Just how much replay value is in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 will probably depend on how much a player enjoys the Olympics. There’s not much the game does poorly, but there’s not much that really stands out, either. Mario & Sonic 2020 is good enough to qualify, but it won’t be bringing home more than a bronze.

How impressive is this grueling horror experience? I guessed the ending mere minutes into the demo earlier this year, and yet when it came time to play the full game, I still found myself getting caught up in the twists and turns. That’s right — even knowing the ending before going in, the journey was so powerful that I’m glad to have taken it, and would recommend that any fan of first-person horror do the same.

Despite a healthy amount of competition roughly covering the same territory, Hunt: Showdown manages to find its own fresh take. It’s not as polished as it should be and the interface needs work, but as an experience it carves a niche for itself within this blossoming genre.

Outside of those minor issues, NASCAR Heat 4 is an enjoyable racer that had no trouble making me want to take another lap around the track.

It’s one of the most enjoyable recent entries in a medium that it takes perverse glee in tearing apart.

John Wick Hex does a lot of things right and has personality to spare. It can also be irritating — sometimes overwhelmingly so — but it kept me coming back for more, even after realizing that I probably won’t see the end credits anytime soon.

The developers have built themselves a Martian base that would be a pleasure to live and work in — it’s just a shame they couldn’t craft a game that was as enjoyable as their setting.

What was great about Ghostbusters: The Videogame still shines through in this remaster — it’s a loving tribute and fitting ‘sequel’ to one of the greatest comedies of all time, the dialogue and performances are top-notch, and fighting the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is still tremendously enjoyable. With that said, the nostalgia that masked gameplay warts in 2009 isn’t quite as potent today. However, it’s still a romp that any fan of the franchise will greatly appreciate, and given the sorry state of game archiving these days, I’m grateful we get the opportunity to play it again.

It’s clear The Gentlebros studio has intentionally iterated on their approachable ARPG, and they’ve accomplished that goal with polished gameplay elements that hang together tightly. It might not be a satisfying experience for seasoned vets, but Cat Quest II is recommended for anyone seeking a bite-sized, straight shooting, heartwarming adventure.

Both of these tables are a joy to play and the Universal Monsters Pack is a solid addition to the Pinball FX3 library. It’s a slight shame the pack includes only two tables, but the price still beats buying a pair of working machines.

In the end, there is much to like about Death Stranding, and I can’t stress enough how much I loved rebuilding America with thousands of concurrent players — that spirit of cooperation was magical. It’s just tragic that the core gameplay loop was let down by dodgy combat scenarios and a listless, meandering story. Death Stranding is still one of the most memorable gaming experiences I’ve had in a while and I certainly don’t regret playing it, but I can’t rate it higher when it whiffs so hard on so many areas that needed more focus.

In its current form, Deliver Us the Moon is a completely adequate game, but it’s just the first draft of a truly great one.

If Fit for a King‘s narrative was brimming with historical or pop culture references, or maybe if it had a deeper underlying message to discover, I might’ve been able to look past the tedium of gold gathering. As it stands, there’s novelty in making crazy decisions as a monarch and finding a few neat nods, but that novelty wears off quickly.

While the oversexualization is disappointing and even distracts from the story at points, I’ll still sing the praises of AI: The Somnium Files because it respects the player’s time, offers interesting characters, and the Somnium sections are great to explore. It’s recommended with a slight caveat, but it’s still recommended.

While mastering the intricacies of its 3D rotation might take a little practice and its refusal to explain systems was thoroughly wrongheaded, Hyperforma still managed to keep me playing with its high-tech zero-g pinball action and electric artwork. With just a little tweaking, this one would be a must-play for Switch owners – it doesn’t feel quite like anything else, and that alone is worth something.

Doraemon: Story Of Seasons is one of the nicest surprises of the year. I wasn’t expecting a non-Stardew Valley farming sim to grab me like it did, and I certainly wasn’t expecting it from a Doraemon game, but here we are. On top of a great evolution in the farming RPG genre, it’s also a fantastic use of a coveted license. Stardew Valley 2 is probably a long way off, but the people that gave Eric Barone most of his ideas have just given us a substitute worthy of both franchises.

As long as players are happy to hang out with a likable cast of characters and watch some cute flirting, Rio Reincarnation is a success. It’s a pleasant diversion even for someone completely unfamiliar with the source material, and as smoothly playable a visual novel as I’ve ever encountered.

Overall, Zombie Driver: Immortal Edition misses a lot of opportunities and manages only to deliver repetition, failing even a basic level of entertainment. I won’t be driving back to this city anytime soon.

Overall, Greedfall‘s setting, narrative and themes offer a refreshing change from the standard RPG soap operas and it has more than enough meat on its bones to satisfy an RPG fan’s itch, and I believe it shines when viewed like an immensely satisfying sidequest — it was interesting enough to keep me glued, but ultimately it lacks the breadth and depth of something bigger.

Bugs aside, Neo Cab stands tall as a thoughtful and genuinely affecting piece of sci-fi fiction, and one of the better attempts at dialogue I’ve seen in my long career playing games. Hopping into Lina’s cab and touring Los Ojos is a ride I would be happy to take again.

While everything in Tiny Metal feels mechanically great, I found myself having a hard time coming back after each play session. My biggest issue is that the story just isn’t a factor, and the colorful-looking characters feel flat and uninspired. Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble is an exercise in tactics and I can appreciate the mechanics, but those things just weren’t enough to get me hooked on this conflict.

While The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors is a cool, modernized reminder of a bygone era, its main downside is that arcade-style titles were usually designed to extract the maximum number of quarters from their audience in as short a time as possible, so longevity and variety weren’t high on the list of design requirements back then. As a result, it isn’t likely to hold someone’s attention for long if they aren’t interested in attempting to top the leaderboards. The campaign will take most gamers a couple of hours to complete at most, and the unlockable hard mode and new characters aren’t enough to give it legs. With that in mind, this spruced-up blast from the past is enjoyable while it lasts — it’s just a shame that there’s not a little more mechanical meat on these robotic ninja bones.

What bothers me the most about the gameplay in Bear With Me is the overall lack of direction — it just didn’t feel like there was any reason to play. The script evolves into a predictable cartoonish melodrama and the case basically solves itself without challenging the player to come up with their own theories along the way. There’s no morally grey culprit or alternative outcomes. There’s only one way to play through Bear and unfortunately, it’s not one that kept my attention.

While its gameplay might be ancient by videogame standards, Driven Out proves that a perfectly executed concept is timeless. No matter how insurmountable a foe appeared, I knew that if I put in the work, I’d always manage to overcome it. Driven Out is hell on the fingers and it stretched my reflexes to their absolute limit, but the joy of victory was absolutely worth the agony of 500 defeats.

When a group gathers around to play ABTM2VR, it’s a great party experience. Coordinating who’s going to take on each task as things constantly pile up is a hectic experience, but it’s extremely satisfying when it all clicks. Asan asymmetrical VR puzzle game, Angry Birds The Movie 2 is a definite success only held back only by the fact that unless four people are actually in the room to play, the party won’t be as lively as it should be.

A Knight’s Quest opens with a masterful sequence as its hero leaps across crumbling pillars, wallruns over pits, and slashes the occasional beast. It’s tight, focused, and incredibly entertaining, and if the rest of the experience had felt anything at all like that, I would have loved it. Instead, the minute players get out of the first dungeon, the developers’ assumptions of intuition and inability to design a playable open world absolutely ruins everything. With a map and markers, A Knight’s Quest would be a little rough, but charming. In its current state? It’s a borderline-unplayable mess.

After three hours I was nearly halfway through the content, and I found myself unable to continue. Rest In Pieces has a wonderful look and great controls, but if the developers had worked on evening out the challenge, they’d have had a winner. Sadly, in its current state the game is only suitable for those who can accept a truly epic amount of frustration in exchange for some beautiful art design.

A title like The Sinking City is hard to judge. Thematically and narratively, Frogwares has hit it out of the park. Technically, it’s mostly a miss. These two aspects are in direct conflict with each other, which results in an adventure game I’m trying to forget, and an experience I never will.