By just about every single metric for evaluating a boomer shooter, Turbo Overkill excels and delivers in spades. I had a near limitless amount of agency to play as I want and still enjoy a boomer shooter experience without frills, gimmicks, and other artificial difficulty spikes. It oozes creativity while taking players on an exhilarating ride through a cyberpunk apocalypse. It’s the perfect blend of gore, seriousness, and silliness. Turbo Overkill is a literal spectacle of unfettered, high-octane boomer shooter gameplay. Call it a symphony of destruction, mayhem, gore, and violence. Call it bloody good fun. Call it whatever you want, really, so long as fun is somewhere in that mix. The world of Turbo Overkill is one worth exploring and desecrating with Johnny Turbo’s chainsaw leg.

As a longtime Yakuza fan, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is the Goro Majima game I’ve always dreamed of and somehow more unhinged than ever before. Ryu Ga Gotoku has outdone themselves once again and I’m so excited for players to get their hands on the helm to take Yakuza’s version of a naval RPG for a spin.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach on the PC brings the same epic story, fantastic gameplay, and unrivaled visuals. It’s quite an achievement for PC gaming.

God of War: Ragnarök from Santa Monica Studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment is a beast on the PC. It brings the same big adventure while sporting some of the most gorgeous graphics the game has shown to date.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a watershed moment for RPGs and gaming. It represents one of the closest approximations of true freedom, creativity, and player choice available, evolving concepts and mechanics that have been tinkered with for decades. Using Dungeons & Dragons as its catalyst, Larian has honored the past and forged a new future for a genre that has allowed increased agency for players to put their thoughts, feelings, hopes, and wants inside of a digital realm and live.

Ghost of Tsushima: Director’s Cut is truly a masterpiece, much like its original release. It introduces an entirely new and separate experience with Iki while bringing and refining the beauty of the gameplay and visuals.

Naughty Dog has crafted another game bursting at the seams with passion. Coming at the close of another console cycle, the studio proves its ability to evolve and defy expectations. The Last of Us Part II is no simple sequel. It is a fully realized vision of the world players were introduced to in 2013. Evolved gameplay not only asks players to be more tactical, it taxes them emotionally. But it is also a loving send off of beloved, grounded characters. Whether grabbing a pallet in water or carrying around a ladder, subtle nods exist to the first game, showing the studio takes to criticism and can improve.

After an in-depth, critical analysis, I simply couldn't find anything wrong with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is breathtaking, engrossing and deep. With gameplay and visual improvements, Bethesda set a new standard in The Elder Scrolls series with Skyrim, and with the action/RPG genre. This most certainly should be the game of the year.

At its core, Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is an inventory management game. The more you play, the more freedom you have to do things with that inventory. You can help others. You can hurt others. You can save citizens. You can kill them. You can grow your world. You can destroy it. Regardless of your decision, DSDC is a game unlike others in that your assumptions about core gameplay loops and storytelling are pushed aside in favor of exploring a disconnected future. For those who have yet to play DS, DSDC is clearly the iteration of DS that is worthy of your time given its iterations that are increasingly respectful of your time and patience while also giving you additional creative outlets to muck about. For those of you who were unable to get hooked into this game, then DSDC may not be the answer you seek in a cinematic experience. Give it a shot, though; I’d love to be proven wrong.

Plenty of shooters (and plenty of games) have played with bullet time, stopping time, or some otherworldly manipulation of time, but none have married its passage to movement quite like Superhot. It not only adopts and plays with this idea; it pushes and refines it to its logical extremes by discarding anything that might get in the way.

The death of the Dreamcast. The birth of PlayStation VR. Rez's singular orbit stays outside of a mercurial industry and remains as powerful and as relevant as it was fifteen years ago. By its architecture and through its nature, there isn't a time when Rez won't be beautiful. PlayStation VR, as it happens now, is the best way to experience it in 2016.

I couldn’t help but think of how Santa Monica took the best of GoW as a franchise and melded it beautifully with the most distinguishable designs of other modern games to create something with an immensely potent synergy.

Resident Evil Requiem is a return to old-school Resident Evil structure with new-school flavor. It’s a more compact and claustrophobic experience compared to the previous title, while bringing dual stories, intense action, and horror, and a proper number of puzzles into the mix.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth codifies the long-lasting significance of JRPGs from the mid to late ’90s, an era in which developers finally had the tools to tell captivating sagas with little compromise. In 2024, Square Enix captures and recontextualizes 1997’s opus with an unyielding vision, building out its world and preserving it with a keen eye for how it fits into the modern landscape. With a cast of characters and a boundless world that has resonated with players for decades, that emotional core is not untouched, merely reborn.

Deathloop is a fascinating and brilliant game. It subverts expectations out of the gate, providing players with a deep mystery that is solved by compelling, diverse gameplay. While being similar to Arkane’s previous work, it is almost like anything else you may have played while still housing familiar, recognizable elements. A whirlwind of intrigue, action, and style crafts Deathloop into a melting pot of smart, bold choices. Thankfully, Deathloop transcends its shackles as an amalgamation of “Arkane’s Greatest Hits” by offering players a thrilling take on shooters. Combat puzzles involving webs of untruths and harrowing escapes turn Blackreef into a time loop you won’t want to break from. And a definitive candidate for one of the best shooters in years.

Blue Prince from developer Dogubomb and publisher Raw Fury is everything it is cracked up to be. It’s easy to pick up and play, thick with strategy and play-driven decisions, and simple to come back to repeatedly in the face of failure thanks to some amazing gameplay elements that were methodically built for its design.

Overall, Red Dead Redemption 2 is the perfect gaming experience, and what you were hoping for in the next iteration of the series. It has a rich story, deep gameplay, unrivaled visuals, and plenty of plains to explore.

Arc System Works’ -Guilty Gear Strive- is an excellent Switch game and definitely the best bang-for-your-buck if you haven’t yet gone down the Guilty Gear rabbit hole. It is one of the most accessible fighting games on the market, making it a satisfying pick for casual and competitive Switch owners wanting to join the fray.

Resident Evil 4 was a marvel when it was released back in 2005 and Resident Evil 4 Remake follows the same path. It’s pure perfection from beginning to end and groundbreaking with its backend improvements and details. Capcom has hit another home run with this one.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is nothing short of a gaming phenomenon, the kind of video game sensation that surfaces only once in a blue moon. The transition to the PlayStation 5 platform not only feels natural, but remarkably seamless. In their ingenuity, Larian Studios has guaranteed that you can simply pick up a controller and effortlessly traverse the vast realms of Dungeons and Dragons. Every button and option that once thrived exclusively in the realm of mouse and keyboard has been artfully translated to the controller, rendering BG3 a paragon of accessibility. Beyond the satisfaction of gameplay, the visual spectacle on display is nothing short of awe-inspiring. The user interface boasts vibrant icons that lend clarity to every on-screen element, ensuring that all options are discernible. In sum, Baldur’s Gate 3 is an absolute essential for any PlayStation 5 gamer.

Dragon Quest XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition brings a lot of new additions to a perfect game that is still fun to play two years after its initial release. Having a fully orchestrated soundtrack, more adventures, a 2D option, and nostalgic places to explore just leaves room for one more upgrade — a PS5 update. Regardless, if you’re playing this on a PS4 or PS5, this is the best edition of the game to get and you won’t be disappointed.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is Nintendo’s Magnum Opus. It’s not only the best Zelda game ever created, it’s also one of the very best videogames in the history of the art. Games like this are so rare that it would be impossible to classify it as anything other than a masterpiece. Experience it at all costs.

Ori Mees did a superb job with Blake: The Visual Novel. The story is compelling, the choices feel real, and the consequences will have you trying the game again once it’s done.

Looking past its story (again, its story is incredible) and emotional power, there is enough additional content to warrant a full replay for existing owners. If you’re a new owner, this is no doubt the edition you should be securing to fully immerse yourself in Naughty Dog’s desolate future.

L.A. Noire is everything that people expected it to be. It has a fantastic set of stories that drive the game from beginning to end, beautifully motion captured actors and enough gameplay elements to keep the gamer deeply involved. On top of this there is a large city to explore and enjoy. Rockstar certainly brought the goods with this one.

Few games take as many risks, and even less actually emerge for the better, but Mass Effect 2 pays off in an almost effortless fashion. Not one to be missed.

BioShock Infinite is a proper interactive mystery, and it's a sight to behold and a joy to experience.