players alike.

One glitch aside, the Resident Evil 4 remake is a ten. It’s amazing and I wouldn’t change a thing. I’m not sure what’s better, Leon’s one liners or everything else about the game. It’s amazing, I will die on this hill and you need to play this.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II sets the bar for what a sequel should be. A truly immersive and powerful story experience equipped with graphical and audio prowess never before experienced in a game.

If you're craving a slice of digital zen and a dash of creative freedom, Spirit City: Lofi Sessions was made for you. Don’t walk; float to get this game - your soul will thank you for it.

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.

If you haven’t played God of War Ragnarok, what are you even doing with your life? Playing Gotham Knights? Get the hell outta here. Buy the game before it gets Game of the Year…AGAIN.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth rekindled my love for Final Fantasy with a refreshing twist in a classic story and additions to the gameplay experience.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is my game of the year. No other game quite felt as immersive, or told a story in such a captivating way. The cutscenes, the writing, the graphics, and the worldbuilding are all things executed properly on a level no other game has managed to achieve this year. It is a peak example of an open-world game that prioritizes quality over quantity. For me, KCD2 is up there with The Witcher III: Wildhunt.

It’s beautiful, emotional, full of surprises and nostalgia, and just flat-out enjoyable to play at every moment. While I have played open world titles before, Breath of the Wild gave me a new sense of control over how my adventure played out, offering me a steady flow of chosen objectives and paths to them without overwhelming me with unnecessary information or bogging me down in sidequests. Mechanically sound, aesthetically pleasing (often breathtaking), challenging but rewarding, Breath of the Wild is a joyous journey you won’t want to put down, just so you can see what’s on the other side of each new hill.

A fantastically gripping experience, Slay the Spire grabs you in with its ever-changing deck-building mechanics and presents you with a complex challenge to solve. Its core dynamic gameplay loop begs for experimentation and discovery, leading to thousands of possibilities to achieve victory and promising hundreds of hours of awesome, thrilling gameplay.

Despite a brand new world and switching from 2D to 3D, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is the traditional Kirby experience you know and love. This is a by-the-books Kirby game in an exciting new world, and it’s an experience you can share with your family — especially with how well the co-op mode is implemented.

Shadow of Tomb Raider tells an outstanding coming of age story Lara Croft has so desperately needed to propel her into the next chapter.

Hitman 3 hits the mark, plain and simple. Not only is it the best stealth/assassin sandbox gameplay of the franchise, but it stands among the best of the genre. It’s everything you love and want from a Hitman game with extreme polish, intriguing levels and tons of replay value.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World: The Game is amongst the best that the beat em’ up genre has to offer. The game feels like one of the few purely-good entertainment that this volcanic eruption of a planet we reside on has to offer.

Beautiful art design, wonderfully remastered songs, and over 300+ timeless gems from the Final Fantasy universe, with DLC promising even more from other games like Chrono Trigger, give Square fans more than enough to love here. Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line promised a celebration of its huge library of games and 100% delivered. With new gameplay mechanics, even those who have played the previous games can find something new to enjoy.

With the exception of some very occasional control frustrations, Super Mario Odyssey is a visual, auditory, and structural treat to play from start to finish for anyone at any skill level, and seems to delight in the player’s enjoyment. You will be hard-pressed to stop yourself from visiting the Odyssey over and over again.

If you have never played Stanley Parable, you’re in for an excellent ride. Even if you have played it previously, you’re going to find a wealth of new content that has masterfully snuck itself in after several playthroughs, waiting to strike when you’ve all but fallen into your regular routine. Stanley Parable is still a masterclass in narrative storytelling and is absolutely worth revisiting (or visiting for the first time).

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.

With the exception of the forced “Dandori Battles,” the game is an absolute joy to play filled with fun story twists, silly characters, and a fantastic art design. Pikmin 4 has taken everything good from the first three games, removed everything that doesn’t work, and somehow adds new things that make the over all experience something beyond what I could have expected from a Pikmin game.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition is a very touching game. It pulls at your heartstrings with its charm and pushes you headfirst into its world, slowly drawing you into its core. The extra polishing on display helps a shining star burn even brighter, as this game will offer players one of the greatest RPG experiences of all time the way it was meant to be played.

Mario Party Superstars completely rebuilds some of the Nintendo 64 era’s best Mario Party boards of varying difficulty and gives them a gorgeous modern veneer. The game plays exactly as you’d expect from a Mario Party with smooth yet simple controls. The frustrations stem. from the fact that your opponents can benefit from the same perks that just helped you take a lead, equating to more first-to-last-place moments than Mario Kart itself. A lot of the older mini-games can end in a matter of seconds so if you’re playing it mostly for the mini-games, it can be a bit of a letdown when a game ends in under five seconds.

There are very few times that a trailer for a game with a high-level concept lives up to its promises and Lost Words absolutely nailed exactly what I hoped it would be. The game puts you into the heart and soul of a writer struggling to flesh out their own story while also struggling to cope with their own hardships. While the gameplay itself can sometimes be slow and the game has a few minor bugs, none of this takes away from the fact that this is one of the best narrative journeys I’ve encountered in years.