Atomicrops is an exciting and challenging rogue-lite farming simulator that somehow manages to maintain its fun factor with high replayability no matter how many times you die. It can be extremely difficult for those not used to playing rogue-lite games, but its fun art style and RNG elements manage to keep it fresh and engaging. Atomicrops is strangely addictive, and for $14.99 on the Epic Games store, it's an absolute steal.

Demon’s Rise: War for the Deep tries to be a good strategy game. It offers a little depth, a little fun, and a little bit of a fantasy for those who want it. It, unfortunately, falls short of offering a memorable fantasy experience with its derivative premise, janky controls, and limited re-playability.

One Punch Man: Road to Hero 2.0 is a great casual distraction for fans of the anime but if you’re not already invested in the bald superhero then take a look at something a little more challenging.

Signs of the Sojourner is a slice of life deck building narrative game. If that was more than a mouthful for you, you may consider steering clear of this game as the conversation based game-play will careen you down a narrative driven path rife with haggling and sometimes fleeting relationships. For the right gamer, Signs of the Sojourner will provide the kind of unique game play that you can't find anywhere else. For deck builder fans, you may find it hit or miss to your tastes, but if battling is more your speed, this might not be up your alley.

A Mortician’s Tale is a gentle reminder of our mortality and a quiet reassurance that it doesn’t have to be viewed negatively. Through informative newsletters woven in with the game’s narrative, and the passionate dream of a young woman, we find that there is peace and joy to be found in the arms of family, green alternatives, and the celebration of our passing.

At this point, I can not recommend the game due to its outdated graphics, clunky mechanics, boring combat and other problems.

Ultimate Fishing Simulator for Xbox One is a sub-par port of the PC version. For a fishing game with the words ultimate and simulator in the title, UFS doesn't live up to the realism or challenge I envisioned. Even though the PC version has been out for two years the Xbox One graphics are of poorer quality, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the game. In the end, the inclusion of a wide variety of environments and styles of fishing doesn't offset the simplistic and redundant mechanics of catching and reeling in fish, resulting in a long and boring grind to reach the big catches the ocean fishing has to offer.

Stela was an excellent experience for me, I loved the atmosphere, music, storytelling, and found it very relaxing to play. The downsides though hold me back from recommending it for everyone. Between the very simple gameplay mechanics, at times temperamental controls, low difficulty (additional difficulty levels would have been nice), and short playtime you may be better off waiting for a sale. On the plus side if you are reading this review within a few days of its publishing date Stella is currently on the Steam summer sale for a great price. Hopefully, if the developers decide to make a sequel to the game they can improve and/or correct some of the issues noted above.

Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia hearkens to a simpler time, when console strategy games had a special magic to them... Nevertheless, the magic doesn’t hold up very well in the contemporary gaming world. Although it brings heaps of nostalgia, that nostalgia comes at the expense of depth and breadth of gameplay.

There are only so many ways to build a bridge but Poly Bridge 2 finds a way to add enough to give new life to the aging original. The lack of a tutorial can make the first few levels more challenging than necessary, but the mix of traditional bridge-building and unconventional solutions will keep you engaged level after level. When the 64 levels included in the game are done the community fueled Gallery and Workshop levels will keep you going for hours on end.

Rehydrated doesn’t offer up more than a few hours-worth of content to distract from the doldrum. It took me roughly 8 hours to beat the story, but it would probably take up to 12 to collect everything. If you’re looking for a new game to play in quarantine, this isn’t it. Despite the nostalgia, I honestly can’t recommend this game to anyone except for families with small children. There’s no penalty for dying, except for having to backtrack through areas, and the combat is simplistic enough that any kid will be able to pick it up easily. The good news is that SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is only $29.99. The bad news is that I still think that’s overpriced.

A solid set of puzzles and a gorgeous world are largely let down by some odd narrative decisions and middling character development that are just jarring enough to prod you out of the world that Pine Studio has worked so hard to craft. If you’re looking for a Layton style experience in an extraordinary world then this could be for you. Otherwise, take this one at your own pace because school life can be tough at Arbor Academy.

This whimsical, family-friendly title manages to join two unlikely game genres together quite well. The genres being platformer and puzzler. Neither of these areas is exceedingly challenging but just difficult enough to make you feel good about yourself once you get to the next save point. While the story is not a gripping tale of suspense the platforming moments will have you feeling some Super Mario nostalgia.

While yes…there are still some performance problems, Saints Row the Third Remastered is a helluva fun game, especially with friends. The story missions will have you rolling with laughter, and there’s no setback if you find yourself in the middle of a shootout between all three gangs and the Steelport police. It’s just all good fun. And with all the craziness going on in the world, it’s nice to have a game to lose yourself in that makes you not take yourself quite as seriously and reminds you to be thankful for the time you have and tackle life one day at a time.

Some games are revolutionary, some are evolutionary, and some are just good at doing their own thing. Do Not Feed the Monkeys falls into the latter category and manages to take ‘unique’ in a positive direction by melding a puzzle game with resource management within a fascinating premise.

Fly Punch Boom is a unique take on the fighting genre with a host of over the top combat effects, quick reaction button presses, and some zany characters that are quite entertaining. The rock paper scissors battle resolution system may not appeal to players looking for a more skill based fighter, but Fly Punch Boom is definitely a nice diversion that can keep you busy for several hours.

While the game itself may be pretty polished, I feel like a lot of its potential has been drowned out in a complicated store with way too many options to hand over your credit card. When I have to close out of 10 purchase prompts just to get to the main menu every time I start up a game it becomes an issue. When you’re almost guilt-tripping me into making a purchase from your game, I start to question your motives and the game’s purpose.

Robot Squad Simulator is an adventure game that makes controlling robots fun if you have some patience. With an interface that could do well by providing more helpful feedback and less frustrating controls, it's hard to overwhelmingly recommend this title. Unfortunately when all is said and done "these aren't the droids you're looking for".

Cranked Up is an interesting take on the puzzle platformer genre that incorporates some vertical and horizontal puzzle play with a difficult rocket-based movement style. For the right player Cranked Up could be a delight, but for the uncoordinated, this game may not be their best tasting donut.

Minecraft Dungeons is a light take on a genre that oftentimes takes itself much too seriously. The story is family-friendly, most levels are good recreations of the Minecraft biomes, and the gloom, blood, and gore of most ARPGs are replaced with the cute monsters and iconic items we know and love from the Minecraft universe. With a short campaign mode and lack of crafting, Minecraft Dungeons may not be a hardcore offering that will give you hundreds of hours of play, but it is a perfect way to spend a few hours playing together with friends or your kids while you wait for the next season of your favorite dungeon crawler to start up.

I’m sure in a month or maybe even less, we will see the game turn around as the player base has already started to go back up. I’m going to keep playing it here and there and simply enjoy the game for what it is now and look towards the future as it is still the most fun shooter to play for me.

Gunfire Reborn is a strong first person shooting rouge-like title, with well tuned challenging engagements. There is a lot of potential for this title to expand and the developers are actively looking for more feedback to improve the title. I was very skeptical of the title, but after watching others play it, I felt the need to try it for myself. It was a quick grab, which instantly sucked me into 3 hours of straight play to see how far I could get. It took about 3 days to finally beat the normal mode, which required that I really start to understand the games mechanics. Thank you Duoyi Interactive Entertainment Limited for the key to review Gunfire Reborn. [Early Access Score = 80]

Fledgeling Heroes might be a bit short in the tooth, game lengthwise, there's no doubting the fun. The game allows you to move forward without being perfect. Time spent on each level is based on the challenge to you weighted by how much you want to collect. Unexpected features like a level creator, cosmetics and styles for your birds, time trials, and score-keeping add to the overall enjoyment to a family-friendly game, and that's nothing to crow about!

Freedom Finger is a horizontal shooter that incorporates a humorous storyline and a hard charging soundtrack. This triple threat coalesces into a game that will keep horizontal shooter fans invested for some time.

Aeronautica Imperialis: Flight Command is a mixed bag of dice. It’s a unique concept and the tabletop conversion and combat interpretation feels fantastic, its just a shame that when your head’s out the clouds the rest of the game doesn’t feel quite so special. Fans of strategy titles should definitely take this interesting new title for a spin but don’t expect it to be a long haul flight.

What The Golf is an enjoyable, imaginative, sometimes satirical take on Golf. Labeled as the game for those that hate golf, most levels keep with the same underlying concept of golf, but you never truly know what you'll end up doing until you're in the thick of it. With plenty of replayability options, including multiplayer, What The Golf is a sweet little diversion that would be suitable to play with the whole family.

While Monster Train provides a premiere deck building experience, it isn’t perfect by any means. Some cards and encounters aren’t explained particularly well. I found at times I had to experiment with how some things worked, simply because you may find that certain enemies aren’t what you thought they were, and some cards or encounters don’t fulfill the expectations you had for them. The streak system, banking on how many concurrent wins you had is a nice addition, but it becomes frustrating as, sometimes, you just don’t have the cards in your deck to win. It would have been nice to have a reward system, to bring over at least one card from the previous run so that you can build on your past success. Still, even with these perceptual issues or missed opportunities, Monster Train still has me returning for more. Monster Train is definitely an unexpected hidden gem.

The egregious monetization can't be overlooked in this game. Originally I was being lenient and choosing to simply ignore it but after playing the game for 10 hours it very quickly became clear this game is only interested in putting up as many obstacles as possible and selling you the solution to these problems. While it's true that a lot of these items can be earned in-game, they make it very clear that paying is the better option. Combine that with the simple and repetitive nature of the game and I can't honestly recommend this. As it's free though you have nothing to lose by trying it for yourself, just understand though what type of game you are getting yourself into.