The writing has its fair share of material that’s worth a few sharp exhales through the nose and sensible chuckling but the committed delivery of the cast is a nice surprise and adds value. If you’re a fan of the Explosm! webcomic series and shorts, then Freakpocalypse is bound to hold a measure of interest. Just don’t go in expecting too much.

The decision on this game comes down to the pros vs the cons, and whether you think you'd be happy to enjoy it as it is, or if you'd rather wait until some more updates. The load times and staggers can be mildly irritating and can amass during longer play sessions, but are by no means game-breaking or a reason entirely not to give it a go. Especially for those looking to play a little more casually, or in shorter bursts, or maybe aren't now accustomed to the world of SSD loading times, I still have to recommend this title as worth a go - just perhaps not necessarily the one to pick above the others.

Star Renegades is fine enough a game in its genre but it hangs too tightly onto its rigorous gameplay loop, exhausting fun out of repeated attempts.

Cathedral lacks vision where it counts. The title is focused on appealing to the hardcore with its retro presentation and difficulty that borders on irritating. The visuals and audio are certainly reminiscent of titles from the past, however, they lack that special polish that would elevate them beyond the superficial way they ape how games looked and sounded back then. Level design lacked care in checkpoint placement and enemy locations as well as quality of life features, which stacked tedium upon tedium. Overall, I have trouble recommending Cathedral; though it certainly has a niche appeal, its faults made the experience less than satisfactory.

By blending social deduction with survival mechanics Other Ocean has successfully avoided any Among Us clone accusations. Regardless of my tempered enthusiasm from Day One DLC and some polish concerns, Project Winter is a well-devised game that can lead to moments of intense distrust and cooperation few online games can equal.

Ghosts 'N Goblins Resurrection is a bona fide niche title that will only hold appeal to the masochistic. Even on its easiest setting, where dying leads to an instant respawn, I can’t have fun with a game that amounts to slamming your head against a rock wall. It might have been better for Capcom and Nintendo to make the original games available through the Nintendo Online service because Resurrection is an experience modified to make it somewhat more digestible to a new audience. Choosing different difficulties is a nice touch but after beating the game on Page, which was insane even with no-cost respawning, what incentive did I have to go back and do it all again while adding even more painful roadblocks? Yeah, no thanks. I’m too old to put up for this sort of thing now.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood is such a schlocky, longwinded title that's complimentary for this schlocky "B-game." There's a potent stealth-action template and renowned universe to explore that — sadly — neither of said hopes are fully actualized here. That said, the valiant attempt deserves some credit. Should genre fans go in with modest expectations, perhaps they'll excitedly sink their teeth and claws into it.

Anodyne 2: Return to Dust is a bit too long for its 12-ish hours running time, considering its simple gameplay both inside and out of dungeons. Reiterating the same ideas over and again works only for so far. Of course, all games can be called repetitive but it’s only highlighted by Anodyne 2’s pedestrian pace and too many dungeons. The game could have used tightening up its dramaturgy and gameplay to better hit home its heartfelt, timely message (of course, there’s a bad ending, too, that is really bleak). As it is now, the road towards the finale that is worth seeing goes on too long. However, for a two-person development team, Anodyne 2 is a true passion project of games of yesteryear. It’s targeted at people who experienced the exciting transition from 2D consoles to 3D games in the mid-90s and who long after those days when the new technology (that now looks charmingly aged) vowed an entire generation of gamers.

Outside the career mode there are no significant improvements made to the game, though. The physics and the gameplay remain great and it feels like it’s even more important this time around to balance your rider with the right thumbstick of the controller, especially when landing jumps. When playing the game on PC, I couldn’t help but notice how the visuals drag behind the standards of modern gaming. Character models are the same as before and by each year they get more outdated. Landscapes look bland and boring and there are hardly any particle effects which would have helped to improve the feel of ripping through mud and gravel. Of course, it’s always great when a yearly iteration of a sports game has had courage to revamp its core experience. Granted, the new career mode allows long-lasting gameplay but it’s simply not fun to play anymore.

As a drama about two people falling in and out of love, the script is an amalgam of every relationship ever presented on television and in film, so it is easily relatable if rather trite. If you like abstract puzzles framed around a grounded narrative, then Maquette does offer some value but I don’t see it leaving any long-lasting impressions.

If you’re a fan of SHMUPs or action games and platformers, I think the titles are here to be worth your time but for fans of other genres, it’s probably worth holding out to see what future events Capcom plans to hold in this stadium.

Taxi Chaos is like the usual knock-off. At first, it might look and feel the same as the quality product it was fashioned after, but when you get to know it better, it turns out to be just a cheap copy of the original (cheap not in the way of its price because this costs a whopping 30 bucks, mind you). ”But wait”, I hear you cry. ”What if I have never played Crazy Taxi, could I enjoy Taxi Chaos then?” I’m afraid I can’t answer that question because I simply can’t turn off my sweet memory of Crazy Taxi (that I can return to any day, thanks to the backwards compatible X360 version of the game!).

Gods Will Fall is a beautiful mess of ideas that sometimes innovate and surprise and sometimes fall face first into the abyss. The gambling mechanic of entering a dungeon and hoping you rolled an easier area to be better prepared for harder areas later is frankly, awful. As much as I loved almost every other aspect of this game, this one issue brought down an otherwise standout game by at least a full point for me. I may sound a little harsh on this game, but ultimately, I would still encourage people to give this game a shot. There are so many good ideas in here that, despite my hangups, I would still wholeheartedly recommend this to people looking for a fresh take on the roguelike genre.

Nerve is certainly a rollercoaster of an experience, more so than most titles. It is genuinely exhilarating when you fully master a level and move at top speed from the beginning to the end. However, the lengthy memorization process and saturation of visual effects made the lows exceedingly difficult to bear. The narrow focus on exclusively being a hardcore experience left me divided as I found it difficult to play for extended periods of time without getting overburdened by the fast flashing lights and unsatisfying, tedious practice phases. I can only recommend the game to those that are absolutely in love with the idea of a punishing, fast paced title with some of highest highs and lowest lows within the medium.

Not only does the game look gorgeous but the control system has been enhanced for the Dual Sense with haptic feedbacks and life-like rumble effects as you tear across the pavement. Newcomers to motorcycle racing (or people just wanting a new game for their new PS5) are going to face an uphill climb as they acclimate themselves to the unique complexities of Ride 4’s gameplay demands. There are systems in place to make the experience a bit easier but I would have liked to see a stronger emphasis on the fundamentals of controlling a high-speed bike - and the initial license exam would have been the perfect opportunity for that. As it stands, there might be some substantial hurdles for the player to overcome before they get to a point where they feel like they’ve got a proper handle on Ride 4’s deep approach to simulated racing.

Skul: The Hero Slayer has a lot going for it, but it is also muddled with design issues. For all of its creative skull designs, interesting build options, and cool and flashy attacks, I found the experience as a whole to be draining. It’s a case where the core gameplay loop is hindered by its overbearing rogue elements. A genre reliant on repetition has to accommodate for it by offsetting the recursive elements of the game, no matter how good the combat is. Skul: The Hero Slayer is certainly enjoyable on occasion, but its roguelite ingredients ultimately harm the title as a whole.

I find its depth and focus on exploration and letting players find their own way fascinating and the many stories contained within demanded my attention. I’m glad I finally had a chance to check it out in any form and if that sounds up your alley, there’s a game in here worthy of your time. I have a much harder time recommending that you play it on the Switch, though, and would only recommend checking out Switch version if you don’t have any other way to play it. You simply have to put up with far too much to get to all the good contained within.

Airborne Kingdom is a pleasure to spend a relaxing few hours with. It has a refreshing approach to the city building genre which is genuinely unique and although it eschews conflict and drama, the survival elements, resource collection tasks and challenges of building an optimal floating city are both engaging and relaxing. Airborne Kingdom has an outstanding core premise and aesthetics but lacking some genre-standard features like a sandbox mode or customizable structures, it can offer up its pleasures and be done a little too quickly.

Olija’s atmosphere is spot on and despite its huge pixels, the game manages to channel Hugo Pratt’s fabled Corto Maltese graphic novels that take place in similar exotic corners of the world. The gameplay also works most of the time, but as is often the case with indie games, the authoritarian developer has gone overboard. The less is usually more but here, the style simply went over the substance and 12 hours of playtime more than overstays its welcome considering the game's ultimately shallow bounty.

Morkredd's main mechanic succinctly reflects my own thoughts on it altogether. The glowing orb represents life: punctuating atmosphere, inspired visual design, and a motivating gimmick. But when you begin to step away, as you wander outside its glow, you encounter death: day-one DLC, technical problems, an atrocious finale, and more. These severe disparities, bright day and atramentous night, imply even genre fans will be ambivalent towards it.

It was a valiant effort by Dontnod, but it missed the mark. Graphically beautiful but mechanically messy, Twin Mirror is a failed attempt at a psychological thriller. The worst disappointment, however, is that the game made me want to visit Basswood, which...doesn’t exist.

Taiko no Tetsujin Rhymic Adventure Pack, while not outstanding, is a solid entry to the series. Fans of the franchise will enjoy the free play mode as usual. The newcomers can go for the RPG Adventure mode if hardcore drumming to get the perfect S rank for every song is just too daunting for them.

Let's Sing 2021 works as a party game, if everyone in your party has the same music taste and likes newer pop songs or if you like to set up your friends to fail. However, the lack of diversity in the playlist and the requirement to sing songs that you don't know to play many of the modes make this a less than ideal game for people outside of its target audience. The core idea is solid, but the weakness of the note charts and short song list make this a hard sell for me. I would like to see a themed version of this game with more accessible songs, for instance, something like Let's Sing: The 80s. However, as it is, I can't recommend this game outside of a narrow audience.

Although Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light is a classic in the Fire Emblem series, it's hard to recommend for modern audiences. The bare bones of what makes Fire Emblem great is here, but it's bogged down by outdated systems and the limitations of the original Famicom system. Although I appreciate that Nintendo wanted to preserve the original experience, I feel that they should have added more quality of life improvements to the game before releasing it. This game has already been remade for the DS as Shadow Dragon. I feel like it would have been better for Nintendo to have released that in a bundle with this original port. I can really only recommend this for hardcore Fire Emblem fans and those who have a great deal of patience for classic game mechanics.

Believe it or not, there is fun to be had in Cyberpunk 2077. Night City is an amazing place to explore and parts of the gameplay are kinda fun. But for all the promises and potential of a game that spent eight years in development, is this really it? The Witcher 3 managed to grow into a powerhouse of a game by the end of its lifecycle. Perhaps the same will be said about Cyberpunk 2077 in a year’s time? Maybe.

When the Past Was Around has beautiful art that I, also an illustrator, can really appreciate. However, the unfortunately jarring music and certain parts of the characterization fail to deliver the intended emotionality of the game. The story behind the sketchy, wordless narration is an important one but regrettably, the game doesn’t make it resonate in a way it matters.

While Tesla Force isn’t a showcase for the power of the new consoles, it is certainly at home on them and its bite-sized stages don’t outstay their welcome. Fans of twin stick shooters won’t be disappointed by Tesla Force either.

I want to love The Falconeer, and I do love it in a way, but I cannot recommend it. Despite the quality of its art style and the peacefulness that exudes when you fly over its endless ocean, it’s a tedious and plodding experience. Combat, which comprised the vast majority of the game’s runtime, is inaccurate and weightless, making all of your successes and failures feel arbitrary. And yet, the game makes you want to come back to it, as if by some ineffable witchcraft. I desperately wish this were a better game than it is, rather than an amazing looking game let down by its frustrating combat and boring sandbox experience.

Ghostrunner is a game of exciting highs and extremely low lows. When its controls click, it offers a thrilling parkour platforming experience. But these moments aren’t worth contending with its frustrating combat and aggravating bugs. If you’re an enthusiast for first-person platformers and can overlook a glaring lack of polish, Ghostrunner may have some limited value. For all else, there are other genre titles more deserving of your time.

Overall, the game is fun and a worthy addition to the Resident Evil franchise. All it needs is a couple of tweaks and a dedicated fan base, and it could become one of the more popular Resident Evil games purely because of its endless replayability and fun factor.

At its best, Spirit of the North Enhanced Edition is an atmospheric adventure set within an abandoned landscape that offers its fair share of challenges but little in the way of meaningful takeaways.

Full of bugs, glitches and a laundry list of elements that feel unfinished or outdated, it’s pretty hard to recommend Rune II: Decapitation Edition to anyone whose enjoyment depends on a quality experience. Players with a love of all things Viking and high tolerance for mediocrity might be able to find a few hours of fun in Rune II’s messy world, but most gamers would do better to spend their time and money elsewhere.

Overall, if you enjoy classic point-and-click adventure games then you just can’t go wrong here. The game even has a sequence where you are reduced to a truly classic adventure game. It can get pretty wild at times. If you’re like me and find point-and-click adventures rather frustrating, there is still a lot of enjoyment to be had. The focus on humor and some clever scenarios can really go a long way into making a genre more tolerable.

Kingdom Hearts fans will want to see the new story content and there’s likely enough content here to make them feel they got their money’s worth. Everyone else will be able to find a rhythm game more worthy of their time.

If you're looking for a challenge and love roguelikes, Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate is a good choice. Its deep gameplay can be really rewarding when you finally reach your goal. However, if you're looking for a calming and relaxing experience, you won't find it here.

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Sumo Digital’s Sackboy: A Big Adventure on the Playstation 5 is a charming, vibrant, graphically astounding platformer that serves as a great entry into the genre for newcomers. However, more seasoned veterans of the platforming genre, who were just given the marvel that is Astro’s Playroom, might feel that the narrative and mechanics are quite simple and annoyingly familiar due to Sackboy: A Big Adventure clearly borrowing mechanics and level progression from iconic genre mainstays such as The Super Mario Brothers franchise.

Despite the addition of the new skill trees, Borderlands 3 Season 2 pass is off to a very rocky start. Arms Race is feels like it needs much more time to evolve into something more substantial, and despite the skill trees being welcomed, I would rather see a brand new character being added for the price Gearbox asks for.. As a free update the Designer’s Cut would have been a nice addition to the game, but at the full price of $14.99 for the Designer’s Cut and $29.99 for the season 2 pass, I can’t currently recommend either to anyone besides hardcore Borderlands loyalist.

The combat feels great and this sort of game can be a real treat with friends. That’s a place where the game’s completely uninteresting story doesn’t really matter and where the repetition becomes more expected. Even then though, the game’s mission structure remains incredibly basic and the style while not completely unappealing certainly isn’t interesting. Fighting your way through these levels feels really good, but that can only sustain a game for so long, especially with this many issues. A certain type of player who really enjoys a good loot game and doesn’t care a bit about repetition will love Godfall but for everyone else, there are much better ways to break in your new video game system.

It’s a fun stealth-action open-world hacking game, but it’s one that falls under its own weight in many ways. With the technical problems of the Xbox One version smoothed out and enhancements to the visuals and performance across the board, I can much more easily recommend the Xbox Series X version but that doesn’t fix the core design problems. Watch Dogs: Legion is incredibly impressive, but only insomuch as it is flawed. Thankfully, there is still a competent third-person open-world game at its core.

Obviously, PS5 and XSX versions of the game will look better but that doesn’t change the shallow gameplay. The recent Project Cars 3 was too arcadey for its own good and DiRT 5 follows on the same easygoing tracks. The game is just too meh all around. Winning races is always fun but if you don’t need to put any effort to it, it just isn’t all that rewarding or exciting. If you want your racing games easy-peasy, then go for DiRT 5 but those who crave for some real challenge are better off sticking to other, better titles.

Of course, every console launch has a few hits and a few misses and ports that feel like cash-grabs. If Bright Memory was a free game, it would be easier to recommend. As even a low-price game, it is hard to sell as representing the power of the new console. If anything, it might be responsible for a little buyer remorse, so my suggestion would be to skip this port and wait for Bright Memory: Infinite in 2021.

Although I enjoyed my time with Part Time UFO, the later levels crossed the line from challenging to frustrating due to the physics and time limit in the game. It’s best enjoyed in short bursts of gameplay to minimize the frustration. That being said, if you like previous HAL games and physics-based puzzle games, I think you'll enjoy Part Time UFO. It's well-made and entertaining, just ultimately not my cup of tea.

Granted, when you’re as intelligent and debonnaire as Poirot, humility is beneath you. Where this adventure mystery game lacks in technique, it excels in creativity, humor, and puzzles. As a librarian who enjoys puzzles and escape rooms, Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders is an excellent nightcap to round out my day.

Despite its admittedly numerous faults, I found Broken Porcelain unique and strangely appealing in its own peculiar way. I also have to admire the game’s author’s sincere passion for his vision. Despite the pervasive element of horror, there is an endearing and a bit naïve spunk to the game. Make no mistake, you will fall and fumble through the game but if you endure it all just like troubled Jennifer herself, you will get a glimpse of something true and beautiful in Remothered’s warped and flawed world. This one is only for acquired tastes but its bittersweet flavor has a faint bouquet of organic blossom.

It’s a real shame that I was disappointed by Little Hope because otherwise it’s an impressive piece of audiovisual excellence and I just love its genre. If you like Charlie Kaufman’s movies (which I don’t), you may perhaps appreciate the ending better than I did. It remains a mystery why Supermassive Games have degenerated their interactive storytelling formula by restricting players’ influence over events.

There are many gamers, I’m certain, who will not only enjoy Ghostrunner’s challenges but be perfectly happy with its demanding and repetitive mechanics. I enjoy challenge, too, but I also want to learn from my mistakes and maybe even succeed the first time around. Ghostrunner is a well-made game with a very specific intention, and there are players for whom this title will be Nirvana. Just not me.

If you’re a fan of Ubisoft’s open-world design, then you’ll enjoy this game to an extent, but there’s little done here that Watch Dogs 2 didn’t do as well or more so in 2016. It’s a fun stealth-action open-world hacking game, but it’s one that falls under its own weight in many ways. So please, do not play the Xbox One S version. Like the first Watch Dogs, it over promises, under preforms, and this soon-to-be previous-generation version will be forgotten quickly.

Cloudpunk has a lot of character and charm going for it. The voice acting is well done, the design of the city is great, the ambient sound design is absolutely fantastic, and the rainy atmosphere is wonderfully evocative. Such joys were sadly short-lived in the aftermath of losing all my progress because of a mysterious bug that I have no idea how to reproduce and avoid. There’s nothing worse than having a game break down in such a way that pretty much kills all enthusiasm and motivation to keep playing. Cloudpunk is a really neat piece of software and if you’re keen to try it yourself, I strongly recommend waiting until it gets the necessary patches.

Transient has many interesting qualities that make it stand out as an experience. Sadly, it feels a bit rushed and the gameplay never really moves past just being a vehicle for the narrative. When melding Lovecraft with cyberpunk, Transient focuses on having the former as the core of the story, while using the latter as its shell. It works surprisingly well for the most part, but left me wanting more cyberpunk on a thematic level. Overall, Transient is a title worth playing primarily for those looking for a Lovecraftian experience wrapped in a beautiful cyberpunk package.

On the surface, Tamarin is a cute, beautifully-made action game with the most adorable of protagonists. However, while the game succeeds in its colorful aesthetics and enticing music, it lacks in its depth and storytelling. There is ultimately too much monkeying around and not enough substance. The game gets an A for effort when it comes to creativity, but ultimately the frustration outweighed the enjoyment.

Overall, Uncertain: Light at the End is a good, small-scale science fiction story. I don’t want to punish the game too harshly for its technical issues because the developers acknowledge them and are working hard to fix them in future patches. In the next year, the game is planned to be released on consoles as well. Hopefully, the developers will be able to fund the last part of the trilogy, so that Emily, together with an unlikely ally she met in the end, will finally be able to figure out the reason for the robot invasion.

For better or worse, this is still Age of Empires III with a new coat of paint. At its core, it’s still the slightly weird and maybe overly ambitious sequel to one of the (if not the) best RTS games of all time, Age of Empires II. I still appreciate the gumption of Age of Empires III Definitive Edition and had a ton of fun going down memory lane. It’s far from a perfect RTS but there is a lot of fun and enjoyment still to be had as we wait for the eventual release of Age of Empires IV. Whether you skipped Age of Empires III during its original release or are interested in dipping back in, I think the Definitive Edition does enough to warrant a look, if for nothing else just to enjoy some good old-school RTS fun.

While UnderHero provides a fantastical divergent critique of overdone narrative tropes that plague both classic and modern RPGs, the boring character/level design and steady reliance on conventional mechanical tropes prevent it from being a wholly transformative, reimagining of the genre.

Dog Duty’s marketing makes it seem like a blast, but actually playing it is a sobering experience. It has its moments, and will surely be to someone’s taste, but the whole thing feels like wasted potential. It blends the tactics and action together in a way that dilute both halves, and what’s left is an experience that is too hollow to be a tactical, and too automated to have satisfying gameplay.

With Feather, what you see if what you get: an uninhabited fantasy island you can fly around but not interact with in any meaningful way. It’s designed to make you feel relaxed, an attempt to help the player de-stress during a time where that’s extraordinarily difficult to do. It works to some extent but if you’re looking for more beyond what it promotes on the back of the box, you’re probably going to be disappointed. If you’re the kind of player who plays any and all games strictly for their achievements, then Feather offers few barriers to earning them all. Samurai Punk’s Feather is a game built with good intentions and anything that offers a modicum of peace and quiet is certainly one to follow. Just don’t expect a whole lot more.

The biggest problem with The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos — aside from it desperately needing a ruthless editor to excise some of the weaker jokes — is that this approach to parodying the tropes of RPGs has been done many times over the years, and often better. The deliberate and sometimes genuinely challenging combat seems at odds with the tone and pace of the game, but The Dungeon Of Naheulbeuk: The Amulet Of Chaos can be entertaining for those with a high tolerance for unfiltered humor in indiscriminate quantities.

Kirby Fighters 2 is a solid title and can provide some simple fun. It’s almost too simple to hold your attention for long, though, and while there’s a lot to unlock, I was tired of playing it far before I had finished. While it’s understandable why it plays so much like Smash Bros since the developers at HAL designed the early games in that series, it doesn’t do enough to set itself apart to really find a niche. Hardcore Kirby fans may find enough to justify a purchase but for most, there’s an obviously better option available on the same system which is far more worthy of your time.

Like many of the sports games I’ve reviewed this year, FIFA 21 is a very small step forward for the franchise. The on-pitch action has never been better and although I think career mode could use a lot more love and attention, the moment-to-moment gameplay is still as compelling as ever. It’s just a very difficult game to recommend if you have FIFA 20 and that’s really what it comes down to. If you have last year’s game, you really don’t need to go to FIFA 21 but if you missed it for whatever reason, then this is a great game to jump back into.

There is no doubt that Crysis was a landmark game in the history of first person shooters and some gamers had to take a pass at the time due to its high system specs. Much of what made Crysis fun and innovative still holds up, but it is disappointing that the Remaster does little more than selectively improve the visuals and make relatively minor changes to the controls. Crysis was amazing in 2006 and all shooter fans should play it at least once, but Crysis Remastered is hardly an essential purchase for shooter fans in 2020.

Ultimately, this makeshift Han Solo simulator isn’t as fun as it initially felt like. Graphics are superb, the music is just to die for and Juno is the kind of rough and raw heroine the gaming world really needs more – overall, Rebel Galaxy Outlaw is a game I would like to love more. In the long run, though, the effort needed to pull off the revenge feels more tedious than it should.

While I wish the extra modes were better and that the levels were more consistent, Mini Motor Racing X has earned an ongoing spot on my Switch. Even its longer levels only take a few minutes, making it an ideal game to jump in and out of for just a few minutes. The core racing feels great, I truly can’t remember the last time I enjoyed an overhead arcade racer so much. There are a lot of good racing games on the Switch, but none of them scratches quite the same itch that this one does. As long as you go into it knowing what to expect, I think you’ll have a great time.

Even though the port has extremely clunky controls and horrendously optimized graphics, The Long Dark’s survival and challenge modes offer hours of unhinged fun trying to cope and survive in the harsh Canadian wilderness. The campaign, while unfinished and episodic, offers a wholly divergent approach from typical post-apocalyptic genre norms. Unfortunately, if you are the type of player who is looking for a completely fleshed out campaign, this is not the game for you. Even with its misfortunes, Hinterland Games’ The Long Dark provides Nintendo Switch owners a breath of fresh air as it is the first somewhat enjoyable, open-world, survival game on the console.

Fortunately, there was a lot of promise here with Skully. A nice and endearing story with platforming mechanics that make for interesting utility makes the game seem exciting, but it just doesn't execute its plan well. In a way I feel like the game has a bit of an identity crisis; while it could focus on being an excellent marble physics platformer, it has all of these other great ideas that ultimately end up hurting the whole product. With a bigger focus on one thing and improvement to level design, I could see a game like this working pretty well, but unfortunately, Skully is not that game.

At the end of the day, Marvel’s Avengers is two very different experiences. The campaign is great, and Kamala is an absolute superstar that I can’t wait to see get recognized for more outside of the comics. The multiplayer end game, on the other hand, is bereft of purpose and content, serving only as a poor conduit towards a loot grind that feels meaningless beyond “making this number bigger.” There is promise here, and maybe in a year, Avengers will be a great game. But if you don’t feel like waiting a year, if you need to know if you should buy this now, don’t bother. There needs to come a point where we stop paying full price now for the promise of a good game later. Let this be it.

Overall, this game feels like a watered-down Story of Seasons experience in the end, one that has traded gameplay and variety away for story and themes. Still, it's undeniable that the game is very unique, as it focuses on the Doraemon story and characters. This fact alone has changed the formula in a number of ways, for better or worse. Personally, I'd rather have a more robust and in-depth farming experience, but I can easily see how Doraemon fans would enjoy this title.

There’s occasionally some fun to be had but in the long run, the gameplay is so rigid and repetitive that despite seemingly big amount of content to play, the game’s appeal wears thin pretty quickly. Even the multiplayer lacks further enthusiasm for the very same reason and micro transactions that are practically force-fed are the last straw. Given the game’s rather modest production values, it feels like it should have benefited from being a free-to-play title and then paying for more content would have been completely plausible. As it is now, WWE 2K Battlegrounds simply lacks lasting fun, challenge and creativity to fill the void of not having a main entry in the WWE 2K series this year.

If the Final Fantasy franchise has appeared intimidating in its more modern form, then Crystal Chronicles Remastered might be a decent entryway. The game is clearly its own beast. Again, I’m all for trying something new and if a lot of the things I found particularly annoying about the gameplay loop of Crystal Chronicles were overhauled, it could actually be pretty fun. The return to a sword and sorcery fantasy setting since Final Fantasy IX is in itself refreshing but that’s pretty much the only kudos I can muster right now. A product of a different time, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered is a game that makes a hard case for itself to solo players.

Though it’s a little rough around the edges, Minoria delivers an experience that is mechanically satisfying, yet thematically depressing. The combat has its flaws but was engaging enough to keep me going throughout. Clocking in at around five hours, Minoria is a game that’s short and sweet. The story is a solemn and sad affair that takes a harsh look into the problems of religious overreach. Overall, I’d recommend Minoria to Metroidvania fans willing to overlook the occasional blemish.

Ultimately, Serious Sam 4 has a bit of an identity problem. It hews pretty closely to the standout features that made the series great — immense battles, weird enemies, crude humor and frantic action. It also steals from the playbooks of recent shooters and has more story, a cast of characters and slightly more measured pacing. Over time, the wave-based battles become more fatiguing than fun because they’re often so similar, but Serious Sam 4 is overall true to the singular series and its fans should be happy to join their hero once again.

I enjoyed my time with Paradise Killer quite a bit as I do love the mystery/visual novel genre of games quite a bit. The game has a fresh look and a killer soundtrack, as well as a fairly good story with plenty to look into. As good as that might sound, I would still recommend any of the Danganronpa or Phoenix Wright titles over Paradise Killer, as the unpopulated world gets tiring to explore and back-loading all of the trials makes for some poor game pacing overall. Still, if you love the genre and are looking for your next fix, Paradise is waiting for you with open arms.

Necromunda: Underhive Wars is a lot like many other Warhammer video game adaptations. It has rugged charisma to it and I got really immersed in its customization tools, atmosphere, and mechanics but once again, the game lacks that final polish. Alongside the uneven implementation of gameplay ideas and dodgy AI, I experienced crashes and loads locking up, so the game is in a severe need of patching (luckily, exiting, and re-booting the game takes back to the latest autosave). If only one day we got a big-budget Warhammer game with appropriate finishing touches. Meanwhile, anyone seeking for a grittier and more personal and transparent XCOM-type could do a lot worse than give Necromunda: Underhive Wars a shot. It has many genre-firsts that should be applauded for.

If Moon sounds like an innovative, ahead-of-its-time game, well, it is. I can honestly say I’ve never played a game quite like Moon. You can definitely see the influences to Undertale in the lack of a battle system, the skewering of RPG tropes, and emphasis on non-violence. I would recommend that classic RPG fans check it out, if only to see what the fuss is about. For everyone else, I think that the oddity of the gameplay and the old school mechanics might make this one a tough sell, but it’s worth your time if you are looking for something different.

While Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon doesn’t introduce many new features to the game, it does offer more than enough for fans who are looking to venture back into this beautifully crafted world. The story leaves more to be desired, but still provides a solid and enjoyable experience that will certainly be a worth your time if you even remotely enjoyed the base game.

The combination of an energetic heroine exploring a vibrant world showed enough promise to make me eager for its debut. It’s both sad and frustrating to see the final product because I know it can be so much better. Travel is tedious, with environments so large as if to inspire awe but are a real slog to cross. Half-baked ideas, poor performance, and low reliability prevent it from reaching any heights and unless there’s some serious patchwork to be done, I can easily see this game being forgotten by the end of the year, if not sooner. Ary and the Secret of Seasons has its heart in the right place and displays flashes of greatness but nothing short of a major overhaul can fix its numerous and significant flaws.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind isn’t a bad game by any means, it’s just a familiar one. It captures the tone of Birmingham really well, and exploring this world can be fun at times, but otherwise, nothing else really sets itself apart. For puzzle adventure fans there are plenty of other options that may have more to offer, but fans of the show may find some enjoyment in this title despite some of its shortcomings.

All in all, New Super Lucky's Tale isn't a bad 3D romp at all, although veterans of the genre (or really gaming in general) are just going to tear through it with ease. This definitely puts the game into the for younger audiences crowd, for better or worse. Still, if you really dig these types of games and don't mind the low challenge and short run-time, the game may just be for you. Just make sure you've fully explored the genre first!

The new driving physics are very enjoyable, the sense of speed is at best dizzying, real-time weather works to a great effect, and there is a lot of offline and online content (and progress between them is mutual). Dozens of tracks to race on come from all over the world, painstakingly recreated from real ones (along with some made-up ones) to maximize their authenticity. However, these positives are buried under excess rubble of inexcusably coarse presentation and flawed game design that leans too much on merciless grind instead of rewarding natural progress.

At its best, Panzer Paladin leans into its great core platforming to offer genre comfort food. Its movement tools feel rewarding, with twitchy controls and a fun variety of traversal options. The game's aesthetic is similarly successful, capturing the buoyant energy of 80s mecha anime with period-appropriate character designs and vivid coloring. But unfortunately, the game’s level design isn't always as compelling. Only the boss encounters and the final few levels fully take advantage of the tight controls, resulting in stretches that fall flat. Panzer Paladin may not eclipse its influences, but it is still a very competent retro throwback.

Giraffe and Annika is a beautiful game with an intriguing plot and engaging characters, but the difficulty spike in the second half doesn’t fit the relaxed tone of the first half. I feel that someone involved with the game didn’t trust the initial vision and felt the need to shoehorn in standard platforming gameplay. It’s a shame, because the first half was really special and felt like something I hadn’t really played before. If you have a lot of patience and decent platforming skills, you might enjoy Giraffe and Annika.

In the end, Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a middle-of-the-road licensed game. For fans, there’s probably enough here in this victory lap of a final season cover that will make the gripes I have fade away into the beautiful backgrounds. For those in the middle, like me, the amount of good it does is just not enough to keep me coming back for more. Sadly, this Jack just doesn’t jump as well as he should.

Normally, a strategy RPG with solid gameplay, an interesting story, beautiful art and a strong soundtrack is one I'd be recommending without question and I really wish I could give Banner of the Maid that recommendation. The awful translation just manages to seep down and poison every aspect of the game though, at least a little bit. If you just want to focus on the battles and that's enough for you in this sort of title, you may find a lot to like. With the genre quickly becoming crowded on the Switch, though, there are simply better options for you to spend your time and money on.

There is a day-one patch that will go up right around the time of this review that will address some of the less polished elements I experienced. But it’s a game that more so than past versions feels like it needed more development time before release. It’s also a tough one to recommend because the changes between this year’s game and last feel minor. It’s still a very good game of football and I’m excited to see where the franchise goes on the next-gen consoles, but as the swan song for this generation, this version goes out with a very quiet release.

Combining some fascinating mechanics I've never seen in a card game with a lot of variety, there's plenty to recommend Faeria. Its held back however by poor tools to really learn the game and design decisions that just don't fit a portable console. Add in concerns for the future of the game and I'm nervous to invest too much more of myself into Faeria, but it may be too late for me to stop. It has that wonderful just one more game quality that will keep me firing it up. Just make sure you know what you're getting before you decide to follow me.

The game heartily emphasizes family values, where the unifying factor is ultimately to love over good food. Those who enter the family from outside are as much uncles, aunts, and cousins as those who were born into it. Of course, the story is mushy, but these days when gritty games try their hardest to tear you into pieces, there’s a vacant lot for feel-good entertainment. In this context, it’s heartless to moan about some gameplay and design issues, like mostly uneventful driving parts or linear nature of family meetings where a failure is hardly an option. All these gripes are fully acceptable if you put your heart into the game. Road to Guangdong might not be the next must-buy hit but it has more humanity to share than most games out there put together.

Darkestville Castle is imaginative and well-written, but the obscurity of the puzzle solutions, unfriendly design choices, and presence of a potentially game breaking bug make it difficult to recommend. If you love retro adventure games and have a high tolerance for difficult puzzles, you might want to check it out. Just back up your save as you go.

I can’t help but think that Kandagawa Jet Girls is a rather half-baked attempt at a new media franchise to please Senran Kagura fans. With a more prudish approach to the looks and the game, the possible audience might even be wider than before but that would require a great game as an incentive. Beneath their lewd surface, Senran Kagura games were excellent third-person action games. Unfortunately, Kandagawa Jet Girls is a mediocre racing game at best as it fails in the essentials of the genre. It simply lacks the speed, the excitement, and the challenge to make it to the top.

It’s a shame that more time and money wasn’t spent on Fairy Tail, because, in the end, I really enjoyed large chunks of the game. Once I started playing, I could play for hours and be entertained. The guild building is really fun, as is the combat. This could have been a great game, but the developers leaned too hard on the license and not enough on fleshing out the elements of the game. If you’re a fan of the franchise, you should definitely give it a shot. If you are an anime fan and like turn-based combat, this might be a good game to put on your wishlist for later. Otherwise, you can safely give Fairy Tail a pass.

The premise and production values are pretty much the only things that made me interested in West of Dead but the frustration over not being able to gain a proper foothold for forward progress really got to me. Character advancement doesn’t carry over into each new play session, making any boosts you find a zero-sum game. These days, my time is increasingly valuable. Nothing about the experience was ever fun and at the end of the day, I fell into the mindset that the only way to win was to simply not play.

Demolish and Build has its heart in the right place but could also use another passthrough so that its expectations and instructions are clear and concise. A game that gives you reign to blow a bulldozer into the side of a building should be fun but the tedium, wishy-washy controls, and poor guidance turn the game into a test of patience.

RB: Axolotl is a multi-year labor of love from a very small team and it bravely includes some characters and emotional situations that have rarely been explored in games, but given the passive nature of the player experience, I couldn’t help but wonder if the video game format was the best, or even a necessary, vehicle for telling the story. I was at first interested in the characters and their emotional and philosophical dilemmas but I was eventually annoyed and made impatient by the pacing and presentation, repetitive visuals and lack of player input. Other than clicking to advance the dialogue and very occasionally hitting a key to start a short animation, my participation was neither necessary or rewarded so it was difficult to fully invest the the drama and lives of the characters.

The Wake: Mourning Father, Mourning Mother is too uncoordinated in the game being made and the story being told. It hits a strange chord with me because I find Somi laudable and his previous work worth investigating. The visual/audio design’s toned-down, retro ethos marries well with the saccharine storytelling and yet, obstructive gameplay frequently flatlined my drive to turn the next page.

As far as puzzle-platformers are concerned, Creaks doesn’t quite break the mold. It makes a fun first impression through a neat call to adventure but it wasn’t long before I developed a wandering eye. Throwing in new obstacles injects excitement when things get overly familiar but the trick eventually loses its luster. Creaks stands out by its beautiful art style, especially when it comes to the various paintings found throughout the mansion. Amanita Design has made a puzzle game that offers just enough accessible cerebral challenges. Though by no means a poorly constructed piece of software, Creaks’ minimalist approach to gameplay is entertaining in the moment but doesn’t quite leave much of a lasting impression.

Although you are sometimes allowed to fully utilize your nano suit's superpowers, you are frequently shackled by its overly restrictive battery life. The result is a game that feels somewhat contradictory, one that is open-ended and freeing in its level design and aspirations, but somewhat restrictive when it comes down to actual combat. While this port of Crysis may not exactly play like how we remember the original, at least it largely looks the part.

There are parts of Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break that I really came to enjoy. The rolling aspect of the game can be quite rewarding and the humor is consistently outstanding. I also appreciate any game that works well in a split screen local multiplayer today, something which far too many modern games overlook. The tower defense modes just keep showing up, though, and they consistently take away from the experience. Tower defense is never easy on consoles but it can be done, yet on its third try, Rock of Ages is still not where it needs to be. These issues leave us with a muddled experience that can be fun but is hard to enthusiastically recommend.

There were many times in my playthrough of Hellpoint where I had the same delicious salad of feelings that I get with Dark Souls — frustration at my own carelessness, need to try again or satisfaction at besting a challenging encounter — but these highs were balanced by some disappointments with the design that seemed to intentionally frustrate. Even more than Nioh, The Surge, or Remnant, Hellpoint goes all in with the Dark Souls model. When it’s good, it’s great; when it’s not, it just reminds you why Dark Souls is and will be a classic.

Deadly Premonition succeeded because it was fascinating to watch the story unfold through a series of arcs that would eventually involve everyone in the town by the end of the game. For the sequel, many of its characters are little more than obstacles to overcome and when you do, you barely hear from them ever again unless the story calls for them to make an appearance out of convenience. When you get right down to it, A Blessing In Disguise’s attempt to recapture lightning in a bottle largely fumbles because of its severe banality and ho-hum drama.

Carrion has a refreshing — if consuming squirming helpless human lab rats can be called refreshing — and not often-enough explored premise but it’s not quite enough to elevate it to greatness.

A mostly visual remake, Destroy All Humans brings a dubious cult classic onto modern consoles and PC with most of the same issues it had to begin with. It’s a clear example of lost potential as the original game was never all that well regarded. Thoroughly reworking the gameplay could have vastly improved the game that was only passable in its time. As it is now, the remake doesn’t do enough to lift the title from mediocrity. Aside from updated visuals, the one new mission, and slightly tweaked gameplay, it’s a game that still doesn’t have much going for it besides the comedy factor. Though the remake is definitely the definitive way to play Destroy All Humans!, I still find it difficult to really recommend it.