The single player campaign is a bit of a wash, but your experience depends on what you want from the game. Daemon X Machina excels at playing against skilled human opponents and taking the time and care to customize your arsenals. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I don’t think it will be a game I want to play again, at least not for a long while. I’m glad I played it, though. I needed that giant arsenal-sized hole in my heart filled once more, at least temporarily. Also, there’s a really bizarre ice cream-based mini game. I’m not sure what they were thinking with that one.

Dragon Quest I, II and III on the Switch are great picks, especially if you enjoyed the recent eleventh entry and wanted to experience the origins of this great series. However, these are ports of the mobile versions with some audio and visual enhancements. So if you have them on your mobile phone already, there is little point in picking them up on the Switch again, unless you really want to play them on your TV in full glory.

Dragon Quest I, II and III on the Switch are great picks, especially if you enjoyed the recent eleventh entry and wanted to experience the origins of this great series. However, these are ports of the mobile versions with some audio and visual enhancements. So if you have them on your mobile phone already, there is little point in picking them up on the Switch again, unless you really want to play them on your TV in full glory.

Dragon Quest I, II and III on the Switch are great picks, especially if you enjoyed the recent eleventh entry and wanted to experience the origins of this great series. However, these are ports of the mobile versions with some audio and visual enhancements. So if you have them on your mobile phone already, there is little point in picking them up on the Switch again, unless you really want to play them on your TV in full glory.

Despite my issues with Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns, the game is still one heck of a great experience, twelve years later. Battles are as exciting as ever, while the new wealth of classes and quests ensures that even series veterans will be able to get lost in this world all over again. The game shows its age in the visuals department, and the presence of difficulty spikes is bound to frustrate some. However, those willing to look past The Legend Returns' flaws are in store for a rich and rewarding experience. And for 15 bucks, where else are you going to get a sprawling RPG/puzzler like this?

John Wick Hex is a fun experience, but one that woefully fails to deliver on its premise. Nothing really demonstrates this more than the ability to play back each completed mission in real-time. The idea of watching all of your methodical, turn-based actions playing out in cinematic, gun-fu action is certainly tantalizing, but actually manifests as watching janky, eight-way movement alongside strange collision detection, limited animation and questionable camera angles.

If you shun DiRT Rally’s authenticity or F1 series’ almost tiresomely detailed race weekends and don’t mind the deficiency of online features, GRID is just about the best game you can get if you only fancy racing fast. It knows where it’s good at but at the same time, I still wish there was more character and challenge to it.

Absent server crashes and disconnects, playing through the campaign in co-op mode is still fun and certainly more efficient than slogging through it solo, though it doesn’t improve the quality of writing or convoluted narrative. Ghost Recon: Breakpoint blurs the line between a singular, well-defined approach to the tactical shooter and a whole mess of other games, and the result is a loss of identity with little gained in the process.

Don’t let the nondescript and somewhat generic title cause you to look away. Indivisible is charming as all hell, sweetened with a bit of old school flavor, and a product of high craft in every regard.

The fun thing is, you can try to take on the Impossible Lair as many times as you like and each time you die, the game leaves a little marker indicating how far you got. My skills were most definitely not up to the challenge of beating the Impossible Lair without the Beetallion, but I sure had fun trying. I genuinely had a blast with Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair and you will too if you have any love for the genre at all. The game was pure fun.

Due to unfortunate design choices, I just wanted to rush through everything and couldn’t exactly enjoy my time with the game. In short, Ancestors Legacy felt too much like a chore to play. Saying this doesn’t bring me any joy because the Middle Ages setting and the presented factions were actually cool. The idea to make a history-based, story-driven RTS title with dynamic features could have been great, but all these sides didn’t mesh well here. I really wanted to get into the gameplay, but the best I could muster was excitement for engaging cutscenes and disturbingly alluring images.

Stygian isn’t that long as it takes some 15-20 hours to see its horrors through, depending on your willingness to search every nook and cranny of its warped world, and the story paves the way for more adventures in the doomed Arkham. However, the replay value is strong due to different character archetypes and what gameplay options they will bring along, adding to the multiple ways to approach quests. In many ways, the game was an eye-opening experience. It sets the bar high what comes to meaningful content and depicting an atmospheric game world and also reminds of what is still possible to achieve in its well-worn genre when given enough effort, heart and thought.

Headliner: NoviNews isn’t meant to dazzle people with super tight, unique, and revolutionary gameplay. It is, however, immensely replayable as it gives room for you to play through the story again and make all sorts of different choices the second or third time around. Whichever route you take, the entire practice of selecting which articles to publish is to get you thinking about the role journalism plays in society. It’s meant to provoke thought and test the player’s willingness to stay true to their own self in the face of ever-growing moral quandaries.

Star Wars Pinball is a great collection of themed tables, and it manages to fit as many references from the series to please any Jedi or Sith Lord. Of course, if you’re not a fan of either Star Wars or pinball, I would first recommend Zen Studios’ other pinball tables or other Star Wars games. But if you adore the franchise, this is a fun and addictive way to re-experience the galactic fantasy world. The Force is strong with this one.

While it isn’t technically a new game, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening looks and feels as fresh and inviting as any new game released on the Switch. It preserves all the strange, playful fun of the original while utterly transforming it visually and mechanically, and preserves everything that made Link’s Awakening a classic. Whether you’re playing it for the first time or revisiting a longtime favorite, you won’t be disappointed.

Conceptually, Repressed is exactly the type of game that appeals to me. Delving into the repressed depths of the mind provides plenty of opportunities to tell an immensely profound and intriguing story. In practice, however, Repressed is actually quite bland and uninteresting. Mechanically uninventive and stylistically dull, there was little that kept me engaged besides the passable but rudimentary story. Repressed is hard to recommend for anyone besides those that are completely sold on the minimalist aesthetic or a limited creative concept.

From its title screens to its combat mechanics, The Surge 2 copy/pastes a great deal from the two-year-old original and while it moves the franchise into a more open and populated world, I was hoping for a more dramatic evolutionary leap. Like its Soulsborne models and its predecessor, The Surge 2 is a challenging game, made more so by an inconsistent frame rate and sometimes imprecise combat controls. It’s still a pleasantly familiar Souls-like experience but like The Surge, the sequel hasn’t quite discovered the alchemy that transmutes repetitive grinding into a satisfying feeling of mastery.

Agatha Knife is all barks and no bite as it makes fun without being mean or mocking. I expected to sit through some profound lesson but much to my surprise – and without spoiling too much – the outcome was positive for all the parties involved. In the end, the unique presentation and a curious premise hide a somewhat familiar parody and the so-called criticism the game likes to think it represents isn’t as sharp as Agatha’s knifes. Or maybe I’m so used to all things weird that it would take something more outrageous to freak me out. On the other hand, maybe it’s better that Agatha Knife plays it safer because even the most straight-laced individual can enjoy the charm of Agatha’s sincere antics set against a strange world of (make)belief.

Before long, you will notice that the sweat you once poured trying to get through brawlers like Streets of Rage and Final Fight is absent here. Instead of hailing your co-op partner to keep the fight going, you’re more likely to ask for a break sometime soon. There’s only so much of the repetitive action, no matter how sugarcoated it is, you can endure in a one playing session. Still, Misako and Kyoko are lovely girls, if sometimes outright half-wits. Games featuring dual female protagonists are few and far between so River City Girls must be appreciated for that alone.

There is a serious amount of content and creative potential in Realm of Magic and it’s further proof that while The Sims 5 might be in some shadowy state of development, there is still ample fun to be had with The Sims 4. Fans of Harry Potter will rejoice that the Sims can now explore the nexus of magic and everyday life and longtime players now have even more stuff to keep them in the game.

Pagan Online’s Slavic fantasy pulls from mythologies that are slightly off the beaten path, but so much of the game feels like familiar — and what’s worse, less successful — tropes, mechanics and ideas gleaned from other ARPGs, MOBAs and mobile games. It does have the advantage of presenting relatively short and fast-paced missions to the time-pressed player, but I suspect fans of action RPGs would prefer a more creative, immersive and less repetitive experience to one that is just abbreviated.

It looks beautiful, plays like butter, and is still one of the most enjoyable games I play each year. The game does have its issues, but as of writing, a lot of the glitches I saw seem to have been addressed. My biggest gripe (and I know I’m not alone) is the amount of emphasis placed on VC each year, and how it feels even more off-putting this year. It takes away from what is such a beautiful and well-crafted game. But if you’re like me and don’t play the card game and don’t mind the grind, NBA 2K20 is still the best sports game on the market.

In addition to a spectacularly unlikable antihero protagonist, Devil’s Hunt has combat that sometimes feels like an afterthought and endless cutscenes that desperately need the help of better writers and designers. I liked its story, and a better executed Devil’s Hunt could give Devil May Cry or that other Polish novel-based game a run for its money.

When the most critical bugs are eventually squashed (developers have promised a steady stream of patches) and the penalty for dying hopefully toned down a bit (or conversely, more resting points added to the world), Decay of Logos will rise up to its full promise. As it stands now, you have to answer the following questions. Do you want your game challenging? Do you want a game that doesn’t guide you by hand but trusts your own initiative? Do you want a brave elf heroine with floppy ears? If you answered “yes!” three times, Decay of Logos is absolutely for you, a high fantasy adventure that is as high on its stakes as on the reward you get from conquering its unlikely circumstances.

While Children of Morta stays pretty solidly in the tradition of recent RPG/roguelikes, its packaging — graphics, design, story and characters — elevate it above the pack and players who have grown weary of the genre will find it refreshing. It’s challenging without (usually) being unfair and while there is plenty of varied combat, there is a story with some heart and soul for any player looking for a break from constant hack and slash. It’s still a roguelike, so any player intolerant of the genre’s “die and try again” conceit will not suddenly become enlightened, but fans of the form will enjoy one of the more interesting and appealing examples in recent memory.

Despite the lackluster single player and small other foibles I have with some of Heave Ho's design choices, you're still getting a ton of great bang for your buck here, especially at the $10 asking price. From the scores of levels available to the player, to the sheer variety of the different worlds and to the simple unpredictability of being dropped by a friend that you thought had your back since preschool, Heave Ho is a fantastic experience that'll make for a killer additional to any player's party-game collection. Just make sure you bring a few (trusted) friends along for the ride.

Overall, WRC 8 screams mediocrity in every turn, something akin to a budget title, but still it’s sold for a full price. It’s not a bad game by any means but not that great either. At its best, WRC 8 can be nice enough to hop into now and then but nice isn’t enough when there’s a superior rally racing game available. As of writing, there are four rally events left in the world championship so there’s still room to get excited whether Ott Tänak can keep up his top form or will Sébastien Ogier make a late-season comeback and continue his winning streak. In video games, the competition is already over, though, as WRC 8 has to settle for a distant second place behind DiRT Rally 2.0.

Some unpleasant forays in the Astral Plane, an occasionally unhelpful dodge, and a dearth of combos hold the game back slightly, but despite these shortcomings, combat still feels robust and exploration is a welcome change of pace. Overall, Astral Chain is a wonderful synthesis of stylish character-action, RPG elements, and a novel central hook that manages to tread new ground despite its many points of influence.