As a games critic for more than 20 years, I play a lot of titles. For me, the best ones are those that surprise me or subvert my expectations – titles that find a new angle, or offer something that I haven’t quite seen before. Golf Club Wasteland managed all of that, and left me with a few things to think about afterwards, to boot.

The biggest obstacle facing would-be Phasmophobia players is finding enough people willing to join in the shared roleplay that it requires. But, anyone able to put together a quartet of ghost investigators who are free for couple of hours on a particularly dark night will find themselves in one of the most effective co-op horror games ever made.

A sound choice that will not disappoint.

Those already converted to the unique sport of monster breeding will find Monster Rancher Advance to be a fine continuation of the PlayStation series that translates very well to the Game Boy Advance.

Lego Batman represents the first real misstep from developer Traveller's Tales in their moderately popular Lego franchise.

Despite these minor graphical issues, Monster Hunter Stories remains an incredibly charming game. It’s easy to understand but fairly deep, and the combat system offers plenty of freedom in tackling the series’ classic roster of creatures in engaging and novel ways. For newcomers to Monster Hunter interested in learning about the lore or looking for a point of entry that’s not as intense as the mainline series combat, this is the ticket.

It's not the longest game, and it's not the most complex game, but it succeeds at almost everything it sets out to do-which puts it head and shoulders above most other games out there, Star Wars-related or not.

And despite the very real possibility of some people being put off by the huge amount of text to get through, I strongly feel that Riviera has quite a bit to offer-not only to people still hanging on to their GBAs, but to fans of RPG's in general.

I don’t have any criticisms of Mutazione worth mentioning. Die Gute Fabrik has done a masterful job in crafting Kai’s tale, and it held my attention from start to finish. It was so good, in fact, that I have reached the end of this review without celebrating the absolutely marvelous art style which is what brought the game to my attention in the first place. This tale of a girl reconnecting with her grandfather while learning about the connections he made is not to be missed.

Clustertruck is admirably insane. The action is so fast and engaging that it made me enjoy a randomized, chaotic platformer, which was something I’d previously thought impossible. Still, I couldn’t avoid the nagging sense that I wasn’t wholly responsible for my failures (and successes!) they way I would have been in a more tightly-designed game. That said, anyone willing to loosen their grip on the wheel and go with the flow can expect a consistently surprising and raucous good time.

See, as suboptimal as many of Knights of Honor II’s macro design choices are, they add up to a vision of the grand strategy genre that, at the very least, provides a much different rhythm and feel from its contemporaries. Instead of the player securing their family line for future generations, or expanding an empire from the stone age to the space age, the player is given a modest patch of land and tasked with developing and defending it at all costs from inscrutable opponents that often feel like a swarm of angry wasps buzzing at the player’s stoop. Its core systems could use some elaboration, perhaps, but fans of this genre who need this particular itch scratched could do a lot worse!

Despite the huge amount of money obviously spent licensing and producing Scarface, in the end, it's nothing more than an acceptable title. Better written and designed than most, but too short and shallow to stand apart from the crowd.

The boss fights are a sore spot that killed my momentum and pushed me towards rage quitting, but I still had a blast pushing the oppressive corporate world back with vibrant colors and great music, and plastering the world with gorgeous graffiti pieces was always a good time. With a campaign that takes around five to six hours to complete, it’s an enjoyably stylish way to spend a weekend.

Mafia: Definitive Edition takes an old title and adds polish in the places where it counts most — story and character — while delivering a solid experience in most other aspects. The driving isn’t great and there are a few bugs that need to be squashed, but diving into this wonderfully tragic tale is an offer that no one should refuse.

Weird West is a truly special experience. While each one of its stories is compelling in its own right, when put together they transform into something fantastic. This is a game that shows its monsters and asks the player to be disgusted, and then turns them into a monster and asks if they feel the same way. As such, every one of the journeys contained within is worth taking, but it’s only once players have trod all of those roads that they’ll appreciate just how amazing Weird West‘s accomplishments are. It’s deep, it’s fascinating, and it’s full of the kind of storytelling that resonates for a long time after credits roll — truly an incredible experience from beginning to end.

As a philosophical rumination on the ownership of art, The Beginner's Guide is what Boswell might call an "ingenious sophistry", but not a compelling argument. As an exploration of an obsessive relationship that failed painfully, it's a sneakily effective success. Is the latter so bound up in the former that it loses impact? I thought not, but that's just me.

Shantae: Half-Genie Hero is pleasant but shallow. The initial “wow” factor of the wonderful aesthetics wears off once the backtracking starts, and the game never recovers. It looks wonderful, but no amount of prettiness can cover up gameplay that can’t come close to the quality of the visuals.

While I enjoyed my time with Horizon Chase Turbo, I wished it was an arcade cabinet instead of something to play at home. Part of the arcade appeal was always seeing how long I could get on a quarter — having unlimited access to such a thing puts it in a new, unfavorable light that reveals the content was never meant for it.

Old School Musical is a wonderful audio tribute that keeps the beat of classic games going on and on and on.

In the end, Brigandine: Legend of Runersia is one of the finest turn-based wargames on consoles in years. The concepts aren’t necessarily new or even deep compared to others in the genre, but they are masterfully rendered in service of a narrative that brings wargaming’s original sin forward into a harsh light.

I don’t envy any roguelike unfortunate enough to release immediately after Hades — that game made every run feel distinct and provided a persistent narrative justification for the repetition inherent to the genre. I obviously can’t expect smaller developers to match that effort, but what Hades does well underlines the fact that so many roguelikes let stellar ideas go to waste, lost amid endless monotony. Noita is a spectacular technical showcase in desperate need of a more fully-formed game.

After the last few installments, WWE 2K22 succeeds in bringing the zest back into this long-running franchise. Each match is intense and exciting, and I couldn’t stop myself from exploring different play styles and re-enacting some of my favorite encounters. Even if the whole WWE circus only exists to present a cheap power fantasy, games like this one triumph in highlighting the best side of the affair.

Ultimately, Slime Rancher 2 is a strange beast. On paper it has everything the original does, and more. More slimes, more unlocks and more imaginative environments. Sadly, the frustrations overshadowed many of those positives for me, as many of the new additions actively work against the tone of the experience. Quicker access to fast travel or unlimited stamina would go a long way to easing these complaints, and make me feel less like my time was being wasted. I’ve been rather negative on its latter sections, but for those who enjoyed the original Slime Rancher, it manages to hit many of the same pleasant notes — but maybe have a guide handy to minimize the travel and grinding.

Overall, the core mechanics were engaging and the world was enchanting enough to keep me coming back night after night. Even when it suffers from subpar writing or when the boss fights are a little too breezy, the dynamic, well-balanced combat, effective worldbuilding and ability to immerse the player in their role as the leader of a diverse group of adventurers who make choices that matter will appeal to a wide variety of gamers. There is much to do, much to say and much to discover around every corner in the world of Thedas.

In the end, Windjammers is a mechanically interesting experience that still feels fresh 23 years after its release, but this PS4 edition doesn’t include much to enhance the original. As it stands, Windjammers is enjoyable for an afternoon with friends, but it doesn’t offer much to hook players for the long term.

Although I badly want to like The Denpa Men 2: Beyond the Waves more than I do, the honest truth is that it's a hell of a lot of work for a game that's basically nothing but grinding through dungeons. If the difficulty and frequency of encounters were just a bit lower, the insanely high cute factor would be able to carry the experience and I probably would have powered through. Instead, it's way, way too much effort for too little return—my patience and stamina wore out long before the credits rolled.

Singularity is the very definition of average, and the lack of subtitles knocks it just below. It is the gaming equivalent of white rice, the Ford Focus, and black coffee. Its taste is decidedly bland, but it'll do its job.

While the combat leaves a bit to be desired, Masquerada is by far the best story-driven game I’ve played, and I have no doubt that I will play it again. There’s something incredibly valuable about playing something that challenges the way I see the world, and that’s an experience worth repeating, even if I have to plow through a few fights to do it.