Inkonbini spent its five-hour runtime talking to me – not with me – and I never felt a part of this town’s culture or its inhabitants' lives in the way the writing says I was. Customers would enter my store, hit their marks, share their golden lesson of the day, and the shift would end. I’d do the same thing the following day, and the following day, until Makoto’s final shift arrived and the game ended with a cheery but unearned celebration of my week at Honki Ponki. It’s a disappointing konbini experience for someone who genuinely cherishes them in Japan. It is neither narratively nor mechanically engaging, and though Makoto seemed to enjoy each shift, I rarely did.

Everyone will approach Tomodachi Life differently, and that is what makes it such a unique experiment. However, if you don’t have the time or creativity to imagine and engineer unique dynamics between tens of Miis, Living the Dream’s removal of the social features cannot serve as a safety net as it did with the 3DS release. And sadly, outside of the daily dose of comedy, there isn’t much more to buoy this release.

It's never been easier to get into the competitive Pokémon scene, and playing Pokémon Champions has been a highlight of my last week. Champions seems to be designed for people like me, who are familiar with competitive battles and want an easier way to participate. However, it also makes moves to cater to completely new players and extremely seasoned players, and by trying to satisfy all three audiences, it fails to properly serve either. With minimal content and a pressure to collect Pokémon in mainline games, it works best as an additional mode for the main series. As a standalone product, it's a game confused about its own goals. And much like the in-game status condition, that confusion only hurts it in the long run.

The primary draw of Reunion is seeing Max and Chloe reconnect and make up for lost time. The game delivers on that front; their heartfelt interactions sometimes made me forget the game’s other shortcomings. The manner in which Deck Nine sends these two off into the sunset – again, the version I unlocked – is truly wonderful. The rest of the package is overwhelmingly familiar to Double Exposure and takes a step backward in some cases. As much as I love Max and Chloe, everything around them seems to fall apart when they come together; Reunion is, sadly, no different.

I am a big fan of cinematic platformers. I appreciate this attempt at taking the mechanics and presentational focus of the genre and applying them to a fun cartoon. That part of the game, alongside the platforming and puzzles, works well and is attractive. Unfortunately, the frequent sneaking slows the game down and is a barrier instead of a fun series of challenges to overcome.

I love that Milestone is experimenting with new ideas within the arcade racing formula, and while the story didn’t land for me, I applaud the effort at narrative in a genre that frequently doesn’t even try to add meaningful context to its races. Even so, difficulty spikes and arbitrary objectives combine with overly convoluted mechanics to rob Screamer of some of its fun. It’s worth experiencing to see a developer try something new, but this race track might just have too many turns to be a winner.

[Crimson Desert is] a beautiful, exploration-rich open-world game that’s a clear technological achievement, hampered by a cornucopia of little frustrations and a stark lack of narrative depth.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is frightening with its near-constant jump scares, oppressive atmosphere, difficult enemies, and arguably too much darkness. But more so than fear, the emotion I frequently grappled with was frustration.

For the God of War completionist, there is a story incentive to play through Sons of Sparta. It builds on Kratos’ character well, shows a part of his life we have not had the chance to experience, and there is at least one small detail related to modern Kratos and his son that I am glad I learned. But it underwhelms on nearly every aspect of Metroid-inspired design without outright failing. Controlling Kratos, fighting, and exploring just isn’t particularly fun on a basic level. A just below perfunctory genre experience alongside characters and in a setting I admit I like spending time with.

I want to say there’s something enjoyable, interesting even, buried beneath the flawed execution of Code Vein II, but that something is the corpse of other games in the genre this vampiric creation is feeding on for inspiration.

Bloodlines 2 is a let-down, but not irredeemable. Despite a sparse open world and a story that's inflexible until the later hours, there's fun to be had here. Action and stealth gameplay help fulfill the vampire fantasy, and strong performances from the voice cast make the noir narrative one that I didn't mind revisiting each session. My 22 hours with Bloodlines 2 were mildly entertaining, but like an insatiable vampire, I'm left feeling a little empty.

I know the charm of Swery games (and, to a lesser extent, Suda51 titles) is how utterly bizarre they are, but any chuckles Hotel Barcelona’s quirky sense of humor may elicit were drowned under a sea of head-scratching and outright bad design and storytelling decisions. No matter how many secrets it may have or surreal moments it assaults players with, it’s all wrapped around a dull, limited, and flawed core gameplay experience. You don’t have to go home, but you shouldn’t stay here.

My feelings about the music extend to the whole of Baby Steps, I suppose. I see what they are going for. I understand why and how it’s funny. And I appreciate how unique it is, but I would be lying if I said I enjoyed it. It’s a truly singular experience, something we will always need more of in games. Some will enjoy struggling to climb sandy dunes and laughing at their friends falling down the same cliffside for the hundredth time, but no amount of creative appreciation will change how I felt playing Baby Steps. Every time I put the controller down, I dreaded picking it back up.

For all those complaints, however, I do admire that Nintendo tried and arguably succeeded at creating something unique that could not really be ported to another platform even if Nintendo wanted to. Nintendo does not automatically get credit for making something different, of course – the game still needs to be fun to play and give you reason to play – but I will always appreciate Drag x Drive for being unlike anything else and working better than I expected.

The ideal way to play FBC: Firebreak is as a group of three friends on a Discord call, coordinating moves and synergizing kits, which is a decent way to spend an afternoon. Unfortunately, it's difficult to achieve anything similar while matchmaking, and even then, there's just not much to do. On paper, I don't mind the lack of story, competitive modes, or procedurally generated content, but when the gameplay isn't engaging or interesting enough to keep me playing, the lack of other game modes is especially glaring. Recent updates have eliminated the tedious grind for upgrades, but the lack of a strong foundation underneath leaves FBC: Firebreak with too little, too late.

Despite a disappointing launch, Madden NFL 26 isn’t unsalvageable. I would imagine many of these problems will be fixed through post-launch patches, but that doesn’t change the fact that despite how strong its fundamentals appeared to be prior to stepping onto the field, much like a nervous rookie, this entry just wasn’t quite ready for primetime.

Shadow Labyrinth is such an odd concept that I optimistically assumed it came from a specific, focused creative pitch, but it's one of the least focused games I've ever experienced. The story, art design, and structure are messy and underbaked. It's middling at best and maddening at worst. It doesn't have enough Pac-Man for fans of that franchise, and its Metroidvania elements are too weak to appeal to fans of the genre, so why did they make a Pac-Man Metroidvania? After spending 40 hours with the game, I still don't know, and that makes it difficult to recommend.

Though it’s a beautiful game, with an excellent Sicilian dub to boot, [Mafia: The Old Country] unfortunately leaves a lot on the Don’s table, failing to rise to the promise of its premise.

Destiny is a fiction and gameplay I deeply love, and I’d be delighted to continue to invest time in its characters and adventures. But the bloat of currencies and systems on display at this point is a major turn-off, and The Edge of Fate’s new additions and changes don’t make me feel compelled to play more. I’ll continue to cheer for the game to grow and expand, and I believe there’s some strong potential to this new saga focused on issues of freedom and pre-determinism. But the current thrust of this expansion just isn’t working.

Mostly, I am just happy that there is a good Mario Party available in the Switch 2’s launch window. It’s not a game I see myself booting up on my own, but as a means to get a party going with players of all skill levels, I am glad I have it on the metaphorical shelf.

Cracking each puzzle is rewarding, but the true excitement comes with trying to complete all the bucket-list items in one fly's lifespan.

Wheel World is an amalgamation of boring races and exploration, poor storytelling, and often clumsy gameplay that never felt great. Its unique art style and excellent soundtrack feel wasted on what’s here, and the premise of the game is more exciting than anything that actually happens. When I crossed Wheel World’s finish line, I felt nothing about what I had accomplished, instead feeling more excited to get off this bike for good.

It all feels like after-school study when you just want to be entertained. All the hallmarks of a first-party Nintendo release – overflowing charm and impressive technical aptitude – are here. A lot of thoughtful work went into Welcome Tour to make me understand and acknowledge its $10 price tag, but it’s just not a tour I would recommend taking.

I consider myself a MercurySteam fan, and even after gleefully closing the game when I saw credits (and deciding the lengthy, extended final quest for the true ending was not for me), I remain a fan. Blades of Fire feels a bit like the developer’s attempt at bringing something new to what has now become the overpopulated Souls-inspired genre. It was unsuccessful in this instance, but some of its ideas around combat and the world it created are exciting. They just couldn’t overcome the parts that made me want to give up on the game.

I don't regret my time with Atomfall. It knows what it wants to be, with a reasonable scope and solid shooting mechanics. But issues with the skill system, its underbaked stealth, and an unengaging narrative are asterisks too large to ignore. Like the world it depicts, something exciting and unique lies at Atomfall's core. I just wish it wasn't walled off by my laundry list of frustrations.

Jot’s big adventure is presented as a children’s story, and it’s hard not to feel like a kid playing it in the best and worst ways.

Though the developer has some horror highs in its catalog, The Casting of Frank Stone rests six feet at the bottom of it.

Despite my hangups, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn never plummets to being actively bad. Instead, it coasts along a solid line of mediocrity that results in a moderately good time. It often feels like it wants to say or do more but is held back by its scope and execution, not to mention some technical hiccups. Though it occasionally shows flashes of brilliance, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn falls short of achieving true godhood.