Pikmin 4 is largely a strong step forward for Nintendo and is a game that both longtime fans of the series and newcomers should find a lot of enjoyment with. Even though some new aspects that Nintendo opted to include in Pikmin 4 got stale quickly, the basic gameplay loop remains quite satisfying and features far more than ever before for you to sink your teeth into.

AEW: Fight Forever has the core of a genuinely great wrestling game, as the gameplay is pure, unabashedly fun. And while going the route of No Man's Sky has been teased in interviews — in which waves of post-launch updates and DLC help improve the experience — it's also possible this goes the route of Street Fighter where a sequel could build off the original idea and strike gold. This game won't change the pro wrestling video game landscape, but fans of AEW and players looking for a different experience from WWE's annual offering will enjoy it.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective might not be a true Ace Attorney game, but the franchise's DNA is prevalent throughout, and the game is an easy recommendation for those that love the series, while also being something that stands well enough on its own.

Ultimately, Greyhill Incident is a big disappointment. This had real potential to be a short, but cool horror game that leverages tension and aliens in a way we haven't really seen in gaming. What we got instead is a flavorless game that feels like a concept for something much better. The only real positive thing I can give it is that it ensures what you'll endure is short and swift.

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.

Diablo 4 is perfect for both franchise mainstays and newcomers alike. The lore of Sanctuary expands drastically while the game, story and all, is large enough to keep new players busy. The game is built to allow the developers to scale it with ease with battle passes and seasons for a new generation, but it's nowhere close to being empty.

Everything feels carefully considered for those jumping into Street Fighter 6 as their first game in the series. But at the same time, there's clearly a ton to dig into for those who want to keep playing on deeper and more dedicated levels. Street Fighter 6 is just pure fun, and every punch hits hard, every kick feels great, and it's just so cool to look at. It's the most fun I've had with Street Fighter in years, and the great, hard hitting start to a powerful new era for the franchise.

LEGO is all about taking pieces and connecting them together to build something new, so it's only fitting that LEGO 2K Drive combines parts from so many other great games; combining pieces of Mario Kart 8, Forza Horizon 5, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed and the LEGO games of Traveler's Tales has resulted in a surprisingly high-quality racer. Sometimes last millisecond losses can feel a little bit cheap, and the building mechanics can feel a little bit daunting. Despite these minor issues, LEGO 2K Drive proves that there's still a lot of gas left in the tank for the LEGO brand, and brick fans of all-ages should drive away satisfied.

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is a worthy successor to Breath of the Wild and is easily a Game of the Year contender. Not only will you fall in love with the world of Hyrule all over again, this game feels much more like a traditional Zelda game while retaining all of the charm and beauty of Breath of the Wild.

Pardon the pun, but playing Redfall really sucked the life out of me. It's a game that so desperately feels like it wants to be more than what it is, which is understandable. It's dreadfully dull, buggy, frustrating, and feels shackled to a genre that it doesn't really want to be part of. Far Cry with vampires sounds like a great idea, but ultimately, what we got feels like a shell of a prototype for such a concept. The vibes the game radiates are great and there are glimmers of a better game when all of the game's elements are working together in harmony, but that so rarely happens.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a strong sequel that improves on nearly every core element seen in Fallen Order. Even in spite of some pacing troubles with its story, Cal Kestis is an even more compelling protagonist this time around and continues to be one of the best new Star Wars characters that has come about in the Disney era.

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.

For those interested in easing into the turn-based strategy genre, or those with a lot of experience, Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp is a strong option on Nintendo Switch. With two complete games in one, there's a lot of meat in the package, and that's not even factoring in the multiplayer options. WayForward has done a very nice job adhering closely to the Game Boy Advance originals, while offering enough tweaks to make it feel like this package was a better decision compared to putting the originals on Nintendo Switch Online. It's been a while since fans of the series have had a wholly-new game to enjoy, so hopefully this package will lead to more from Nintendo.

Dead Island 2 may not always make full use of its promising setting, but it may be the most fun I've had killing zombies in quite some time. The combat is deliriously fulfilling and will likely be further heightened in co-op when players can ping-pong zombies off of each other with their drop kicks or whatever other hijinks the community can come up with. It's an artful display of zombie violence and mayhem, which is an achievement in of itself given how saturated this genre is this many years after the first Dead Island.

A hard game to review. Bithell Games has done an excellent job capturing the look and feel of the brand, and there's a lot to enjoy while it lasts. That said, each play through offers a fairly short experience, and it's hard to say whether longtime fans of the franchise will embrace the visual novel genre; it doesn't help that the game ends on a pretty big cliffhanger! It's an intriguing setup for future entries, and I find myself excited to see what happens next, and where Query's new quest will take him. It won't be for everyone, but Tron: Identity is a bold new take on a Disney favorite, and I applaud the company for being willing to try something different.

MLB The Show 23 is likely one of the strongest entries that we've received in quite some time. The addition of the Negro Leagues Storylines mode doesn't simply make for a lot of fun, but it's something that I'm convinced every hardcore baseball fan needs to experience for themselves. Between MLB The Show 23's other game types, much less has changed, but there's still enough meat on the bone that you'll find yourself plenty busy. Moving forward, I would love to see the gameplay and graphical elements of MLB The Show overhauled to some degree. But for now, I'm more than happy with the version of the game that we got this year.

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.

Crime Boss: Rockay City isn't a terrible game, but it is one that fails to even scratch the surface of its own potential. Sometimes mediocrity is worse than being bad, though, especially when all of the game's most unique concepts feel half-baked and the core gameplay experience is average at best. For a game that draws immediate parallels to other highly successful co-op crime games, Crime Boss fails to make itself stand out and tries to cover that up with gimmick-y Hollywood performances.

Even if there's a part or two in the remake that could've been handled better, replayability is a core part of a Resident Evil game's success, and Resident Evil 4 is no exception. It should be a promising sign then that as soon as credits rolled, the next logical step was to look through the new challenges at hand and plan out the next playthrough. Costumes, new weapons, and challenges both self-imposed and presented by the game are incentives that bolster Resident Evil's arcade-y feel and give the player an excuse for another run, but even if they were absent, the Resident Evil 4 remake offers enough to justify countless runs once more.

In virtually every way, Justice League: Cosmic Chaos displays a clear sense of love for the DC Universe — not some dreary Elseworlds version for adults or a neutered version for pint-sized fans, but the cartoony and heartfelt DC Universe as it often is. Once you get past whatever internal bias you have about the all-ages exterior, Cosmic Chaos delivers a fleshed-out and genuinely entertaining take on its heroes and villains. It might not reinvent the entire realm of superhero video games, but Cosmic Chaos is easily the biggest pleasant surprise I've encountered in a while.

It might not be what anyone was expecting, but those that do give Bayonetta Origins a chance will be rewarded with an unforgettable journey.

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.

Metroid Prime Remastered is not a bold reimagining; it offers just a few slight tweaks to take advantage of the Switch hardware, and lets the game speak for itself. There's a reason Metroid Prime has been so well-regarded over the years, and the Nintendo Switch now offers the quintessential way to play it. If you're a series newcomer that started with Metroid Dread, or a longtime fan like myself, Metroid Prime Remastered is a must-own game on Nintendo Switch.

Atomic Heart can be a frustrating experience, but it also gives you as the player more than enough variety to warrant a look if you are searching for an interesting shooter that has lots of options when it comes to your play style. There are some compelling ideas here, but much like the entirety of the game, they're a mixed bag. It's a little rough around the edges but there definitely is a good time to be had if you're looking for a spiritual successor to the Bioshock franchise.

Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a great reminder that even when HAL Laboratory sticks closely to the Kirby formula, it still manages to deliver an experience that's enjoyable for players of all-ages.

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.

While it doesn't do everything perfectly, Hogwarts Legacy stimulates the imagination with a rich world to explore and gameplay that empowers and thrills the player. The Harry Potter films had the tough task of taking words on a page and creating a visual language for them. Hogwarts Legacy had the even tougher task of taking that visual language and making it interactive, ultimately expanding it all into something that is fun to play and immerse yourself in. Although there's still a long year ahead of us and tons of great looking games on the horizon, Hogwarts Legacy is already one of the best games of 2023.

Forspoken is a game that clearly has cool ideas. It just can't manage to reach the level it aspires to operate at, which is really disappointing. An annoying main character that bogs down a somewhat compelling story, frenetic combat, but weak AI to fight against, and a satisfying traversal system in a dull open world make it clear that every interesting thing comes with a caveat. All of that makes it all the more painful, because you can see the heights this game could reach if it wasn't constantly getting in its own way.