Akka Arrh is a fascinating game that finally gets a proper release after forty years. The gameplay is fast, addictive, and embodies everything great about an 80s arcade experience.

Balatro from developer LocalThunk is a marvel of a poker experience. While its base-level design is poker, the game’s complicated layers of beautiful strategic ridiculousness driven by upgrades, buffs, and jokers make for a unique experience that is both stimulating and challenging.

Overall, ‘Speed Crew’ isn’t what you’d expect from a game around motorsports. It’s a simple concept and action, but allows for a lot of fun to share with your friends.

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.

Corponation: The Sorting Process is an interesting, albeit well-designed simulation involving simple gameplay and a handful of minigames to break up the monotony of the corporate nonsense lifestyle. While it didn’t peak in terms of pulling on my heartstrings or senses of dread that usually accompany dystopian narratives, it sufficed in keeping me enticed with its gameplay.

Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story demystifies yordles’ existence in a way that emulates some modern simulation favorites like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. While its gameplay skews more straightforward, guided, and simplistic, Bandle Tale is presented in a way that is charming and contains ample mystique thanks to its glorious pixel art and soundtrack.

Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior from Sand Door Studio and publisher Spotlight by Quantic Dream is a fun action game that is driven by strategy and a sprinkle of good storytelling. The gameplay’s unique ability to offer the player several ways to succeed in a fight keeps the gameplay interesting and engaging, while the challenge to complete said fight in X amount of time will ensure the game’s longevity and replayability.

Airhead from publisher HandyGames and developers Octato and Massive Miniteam is a gorgeous and challenging puzzle platformer that will put your brain to the test, as a good puzzle platformer should. The difficulty at times might frustrate some players, but the juice is certainly worth the mental squeeze.

Helldivers II from developer Arrowhead Game Studios is a team-driven experience that is goal-driven fun wrapped in a goofy Starship Troopers tip of the hat. While the gameplay can get repetitive, the reward system helps to balance it out.

Although the series’s core gameplay is action-adventure, it offers much more than that. You progress through levels and different parts of the world, and they are quite challenging with no guidance provided. Tomb Raider is a game that requires a lot of trial and error, so it’s always a good idea to save your progress frequently. Numerous traps in the game can catch you off guard, such as rolling boulders, spike pits, and even a T-Rex lurking around the corner. If we view the trilogy through a modern lens, we can see that it has the same level of difficulty as a Soulsborne game, while also featuring a Metroidvania-style design.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League owes nothing to anyone. It may feel like sandpaper for those expecting something completely different but it contains an expertly designed combat and movement system made by a team that knows how to make super heroes and now, super villains, play. An arguably inconsistent narrative and repetitive mission structure bog down an otherwise exciting, stylish, and humorous campaign. Thankfully, a wealth of player-friendly decisions spell hope for an engaging endgame that will maintain a community somewhere along the Elseworlds.

Dragon Quest Builders is an absolute delight on the PC. It balances story with building and still has time to sprinkle some familiar Dragon Quest RPG essence into the mix. While the camera is still a pain within tight spots, and when building large walls, the overall body of work is still solid.

Ultros is a psychedelic cosmic loop of a metroidvania. Its combat is approachable and simple, while its gardening encourages creativity and problem-solving that is rarely seen in the metroidvania genre. I had a good time playing Ultros; it mystified me while giving me room to stress-test its cosmic universe and fully explore its boundaries. While I wanted more complex combat and intentional varieties of color, I was quite satisfied with my journey to warrant a play in the future. Ultros is a trip worth taking at least once.

FOAMSTARS from Square Enix is an interesting competitive game that borrows its surface-level gameplay concept from Splatoon while offering deeper and more intriguing gameplay underneath led by solid upgrade and buff systems. Unfortunately, the lack of meaningful solo missions does hurt the game, as it feels like half a game made it to launch.

I’m going to assume that most Tekken fans are no longer on the fence after seeing the overwhelmingly positive coverage of Tekken 8 over the last few weeks. Truth be told – Tekken 8 has earned that praise and more. Its immersive combat is fluid, cinematic, yet visceral. It sticks to its serious yet goofy roots through utilizing imaginative character archetypes and flat-out silly character customization. Its Special Style dramatically simplifies Tekken 8’s combat for new players to get them up to speed against series veterans like me. If you’re new to the series, Tekken 8 is the fighting game you should play this year. If you’re still deciding between which fighting game to play this year, Tekken 8’s combat and mechanics are the most satisfying yet. I highly recommend Tekken 8 – it’s helped 2024 start off on the right foot.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown contains one of the more entertaining stories I have played this year. Combine the story with a strong action and puzzle gameplay backdrop and it’s certainly one to remember in the Prince of Persia series. The price may not hit the right notes, but the gaming certainly does.

Racket Club VR from developer Resolution Games nailed the racket-based sports VR experience with perfect mechanics and equally good physics. This game was built for the competitive sports type and did a great job of bringing the racket-based sports experience to life in virtual reality. One can only hope that more Meta Quest 3 games take this type of care in their design.

You don’t need to be a BlazBlue diehard to appreciate BlazBlue Entropy Effect. Its roguelike gameplay features some of the most fun yet complex combinations of button mashing and attack chains. It is far more approachable than most roguelikes I’ve played recently thanks to how it presents complex information to players and gives them opportunities to test out mechanics without relying on trial and error.

Persona 3 Reload is not a carbon-copied remaster of Persona 3 Portable or even Persona 3. It’s a refreshed perspective of Persona 3 that removes a good bunch of pain from older RPGs while retaining the charm and character of the original. It feels like many thoughtful decisions were made to better the game’s flow without compromising on its core experience or watering it down. My only concern is that owners of 2023’s Persona 3 Portable might feel like there aren’t enough changes to warrant a replay. But, if you haven’t yet experienced its source material, Persona 3 Reload is without a doubt the best version of the game to play.

Turnip Boy Robs a Bank from developer Snoozy Kazoo is an action-packed game that uses a quick pace to keep the engaging gameplay moving forward, while its item and progression system encourages players to keep coming back for more.

The Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy from Capcom is an outstanding release that shows off some of the best games in the Phoenix Wright series, as well as some extra goodies that make the return journey worth your time. The trilogy also highlights the high points of new gameplay tools in relation to the logic puzzles that separate this trilogy from previous games in the series, while also showing some of the gameplay tools that didn’t work. Regardless, it’s still a solid trilogy.

This is all to say that Phantom Abyss falls somewhat short on achieving the goal of offering a challenging parkour adventure in a roguelite package. The whip and phantom gameplay involving other players’ trial and error are unique, but its clunkiness, difficulty, and disparate progression are worth a pause. I’m confident that additional polish and content are coming down the pipeline, but I need more from the current state of the game.

Painfully, there is so much to be said about Immortality that would only betray the trust of the player if it were to be openly discussed in such a manner as a simple internet review. What better endorsement could I give of Immortality and its profound impact than the deep emotional ripples I felt when its final revelations were unearthed. Was it sadness? Lack of control? Elation? Regardless, Marissa Marcel’s destiny was the perfect voyeuristic vessel in which to participate in the medium of art, searching for unforgettable meaning.

Bottomline, Ryu ga Gotoku Studios has another huge hit on their hands with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. Rich, complicated stories and characters, with intriguing developments for individuals as well as bonds between characters greatly adds to the mystic, while a slew of mostly-optional side gigs further compliments the outstanding team-based combat. For many of us, the Yakuza/LAD series has become as comforting as a warm chicken pot pie on a cold day. I have spent more hours roaming the streets of Japan (and now Hawaii) in this franchise than perhaps any other game world ever. These games are familiar, enjoyable, and even though the gameplay does not vary much from one adventure to the next, the quality, accessibility, pacing, quantity, and fun of playing these games continues to pay dividends. At the end of the day, whether you’re a series veteran or a curious newcomer, you cannot go wrong with Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.

Wallace & Gromit in The Grand Getaway from developer Aardman Studios is a great nod to the series. The story is solid with fun and innocent humor, while characters bring their A-game to make the adventure feel like the Wallace & Gromit world. The gameplay is a little light on VR content, certainly not as deep as other VR titles, but it’s good enough to entertain a wide variety of gamers including those young gamers just starting their journey into the VR world.

Bahnsen Knights is an interesting visual novel that leans heavily on pulp fiction storytelling while giving players the illusion of choice. While the game is quite short, it’s a good recommendation for a player wanting a gripping narrative set within a late 80s aesthetic.

All things considered, Not for Broadcast VR is absolutely a title that any new VR owner should play. It involves just enough virtual reality input that gives players a taste of what to expect when playing a virtual reality game. At the same time, it excellently weaves a story involving propaganda and revolutions all the while critiquing the role of the news media in the most subversive sense.

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.