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.