Mina the Hollower expertly captures the classic exploration of Zelda and the challenge of Dark Souls to create a unique and cohesive experience. Mina the Hollower is a joy to play, and I can’t wait to see what Yacht Club Games comes up with next.

Causal Loop is a tale of extremes – on the one hand, I admire the intricacy of its machine, creating perfectly choreographed loops to achieve a common goal. On the other hand, I couldn’t help but be disappointed by the repetitive nature of that goal. There’s a polish to the presentation and play of Causal Loop, but the concept itself feels underdeveloped, and the stages feel like wireframe prototypes. Despite the inherent appeal of looping clones, I ultimately came away wishing for a more exciting application than just pressing buttons.

Wreckreation has lofty ambitions, and I’d say it achieves most of them. Driving is fast and furious, and the gameplay loop kept me hooked as I was constantly discovering some new and cool thing while tooling around in my MixWorld. Countless late nights were spent beating a tight time in a race or hunting new cars to collect. While there are more minor issues under the hood than I’d like, those who crave a decidedly old-school open-world racer should take this one for a spin.

With those few gripes out of the way, this is still an incredibly enjoyable story with a wonderfully charming cast of down-to-earth characters. Playing was like having a chat with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time, and in the end, Coffee Talk Tokyo is a reminder that sometimes what a person needs is an open ear, compassion, and community — and it also really made me crave a cup of tea.

Uprising is a total war conquest between all enemy factions established in the game. While it provides a welcoming level of freedom when it comes to choosing missions, it can’t maintain the same quality when it comes to mission objectives and design. It’ll be an enjoyable product for those who already love the base game, and maybe that’s enough.

The Abbess Garden could have been a pleasant experience, and it has indeed pleasant elements, but it lacks both engaging gameplay and an engaging story — there’s nothing here to bind it all together. As it stands, the best part of the experience is watching our plants grow, from seed to flower, and customizing our garden, but it’s just not enough. Hopefully, MD Studio uses this game as a sketch for a more compelling project next time. It’s a shame, because the right ideas and ingredients are here, but maybe they’ll find more success in another game, in another abbey.

So yeah, Bubsy 4D is a good game – of course it is, Fabraz made it! The bobcat couldn’t have gotten luckier with these developers. And if they make another one, or add on to this one, I’ll happily check it out. With that said, people should play Demon Tides first, and then Demon Turf, and then, even then, wait for a steep sale — there’s just not enough content here.

In a mechanical sense, there are aspects to enjoy in Mutant Football League 2. However, it’s hard to recommend thanks to its offensive humor, irritating bugs and glitches, and near-nonexistent multiplayer experience.

In the end, Fortune Seller‘s strange atmosphere kept me engrossed and organizing items was more satisfying than I would have expected. I’m still going to keep working at this shop for a while even after finishing several runs, but it’s always a challenge to avoid paying my rent in flesh to a shadowy landlord.

It’s obvious that In Their Shoes was made to test and improve a player’s empathy. Although some of us have probably gone through some of the situations we encounter here, many will be outside the average person’s experience. Further, it’s mechanically not a game for everyone — it’s targeting the niche of people who love reading in games, and I suspect it will be repetitive and monotonous for most. However, pedagogically speaking, it’s worth playing as a way of training one’s ability to feel for others, and to be in the shoes of people who are different than us.

In fact, the whole game is good – it’s not an all-time great, but a rare, pure example of something unambitious and also essentially perfect. I’m nearing 30 happy hours spent making stained glass and, conservatively, have another 30 hours of time left here, should I choose to pursue it. Again, Glimmith is not high concept, it isn’t beating anybody over the head with its cleverness, but its calm, dependable quality flows from it like a river or a cool breeze. For those into puzzle games who somehow don’t already own it, today’s the day. Have at it.

When Defiance was originally made, developers had largely figured out how 3D platforming should feel, and the only real hurdle that remained was being willing to trust the player with the camera. Combat still had a long way to go at that time, though, and it’s in the stumbling, awkward fights that Defiance shows its age. It’s an interesting curiosity, but anyone considering loading it up should be ready to slog through some truly annoying fights.

It’s a delightful title that tells a story about what really matters about cooking — family and community building. If there’s one lesson to take from Dosa Divas, it’s that even a pile of mush can be a quality meal if it’s made with love.

The Requiem DLC brings a novel new mechanic that makes it wildly worth it. I might as well have been playing as Leon Kennedy with the amount of thematic easter eggs, and the experience felt wholly satisfying.

For those looking for way to play The Disney Afternoon Collection on the Switch family of consoles, this version is a solid choice, despite being a bit lacking. The emulation is good and the new additions are welcome, but there are still a few titles missing and the new additions don’t feel like they got the same level of attention the others did. The presentation also leaves a lot to be desired, with hard-to-read instructions and poor implementation of game screen borders. It’s worth looking into for players who don’t own any version yet, but as such a a minor upgrade compared to the original release, it’ll be a hard sell for all but the most ardent Disney fans.

In the end, Neon Inferno is a largely decent action romp that never comes close to the classics of the genre it clearly has deep respect for. It certainly looks the part, and that may be enough for some nostalgia driven gamers to give it a whirl, but it’s hard not to feel like it’s outclassed by its inspirations.

As a new direction for the Dark Pictures series, Directive 8020 gets the job done. It makes it clear that Supermassive Games can adapt to changing tastes and offer a streamlined, accessible version of their most famous product. It’s only a pity that the script can’t match up to the gameplay. Moment to moment, as an experience, this is some of the best work Supermassive has ever done — but pull back and look at the whole, and narrative flaws appear. Hopefully they’ll take everything they learned on this one and use it to present equally robust systems with a more coherent story next time around.

Elementallis is a gem of an indie title and a must-play for any Zelda fan — I truly appreciated its efforts in honoring the series’ legacy while also offering enough variety to avoid stepping on its toes. Elementallis made me feel like the ’90s gamer kid I am at heart, and I’m thankful I got to relive that sense of joy and wonder.

I spent a lot of time complaining in this review because it chafed against my particular tastes for these kinds of experiences, but there’s little here that’s bad on an objective level. As such, Kotama and Academy Citadel wouldn’t be at the top of my metroidvania recommendation list, but that’s due more to the amount of stellar competition in the genre than any particular flaw of its own.

I really wanted to love Big Hops, since it’s clearly made by folks who share my fondness for the 3D platformer genre. But while that passion has birthed a terrific moveset, Big Hops is ultimately a selection of great mechanics in search of a tighter, more focused game.

Honestly, I can only think of one criticism, and even that’s a bit of a nitpick — if the player puts time in and fails to make much progression due to a series of losses and few resources gained, I could see things becoming a bit stale. However, Titanium Court is a bonkers, surreal, thoughtful, and funny adventure from start to finish, and I had a hard time putting down. I kept coming back for more, and I can’t recommend it enough.

Big fans of professional soccer or management sims may find more to like in Nutmeg! than I did, but as for me, I’m putting in my resignation from the team.

In the end, Pragmata is a great new IP from Capcom. It’s endearing, it offers a unique and satisfying take on third-person combat, and also boasts plenty of scope for exploration, impressive bosses, rewarding payoffs and a significant amount of built-in postgame content. What more could someone ask for?

Fatal Frame 2 Remake is creepy, haunting, and thrilling in equal measure. It’s also fiddly and frustrating at times, and requires the player to put in a ton of effort if they want to feel like they’ve gotten everything out of the story. (PROTIP: get a walkthrough.) Still, it’s a truly affecting experience, and that’s down to the developers’ brilliant use of mechanics. I’ve played literally hundreds of creepy horror titles, but I’ve almost never felt this kind of connection to the story, and that’s entirely down to the decision they made to trigger that bit of physical discomfort in the player. I can’t imagine it’s going to be an experience for everyone, but the results are inarguable – I cared about what happened to these twins, and appreciated the experience all the more because of it.

Those looking for a simple-yet-effective grind and not bothered by bad voice acting will enjoy Dragonkin: The Banished. It doesn’t attempt to rewrite the ARPG, but it provides a solid loop with a novel approach to skill-building that serves as an antidote to the terminally-online titans of the genre.

Planet of Lana II: Children of the Leaf successfully expands on its underrated first entry in nearly every way possible. It’s the perfect Empire Strikes Back to Planet of Lana’s New Hope: approachable, beautiful, and a great adventure worth taking.

Dread Delusion’s best content overshadows its flaws. Even with some disappointment at the lackluster outcomes to my decisions, the build up to those moments was rich, engaging, and founded in human emotion. The storytelling in Dread Delusion is top notch, and I found myself transfixed, exhausting each dialogue tree, and reading every lore-book I came across. There are moments from Dread Delusion that will haunt me for months to come, and that quality alone makes it worthwhile.

Anthem#9 looks fantastic in trailers and the gem matching mechanics are satisfying — piecing together a giant combination of attacks feels great. On the other hand, the UI needs work, the difficulty spike going from the basic (AKA tutorial) missions to the extra missions is supremely out of whack, and all the white flashes made me sick and will likely trigger seizures in photosensitive people. I want to like Anthem#9 more than I do, but it really doesn’t like me back.