Outriders: Worldslayer is an admirable attempt to breathe new life into a solid but flawed experience. It succeeds mostly in making the problems more apparent.

Layers of Fear is difficult to recommend to anyone but hardcore franchise or genre fans. Newcomers might as well play this package over the originals seeing as they’re the definitive versions of each game. It’s a shame that a definitive version of a Layers of Fear game still doesn’t receive high praise. Layers of Fear 2023 feels like it wants to be a more substantial remake, meanwhile being too afraid to go the extra mile. If Bloober Team took the time to radically change the titles, along with further fleshing out its frame narrative, we could have had something special.

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.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake attempts to be a lovingly rendered throwback to the licensed 3D platformers of the early 2000s. It's hard to argue that it fails on any of those counts. As a modern game, though, it feels antiquated in ways that hold it back. Not everything needs to reach for the stars, but The Cosmic Shake would have benefited from some fresher ideas.

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.

Despite a few hiccups, Beyond Light sets the stage for a triumphant year of Destiny 2. If the franchise continues this way, the best is yet to come.

Iron Danger is a fascinating game to try and assign a score to. It is really based around one core concept, and however far that concept takes you is how much mileage you'll get out of it. Jumping back and forth through time using mechanics reminiscent of audio or video editing software can be a unique tactical puzzle. That said, Iron Danger lacks the polish or depth to appeal much beyond that interesting concept. A lot of people will have fun with Iron Danger, but I could also see it being a game that many load up and ultimately bounce off of.

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.

Even though DBZ: Kakarot retells the same story the franchise has been telling for decades, it manages to do so in creative new ways for hardcore anime fans.

A well-done and intelligent choose your own text adventure set in the venerable World of Darkness Werewolf RPG universe makes for a satisfying bit of interactive fiction.

Evil West has done something fairly remarkable by dragging the sort of shlocky, B-tier, 360-era action games into 2022 with basically all of the quality-of-life upgrades you’d expect from a modern title. This is how you remember games of 10-odd years ago, as opposed to how they actually play now.

Mario Strikers: Battle League is a fun and chaotic experience let down by a lack of content and personality.

West of Dead has plenty of great gunplay and a fascinating setting, but be prepared to die over and over and put up with an unrelentingly unfriendly continue system.

Little Hope renewed my faith in the Dark Pictures Anthology but is held back a bit simply from the lack of quality of life features.

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.

You really need to play No Straight Roads. While the gameplay isn't amazing, the presentation is, and it's flawed in some truly interesting ways.

Nexomon: Extinction adds a healthy, welcome dose of RPG style to its story, but can't, or won't, step out from the shadows of its inspirations.

Sakura Wars is full of personality and, even with some dodgy combat getting in the way, a surprisingly absorbing game. It has memorable characters and an even more memorable way to interact with them.

Headland is a functional experience, but it lacks enough clever ideas or impact to make a lasting impression.

Meet Your Maker is a highly addictive first-person shooter/base-building hybrid. Its satisfying gameplay loop is cemented by various progression systems, filling that itch of watching bars and numbers go up at a consistent rate. The tools and systems are in place to allow for creative death traps filled with tons of hair-raising moments and satisfying encounters, further enhanced when playing with a friend. In fact, the community has already made expert use of existing content. Unfortunately, creativity can only take that content so far. Before long, deja vu will become this game’s crutch. Meet Your Maker needs significantly more content across the board to become a sustainable community experience.

Dragon Quest Treasures isn’t a massive 100-hour epic like Dragon Quest XI. The game can still comfortably occupy a couple dozen hours at least. The islands are large and hold plenty of secrets, side quests, and monsters to discover. It’s definitely aimed at younger gamers to get them into JRPGs with its young protagonists, cute graphics, and monster collecting gameplay, but it's fun for all ages.

NHL 21 provides more of the same, and with the uncertainty of the real world season, even less of what few changes fans come to expect of yearly releases.

Ever wanted to dodge zombie sharks while on a quest to destroy the undead animated by evil wizard-Hitler? Well, it doesn't get much better than Zombie Army 4.

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.

Salt and Sacrifice is a labor of love, one that will scratch any Souls veteran's itch for more mysterious worlds to explore, even if it doesn't succeed at everything.

Nintendo Switch Sports is a great way to satisfy any urge to play motion control games. Unfortunately, it doesn't make any effort at being more than that.

I had so much fun with Exoprimal, and I’m looking forward to playing more. That being said, it feels a lot like recommending a show to someone where it doesn’t pick up until around 10 episodes in. I believe it’s worth pushing onward until the game opens up more, especially if you’re playing with friends, but I also wouldn’t blame anyone for not wanting to deal with it. There’s a lot of content planned for Exoprimal, including a new mode and new exosuits for the first season. That should make the full price a lot easier to swallow if you’re interested in buying it, although my recommendation is to play it through Xbox Game Pass if you can. It might stumble a bit and naturally carry the uncertainty of a live-service title, but I wouldn’t count this as a mark against Capcom’s recent record. If they manage to support it right with quality content, life will find a way.

At every turn, Avatar Frontiers is a game that boldly blooms. Each time I stepped away from the world, I found myself wishing to return. Whether I was soaring the skies on my Ikran or running through the forest floor, I was entranced by the world of Pandora. There wasn’t a moment of the game where I didn’t feel I was getting a first-hand experience of a living, breathing alien planet. However, much like James Cameron’s films, the planet’s allure outweighs the substance of the plot. So, while I certainly found myself empathizing with the Na’vi mission and my protagonist’s quest, it felt a bit run of the mill. With that in mind, newcomers to the franchise will experience an elevated hands-on version of Avatar’s initial arrival.