While the lack of multiplayer is disappointing, it features more than enough loadout options to add variety that it warrants repeat playthroughs.

It's not quite a keeper, but it's an improvement over the original.

Although this genre's been done to death, Harold's inspired levels, imaginative mechanics, eye-popping presentation, endless charm, and steep challenge separate it from the pack. It's only that latter element that crosses the line, sometimes making Harold more frustrating than fun.

VoidExpanse is toothless in general, lacking the mystery and suspense that could have propelled it through the universe.

Are you looking for a journey into the digital unknown that won't break the bank? If so, then is the one that you should embark upon.

Chronicles' passive pacing is a shame, because the pieces, combat notwithstanding, are mostly strong. Furthermore, the exquisite environments craft a setting that makes me eager to see the two upcoming sequels--Chronicles: India, and Chronicles: Russia--in action.

Chronicles rests on being pretty, adding new mechanics over time but flattening the pace and allowing exploits and glitches to suck out the rising tension.

I am left puzzled by The Charnel House Trilogy, not because I don't understand it, but because its mishmash of themes and tones can't find a way to coexist.

Despite some nagging issues, Slow Down, Bull is charming, with plenty of good messages to share for the whole family.

A great roster with a wide range of diverse fighting styles and variations gives you plenty to play around with, and the new fighting mechanics add the right amount of depth to nudge Mortal Kombat X ever higher on the list of respectable fighting games.

Although you can't escape it, Mortal Kombat X's violence doesn't come at the cost of great gameplay design; it's either your punishment for failure, or your reward for mastering the art of kombat.

Even a solid game needs some spice, and We Are Doomed never gives you much. You will certainly notice how good it feels to play the game, and the presentation is top notch, but it never really gives you a reason to care.

Luckily, before work comes joy, and in the few hours that Titan Souls maintains your interest, you prove that you--and the diminutive hero that you play--can change the world with incredible patience, and a single arrow.

Slender Man and his several proxies are cold and uncaring. They have no clear motive other than your defilement, and they are omnipotent.

I'm not quite as warm to it as I was before, but it's an eerie experience that's seeped into my real life.

The game is friendlier for newer players than some of its in-genre siblings, however. While League of Legends keeps rune slots locked until certain account levels, Infinite Crisis gives characters completed Augment/Mod kits they can use even at level 1.

It is great in bursts, and when you have friends playing with you, Paperbound glows with energy. But the lack of online or additional content takes its toll.

It's a hard-won love that Dark Souls II has you earn, a love that took a second, enhanced port to truly find. It is a demanding and seemingly interminable game that puts up its most beautiful and its most evil machinations right at the outset.

The exultation of hard-earned victory here, of saying “What's next” with all the fear, fascination, and excitement of any good, bloody fight, has more joys than most, and even though the game is won, I find myself itching to go back...Dark Souls II, in its final form, is just my tempo.

The world of Dark Souls II has a way of digital life that involves sacrifice, hard decisions about the distribution of power, and the fact that seeking more has an iron price.

Bastion holds up remarkably well four years later, even as the acclaimed games of the latter day tend to lose their luster once the initial novelty wears off. At its best, this re-release proves that Bastion is worthy of its name. It's a bastion of good game design and innovative narration, and I suspect that another four years from now, it will hold up just as well.

It is not changing the future, but it is repackaging the past in a way that deserves praise while falling into a few old traps--and creating a few of its own--along the way.

This slow-and-steady approach to game design makes each iteration of the game comfortable, but it also makes for fantastic baseball sims that you can always count on, and that are always improving in subtle ways. In gaming, in baseball, and in life, that’s rare and valuable, even if it does make for a predictable rite of spring.

The narrative thread is just strong enough to remain interesting, but it takes a back seat to the loot-soaked foundation that works so well.

Dyscourse has charm and personality to spare, and though you can peel back the layers of its systems if you spend enough time replaying it, few games make your choices feel as meaningful and impactful as this one does.

There is a real velocity to Three Fourths Home. It sneaks up on you, quietly at first, before suddenly becoming overwhelming. Its closest analogs aren't other games, but works like John Darnielle's novel Wolf in White Van or the haunting music of lo-fi artist Mount Eerie--art that rumbles and groans and then springs into action.

Sunless Sea is an ambitious work that attempts to capture the sheer kinetic thrill of discovery in a bottle without the inevitable entropy of player completion depleting it, and falls well short. The promise of lengthened replayability only makes the methodical pace a joyless grind at times.

Its fantasy world is undercut by bland artistic direction and a lack of conviction.

A wildly addictive, bizarrely rewarding adventure constrained by tight restrictions that only loosen after a significant time investment.

Its sci-fi galaxy is mostly abstracted, and its unit models are simple and blocky. It's not those issues that really put me off of Starships, but rather the way it seems to aspire to that narrow, dated idea of what makes a "good" mobile game. I can turn aside the quick and obvious assaults on PC sensibilities--the rough graphics, the lack of options--but it's the cynical design that guts me, in the end.

Book Two succeeds in reminding us that our destination may be predetermined, but our path is not. It's how we choose to travel, and who we keep by our side, that makes the journey worthwhile.

Axiom Verge is a game that's easy to fall in love with because it hits so many high notes. It takes the Metroidvania model and adds layers of ingenuity that are in a league all of their own, the most notable being the Address Disruptor.

Defenders is a worthy addition to an already great game that will no doubt please anyone with a fondness for fighting within an inch of their life while also blowing up everything in sight into tiny, beautiful pieces.

Though I wish that Jaws of Hakkon was less bloated, and though I miss the cinematic flair of the rest of Dragon Age: Inquisition, I know that in a month I'll have forgotten these quibbles. Instead, I'll remember my time spent in Frostback Basin fondly. I'll remember the sharp wit of Svarah Sun-Hair, the leader of the local Avvar clan.

Despite the great way Out of Time handles emotional payoff, it suffers from problematic dialogue.

While it's an inferior proposition to its initial release in 2011, Xenoblade Chronicles 3D remains superior to the majority of RPGs.

Game of Thrones’ third episode succeeds in making you feel like the rest of the season is hinging on the decisions you make. It marks the narrative apex so far, the highest dramatic climax, with its barrage of tough choices in rapid succession.

Only Bloodborne would be so bold as to bury an entire factional player-versus-player mechanic within an optional region, which is in turn buried within a series of oblique steps you might miss if you aren't exploring every nook and cranny, or ignore the game's enigmatic hints. I finished Bloodborne in less time than I did Dark Souls II, yet I treasure it more in spite of its few missteps.

The first episode's flat narrative structure may not be entirely satisfying, but Dreamfall Chapters' diverse and endearing cast, nuggets of political and personal tensions, and glimmers of the poignancy that made the previous Longest Journey games so memorable make me hopeful for the futures of Stark, Arcadia, and the Dreamtime, wherever those places might take me.

Claptastic Voyage, much like our dear Claptrap himself, is an imperfect little thing. But it's still decent thanks to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's outstanding combat formula and some superb environments revealed as you delve further into the story.

Woolfe barely comes into its own before it's over, with the entire game taking about 2–3 hours tops. It's apparently only half of a two-part experience, but the halfway mark of the game doesn't show much promise for the second.

There’s just not enough staying power, and controls that are a few notches too loose make it difficult to determine a shot’s trajectory. Disco Dodgeball is a creative player in a crowded space, but lacks too many attributes to stand out.

Some ultimate game where nerd and jock fuse together and assume their final form.

Bladestorm: Nightmare is a game trapped in 2007, awkwardly fumbling for a way to push a tried and true formula forward. The ideas are appreciable, but not nearly enough of the required effort has been put in to make this game great or even challenging.

A frequently maddening slog through isometric hell, framed by a broken story and sloppy mechanics, suggesting that what the game needed more than anything was further play testing and refinement.

Revelations 2 doesn't get a pass for obscuring the path to its most satisfying conclusion, but it gets credit for the excitement it ultimately delivers in the true end of this journey and the flicker of the next one creeping in its shadow.

It continues to be a crazy ride through a story that successfully employs the most beloved elements of the Borderlands franchise.

The simplicity of the campaign's stealth gameplay and the enemies' readiness to submit at the sound of "Freeze!" is comical, though the silliness was not likely Visceral's intention.

It's the battles themselves that make the most forcible argument for spending 25-plus hours with Final Fantasy Type-0, for it's in the combat arenas that Orience truly comes to life.

Despite the Amiibo additions and gamepad Bowser games, as well as a delightfully bright and colourful aesthetic, it's hard to ignore just how similar this game is to its predecessors. But even if you could overlook it, the fact remains that even with some fun minigames in tow and a good group of friends to enjoy it with, Mario Party 10 just doesn't have the depth or the challenge to hold your attention for long.

Sadly, the good game you can imagine is stuck lurking in the shadows of the game it became.

Cities: Skylines is the best city-builder on the market right now. The game's presentation is stodgy, but it is all but guaranteed to provide you many hours of carefully crafting cities, laying out zoning, and establishing districts for specifics residential and industrial uses…all free from real-world mayoral headaches like 6 a.m. phone calls griping about snowplowing.

Trash TV's puzzles and platforming might bear the heavy stamp of other games that came before it, but its endearing use of the conventions of CRT television paired with weapon-toting boob tubes does much to make up for such misgivings.

Though the plot is poorly delivered, it provides an appropriate context for the role you assume as the omniscient commander. There is an eerie sensation when you realise your PC is actually listening to you. Unfortunately, far too often, it simply isn't.

Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. offers the most frustrating kind of steampunk: It brushes up against potent themes, but then turns its back on them in favor of pure aestheticization.

A game that woefully undercooks its concept, a partial success in that nothing that the game does is particularly bad, but for a concept that has always felt like a no-brainer, “why didn't somebody think of that before” situation, the fact that it doesn't do some fairly obviously things to make the game earn its price tag is disheartening.

In almost every way, Hotline Miami 2 is a marked improvement on an already tremendous formula. This is a game that had me pumping my fists and laughing with joy throughout my time with it, and I was left despondent by the time it drew to a close.

The numerous tweaks and upgrades of DmC: Devil May Cry Definitive Edition have made a game that isn't just a better version of DmC, but a bonafide hack 'n' slash classic.

It's a hardcore twist on already impressive game, making the hack 'n' slash action more difficult, but also more compelling than before.

Episode Three is easily the best episode of Revelations 2 yet.

It's important, however, not to mistake Ori and the Blind Forest for being simply beautiful. It certainly is--but it is also unceasingly clever. It consistently surprises you with new tricks: gravitational divergences, new ways to move through its spaces, and carefully designed levels that require you to think quickly and respond.

This is the original Homeworld viewed through the filter of Homeworld 2, which implemented changes to pathing and projectile damage that don't always feel logical in the earlier game.

It's rich in content, but the shallow battle system and unnecessarily bloated health bars of some foes make this feel more like a hesitant step in the right direction than a true home run for the franchise.

If you missed the first game, though, this is the better of the two, and the tutorial will ease you into what its 2D skateboarding is all about. And if you loved it the first time around, "more OlliOlli" shouldn't sound like a bad thing. Provided you can get over the difficulty hump, you'll find a great high score chase in OlliOlli2.

Between its lackluster introductions and almost total lack of context for why you're doing anything in the game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars feels more like a particularly robust tech demo than a proper full-release.

This tiny, throwaway slice of action is a rude return to a world with far better stories to tell.

That Ancient Labyrinth is so short is not, in itself, a fundamental flaw. That it is devoid of imagination and betrays the exploratory wonder of the main game, however, is unforgivable. This tiny, throwaway slice of action is a rude return to a world with far better stories to tell.

With Ancient Labyrinth, Lords of the Fallen doesn't just fail to take a step forward: It takes a momentous leap backwards.

Even if the game featured stable controls, the overall package is still mediocre at best. But with the bad controls, compounded by lackadaisical graphics and boring gameplay, Q*bert: Rebooted never had the potential to shine anyway. Q*bert, old friend, you deserve better.

Though Oreshika isn't the first to try and make an old-school RPG feel new or to make customizable characters feel like a family affair--Fire Emblem: Awakening tried something similar on a smaller scale, for example--it does feel like the first to completely bet the farm on that idea and succeed.

Were it not for Claire's chapter, it wouldn't be hard to sit out the rest of Resident Evil: Revelations 2, but the memory of the good times, and the latest cliffhanger, ultimately stick with you when the credits roll.

Imperfect as it may be, Helldivers' focus on the cooperation of a small team looking out for each other against oppressive waves of enemies elevates it from what would have been a fun and challenging shooter, to a game that now sits at the top of my list of how I plan to spend many future evenings: with a gun in hand, my allies at my back, and a broad smile on my face.

Your enjoyment depends on your willingness to cast aside memories of Rollercoaster Tycoon and its freedoms in favor of Screamride's aggressive xtreme attitude and unique mix of construction and destruction.

If you're up for some pretty punishment, Oblitus provides an experience that you won't soon forget.

The good news is that, in transitioning to PC, the game remains largely successful. All that remains is for the game's two remaining episodes to stick what is undoubtedly going to be a rough landing for everyone involved.

The game absorbs you in three ways at once, by invoking both the loot-gathering vibe of an action RPG, the deck-fiddling fun of a CCG, and the "I'm feeling lucky this time!" aspirations of games of chance. It's a powerful one-two-three punch, though you need to be prepared: sometimes those punches land with unexpected pain.

With tastes of both classic and modern Resident Evil, Revelations 2 has something for everyone, but it would be served better if it was a little more focused and had a little less Moira.

Aaru's Awakening is a dreamy display of artistic imagination that yanks you back to waking life with every awkward leap and every ill-conceived level.

No matter how prone to cynicism you may be, you shouldn’t let this surprising gem go unnoticed.

It is, at best, perfectly playable, and lovely to look at and listen to. But it is also the face of mediocrity and missed opportunities. A bad game can make a case for itself. A boring one is harder to forgive.

No matter how starved you might be for old-timey role-playing, give The Legend of Candlewind a wide berth. This is a terrible, aggravating experience bound to disappoint you no matter how much you might want to relive the glory days of Eye of the Beholder.

A tiring game. It's taxing without being rewarding, like doing a mile on a stationary bike and discovering that you only burned away calories from one bite of your lunch burrito. The game gets frustrating quickly due to repetitive obstacles and there's not much incentive to dig into a game that won't give you that agency.

Making such a legendary game accessible to a modern audience is always a good thing, but Ubisoft just didn't do enough here to set this refurbished version apart from the original and its free high-definition mod.

There’s enjoyment to be found within the game’s combat, but it’s just not worth stomaching the tedious design and perverse activities to find the pearl inside.

Attila is more of the same and a little bit extra, then, not as convincingly realized as the best Total Wars, but strong enough to keep you clicking until the inevitable patches and expansions trickle in.

You might not want to live in one of The Escapists' prisons, but you will definitely enjoy the visit.

Despite its foibles, The Escapists is a gratifying game that provides dozens of hours of entertainment. Planning an escape and watching it unfold is endlessly satisfying, and a successful breakout leaves you feeling jubilant.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate manages to expand upon the things that people love about the series, while simultaneously making concessions to those getting involved for the first time.

The game is unfinished, a chore when you can play it, and full of disgusting vitriol aimed at women and people of color. Buy a ticket for a different ship.

It doesn’t take long to whip a newcomer into shape, at least, meaning you can usually focus on Evolve’s unique brand of greatness: the suspense of the hunt, the exhilaration of battle, and the drive to dominate Shear. Even Sasquatch would shiver at the dangers.

It stands as proof that all it takes to make a fantastic game, even with today's available technology, is a solid set of core gameplay mechanics with inherent depth.

Apotheon eschews modern expectations, reflecting a far older brand of storytelling.

Perhaps the next true frontier is the search for a procedural generation system that can create something more ostentatious, something that can surprise…something not so visible derived from an underlying system of ones and zeroes. But then, maybe it's there in Elite: Dangerous, in its way, and the problem is that I need to learn to start being more impressed by LaGrange points.

It's a nifty little time-waster that Neocore's created here, and while there could and should be a lot more content in the future, the game we've got right now nonetheless makes a convincing bid for your time.

The overall package for Majora's Mask 3D preserves all the weird delight of the original game while lowering the barrier of entry for new players. There's still a lot that's challenging about the puzzles and fights, but a few minor tweaks make your hard-won heart containers and masks feel that much more satisfying.

The Lost Lords offers no respite from the anguish of Iron from Ice, and keeps the energy and intrigue up in surprising ways.

Ultimately, the game is such an infinite fountain of charming and funny, that even when you've started rolling your eyes at how often you've had to wait for one of the traffic cone/hermit crab enemies to come out of defense, you end up getting into a conversation with an NPC and forgetting it ever happened.

One of the best traditional RTS games to hit the PC in a number of years.