APICO is a tightly constructed and well-presented simulator about a topic loads of people are curious about but few people dive into. It’s a good way to quietly spend some time thinking about the majesty of these little animals while having a complicated enough gameplay loop to keep you invested for hours upon hours.

Potion Permit is a hard game to pin down. It manages to give a refreshing take on the genre, but some of the mundane tasks often felt like bashing my head into a wall over and over again. Potion Permit feels like a nice cup of hot chocolate on an unseasonably warm day. Sure, it tastes good and the thought of it is great, but in practice maybe some things need improvement for it to truly be great.

Overall, Cities Skylines 2 is a worthy successor to the long-standing original city builder.

Children of Silentown sinks you into a world that is eerily beautiful. It holds you, not knowing what the night brings or what lurks in the forest – and that’s a good thing.

Creatures of Ava, even with lots of rough edges, deliver an impactful message. How can we help those who we don’t understand? If you’re looking for a game with a new take on the conservation topic, there is no better game to represent it than Creatures of Ava.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate may not be truly ultimate, but it’s a well worthwhile return to an oft-missed game.

The Stone of Madness delivers a puzzling experience that forces players to be creative and quick. Its gameplay elements largely succeed at providing a unique challenge, while its world and characters are easily forgotten.

One Piece Odyssey is the best video game story set in the One Piece universe to date. A delightful story and beautiful worlds more than make up for some more frustrating and outdated JRPG staples. Non-fans of the franchise might have a harder time getting into the already-established world, but it’s a hurdle that can absolutely be cleared. Whether players are newcomers or lifelong fans, One Piece Odyssey is a grand adventure absolutely worth going on.

Much of what is present in Changing Tides is plainly fantastic, but it is a shame that the game goes on for too long until it itself runs out of fuel and sputters across the finish line.

Wrath of the Druids is an excellent DLC. It does everything right in setting the new locale apart from its neighbor to the east while delivering a strong new plot and set of characters. Not every new mechanic feels fully realized, but for what they do offer, I enjoyed them and particularly enjoyed the way they played into the greater mythos and context of the game as a whole. If the remainder of Assassin’s Creed Valhall‘s major DLC—and future Assassin’s Creed stories, for that matter—follow suit, I’ll be very glad for it.

Call of Duty: Vanguard brings a surprisingly engaging campaign and some amazing graphics. While some character flashbacks are better than others, and the length is a bit disappointing, the campaign is nevertheless a fun jot through the theatres of WWII.

My biggest issue with the Crysis Remaster Trilogy is that it only feels halfway remastered. Nothing was updated to modern standards except for the visuals, and that is a huge problem. Remasters like the Spyro and Tony Hawk ones work so well because the gameplay is smoothed out and plays like a modern game. Unfortunately, that oversight (or failure, if they really did try to update it from the originals) makes it impossible to recommend the beautiful-looking collection to anyone other than hardcore fans of the original games. I really wanted to enjoy these games that were so positively talked about when I was younger, but sadly they didn’t come anywhere close to living up to the hype with this remaster attempt.

Stalker 2‘s bugs and issues are numerous and severe, but it stands as a testament to how great the game buried underneath them is that it still manages to shine.

No Longer Home is an authentic and often unsettling story about the process of moving out and moving on. Of course, every player will take something different away from their experience playing, but it is an experience that I highly recommend. With beautiful designs, excellent characters, and a great soundtrack, No Longer Home is well worth picking up.

Despot’s Game: Dystopian Army Builder is a very interesting blending of genres that helps bring something new to auto battler games. However, its mixing brings far less to the rogue-lite genre, so fans of titles like Hades or Cult of the Lamb will only want to pick it up if they are big fans of auto battlers.

Overall, the Resident Evil Village’s Winters Expansion comes with more than enough to make getting it worthwhile.

NHL 26 brings new gameplay changes that bring hockey to life in a way that is better than ever. There are still some things to be ironed out, a typical issue for yearly sports releases, but there is a lot of fun to be had for hockey fans everywhere.

Weird West is like a love-hate relationship. It can be extremely frustrating one minute, and you want nothing to do with it. Then, the next minute, you want nothing more than to keep playing…However, all of it comes together to create an impressive world that WolfEye Studio should be proud of.

To a T tries hard to be like a Saturday morning cartoon. Yet just like trying to recapture that same experience nowadays, it overall feels like it's missing something. Granted, this issue may mostly apply to older players. Maybe, the ones who will find the most fun are those who play this with young kids.

The puzzles are challenging but satisfying, the spooks are wonderful, and the story draws you in from the very start—Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel has all the right elements, just may need a couple of gameplay tweaks for the console. Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a horror game with all the puzzles you could ever need, look no further.

Disney Illusion Island is quite possibly one of the best Disney games about Mickey and Friends made to date. The world of Monoth is such a joy to explore and is made fantastically to feel like a modern Metroidvania platformer.

#BLUD is one that can’t be missed. For any cartoon fans, there’s so much to love here. The cutscenes, animations, and writing are pitch perfect and feel ripped straight from Cartoon Network. The combat is fun and constantly presents new challenges. It’s a love letter entirely devoted to the animated medium, from its design to its characters. Pair #BLUD with a Saturday morning, and you will not be disappointed.

Thrilling in all the right ways, The Lamplighters League is a love letter to the adventure genre in film. It’s a love letter to rogues and scoundrels that made those stories an essential part of our cultural history.

Directive 8020 is a love letter to the space horror that looks beyond just going bump in the night. The distrust sown across the small team, the dialogue choices, and the interactions all craft a game that feels like it belongs on the shelf alongside titles like Dead Space, Sunshine, Event Horizon, and even The Thing.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are incredibly faithful remakes of Diamond and Pearl, warts and all. There are some nice new additions that enhance the experience, and the visual style is unique and quite good-looking. It’s hard not to recommend these to any Pokémon fan or newcomer to the franchise. There might be a few negatives, but none of them take much away from the overall excellent experience.

MLB The Show 26 builds on a rock-solid foundation and improves across the board, even if there is still room for improvement.

With the environmental glitches, an odd narrative, and too much imitation of two iconic games, Atomic Heart lands in the middle for me. Not bad, not great, just fine.

Despite its issues, Freedom Wars Remastered is a bold and ambitious title that offers a compelling blend of action, strategy, and unique storytelling. Its interesting concept and intricate combat system set it apart from other games in the genre.