After a few runs I’d heard all the jokes, fought all the enemies, and seen all of the mild shifts in aesthetics. I wanted to rush through the content I’d already seen and finally, hopefully, get a glimpse of something new, but this Souls­-inspired combat prides itself on punishing the impatient, and hasty Necropolis players get a full reset. This was my internal struggle—I wanted to get the game over with, but I didn’t want to be even more bored with it by repeatedly dying and restarting in the process.

Even by the lowered standards of licensed tie-in titles, Phoenix Festa fails to impress, seemingly intent on undoing the redemptive work of other, better, tie-ins like the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series or even the various Sword Art Online adaptations.

It’s a dark experience from beginning to end, but one that’s absolutely worth playing, especially when it offers some insight into what makes people compelled to fight for the future, no matter how futile the battle may be.

It’s a slick, if understated, little title that delivers a frenetic, yet rewarding experience—like the best escape rooms.

It’s a shame there’s not more to Bound than there is. The artists are incredibly talented people and the visuals they’ve crafted can legitimately be described as poetry in motion. Sadly, graphics can only go so far and there’s nothing of significance past them, reducing Bound to being another beautiful art-house trifle that doesn’t capitalize on its potential.

The very definition of a missed opportunity. Thirsty mecha fans are still stuck in that same desert, and they’ll have to wait for something to quench their desires a while longer.

For players who just want more Witcher, there’s no doubt that Blood And Wine delivers. It has a whole new land to explore, there are tons of things to do, and there’s enough content to keep someone busy for dozens of hours. On the other hand, it felt to me like the entire Witcher experience had already peaked, so following it up with something that’s just not as good leaves things in an awkward place. The last ten minutes are absolutely worth seeing, but the hours that come before it? Maybe not so much.

Ghostbusters is an abysmal piece of garbage. It runs poorly, it sounds terrible, it has awful writing and it’s just a drag to play.

I largely enjoyed my time with God Eater: Resurrection. Even though it’s a little too padded with filler missions featuring the same roaming enemies over and over, laying into Aragami with massive hammers and swords that could cut dumpsters in half generally makes for some good times.

A fantastic experience, and rarely do developers manage to make such perfect use of a setting when building a game. This isn’t just a puzzle game that happens to be zombie-themed, it’s literally a zombie puzzle game, where all of the challenges and tasks flow naturally from the concept, constantly expanding and elaborating on the core idea. Yes, it’s fair to sum Zombie Night Terror up as Lemmings With Zombies, but from that jumping off point it accomplishes incredible things.

Although these new assignments for 47 are just bonus surprises, I prefer them to the normal Contracts and Escalation missions IO regularly publishes. The maps aren’t brand new, but it’s clear that care and creativity went into crafting the missions, and that the developers didn’t just push quickie content out the door to hold players over until the next official episode.

Half of Adr1ft is a fantastic experience. The spacewalking segments are like nothing I’ve ever encountered in a game before—freeing yet claustrophobic, beautiful and terrifying. If it was judged solely by how well it captures the mystery of and fascination with the great emptiness beyond the earth, it would be a success. This isn’t just a floating sim, though, and once simply being in zero-G gets old, there isn’t a compelling reason to get through the rest.

Inheritance doesn’t bring any of what I loved most about Layers of Fear back to the canvas, and instead feels like an unnecessary epilogue. It’s a shame, but like the work of Fear’s own tortured painter, not everything can be a masterpiece.

A success. It’s as grueling and intense as dour puzzle-platformers come, and thanks to its striking visuals and deliberate pacing, it proves an interesting and unique take on the overstuffed ‘zombpocalypse’ genre. With its tight gameplay, (mostly) great level design, and troubling vision of America in collapse, Deadlight deserves to be recognized as a standout in the genre.

Just a competent JRPG. How could it not be, considering how much it liberally lifts from its betters? Looking at it with a purely analytical eye, this Frankenstein’s Monster of a game has haphazardly pieced everything needed to make it stand among the giants it aspires to be, except the most critical of requirements—a spark of life.

My only major knock against Furi is having to repeat tedious bullet hell sequences during some matches, but otherwise I enjoyed the physicality of the duels. And to my surprise, the story actually comes to a head in a fairly satisfying way at the end. Overall this is a win for The Game Bakers, and I’d recommend Furi to anyone who appreciates demanding (but fair!) action games.

Hyper Light Drifter isn’t for everyone—the replay value is low and some may not like how cryptic and mysterious the story is, but for me, the positives far outweighed potential issues. For those wanting to explore a world with rich environments, strong atmosphere and rewarding combat, Hyper Light Drifter delivers.

I hope that we haven’t heard the last of the Zero Escape team, but I also hope that their future projects rein themselves in and they produce something more coherent and personal.

A smart puzzle-driven title, but one that might only appreciated by those with infinite patience and fingers fast enough to endure falling to their death for the 463rd time on the second ball of level 78.

While I’m not familiar with the manga this game is based on and can’t speak to its fidelity as an adaptation, when taken on its own terms it’s a robust and satisfying arena brawler with almost too much story.

I enjoyed Grand Kingdom quite a bit. On paper this game is everything I want in an SRPG, but it did leave me feeling a little underwhelmed. With a stronger narrative stitching everything together, I think it really would be the total package.

I did not like anything about Wasted. Neither its humor nor its gameplay are adequate to support the irritation of mastering the first dungeon or the tedium of blasting through the subsequent four. I spent many hours beating this game out of sheer spite and didn’t enjoy a single minute of it. Reader, do not repeat my error.

Lost Sea has some good ideas. Exploring randomized islands alongside talented crewmates sounds exciting and it looks like an enjoyable swashbuckling adventure, but the annoying music, repeated areas, boring combat and terrible AI sank this game long before the ship reached its destination.

Though prospective pilots may have a tough time giving the green light to Assault Suit Leynos due to the hefty price tag, it’s an impeccable remake of a classic, underappreciated Genesis game that delivers all that could be asked of it and more.

This undersea tour is quite short. I got through it in about two hours or so and was surprised by the brevity, but it’s probably better that way. No matter how beautiful it is to swim with whales or to descend into an undersea crevasse, there is precious little to do in Abzu, and it’s never particularly touching or thought-provoking. If it told a better tale or if there were more to it than swimming and occasionally pushing a button, it might have been a knockout. As it stands, the appeal of looking at pretty fish wears off in a hurry, and there’s not much else to recommend it.

Monochroma can proudly hold its metaphorical head high among other classy 2D puzzle-platformers. This is a game whose developers extensively studied the greats of the genre, and obviously understand what they did right. While it may not bring anything particularly new to the table, Monochroma is a beautifully executed adventure that kept me enthralled all the way from the promising opening to the slightly annoying finale.

It’s absolutely worth playing for anyone who missed it the first time, and the new features and content make a strong argument for existing fans to take a second look.

It’s difficult to recommend a title that serves only the most experienced racing fans, while alienating the rest of us. When coupled with a bland visual presentation and more than a few technical issues, players should to go back to older motocross titles to get their fix.