Salt and Sanctuary is a solid homage to its blatant source of inspiration. It doesn't supplant its predecessors, but it does an admirable job nonetheless, and offers players a moody, intricate, and fundamentally enjoyable dark fantasy experience.

Whereas any other series would be derided for a sequel that was merely more of the same, Overcooked 2 demonstrates the series’ strong core mechanics and delivers another stellar experience to be had with friends. There is a very clear vision here, and it works on every front.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Crush Your Enemies. It's presented nicely, has some nice, clean mechanics and is cleverly designed to be playable in short bursts of time. But it's also a strategy game that struggles to encourage players to be strategic, and its best feature, the multiplayer, is dead on release. A complete misfire in making the humour relient on stereotypes that grew old a thousand comedic games ago also doesn't help in giving Crush Your Enemies anything but a brief moment of forgettable fun.

This is going to be a short review, because Ayakashi Koi Gikyoku is effectively unplayable.

It's pretty in a generic manner, and has enough content that it will satisfy people that don't much care for creativity. But there is a point where a homage becomes a flat-out copy, and sadly, Tanzia simply doesn't seem to care that it's so brazen in its "influences."

I’ll be committed to Train Sim World for quite some time, I suspect. Give me some DLC train routes through Asia (especially Japan), and I’ll be all the happier. Give me one or two routes of the Sydney network and I’ll buy them just to gloat to Sydney Trains that it is possible to deliver passengers to their stops without a three hour delay. I’m oddly proud of my virtual train driving skills.

Banner Saga 3 is the appropriate swan song of the trilogy; hopeful, mournful, and utterly breathtaking.

A nostalgic experience that is worth playing if you are a fan of the 16-bit JRPG era. The cast is full of wonderful characters, the plot interesting and the battle system engaging. The whole game is wrapped up in a ten-twelve hour experience which was the perfect length to see the story out.

Not only is it hugely enjoyable in its own right, focused as it is one one of the most dramatic moments in living memory, but it has also managed to completely upstage an Academy Award-winning film that looked at the same moment in history.

Thematic problems aside however, the plot is filled with enough twists and turns to stay interesting throughout the game’s expansive runtime, and while the individual visual-novel segments might start to grate, they do a good job of breaking down the dungeoneering.

The humour tries a little too hard at points, but generally speaking, there's a genuinely great spirit to the game, and with the addition of multiplayer, you'd be hard pressed to find a more enjoyable brawler on the Nintendo Switch.

There's plenty to like about Element. The game's stated goal was to distil down the strategy game to something that still felt grand and "complete" in scope, but was playable for a few minutes at a time. It achieves that, and at the same time gives players a compelling look at a theme that is quite pressing, as the world looks towards an era of depleted resources. But it's also hard to push past the feeling that there should have been more to this one.

A very expensive way to play bad pinball.

The first of the two Mega Man X Legacy Collections contains four amazing masterpieces of platforming goodness. While it does not contain as many games as the original collection, the games here are all well worth your time, if not to revisit games from a bygone era, then to experience what all the fuss was about.

This appears to be a theme with the Mega Man franchise. Each series starts off well, and then after a half dozen or so numbered titles, the quality falls off a cliff. Much like with the original Legacy Collections, I would recommend the first collection over the second in a heartbeat if you were to only choose one.

For a first attempt at a kart racer, All-Star Fruit Racing shows that the team behind it is talented, and they know how to make a genuinely fun game. There’s a lot of joy involved in playing this one, and it’s an ideal party racing game, particularly on the PlayStation 4, where there’s no Mario Kart equivalent to reach for. If it wasn’t for the infuriating AI, I’d even argue that All-Star Fruit Racing takes a step forward in a genre that Nintendo itself is almost painfully conservative about.

If you’re able to settle into Realms of Arkania’s rhythm and allow it to engage with your imagination, there is an awful lot of nostalgic joy to derive from something so wonderfully classic as this.

There are still some problems, as the platforming can feel awkwardly stiff at times and the game isn’t the prettiest of titles, but it’s a resounding triumph in teaching an important lesson. Those that finish Path of Motus will find themselves better for the journey and motivated to follow their dreams. That type of reward far surpasses the amount of fun a game can bring.

Between that design creativity and the sheer stylistic beauty of it, Semblance is a game that'll stick in my mind for a long time.

Vertical Strike is a super low budget and cheap little game, designed to give fans of the occasional dogfight a quick rush. Thanks to its tight and efficient mechanics, and the steady and enjoyable approach that it has to difficulty escalation, it achieves what it sets out to. Nothing more, and nothing less.

As a puzzler, Yuso is definitely a mixed bag. It has wonderfully cute aesthetics that are pleasing to the eye, Yuso is an attractive game for sure. The implementation of the puzzles leaves a bit to be desired, some puzzles feel very clever, some are very easy, and some are too difficult, to the point that they require trial and error to pass.

Hand of Fate 2 will be most rewarding to those who like a lot of risk with their reward. It’s also a game for those who want to stray off the beaten path when it comes to the idea of role-playing.

One Strike is mildly fun, but woefully ill equipped to provide any long term value.

What players will find with Figment is a game that paces itself well to create a world that tackles the inner demons of its protagonist in a way that is simultaneously light hearted and without trivialising the seriousness of the themes. If for no other reason, you should look at this one for its art direction alone. It really is gorgeous.

An interesting title that almost looks like an old-school point-and-click adventure game, but its mix of platforming and exploration make for a deeper if flawed experience. It is unfortunate that the controls and some of the more vague environmental puzzles are not more refined, because they hold back what otherwise is still a memorable game. Even with those blemishes, the way the world is woven together and the interesting premise are more than enough reason to spend some time exploring.

Frost is mechanically sound and has all the hallmarks of a truly great single player card game. Sadly, its inability to take the concept and really drive home something impactful leaves it feeling a little shallow and limited in the end; a missed opportunity for something so gorgeous and refined.

The Lion’s Song is a touching game that highlights individual’s creative struggles and how they overcome these hurdles in their lives. The struggles of the 20th century can still be seen in today’s society, so it is inspiring to see them discover themselves and overcome these hurdles.

This is the best Sonic effort in years as the developers managed to blend the things that made classic Sonic games so great in the first place.