The Color of Madness is another welcome addition to Red Hook’s tough-as-nails Lovecraftian horror RPG, and in contrast to the way the previous DLC,The Crimson Court, was implemented, this new content is mostly self-contained and doesn’t bleed out into the main campaign — a plus for newcomers who aren’t ready for it. While the add-ons in other titles can often feel superfluous or like a grab for cash, The Color of Madness delivers a strongly-realized idea that improves the core content while also adding to it.

All in all, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is a must for fans of the series and those wishing to explore its roots. Even with some redundancy across titles and control hiccups, the overall package is stellar. It’s no small feat to pull off a true retro port of this size, and Digital Eclipse has done laudable job of it.

Lost in Harmony is a short experience, but the fabulous soundtrack and the story of Kaito and Aya are enough to make it a worthwhile one.

Rainbow Skies is hampered by its weak narrative, overly tight economy, and sub-optimally tuned combat. What really kills it, however, is the vast amount of time it sucks up by forcing both the story and the combat to move at a snail’s pace. Rainbow Skies demands a ton of time from the player, but offers nothing of equal value to reward that investment.

I may have gotten the bad ending, been sick of the puzzle format and hated the platforming, but the forgotlings were cute, the world was a pleasure to look at and the few cutscenes were noteworthy. Ultimately, Forgotton Anne is held back by tired, repetitive game systems, and will itself soon be forgotten.

Bomber Crew is a fantastic first achievement, and flitting between micro and macro management is both stressful and rewarding in equal measure. That said, the game can’t decide if it wants to be a quirky management sim or a hardcore roguelike, so splitting the difference has weakened the whole.

After a while, the small things kept adding up and made this potentially great game less and less enjoyable. There will be players who can overlook the issues and complete Inked, but I’m not one of them.

If Blacksea Odyssey worked the way it should, its deadly monsters with complex attack patterns and abilities would pose a significant, enjoyable challenge. Unfortunately, the current level of challenge comes from severe camera issues, poor design and too many bugs. Stick a harpoon in it and toss the corpse out into the void of space.

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.

Altogether, I spent more than 50 hours in the world of Hollow Knight, and even after low points like devoting an entire evening to just one boss or constantly running to a wiki for info, the experience was absolutely worth it – critically speaking, it’s impossible to not recognize what is staggering piece of work this game is.

Maybe the typical, indirect solutions to problems were designed deliberately to poke fun at the genre’s flaws, but they were so frequent that they were just as much of an irritant as this kind of puzzle was back then. Topped off with a wildly lackluster twist to explain Yelltown fever, and Unforeseen Incidents leaves a lot to be desired on nearly every front.

Strange Journey was an enjoyable ride. Seeing the different dungeons of the Schwarzwelt and how the motivations of the demons (and how they felt about humans) blended well with each area.That said, those already familiar with the Shin Megami games will likely enjoy this reissue more than series newcomers thanks to its general difficulty and the inconsistency of the negotiation mechanics — it can be a bit polarizing for those who aren’t accustomed to the mechanics.

New Gundam Breaker is a love letter to Gundam fandom to the point where the devs can’t imagine that anyone playing wouldn’t know the mechs inside and out. In light of this, the real testament to New Gundam Breaker’s success is the fact that its obvious passion for its subject made me want to learn.

Is Jurassic World Evolution worth the price of admission? That’s tough to answer. On one hand, I look forward to dinosauring (as I call it) every night, especially after I’d unlocked the challenge-free sandbox which allows me to build the park of my dreams without limits, but unlocking every piece of technology and every species of dino means slogging through an uninspired campaign. It’s frustrating, but there’s still nothing like watching a newly-hatched T. rex roar her way out into the world.

Rifter is stylish as hell, and even the writing manages to extract more wit than one would expect from characters composed of simple geometrical shapes, but the sharpest presentation in the world couldn’t convince me that I was enjoying myself. I’m sure it’ll find an audience among those with an astounding level of patience, but for me, Rifter was all frustration, zero reward, and probably the best game I’ve ever hated.

Overall, Please Knock on My Door is a unique, effective experience that raises darker themes of life such as social anxiety and depression. While difficult to discuss in reality, the thoughts and feelings of the character connected. I was motivated to help turn its sad existence into a happier one, and I couldn’t help but empathize – this indie had an effect on me.

As a singleplayer title, it seems to offer a wealth of content — the stories have a quirky kind of charm and each scenario has four possible outcomes, with a total of over twenty endings possible. Of course, playing with rivals adds a replay value of its own, but after a little time spent with it, I came away feeling that Monster Prom is only functional at best — despite the wealth of options, the scenarios become predictable and tired quickly. Even so, a group of friends turns it into a delightfully messy romp of the kind that my younger self would have loved, minus the cocaine.

For a game that’s almost ten years old, the ideas and gameplay in Red Faction: Guerilla has barely aged, and there’s still nothing like it on the market. It’s unfortunate that the engine and performance can’t do this fantastic game justice, but it remains an essential play for anyone who missed it the first time.

For players more interested in narrative than challenge, look no further. With powerful storytelling, strong performances from the central cast and disturbingly relevant themes, The New Colossus is a high water mark for AAA stories. As it fires on all cylinders to deliver bombast and blood with its right hand, be warned — the most devastating hits come from its subtle left hook.

I didn’t care for Dead in Vinland. The setup’s decent, and early on I thought I’d enjoy my time spent starving, dehydrated and constantly getting attacked by murderous brigands on a desolate island. Alas, it takes an experience that could have been an acceptable eight-hour journey and stretches it out to over fifty (or more!) and becomes an absolute chore by the time players finally wrap it up.

This type of design is an infuriating and transparent attempt to pad out the length of the game by making simple quests take longer to complete. Worse still, the occasional need to fire off a spell or two is entirely governed by Akko’s magical potion supply, which can only be replenished by spending money earned by repetitively grinding dungeon battles. It breaks my heart that Little Witch Academia: The Chamber of Time turned out the way it did, because the aesthetic success is undeniable, as is APlus’ attempt to design something that functions on a deeper level than just delivering fanservice.

Inside succeeds on the strength of the powerful mood that Playdead builds using crisp, clean audio work and the visual design of its oppressive but seductively mysterious world. That power hasn’t been lessened in the port to the Nintendo Switch — and in fact, I imagine that Inside’s horrors are perhaps even more potent when played in the claustrophobic cram of a subway, or in the human clot of an airplane.

Battletech is a great game in its tabletop format, and while it probably shouldn’t have taken over thirty years for a perfect computer adaptation to arrive, this version is one of the best miniature strategy experiences out there, and it’s more accessible than it’s ever been.

While Omensight‘s combat is only iffy at best, I found the story compelling enough to play all the way through and get to the ultimate conclusion of the storyline. While I didn’t find the ending completely satisfying, the characters had great depth and I’ve rarely found a game that handled the replay the day mechanic this well.

Antigraviator is the kind of game that disappoints by showing the bones to be a great experience, only to fall short of its lofty goals in nearly every aspect.

Though uneven at times, it’s clear that Snowcastle Games have gotten it mostly right in their attempt to evoke the JRPGs from the turn of the century… It’s just a bit disappointing that this focus on bringing back old conventions hasn’t resulted in an experience that feels like it does anything new.

For a supposed chill-out game, Shape of the World just doesn’t hit the right balance. Its dynamics and artwork aren’t interesting enough to justify standing still, and moving forward feels too much like work. Rather than being relaxing, it’s more of a bore.

While I loved the tracks on offer in Urban Trial Playground I quickly exhausted everything that it had to offer. Lode Runner Legacy avoids this problem entirely by A) providing a truly wild amount of stages and B) opening the game up to the community to allow dedicated players to do the same. I want more Lode Runner Legacy, and thanks to the efforts of Tozai and the community, there’s much more waiting for me.