This is very nearly the exact same single-player excursion from last-gen consoles. There is no local or online co-op. There's no traditional multiplayer. There are no update-exclusive features. It's simply a mildly prettier, equally flawed action title with a few pieces of DLC adding more of the same to an already samey package.

For players who click with these characters, Oxenfree offers between four and six hours of walking around and listening to them hash out issues in their lives. I congratulate the developers on the quality and production of the dialogue, but as a whole, Oxenfree is a weightless slip of a game that left no lasting impressions.

So Dragon's Dogma has worthwhile elements even if it feels dated, and even if I very nearly quit just before hitting the all-important twist that actually made the story worthwhile.

With difficult games coming into vogue over the past few years, Not a Hero isn't fresh or deep enough to make it stand out despite the humorous notes. A title like this will have an audience for sure, but the silly charm didn't outweigh the irritating difficulty for me.

Star Wars fans who want more and can't wait until the next film can at least partially tide themselves over by racking up a few million points with Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren and the rest. Zen's done a great job of capturing the source material, and this package is sure to please pinball players who aren't Force fans, as well.

I'm quite happy to see that ACE Team has finally clicked all of their elements into place, and if there's a better homage to 50's schlock than The Deadly Tower Of Monsters, I have no idea what it could possibly be. For fans of the material or the era, this is a big win from start to finish.

There's greatness in Xenoblade Chronicles X, but it's a shame that it's too often buried under terrible writing and awkward design decisions. That said, when standing atop a forgotten mountain in a hulking Skell as the sun sets... well, it's easy to forget those issues temporarily. Despite all my complaints, I still had a hundred and ten hours go by in the blink of an eye. Xenoblade can be a great experience and surprisingly absorbing at times, but its extreme rough edges could easily shear the skin off a rhino.

I enjoyed my time with Resident Evil Zero back in the day, and I largely enjoyed it now. This remaster holds up pretty well despite the fact that some of the sheen's rubbed off over time. It might be a harder sell for anyone who doesn't have fond memories of it, but it's still a damn fine way to brutalize the undead.

Yatagarasu: Attack on Cataclysm is aimed at the very niche audience who genuinely champion gameplay over graphical achievements, and who aren't afraid of putting in some hard work to get the most out of it. Given its Indiegogo campaign, this game had the potential to become one of the worst cases of buyer's remorse that I've ever had, but it turned out beautifully in the end. Weird PC port quibbles notwithstanding, of course.

Still the same incredible experience it was two years ago, only better. For new players it's a game full of twists and turns, daring level design and terrifying foes. For veterans it's the best version yet of an amazing formula, just as fresh and thrilling. It's a stunning experience from beginning to end, but I do hope the developers can fix the metagame elements and bump perfection up to the next level.

While the threat of so much death in such a short period of time might throw fans of Knight's sunshine for a loop, Rubble Without A Cause felt different and fresh, and I'm glad that The Odd Gentlemen didn't just do a repeat of the previous installment. Good work, Gentlemen... You've got me hooked.

White Night is meant to be a slow-burn investigative horror story, but I grew impatient with how incompetent its mechanics are and how they combine to make the experience as irritating as possible. I'm a fan of old-school horror, but one-hit kill enemies, mazelike, hard-to-parse level design, obtuse camera angles and a punishing save system override any nostalgia I might have. I admire that it's trying to pull off a bit of an homage here, but with every good element canceled out by a misstep, I'll stick with the original stuff.

Aside from that irritating final segment there's nothing significant to complain about in Planet of the Eyes, but neither is there anything to praise. It has solid action, and it looks and sounds fine. What it lacks is a hook, something for the mind or eye, or even just the reflexes to work over. Without that, Planet of the Eyes is just a competent thing that passes quickly and leaves no impression.

While they're certainly a strange pair, I'm glad Zen combined these two tables into a single five-dollar package. While I quite probably would have paid three dollars for CastleStorm, I doubt I ever would have taken a chance on a complete unknown for the same price. Maybe their plan was to convince people to throw a little extra money at a dud by attaching it to something with brand recognition, but in the end, the unknown was the real gem.

If you can put up with the ever-present grind and can see through the frustrating moments then you’ll have a good time playing through Punch Club’s celebration of 90s action, if not then you may find yourself looking for a new keyboard, or worse, a monitor as a result of working through game related anger issues.

My thanks go out to whoever at Sony was responsible for choosing King's Quest: A Knight To Remember as a free Plus title. It's an outstanding piece of work that surprised me not only for being a wonderful experience in a genre that I usually avoid, but also by coming from a studio whose past work gave no clue that they were capable of such. My hat is off to the The Odd Gentlemen, red feather and all.

Despite thoroughly grasping of the rules of Tharsis and even being able to offer advice on how to be more successful to others, my winning runs were due entirely to luck. Sheer chance might be a solid basis for gambling or having a good time with friends, but when it comes to single player games, I should have a bit more say in whether my crew survives or not.

It's so good, in fact, that I'm still eager for more. It's a good thing that the next expansion, Blood and Wine, is coming soon...

This is the friendliest, most approachable tactics game I've seen in a while, and it's a credit to the 3DS.

Although I liked the minimalist aesthetics and I'm open to interesting little projects like this, Three Fourths Home: Extended Edition didn't feel like it had much of a point. I'm sure that something about this content is very significant to its creator, but the problem is that it wasn't very significant to me.

It's hard to beat blasting aliens on a commute, but its long-term prospects demand a tolerance for repetition that the game's charming awkwardness might not overcome.

Albert and Otto certainly has a few issues, but it's still well-made and endearing. In fact, it's good enough to get me excited at the prospect of another installment which is sure to come—I just hope they tighten up the controls and straighten out its tone before it arrives.

While the developers could have made a by-the-numbers vampire story, they've done something far more interesting, turning it on its head to creating one of the most delightfully absurd narratives I've seen in ages.

Yakuza 5 is more Yakuza. Way more, and while the content isn't always the best of the series, it's still damned good for the most part. While every decent moment of pulse-pounding drama may be matched by a dose of piffle where characters stare into the distance and talk about following their dreams, there's no denying that Yakuza still brings the heat. Even after spending seventy hours on this, I'm still definitely up for more.

The Rivers of Alice is a vehicle to display the talents of its artists and musicians. The adventure is short and simple, and if not for the loading, slow movement and obscure puzzles, it could probably be finished in under an hour. Of course, game length does not equate to game quality, but with its other flaws taken into account, it's hard to recommend Alice to anybody who isn't already deeply invested in small indies.

I wish I enjoyed A Fistful of Gun more than I do. There's a lot about its visuals and arcade-style presentation to like, but it never stops feeling disappointingly shallow and overly-chaotic. Exciting and charming in small doses, it's just a relentless slog through hails of gunfire during extended play. Fans of the Western genre might get into it, but I'm riding to another saloon.

With its perfectly-realized art style and a wide variety of puzzles that never break its themes, The Bridge takes its inspiration and runs an impressive distance with it. The developer has produced a charming, inventive, and only occasionally aggravating puzzle experience that I hope Escher would feel honored by.

Cross of the Dutchman feels lightweight and disposable. The action is basic, the world is tiny, and the story doesn't cover the most interesting bits of the hero’s history. Unlike its giant titular character, Cross of the Dutchman is a thin slip of a game that passes by too quickly to make much of an impression.