If you've already enjoyed World War Z, the first-person mode alone is enough to merit another run. And if you're totally new to World War Z, then this all-inclusive new version is blatantly the best way to play the game that came out of nowhere to earn a place among genre greats.

Sable’s premise is novel, if not entirely new. Its minimalistic gameplay, at times, helps sell a more personable experience. Regrettably, the minimalism cuts both ways as Sable’s barren world betrays the game’s emphasis on exploration.

Cruis’n Blast shoves players kicking and screaming to the time when the Dreamcast was king, racing was purely about things blowing up for no reason, and unicorns had great engine noises. And I love it for that.

Lost Judgment is a good follow-up to 2019's excellent Judgment. It's more of the same, but that doesn't matter too much when the core is already great.

If you've got a Nintendo Switch and friend, or four friends, to play Wario's latest foray into madness with, you're in for a whole lot of confusion and fun as the game peels open like a bulb of garlic. There is almost no one I would not recommend WarioWare: Get It Together! to, except maybe my grandmother. And your grandmother, too, probably. Everyone else? It's a heck of a lot of fun, and well-worth adding to and multiplayer Switch library.

Aragami 2 has lots of potential but falls into repetition, some odd story choices, and frustrating online play.

Deathloop takes elements from games like Bioshock and Dishonored, combining them with a Groundhogs Day like timeloop to create the coolest, most stylish, and best game of the year.

Monster Harvest wanted to follow the basic format found in the award-winning Stardew Valley while adding unique monster-catching and RPG mechanics found in Pokémon, and it succeeded in doing so. The issue is that those baseline mechanics from the farming sim genre lack the depth and nuance you'd want to see for Monster Harvest to really be found among the greats, while also failing to capitalize on the new mechanics by making them lackluster and borderline boring.

Dice Legacy is just too shallow and too reminiscent of other, better games. It's just far too simplistic to have any kind of real replayability, and since your first playthrough will be done in four or five hours at most, that leaves little to play for. Sure, the game does try to extend its replay value by offering different starting conditions and rule restrictions to try to get you to play it again, but it's the same meta every time with no real variation. There's no shortage of good roguelikes out there. Crack those open instead. You'll have a lot more fun that way.

WRC 10 is a fun and packed experience. If you're a newcomer, you'll need patience. In your early hours, you’ll feel overwhelmed by the game’s lack of aid, and you’ll definitely need to check a YouTube tutorial or two to get going. It’s a more hardcore experience, that's for sure, but even then, its campaign mode pulls you too far away from the central experience. However, once you begin to familiarize yourself with the racer, it offers up an addictive and brutal experience that’ll have you memorizing corners like never before. And there is something here for even those who often dabble in more casual racing games.

Life is Strange: True Colors might feature grown-up characters, but it's evident the franchise itself still has a bit of growing to do. Deck Nine tries and ultimately fails to tell a story of emotional healing at best. At worst, it treats difficult topics with a flippant callousness that suggests it doesn't quite understand how to deal with these emotions to begin with, let alone tell a meaningful story about healing and moving on.

Tales of Arise heralds a brilliant new dawn for the series and is one of the best RPGs of the last generation.

Though it's a relatively short and easy game, The Artful Escape is also a charming, witty spectacle from start to finish in its six or so hours of playtime. I loved Francis' story and the far-away lands he visits on his quest to believe in himself and write his own future. I can foresee some players scoffing at the entire project for its particular brand of humor, but expect it will be adored by drama kids, garage rockers, and general outcasts all over. The Artful Escape plays like a psychedelic jam band session and tells a story like someone spiked Wes Anderson's Darjeeling tea.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate brings new visuals and some new bits and bobs from the original release, but it lacks the punch of some other entries to the series.

Maneater: Truth Quest might not completely deliver on its irreverence this time around, but being a mega still delights.

In full, Lake doesn't quite reach the highs I experienced when I played it in part earlier this year. The story gets in its own way with narrative threads that compete for time and ultimately leave none of them with a satisfying conclusion. While the game is beautiful and its central mail carrier gameplay is as strangely enticing as it seemed all along, it's the people of Providence Oaks I will not miss.

No More Heroes III is just more of the same. This game feels a decade old and like it was made for its most hardcore fans. It has all the same charm, humor, and fun gameplay, but also the same issues, mainly the dreadfully boring open world and repetitive structure. Those who played both of the two previous mainline games will know exactly what to expect here in No More Heroes III. There isn’t much evolution between them and this, and maybe there doesn’t need to be. But I still wish that the game would have matured a bit more along with its audience after all these years.

Sometimes we wake from a dream and wish we could recall its details. Sometimes we're trapped in a nightmare and wish we could wake at all. Nightslink feels like a bit of both.

Axiom Verge 2 is a proper love letter to Metroid. The vast world is challenging and exciting to explore, the power-ups provide intelligent ways to solve puzzles, and the story is involving. It's not perfect though, thanks to the lackluster combat and occasional bouts of frustration.

Madden 22 tries its best to improve with some updates to its gameplay, The Yard, and Franchise Mode that feel like a step in the right direction. However, rehashing of old systems and ideas, a continued push towards microtransaction-laden content, and bugs getting worse and worse means that this iteration will need extra time to really grow as a program.

Garden Story shows what RPGs and top-down adventures can be like. There's depth in its foliage and a charming world at its foundation. It just seems like the dev team tried getting too much from a plant that couldn't produce enough to meet demand, and the result was a watered-down version of the ideal. Still, new seasons bring new opportunities for growth, and I very much hope to see Garden Story sprout again in a new form.

Put simply, Humankind took everything that Civilization 6 got wrong, fixed it, added some new ideas to the genre, and ended up producing the best 4X game I've played since Civilization 5 way back in 2011 — which, according to Steam, is the ninth-most-played game in my entire library at over 400 hours. This is the new standard for 4X historical games. It is an absolute must-play for fans of the genre and has finally knocked Firaxis off its throne as the king of the hill.

Aliens Fireteam Elite already has new story missions lined up for the future, so there’s a distinct possibility the game will be able to hold player interest for a while. If you’ve got bug-hunting buddies to play with, you’ll have a much better time. Single players, however, should probably give it a pass.

Psychonauts 2 is brilliant. It's one of the most creative experiences released in recent years, if not in the last console generation. Sure, it could push platforming boundaries a bit more or distance itself further from the genre's shortcomings, but it's a set of minor annoyances in what's otherwise a sensitive and splendid odyssey.

King's Bounty II is an incredibly mixed bag for me so far, but I have hope that the story might get a bit more interesting. The open-world feels more like window dressing, however, and certainly pales in comparison to some of the other "living and breathing" worlds out there, even if it does look absolutely gorgeous. Still, it's the kind of experience that might pay off in the long run, so I can only wait and see.

The '90s are back, sort of, in a comic book/urban fantasy mash-up that provides some co-op fun but can't quite live up to the rest of its genre.

12 Minutes is a game about escaping a time loop, which is ironic given that it's so good that I wish I could see it all again for the first time myself.

Road 96 sets out to ask hard questions such as "when is violence the right response to a despotic regime?" and "is voting alone enough to fix a broken system?". But by the end, it never quite manages to answer those questions. While its politics take center stage, it's actually Road 96's interpersonal drama that I came away most fond of.

GRIME is worth every second of your time, even with the middle section from hell. Its bosses and music alone are worth the price of admission, but you’ve got an impressively built Metroidvania with RPG and Souls-like elements here, as well. It rewards exploration and finds new ways to challenges players at every turn, and some of its unique mechanics stand shoulder to shoulder with other titans of any of its influences.

Foreclosed is, simply put, a sometimes broken, always flawed game. I want to see its presentation applied to another project, and perhaps even from this team. It's just, in this state and with these design decisions, I can't recommend Foreclosed for anything other than its comic book look. While we're in the midst of a cyberpunk revival that may eventually challenge zombies as a most common subgenre, I find there to be many better options for fans of this kind of setting and story.

It's hard for me to put a precise score on that kind of thing. I'd be happy to recommend it to anyone with a card-game addiction, it's got a few things going for it as far as being an RPG, and if you're interested in learning about Russian mythology, Black Book is practically an educational tool. However, it's also janky, inconsistent, and not great about explaining its systems. I wouldn't say that it's exactly unpolished — I get the feeling that Black Book is exactly what it was intended to be — but it feels like the sort of game that, back in the day, would've shipped with an inch-thick manual, which you don't have.

Cris Tales has a top-notch art style and an eclectic cast of characters that all players will come to love. Pairing that with time manipulation mechanics and a beloved genre, Cris Tales could have been one of the better games to come out of 2021. Unfortunately, a lack of diverse enemy types, standard combat, and some questionable difficulty progression outweigh the highest highs, making Cris Tales feel too out of place alongside its cohorts.

Despite the flaws, something about Chernobylite feels like it's primed to enjoy cult classic status. Troubled but daring games are often the subject of smaller but passionate fanbases, and Chernobylite is nothing is not daring. Several of those gambles don't payout in the end, but the journey is always a weird one, even if not always an exciting one.

I can’t sing the praises of NEO: The World Ends with You enough. It has both style and substance, with fun characters, energetic gameplay, and gorgeous visuals. There was never a dull moment throughout my time writing this review; it had virtually no lows — only high highs. NEO: The World Ends with You is everything a fan of the series could ever ask for in a sequel. This isn’t just only the best JRPG released in 2021 so far, but perhaps one of the best games this year, period. It’s simply incredible.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles surpasses its forebears and, hopefully, sets the stage for what's to come. It tells a more intimate and engaging set of stories, refreshes the well-established mechanics with just a handful of new additions, and takes the series' writing to an even higher level. Sure, it likes to linger over itself a bit too frequently, but in return, you get a superb set of adventures and storytelling, unlike almost anything else.

The thing about Skyward Sword is the good outweighs the bad every time. Even if the annoying parts are right there in your face for a while, as it is with the Silent Realm every time, it's easy to push through because there's something better around the corner. The main takeaway from my time with Skyward Sword is just how much potential the Zelda series has. Breath of the Wild is just one vision of how the franchise could evolve, but hopefully, Nintendo doesn't let it be the only one. There's still a lot to learn from Skyward Sword.

Last Stop feels like a more palatable follow-up to Variable State's ponderous premiere, but one that is made without sacrificing all of the burgeoningly signature weirdness of the small team. Though the story takes risks, it manages to rein them in a bit, as not to drown its players in metaphor, something the team once seemed happy to do in 2016. Questions go unanswered and some mysteries are once again meant to idle in the player's mind, but in all, Last Stop is more popcorny than I expected but no less entertaining.

I can really only recommend Akiba’s Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed to diehard fans of the series. It doesn’t have any gameplay or quality-of-life improvements that its 2014 sequel introduced, and as a result, it feels like a relic of the past. While there are some emotional moments in the game’s story and the cast of characters can be fun, the gameplay is a chore to get through. It's just disappointing that this is such a barebones remaster.

Sniper Elite VR is not a great game. It is fun from time to time, especially at the beginning, before the novelty of exploding a Nazi spleen in VR wears off. But this is not an experience I can recommend to anyone other than serious fans of the Sniper Elite series, or someone hungry for a PSVR shooter.

Watch Dogs: Legion Bloodlines brings familiar faces to new places, and if you can stand the tonal in-fighting, it's a worthwhile, occasionally daring story-driven adventure.

While Mario Golf: Super Rush isn't the deepest experience, the arcade gameplay and modes on offer allow it to stay on par.

Legend of Mana is vibrant and flexible in all the right ways for my preferences today, and I certainly fancy the game personally. The sheer slowness and obtuse nature of it may be too much for some players. There's a lot to see in Legend of Mana, but the experience never feels fleshed out. Fa'Diel is beautiful and enticing and hard to forget, but not because of the gameplay that binds it together.

Disgaea 6 is focused more on improving what's already here, and it more than succeeds in that task. Yes, NIS will have to add some more substantial changes to the series beyond just some tweaks here and there one day. With Defiance of Destiny, I'm happy to wait a while longer for that day.

Scarlet Nexus is slick, stylish, smartly executed, and just all-around cool. What I want most of all, having wrapped up Scarlet Nexus, is more.

The games in the Ninja Gaiden Master Collection still hold up, but the remaster falters on bringing new quality of life features and fixing some of the trilogy's more glaring issues.

Dungeons & Dragons Dark Alliance is not, by any means, a good game in the traditional sense, but still proves that multiplayer and great visuals can go a long way to making something fun anyway. In the same way that a bad B-movie is still entertaining, Dark Alliance somehow feels a bit more charming because of some of its glaringly bad AI and design issues.

Chivalry 2's ability to convert chaos into exuberance gifts players with an experience that brilliantly hones in on one of the greatest aspects of gaming: fun.

Intergrade's Episode Yuffie may be short, but it's a significant step up in Remake's storytelling and renews my faith in the remaining chapters.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is an exemplary PS5 game, showing full well what the system is capable of — all while masterfully reviving a beloved series for the new generation.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown is a welcome addition to the PS4 and PS5, especially since there hasn’t been a VF game in years. Mostly, this remastered release serves to whet our appetites for the prospect of an actual full-on sequel in Virtua Fighter 6, but it’s well worth playing for its pure, responsive fighting.

Guilty Gear Strive is the perfect time to get into this amazing series. It’s more accessible than ever and absolutely stunning to watch. There’s still room for improvement in terms of the single-player modes, and the whole retro online matching setup is quaint but just adds unnecessary complication to the multiplayer. Otherwise, this is a solid fighting game worth playing.

Sniper Ghost Warrior Contract 2 is so much fun to play. The action is dynamic, the levels are well crafted, and the progression system is compelling. This is a very good game, built on a strong execution of good ideas. It is separated from games like Hitman and Metal Gear Solid 5 by more modest ambition and mediocre polish but should be at the top of the list for fans of those franchises as the next best thing.

Combining the environmental realism with unforgiving yet eventually approachable survival mechanics makes Green Hell an incredibly immersive experience. There were times when the constantly depleting health and stamina bars urged me to restart a save, but perseverance felt as integral to the experience as the mechanics causing my pain.

Whereas so many modern indie horror games can feel like on-rails haunted hayrides, Song of Horror keeps players on their toes. By innovating on the games that so clearly inspired it, Song of Horror feels comfortably set in two worlds at once: past and present, and with any luck, it may inspire the future of horror games as well.

Necromunda: Hired Gun is an enjoyable dive into the grime of Warhammer 40,000's most corrupt city. But all of the incredible atmosphere in the world can't hide its rough edges.

Earth Defense Force: World Brothers manages to mix adorable block graphics with surprisingly rigorous and intense shooting action. While there are some areas where it feels a little too dumbed down, the overall game is a fun and frantic arcade shoot fest. The sheer variety of characters, weapons, levels, enemies, and team-building options is impressive. This makes it a solid choice, especially as a shooter to play with the kids.

Pop-quizzing Sphinx aside, the use of riddles and hints to figure out puzzles and object placement is a fun element, and overall Asha in Monster World is a fun old-school trip. There’s a bit too much doggedly vintage design at work here, but this is a remake of an old game. We hope Asha returns in something decidedly more expansive and modern though. With a bit more refinement, she could give Shantae a real challenge.

Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Storm Ground is a tough, roguelike strategy game not without its rough edges. But there's a fair amount of fun to be had for fans of Warhammer.

There’s no use avoiding this fact: An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs is ultimately a meme game, though Strange Scaffolding has done an excellent job on the writing. Packing a brilliant sense of humor, that fact is only made more prominent by the deliberately low-effort presentation and enjoyable dialogue. However, those merits get significantly bogged down by tedious gameplay design, one where progression relies on endless fetch quests with little variety. You won’t need long to complete Dog Airport Game, which offers a four- to five-hour campaign, but if you plan on sticking it out, do so in short bursts.

Ultimately, King of Seas makes for a great take on the pirate’s life. Admittedly, it’s a slow burner at first and because of the more precise nature of its combat, 3DCloud’s newest game won’t appeal to everyone, so I’d recommend trying the demo first. Should you stick with it, there’s an entertaining world with enjoyable exploration, in-depth combat, and pleasant visuals. Backed up by a great swashbuckling soundtrack, these aren’t shallow waters.

With Biomutant, the end result is a game that I enjoyed playing, despite the criticisms and score. I burn out fast with most open-world games, but I wanted to explore every corner of this unconventional world, even when it didn’t always give me a good reason to. I don’t think you can call a game bold enough to mix so many influences together safe, but there’s a distinct sense Experiment 101 came close to playing it safe. Whether from budget restraints, time restrictions, or COVID impacts, I don’t know, but Biomutant needs a sequel or DLC to make the most out of the strong foundation already present.

Ultimately, there is a great game somewhere in Rust Console Edition. Mixing its social aspects, which allow you to approach and talk to anyone, with such a formidable survival experience is a neat inclusion that makes for some of my most memorable moments in a genre game. However, with an unforgiving logged-off state and other players constantly murdering and looting you, it feels impossible to imagine having a fully equipped save for any real length of time — at least not within dozens if not hundreds of hours in the game.

Aeiral_Knight's Never Yield is a short, yet stylish endless runner with one of the year's best soundtracks. Aside from a confusing narrative, Aerial_Knight’s is a solid game and well worth the time.

It's as great as most people say it is. There's not a conversation I want to skip, not a companion I want to ignore, and really not a single mission I want to decline. Mass Effect is the ultimate RPG. When so many of your actions affect the future of not just you and your friends, but potentially the entire universe, there's a great deal of responsibility on BioWare to deliver outcomes that feel worth one's time. Even acknowledging its final scene is notoriously polarizing, and you may come down harder on it than I do. Either way, the journey is well worth your time.

Famicom Detective Club: The Girl Who Stands Behind is an engrossing tale that fans of the visual novel and point-and-click adventure genre will enjoy. The updated art style and voice acting add much-needed layers of modernity to the game. It’s a one-and-done experience, though, so manage your expectations accordingly. Regardless, this is definitely one ghostly adventure you won’t want to miss.

Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir does show its age at times, but that’s part of the game’s history and charm. The updated art style and great voice acting only help to make the experience better. The game, as well as its prequel, is an acquired taste, but fans who come into the game with proper expectations will find themselves a fun adventure.

If you're looking for an RPG with deep combat systems and grueling dungeon designs, you'll want to look elsewhere. From a story perspective, though, it’s essential playing if you like RPGs at all. It might not be the most fun you’ll have with an RPG this year, but you’ll probably never forget your time with SMT 3 either.

If you're still without a PS5 and never got around to Days Gone before, understand that it's not a game that breaks the mold of the massive sandboxes we've seen so many times before. But what Days Gone does right is that it gives players a world where nothing comes easily. Dozens of hours into my multiple playthroughs, I still evade even just a small group of Freakers if I can. But overcoming those struggles and making something out of the new world is always the lifeblood of great zombie fiction, and though Sony Bend gives its monsters a different name, Days Gone is one of the best genre video games ever produced.

The first run through Resident Evil Village is a genuinely thrilling, often scary ride, which draws on a lot of features from the series' greatest hits. It's worth a look for anyone who's ever enjoyed a Resident Evil game or a first-person shooter. The cracks only start to show later on. Village is playable and entertaining, but it lacks some attention to detail when compared to the other mainline entries in the series.

Wraith: The Oblivion — Afterlife is a wonderful example of what a pure horror survival game made exclusively for VR can be. It forces you to be slow and deliberate. It rewards you for making the most use of your physical play area as you slip out of harm's way or sniff out Barclay Mansion's many secrets. It also hosts a cast of interesting characters, and each of its monstrous specters has a fascinating backstory to seek out.

Even if you thought you were "done" with Assassin's Creed Valhalla already, Wrath of the Druids has more than enough elements to drag you back in. It may not break a lot of new ground, but raiding monasteries, making terrible decisions, double-crossing friend and foe, and partaking in more drinking contests is good fun and a well-made complement to an already great game.

A game like Hood: Outlaws & Legends is a rarity: it takes some big swings to try and set itself apart from the pack. Unfortunately, it whiffs on a lot of them. There is a skeleton here that could turn into something really impressive, but it's hard to imagine a world where it attracts enough players to sustain itself long enough to evolve that far.

Subnautica Below Zero works great as both a fascinating aquatic survival and crafting game, and an engaging sci-fi adventure. While it’s not quite as impressive as the original, which it takes heavily from, this is still a sizable journey well worth a deep dive.

Metro Exodus is back in a high-octane enhanced edition to push your new gaming hardware to the limit. Had the Enhanced Edition demanded a price for everyone, we wouldn’t be nearly as excited or impressed. Since the enhanced version is free for current owners of Metro Exodus on both PC and consoles, this is a great reason to dive into the game again.

Base One is a good survival RPG game set in space. There’s a level of strategy involved when it comes to crew selection, tech research, and building out your station. It feels like some areas could use a bit more attention, particularly the voice acting and audio, but otherwise, the controls and the core game loop feel good.

Wreckfest is back with a fine next-gen port, going that extra mile with some wonderfully chaotic gameplay. It isn’t perfect, with some shortcomings with multiplayer, the odd loading times, and a surprisingly cheesy soundtrack, though ultimately, Bugbear’s done a fine job enhancing it for next-gen technology.

Returnal is a tightly designed roguelike with some of the best gameplay the genre can provide, and it's the first game since Demon's Souls to provide a reason to own a PS5. If you’re looking for an experience that really takes advantage of the latest console hardware, Returnal offers it and a lot more.

No amount of grind or patronizing feedback from Professor Mirror can dim just how charming New Pokemon Snap is. It's calm, colorful, and cozy, rewarding you for capturing free Pokemon just living their lives in the wild. Aside from being a much-needed alternative perspective on the Pokemon world, there's little else like it in video games right now.

Altogether, there is a lot to love about Scourgebringer. On the PS Vita, there’s even more to love because like so many other indie games, it feels at home on Sony’s handheld. The ease with which combos can be created and how multipliers work to keep the game's frenetic pace is unmatched thanks to the controls on PS Vita non-existent on other consoles.

Before I Forget is a highly emotive tale about one woman’s struggle with dementia, and a story that everyone should experience. I’ve never experienced anything like Before I Forget, and I strongly urge everyone to play it.

Atelier Lydie & Suelle DX is a hard sell if you've already played it, but remains a stand-out Atelier game with strong heroines, excellent crafting, and good combat. If you have played it before, especially on the Switch, you’re probably better off buying Sophie and Firis separately when they go on sale since the DX version doesn’t add anything vital or new.

Atelier Firis DX is a unique Atelier game in its structure that holds its own, even where later games improve on what it started. Like Sophie, it doesn’t transform the series. Ryza improves on most of the things Firis experiments with too, but Firis offers a unique take on the series’ structure that's refreshing and engaging, despite its familiarity.

Atelier Sophie DX plays it safe and might seem too familiar, but its charm and superb crafting system make it worth the while. It might not excel in a given area like Escha & Logy, and it doesn't push the series forward like Ryza. However, aside from the bugs and framerate issues, Atelier Sophie is fun, comfortable, and cozy, and at the end of the day, that’s enough for me.

Judgment remastered is a fine return for 2019’s Yakuza spin-off. Though all of its changes are purely technical, it's the best version of this detective thriller. As a direct remaster, previous frustrations remain, such as the lengthy target tailing sequences and unnecessary drone crafting mechanics. But when you’ve got such an engaging story packed with content and a keen sense of style, Remastered is undeniably the best way to play Judgment.

While not perfect, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… manages to address the biggest flaw from the original game, which is its gameplay. After being fine-tuned and modeled after NieR: Automata’s combat, NieR Replicant feels absolutely fantastic to play. Fans of the original will also appreciate the new perspective that the teenage protagonist brings to the table. This game is the perfect entry point for newcomers and the definitive way for veterans to relive a truly iconic game.

The Lost Gods is the third and final DLC for Immortals Fenyx Rising. While it introduces new perspectives and mechanics, it doesn't exactly come together into a cohesive whole. It's commendable what The New Gods is going for, but this isn't something most people will be interested in unless they're very interested in seeing the story of Immortals Fenyx Rising through to the end.

MLB The Show 21 isn't as flashy as its cover star. Lacking many overhauls to its modes, this year's game focuses on a decent laissez-faire story mode, a cool new Stadium Creator, and more of the superb baseball sim gameplay that has earned the series its reputation as one of the best Sony exclusives. MLB The Show isn't exclusive anymore, but that just means many more people are about to learn firsthand how lifelike a sports game's on-field gameplay can be.

Pac-Man 99 follows deftly in the footsteps of Nintendo’s Tetris 99 to provide a near-perfect multiplayer Pac experience. Pac-Man 99 is absolutely worth the download. It melds intense online competition with classic single-player gameplay to create a wholly new, yet utterly familiar experience. The extra content is superb, if overpriced. Just the same, whether you opt for the free version or spend for the extra content, there’s no shortage of fun to be had.

Ashwalkers tells an open-ended story the right way, mixing equal parts agency and powerlessness, hope and despair. From its bleak, monochromatic world to one of our own that can be just as unkind to the downtrodden, Ashwalkers leaves a memorable message to take away from this ambitious game.

Telling a gut punch of a story with novel gameplay mechanics is no small feat, and Before Your Eyes marvelously delivers on both fronts. Just as Edith Finch and Firewatch before it told stories only games can tell and used mechanics we would likely never see borrowed elsewhere, Before Your Eyes feels like it's immediately timeless and permanently unique.

Forgotten Fields is a flawed, sometimes frustrating experience, but its best moments are authentic and relatable enough to still make the journey worthwhile.

Repentance doesn't add anything particularly game-altering to the formula; it's not going to win you over if you don't like this style of roguelike. What it does do, however, is add huge amounts of content to the already massive base game (and other DLCS) that is The Binding of Isaac. On top of that, there's some even more hardcore endgame content, including a series of new, game-breaking characters to unlock. Not bad for $15.

This flashy remake of Abe's sequel is gorgeous to look at, but it rarely captures the excitement or feeling of the Oddworld forebears.

Bravely Default 2 is the best JRPG that never came out of 1998 Japan. It has a deep combat system, a sunny disposition, and a weirdly positive outlook. Don’t pick it up unless you’re willing to make it a lifestyle choice for a month or so, and you have to be at or near the maximum possible biological tolerance for classic-style JRPGs. Bravely Default 2 is the absolute Platonic ideal of the form, with upsides and downsides that are both traditional for the genre and unique to it.

Outriders is a good looter-shooter at times that has some moments of greatness buried beneath a generic if well-realized sci-fi veneer. In short, Outriders is not going to dethrone the likes of Destiny from its throne, but it is a welcome distraction that’s fun for being fun, even if there are parts of it that shine less brightly.

Cozy Grove presents island life sans crass Capitalistic Raccoon Overlords, and is a lovely experience through and through. If you took Animal Crossing and just indie’d the hell out of it, you’d get Cozy Grove.

Monster Hunter Rise does more than rise to the occasion: it utterly outdoes itself. Monster Hunter Rise as it stands might be one of the easiest games in the series, but it's also one of the most flexible and ultimately satisfying in each and every regard, and for that, it deserves full marks.

Disco Elysium’s expanded edition successfully builds upon an already excellent RPG, making it just as relevant today as it was in 2019.