The Road to Gehenna is not a game for newcomers, but this compelling set of tests is bound to please those who delighted in the original The Talos Principle.

While I’m still working my way through endgame content, including several raids, battlegrounds, and a target-hunting Prey system, Midnight’s core experience is great. As the second entry in a trilogy, Midnight effectively fleshes out returning characters and blurs the line between good and evil in interesting ways. Ending on a dark note, this middle chapter creates more questions than answers, and serves as a great staging ground for the story’s final act. While the conclusion is still years away, I’ll happily devote that time to decorating and, inevitably, renovating my new abode. Now more than ever, Azeroth feels like a home away from home.

The level design is as epic as ever, with puzzles spanning entire vistas littered with tunnels, tombs, torturous traps, and more.

Peak stands out as a delight in a year of self-serious major game releases, and I especially recommend it to anyone seeking levity amidst life’s stresses. The climb to the summit may be treacherous, but overcoming its many hazards with my friends is one of my favorite memories of playing games this year.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 may as well have come out in 1989. It looks and feels like a game from three decades ago. If that was the only goal, it succeeds with flying colors. Unfortunately, that’s not a very ambitious goal, since the market full of side-scrolling 8-bit inspired gems that cleverly blend genres and make use of modern gaming conventions. Curse of the Moon offers a few hours of mindless action, but there are better nostalgia trips out there.

I'm honestly very excited to see what this team comes up with next, and hopeful that future title will have a little more polish to it. [July 2005, p.125]

It's cute as hell, fun as can be, but a few steps back on the evolutionary ladder. [July 2003, p.104]

In the post-game cleanup, I’m only now engaging with the aesthetic-serving aspects of Cult of the Lamb. I’m finally making my cult feel like mine and not one I’m sure every other player will at some point make to cultivate as many resources as possible. I only wished I had felt this earlier in my 19-hour journey. Still, everything I did leading up to it, from the fast-paced dungeon combat that never grew stale to the factory-like base building that nailed the stress of resource management, was enough and then some to keep me engaged and indoctrinated.

As a downloadable title featuring the bells and whistles that many retail fighters are lacking, Skullgirls is an impressive feat.

Regardless of its shortcomings, this still serves as a great way to play these three games on modern, portable technology. Super Mario 3D All-Stars is a must-have for all die-hard fans of Nintendo's flagship franchise, but it's unfortunate to have it outshone not only by the collection's contemporaries, but also by the collection it was essentially modeled after nearly three decades ago. If you're on the fence about Super Mario 3D All-Stars, you can't go wrong with these three classic adventures in one neat package. However, you'll want to grab these before they disappear forever; Nintendo currently plans on pulling the sale of Super Mario 3D All-Stars at the end of March 2021.

Even with a somewhat bare-bones online offering, it's still one of the most refined fighters on the market.

Fans of Shantae's previous adventures will likely find more to love with Pirate's Curse, but there are enough superior retro-inspired games (Shovel Knight, Strider, Azure Striker Gunvolt, etc.) to make this one hard to recommend unless you've already played them all. However, there is fun to be had if you're a tenacious enough pirate to dig for WayForward's buried gold.

Dragonborn delivers a great adventure that rarely apes content from the core game. The dungeon designs are inventive – especially the water temple – and flow nicely from quest to quest. Solstheim is a fun island to explore, offering a wealth of side content and locales to uncover. The dragon-riding and battle against Miraak in the final act are rough, but the story stays strong and is tied to one of of Skyrim's most enjoyable quest lines.

In spite of these frustrations, Galak-Z has the heart of a truly compelling shooter. I wish 17-Bit had taken its elements and laid them out in a game with a more natural progression, or added a greater level of variety to Galak-Z's extensive randomness. However, even when the game feels unfair, I couldn't resist returning to these pinpoint-accurate flight controls and tense dogfights.

With climactic setpiece moments dosed heavily throughout each mission, endlessly enjoyable third-person gunplay, and impressive swarm tech that pits you against hundreds of enemies at once, little time is wasted on anything that isn’t fun in Space Marine.

On all platforms, Dragon Age II caters to an audience that didn't connect with Origins, while alienating those who did. This may result in a better console experience, but considering that Dragon Age: Origins was a love letter to old-school PC RPGs, BioWare's neglect of the sequel's PC release is tragic. I appreciate the technical refinements, but improving the polish doesn't do much good when the basics still need work.

Part of me was disappointed with Dragon Age II. I hoped for an improvement on the original, but it ultimately feels like a step back. [Apr 2011, p.85]

FIFA still does soccer best, but there is room for improvement. [Dec 2001, p.93]

Definitely a decent game, but if the franchise doesn't evolve, it runs the risk of losing its crown as the dominant PS2 shooter. [Dec 2005, p.166]

Hardcore platformer fans will find this a trying test of skills. Henry Hatsworth could have been one of the most unique and interesting games on the DS, but some baffling design choices hold it back from greatness.

Six careers blend in plenty of interesting variety, though pacing gets unexpectedly slow in the adventure-style diagnostic and forensic modes.

DDR hasn't evolved much since its console debut on PSone, but the graphics, song list, and online options of Ultramix make it the best entry in the series since "DDR: Konamix." [Jan 2004, p.148]

Finally, LucasArts had the foresight to surround the game's finely tuned combat with engaging story interludes, sidequests, and more content than you can imagine. [Oct 2003, p.130]

Pure fun that increases exponentially has you add more friends to the mix. [Nov 2005, p.138]

The new matchmaking and social functions also add a new level of engagement to the experience. However, for those who quickly burned out on the first game, I'm not sure this is enough to get them to pick up their virtual art pad again.

As a standalone game, The Banner Saga 3 is the weakest of the bunch. As a conclusion, it does its job well, marrying beauty to melancholy and making me think long and hard about what sacrifices I was willing to make for the good of the world.

Like Agent 47 himself, Hitman 2 doesn’t take a lot of chances – instead it continues honing its underlying formula to a deadly precision. A part of me still longs for the smaller and more digestible maps of the older games, but I can’t argue with IO’s execution here – the levels, and memorable assassination opportunities they hold, are worth the investment.

I was relieved when Requiem’s second set of credits rolled. Not because I didn’t enjoy playing the game, but because the de Runes’ journey in this game is tense and stressful for much of it. At times, it feels too long and oddly sadistic in its focus on inflicting fakeouts, pain, and suffering on the de Runes. Other times, I admired Asobo’s command of this series, its rat-infested stealth mechanics, and its grandiose storytelling. Fortunately, the latter edges out the former, and Requiem feels like much more than just a follow-up. With this journey behind me, I’m excited about where the series might go from here, but if Asobo plans a break for the franchise, rest assured that Requiem goes out with an impressive bang.