Fly back to Strangereal for the next installment in the Ace Combat series. The game is beautifully crafted and takes you on the ride of a lifetime. Easily one of the best flying games I have ever played, I know I will find myself returning to Ace Combat 7 quite often.

The most complete and best version of a great game, the Ultimate Evil Edition is an excellent addition to any growing PS4 collection, especially if you enjoy dungeon crawling with friends.

Of all of the Vita launch titles I have been fortunate enough to play, this is honestly the easiest one to recommend. Accessible, fun, addictive, and offering lots of content, Lumines: Electronic Symphony is a superb launch title.

When you consider the sheer volume of gameplay and the quality and uniqueness of the experience, Metroid Prime Trilogy is one heck of a value.

While not as complete or all-around "perfect" as one might hope, this is still a must-have release for PS4 owners.

Okami HD is a great way to own one of the finest from the PS2 era.

A Fold Apart brings you into a personal and deep story. It’s a story that invites you into a deep and meaningful relationship between two characters. It’s a game that’s real, and that’s why I love it.

Orcs Must Die: Unchained might just be my surprise game of the year to this date. The amount of fun that I’ve had with this game is insane. The game is polished and balanced. The year open beta definitely benefited the game a ton. I will recommend just about any gamer try this game, especially with the price of free. However once you begin your journey of killing orcs, you might not want to stop!

I absolutely loved Berserk Boy – enough to want to come back for more thanks to its fast-paced platforming, fluid combat, incredible soundtrack, and nostalgia-bomb of SNES-era gaming. This 2D action-platformer is worth the ride so you can GO BERSERK!!

In many ways, Rogue Legacy 2 aligns with the gold standard of the roguelite category by creating a highly engaging, dare I say addicting, gameplay loop that rewards multiple types of players. Newer players will find enjoyment in its accessibility levers and bite-sized progression while roguelite veterans will enjoy its deeper-than-expected class-based variance. Sure, you probably will die a lot, and you’ll wish to have a greater connection with its world and the characters within; at the end of the day, its flaws are outweighed by the amount of fun that is to be had by experimentation and repetition. My nearly twenty hour experience felt like two hours, and I still itch to return for one more run. Regardless if you’re a PS+ subscriber or not, Rogue Legacy 2 is more than deserving of your time.

Tormented Souls gets way more right than not, and I came away from it very impressed. This was the kind of game that once I got the hang of it (I have not played many survival horror games at all) I became enthralled with playing and exploring every area and uncovering all the secrets and story material I could. This game does not try to advance the genre; it doesn’t do anything particularly new or better than previous champions of the genre have, but for all that it does, it does it very well. I’ll always say there is room in any genre for another solid entry, and that’s what you get here — a great survival horror game built with intentional classic/retro design.

In sum, Metro Exodus takes the best elements of 2033 and Last Light and adds a major evolutionary component with open world exploration and crafting. A potent balance is struck between the claustrophobic atmospheres of previous games alongside the new design of expansive open world areas. The blend of full-on action with stealth and survival horror is nicely done as well. I found Metro Exodus to be a more engaging and hard-to-point down experience than I anticipated, and whether you have played the series before or not, Exodus is well worth checking out.

Triangle Strategy is a fantastic tactical RPG, and I’m so very glad to see it ported over to the PC. It offers a near perfect balance of strategy gameplay, active worldbuilding, and passive worldbuilding to get players committed to Norzelia and her inhabitants. While the gameplay may be too handholdy for tactical veterans, its accessible enough to encourage you to spend more time playing the game rather than trying to customize characters to the best they can be. This port doesn’t really offer much of an incentive for those who own the Switch version, but…the game is near perfect as is. Why bother trying to improve on a stellar tactical RPG?

Yakuza: Like A Dragon is a rousing success. The timing is excellent, too. It’s the dawn of a new console generation and it’s an exciting time for this storied franchise to turn a new page. As far as launch games go, this is one of the best, for several reasons. It offers some presentation ‘wows,’ but even more importantly it offers a deep, long, compelling story with memorable moments and characters, with strong gameplay and lots to do. It’s built off of the success of the previous fifteen years of Yakuza, but Like A Dragon blazes its own path, too — you need not have played any of the previous games to fully enjoy this one, yet I appreciate that this game honors the past while forging its own future. PS5 owners have something great to look forward to in March, but if you’re lucky enough to have the new Xbox, this is a great game that is also very well priced right now at just $50.

Violence has never looked as vivid, gorgeous, and wild as it is in Mortal Kombat 1. Its fighting mechanics remain just as approachable and appealing as prior entries, with one key difference: It’s the best-feeling Mortal Kombat I’ve played thus far. There’re some minor quirks that are still being ironed out at the time of writing, but I’m excited, legitimately excited, to see what Netherrealm chooses to add to this game.

Dirt 5 is a breath of fresh air into the franchise. Bringing in new and relevant influencers from car culture into the game, and having a blast behind the wheel, it’s a game for any gear head. The gameplay is fresh and uplifting to be apart of. You can take it as seriously as F1 or any other racing game, but you can also just sit down and have a fun enough time just running around and braking everything. The depth and diversity of the career mode is something that can keep anyone around to play with such a wide array of races to choose from. My only real knocks are that the customization for cars is slightly limited livery wise and that the HUD takes a bit to fully grasp. Other than that, Dirt 5 is a game for any car enthusiast to pick up and go have a ball with.

Regardless of any decisions made in The Outer Worlds, know that Obsidian has justified them. This is a game that is confident with itself. It is in no way small. Featuring some of the strongest games writing I’ve witnessed in years, it’s hard not to want to dive back into this world as a completely different character and tinker with the story just to see how it attempts to gel with player choice. For awhile, I thought this genre was nearing life support. Now, I’m confident that the community will embrace The Outer Worlds to the point where Obsidian has to give us more of this universe. It’s so well-realized, so lovingly crafted. It’s the best choice.

Even if you do the minimum amount of side content and just stick with the main story as much as possible, you’re in for a long, interesting, and fun game. The story matter is heavy, though, and might tax some players into taking breaks more often than they might typically. To balance that, there is a lot of good humor and zaniness that you would expect from this studio, but also some endearing missions in the School Stories section where you do everything from lead a dance team, help engineer robots, box, join a motorcycle gang, and partake in a Virtua Fighter 5 tournament. Additionally, the changes that LJ has compared to the original are all positive, too — big new areas to explore, new gameplay elements in both the action and adventure portions of the experience, and yet the best parts of the original are carried over. Ultimately, this is an excellent game that I readily recommend.

Woolhaven is Cult of the Lamb at its most difficult yet satisfyingly chaotic. It’s arguably one of the better, if not the best, DLC expansions of recent years thanks to how much good content is added to the base game. While it might be punishing thanks to the winter mechanics, it’s in line with the painful existence associated with the teachings of our favorite little lamb. Believe you, me, Woolhaven is a fantastic standalone post-game in and of itself.

It’s fun and I feel like I get something out of playing every time. I also love the presentation; technically it’s an impressive feast for the eyes in 4K HDR. Framerates are silk; animations are great, maybe a bit too cartoonish on the blood at times, but to be sure it’s a great looking game. The audio package is excellent.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is fantastically animated and one of the more interesting fighting games that I've ever come across. It's an epic game to play by yourself or head-to-head with some friends.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a small appetizer for what could be one of the greatest meals on this generation of consoles. It’s true the initial mission in the game is short, but the extra content, missions, items and a first-look at the visuals more than makes the $29.99 price tag worth it. Definitely don’t miss this.

Rare Replay is loaded with gems and classics that by and large have stood the test of time. Modern tweaks and goodies make it all the more worthwhile. It's the best value in gaming, and sets the bar for any compilation going forward.

Mass Attack sports loads of innovative mechanics, masterful level design, and a breed of quality and polish that stands alongside Nintendo's best.

At the end of the day, whether you’re taking a nostalgia trip back in time to revisit this classic or if you find yourself in Historia for the first time, it’s definitely worth playing.

Firewatch distinguishes itself through integrity of its structure and preservation of its characters. Allowing control over Henry and Delilah's perilous connection provides a sense of ownership over the narrative and creates an important bond between action and place. Other story-focused games suffer from a damaging disconnect between agency and intention, almost as if they don't trust the player to act reasonably in accountable situations. Firewatch proves this dynamic not only to be valuable, but necessary to go forward.

Inside's quiet confidence is a maneuver invented to not only disarm the player, but also destabilize assumptions that seem inseparable from an entire class of games. Plenty of games have pulled the curtain away to thunderous applause. Only Inside has room for shock, panic, and the inconceivable notion that the nightmare isn't yet over.

So many games either waste or misunderstand their medium as a storytelling device while Cibele thrives inside of its own technology. By no coincidence, it’s one of the most human and relatable games, too.