Overall, Once Upon a Puppet is a fine game. Its presentation is a standout feature, with its graphics, character animations, environments, and audio design all going to great lengths to make the most of the game's unique premise. But those elements aren't enough to elevate the overarching experience. The fine platforming, fine puzzles, and fine story are the strings that hold Once Upon a Puppet back from greatness, and some unfortunate technical issues can inject a layer of unnecessary frustration into an otherwise very satisfactory performance from a promising new indie studio.

Despite its PvP shortcomings and current framrate issues, Neverwinter proves to be a solid MMO for Xbox One owners. Although it’s certainly not a hardcore MMORPG, it’s a fantastic starting point for console gamers or those who have little experience in the genre.

Adventures of Mana is a short, enjoyable, and addictive little trip back to the humble beginnings of handheld gaming and the wildly popular Mana series, and the improved graphics and dedication to reproducing the original game’s feel are evidence of this.

Ultimately, Elex 2 has some small shortcomings like any video game but not where it matters. If players can look past the rough edges, they’ll find an open-world RPG that puts others to shame and a proper sequel that takes everything from the first game and improves upon it tenfold.

Although The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II doesn’t look as sharp, it certainly delivers more than enough entertaining content for the price of entry. Fans of ARPGs who enjoy micromanaging can’t go wrong with this title, but its lack of deep tutorials might make it difficult to jump into for gamers who aren’t already familiar with the genre.

The second episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne continues where the first episode left off, but delivers less of a consistent experience than the season premiere.

In a field crowded with competitors, Achilles: Legends Untold does everything it can to set itself apart from the pack. A story setting that hasn’t been explored as much in the isometric combat arena, a fighting system that flows very smoothly using whichever weapon a player wants, and large areas to explore and fight in. A large skill tree adds complexity as well, and there isn’t much to complain about in the looks department. It will need all of this and more to go up against the big names of the genre, but this scrappy action RPG fighter has a bigger punch than most players will be expecting.

It needs to be said once more that Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers isn’t a bad game – it really isn’t. But it’s a game that’s been making rounds since the early 90’s, with a port that feels eerily familiar to a version that first arrived roughly nine years ago on Xbox 360 and PS3. Then there’s the price point of $39.99 USD, which feels more like a gouging than anything nearly reasonable.

Call of Cthulhu wants to be scary. But instead of invoking a sense of fear in the player, Call of Cthulhu is almost relaxing to play, especially during the detective sequences, which is the exact opposite way a horror game should make players feel. Fans of the genre shouldn’t bother seeking it out for that reason alone, but for many other reasons, it’s not worth playing in general, horror fan or not.

The body-swapping mechanic of Slitterhead and being able to control these wildly different characters in an Asian city full of creepy monsters sounds appealing, but unfortunately, this horror/action does not bring the spooks at all and, frankly, isn't enjoyable to play. If you're someone who likes a somewhat janky brawler that feels like it came out of the PS2/360 era, there might be something of value here, but otherwise, it's hard to recommend this one.

On the whole, the Arcadia Bay Collection is largely the same game that was released almost eight years ago, but that isn't a bad thing in the slightest. When a great game focused almost entirely on its story, not much needs to be done for a remaster. While the Switch version is undoubtedly the worst version of the game from a visual perspective, those hiccups are more than made up for by the portability offered by Nintendo's console. That portability makes for the worst-looking yet most enjoyable version of these games to date and elevates the entire concept of the genre.

Players experienced in this genre and fans of F-Zero will likely love Redout 2. It's appropriately challenging and adrenaline pumping. When players struggle with control there's little fun to be had.

Due to its numerous technical issues and underwhelming gameplay, it’s difficult to give State of Decay 2 a wide recommendation.

VED is far from a perfect game, but it does have a few redeeming qualities. The hand-drawn art style is wonderful to look at, showcasing how strong this game could be. Additionally, the combat is often thrilling, because if players are not careful, then things can quickly fall apart. However, the story and the dialogue hold the experience back considerably. And ultimately, it leads to a pretty lackluster experience overall.

It contains the charm and strong mix of minigames that fans have come to expect, but much of the game seems stripped down in order to facilitate ease of play. As a result, it feels like Mario Party 10 loses part of the strategy that helped to tie the board game aesthetic together.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space: The Game is not going to convert anyone that isn't already a fan of these types of games, and honestly, there are better, more polished versions of this already out there. Hardcore fans of the Killer Klowns movie will get the most out of the game adaptation, and it's hard to recommend it to anyone else, really. The game has its moments, but it's unlikely to keep most players entertained for all that long.

Overall, there's a lot here that fans of Vampire: The Masquerade are likely to love, and the wide expanse of skills and choices to make should add a fair amount of replayability to the story. However, newcomers to the franchise would do well to read up on the way the series works as a whole before getting started, especially if they lack experience with tabletop games and the way that experience is rewarded and utilized.

There's some real promise peeking out of Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions' surface, and if the game's various kinks can be ironed out, it could become something truly special. But that pitch is long, and those goalposts are high.

The sheer amount of content Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 brings to the table is impressive, even if some of it doesn't live up to expectations. The co-op campaign is a mixed bag, Endgame is a bust, and the game is largely derivative of what came before, but it's a comprehensive, feature-rich package that will keep fans busy until the 2026 Call of Duty game. Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is a no-brainer for longtime Call of Duty fans, though it won't win over any haters.

Soundfall’s critical mistake is that it lacks anything new and exciting past the game’s opening hours and too comfortably relies on rhythm mechanics that, while entertaining at first, grow stale in isolation. Drastic Games’ decision to give a Diablo-like spin to the rhythm game genre had potential, but its core loot-based elements are half-baked, and its level design is sorely lacking. While strong in its broad range of music and lovely art style, Soundfall is a game that needs more time to flesh out its gameplay systems before it's ready to hit the stage. Soundfall is a feast for the ears, a treat to the eyes, and an exercise in monotony.

Ultimately, Mineko’s Night Market is a melding of boredom and frustration, and a lot of that frustration stems from the fact that the game could have been good. It had the graphics, music, story, and the makings of a gameplay loop that should have been thoroughly engaging. Instead, it just feels like nothing was pushed to its full potential, leaving both the game and the player wanting more.

Monster Truck Championship's controls are the one thing that stands out from an otherwise repetitive and dull gameplay loop, thin content, and questionable game physics. Many monster truck fans may have been waiting for that "next good monster truck" game that manages to deliver on all fronts, and unfortunately this is not it.

Even if one doesn't experience these technical issues, though, Saints Row is still a disappointment. The mission variety, co-op, and criminal ventures are great, but the game feels like it's at least a console generation behind in every other category. It's not the worst Saints Row game, but it's also far from the best games in the series, and will likely leave most fans of the franchise unimpressed.

A seriously innovative game.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed’s biggest draw is nostalgia with this Switch port. Many have good memories of the game from its original release in 2008, but unfortunately, this port fails to respect this beloved IP. Perhaps the worst thing is that there are plenty of beautiful games on the Switch, and there’s little reason this couldn’t have been one. It could have redeemed the ill-fated Wii version, but instead, it might have worsened its shortcomings.

At its best, Torchlight 3 is a fun and colorful (if mindless) romp through mobs of enemies in the search of loot. At its worse, it's a premium game that feels like an empty, free-to-play MMO, and it becomes clear that the game has an identity crisis. That doesn't mean it's not fun, it just means that "Frontiers" feels like an invisible subtitle to Torchlight 3.

Even with the brief runtime, Road 96: Mile 0 ends just as the narrative becomes interesting, making it difficult to care about what does occur. These are issues that could have been potentially fixed with slight tweaks to the story, but there is enough that works to inspire some curiosity as to how the overall narrative can be expanded in a theoretical sequel. There are reasons to go back and do multiple playthroughs if one wishes to see all potential outcomes, but that can only be recommended for someone who already has an attachment to the characters and would like to spend more time with them.

We’re comfortable recommending this title to gamers looking for a quick fix of solid, 2D beat-’em-up action without many frills.