I think the result of all of its interlocking systems is a game that wants to slam you with moments of epiphanies. For me, my experience with Link’s Awakening was about getting that one major flash of insight and then using that to understand the rest of the game and then the rest of the Zelda series. For Breath of the Wild, Nintendo made a game that could replicate that moment over and over.

Rockstar has done a brilliant job blending an open-world game experience with the freedom of discovery and balancing that with the tightly woven narrative. Nearly 3,000 people are listed as contributors to the game. I don’t know if we’ll see the like of this again. Red Dead Redemption 2 is an amazing work of art.

This is another Mario all-time classic that we'll be remembering and celebrating for decades to come.

I'm joyfully exploring every inch of the land and delighting in my discoveries, and I don't see myself stopping any time soon.

The pacing becomes somewhat sluggish right before you hit the final act, but from there it moves at a 100 miles an hour. I didn’t leave my couch until well after the credits rolled.

God of War is an exhilarating, beautiful action game that turns one of PlayStation's biggest icons into a character you can care about.

Braid is still one of the best puzzle platformers you can ever play.

Infinite’s biggest issue is that the stiff nonplayer characters really dampen the impact of the social themes. Irrational worked so hard building this world filled with terrible racial imagery, but it’s difficult to feel the effects of that when I can’t relate to the mechanical mannequins that populate Columbia...It’s actually a minor complaint, but it’s very noticeable in a product that is otherwise so exquisitely put together.

Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions brings the series’ gorgeous, twin-stick action successfully to iOS. The graphics and music are as good as ever, the variety and options are staggering, and the controls work. It’s a game that absolutely must be on your iOS device.

The story of God of War Ragnarök may not be as straightforward as it was in God of War, but that’s to its credit. It’s messy and complicated, but that makes the emotional payoff all the better. The gameplay remains largely unchanged, which unfortunately does lose it some points with me, but it does feel enjoyable when the player can settle into a rhythm. God of War Ragnarök is an exceptionally good game, and if you loved the last one, you’ll almost certainly love this one too.

I said that the original game is the very best of what video games can be on the PlayStation 3. And this game, available on the PlayStation 4 on June 19, also represents the very best of what video games can be.

It's an incredibly immersive experience. It's just one I didn't really want to be immersed in right now.

It is beautiful. It sounds amazing. Its controls are perfect. It loves you with its pacing and variety, and it never wants you to get bored.

A beautiful and content-rich bundle of joy for Vita owners looking to dust off their woefully undersupported handhelds. The subtle incorporation of new characters, scenarios, and even online connectivity takes full advantage of the new hardware without compromising content or story quality.

Persona 5 is full of style and confidence. Persona 5 knows that it's special, and you'll soon know it, too.

I was equally exhilarated and disappointed by Mass Effect 3, and while I mostly enjoyed Commander Shepard's final chapter at the time, I'm now left pondering everything that it could have been, yet sadly never will be.

As a game, The Phantom Pain excels. The stealth and action work beautifully in the open-world setting, and maintaining your Mother Base gives you plenty of rewards. It’s long, fun, and gives players tons of variety. I just wish that the story offered more.

The Resident Evil 4 remake feels like something made by a big fan of the original, but one who wasn’t afraid to switch things up a bit.

Uncharted 4's journey is gorgeous and thrilling. It's full of surprises and callbacks that fans of the series will love. It manages to pay tribute to what came before while offering a satisfying conclusion to Drake's story. If this series truly is done, Uncharted 4 ensures that it's a tale we'll never forget.

The online features drag the experience down a bit. If you’re someone hoping for a good online multiplayer experience with Ultimate, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re looking for a fun fighting games to play with friends on a couch, nothing serves you better than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

This is the best Forza Horizon game, and that makes it one of the best racing games ever. But that just doesn’t wow me like it once did.

I loved Final Fantasy VII Remake, but Rebirth makes it look like a demo.

Bloodborne is the system seller for all dedicated gamers that don’t already own a PS4.

I can't tell a lug nut from a spark plug. But Forza Horizon 5's world is so beautiful that I'm more willing to play and learn just so I can continue existing in its dazzling vistas.

Street Fighter 6 is further proof that Capcom is on top of the gaming world these days.

Playing The Witcher 3 with an eye for grand strategy can be both a densely engrossing and mechanically frustrating, overlong adventure. When played one move at a time, however, Wild Hunt is the supreme alchemical distillation of the role-playing experience. It’s a bleakly human play at the heart of a dark fantasy.

If you’re a seasoned Souls-like fan, then it’s worth picking up a PS5 just for Demon’s Souls. If not, I still recommend having your passport stamped in Boletaria, but know what you’re getting into beforehand and proceed with caution … and plenty of Moon Grass.

It’s rare for a game to so ruthlessly and completely nail the altered reality games place us in the way Undertale does. Whether it’s the nameless NPCs you always meet in RPGs or the hundreds of mooks you mow down with gunfire in games like Uncharted, Undertale brilliantly demystifies these conventions and questions why games are still codified this way. But even outside of its ambitious themes, it proves to be a compact, perfectly paced RPG experience with hilarious, tense writing and endearing characters. That it succeeds so completely in its thematic approach on top of all that is what makes Undertale a truly essential experience.