As stunning as it is, Hyper Light Drifter's greatest triumph isn't in the story that it tells, but in the stories that it doesn't. I don't know this place's entire history, but its desolate elegance inspires me to fill in the gaps myself. Such is the power of artistry this rich and thoughtful.

Slain is easily one of the best-looking 2D side-scrollers I’ve ever seen, but the monotonous gameplay fails to match up. The combat system is too repetitive and, in some cases, broken, making boss battles a total drag. Slain’s stunning Gothic aesthetic is wasted on an otherwise mediocre game.

When Into the Stars hits its stride and you feel like Admiral Adama leading a desperate race to save humanity, it's a tense and rewarding thrill. Unfortunately, combat never matches the tension of survival, as the cruelty of the game's RNG system can bring your breakneck race to the finish line to a screeching halt.

There are several possible endings to Dark Souls III, and although most are anticlimactic, they drive home the loneliness of the paths we took. The old lords have abandoned their posts, and in the hunt to usurp them, we descend into those dark valleys, and climb those imposing peaks. This is the essence of Dark Souls III: periods of doubt, followed by great reward. The journey may be rocky, but there's a throne waiting at the end.

Much like From Software's earlier entries, Dark Souls III obscures its plot beneath its gameplay elements--the story is more concerned with tone than exposition. But what plot there is asks important questions: why do we place our idols in such high regard? How did they become our legends? The Lords of Cinder are imposing figures in Dark Souls III, and their power is attractive to pawns like us. But the end of their road is a lonely one--was that destination worth the sacrifice it took to get there?

This is the essence of Dark Souls III: periods of doubt, followed by great reward. The journey may be rocky, but there's a throne waiting at the end.

Black Desert Online will attain greatness when it can provide good answers to those and other questions. Yet even now, it's hard not to heed it's call, which it sounds out the moment you enter its robust, genre-best character creator. I imagine that it will be even harder to tear myself away when player-versus-player siege wars are in full swing.

Getting to the end of Quantum Break can be an interesting ride at times, but no matter how impressive the combat is, or how great the game looks, there's no getting around the fact that it's driven by a story with limited appeal and hindered by disappointing design decisions.

Lucky's Tale seems like it would be a good fit for someone who doesn't normally play games and has mild curiosity in VR. Experienced players will certainly appreciate the great controls, but that's it. It's hard to get upset about a game that's technically free, but it's worth acknowledging that Lucky's Tale is too basic to get excited about, and not inventive enough to communicate the potential of VR.

Despite a few issues, Dirt Rally is a triumphant return to form for Codemasters. The PS4 version arrives as a slightly more fleshed-out package at release and its technical performance is admirable. It's still mightily difficult, but if you're a rally enthusiast or even just have a passing interest in a challenging racing game, you can’t go wrong with Dirt Rally.

For racers who live for direct competition, the time trial focus of TM might be too off-putting. Otherwise, this is simply one of the most entertaining arcade racers on the market for both experienced and more casual gamers.

Trackmania Turbo really isn’t much different than the rest of the series. It looks better and offers console players a chance to get in on the action, something not seen since the Wii version, but is largely the same game it’s always been. For racers who live for direct competition, the time trial focus of TM might be too off-putting. Otherwise, this is simply one of the most entertaining arcade racers on the market for both experienced and more casual gamers.

The game constantly lets you know where you stand and frequently restarting the race entirely after a mishap is a common, and necessary, tactic to stay on top. The ghostly nature of multiplayer manages to alleviate any frustration from vehicle collisions while still maintaining a constant sense of competition.

Though I did eventually grow bored of its puzzles, I never tired of Samorost 3's world. Added mechanical depth and variety would have certainly made the game richer, but every subtle visual detail, every lingering musical note, every delightful interaction coalesces into a truly special world that makes Samorost 3 worthwhile nonetheless.

Adr1ft has an emotional story hiding below its surface. But that surface is coated in laborious movement, forced survival mechanics, and an obtrusive user interface.

While it's not a complete waste, Mercenaries is a disappointment, and it left me second-guessing my allies in war.

Despite its mobile game roots, the world of Republique is meant to immerse, to beckon the player's curiosity, and to involve them enough in the city-state's ins and outs enough to get Hope out of danger. In transitioning to consoles, the game remains largely successful at that.

Moon Hunters doesn't give you the time to truly nestle into its world in one sitting, relying instead on the idea that they’ll keep coming back to uncover more and more with each successive playthrough. I wish I could say that at some point it all started to come together for me, but it didn't. It never felt like I was getting enough out of those playthroughs to make them truly worthwhile.

Assessed solely as a Zelda game, Hyrule Warriors probably isn’t good enough to lure in non-Dynasty Warriors fans, but it is passable enough to offer Musou lovers something different to play between their usual battles for dynastic superiority.

With the addition of Snowfall on top of the After Dark expansion released last fall, Cities: Skylines is starting to take shape as an expansive city-building franchise that offers something for any wannabe mayor. One caveat here is that you don’t really get a tremendous amount of content, and that what's present is pretty much relegated in specific maps, leaving the impact of this expansion on the overall game fairly minimal. That said, the winter wonderland atmosphere does freshen up the visuals so even while this expansion is not essential, spending a little time in a virtual snow globe city remains awfully appealing.

Some issues drag everything down, particularly the lack of intuitive feedback, and the barebones tutorials, and a dry career mode, but EA Sports UFC 2 is a welcome improvement on its predecessor that shows this series is going in the right direction. It’s just not a number one contender quite yet.

Frequently magnificent to look at, delicately designed, and rewarding for players across all skill levels, it’s the Pokemon fighting game deserving of a 20-year wait.

Some of Shardlight’s ideas, like the eccentric and sinister Aristocrats, offer something original and enjoyable within a familiar context. With its refreshing take on an oligarchy and subtle religious commentary involving ravens, Shardlight has potential to be something a lot more profound and thrilling. Instead, it's a typical adventure game with an overly familiar premise.

There's no finesse here, no style, and all too few moments where it actually resembles the source material it's trying to represent. The sport of lacrosse may be growing in popularity by the year, but it still lacks a proper video game representative.

Grinding through side missions forces you to engage The Division as a multifaceted open world game rather than just a shooter.

The Division's haunting recreation of midtown Manhattan might be the most impressive urban world outside of a Rockstar game.

No matter how frustrated I grew with the game's semi-indestructible enemies or its repetitive leveling structure, I absolutely could not stop playing. The world was too engrossing, the loot was too enticing, and the campaign was too gripping for me to simply walk away. I stopped caring about the game's flaws after the first few hours and proceeded to lose myself in obsessive stat optimization and cooperative gun battles. The problems (and frustration) never disappeared, but I was more than happy to play through the pain.

The PC version of Darius Burst allows you to recreate the arcade experience by stretching the game across two monitors, creating an ultra-wide image. Otherwise, you have to accept the game's letter-boxed format, which squeezes the ultra-wide image to fit your display, leaving black bars on the bottom and top of the screen. The one exception to this rule is Chronicle Saviour mode, which is tailored for a standard 16:9 screen. Though four-player local coop is available, the lack of online multiplayer is a disappointment, especially given that there are some missions that can only be cleared with four players.