Obduction’s gradually unfolding setting is compelling, and its narrative answers your big questions while leaving enough ambiguity to uphold a sense of mystery. A few exceptional puzzles reproduce the best of the genre’s glory days but the gameplay moments filling the space between them are too uneven and unrefined. Since it comes from the same creative talent, Obduction clearly takes some pages from Myst’s book, but these excerpts only result in flashes of greatness rather than a true successor.

When it embraces the full weight of its gameplay mechanics, it’s an enchanting experience. It hits speed bumps often and comes dangerously close to losing its way, but concludes with two strong acts. Valley is one of those gaming oddities with unique highs unlike almost anything else, which makes the lows worth tolerating.

Master of Orion is an incredibly polished iteration and a worthwhile return to the beloved franchise, but it’s entering a galaxy full of fierce competition as the space 4X genre has seen a big bang of resurgence over the last few years. Master of Orion boasts a lot to love for new players, and it’s one of the best entry-level 4X games out there, but older veterans may find themselves searching the stars for more complexity.

The King of Fighters XIV’s combo system is loose and expressive, and the character variety makes it easy to keep playing for hours. The learning curve is still a bit too steep for new players, but those who make the effort to climb it will find a fun, if unadventurous, fighter.

While I agree Madden 17 isn't a leap forward, the fact that it rides Madden 16's coattails while creating its own (thanks to the commentary system and some of the trench play) doesn't make it a bad title. If you asked me which I'd rather have – a new franchise mode or the improved line play that's now in the game, it's hard to ignore what I've actually experienced versus a hypothetical. The game is better because of it, and there's no going back.

Alone With You is an endearing adventure, albeit a flawed one. Despite its dark subject matter, it somehow remains to have a lighthearted tone with its pastel, washed-out aesthetic. I admired the different locations and existential tone, but longed for a more captivating storyline. Like the holographic cast it chronicles, this experience lacks a distinct personality, leaving it as a charming but forgettable adventure.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force features strong shooting mechanics, diverse missions, and a high level of challenge, but the frustrating matchmaking infrastructure and lack of checkpoints prevent it from truly achieving the greatness of its namesake.

F1 2016 has gained a lot of the ground the series has lost over the years, and hopefully Codemasters keeps building upon this excellent foundation. Having the official F1 license is a big responsibility that this title finally lives up to.

The narrative is often a slog (though it can be interesting and heady at times), and it devotes too much time to world-building and setup. As much as the game tries to highlight different walks of life, all of the characters, even Jensen, end up looking like faceless beings used to dump lore onto the player. I like seeing games tackle difficult subject matter, but that message, while occasionally coming through loud and clear, is ultimately lost in this dull and slow-moving story. It starts off with a bang, but quickly becomes a muddled mess of politics and techno-babble.

A beautiful, smartly designed game set in a gorgeous futuristic city, but with a story that doesn’t quite do it justice.

When I finished Deus Ex, I was mostly content with the four hours I had plugged into it. I occasionally felt clever at solving a tricky puzzle, and I liked the visual presentation. However, it didn’t sink its hooks into me like Hitman Go – a game I still return to occasionally years later. I doubt I’ll ever play Deus Ex Go again, but it was fun while it lasted.

No Man’s Sky rarely reaches beyond its vibrant world-building efforts to provide satisfying gameplay and story. Over dozens of hours of play, I couldn’t escape the sensation that I was playing one impossibly immense side mission, and I kept waiting for the real game to start.

Seeing Bound instantly begs the question, “What are you playing?” but its movement mechanics make it unsure if it wants to be an engaging platformer or a passive relaxing experience. It lives somewhere between the two worlds; never fully embracing either, but it sure looks pretty.

As an inclusive party game that only takes a few moments to get fun even for inexperienced players, Videoball succeeds. But for the lone player looking to partake in a different kind of esport, options are limited.

With a full crew, Videoball is a lot of fun. It hits that difficult-to-balance level of controlled chaos where a lot is happening on screen, but those playing and those watching can keep track of the action. It leaves plenty of room for close calls, last-second saves, and the equivalent of the slam dunk, but playing online proved difficult and the slow firing speed kept me feeling like I was coming up short.

As an inclusive party game that only takes a few moments to get fun even for inexperienced players, Videoball succeeds. But for the lone player looking to partake in a different kind of esport, options are limited.

Starbound is a satisfying space sandbox that rarely disappoints, with occasional minor bugs or mandatory missions offering minor quibbles with unbridled, endless exploration. This ambitious indie project has something for everyone buried within its retrograde graphical framework.

I was often left scratching my head wondering why my bridges kept collapsing.

Even though events like a serial killer and political intrigue pop up to break up the action, the day-to-day monotony of the gameplay takes its toll. Content is repeated, and causes the experience to drag on. If the goal was to convey the drudgery of this kind of work, I was sick of it halfway through. It all culminates in one of the dumbest imaginable confrontations.

The crafting system is superficial but pretty much all of Brutal is that way. Its most interesting qualities are gimmicks – the ASCII visuals, the procedural generation, a shield that you can throw like Captain America because why not?

The hook at the end of this episode has me intrigued for what comes next, but be warned, this is the roughest (and slowest) start to a Telltale series yet.

Abzû is a game of mysteries and its world will move you to muse the beauty of life and our place in it. It contains moments that transcend the simple act of playing a video game by making a connection with the beings around you – a profound experience.

Access Denied is a strong episode that tries new things and relies on familiar elements to mostly good results. I enjoyed going up against the massive threat of PAMA and fighting to save the world from his rule, and the action supports that thrilling premise. This penultimate episode does everything it needed to excite me for the final episode in this season of Minecraft: Story Mode.

Quadrilateral Cowboy is a strange, fantastic journey that will likely charm and test you in equal measure. I expect to come back to it many times over the next few months despite having completed it, searching the environments for nuggets of the story hidden away in the corners of each level and striving to become the best thief this side of cyberspace.

Headlander doesn’t forge a bold new path, but it’s a lot of fun to live in its strange world for a while. Its various elements are well trod – ‘70s aesthetic, Metroid-style exploration, big questions about the nature of identity and consciousness – but they’ve been arranged in a fascinating way that feels fresh.

I Am Setsuna has lots of nods to Chrono Trigger, from its general combat framework to specific references to skills like X-Strike and Luminaire. However, it doesn’t capture why most players connected to that seminal title. Even though the combat is entertaining, I Am Setsuna’s characters are dull, the environments are repetitive, and the story is predictable.

Ghostbusters is a slog from start to finish.

While the story is mostly bluster, later encounters introduce some much-needed nuance and muddy your role in the narrative. I'm sure some masochistic players will enjoy bashing their head against Furi's towering wall of difficulty, but with little else to go on, I was questioning my reason for fighting long before the protagonist started to.