Will: Follow the Light is a frustrating experience because the foundation for something memorable is clearly there. Beneath the repetitive puzzle design, uneven writing, and technical frustrations lies a genuinely interesting premise supported by immersive sailing mechanics and strong atmospheric audio. There are moments where the game briefly captures the emotional and cinematic adventure it wants to be, but it struggles to sustain that momentum for long before falling back into its more exhausting habits. For some players, those stronger moments may still be enough to carry the journey through to the end. For others, the game’s shortcomings will likely overshadow the experience long before Will reaches the light.

Mixtape is much like many coming-of-age stories you’ve probably heard before, but it tells it with so much warmth and creativity that I wanted more of it. As a game, it won’t surprise everyone, but its writing, music, and the dreamlike essence of its presentation make even predictable story beats meteor down to the surface with so much emotion that by the time the night was over, I felt like I was saying goodbye to old friends I’d only just met.

Kiln is built on a really fun idea, and for a good while, it’s a blast. Sculpting wearable pots and crashing into other players carries an infectious energy that’s hard not to enjoy with friends. Unfortunately, beneath all that molded clay is a multiplayer experience that still feels too thin, too repetitive, and too unfinished to hold attention for much longer than a few good nights of goofing around.

In terms of comfort in gameplay, holoVillage sits snugly where most of its peers rest. There’s no urgency to anything, allowing you to tackle its content at any pace you like. Unfortunately, it’s not very memorable, which is a quality that many of the genre’s greats have despite their inherent lack of climactic events, and it’s not very replayable either. It thankfully has a lot of content to devour, though, so it manages to salvage itself from obscurity.

Just as the moon covers the sun, with lost Carcosa awash with golden yellow, Saros eclipses all in its wake. Boasting a deep and synergistic core gameplay loop evoking Returnal, premium difficulty balancing options, emotionally-driven character writing, and the newest look cosmic horror has seen in decades, you wouldn’t be driven mad by playing this game; you’d be mad not to. Strange is the one who cannot fathom the greatness of Saros, but stranger still is lost Carcosa.

Invincible VS is a great tag fighter that utilizes the franchise’s identity to a remarkable level. Its top-notch presentation, noticeable competitive depth, and easy-to-grasp approachability make it a game worth playing for fans of the series and the genre alike. It still hasn’t quite reached its final form just yet, but it has the potential to become truly Invincible.

NTE is a game that feels like it’s constantly pulling you in different directions, yet somehow still holds together as a cohesive experience. It wants to be a gacha RPG, a city life simulator, a driving game, a management sandbox, and a narrative-driven anomaly hunter all at once. And instead of collapsing under that weight, it actually becomes a strong foundation to support how its systems interact and flow with each other. Of course, that ambition isn’t perfectly refined yet. Some systems still lean a bit too simple and story pacing can break immersion when level locks interrupt momentum. But even with those rough edges, the important part is that NTE never feels aimless. It commits to what it is trying to be—a multi-layered city RPG where everyday life and anomaly-driven chaos coexist.

Aphelion is easy to admire from a distance, but the closer you get, the emptier it feels. Its story relies on a relationship it never really builds, and the gameplay does little to keep things interesting in between the nice-looking moments. Aside from the performances and the immaculate soundtrack, the game is as distant and impossible to connect with as its namesake.

Lay of the Land is a decent game at its core, with almost all the basic sandbox game mechanics ready in one package—sprawling land, intricate building mechanics, decent crafting gameplay, and basic combat—but ultimately, it feels like an Early Access title that hasn’t had enough time to cook in the oven yet. It’s got a solid foundation of its basic gameplay mechanics, but it could definitely benefit from a lot more improvements in the long run.

Darkswitch is another case of a game that should have been released on early access being unleashed to the world at large as version 1.0. It feels thoroughly incomplete and untested thanks to its myriad of bugs, glitches, and questionable design choices. While there is a solid understanding of core mechanics buried here, it is unfortunately overshadowed by every other detail of the execution.

DRAGON QUEST Smash/Grow is a serviceable “survivors-style” RPG that looks and sounds just as you’d expect from the historic franchise. Its lackluster roguelite mechanics and lack of mechanical depth anchor its gameplay, ultimately making it a repetitive experience that’s easy to play and drop at a moment’s notice. However, players should be wary of the game’s abhorrent monetization scheme and progression walls, as these are not only worse than most gacha games but also a huge time sink that offers little satisfaction beyond repetition.

Yunyun Syndrome!? Rhythm Psychosis is one of those games that thrives on contradiction. It’s simple but chaotic, forgiving yet overwhelming, structured yet constantly slipping into uncertainty. It doesn’t aim for mechanical perfection, nor does it try to be a pure rhythm skill test. Instead, it builds an experience where rhythm gameplay, narrative descent, and sensory overload all feed into each other. The forgiving mechanics dilute mastery for some players, and the audio design occasionally clashes with itself in ways that feel more noisy than intentional. These aren’t dealbreakers, but they do keep it from reaching that higher tier of refinement. Still, what it does well, it commits to fully, and that commitment is what makes it stick.

Despite my gripes and the moments of frustration during my first ten hours, I still find the game fun to play. I want to see how this map expands and how my settlements might look once these systems are finally humming in sync. [Early Access Impressions]

Damon and Baby is a bold step for Arc System Works and a solid action-adventure game with a warm, molten core thanks to its lovable cast. It asserts itself as a well-thought-out action title thanks to its emphasis on gunplay, enemy design, and strategy. The creators of Damon and Baby set out to prove that they could make a good action-adventure RPG, and sure enough, Damon and Baby shows that Arc System Works should keep diversifying their catalog.

Vampire Crawlers is a game that goes straight for the jugular and doesn’t let go until your schedule’s bled dry. Although it is indirect with its storytelling and isn’t as visually and aurally unique as I would’ve wanted, the gameplay hard carries by being innovative, exhilarating, and concerningly addictive. There’s no deckbuilder or dungeon crawler like this out there, at least not yet. No doubt every other dev will want a bite when Vampire Crawlers pioneers a new sub-genre as its predecessor did.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a weird, funny, and sometimes endearing life sim where the best moments come from pure randomness and your own imagination. It works best when you just let your Miis interact and watch the small stories they create on their own. The repetition and lack of online sharing are unfortunate, but it still manages to stay entertaining in short bursts thanks to how much personality it squeezes out of simple systems.

Tides of Tomorrow is a breath of fresh air. It’s a unique take on a post-apocalyptic future that conveys something deeper to the player through its player-driven narrative and the moral dilemmas you’ll have to face. More than that, the asynchronous multiplayer features and the variety of gameplay allow for a more entertaining interactive adventure. While it may have simplistic gameplay and binary decision trees, it’s definitely not an average adventure game; it's a remarkable experience that excels at what it does.

It’s easy to enjoy Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta for what it is: a fast and straightforward JRPG that still feels good to play even years later. However, its age shows in ways that are almost impossible to ignore. It’s a decent entry for newcomers curious about Ys, but returning players may find there’s just not enough to justify another trip through Celceta.

Rather than delivering a consistently smooth experience, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is a game that thrives in its investigation systems, atmosphere, and environmental storytelling. At its best, the game makes you feel like you’re actively reconstructing events rather than simply progressing through them. However, the experience is held back by uneven pacing and occasional controller mishaps. The result is a strong but imperfect experience that resonates more as a standout concept than a fully polished execution.

OPUS: Prism Peak is simply art—from the gorgeous visuals to the profound story that will surely tug at the heartstrings to the emotional delivery of the character voices and the well-written cast. There’s little to dislike and a lot to love about the game, especially for those who appreciate a bit of fantasy in their relatable game narratives. Aside from the slow pacing sometimes and the need for a few gameplay improvements here and there, it stands proudly as a wonderful title, one that shares a tale that may hit close to home and that will stay with you even after the credits roll.

The Golden Age of Animation wasn’t called that for nothing, and MOUSE: P.I. For Hire is its modern gold standard following the likes of Cuphead and Bendy. Though relatively simple as a shooter and not up to par pacing-wise, this game has the production value and vision of yesteryear, and is a hand-made, hand-drawn testament to the art form of animation. Back it up with jazzy tunes and the best voice actors money can buy, and you’ve got another squash n’ stretch best-seller hot off the presses.

REPLACED is ultimately defined by how strongly it commits to its identity. Even when its gameplay structure leans repetitive or its combat pacing becomes overwhelming, the experience rarely loses its grip thanks to its exceptional visual direction and emotionally grounded storytelling. It doesn’t aim to reinvent its genre mechanically, but instead refines how a cinematic 2.5D world can feel to inhabit. And the stylish, atmospheric, and quietly human experience will stay with you well after it ends.

All Will Fall proves that being hyperbolic isn’t the play when it comes to showing off your game. Although it does not disappoint in some aspects, namely its faction mechanics, premise, narrative potential, and replayability, it drops the ball on the main attraction. Physics-based city-building is barely implemented and hardly restricting. The game’s title begged that all would fall, and fall short of its own promises, it did.

Pokemon Champions feels like a title that suddenly had to launch due to chasing a specific quarterly report. While otherwise nearly perfect as a platform, lacking a multitude of very important items on release makes the game feel fundamentally incomplete. The paywalled quality-of-life additions are also a major deterrent, especially for those who expected a way to engage with VGC without owning the mainline games. It's still a wonderful attempt at making competitive Pokemon more accessible, though, and is definitely something that'll only improve in time.

Even though People of Note doesn’t always find its rhythm, it’s still a decent turn-based RPG with a strong identity. The story and characters are likable and relatable, but the pacing rushes important beats and leaves some arcs feeling undercooked. It’s consistently enjoyable, sure, just not as deep or as bold as it could have been, especially in its gameplay mechanics.

Super Meat Boy 3D is much more than just a 3D retelling of a beloved title; it’s an exercise of mastery of platforming design, made in the image of a cube. Though far from accessible (despite its best efforts) and still somewhat similar to its predecessor, the inclusion of Dark World Levels and the design space opened by an entire new dimension of space gives it a platform to stand on. Best you load up on controllers, because Meat Boy’s back on the menu.

Raccoin: Coin Pusher Roguelike proves that anything can become a hit roguelike if designed well enough. Not content to just slap some roguelike mechanics on an existing idea, Raccoin presents something uniquely addicting across a complex, layered gameplay progression that goes beyond comparative description. All that for much less than an arcade trip would cost. Forget breaking a dollar for the coin pusher, take all of mine for Raccoin.

The Weeping Swan is a great linear visual that offers a complete audiovisual and genre experience at a cheap price. And though it does have a set of eyebrow-raising endings, questionable character development, and a number of translation and technical issues on launch, you’ll still be hard-pressed to find a visual novel of its quality without spending more money. So, if you’re the type who values the journey more than the destination, you’ll find that this is a work worth your cash.