At the end of the day, your mileage with Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO will vary. I found myself bored as often as I was excited and frustrated as often as I was exhilarated. For fans who simply want to relive the glory of their childhood with Budokai Tenkaichi, there might be enough here to draw them in. For folks looking for a continuation of the depth that FighterZ added or the beat-em-up fun of a Kakarot or Xenoverse style game, I do not see Sparking! ZERO scratching that itch for you.

The Land of the Magnates borrows from so many games that you can’t accuse it of being a clone of anything. On the one hand, it makes it feel like innumerable other 2.5D platformers. But on the other, it means that you can’t go the lazy route and say it’s imitating Prince of Persia. That’s hardly a ringing endorsement, but you could probably do a lot worse.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a love letter to Ace Attorney fans. You can unlock different concept art from each game with every accolade completed. You are also treated to some orchestrated piece not released in the US. This game is both great for returning fans and newcomers to the series. It will make you want to scream HOLD IT and OBJECTION during every twist and turn. The humor and the vast array of emotions you’ll truly gives this game its day in court.

Even if I don’t enjoy God of War Ragnarök’s cutscenes, having this second chance to play the game now that it’s out on PC has at least made me realize that the newer version of Kratos isn’t as much of a reboot as I previously thought. I wouldn’t say I love the new games as much as I did the originals, and I definitely would’ve enjoyed this game more if it felt a little more focused on action and less on dialogue and characters, but God of War Ragnarök is, at the end of the day, a pretty good continuation of Kratos’ saga (and one that runs very well on PC).

I cannot recommend this enough to fans of the series and anybody new curious about jumping into Silent Hill as a series for the first time with this remake of Silent Hill 2. This is an absolute must play for 2024.

There’s a lot to enjoy about The Plucky Squire. It really is a gorgeous game, the art design is stellar, the voiceover work for the narrator is well done, and again it just nails the storybook presentation so well. While the puzzles aren’t particularly hard, they are inventive, making use of the 2D to 3D space extremely well. There’s certainly room for improvement in The Plucky Squire, but at the same time I think it’s a game worth checking out when you get the chance.

As criticisms go, that’s hardly a terrible one: saying that a game gives you freedom to play it as you want to is probably something more games should aspire to. That The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom gives you all that freedom without ever feeling unfocused or overwhelming is evidence that it lives up to its iconic lineage.

Metal: Hellsinger VR is another solid rhythm game for VR headsets, while also being a solid VR re-release of a previously flat title. If you had no interest in Metal: Hellsinger originally, there is nothing here that will sell you to check out the VR version, but if you were a fan of the flat release and have the hardware to check this new version out, I would strongly recommend it.

The story is well-told, with a tight cast of memorable characters that help deliver the tale really well, in addition to limited animation during scenes to keep you entertained, and a hefty payoff with an epilogue chapter that helps tie everything up neatly. I’d certainly be down to check out more games in the series, whether that’s the older ports on Switch Online, or possible future entries down the line. If you get a chance to check out Emio, whether you’re into visual novels or not, I think you’ll enjoy your time with it.

Nothing in Elsie makes it seem very original. It’s borrowing heavily from games that are decades-old without putting any real spin on any of it. If you just miss Mega Man and want a slightly more modern take on that game, you’ll get that here, but you won’t see anything new.

Honestly, it’s kind of a relief that Epic Mickey: Rebrushed turned out so well. It’s not uncommon to have fond memories of an older game that turned out to wildly inaccurate in terms of remembering how good that older game actually was, so playing a remake like this, that shows Epic Mickey was just as fun as I remember it (even if it has an obvious new coat of paint), brings some a welcome feeling. Will Epic Mickey: Rebrushed garner the same kind of cult following that the Wii game got? Probably not – but hopefully that’s because being on more platforms allows more people to play this delightful game.

Overall I’d reckon that Final Fantasy XVI’s PC port IS a good one, albeit with the caveats that it has some beefy requirements to run at higher frame rates and resolutions. It’s a phenomenal game that is now available to a wider audience, so I’d highly recommend checking it out if you’ve got the hardware. Otherwise, if you’re on a bit older hardware (such as myself) from early 2020 or before, I’d definitely recommend holding off and getting upgrades first, or deal with reduced visual quality, resolution, and framerates. I for one wouldn’t want to buy the game to have to play at 720p for 30fps in 2024. Final Fantasy XVI is definitely a great game and a great port if you’ve got the hardware to run it, though I do wish it ran better on slightly older hardware.

I absolutely enjoyed my time with Ara: History Untold, and I think anyone that’s enjoyed a round or two of the Civilization series will feel right at home with this. It also has a solid tutorial to help on-board new players, so even if you’ve never touched a 4X game before, I think you’ll find that Ara is friendly towards new players too. There’s a ton of different ways to build out your empires, and the use of a Prestige system as an option to victory, wherein you gain points for various actions taken, is a solid way of deciding a winner even if you have multiple nations still standing at the end of a game. Definitely check Ara: History Untold out when it launches this week, you won’t be disappointed.

It would be nice if there was more content (and you have to be okay with a little straying from the source material), but as it stands, the game is a chaotic – if all-too-brief – good time.

If you’re after a solid stealth game it delivers, provided you can live with feeling like the game could’ve been a little bit more.

As someone who had plenty of experience with M.A.M.E. (that’s Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator to you young’uns!) has a MiSTer, the Antstream service isn’t something I absolutely need. However if you are not interested in performing questionable legal activities, researching front ends…or gasp run command line (it’s been a while since I’ve used MAME, ok). Antstream is a perfectly fine off-the-shelf product to sate your retrogaming needs. The platform definitely has plenty of room for growth and improvements…perhaps after my year is up, I might revisit the platform to see if I’ll renew for another year or permanently add it to my PlayStation library.

If you’re looking for a new Soulslike experience and willing to tolerate some notable negatives all the while experiencing a very unique setting, it’s a decent time. It’s a bit difficult to recommend to a more casual audience, but if you’re seeking a challenge, albeit not necessarily intentionally, Enotria is a decent time. Enotria: The Last Song has its share of issues, but I’d wager it’s a great first step for Jyamma Games in this style, and I can only imagine they’ll make something even better with the next release.

Everything about Gori: Cuddly Carnage is simply amazing. It delivers absurd, over-the-top action in a package that’s tailor-made for anyone who holds a soft spot for ‘00s gaming, and as far as I’m concerned it’s one of the best games of the year so far.

My concern overall is, will the Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster do well enough to ever help justify a new game? The fans are out there, but after part 4, and a canceled sequel, I would remain cautiously optimistic. This is still a remaster that respects its roots in most ways as something that is a product of its time. If you can get past the time management frustrations and balance issues, and make sure to use all your save options, it’s still a bloody and entertaining experience worth the price of admission.

STARWAVE is not necessarily a game I see myself spending a ton of time on in a single sitting, but that is how I feel about all of the rhythm games on VR. I enjoy hopping on, playing a few songs, and then moving on to something else. The daily challenge mode is a fun way to get me engaged with the game each day, with enough time to enjoy myself but not so much that it takes up the entirety of my very limited VR playtime in a given day. With continued support and some additional songs down the road, I can see myself returning to STARWAVE again and again as time goes on, even after unlocking all of the constellations.

As a complete package, Castlevania Dominus Collection is definitely worth playing. I’ve played on both PC and Switch without any noticeable issues, and I’d imagine most platforms will fare the same. Switch may win out a bit due to the option to actually use touchscreen controls, but I wouldn’t call it a requirement to enjoy these games. All three of the original DS games hold up extremely well, and M2’s track record with excellent classic ports remains intact here. Absolutely pick this up when you get a chance, you won’t be disappointed.

Overall this compilation is a fantastic package, it’s really hard to find flaws in it. Although I did wish in offline mode there was a way to quickly reset the game instead of having to go back to the game selection to restart. It’s certainly a minor nitpick. With a Capcom Fighting Collection 2 already set for 2025, let’s hope we’ll get other Quality of Life changes and this might be a pipedream, but perhaps Capcom can take a page out of Jackbox’s playbook and put out a single launcher for their various collections. I mean the company sure has a lot of retro compilations (I’m counting 3, Arcade Stadium, Fighting Collection and Beat’em Up Bundle).

It really pains me to say that Akimbot is as bad as it is. It started out with so much promise, and it drew from some of the best influences imaginable. Unfortunately, as this end result shows time and again, good influences don’t automatically lead to good outcomes, and Akimbot is pretty far from anything that could be called a good outcome.

Overall I think Persona 3 Reload: Expansion Pass – Episode Aigis is a great follow up to Persona 3’s story, albeit with some minor caveats that will affect each player differently. The new music is great, the new “dungeon” backgrounds are just as fantastic as the remade Tartarus in Persona 3 Reload, and as expected the voice cast is just as excellent. Metis is a great addition to the party, even if she’s effectively the gap closer between your lower-tier abilities against enemies that are scaled a bit above you. I think my main gripes are just quality of life things not found out of Steam as a PC player for this review, and that the mall significantly hits my framerate (EXCLUSIVELY in the DLC I might add). The expansion pass costs $35, which is a big turn off for some people I’ve noticed, but Episode Aigis is very much a standalone experience worth the money. It offers another multiple dozen hours of gameplay and story with all the core draws of Persona 3 Reload, so if you’re a fan of the base game I highly recommend it.

Mika and The Witch’s Mountain is pleasant enough that you probably won’t hate it, but it’s far from being a must-play. [Early Access Provisional Score = 65]

If you enjoy platformers and you have an inkling of interest in learning more about Japan, BAKERU might be the perfect package for you

If you’re a diehard racing game fan who prefers racing against yourself rather than others, that may put the game squarely on your radar, but if the allure of racing games is facing off against other people – be they bots or a Player Two – then this game may leave a lot to be desired.

It’s a strange game that’s probably not going to appeal to everyone’s sensibilities – but if it appeals to your sensibilities and sense of humour, there’s a good chance it might be your game of the year.