Super Mario Party Jamboree’s core board game is still as fun as ever, and made even better thanks to some clever new maps. Its signature minigames, though, are a little more inconsistent as some of Nintendo’s best ideas are almost exclusively saved for hit-and-miss side modes. It’s a multiplayer package that spreads itself thin, but there’s enough fun content here to keep the dice rolling for another turn.

As a standalone story, Death of the Outsider is well worth the price of admission. Although it doesn’t innovate on the gameplay in any meaningful way, it’s as well-designed as anything in the series and fans will enjoy facing new challenges in the streets of Karnaca. We particularly enjoyed the scrappy underdog feeling of playing as Billie, with fewer powers than her protagonist predecessors.

MLB The Show 18 makes some missteps this time around, and if you’re most interested in building up a star in Road to the Show, it’s an especially weak year. That said, with fantastic online play and the expected stellar hitting and pitching, it is still an incredibly fun game, and the best baseball simulator coming out this year.

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake gives an NES classic the royal treatment it deserves.

NBA2K’s latest installment proves to be an excellent basketball sim, bringing more refined, realistic gameplay, and balances to offense and defense. The MyCareer story is much improved, and the progression system feels more forgiving than previous iterations. While the rest of the package mostly mirrors what we’ve seen before, overall, these marked improvements to the series make it hard to hold it against 2K19.

The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story is an exhilarating action title that you don't need to be a League fan to enjoy.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a return to form for this once-lauded RPG studio that should satiate Dragon Age fans quite well after a decade-long wait. But returning to form and perfecting form are not the same thing. BioWare has plenty of room to regrow as it gets back on track making the kinds of games RPG fans want them to create.

Viewfinder is an ingenious puzzle game that wows at every turn, even if its sci-fi story stretches to find deeper meaning in its mind-bending photo hook.

Is it overflowing with newness for anyone that’s already gorged the past year’s soccer bounty? Nope. But it’s still the very best soccer game in town.

WWE 2K23 is another successful chapter in the wrestling series' comeback story, but the red flags of annualization are starting to appear already.

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is a light, but crowd-pleasing DLC chapter that sets the stage for Aloy's next adventure.

Playing through Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMix, it’s hard not to hope that making this collection has shown Nomura how best to approach the final, still upcoming chapter in his unlikely opus.

When the brunt of your game consists of slamming buttons to fight off beasts, you better make it feel good to distract us from the repetitive nature of it all.

Live A Live is a high-effort remake from the presentation side, though the base game remains an uneven RPG experience.

Splatoon is a beautiful new twist on the shooting genre, but lacks team chat and other modern norms.

Whether you love the high-octane spectacle of Final Fantasy XVI or the character collection of Genshin Impact, Granblue Fantasy: Relink has a little something for you. It’s a smart blend of ideas, even if it's a bit torn between console and mobile gaming philosophies. More importantly, though, it does all that without sacrificing the playful energy the RPG genre was built on.

Saltsea Chronicles is a poignant nautical adventure about the distances between us and what we gain from crossing them.

WWE 2K24 finishes the wrestling series' comeback story with its best installment yet.

Advanced Warfare is extremely unfriendly to the newcomer, with busy, text-laden menus that aren’t explained well and speedy play that is difficult to keep pace with. The campaign is a worthwhile training ground, but it’s hard to apply lessons and feel progress being made when crack human snipers are gunning you down seconds after a respawn.

The Creative Assembly’s game, however, is cooked; left to boil so long it loses all flavor and texture. For 10 hours, Isolation is one of the best horror games ever made, until a second, poorly made game bursts out of its heart.

No matter what I'm doing in Borderlands 4, I'm always earning something that offers a new way to strengthen my character's identity. Guns each feel more distinct than ever, making the loot grind that much more enticing. Each fight is an opportunity to flex my personality thanks to the movement system allowing me to approach and react in dozens of ways, with bosses acting as the exclamation point to it all. But most importantly, Borderlands 4 struck the best tonal balance yet. Borderlands 4 feels like the idealized version of what this series was always striving to be.

Replaying stages to get everything is part of Treasure Tracker’s pleasure, but it doesn’t come at the expense of variety.

This is the sort of game that people buy a new console for. It’s just that good. Sunset Overdrive celebrates the things that set us apart as gamers, and it draws strength from those differences. It never loses sight of the fact that fun trumps all in this sort of escapist fantasy.

There isn’t an easy way to recommend Life is Strange: True Colors. It, like the rest of the Life is Strange franchise, isn’t a typical game. It’s more akin to a visual novel or point-and-click adventure. The game is a slow, enjoyable experience, perfect for when you want to wind down for the night or get up in the morning. More than that, though, it’s an emotional triumph. Experiencing Alex’s adventure and seeing the world through her excellently crafted perspective is a joy that hit me harder than I expected it to.

Children of the Sun stumbles on story, but its unnerving hyper violence hits its mark.

Venba delivers an elegantly nuanced story about cultural identity through sharply written dialogue and meaningful cooking interludes.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero delivers thrilling fights, but its disjointed story mode doesn't hold up its end of the bargain.

A rewarding experience from its start, Sifu delivers challenge after challenge, all of which are too exciting to turn down.

Civilization: Beyond Earth takes the best that Civ V had to offer and liberates it from the baggage of history repeating.

Assassin’s Creed Origins is what happens when you make a game without a vision for how players are supposed to engage with it. So many of the changes made to the game feel as if they were made in a vacuum, without a question as to whether they make sense together in the context of a long-running series. Not all games need loot. Not all games need RPG mechanics.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is a top-notch spinoff that cleverly distills the complexities of Monster Hunter into a friendlier RPG. Rewarding combat and a thoroughly entertaining story make up for repetitive map design and a stuttering frame rate. For those who found Monster Hunter Rise too intimidating, this is a better way to get a grasp on the basic ideas in a less demanding, turn-based format.

Ultros is a bold and beautiful artistic vision, but a convoluted Metroidvania.

Shovel Knight Dig punches above its spin-off weight class, even if its roguelike elements are a little modest.

Ubisoft set a high bar for itself in 2017 when it presented a thoughtful concept that turned Far Cry’s outlandish and often politically charged lens on the United States. The game ultimately settles something closer to the devil-may-care attitude of past Far Cry games. While not devoid of fun, the game feels hollow. Four previous Far Cry games — 3, 4, Primal, 5 — were built this way, and the formula has grown stale.

Persona 5 Strikers is as flashy as Persona 5, featuring the same gorgeous artwork and animations, great dialogue, and brilliant music. It unfortunately lacks the meat on the bone that made the original such an addicting experience to its loyal fanbase. It also provides little incentive for newcomers to play it despite its egregious length being drastically cut down.

Steamworld Heist 2 is a strong sequel, even if it may test both your skills and patience.

Battlefield V fails to impress the same way Battlefield 1 did. By all means, give it a try if you’re a fan of DICE’s previous work, but know that you’ll have to put up with some pretty glaring faults.

Stellar Blade is a masterclass in style, but it's lacking substance.

Fall Guys is a family-friendly battle royale and a game of the year contender.

So long as you're willing to play by its rules, Lost Ark it is an absolute blast thanks to its perfect blend of visceral ARPG combat and steady MMO progression.

Black Myth: Wukong is only a Soulslike in the way Stellar Blade is, and that's to its credit. It lightly borrows elements from the subgenre but carves out a niche for themselves by focusing on its key differences. Despite some performance issues and frustrating difficulty spikes, Black Myth: Wukong’s frenetic combat and emphasis on fluid movement make it feel unlike any of its other contemporaries.

Though I initially worried that Hellblade 2's dark story about psychosis would trigger my anxiety, it's a surprisingly inspiring sequel about perseverance in the face of pain. It tells a story about overcoming what holds us down, and finding solace in others. It doesn't quite reach instant classic status due to uninspired gameplay that's much less creative and ambitious than its stunning presentation, but Ninja Theory's latest is still an absolute must-play for any Xbox Game Pass subscriber and an experience I certainly won't forget anytime soon.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is the finest adventure game released in years and a clear highlight of the latest console cycle. Both its exploration and combat components gradually build in complexity with tools that always have a clear purpose. That elegant mechanical design keeps the focus on the game’s impactful story, which tells an aching, but hopeful tale of environmental disaster. There are a lot of points of comparisons to be made when breaking it all down, but Kena: Bridge of Spirits blends every little influence together into its own gorgeous mix.

Gears Tactics is a brilliant next step for a series that hasn’t seen much in the way of innovation since its inception. It’s not massively ambitious, but it’s bloody good fun.

While it would be accurate to call the game a spinoff of Fire Emblem: Three Houses, that’s selling it short; it’s a full-fledged sequel, just played in a different key. Three Hopes doesn’t have the series’ signature turn-based tactics, but just about everything else is there amid its flurry of Dynasty Warriors-sized action. With no expenses spared when it comes to the mainline series’ RPG hooks, developer Omega Force creates an action game that still makes players feel like a five-star general.

Rather than following up on 2018’s hit Fire Emblem: Three Houses by repeating its exact playbook, the new tactical RPG is a quick regroup for the long-running series. It looks to reinforce its core combat hook with new systems, like adding extra armor plating onto an ax-wielding knight. It may seem like a step back at a glance, but it's more a lateral move that ensures the series can safely fight its next battle.

Bayonetta Origins tells a cute coming-of-age story about an initially powerless girl discovering herself. The game itself almost mirrors that, beginning with some simplistic, repetitive play but slowly evolving into something complex with its own distinct identity. It’s not just an origin story for Cereza, but for a new spinoff series with promising potential. The little witch we see in the game’s final moments isn’t the fully formed angel of death we meet in Bayonetta; there’s still some growing she needs to do to fully get there. Bayonetta Origins ends in the same place, leaving me excited to see where the adventure goes from here.

Season: A Letter to the Future is a meditative indie adventure that rewards players who are willing to slow down and take it all in. Even when its written story wanders, its vibrant world and detailed sound design always speaks for itself.

NBA 2K18 makes strides in both visuals and gameplay, while introducing an endearing social experience blended within MyCareer. The two story modes don’t impress, but their surrounding parts are so strong that they become an afterthought.

Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy has some rough edges, but its solo team play mechanics are a perfect match for the dysfunctional superhero family.

In its own way, Wanderstop is the perfect mission statement for a bright-eyed studio starting its path to self-discovery. It is a sincere celebration of our struggles and imperfections. They are not problems to run away from, but stones to sharpen our blades upon so we may win the next fight.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero puts together a politically engaging story, fun gameplay, and likable heroes into one epic RPG.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has an outstanding campaign, and the multiplayer will have you itching to play just one more game over, and over, and over again.

It still has some of the technical issues we’ve seen from 4A Games before, but Metro Exodus stands as a terrific post-apocalyptic shooter that expands on the series’ customization options and environments without ignoring its survival roots. 4A Games remains committed to turning author Dmitry Glukhovsky’s stories into (barely) living and breathing worlds, offering brief glimpses of hope in an otherwise depressing and occasionally nihilistic tale. Exodus establishes Metro as one of the great narrative-focused shooters, and it proves that exciting action doesn’t have to come at detriment to story.

With Avowed, Obsidian Entertainment once again flaunts its writing chops with a fantasy story that is contemporary in its themes and combat that feels better than most other first-person western RPGs. Whether you've experienced a Pillars of Eternity game before or not, this is a must-play.

While its creative gameplay ideas are spread thin, Thirsty Suitors offers a charmingly nuanced coming of age story about messy adults.

It’s just too bad about that cancerous story, always eating away at the heart of the game with its poorly conceived characters and overeager messaging. There’s so much fun to be had in Far Cry 4, and none of it has anything to do with the writing.

Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is a slick fighting game with an uncomfortable catch.

Infinity Nikki is the stylish open-world game that players have been begging for.

Madden NFL 19 offers an accessible Ultimate Team mode, a welcome player progression change, and minor gameplay tweaks that make the game ever so slightly more realistic. Longshot: Homecoming, however, is an unmitigated disaster.

WWE 2K25 could be the series' last babyface moment before a heel turn in 2026.

Pokémon: Let’s Go is a streamlined, marvelous reimagining of Pokémon Yellow with mostly welcome improvements.

Dungeons of Hinterberg will make you think differently about how you behave on your next vacation.

Diablo II: Resurrected is a huge accomplishment for a remastered game. It preserves the original game in amber while still showing just why it was considered a legendary game in the first place. It is perfect for veterans to jump back in and play as if you have been playing it for the last 20 years. It is also still approachable to new players who can finally see what all the hype is about.

Mario Party Superstars is the best game in the series, bringing a better selection of minigames and fewer gameplay gimmicks.

Scarlet Nexus is a must-play for any fan of Japanese action RPGs and standard JRPGs. If the story doesn’t grab your attention, the combat will. It has enough meat to its action to distract from its very minor blemishes. Its characters are a delight to interact with and seeing them grow together really had me fully invested in all of their arcs. I left the experience craving another title like it that takes its excellent action even further.

Planet of Lana makes up for some repetitive 2D puzzling with a gorgeous art style and a good-natured tone.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is a charming Mario adventure marred by a difficult and tedious battle system.

The First Berserker: Khazan will frustrate you to no end, but it's still worth its weight in broken controllers.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War addressed nearly every flaw of the original game, and its enormous environments help to make the emergent encounters and Nemesis system even more engaging. While its story stumbles early on, the unique stories you’ll get from pressing against your nemeses will keep you coming back to the game for dozens of hours. Even after killing and enslaving countless orcs, we can’t wait to keep making those stories.

Escape Academy is an endearing puzzle game that just wants to share the unique pleasure of escape rooms with everyone. Each well-designed level brings a set of clever logic puzzles that are always satisfying to solve, especially with a pal. It has a harder time bringing players a meaningful sense of failure, as the meaningless time limits suck the tension out of the room. Despite its struggles to nail down the energy of real-world escape rooms, it’s one of the most fun ways you can spend a Saturday gaming night this summer.

Respawn Entertainment has shown a game is definitely more than the sum of its parts, and this sampling of classic Star Wars tropes and modern gameplay trends makes for a flashy and frantic adventure. Put it on your must-play list for the holidays.

Whether you’re fighting, crafting, or gathering, your actions always serve a purpose in the Burning Crusade Classic campaign. Anyone can feel like they’re contributing either to their own guilds and groups or to the server as a whole. Leveling can feel sluggish at times, but talent points, meaningful gear upgrades, and a clear endgame goal create an RPG experience that still manages to make it a game worth experiencing if you have the time, even if it’s more demanding than we typically tolerate from games like this.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole isn’t an even experience. Some moments are fun and pretty funny, but others feel pretty uninspired. Exploring the town of South Park isn’t as novel this time out, and it largely isn’t as funny. RPG systems like combat, looting and crafting are just involved enough to make them interesting, but the firm emphasis is on the story and humor of the show. With the plot taking a while to develop and with so many jokes just feeling played out, loose on their landings or easy and obvious, it’s tough to really get excited to head back down to South Park.

"Potential" is the word I keep coming back to when playing through Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe. I'm smitten with every piece of the package on its own merits, but I'm also left excited about what it could signal for the future of the series. There's a lot of room for Hal Laboratories to take the combo-based platforming of Magolor Epilogue or the progression systems of Merry Magoland and use them to innovate its next original Kirby game, whether it's 2D or not. This may be a blast from the past, but it's even more exciting when viewed as a peek at what's to come.

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail delivers an emotional gut punch, even if it takes some time to get there.

New Pokémon Snap is a delightful follow-up to a beloved classic, which is no small task. It avoids being a simple nostalgia act by giving players tons of photo ops to chase and way more control over their final shots. There’s more room for it to grow, whether that’s through DLC or a sequel, but it’s a wholesome photography game for fans who want to soak in the colorful glow of the Pokémon universe.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is thrilling fun so long as you don't overthink its hollow story.

After seven years, with myriad studios steering the ship in different directions, LittleBigPlanet 3 feels torn between wanting to be a toolbox and a colorful little platformer. If it wants to just be a platformer, it needs to think bigger and expand what it lets you play with. And if it wants to just be a toolbox, it needs to either think of a better way to teach how to use those tools or stop breathing so hard down the player’s neck.

Pokémon: Let’s Go is a streamlined, marvelous reimagining of Pokémon Yellow with mostly welcome improvements.

Rift of the Necrodancer captures the true essence of music by creatively visualizing rhythm.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows almost feels like what it would be like if Ken Burns was tasked with making a video game. It’s exhaustive in how it depicts Japan’s feudal era even in fiction, crafting its world with the eye of a historical documentarian. It’s not quite the in-depth slice of life that Red Dead Redemption 2 goes for, but it approaches that same idea with fewer systems. Some of my favorite moments came when I just got bored of stabbing people and got on my horse instead. I didn't stop every few feet to complete a puzzle. I didn’t stop to open another chest. I just rode, breathing in nature and listening to my own exhale intertwine with the wind.

If Doom is a jam session that gives players space to improvise, Metal: Hellsinger is a high school recital. There’s only so far you can stray from the sheet music.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty lands in a happy medium for the Soulslike genre. It has enough mechanics to stand out from the typical FromSoftware disciple, but it's still familiar enough for veterans of the genre. It isn’t groundbreaking, but its difficulty and the satisfaction of overcoming obstacles still make for a fun (and frustrating) experience. Pair that with a thoughtful use of Chinese mythology that sets it apart from any other game on the market and you’ve got another strong Soulslike to bang your head against until FromSoftware unleashes its next epic.

The beefy spinoff of last year’s Infinite Wealth is an act of cosplay. While most of the pieces that make the long-running series so beloved are there, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio trades in strong writing for pirate pastiche with mixed results. Majima’s nautical adventure is at its best when flashes of memory break through its amnesia, reminding me that there’s more to Like a Dragon than its memeable moments.

Call of Duty: Warzone is the definitive battle royale experience right now.

Skin Deep is a wacky slice of immersive slapstick that could have used a little more chaos.

Resident Evil 3 is uncomfortable but exhilarating. There’s a thrill in the danger, like roaming a haunted house or riding a roller coaster.

Persona 5 Tactica's strategic elements are its highlights, but don't expect it to take your heart.

Horizon Call of the Mountain works as an impressive PSVR2 tech showcase, but overambitious ideas make it less appealing as an action-adventure game.

Madden NFL 20 is a stellar football sim, especially for those who enjoy Franchise or Ultimate Team. The reworked player ratings system adds authenticity to the on-the-field gameplay, and Ultimate Team is easier to follow than ever before. It’s not without its faults, though. The running game feels like a cheat code, and Face of the Franchise is a boring, poorly written career mode.

Anger Foot's one-note action gimmick can't find a second leg to stand on.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name satisfyingly ties up many loose ends in Kiryu's story, but it's one of the franchise's most tedious adventures.

Ghostrunner 2's intense action is a fun as ever, but the ambitious sequel overthinks a lean concept with messy new features.

The Journey is sorely missed in FIFA 20, as the story we get instead simply isn’t up to the high standard of its predecessors. The visuals also lag behind other AAA sports titles. Despite this, FIFA 20 remains the best way to experience soccer in a game. It makes a few minor adjustments to the formula without breaking what’s worked for the series over the years.

Islands of Insight is the modern reinvention the puzzle genre needs.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII succeeds at making one of the most storied strategy game franchises still feel fresh.

Everyone insists the stakes are high, yet they never feel high, because nothing you care about is at risk.