The Campaign, Dark Zone and Incursions are enjoyable while they last, but players looking for meaty, long lasting, end-game content would do well to make sure that at least one of the Gold Edition’s included DLCs seems like a good fit for the long haul – to reiterate, Underground is for those who like gear for the sake of gear in co-op, Survival doubles down on the main game’s oppressive, stark environment, and The Last Stand is for those that want to flaunt their set-ups and create gear envy in others. For those who take the plunge, The Division’s updated and inclusive Gold Edition is better and more fully featured than the previous iteration, and it’s heartening to see Ubisoft sticking by this game and continuing to tweak it. Even better news? It’s already been announced that Season 2 will be free. What this entails we’ll have to see, but with this season ending so positively, I’m optimistic.

Despite the uneven quality of its contents, there’s no denying the sheer value present in Kingdom Hearts 1.5 + 2.5 ReMix. It’s the Greatest Hits Collection of Kingdom Hearts, and anyone curious about the series or looking to refresh their memory ahead of the new stuff should pick it up.

I recently revisited the original Banjo-Kazooie as part of the Rare Replay compilation and still found it to be the best of its genre, and I’m not one of those people who believes that a mascot platformer has no place in the modern gaming scene. I was ready to celebrate the return of this genre, but Yooka-Laylee is simply a chore to play. The folks at Playtonic have demonstrated that they can recreate the spirit of old-school 3D platformers. Now, critically, they need to recreate the quality.

While Trio of Towns has more structure — and more “stuff” in general — than I’m used to, it’s still the same farming simulator I know and love.

There’s also no getting around the Mario Kart series’ continued inability to provide solid single-player offerings, thanks to a dearth of solo modes and the notoriously-cheap AI. The addition of online play has alleviated this to an extent, but since the Switch is designed to be taken to places where an internet connection won’t be available, Deluxe’s appeal is still limited on the go. Nevertheless, this is the definitive version of what was already the best Mario Kart to date, and it seems to finally be getting the audience it’s always deserved. Even after dumping over a hundred hours into the original version, I’m still finding Mario Kart 8 as fantastic as ever.

Even with the issue of repetition hanging over its head, Late Shift remains a remarkable accomplishment and I recomend it without reservation. It’s a solidly entertaining FMV game that surpasses many modern adventure titles, and it kept me hanging on to the plot through every scene, constantly wanting to know if Matt was going to make it out of London alive.

If GNOG were five dollars cheaper I’d put it up as a can’t-miss PSVR experience and a solidly diverting PS4 puzzle title. As it is, however, I’d warn that it really is just an hour long, and ask how much money players are willing to spend on such a brief experience. It looks and sounds great, and it really is the kind of light puzzle experience that all ages can enjoy, but it’s definitely over too soon.

After completing the campaign, Outlast 2 boiled down to being too repetitive and maddening — it’s a horrific, beautiful disappointment. I can’t help but wish the game was half its length and set entirely in environments filled with the creepy corridors, ghostly apparitions, murderous priests, gory suicides and the demons that it does so well. Those moments are when Outlast 2 is at its very best. Instead, the fear was drained by constant deaths, sequences that are more frustrating than they should be, and an abysmal checkpoint system that only highlights how bad the rest is. Outlast 2 looks amazing and sounds amazing, but the gameplay that would make this dark gem shine just isn’t here.

The Danganronpa series is concerned with the ongoing battle between the power of hope and the power of despair, and while these games are overlong and peppered with some less-than-stellar moments, the excellent plots give the player a sense of hope for the future of dynamic narrative in videogames. This is some of the best, most suspenseful, storytelling that I’ve ever seen attempted in the medium. While there’s no new content and the graphics remain unchanged from the Vita versions, 1.2 Reload is a great jumping-on point for fans of visual novels who’ve never experienced the series before.

Flinthook is right on the cusp of being an absolute superstar. The art is top-notch, the music rocks, and in a general sense, it squarely nails the energy and vibe needed to rise above the chaff. On the other hand, the controls need some modifications and I can’t help but feel like it might have been better off as a traditional action game instead of a roguelite. While this interstellar adventure lost me before we reached the destination, I hope to see this cute space pirate again, and I’ll always cherish the time I spent whipping that grappling hook around.

With its cheerful gore and wholehearted embrace of adorable violence, Slayaway Camp toes a line that has tripped up many developers before them. (Anyone remember the tonal disaster that was Naughty Bear?) This is both an ingeniously-built puzzle game and a horror extravaganza rolled into one, and it’s a combination that must be seen to be believed. Horror fans will enjoy great comedy writing about a subject they love, puzzle fans will have their brains expertly teased, and fans of both will find the game of their dreams.

Taking it for what it is today, Full Throttle doesn’t quite stack up to other remastered LucasArts offerings like The Secret of Monkey Island or Grim Fandango. That said, it remains a worthwhile re-release for fans, and I’m happy it’s back to be experienced by a whole new generation. However, that new generation may want to temper their expectations slightly.

Overall, This Is The Police is a somewhat enjoyable strategy/time management title, although the story felt like wasted time since I never grew connected to the characters or the plot, and it had no real bearing on play. With more weight given to the plot and better integration into the game overall, this sad tale of a man slowly sinking to the bottom would have come together into something fascinating. As it stands, the strategic parts can’t save the experience overall and the end result is a title that feels only half-done. Ultimately, This is the Police ended up being a game to kill time with, not one to lose time on.

All in all, the game does a phenomenal job of weaving its tale of murder thanks to a fascinating plot and riveting character interaction that kept me coming back for more. Even though the risk of annoyance thanks to repetition is high, players that love a good puzzle shouldn’t miss this one. The Sexy Brutale feels like a love letter to fans of classic Whodunit novels, and in my book, Lafcadio Boone’s adventure is a must-have addition to any Adventure player’s library.

Snowflake’s Chance looks incredible, and the work that’s been poured into its conception of hell is some of the best sadistic platforming I’ve ever encountered — I just wish I’d had a fair chance to play it. Games designed to challenge and punish their players can get away with a lot, but they can never skimp on the controls. Sadly, Snowflake’s Chance just isn’t as tight as it needs to be. Hopefully this gets repaired at some point in the future, because other than this one key flaw, it has all the makings of a minor classic in the realm of cruelty.

Clocking in at around five hours, Mr. Shifty struck a good balance for me between wanting more versus wearing out its welcome. I enjoyed my time with it despite some of the later levels being slightly frustrating and the finale being a little anti-climatic, but overall, this is a solid addition to the Switch’s growing library.

I have to assume this is a title most anime lovers already own, so when viewed as a standalone product, there isn’t enough new here to recommend a second purchase, even for ardent devotees. However, any fighting fans or ninja enthusiasts who let it slip by last year should consider this enhanced version of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 – Road to Boruto to be the definitive edition.

It’s cute, and it’s strange, and it’s certainly got a solid ruleset, but there’s just not enough to Acorn Assault. The main campaign is twenty-five levels of repetitive combat, and the multiplayer mode is strangely handicapped, leaving it an oddity without much to recommend it. Unless, of course, one was curious about the events which inevitably led to the rise of Squirrel Napoleon…

Yes, The Dragon’s Trap is one of the best-looking 2D sprite-based platformers ever, but beneath that gorgeous exterior is a fundamentally well-built adventure platformer. All the player needs to do to prove the truth of that statement is tap one button and discover just how good gamers had it twenty-eight years ago.

As a visual feast and a technical achievement, Fated is a success. This is a beautiful world to explore, and features some of the most interesting and unique design aesthetics available on PSVR. Much of the writing and all of the acting is admirable, and it’s only the strange choice to keep the main character so distant from the action that prevents this project from being an unqualified success. When viewed as a one-hour stroll through a unique environment, it’s a winner. When taken as a larger work, the developers bungled their chance to do something more resonant.

Although I hate to be so vague about The Bunker, giving away too much would be doing a great disservice to anyone reading this review. Instead, I’ll simply say that it’s one of the most enjoyable FMV games I’ve ever played, and that I’d recommend prospective players block out two hours and go through it all in a single sitting. My compliments to Splendy Games, and I’m now officially on record as being quite prepared to drop a few dollars on whatever they turn out next.

Gunworld 2 is a pleasure to play, and a retro experience in all the best ways. Unlike Double Dragon 4, which preserved the worst parts of that franchise, Gunworld has looked at Zelda 2 and the Mega Man series, carefully decided which parts still feel worthwhile and will work best together, and transformed them into a new experience that captures the 8-bit feel without being beholden to its limitations.

Above the Law corrects a lot of the missteps from the first two episodes and also benefits from the narrative scaffolding they painstakingly laid. If nothing else, this episode illustrates that the season is on a trajectory of improvement. The fact that Clementine is a supporting character still stings, but the pain in my heart when she makes an offhanded comment about Lee from season one suggests her character (and all the baggage she carries) remains emotionally resonant.

All in all, Lego City Undercover still ranks as one of the all-around best LEGO games I’ve spent time with, and while I’d recommend it to any fan of the series, that goes double for kids who crave some open-world GTA-style screw-around action without any of the questionable stuff that makes parents raise an eyebrow. I’m glad LCU finally made its way to a console besides the WiiU, and I’m guessing a lot of other people will be, too.

With all the things Styx bumbles, the game really shouldn’t work, but somehow everything still managed to click for me. The stalking, the scheming, and managing the successful execution of strategies are all gratifying. Styx: Shards of Darkness is far from perfect and can’t compete with the triple-A titles already crowding 2017, but it is a great B-tier budget title, and underneath that warty skin, there’s the sort of heart that’s often lacking in its more polished peers.

Rain World asks players to get to know its world over dozens and dozens of lives, to figure out each area one at a time, learning to time jumps and hurl spears to earn their right to survive in a ceaselessly hostile environment. It’s a gorgeous jaunt through an alien world full of horrors, like Another World crossed with the open map of a Metroidvania title. With its incredible art design, tight controls, and extremely deep set of gameplay mechanics, this is a truly special platforming experience that anyone with a high tolerance for constant failure owes it to themselves to try out.

BioWare has often shown more willingness than most triple-A developers to respond to community criticisms and they’re already pushing patches to rectify Andromeda’s many issues, so I’m not pronouncing the Mass Effect series dead just yet. But speaking as someone who owns multiple pieces of N7 apparel and has read the Mass Effect books – the freaking books – I hate Andromeda. Maybe this is karmic balance for all of the recent big-name releases that have actually lived up to my expectations, but it’s been a long time since a game left me feeling as deflated as this one.

With middling gameplay and a questionable story, The Crow’s Eye has only its solid puzzles and a fascinating mixture of genres to recommend it. This is nowhere near the top of the first-person puzzle-platform genre, but it’s certainly one of the strangest and most intriguing I’ve played.