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.

Its art design is excellent, its pacing is spot-on and it has a light-hearted approach to its dark-themed subject that consistently takes real menace out of the premise. Pumpkin Jack’s combat my lack the depth of many ARPGs, but the game is short enough that this never becomes a problem. Although it is a Halloween-flavored game, there’s no reason not to enjoy it any time of the year.

While it would be nice if I Am Dead's characters were as layered as the town of Shelmertston, the game still mostly succeeds as a unique puzzle experience with some excellent environmental storytelling. It is rewarding to explore this space while magnifying and cross-cutting its details, a constant stream of small discoveries coming into view as you deduce the location of the next hidden memento. Every corner of this seaside village brims with picturesque detail, creating a small town that feels genuinely interconnected. And while the game's pleasant tone keeps things from ever getting truly heavy, it undeniably makes for a thoroughly charming time.

Overall, this is a fantastic "End of Saga" title, as Falcom calls it, even if the Trails name lives on (I'd still love to see the rest of the series localized in the West). Fans of the series certainly don't need a review to tell them this, but if you happen to be checking this game out for the first time, oh boy, hopefully, you know what you're getting into now! Welcome back to Erebonia, everyone!

If you’re looking for a roguelike with personality and wit, Going Under may surprise you. Mechanically, it won’t blow you away, but with so much character on display, this is one internship worth taking.

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.

Echtra Games’ Torchlight 3 is a lighthearted fun experience with some extremely nuanced character classes and varied build options. Spending hours grinding through dungeons decimating hordes of enemies, either solo or online, just doesn’t ever get old. The jovial attitude of characters and bright color palette help this dungeon crawler stand out amongst others in the genre. It is a truly appreciated deviation from the typical dark and gritty tone players are conventionally provided with. The post-game content is constantly updated and new legendary gear is being added to the game every week. If you are looking for a game to hold you over until the release of next-gen in a couple of weeks, I would definitely recommend checking out Torchlight 3 for an outrageously fun, hack and slash, dungeon crawler.

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.

Anyone who likes dungeon crawlers will find a lot to like if they stick with it, I just fear that far too many players won’t get to explore just how good this game is once you find your footing. Other games in the genre are learning how to welcome new players and ramp them up to what the game requires of them and in this area, Crown Trick is lacking. I hope with time and patches it can get there because the core of the game is absolutely worth your time.

Maybe it’s a bit too pricey for what it’s about, but what else can I do but surrender to its charms? If you have problems with fast women and beautiful action, though, steer away from the game. For others, it’s a short and sweet action piece that perhaps surprisingly has even a tad more depth than before.

Stunningly beautiful as it can be, Manifold Garden can also be mentally exhausting after long stretches. As much as I never wanted to put the controller down, there were moments I had to take a break whenever I felt it difficult to concentrate on the growing complexity of what I needed to accomplish. Manifold Garden is complex, gorgeous, intelligent, and without any doubt, one of the best puzzle experiences you can have on the PlayStation 4.

Ultimately, Noita is probably not going to change anyone’s mind on roguelikes, but it sure is well-crafted. The game is filled with so many little quirks and gameplay nuances that I never ran out of things to experience. At almost every run, I would run into something new, be it a spell, an enemy, or even secret areas. One thing certainly worth noting is that the game is what you make it. Noita is undoubtedly a title worth playing for those willing to just dive into the gameplay and master the systems at play rather than worry too much about trying to win.

At the end of the day, G. I. Joe Operation Breakout is hurt by a campaign that is neither fun nor a fitting tribute to a classic pop culture license. There’s multiplayer - local only - but I strongly doubt people are going to stick around to try it out. What it all comes down to in the end is that $40 is far too great a price to ask for this limping tribute to G. I. Joe.

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.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is not anything to write home about, nor is it a must-play rebirth of the beat ‘em up genre that the publishers and developers claim it to be. Although the game provides aesthetically pleasing environments and some enjoyable music, it ultimately suffers from an uninspired and one dimensional co-op beat ‘em up experience and is hamstrung by a vanilla cast of characters.

Hades is a must-play game this year and you are doing yourself a great disservice not giving it a shot. There is what seems to be an unending plethora of reasons, as highlighted so adamantly above, about why Hades will most definitely be in my top 10 games of the year list. Every aspect of Hades feels nuanced and beautifully crafted. It transforms what I initially thought was a torturous, gimmicky genre into something digestible and fun with a kick-ass narrative sprinkled on top. Hades without a doubt is one of the best games to come out this year and Supergiant Games has yet again proved that they are one of the best developers in the industry today.

Ys Origin is both a great introduction to the series and an interesting diversion from the formula. It’s worth playing, both for fans of the series that missed it on initial release and new players who love a JRPG with retro charm. Although one playthrough won’t take up much of your time, the multiple character setup and additional modes add enough gameplay to justify the price of admission.

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 campaign has a few bothersome technical missteps but playing the game with friends online, watching them engage targets in the middle of an assault on a Star Destroyer has brought life to my inner child.

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.