Unfortunately, the excitement of that original Mortal Kombat 1 ending is gone, and in its place rests a trepidation and unease over where the story might go next. Fittingly, it seems this once-promising story has been thrown into, well, chaos.

Many new elements are attempted in Super Mario Party Jamboree, and unfortunately I feel like a lot of them are unwelcome. The new modes are largely duds, the tantalizing promise of 20-player online falls a bit flat, and several of the new minigames are a slog. That said, the new maps are the best original ones in many years and Jamboree promises to still be a blast when you've got some friends over. I've reviewed many Mario Party games over the years and it's always a weird series to assign a number to. During the review period you get to play the occasional online session with Nintendo reps and fellow games media members, but a lot of time is spent exploring the maps and minigames solo. In this form, the faults of the game are laid bare and you see it with clear eyes. But once you grab a few close friends and you're laughing with it over a few beers, the deeply flawed game turns into a raucous night of camaraderie and laughter. Jamboree is no more or less nonsense than any Mario Party, and it's one I'll still be playing a ton of despite its flaws.

I once enjoyed the game as a player, back when I was in the middle of the game's target audience. Today, I'm well outside of that, but the game has taken on new meaning to me now that I have kids of my own. Because the core gameplay remains fun and easy to learn, passing down my favorite characters to my kids has been a heartwarming joy, and watching their favorites emerge has been exciting. I can't really play this game competitively anymore; I've outgrown it in that sense. But I could never outgrow these vibrant kids that helped shape my childhood, and I'm confident other parents, whether they grew up with the game or not, will sense a similar magic when they play it with their kids, too.

There's fun to be had in Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero, but ultimately this return to form does not spark as much joy as we'd hoped.

Somehow, Metaphor: ReFantazio is even greater than the sum of its parts, yet each piece of the game is masterfully crafted. I found the whole experience transcendent and was impressed by how it felt both novel yet familiar--elevated and modern, yet so reminiscent to the fantasy RPGs I sunk countless hours into on my little grey PlayStation. But most importantly, it made me remember that we are lost without hope. It sounds silly and cliche, I know--sometimes it can be. It also certainly doesn't put out the fires set all over the world. But it reminded me that giving into despair and fear serves no one, myself included. It reminded me that fantasy and fiction have power--words and stories have power. They can inspire and comfort, and these things that are vital to preserving. And it reminded me that the proof of good in the world can be us, and that's a good start.

Vessel of Hatred acts as a great reentry point for lapsed Diablo 4 players looking for another fix of the dungeon-crawling action that the original release so deftly introduced. The Spiritborn class is as satisfying to command in skirmishes as it is to experiment with, featuring a level of depth that extends beyond all classes before it. Both the Kurast Undercity and the Dark Citadel are captivating additions to the existing (and drastically improved) endgame conten. The expansion is only let down by a middling story that fails to captivate on the setup of the base game and ends with nothing more than a tease for the presumably real conflict to come. Irrespective of that, Diablo 4 didn't need an expansion to uplift it, but Vessel of Hatred certainly delivers on making the entire thing feel fresh again.

The original Silent Hill 2 is one of the most beloved, culturally significant, and overall best horror games ever made. It appeared to be the case that trying to recapture the magic of that game was to misjudge how impactful its time and place were, and how its limitations helped shape it for the better. Any studio advancing on such a project should've had a Sisyphean task ahead of them, forever chasing its essence like a moth with a hole in your net. However, by staying true to the original game in extremely important ways and taking calculated risks born from an understanding of the source material, all while being supported further by some of the game's original brain trust, Bloober Team has done what was reasonably considered near-impossible. The remake of Silent Hill 2 is a restless dream come true.

There's a lot to like about EA FC 25, from the overhauled tactics to the chaotic addition of Rush and a few welcome improvements to Career mode. It's not a resounding victory, however. The on-field action has stagnated, maintaining its quality but also plenty of its flaws, while changes to Ultimate Team feel antagonistic in their design. In the near future, issues like input lag and its propensity to crash will hopefully be fixed, but the same is unlikely to be true for its long-standing problems. At the end of the day--to borrow common football player lingo--there's fun to be had with EA FC 25, especially if you enjoyed last year's game, but rather than taking a significant leap forward, it's content to settle for midtable form.

With more attention to balancing and better, earlier explanations of how its puzzles, boss encounters, and items behave, I could see Funko Fusion eventually being the enjoyable, adult-oriented Lego alternative it wants to be. It needs some important fixes, but they don't seem like unattainable goals in this era of living games that are constantly evolving. The eventual widespread co-op functionality should hopefully make the game better all on its own, and if more helpful visual language and tooltips arrive soon, too, the game could be redeemed. Until then, however, this is one Funko product not worth displaying on your shelf.

If you've never experienced God of War Ragnarok, then there's a strong chance this port will satisfy you after the extended wait. It's just a pity it's not flawless as the extra time might have you expecting. [Unscored PC Version update]

If Zelda's debut in the spotlight is a one-off, at least it's a memorable adventure. But hopefully this is the beginning of a new legend for the heroine. Echoes of Wisdom's brilliantly integrates echoes system links two eras, proving that the freeform mechanics of the new age can coexist with the franchise's classic formula. Don't mistake this for a spin-off or minor entry between big "mainline" games: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a major moment that shouldn't be missed.

Simply put, UFO 50 is an audacious triumph. Dozens of the games are compelling enough to warrant a full playthrough, and even some of the less successful experiments have some intriguing element or inventive idea to draw you in. Best of all, it's exciting to have such a rich vein of strange, creative video game experiences to examine. This is nostalgia, but not the candy-coated feeling of reliving what we've already experienced. It's remembering how it felt to discover something new.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a better version of a classic, flawed game. Those blemishes are sometimes more glaring today, but some great fixes to the overall package also erase some other issues entirely. Its timeless qualities, like an absurd story and a fun setting, keep it from feeling like an unwelcome retread. Still, I'd hope the next Dead Rising fixes a lot of what this one does poorly--and even some of its sequels did that, so it seems likely. In 2024, Dead Rising is no longer the sort of game that would make me run out and buy a new console, but it is a game that I'm happy to revisit in this improved form.

Frostpunk 2 doesn't replace the first game. Instead, it elevates its rawest themes of human nature to towering heights. It offers a significantly different challenge in its city-building that allows both games to exist in separate sectors of the genre, and it's better for it.

The Plucky Squire is a joyful story about creativity and inspiration that is itself both creative and frequently inspired. In the world of the game, The Plucky Squire is a beloved franchise and popular character with multiple entries in his long-running series. Here in the real world, he deserves to be a star too, and I can only hope this is the start of his success story.

Squirrel With a Gun isn't aggressively bad, and I didn't hate my time with it. It was basically just a thing that I did for four hours. Nothing about the experience really stands out; the whole game is entirely unremarkable and won't live long in the memory. It's kind of like seeing a squirrel in real life. You go, "Oh look, a squirrel," watch the furry critter scurry up a tree, and then get on with your day. That's Squirrel With a Gun in a nutshell.

Wild Bastards is the second instance in as many games where Blue Manchu has left me mesmerized with its knack for creating intricate, interwoven gameplay systems and arranging them in such a way that rewards careful planning and skilled improvisation at different times. With a fantastic cast of 13 unique characters, tight gunplay, a striking sense of style and humor, and a deep array of possibilities in every part of its three-phase loop, Wild Bastards is unholstered brilliance.

Hollowbody is scary, dreary, and sad; it's all the things I love about horror games. Sometimes, it embodies these feelings because it nearly repurposes the same monsters, places, and predicaments from the games that inspired it. But it's not all familiar, and the things it does differently are its best attributes, like telling a story conscious of and concerned about sociopolitics and offering a minimalistic but unsettling soundtrack of its own. Maybe the last great Silent Hill game is behind us. I don't know. But I do know its memory remains alive in successes like Hollowbody.

NBA 2K is a peculiar game to critique for this perennial reason; like a social media label for a messy relationship, it's complicated. Suffice it to say the thoughts I've expressed in that companion piece weigh on my conclusion here, and you should consider this a two-part review, in a sense. 2K25's greatest flaw is obvious: Its economic designs make the game worse, and it's impossible for anyone without a Randian "greed is good" worldview to justify it...At the same time, everything else it does is so impressive, both as a basketball sim and when stacked next to any other sports game, that it's a delicate balance to find with words. It does so much so well, and much of it is done uniquely. But its refusal to decouple its marquee features from its virtual currency keeps this championship contender from reaching its full potential.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a more-than-worthy successor to the 2011 original. Its brutally gory action is as riveting as ever, but it's also more considered and tactile, making for a much more satisfying experience. There's not a lot going on outside of combat, and it's overly linear at times, but these flaws are easy to forget when you're charging headfirst into battle against an enemy numbering in the hundreds, furiously fighting against a stunning backdrop that brings the tabletop game to life in all its grimdark splendor. Space Marine 2 will deeply resonate with Warhammer 40,000 fans, yet it also has enough about it to thrill those who can't tell their Horus Heresy from their Macharian Crusade. The wait might've been long, but it was well worth it.

By now, those who have played Supermassive's interactive horror "movies" since 2015 know what they're getting with The Casting of Frank Stone. If you only want to play the next great version of that formula, this isn't it. But for Dead By Daylight fans looking to fill out their lore bibles, prospective fans looking for an introduction to the multiplayer game, or horror obsessives who are ready to carve pumpkins and dive into a pile of crispy orange leaves, The Casting of Frank Stone is a flawed but fun horror romp just in time for spooky season, the likes of which Supermassive and I may be destined to experience together forever.

Whether you liked these games originally or are just playing them now, Marvel Vs. Capcom Fighting Collection is a great place to experience them. Put another way, it's going to take you for a ride.

The simply titled Astro Bot is meant to be the cute robot's first significant foray into video games following a 2018 VR exclusive that earned praise but was stuck in its headset-only bubble, and a 2020 pack-in tech demo that hinted at more to come. The beauty of the game, as suggested by its title, is that even players returning for their third Astro adventure will find hours upon hours of new experiences, collectively and magnificently presented as a parade of joyous sights, sounds, and adventures. This is a grand re-opening for Astro Bot, and it surely marks the start of what is destined to be a beloved series shooting for the moon.

The War Within marks not only the start of The Worldsoul Saga, but the beginning of what seems like a new era of WoW. All the old staples--Mythic+ dungeons, raids, PvP, world quests-- are still there, but the game's newfound focus on letting you play how you want to play, rather than forcing you to play a certain way, makes it a far more enjoyable experience. Blizzard is finally meeting players where they are, not where it wants them to be, and that means whether you like to focus on one character or play many--solo or with a guild--there is something here for you. The War Within is WoW at its most approachable, and it's all the better for it.

There are so many little moments in Outlaws that I love. However, the unexciting space combat and unrewarding syndicate-relationship tracker don't add anything meaningful to the experience. And neither does Kay, who feels like a protagonist without a meaty narrative arc. The game has some successes when it comes to gunslinging or sneaking--both of which are aided by a superb soundtrack and incredible sound design--but Outlaws does too much of what it does poorly, and too little of what it does well.

There is a game here for someone willing to lower their standards enough, but trust me when I say there are hundreds of better RPGs for you to spend your time on. You do not need to waste it searching for a few nuggets buried here.

It's almost mysterious to me how I'm moved to invest hundreds of hours into this series every year despite it reliably offering the same problems--even if the specifics change, the philosophy remains. Off the field, Madden 25 is mostly checking boxes, and it stings to see my favorite sport not receive a video game companion similar in its grandeur. But the on-field gameplay is paramount and, here, very strong. I don't lose sight of that. This makes Madden 25 enjoyable despite its plethora of locker-room issues. I've played over 30 hours of Madden 25 so far, and I will play hundreds more before next August, at which point I will get the newest Madden and undoubtedly do it all over again. In the end, maybe that's the real Madden Curse.

A lack of content isn't an issue here as it might have been with Suspicious Developments first breakout hit, Gunpoint. Tactical Breach Wizards is the largest and most ambitious game the studio has worked on yet, and the extra time it took to get here has certainly not been wasted. It presents familiar tropes of the tactical turn-based genre and removes a lot of the friction that acts as a barrier to entry, without sacrificing the fundamental thrill of formulating a perfect turn and executing it. Coupled with an incredibly personable cast that is brought to life through witty and hilariously written dialogue, and you'll find it hard to resist the urge to breach into battle just one more time after each well-deserved victory.