If you love puzzles, and are looking for a visually-stunning indie game (or you just love corn), take a bite out of Maize. Just be prepared to have the initial zany fun wane when the novelty wears off.

The addition of the seamless mobile scanning app, shooting feedback system, Pro-Am modes, new animations and new gameplay mechanics all lends itself to about the best NBA Live experience we have seen in years.

Some people will be bored to tears by SeaBed, and I wouldn’t exactly blame them. It’s a hefty story that can often feel like it’s trying to say a bit more than it really needs to; a complex, tri-perspective lesbian love story is more than enough without adding in frequently pretentious philosophical musings. However, while its intentions aren’t immediately obvious and its focus on fine details may leave some feeling stranded, those willing to dive deep into SeaBed’s world and characters will find a wonderfully bittersweet narrative.

All in all, Ys X: Nordics is a fun action-RPG romp with vikings, frantic combat, and a truly entertaining silent protagonist. If you can figure out the parry system, it might even be a good game. I’m still docking it points for making me swear at my Switch so loud I scared my cat.

Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria doesn’t take any huge chances with the survival crafting genre. Still, the Lord of the Rings overlay and familiar character cameos help make its familiar loops seem fresh enough. In the mixed-bag pantheon of Lord of the Rings-inspired games, Return to Moria acquits itself quite well.

Windbound is a beautiful, relaxing experience that uses its survival mechanics not to force tension, but encourage you to keep moving forward. Its art style is absolutely stunning and the soundtrack – while occasionally sparse with periods of silence – is moving and invigorating. Despite its minor bugs, Windbound is like a great, narrative-driven introduction to the world of survival mechanics and something that is infinitely replayable.

At the end of the day, Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is a fantastic game trapped inside an archaic one.

Even without casual matchmaking, Team Ninja delivered an incredibly entertaining tournament until the weight of progression started to sink in. I clocked in close to 15 hours and only unlocked 3 outfits. I got one that I might have wanted, but I really wish I had a choice. And, I only unlocked those few skins because I slogged through the one, hyper-linear mode that gives decent rewards. Everything else awards pennies by comparison. All but the most hardcore players are liable to burn out before the first DLC drops. In the end, Dead or Alive 6 ran a marathon and put a grind wall (some might call it a paywall) before the finish line.

Windjammers has an undeniable charm with its retro aesthetics, simple gameplay, bright colors, and smart design. It’s lack of content, however, means it will only get attention from players who want to compete against their friends after completing the incredibly short single-player content. A lack of characters, stages, or much else to do is a big setback given the demand of games today, however being a port of the original game from ‘94 awards it a little more leeway in our expectations. Here’s hoping the sequel due out next year will give us the modern Windjammers title we need.

The narrative, atmosphere, and graphics have proven to be particularly superb; however, the poor voice acting and lack of significant interactive content root this game firmly as a walking-sim above a full horror experience. Serving the niche of Lovecraft fans, this is a marvelous game to play, but as a horror video game it will easily lose those not already interested in this style of macabre.

Lack of a concrete story and various unpolished dimensions of the game lend poorly to its overall conception, however underneath its faults and beyond the connection and host issues, Payday 2: Crimewave Edition is a solid experience with tons of hours to invest in the progression system.

Payback is a stark improvement over 2015’s entry in the series, adding likable characters, an enjoyable if not formulaic story, user-friendly tuning, and the best bits and pieces from the previous games rolled into one. Where Payback falters, however, is its misuse of compelling characters, lack of police force, and an open world which – while beautiful – only has about 1/8th of it in the city, leaving most of your driving to be an extended scenic route.

The truth of the matter is if you enjoy the base Card Hunter game then Card Hunter: Expedition to the Sky Citadel will be a welcome addition.

I think Tinytopia is a great game for younger audiences, especially ones interested in dipping their toes into citybuilder games. Fun, creative, and full of destruction! However, for veteran players looking for a new, complex system to dive into, I’d definitely look elsewhere.

I can’t really know what the AAA version of No Place Like Home even looks like. I think I wish the controls felt a little tighter, and that it looked a little bit nicer. It’s great to get all the garbage off the grass, but I wish the grass was a bit more textured. Maybe it would have been nice to see it shine in the sunlight. But that’s not where No Place Like Home places its focus. The developers clearly put time into balance and rhythm. If you are a gamer who peacefully likes carving out a digital home for yourself, there is a peace to be found in No Place Like Home.

AereA is a family-friendly adventure that bursts with colorful characters and exuberant music.

Overall, Hextech Mayhem is a good step for Riot to continue letting other developers experiment with their IP. The difficulty can spike unfairly at times and the rarer items require a bit too much trial and error to get behind, but it’s a solid diversion at its price point. I just wish Choice Provisions had taken a bigger (or riskier) swing for their auto-runner to give genre fans something to really dig into.

All in all, D1AL-ogue is a short, free puzzle game that’s more than worth spending a few hours on.

Though a bit bare-boned, Battlewake will satisfy those looking for a solid VR seafaring adventure. It has a reasonably lengthy single-player campaign and enough multiplayer modes to tide you over – provided you can find other players. It’s just a shame that there isn’t more to the gameplay to keep repetition from setting in because, at the end of the day, blasting holes into enemy ships is glee-inducing fun. Battlewake is simply missing that extra – but very necessary – oomph to elevate it into a must-play.

In short, The Inner Friend is enjoyable, if not much too short title that is open to interpretation in its story. This game is worth a play if you can scrounge up the cash. The experience alone is worth picking it up. And yet, PLAYMIND could have explored so much with this idea. Once again the game is much too short, leaving that potential untapped. Adding some more clues to the protagonist’s real identity and what they did prior would help a lot when players start to examine the game. Regardless, pick it up if you feel like spending a little bit of cash on a nice, spooky, surreal game. Your inner friend will thank you.

I can’t help but wonder what King’s Bounty II could have been had it stayed isometric and relied more on written words over spoken dialog. Maybe it could have offered something wholly unique. But this is the choice the developers made and for some of you, if you’re able to get past the jank, you’ll find a pretty okay turn-based combat game in King’s Bounty II. For others who are also looking to get lost in a deep world along with the combat, you’ll be better served elsewhere. ‎

Creature in the Well dances between minimalistic style and narrative juxtaposed against challenging puzzles and a creative new way to play. It’s an indie game that was lovingly crafted to put emphasis in all the right places and to give the player a new experience without bogging down in a heavy story. Instead, it leaves bread crumbs that players can choose to pick up or simply enjoy ricocheting orbs at high speed. The game is just as addictive as playing a real pinball machine, and the stages last just long enough to comfortably play in short bursts, but the challenge of “just one more run” is ever-present as you repair the giant construct to save the village and simply must know what happens next.

Having that single player path dangled in front of me, only for it to be an awful slog, is terribly disappointing.

Move or Die will demand every one of your senses to keep up as you bash, slash, and crash into your fellow players in some seriously fun chaotic mayhem. The fast pace is refreshing and soon becomes second nature as you focus on each mini-games unique objectives and try to destroy your opponents in twenty second intervals.

West of Dead offers a satisfying blend of tactics and rogue-like gameplay that I didn’t expect. Levels offer plenty of options for how you want to approach a situation, the gunplay is fast and precise, and the execution of creating a wild west style shoot out is perfect. The game is dripping with personality and Ron Perlman delivers each word with purpose and meaning. Every aspect of gameplay and aesthetic is tailored to telling the story of Mason in a way that feels natural and unique. It’s a blast to play over and over again despite issues with the geometry interfering with aiming and dodging not quite feeling as useful as it ought to.

Another gripe I have with the game is that there are no checkpoints. If you fail, you have to start from Wave 1. While getting through each wave doesn’t take an extraordinary amount of time, your arms do start to hurt after shooting a lot of arrows. It would have been nice if the game implemented some sort of checkpoint system as I frequently found myself dying during the boss battles.

If games like The Forest were up your alley, I do recommend giving Green Hell a shot. However, if you’re easily frustrated by obscure deaths vs trial and error, I’d recommend starting out at the easier difficulty so you can enjoy what it has to offer without needing to wrestle in frustration.

If you’re looking for something new to play and are a fan of roguelike card games, then you’ll probably have a good time with Roguebook. It’s a fun game and does a solid job of being what it is – when it works that is. However, if you’re looking for the next big genre-defying roguelike then you might be a bit disappointed as Roguebook isn’t really that. It is a good game, just not an incredible one and maybe that’s enough.