Gears 4, more than the other Xbox Play Anywhere games that have launched thus far, seems poised to scale across various Windows 10 rigs. This gives players real choice between higher frame rates and higher visual settings. A smooth 60fps refresh at Xbox One quality levels (or better) can easily be achieved with the right toggles on our test rigs. That may not prove out over every processor+GPU+RAM+HD combination in the wild, but so far, the game appears to be both highly optimized and infinitely customizable.

Those nitpicks aside, Free Roam mode is what I'd consider the best realization of Mario Kart World's open-world ambitions. The more traditional racing modes can be too frantic and time-sensitive to let you enjoy the obvious care and attention to detail that has gone into building out the world around Mario Kart's racing tracks. And while racing around those tracks feels as satisfying as ever, this time around, the game's structure tends to get in the way of that satisfying core experience.

Dishonored 2 is one of the smartest, most well-designed games released this year. If you fancy a challenge, this one is a no-brainer.

In all of the best possible ways, Bayonetta 3 is leaning into the parts of itself that are more earnest than ever—all while going harder than ever on doing whatever it takes to simply be cool as hell. If you're looking for a strong, coherent storyline, this was never the series for you. But if you are a fan of flashy spectacles, a varied and creative arsenal, and larger-than-life characters, Bayonetta 3 more than delivers.

FFXII: The Zodiac Age offers some fundamental changes to make a great game even better—even if it could have used one or two more minor improvements.

In great news, everything you do in the game looks tremendous thanks to MachineGames' use of the idTech6 engine, which is an upgrade from the last game's idTech5. I tested the entire game on a souped-up PC and had the game cranking at max settings in 4K with zero hitches in frame rate or responsiveness, and this was in spite of the game throwing up all matter of gorgeous particle, shadow, and lighting effects.

Sonic Mania comes packed with enough delicious, best-in-series goodness for any self-proclaimed Sonic fan to buy it immediately, with the caveat of a few bugs in the near term. Lesser series fans should tread carefully between those bugs and the pacing issues mentioned above.

This new game also shows up just as people start to ask, "how do we do horror in VR?" RE7 doesn't just answer that question. It slams its winning, bloody hand onto a table like a defiant poker champ. To be fair, the game still leaves some VR territory unexplored, particularly things like hand-tracked controllers and room-scale experiences, but its tasteful handling of comfort, presence, and jump-scare gimmicks has no peer. Flat-screen players will have plenty to enjoy as well, but strap into the VR mode if at all possible. Either way, Resident Evil is back.

At any rate, I'm hopeful that Final Fantasy's modding community can figure out how to inject some UE4-modifying code into this port before long. UE4 ships with so many easily customized variables, and as of this article's publication, Square Enix representatives have not answered my questions about why those options aren't available for FFVIIR's buyers.

The most “Nintendo” game from Nintendo in years.

Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't always feel like a modern, polished open-world game, but it has all the weight of one. If, like me, you're okay with some bugs, some goofs, and some randomly punishing difficulty in service of a big, impressive adventure, I think it's worth the pain. Destiny calls you toward the dragon, but the real victories are the goblins we toss along the way.

Probably the best Dragon Quest, but if innovation and surprise are what you want, you'll need to look somewhere else.

Perhaps it's surprising how much I ended up enjoying DiRT 4. After all, Forza Horizon 3 was the last "accessible" spin-off of a racing game I truly loved (Forza Motorsport 6), and I never gelled with that game at all. Perhaps I'm drawn to the closed—as opposed to open—world of this new game, or maybe I like "DiRT 4" because less of the hardcore sim got lost in translation. Either way, if you like your racing to be as sideways as possible, you'll want to try DiRT 4.

I really like Returnal, but if you check the Ars Slack logs, you'll find that I complained quite a bit along the way. I needed a full 10 hours for its combat and universe to click in a crucial, "I want to beat this game" way, and I'm still left wondering how many good ideas and systems were left out of this game just to get its sky-high aspirations out the door. Maybe some of my positive bias comes from dreams of a sequel, which might build upon Housemarque's first stab at the genre. But I won't blame anyone for having less patience with Returnal's uneven ambition (or its $70 price point, which, from what I've seen, does not favorably compare to last year's $60 Last of Us Part 2 or Ghost of Tsushima, also published by Sony). But this is the stuff that keeps Sony fanboys drooling: ambitious new IP that succeeds more than it fails while turning the familiar into something fresh. Returnal clearly heralds a new era for Housemarque, in terms of turning the focused arcade-blasting likes of Super Stardust HD into quest-worthy 3D action. Keep it coming, Sony and Housemarque. [Ars Technica Approved]

It's not perfect, and, on top of the problems we have with the reward structure, the perverse incentives against clean driving, and the prize crates, the load times can be lengthy. (It's also massive, clocking in at 67GB on the Xbox One.) And yes, Forza might be a little artificial at times—some bleed in from the Horizon games perhaps—and its engine might be biased toward flair and fun. But games are meant to be enjoyed, and this one is most certainly enjoyable.

Until Tekken, Street Fighter, and the rest of the fighting-game crowd makes a current-gen splash, fighting freaks should waste no time buying this.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey offers a lot to do but very little to say. That’s a shame, since many of history’s greatest tales have leveraged an immense scale to weave equally impactful tales. That’s not quite the case here.

After 20 hours or so, I'm excited to continue inhabiting the fascinating world of Night City and to discover more of its secrets as I meet its fascinating characters. But I'll be moving on prepared to turn a blind eye to some pretty big holes in that facade. [20 Hour Impressions]

It crushes the car-action competition. Rocket League draws inspiration from over a decade of games like Twisted Metal, Vigilante 8, and Mario Kart's battle modes, and it spit-shines the pure driving and maneuvering parts to make its core gameplay loop feel like no driving game ever made before it.

Generations is a last, wonderful gasp of life for this aging Monster Hunter engine. If you’ve been on the fence, now is the perfect time to hop aboard.

Not a perfect JRPG, but a really good introduction to Dragon Quest.

When inXile describes Wasteland 3 as a deep game with "80 to 100 hours" of gameplay before completion, they're not kidding. Although we fall on the "play through slowly and experience everything" side of RPG gaming, we'd guess we were no more than 25 percent through the game at 40+ hours in. Despite some faults, the strength of the tactical combat kept us engaged and interested, and the tough ethical choices along the way kept us guessing and motivated. The scenery is compelling, the soundscape and voice acting are incredibly lush, and the humorous touches scattered throughout landed more often than not. We think tactical RPG fans will be very pleased with Wasteland 3, warts and all—and if you're not a tactical RPG fan yet, this just might be the game that converts you.

The sheer scope and content in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor make it easily one of the biggest Star Wars games ever. This sequel largely uses the increased scale and depth to enhance its dramatic storyline and the core gameplay for Cal's adventures. Although this sequel's ambition shows some signs of buckling under its weight, it still manages to strike at the core of why a Star Wars adventure can be so satisfying and fun to immerse yourself in.

Despite the gripes I’ve mentioned above, I’ve still found it startlingly easy to fall deep into Starfield’s (just-short-of-literal) galaxy of pure content. That fractal quest design pattern makes it very compelling to stretch out a play session for “just one more jump” until you look up and suddenly it’s three hours past when you planned to sleep...I’m not sure if that loop will be strong enough to push me up to and past the 150-hour mark. One thing is clear, though; if we have to wait another eight years for a Fallout 4-scale single-player adventure from Bethesda Game Studios, Starfield has enough raw content to keep a certain type of space-fiction-obsessed player plugging away for a good chunk of that wait.: ["a few dozen hours" impressions]

Rocksteady's previous Arkham games found a solid balance of established and original tales that made you feel the Batman fantasy while still being fun to play. With so much focus shifted to new characters and the Batmobile in the twilight of Rocksteady's run on the franchise, it feels like the developer didn't have enough time to mix them all together quite as thoroughly.

Miles Morales may not be exceptionally original, but it’s a well-told, exceedingly human superhero story built on a strong, proven foundation of open-world mechanics. What better way to show off a new console?

If you seek exhilarating third-person action, buy this before year's end. If you own a PC GPU that supports DirectX 12 ray tracing, buy this immediately. [Ars Technica Approved]

This surprisingly deep Zelda-like adventure is charming, evocative, fun, bursting with secrets, and comes complete with some of the best visuals and music of any "works-on-any-computer" adventure game over the past few years. [Ars Technica Approved]