The no-frills approach to racing may not appeal to everyone, but for those who are willing to put in the time to watch and learn, Phantom Spark presents an aesthetically pleasing and nuanced experience that would benefit from just a bit more under the hood.

I found myself going through all of the levels back to back while enjoying the mindless carnage it had to offer. If the devs were to pivot, scrapping the overcomplicated plot and instead focusing on polishing all aspects of the gameplay, the entire experience would be better for it. In its current state, with just a short selection of levels that take a couple of hours to complete while not being fully optimized? EvilVEvil‘s fangs aren’t as sharp as they should be.

Of course no game is meant to last forever, but replay and variety are hallmarks of the roguelike genre and in this way, Splintered Fate comes up a bit short. It’s a good time while it lasts — especially for Turtles fans — but more content, more variety and perhaps a little more narrative would have boosted the experience to the next level.

Even at its most frustrating, the brilliance on display here is addictive. It would be goofy to say TimeMelters is the best action/strategy/time clone hybrid involving witches I’ve played all year, so let me broaden it a bit and say that it’s one of the best games I’ve played this year, bar none.

Overall, Super Woden GP II’s marriage of old-school arcade racing and a modern focus on car collecting is a fairly successful one, as I certainly enjoyed buying cool-looking cars and building them up for the big leagues. While the lack of options and accessibility features can use some fine-tuning, I’m certain those with a love of racing games (and a lot of patience) will get some good mileage out of this one.

Tomba! Special Edition is a charming reminder of the experimental days of the PS1 era, and the cute characters and wonderful soundtrack still appeal. However, the flaws in this port and some of the game’s original issues might make it a bit tough for newcomers to fully embrace this beloved cult classic.

To fans like me, College Football 25 is about as pure a gaming experience as there is. It wasn’t an online leaderboard or card-collecting mode that made fans beg EA Sports to bring back college football. It was the memories of trash talking on the couch, and recreating a rivalry. It was figuring out those spam plays and finally shutting them down. It was a throwback to gaming’s roots when higher scores were all people needed to enjoy themselves. I could belabor this review with more examples, but in the end, there’s only one key takeaway — College Football 25 delivers on the memories I just listed, alongside countless others. And I can’t wait to see where the series goes from here.

SCHiM is built around contrast — light and dark, youth and age, harsh reality and naïve whimsy. Unfortunately, this dichotomous nature leaks into its mechanics, leading to an overall sense of inconsistency. The moments of touching beauty and joyful movement it sometimes creates stand in stark opposition to the frustration and confusion when play breaks down. This juxtaposition doesn’t make SCHiM a failure, but it casts a shadow over the experience that’s hard to see past.

Despite completion anxiety and combat that was just a little bit lacking, I still had a great time with Trails through Daybreak — it offers an interesting world coupled with plenty of likeable characters, ultimately delivering an enjoyable journey filled with plenty of good times.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin isn’t a shining exemplar of the monster taming genre, but it does successfully mesh the iconic aesthetics of its mainline counterpart with no-fat collect and battle systems that are as easy to approach as they are satisfying to master.

Ultimately, my advice to anyone interested would be to try Riven ’24, but to give it only quiet evenings, with nothing on in the background and a notepad at hand. Savor the world, take in all of its wind-kissed, sea-girt coasts, jewel-like lagoons, and its bright stone facades cut with geometric planes of sun and shade. Prepare to go slowly, prepare to think, and prepare to synthesize. Also, prepare to get stuck. Even with its modernizations, Riven ’24 is an uncompromising experience, though it has incredible things to show those willing to make the journey.

While the narrative falls utterly flat, Ereban: Shadow Legacy remains a good point of entry into the stealth genre, encouraging players to take things patiently and strategically while also giving them a unique adventure that lets them — quite literally — blend into the shadows. It’s worth a try for this, if nothing else!

There’s a good experience buried beneath all the issues in Astor: Blade of the Monolith, I think. There’s no reason why some reworking of the combat, reordering certain elements to speed up the pacing, and putting some duct tape over the narrator’s mouth wouldn’t do wonders, but in its current state these flaws are simply too glaring.

Anger Foot is at its best in motion. Falling into a hallway hypnosis of garish ’90s aesthetics and murderous footwork, I don’t have to think — I just react. It’s when I’m forced to slow down and hear a joke or fight a boss that requires pauses in the pace that I begin to notice the seams. While these moments aren’t dealbreakers, they’re unfortunate stumbles in an otherwise sure-footed experience.

Nevertheless, as it is, Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- remains a superlative visual novel, and a must-read for any fan of Type-Moon’s work, as well as a great potential entry point for those looking to get into visual novels as a medium.

Regardless of the drawbacks, fans should welcome Top Spin back into their lives thanks to the largely enjoyable 2K25. With some visual and audio enhancement, and maybe a slightly more accessible learning curve, this series could find a new generation of fans. Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another 13 years to do it.

As Bō progresses their actions and attacks become a bit more effective, and when that initial roughness is left behind, the worlds that players encounter afterwards are so beautiful that any early game hiccups are forgotten. Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is exceptional. With its visually stunning worlds and exciting battles, Bō has all the elements of an indie action classic.

Considering its premise, it would be betraying the concept to make a ‘good’ game. It’s certainly interesting, but does that lead to an enjoyable experience? Well, it’s worth playing for those who enjoyed Hypnospace Outlaw and are interested in another snapshot from that period, and it’s brief enough so that it doesn’t outstay its welcome. However, people who aren’t Hypnospace fans or those who aren’t interested in the meta-concept would probably do well to look elsewhere if they’re craving a standard FPS fix.

Headquarters: World War II is an excellent game for WWII enthusiasts and strategy aficionados alike. It provides a great amount of tools for players to use on the battlefield, in addition to plenty of options to tailor the experience to their needs. Some UI and interface issues diminish the experience a bit, it will still provide many hours of enjoyable warfare for fans of the material.

It’s therapeutic, it’s deep, it’s engaging, and it’s indisputably unique. Everyone should try it.

While some of the reaches Fabledom takes end up a little empty, there’s no denying that it remains a friendly, streamlined, indie take on city-building that not only offers quite a bit of charm, but would also be a great place for a genre newcomer to get their feet wet.

Despite the barebones package, the real meat of Rocket Knight Adventures: Re-Sparked! are the games and they’re solid. It’s great to see what I’ve been missing out on all these years, and Sparkster is a cool dude with some awesome adventures — it’s just a shame his collection is a bit lacking.

If the game does not play like road cycling, look like road cycling, or sound like road cycling, the question can be posed whether it simulates road cycling at all. In the last four years, road cycling has changed immensely. Pro Cycling Manager has not.

Like many CRPGs in the past, it’s likely that I will never beat Dread Delusion and I’ll be totally alright with that. Still, I’ve largely enjoyed my time in its world and I look forward to exploring more of it because to me, open world games are (and always have been) more about the journey than the destination — and I suspect the developer behind Dread Delusion would wholeheartedly agree.

I don’t think Beyond Good & Evil is truly an all-time classic, but this is an exemplary remaster of a great game worthy of the classy treatment its received in this new 20th Anniversary Edition. New and old players alike will find it well worth their time.

Players wanting rich mechanics or complex play might not find much to enjoy here, but Still Wakes the Deep is a definite recommend to those who enjoy dramatic narratives and horror flavor.

Despite these minor graphical issues, Monster Hunter Stories remains an incredibly charming game. It’s easy to understand but fairly deep, and the combat system offers plenty of freedom in tackling the series’ classic roster of creatures in engaging and novel ways. For newcomers to Monster Hunter interested in learning about the lore or looking for a point of entry that’s not as intense as the mainline series combat, this is the ticket.

While both the core campaign and this DLC would use a little tweaking, there’s no doubt that they remain exciting, engaging plays that come recommended. As Incommodus the Servo Skull says, PURGE THE HERETICS!