I don't think it's an overstatement to say that Quantic Dream's work is an achievement for dramatic storytelling and a bold step forward towards maturation of the medium. Games like this are what I live for as a player and as a critic.

It's extremely smart, has a great sense of humor, a bold design and fantastic art direction.

Ghost Trick is a game where every fantastic detail comes together to make something even greater than the sum of its parts — and those parts are plenty great on their own. This is an experience worth checking out for just about anyone, and with a modest price tag and a free demo, there’s absolutely no excuse to pass.

I’m pretty fond of ICEY. The combat could (and should) be better but I enjoyed my time with it, and appreciated its willingness to whip out the sort of unexpected, bizarre narrative twists that most games don’t even consider.

As a long time Lovecraft fan and someone who appreciates a good cosmic horror, Dredge is top class.

Despite all of my moral problems with the game, I can't deny that it's an incredible experience, one that has to be played to be believed. It's worth buying just to get a glimpse at a perfectly designed control scheme.

Thimbleweed Park ultimately seems to care about neither its story nor its characters. What’s the core here, then? I suspect it’s just about the easy, wistful smile, and the prick of familiar memory. Do you remember? asks Thimbleweed Park as it displays its lustrous imitation of a bygone era, and on seeing a nod it lies: Yes, it was just like this.

While the Legends edition content remains a bitter disappointment and not worth investing in, the bad taste it leaves in one’s mouth isn’t enough to sour one of the best yearly sports franchises on the planet. F1 2019 is a fantastic representation of its sport, and while this year is more evolution than revolution, there’s enough here to keep fans coming back.

While the Rainbow Six series has disappointly compromised the realistic approach that was once its calling card, the Ghost Recon series remains planted firmly in its one-hit-kill, tactical-action roots and, with Summit Strike, reaffirms its place at the top of the tactical shooter hill.

In a year when games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have redefined what open-world RPGs are capable of, I suspect that a lot of Fallout fans will be forced to question whether the usual Bethesda shtick of providing vast amounts of unpolished content with no emotional investment is still enough. I had a pretty good time, but despite its many strong points, Fallout 4 feels like one of Bethesda's minor works.

The frenetic battles in Valkyrie Profile 2 belie the flowerlike way its characters unfold, one petal at a time. The story it tells may not look like the stories a film critic like Roger Ebert is used to, but it's still a story—a good one—nonetheless.

One may play for an hour or two, but they're constantly tempted to go back in and uncover the scads of remaining secrets. It's a style of game that really intrigues me, and one I want to see more of

Ultra was a great time over a weekend (especially trading off between rounds with my kids) and I'm sure that players who've stayed current with Street Fighter have already purchased it and sussed out the new tweaks and systems, but as someone who popped in to see how things are going, I quickly popped back out and wished the series well

The original Trine was an excellent title, but Trine 2 has re-established Frozenbyte's well-earned reputation for quality. A steal at $15, Trine 2 is worthwhile investment for any puzzle-oriented players looking for something to sink their teeth into.

In fact, I was this close to simply quitting the series and not coming back, but Clementine & co. definitely recaptured some of the original Walking Dead magic before the final credits rolled, and I was grateful for that.

Virtue's Last Reward takes everything that 999 did well and does it better.

Much like the previous episode, Tomorrow feels like a mashup of everything that made older Hitman games great.

Despite the issues I had, I would recommend This Way Madness Lies to those who enjoy turn-based RPGs, or those who (like me) were intrigued by the sheer ridiculous nature of magical drama girls fighting nightmare creatures to save Shakespeare’s works. In addition, I appreciated how Zeboyd altered the standard turn-based style of combat and how the characters interacted with each other to create an enjoyable fling.

Not only is Ape Out primed to be one of the most stylish games of the year, but it’s a strong argument for how far style can elevate material.

Oh, and one final message to the developers, a little note for next time-if you're not going to bother making your characters able to climb stairs, a good way to disguise this massively unrealistic shortcoming is to not put any stairs in the game! Something to keep in mind.

A lot of management titles can have a sort of Excellian abstractness to them — a whiff of spreadsheet seeping out around their ostensible settings. Not so with News Tower. No, it evokes the golden age of paper news across its entire mechanical suite, bolstered further by an absolutely wonderful, period-appropriate live jazz soundtrack from Dutch ensemble New Cool Collective. To quote legendary schlock-peddler, Xanadu denizen, and all around freak William Randolph Hearst — it’s immersive as hell. And from me? It’s an enthusiastic recommend.

Overall, the core of a highly successful soccer game is in FIFA 16 but there's a niggling sense of "been there, done that," alongside a healthy dollop of "coulda shoulda woulda" that gets in the way. It's just a bit too safe and predictable. FIFA is still the Cup winner, but PES 2016 has made this annual Friendly a more heated affair.

My highest possible praise goes out to Shinji Mikami and Platinum Games, and my sympathies go out to every third-person shooter that comes after Vanquish-it's an impossible act to follow

Onimusha 2 may not be as great as it could have been, but it's clearly improved and worth your attention if the idea of samurai hacking up demons from hell sounds good to you. It sure does to me.

So ingenious, yet simple in its execution that it would have succeeded on almost any platform. In spite of a few flaws, it is damn near a match made in heaven.

Despite all of my moral problems with the game, I can't deny that it's an incredible experience, one that has to be played to be believed. It's worth buying just to get a glimpse at a perfectly designed control scheme.

While it's a solid action title, DmC doesn't measure up to the queen of the genre, Bayonetta. Ninja Theory's combat and graphic design illustrate their talent, but the weaker environmental exploration and narrative make the game an uneven package. Fans of the action genre may find a lot to love, but for most, this is a title better left in Limbo.

It’s not that I can’t respect it — it seems to offer decent value in that it’s essentially three different types of shooter in one package, but aside from the new Blackout mode, I’ve had significantly better experiences from many of its competitors. And honestly, Blackout’s main competition is a free-to-play game. It may be better than Fortnite in my opinion, but sixty dollars better? I’m not entirely convinced about that, and without a decent singleplayer campaign attached, it’s a pretty hard sell for anyone who isn’t already a fan.

Fear the Spotlight is a brilliant take on survival and psychological horror, instilling a real sense of vulnerability and dread in me — the developers took good lessons from classic titles and made something unique and fascinating. Players who love classic and retro-style survival horror absolutely must check this one out.

As appropriate as it would be to knock Tsushima for being the same sort of boilerplate open-worlder that Ubisoft tosses out every few months, the truth is that I still got some entertainment out of roaming the pretty landscape and engaging in repetitive tasks at my own pace. That said, every time Tsushima subjected me to its dreadful story and the tedious critical path missions, my patience wore thin. Ghost of Tsushima is positioned as PlayStation 4’s last hurrah, and while it’s an underwhelming note to end on, perhaps a game that pushes technological boundaries while taking zero creative risks is a fitting bookend for this generation.

The bottom line is that Resident Evil Zero's title perfectly describes the content and play value of the game itself.

Gears 5 is a superb shooter, and the only real survivor of the genre it popularized. The campaign is worth playing all on its own, but the developers have gone to great lengths by taking a chainsaw to the multiplayer and offering new and exciting ways to play.

The developers obviously care greatly about the source material, and it shows in everything from the spot-on controls to the excellent voice acting.

Bloodstained “simply” being pretty damn good is more than enough, like being reacquainted with an old friend. I’d love to see the rest of Konami’s classic franchises get similar treatment.

Mechanically, it's not quite as subversive or original as the presentation and some of its over zealous supporters might have you believe, but the chutzpah with which LocoRoco interprets the platform game's basic tenets is entirely its own and, again like the original Sonic The Hedgehog, it is a hugely invigorating and memorably stylish entry into a genre still awaiting fresh ideas.

All three of the Yakuzas featured in this collection are essentially perfect — each one boasts fantastic stories, great gameplay, and an opportunity to spend time in one of the most vibrant worlds in the history of videogames. Whether a player is someone who’s beaten the PS4 titles and wants to see the rest of the story, is a longtime fan considering a replay, or someone coming to the series fresh, I’d recommend this collection wholeheartedly.

Laika is not an easy game to enjoy. It’s a story, at its core, about how dehumanization of an enemy is a necessary step preceding genocide — about how people will become monsters if left with no other options. Most importantly, though, it’s about how cycles of violence can only end if people make the decision to not pull a trigger, no matter how difficult that might be. It’s a brutal, uncompromising journey, and it should have been one of the best titles of 2023, even if reality hadn’t decided to make it painfully relevant.

Guacamelee! 2’s penchant for self-deprecating humor often functions as an acknowledgement and dismissal of its own issues. Why yes, it is awfully convenient that I’ve suddenly been pulled into an alternate timeline in which I must save the world in roughly the same manner as my last go, but no, Guacamelee! 2 doesn’t stop being an uncharacteristically halfhearted rehash just because the writers scored a few easy laughs from it.

While not for first-time Persona players, Persona 5 Strikers absolutely delivers an unexpected sequel to P5 by offering an engrossing story and more time with these charming characters. Also, at roughly thirty to forty hours, it’s certainly a faster ride than its nearly two hundred hour predecessor — not a bad thing, since it left me hungry for another adventure with this crew.

A strong shooter with enough depth and variety to stay addicting for a criminally long time.

While trying to revitalize the Zelda formula with modern developments is an admirable goal, Darksiders II's developers just can't seem to get a handle on how to make such a thing work. For two games now they've tried adding hi-octane combat, a Western-style story, and ability trees, but it's never managed to gel. The things that made games like Zelda, God of War, Prince of Persia, and even Shadow of the Colossus great are all on display here, but the Darksiders series still hasn't figured out how to use them effectively enough to stand on its own.

In the end, FIFA 18 isn’t a tremendous, leaps-and-bounds improvement over FIFA 17, but EA Canada did fix what matters most — the on-field gameplay. While the other modes either stay the course or take a melodramatic dip downward, ultimately FIFA 18 shows that EA Sports is aware of the competition breathing down its neck, and is willing to make the necessary changes to regain the throne.

Overcooked! 2 is the perfect sequel that manages to improve on its predecessor in every way, and it’s easily one of the best games of 2018.

Sokobond Express’s biggest strength is also its most significant obstacle. By putting all their eggs into one basket, the developers have crafted a mechanically excellent puzzler with a strong logical backbone and a remarkable ability to communicate its complex notions. However, by neglecting the thematic side of the equation, Sokobond Express hews too closely to its source material, ultimately feeling academic to a fault. The result is an exercise in solving puzzles for their own sake, and while the puzzles are of a uniformly high quality, the overall experience lacks the hooks to make a truly lasting impression.

Overall, this is the largest and most fully-realized expansion yet produced for Fallout 3, and it's an order of magnitude better than any of the previous installments.

If you squint past the explosions of blood, forget about being forced to earn money, and ignore the brainless enemies waiting their turn to be slaughtered, it's hard not to admire the cackle and curled lip of a creator who's got big ideas and isn't afraid to use them.

SMT IV gets the details of grinding right, but it seems the devil was elsewhere.

Hellblade is one of the game industry’s few genuine dramas – a dark, uncomfortable experience that makes players suffer alongside its protagonist. By intentionally avoiding the standard power fantasy in their designs, Ninja Theory has shined a light on mental illness, an important subject that many people are ill-informed about, and they’ve portrayed it in an immersive manner that no other storytelling medium could. For those up to the challenge, it’s a must-play, and one of the boldest and most important artistic endeavors games have seen in quite some time.

An effective game in terms of delivering visceral thrills and exotic sights. However, I'm not recommending it as a full priced purchase. The biggest reason is that the entire adventure is nearly over before you know it (my first play-through took about five hours).

Ghost Trick is a masterpiece, made by developers who thoroughly understand the medium they're working in and the hardware they're working with.

Despite some small issues, the Ace Attorney Investigations Collection will be a wonderful experience for any Ace Attorney fan. It shines a much-needed light on the prosecutorial side of the courtroom, and leads players through the questions that have to be answered before a case can be brought to trial. Miles Edgeworth is also strong, holding his own as both a protagonist and Phoenix Wright’s rival, and I’d love to see him get a starring role more often!

Videogames simply do not come better than this, and I give Persona Q: Shadows of the Labyrinth my highest possible recommendation.

After so many years Kingdom Hearts III needed to be a strong send-off for the series, and for the most part, it is. The gameplay is still top tier and encourages diving back in once the credits have rolled to track down missed items and a secret boss. The individual worlds are gorgeous, and deserve to be combed through for every last scrap of treasure. It’s just a shame that plot stumbles over itself so many times because it really does drag the game down, but if I turn off the analytical part of my brain just enough, there truly is something special here.

Players curious about the recent activities of Albert Wesker and the legacy of the Umbrella Corporation can dive right in and enjoy without fear; those new to the series might be surprised at how dated it feels once the high-polygon glamour wears off.

While it was a long time coming, I’m quite glad that I waited for Darkest Dungeon. The learning curve is steep, the controls are a little fiddly and the difficulty is high, but it’s a superb port of a rich game that’s become part of my daily routine. Conquering these cosmic horrors and undoing my mad uncle’s actions may be a long, grueling process, but it’s a process I’ll see to the end.

Beyond Mankind Divided‘s fumbled sociopolitical themes, the plot’s just dull and too small in scale.

Judgment is a wonderful title that’s absolutely worth playing. New players coming in at $40 will have a fantastic time, and Ryu Ga Gotoku’s work comes with the highest possible recommendation, but the choice to burn owners of the original PS4 release was the wrong one.

While the gameplay is simple and the core loop of identifying plants and making customers happy might be too repetitive overall, Bad Viking’s slow-burn title might end up feeding a green thumb that some players didn’t even know they had.

To adventurous gamers of all stripes, and certainly those that count themselves among the genre's enthusiasts: pick up this one, sine mora.

Playing Battlefield 6, I was transported back to a time when I enjoyed online multiplayer. I hopped off the competitive shooter train a while ago, trading my regular Call of Duty sessions in for sports and racing titles. However, in the last couple of weeks, I’ve spent all my free time here, and as dangerous as this might be to a full-time student with a demanding full-time job, the quality of that time spent rests heavily on the fact that I’m going to stick with it after my review is complete. While the campaign might be little more than a glorified tutorial, this remains a war worth fighting.

If Treasure's name wasn't attached to this product, I seriously doubt that it would have ever found a publisher, let alone the warm reception most other review sites have given it.

While it's not quite the final word on JRPGs, Final Fantasy XIII represents the felicitous first steps on the path to a destination well worth reaching.

The Portal add-on to Zen Pinball 2 is another excellent addition to the already-strong lineup of tables available, and having played most of the selections on offer, I'd say this one ranks right near the top. For anyone who loves Portal, pinball, or both, this is an absolute no-brainer.

If Dawnfolk looks cool, give it a try. It is a pared down, chill experience sitting at the crossroads between idle game, puzzle game, and city builder. Going in expecting a full-fat example of any one of these is asking to be disappointed. Expecting it to fully explore the territory it stakes out for itself is also a mistake. But for those who can relax and reign in their expectations, there’s an honest joy to be had.

Overall, Project CARS is... fine. I suspect it'd be superb to anyone who's never delved into a serious racing sim before, but it brings too little new to the table for someone like me who's already gotten a bit bored with the big-name offerings in this genre. I love to see indies challenge AAA publishers like this, but it's a lost cause if I'd rather stick with the AAA games anyway.

And the final word must go to that pesky puzzle hook that just won't let your stubborn brain accept defeat.

Those who missed it the first time around or those who're looking for a strange, beautiful, and challenging throwback should certainly take a look at Guardian Heroes. It's prettier, smoother, and just as satisfying as ever

Although Borderlands seemed ready to be one of the next big things, the overwhelming focus on grinding and gun-collecting can't carry the entire game, in either co-op or single-player.

With the exception of the thoroughly unnecessary Danganronpa S, the games of the Danganronpa Decadence package are still a great and unforgettable experience. Though they run better on other platforms, they’re just fine on the Switch, and players who can’t or won’t try them elsewhere won’t feel like they’re getting a worse deal. A more concerning wrinkle is that players who want as complete a Danganronpa experience as possible are better served on those other platforms, thanks to the absence of Ultra Despair Girls. As such, using the word “decadence” in the collective title comes across as a bit presumptuous on Spike Chunsoft’s part — a more accurate title might be “Danganronpa Sufficience“.

In the end, Unpacking is completely fine. It’s a three or four-hour experience of going through a life via boxes, and the believable, realistic narrative that unfolds. It’s recommended as a nice break from more taxing titles, but I still wish there was much more to… unpack.

For anyone who’s ever looked at Minecraft and found its lack of structure daunting, DQB is a more focused, more accessible version of it. And, while it may not have the scope of that genre-defining title, there’s something special at its the core — an exploration of what it means to build a community. The game’s ‘building’ isn’t just about bricks and mortar, but about restoring places where people can work together to create something better than anyone could accomplish on their own. Dragon Quest Builders may not be designed to go on forever, but it offers dozens of hours of crafting, construction, and an utterly engaging story to get lost in.

If nothing else, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within proves that good gameplay always trumps bad style choices.

With the Switch quickly finding success, it was inevitable that all of the titles that never got the audiences they deserved on Wii U would get a second wind on the new platform. Maybe that’s why Splatoon 2 feels like such a rehash, and hey, I still enjoyed it – I’m not unhappy with my purchase. That said, if a Splatoon 3 gets made, I hope Nintendo has some new tricks up its sleeve. Failing that, just let us play Salmon Run whenever we want, for Christ’s sake.

For players looking for something a little outside the usual fare, Sorry We’re Closed is the offbeat survival horror genre-blend they didn’t know they’d been waiting for — and as one of that number myself, I can say that it was an experience unlike any other.

My main complaint with Stray is its length, it felt like the game could have done with an extra four or six hours if it were in the shape of more challenging chase sequences or harder puzzles. The lack of customization for the cat is another issue that has to be addressed. Early on, the cat acquires a jacket and it came as a surprise when credits rolled and there was never any opportunity to customize it, nor even the ability to add one (or more) of the badges that can be earned. There’s not even allowance for a change in the base color. Those issues aside, Stray is ultimately a double-A game that can be confused for triple-A if one takes into consideration the amount of polish, precision and quality crammed into it. Fur-midable indeed.

This feels like an alpha build of a game: the point in a game's development cycle where engine is in place, and the world has been built, and a few bad guys running around for testing purposes. Unfortunately, the actual meat of the game, the story and the missions, haven't been added yet.

World of Goo 2 as whole, I guess, could be classified as a broken success. I struggled with it, both because of my own ineptitude, but more crucially because of its quite serious design flaws. It doesn’t deserve to be hated, or ignored, but I don’t want to play it anymore. I’m goo-d, thanks.

The overall story does come up short when stacked against the incredible Yakuza 0, but it’s still a joy to take Kiryu out for a stroll in the most meticulously-crafted and comically-dangerous rendition of Japan ever offered.

The open-sandbox creation genre is still in its infancy, and Terraria is a good, solid, and inexpensive entry.

In short, WWE 2K24 is a crowning achievement for a series that nearly buried itself just four years ago, and I’ll be playing it long after the referee counts 1-2-3.

The most clever innovation isn't the puzzles or even the characters, as well-done as they are. The most clever bit is the framing of the game as a film.

Madden 17 is still an improvement, and represents the best in sports sim gaming today.

Resonates much stronger than Sony's otherwise noble hand at tactical combat. Not only is the game not held back because of certain console-based restrictions (controllers, options available, graphics, etc.), but the game seems to be less about nationalism and more about the dedication and strife anti-terrorist groups must experience.

Xenosaga spins one of the most engaging science fiction tales I've seen in recent years.

Although it's larger and more fully developed than Honest Hearts, I'm afraid that Fallout: New Vegas-Old World Blues is another case of a great idea not living up to its potential.

While technically a prequel, Shovel Knight: King of Cards is a fitting end to the Shovel Knight saga. It continues the tradition of great graphics, sound, and level design set by the original, while still providing a fresh take on platforming.

Williams Volume 5 is a welcome addition to Pinball FX3 that contains two great tables, and one decent one, and all three can be had for less than it costs for a night at the local pinball arcade.

I don’t make this comparison lightly, but Knockout City almost reminds me of the elegance of Rocket League – it’s that combination of simple and fresh, where it’s easy to understand but offers a sky-high skill ceiling. Only time will tell if Knockout City has as long a tail, but it deserves a chance.

You could make an argument for any one part of Crypt Custodian being the thing that holds it together — the writing, the tactful platforming, or even the somber-yet-delightful world design. But while no single part stands out, these disconnected parts make the whole world worth exploring, experiencing – and yes, cleaning – to its very end.

Resistance 3 does plenty. It's beautiful, thrilling, and-quite unexpectedly-contains one of the most memorable campaigns this side of Halo and Half-Life. In a year full of Sony-branded disappointments, Insomniac has produced an absolute gem.

Whether played solo or tackled with a friend, those looking for a fast-paced, third-person tower defense will find that the unique traps and reaching for high scores will more than keep them occupied.

It seems a shame that this inferior sequel makes us all take turns.

I support sci-fi that does more than ask people to shoot aliens with futuristic guns, but there's just not enough coherence in The Swapper to put up with the split between the intriguing premise and the contrivances that surround it.

Drop Duchy attempts to ease the hard feelings of a busted run with its progression-unlocking Challenges, but the proliferation of new features feels like it dilutes rather than strengthens subsequent runs. As a consequence, Drop Duchy falls too far into the frustrating regime of RNG-dominated games. There’s an interesting concept here, but Drop Duchy lacks the kind of snappy gameplay or compelling aesthetic that would sustain it through the unfairness of waiting in vain for that dang line piece that just won’t drop.

If the words "the death of Aeris" don't bring a tear to your eye, then dropping $40 on Crisis Core certainly will.

All told, Trine was a stylish, clever game that certainly manages to establish its own identity.

The multiplayer's locked in, but there's an incredible potential for more.

While I wasn't the biggest Bastion fan, Supergiant had definitely stepped things up with Transistor. Deep, stylish, fulfilling and concise, Transistor can easily be described in terms used for music rather than games—And like a great song, it stays in one's head long after the credits roll.