When Ninja Gaiden 4 is at its best, the graphics paint a vivid portait of a bloodsoaked ninja moving through enemies like a ghost while cutting them to pieces with brutal efficiency. In these moments, everything falls away and players are left with a rich experience of unstoppable power. More often than not, however, players may be more frustrated by needing to cut down the same looking soldier for the 50th time in a level just so they can turn in a side-mission to unlock another air combo. A solid entry point for the series and an enjoyable enough experience for gamers who love a good action title, long-time fans might find themselves disappointed in the lack of variety in Ninja Gaiden 4 — but if you’re looking for an excuse to cut up ninjas in gruesome high-definition video, this is the game for you.

Even though I had a couple of issues with Live A Live, I largely have to say that I really enjoyed my time with the game. Despite being so old, this is one of the more inventive and creative RPGs that I have ever played, and it really shows where some of Square's ideas for later projects came from. Those who have been waiting patiently for decades to experience Live A Live will no doubt be happy with this remake, and anyone else who is merely looking to scratch their itch for a new RPG to play should find a lot to like here, too.

Jurassic World: Evolution 2 makes enough changes to the gameplay of its predecessor that it eclipses wholly feeling like just an expansion pack, but with the cosmetic additions, new locations, and customization options for buildings making up the bulk of visible changes it can seem like that's what developer Frontier was after. Though the game has frustrating moments, it's inherently captivating from the start. Those eager to jump back into the world of the franchise with a game that offers more than the original will have fun with its new additions, but the oft-laborious tasks that come with actually running a dinosaur park and managing a team might make this feel less like a game and more like a second job to others. Considering the larger subtext of the book and film that spawned this entire thing though, can we really be mad when the game punishes us for attempting to squeeze wealth out of nature?

Borderlands 4 earns a high rating because its innovations and polished gameplay deliver a return to form that the series desperately needed. While not every player will have a smooth experience, those who can navigate or tolerate its technical issues will find a game that rewards you for playing it exactly like you want to. It is a bold and energetic entry that revitalizes the series, and for me, a jaded veteran, the combination of core improvements and inventive design is enough to justify its final rating.

Persona 3 is the game that made Persona the marquee series it is today, growing into a standalone series outside of the Shin Megami Tensei series that birthed it. Persona 3 Portable is a more awkward fit for modern hardware than Persona 4 Golden due to its initial release on an older handheld console. As the first in this new breed of Persona game, it also, in some way, feels like a proof of concept for an idea of what Persona could become, which would be more fully realized by its sequels. But as long as players can deal with a few gameplay quirks -- some kinks not yet ironed out, some systems not fully developed -- they'll find Persona 3 Portable has the series' signature aesthetic excellence -- including Meguro's killer soundtrack, blending rock, pop, and hip-hop influences -- an enthralling story, and that familiar Persona gameplay rhythm that makes it hard to put down.

Despite a few little snags with the UI and load times, however, Two Point Museum feels utterly at home on the Switch 2. It’s the kind of game you just want to play for hours on end, and it certainly delivers enough content to ensure you can do so. If you like a management sim and own a Switch 2, this is definitely a game you’ll want to add to your library.

Dredge is a fun indie game that explores the cosmic horror genre in a unique fashion by embracing one of the recurring motifs found in Lovecraft's works – the ocean. Although the game is perhaps too safe in how it confronts players with the strange and unknown, the fishing sim/exploration aspects are clever in how it subverts the creation of a familiar loop with strange monsters and teases of dark mysteries just out of reach. If you enjoy cosmic horror and are looking for a low-risk game that can be explored at your leisure, Dredge is definitely the game for you.

Short and sweet, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is about as good as beat ’em up games get, and works best as a retro throwback and a modern inheritor to the genre. If you’re a Marvel fan, a gamer with an appreciation for retro approaches, or just someone who enjoys action games, then Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a must-play.

Life is Strange: True Colors grapples with some heavy emotions -- literally and figuratively -- and manages to stick the landing more often than not. The various chapters range from fine to great, with more being somewhere just above good than not. Its choices felt meaningful, its dialogue largely heartfelt, and I’m still thinking about the ending days later. It’d be easy to boil the game down to being a glorified empathy simulator, but the reality is that Life is Strange: True Colors is more complicated, more beautifully complex than that. And for a game in part about the manifestation of emotional resonance, it does end up being emotionally resonant. It’s hard to ask for more than the delivery on that promise.

It is entirely feasible to think you could craft a convincing set with this set of tools, and that’s the highest praise I can muster. There’s never been a better video game to move a crowd than Fuser.

Convergence likely isn't an experience that will stick out in my mind for the long haul, but I have very little to say about it that would be considered negative. From start to finish, Convergence makes for an enjoyable action-platformer that doesn't look to overstay its welcome. Perhaps more than anything, the game once again proves that Riot has been wise to continue expanding League of Legends as titles like this help add more character and depth to the franchise's world. If you're looking for something new to play that deviates from the endless grind of solo queue, Convergence is very much worth checking out.

Death Howl comes from small indie developer The Outer Zone and publisher 11-bit studios. It uses a unique color palette to bring its dark spirit world to life in stunning pixel art form. With a combination of deck-building and tactical grid-based combat, Death Howl will challenge your strategic skills as you explore 4 different realms of the spirit world on Ro’s quest to save her son. Though the grind can admittedly get a bit frustrating, Death Howl is an engaging blend of strategic gameplay and emotional storytelling. It feels right at home on Nintendo Switch.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is the Budokai Tenkaichi 4 fans have been waiting to get for a long, long time, but it's also the perfect first entry to jump into if you've never played a game in this series. It's a great first impression, and even better reunion. You've been waiting for a Dragon Ball game like this.

While the story itself will never be enough to compel you forward, there is a sense of connection in watching your character get older while figuring out the intricacies of how Sifu plays. That's ultimately what makes its punchy and punishing gameplay all the more satisfying.

Citizen Sleeper has captured my imagination in a way that few video games do. Thoughts of characters met and what could have been have percolated through my mind since finishing a playthrough after roughly five hours, which I did with an urgency not typical of me. If you're looking for something different, something that feels both fresh and timely and often beautiful and sometimes horrifying with its implications, Citizen Sleeper is all of those things and more. Even now, I hope I made the right decisions even with the full understanding that the game itself regularly insists that such a thing might not even exist.

The new control system makes Skyward Sword infinitely more accessible to gamers, and it will appease fans of the franchise who love The Legend of Zelda lore. Its colorful story strays far from the dark world of Twilight Princess, and its crafting mechanics will feel familiar to those who've only tested out Breath of the Wild. And as Nintendo prepares a sequel to Breath of the Wild behind-the-scenes, this HD remaster is filled with tales fans are certain will show up in the next Legend of Zelda game.

If you’re a PS5 gamer like I am, you might be wondering whether Avowed is worth grabbing now that it’s finally an option. At $50 on PS5, it’s relatively affordable compared to many bigger games coming out today. And Avowed does offer a pretty decent RPG experience overall, with a hefty amount of playtime. Between side quests, bounties, and a relatively robust main story, Avowed will give you plenty to do. But despite ticking all of the boxes in theory, there’s still something about Avowed that doesn’t quite hit the spot like I wanted.

For fans of the RPG genre, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is a mostly enjoyable experience. Sometimes the mission structure can drag, and some players are bound to find Navirou a bit irritating. However, the game's highlights definitely make up for the slower moments. This is a really solid RPG that gives the player freedom to go at their own pace. It also has a fun combat system, and charming story moments. For those that can look past its slight stumbles, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin should hold a lot of appeal, regardless of the player's familiarity with the franchise.

While the real-time strategy aspects of the city-building gameplay run into natural difficulties in the transition from mouse-and-keyboard to a controller, the execution of Frostpunk 2‘s story is enough to lure players back time and time again. The depth of the worldbuilding ensures the campaign can play out in several different ways, all dependent on the player’s choices amid tough situations. The result is an engrossing strategy game that’s hard to put down, even when the controls become frustrating.

If you somehow haven't played any Like a Dragon games in the past, Ishin is an excellent starting point. Although it doesn't tie in with the core series in a major way, Ishin hits all of the broad beats of the Like a Dragon formula to great effect. The result is a remake that doesn't feel all that dated whatsoever and proves that Sega and RGG Studio made a fantastic decision to finally bring this title to a much wider audience.

Takes what's good about the first game and improves upon it. It's set apart from other games in its genre through its charmingly wholesome tone and low-stakes narrative that allow its characters and their relationships to shine while conveying relatably human themes filtered through an optimistic, sometimes-wistful lens. The game's systems are sometimes at odds but are each entertaining, and exploring ancient ruins with Ryza and her friends on a quest for knowledge regularly instills a hopeful sense of adventure. Atelier Ryza 2 will well-suit anyone looking for a leisurely, character-centric, self-paced, and intimate JRPG journey.

Beneath the fanservice and comparisons to NieR Automata and the Bayonetta games, Stellar Blade boasts some surprisingly involved combat systems and fantastic creature designs all in a relatively compact experience.

With the developers' goal of "cinematic immersion" in mind, I truly feel as though Ninja Theory has delivered on what they set out to do. While not perfect, there are two undeniable truths to Hellblade 2: you can feel the passion that the team who built the game feel toward it, and this is one of the most immersive experiences in gaming to date.

The point here is that while The Mageseeker is a supremely entertaining and deceptively challenging venture on its own, it's a mark of success for what I'd assume the point of Riot Forge is: to expose players to League's many stories that they wouldn't have experienced otherwise and to continually invest players through the gameplay experiences Riot's third-party partners specialize in.

Tiny Bookshop offers a soothingly slow-paced gameplay experience where the depth is in the story and the details, not in quick reflexes or complicated mechanics. The shopkeeping sim element is straightforward, but still allows for strategy and variety thanks to character quests and calendar events. The story, like the gameplay, isn’t quick or overly complicated. But if you were hoping for a cozy bookish game that truly delves into the literary world, Tiny Bookshop is going to deliver.

Kena might not be perfect, but it's far from what one might expect from a studio's first game. It's a spectacle to look at without being too long or too short, and it's one of the rare examples of a game that deserves a movie adaptation, not the other way around. Perhaps more than anything else, it's a game that sets the bar high for whatever Ember Lab wants to do next.

If you enjoy Eyes in the Dark's premise and time-bending story as well as the rewarding randomness of the genre, you'll have much more to do after your first run is finished.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is not a mainline Fire Emblem title, and anyone expecting a 1-to-1 recreation is going to be disappointed, but it absolutely comes from the same lineage. If losing the cerebral, tactical piece-moving combat doesn't dull your interest – if that's not why you came to Fire Emblem in the first place – Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes has enough of the franchise's DNA to satisfy. And in some ways, zooming across a battlefield while triggering abilities like Assassinate or Nosferatu seems more in line with the chaotic, war-torn battlefields of Fodlan than what came before. I might not go so far as to say that Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is my ideal for what Fire Emblem could and should be going forward, but it is quite frankly a lot closer to perfection than it has any right to be.