Legends of Runeterra is a fantastic digital card game that is still struggling with some flaws in its mobile implementation. However, if you have a PC and a space for a new collectible card game in your life, then this is one of the best you can play.

There’s not a bad thing to say about Streets of Rage 4. The action-packed gameplay and responsive controls give you an incredible, satisfying beat ‘em up experience whether you’re playing alone or in local or online co-op. The extra modes are fun, and the multiple difficulties are inviting, and each provide a unique dynamic. After 26 years, Streets of Rage is back and better than ever.

This is exactly what we wanted from a Trials of Mana remake. Square has become very good at updating their back catalog for the modern era. If you are a fan of Square’s 16-bit offerings, you owe it to yourself to pick this up. Hey Square? If you are gonna do a Chrono Trigger remake, do it like this.

Predator: Hunting Grounds has fun, stupid moments, and if this game was only $20, I would recommend it. At $40, it’s a harder sell unless you are a hardcore Predator fan. If you’re looking for a better 4v1 experience and you’re willing to tolerate slow matchmaking, Resident Evil Resistance offers a great multiplayer experience and a decent single player campaign, making it a much better buy, despite being $20 more.

This just isn’t the grand revival of the Sakura Wars franchise I was hoping for, and I’m sure that most other longtime fans will feel the same. As for newbies, there’s some enjoyment here, but it just doesn’t measure up to other major releases on the market right now.

XCOM: Chimera Squad is clearly meant to function as a sci-fi tactical strategy game that’s smaller in scale, easier to digest for casual players, and more financially accessible than what existing XCOM fans may be used to. Thankfully, Firaxis’ latest XCOM title succeeds in all three regards without compromising the frenetic tactical gameplay the series is known for. Chimera Squad may have smaller stakes, but it’s also an excellent example of how much potential the XCOM series still has.

Final Fantasy VII Remake falls just short of perfection, but it’s clearly one of the best RPGs to release so far and is definitely a contender for RPG of the year. I’ll go as far to say that this is one of the most important RPG projects of our generation, and I do think everyone, fan of the original or no, should experience it.

I’ve spent the last few thousand words explaining why RE3 isn’t as good as RE2, but it’s still a very good game. It’s like a big, six-hour expansion pack. If you liked last year’s RE2, you would enjoy this. Experienced players will want to give it a go on hardcore, as normal is pretty easy.

It's very easy to ignore the few rough patches in DOOM Eternal. This is a fantastic FPS with tons to do. It's also one of the most over-the-top and insane games ever made.

New Horizons is a great evolution for the Animal Crossing franchise. As always Nintendo has integrated some amazing innovations into the formula, but in the process made some really weird design decisions that detract from the fun.

If Iron Danger was the third game from a veteran indie studio, I’d be impressed. It’s Action Squad Studios’ first outing. I’m blown away. While it can occasionally be rough around the edges, I can’t wait to see what they do next.

Nioh 2 finds success by layering small yet significant additions onto a base which Team Ninja already perfected in the original Nioh. New features like character customization and Yokai abilities complement a robust gameplay template which was designed to appeal equally to fans of Souls-like games, RPG’s, and fast-paced hack-and-slash titles.

My Hero One’s Justice 2 is an anime arena fighter with really good ideas. It probably won’t see anyone if they aren’t already My Hero Academia fans, but anyone who is already in the fanbase will eat it up. And hey, if you aren’t a fan but get a chance to play anyway, give it a shot, it might just surprise you.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps comes with some outstanding quality of life improvements over the gameplay of the original. The inconsistent performance won't completely break your engagement, but it will affect it. That said, there's just no denying that the world of Ori is one that's easy to get lost in and fall in love with.

Granblue Fantasy Versus is a fantastic game and an early pick for fighting game of the year. It has a lot to offer regardless of your skill level, and appeals to almost any fan. Are you a casual fighting game player? Buy GBVS. A EVO tournament pro? Buy GBVS. An RPG fan who has never played a fighting game a day in their life? Buy GBVS!!! This is a fighting game for everyone, and everyone should play it.

If you are a fan of One Punch Man you’ll probably get a kick out of A Hero Nobody Knows but don’t expect it to keep you playing long. For every minute of brilliance there is an hour of grinding to go along with it, and that’s trying even for the most dedicated fans of the Caped Baldy.

Kentucky Route Zero tells a story unlike anything else you'll find in gaming. It uses a point and click adventure format that's pretty basic, but hits high notes with its dialogue, themes, and music.

Dreams is really something special. Frankly, I’d like to see other game development tools come with curation suites like this. It would change the way we look at game design. Now if only these dreamers could get paid for their work.

Dead Cells remains a funny and dark game, and The Bad Seed is a worthy add-on.

Sorry Netflix, but this one needed another QA pass. I will be the first to admit that I didn’t finish Age of Resistance Tactics. All it did was make me want to watch the Netflix series again, and I did! Because it’s awesome! But I didn’t need a $20 game to remind me of that.

It’s buggy and it’s a far cry from what Blizzard teased us with back in 2018.

After playing through Shenmue III proper, my expectations for what the game’s DLC would entail were admittedly not very high. Still, it’s disheartening to see that, whether because of limited resources or a limited inclination, the best Ys Net could produce for the very first Shenmue DLC ever was a cobbled-together and underbaked side distraction which relies almost entirely on recycled game assets. [Impressions]

When it comes down to it, I didn’t dislike Re;Mind. I think it was actually a well put together DLC that fixes some glaring problems with KHIII. I just sort of wish that those problems weren’t there to fix in the first place.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has its faults, and it certainly won’t appeal to anyone who isn’t already a DBZ fan, but if you fall into the niche that this title is aiming for, you will be very pleased. This is one of the most fun interpretations of the DBZ plotline that I have played in a very long time, and in my opinion it well outshines its brothers in the same franchise.

Weakless is not exactly a masterpiece, but it is a beautiful little game with an undeniable amount of charm and a heartfelt message. The game tells a story of the beauty of nature and perseverance through friendship. The narrative is kept to a minimum to ensure you experience its themes and concepts through the gameplay, which is a lot of fun despite some glaring rough edges.

I’m hoping that Coteries is the first modern step forward for an IP long overdue for mass recognition. Vampire: The Masquerade fans will enjoy this, and fans of vampire fiction in general might want to give it a whirl, as this is an easy introduction to an awesome universe.

Wattam is the Katamari successor you may not have known you needed. Keita Takahashi and the folks at Funomena have created a new kind of alternative game experience. If you long for the days when you used to collect toy figures and play sets, Wattam is a wonder to behold. It's joy, colorful and fun, in your hands and right in front of your face.

Mercenaries 5 needed six more months of testing and refinement before seeing the light of day. The game’s mech combat is great for enthusiasts of the genre, but the lack of polish may leave newcomers cold. I recommend it for hardcore fans, but casual players may want to wait for the bugs to be ironed out.

There aren't a lot of games out there like Heroland. The writing takes center stage, but the battles are also a lot of fun to witness unfold. You'll get a lot of laughs out of this game, and though it may seem long-winded at first, the writing is so good that you'll soon understand exactly why there's so much of it. This is just a really fun story to watch unfold and be a part of.

Arise: A Simple Story is well worth the $20 and six hours you'll spend playing it. Even though it can't seem to avoid problems that plague your typical indie game, the artwork and level design are beyond worth the small investment.

To put it politely, Shenmue III has the potential to charm existing fans of the Shenmue saga, if only in how much it painstakingly recreates the stilted beauty of its two predecessors. However, if judged on its merits alone and/or by a non-Shenmue fan, this game just feels like a whole bunch of wasted Kickstarter money. If there’s one thing that Shenmue III proves, it’s that bringing new fans into the fold was never Ys Net’s goal.

Pokémon Sword and Shield is a decent Pokémon game that will keep you playing until the end. It doesn’t deserve all the controversy it’s been getting, but it’s not a particularly stand out entry in the franchise either.

Pokémon Sword and Shield is a decent Pokémon game that will keep you playing until the end. It doesn’t deserve all the controversy it’s been getting, but it’s not a particularly stand out entry in the franchise either.

Pokémon Sword and Shield is a decent Pokémon game that will keep you playing until the end. It doesn’t deserve all the controversy it’s been getting, but it’s not a particularly stand out entry in the franchise either.

I don't think I'd be out of line by saying Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is the best Star Wars game since 2003's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and stands as one of the best Star Wars games ever made.

Death Stranding isn’t for everyone, but if you are looking for a neat experimental exploration of the fetch quest, you’ll enjoy it. If you are looking for something more traditional, though, you should probably look elsewhere.

It wouldn’t be totally fair to call Need for Speed Heat a bad game, but given the exciting high-speed material it’s defined by, it is a disappointingly boring one. Small blessings like the lack of over-aggressive microtransactions and an incredibly in-depth car customization suite can’t make up for gameplay and progression loops which, at best, feel routine and archaic, and at worst frustrating and obtuse. It’s understandable that publisher Electronic Arts would want to recapture the glory of Need for Speed’s heyday, but all Need for Speed Heat proves is that maybe the series just needs to rest for a while.

Afterparty is a fantastic story about booze, buds, and the nature of good and evil. It’s just not much else.

Luigi’s Mansion 3 is a nice spooky treat for your Switch. Anyone who loved the original will love this one too, and the game is easily welcoming enough to rope some newcomers into the franchise as well. How could anyone find issue with a game whose menu screen is a Virtual Boy? Ah, Nintendo. You know how to laugh at yourself.

The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare reboot is certainly not the first game that has disappointed me at launch, and hopefully it will join the list of games I was initially disappointed with but grew to love thanks to their respective developers’ continued devotion and care. I know it’s not the safest of bets given the Call of Duty franchise’s annualized rollout, but I honestly want to see Modern Warfare continue to flourish as much as I’m sure the folks at Infinity Ward do.

The new MediEvil remaster stays faithful to the original, for both good and bad. Fans will enjoy seeing Sir Daniel’s adventures come to life in full HD, but anyone looking for a brand new action/adventure/platformer might find the old-school PS1 controls and mechanics more than a little jarring.

If you've spent years craving the old Fallout formula, The Outer Worlds will hit the spot.

Overall, the game's solid. It's pretty, it's fun, but it's not without issues. In other words, it's worth the $20 you'll pay for it, but not much more.

I’ve never laughed this much while playing a game. Well-read, nihilistic, dark, and intellectual, Disco Elysium is like your favorite poli-sci professor huffed paint and ran naked through the quad.

If you are going to buy Concrete Genie buy it for the novelty. You’ll probably enjoy painting the town with glorious neon landscapes, but there’s just not much more to it than that.

This is one of the best indie games to come out this year. Lab Zero has already shown that they know how to make an amazing fighting game and now they have shown they know how to make an amazing platformer and RPG as well.

Unlike its predecessor, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint risks alienating the very community it was built for due to its over-reliance on RPG-esque looting and leveling mechanics. However, shooter fans who can make peace with the game’s loot-driven economy and pervasive microtransactions will find a lot to enjoy in the moment-to-moment gameplay. Breakpoint isn’t quite the tactical shooter sequel fans asked for, but there’s no denying the amount of long-term value it offers to shooter fans of all stripes.

Wild Hearts is a game with a ton of charm, but it left me wanting more. It feels like it could have made the leap from good to great with some relatively minor additions and tweaks.

Shadowkeep may have been designed for those who are already invested in Destiny 2’s world and story, but the way it augments both the game’s F2P shift and players’ never-ending desire to chase loot is also indicative of something greater. Bungie wants to prove it’s not afraid to embrace change, to take the feedback it has received these past two years and use it to build a better, more rewarding shooter experience. If Shadowkeep is the result of those efforts, I’d say Bungie has certainly succeeded in meeting those goals.

Overall, NBA 2K20 is still the best basketball game on the planet and that doesn’t look to be changing any time soon. While some fans may be upset about microtransactions, it’s not a requirement to play the game. At this point, however, it seems like as long as NBA 2K is the best game out there, microtransactions will be here to stay.

Sequels aren’t always a safe prospect to bet on, but The Surge 2 is one investment that Souls-like fans definitely won’t be disappointed with. The game’s visceral combat, robust RPG elements, and immersive exploration mechanics come together to create a second outing that’s just as compelling, if not more so, than its predecessor.

Anyone who hasn’t played the original should pick this up just to experience Link’s Awakening in its most graphically impressive form, and anyone who fondly remembers the original should pick this up too just to take a wonderful trip down memory lane.

Borderlands 3 is more Borderlands and not much else. It doesn’t innovate. It doesn’t push the looter shooter genre forward. It doesn’t say anything profound with its plot. It plays it 100% safe by nearly copying its predecessors. That might be enough for some people, but it’s not enough to stand out against other contemporary looter shooters.

Thanks to GreedFall’s impressively diverse roleplaying and combat systems, it’s the sort of game that any sort of RPG fan would enjoy, whether they prefer playing as the tough warrior, the cunning rogue, the wise spellcaster, or any combination of those archetypes they can think of. It may hew closely to the template that BioWare created many years ago, but GreedFall also proves there’s still a lot of potential for expansive single-player RPGs that put player choice first.

It’s unfortunate that Gears 5 continues the trend of ‘games that were clearly shipped before they were ready’ since its diverse offering of different gameplay experiences is virtually unmatched by any other shooter game or franchise. Once The Coalition has ironed out the campaign performance issues and multiplayer network problems, this latest Gears of War game has a very bright future and is a must-play for any fans of the shooter genre no matter their individual tastes.

Oninaki feels hollow. It’s dark but has no message. It’s complex but has no need for that complexity. It builds an interesting world and never does much with it. It’s a game filled with great ideas that just go nowhere. Unfortunately, that is par for the course for Tokyo RPG Factory games.

Man of Medan is a promising start to the Dark Pictures Anthology. I'd be happy to play more of these b-horror movie simulators, full of pretty people desperately trying to survive.

Foam Sword knew exactly what they wanted to do with Knights and Bikes and they did it well. This game is a tiny colorful paean to your 80s childhood with a splash of girl power.

A:THO ignores the mechanical DNA that make open world games and survival RPGs so much fun. There’s nothing revolutionary about depriving you of map functionality and an adequate tutorial. This isn’t an evolution so much as a freak mutation that will die off in the wild. There are other games that achieve what A:THO attempts; play them instead.

Control is Remedy's best game in nearly twenty years, and easily one of the best games of 2019.

Erica is an interesting game at a budget price that everyone should try if they can. If you have ten dollars burning a hole in your pocket, you might as well experience one of the best FMV games made in recent times instead of blowing it on a few microtransactions or fast food extra value meals.

Remnant: From the Ashes sometimes struggles to present a cohesive, balanced vision for the kind of game it’s trying to be, but nestled within that chaotic swirl of ideas is a strong core that’s supported by equally strong gameplay. As long as you don’t mind enduring highly difficult bosses and a lack of ambient polish, Remnant is the perfect sort of game for players who appreciate both the Souls-like and tactical third-person shooting genres.

RAD was a fun experience and one that I’ll likely revisit in the future. However, it’s pacing made it difficult to play for long periods of time. It’s a decent distraction but it just doesn’t hold up as a game you might want to binge all the way through. Luckily, the rogue-lite formula fits perfectly into small distractions like this.

If you're looking for combat, which I imagine most fans of a dystopian Nazi-killing game would be, look the other way. Likewise, if you're looking for a great co-op experience to try out with a friend, prepare yourself for disappointment. And if you do end up buying this game, for the love of all that is holy, please turn on your own music.

Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is too light on content to make it worth the price, and what it does well is overshadowed by clunky locomotion and a lack of attention to detail in both level design and VR implementation. Ultimately, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot feels like a tech demo more than a full length VR experience.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is a true masterpiece of strategy game design. If this is where the franchise is going, I’m very excited for its future.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order is a great beat-em-up game to play with friends. You might not be standing in a hot arcade pumping quarters into a machine, but trust me, this is the pure arcade experience brought to the modern age. Be ready to smash your head against tough bosses and hordes of enemies as you try to protect the universe from Thanos… again.

Citizens of Space never really tries to shake up RPG genre conventions, but the game is clearly not out to do that. This is a game that, by all intents and purposes, is meant to provide a fun and laidback experience, and it does that very well.

Like we said, we can’t call Super Mario Maker 2 a bad game, not by a long shot. It’s just that it could be better. Heck, if a few usability issues were fixed and a few more items were added to maker mode, we would be giving this game a perfect 10/10. As it stands, there’s room for improvement and hopefully we will see that improvement in future DLC patches.

Let me get something out of the way right now: The Sinking City is a noir detective game, not a psychological horror game or a survival horror game. The trailers give you serious Silent Hill / Eternal Darkness vibes, with a side of Resident Evil 4, and while this game visually refers to the horror game history of the last twenty years, it’s doing its own thing.

Samurai Shodown is yet another fighting game that is fun to play but suffers in its core feature set. The hardcore fighting game fanatic will love it, but the mainstream consumer will find it offers much less than other titles on the market.

Highly entertaining, bombastic, and just plain weird.

Aside from a few script malfunctions and some odd enemy behavior at points, this is a perfect Metroidvania game. If you are a fan of the genre, a fan of Castlevania, a fan of Metroid, or just a fan of 2D platformers in general, you owe it to yourself to pick this one up.

Blood and Truth is a shining example of what happens when a talented team of developers carve out their own niche in the VR genre. It’s a hectic walk through a wild world of guns, mercenaries, and car chases that’s more than worth your time.

Team Sonic Racing is fun, well designed, and stuffed with replay value. It excels everywhere except the one place it matters: couch co-op, and that’s the one major flaw that holds it back.

Rage 2 isn't a revolution, but it's a well-executed open world shooter with satisfying core gameplay and big splashes of color.

A Plague Tale: Innocence doesn’t push the envelope as far as gameplay is concerned, but the incredibly compelling art direction and great writing should be experienced by any fans of single-player, narrative-driven experiences who don’t mind incredibly dark subject matter.

The plot leaves Sean and Daniel on a brutal cliffhanger, and I can’t wait to see how it resolves. Episode 4 can’t come soon enough. Nice work, Dontnod, you’ve reeled me back in. At this point, I’m reasonably sure that Season 2 will live up to Season 1. And by that, I mean that it will cause me to cry myself to sleep and feel shaken for days after.

Days Gone seems like a classic case of a game that grew too big for its own good. The production values are excellent and it packs some tense gameplay and emotional stories, but the poor pacing, tedious open world, and padded length significantly drag it down overall.

Mortal Kombat 11 is one half perfect fighting game, one half exploitative mobile game. It’s worth playing despite its flaws, but it easily stands as an example of how even the best games can be ruined by questionable monetization practices.

Street could have really lived up to the Forza name, but instead we basically get Microsoft’s attempt at the Asphalt series. Folks looking for a time-killing mobile game with real cars will find Street amusing. Forza fans looking for a skill-based mobile racing game will have to keep waiting.

Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission was a fun distraction that let me see what Gohan would look like if he could go Super Saiyan 4, but once the novelty wore off I went back to other, better looking, and better playing card games and Dragon Ball games.

The near perfect mechanics of Battle for the Grid aren’t enough to make this a game worth playing. You’ll have a few fun nights with your buddies partaking in some ranger on ranger violence, but you’ll quickly find yourself returning to other mainstream fighting games.

Yoshi’s Crafted World is a wonderful little platformer to either play with your family or to hold you over as we head into the summer doldrums. It’s not going to be Nintendo’s big killer app this year, but it’s a fine game that will appeal to platformer fans and Yoshi fans alike.

Tropico 6 is not the hardest of hardcore simulation games, but for folks looking for something more casual, it’s a blast. It’s entertaining and addictive, and its minor interface flaws only stand out because the rest of the game is so polished and enjoyable.

I’m not going to go so far as to call Generation Zero a straight cash grab, but charging $40 for a game that was clearly rushed out the door is a hard sin to ignore. I’m not entirely sure what Avalanche’s final vision for Generation Zero was, but it clearly wasn’t confident enough in that vision to give the game the proper care and resources that were required.

The writers know that, and refuse despair by not closing the circle of loss that started with Lee’s death. They knew that we were watching and learning as well, and refused to leave us with a message of nihilism and hopelessness that has consumed much of zombie and other horror media.

With Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, From Software has proven once again that has no qualms about pushing its own boundaries. The studio has made a name for itself by creating incredibly difficult games, but the breadth of innovation spread across the Dark Souls series, Bloodborne, and now Sekiro shows how good the studio is at defying fan expectations. Sekiro isn’t perfect, but like the various Soulsborne games before it, From’s latest shows the wisdom in pushing players beyond their pre-conceived limits.

The Division 2 is everything a player could want in a sequel. It reinvents and recalibrates where it must, but it also wisely builds off all the work Ubisoft put into refining the first Division. This sequel definitely makes you work for your rewards, but its fine-tuned gameplay and expansive suite of different activities ensures the journey towards earning those rewards is one worth taking.

Ape Out is a fun and fast-paced action game with nary a dull moment. The brutal difficulty can go overboard at times, but even then it's never too daunting. This is one of the coolest games of 2019 so far, and any fan of slick, stylish action games should give it a go.

There’s a good game somewhere in Anthem. Somewhere behind the loading screens, asking for meaningful endgame content. Hopefully in the next few months, when BioWare starts launching its post-launch content and quality of life fixes, the game will become what it’s meant to be.

If you are a long-time Devil May Cry fan, or just an action game fan in general, then Devil May Cry 5 is a must-buy.

With great 3D fighters like Tekken 7 and SoulCalibur VI on the market, my personal assessment is that DOA6 is a fine fighter to try, but for now will only amount to a flavor of the week.

Trials Rising isn’t trying to be realistic, it’s trying to be simple fun, and at that it excels. It looks good, it will make you laugh, and most importantly, it’s entertaining.

Death end re:Quest is not for everyone. Many people will be made uncomfortable by its moe aesthetic. However, if you have similar experience with games such as Danganronpa, Doki Doki Literature Club, or anime such as Magical Girl Site, Made in Abyss, or No Game No Life, then you will not only be able to tolerate Death end re;Quests aesthetic, you might even enjoy it, and that leaves you free to experience the incredibly ambitious and innovative game underneath.

Crackdown 3 does its best to ride on an action-packed wave of nostalgia, but in the end all it succeeds in doing is face-planting straight into a morass of tedium and frustration. Even the most stalwart Crackdown fans will likely wonder if the long wait was worth the final result.

Far Cry: New Dawn is a well-put-together Far Cry title that does a great job of bringing the story of Hope Count to a satisfying conclusion. It’s fun for all the reasons Far Cry is fun with some addictive survival and base-building elements that shake up the formula just enough to make New Dawn stand well on its own.

Jump Force excels at fanservice, at showing what battles between all these characters would look like. It does not excel as an actual fighting game however. Unbalanced mechanics and poorly designed UI make Jump Force a chore to play, despite the exciting visual trappings.