Despite Last Day of June‘s slightly boring mid-game errands, its breathtaking art style and narrative payoff left a lasting impression on me. If it were streamlined a tiny bit more and had some fat trimmed, it would be a truly remarkable work. Although I do recommend it, there’s some room for improvement here.

Though it doesn’t break the mold (and in some ways steps back a bit in terms of narrative scope) Fate/Extella Link is the ideal sequel, holding tight to what worked best about Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star and building on that foundation with a set of well-thought-out additions and changes. Fans of the previous entry and the Fate franchise should give it a look.

At present, Bigbig's casual disregard for the casual gamer has undermined a game that, in almost every other respect, is so perfectly suited to its host platform as to truly be a showcase title. [UK Version]

Project Wingman may well be the most frustrating game I’ve ever unabashedly loved by making me feel like the hotshot pilot I’ve never been, and the only price I have to pay is a little bit of my sanity every time I die and remember that there aren’t any checkpoints.

Overall, The Medium is a fantastic experience. It’s a troubling, emotional, and wrenching nightmare packed into a compact running time, and while its ending may be a little too ambiguous for some, I’m happy to say that The Medium offers a dark mystery that is absolutely worth solving.

Mortal Kombat 11 was already fantastic, and Aftermath gave me the perfect excuse to revisit it. It looks great, it plays great, and for players (like me) who would rather not get beaten to a pulp by the savants online, dipping in for some drama and a few offline matches is hard to beat. The price is an eyebrow-raiser for players that have already put money in, but for anyone who enjoyed MK11 and wants more, this is a no-brainer.

Hacking and slashing my way through legions of intelligent monsters was surprisingly enjoyable, as was the addictive challenge to always increase my combo count. Overall, the space opera mixed with kick alien ass produced a fun bout of story-driven hack-n-slash, that gives as good as it gets.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is relaxing and pretty, and spending time exploring its rain-soaked metropolis is almost worth the price of admission by itself. It is also, however, a disappointing game that fails to fulfill its own potential with a repetitive combat system, too much checklist-ticking busywork, and an undercooked main storyline that fails to live up to its promise and contains no notable secondary characters. Ghostwire: Tokyo isn’t a bad game — it just feels like it could have been so much more.

It’s hard to say whether Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth is better than Mask of Deception since they’re essentially one story split into two halves, but I found the entire tale thought-provoking and its characters lovable and (mostly) funny. It’s a visual novel worth playing, and now that I’ve reached its end, I’m a little sad saying goodbye.

It's quite refreshing to play something that feels like it wants you to play it.

The racing issue aside, Raskulls shines whenever the player is left alone to work through one of the ingeniously-designed puzzle levels.

The game is a showcase of everything Nintendo hopes for its new console: the novel simplicity of the Wiimote, deceptively simple gameplay that's easy for non-gamers to learn yet a challenge for gaming veterans to master.

Despite its quasi-anonymous, unknown status, AquaPazza is a surprisingly accomplished 2D brawler with a great mix of proficient fighting and fanservice. It’s more than worthy of consideration.

Overall, it’s a shame that the final game feels like a missed opportunity to bring the survival horror genre back into the spotlight. Between the poor story and characters, familiar elements from other games and the problems I had during my playthrough, it seems as though The Evil Within is content to live in the past instead of than drawing inspiration from it and moving forward.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind excels in its poetic moments — its dialogue is beautifully written, its quests are labyrinthine. But, it falters in its moments of war, and often leaves the player swinging their swords at impervious foes, wondering if they’re making any difference at all.

With no real gameplay innovations unique to the episodic format and the fact that Resident Evil's weakest quality has traditionally been its story, Revelations 2 is putting an awful lot of eggs in this samey-feeling basket.

Excepting its peach-perfect fit on the young platform, Mercury is hardly mind-blowing—how many puzzle games are?—and can't match Lumines for sensation and impact. This is simply a very good puzzle game conceit that's been unassailably well implemented into a sensibly balanced and handsome title.

While it may not offer the gameplay depth or compelling characters of a modern Atelier game, Marie is certainly charming. There’s a simple pleasure to looking back at where the series started, and seeing its faltering first steps towards the mechanics that would later come to define it. One thing is certain, though – this is a series that has always had its heart squarely in the right place. Every Atelier is, at its core, about a young woman desperate to make people’s lives better, and then allowing the player to guide her as she develops her skills to start making a real difference. Even in this most basic version, that’s always a journey worth taking.

The story is phenomenal and the artwork is stylishly exquisite, but the mechanics and the hand holding make the experience drag on longer than it needs to. Perhaps that is partly the point, though — scrolling through nasty comments online is a certain kind of negative energy that the developers clearly want to make a statement about. Regardless of those downsides, Urban Myth Dissolution Center still gets my recommendation, especially for those looking for a spooky story or for players who love solving mysteries.

Culdcept Saga is a true breath of fresh air.

Not A Hero may not star a hero, but it is a heroic effort to freshen up the 2D shooter scene. It's not easy to stand out in the vast crowd of pixel-art indie productions these days, but Roll7 pulls it off, and such craft is enough for Bunnylord to get my vote.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew accomplishes what no previous game came close to — it truly makes the player feel as if they’re on the bridge of a starship, taking part in sci-fi adventures. When a skilled crew is working under an able captain, Bridge Crew offers a uniquely thrilling experience, making everyone feel that they’re contributing equally to every part of the mission. There are plenty of co-op games out there, but I’ve never encountered one as purely collaborative as this. This isn’t about characters with different skillsets making up for each others’ shortcomings, this is about transforming four people into cogs in a machine designed to do incredible things.

Ultimately, there’s no argument that this is the best game adaptation the franchise has seen, and it’s an undeniable improvement over its predecessor. However, the amount of rehashed material might be galling to players who want new content — those who’ll be happy with simply killing titans in a more polished fashion are the ideal audience here.

I wish Ghost of a Tale was more polished and I’m annoyed that it ends as abruptly as it does, but I’m still eager to spend more time in this world. Whether Gallat continues his work or moves on to something else, he’s one to watch… and if this is what he can pull off more or less by himself, I’d love to see what he could do with a bigger team and a serious budget behind him.

If an editor had taken a serious red pen and streamlined the narrative, Tokyo Xanadu EX+ would be fantastic. As it is, this is a game with stellar JRPG action and a story that will try the patience of all but the most dedicated players.

A dating simulation combined with more traditional combat is certainly an interesting concept, but with Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love's inconsistent tone, exhausting battle system and poor story, it's trying to be too many things at once.

Although it might not have be an entirely enjoyable ride from start to finish, there's a definite sense of style and intelligence in the approach. In its current state, Dead Head Fred comes maddeningly close to what could be defined as a genius cult classic.

The choices made by Igor during his journey truly matter, and despite some rough edges and certain aspects of the experience feeling a bit underdeveloped, I loved my time with Chernobylite and would recommend spending time with Igor and his crew to anyone.