Minishoot Adventures doesn’t break any new ground – even if all these genres aren’t usually together, they’ve all been around long enough that it all feels familiar. But that’s also Minishoot Adventures’ biggest strength: it all feels so familiar that you can’t help but feel like you’re playing an old classic. Time will tell, of course, whether the game has the anything close to the same kind of staying power as its influences, but based on what’s on offer here, I don’t know that I’d bet against it.

Even as someone who likes cats and puzzles – in other words, the target audience – I wouldn’t say I’d recommend Quilts and Cats of Calico unless you’re already a fan of the board game. No matter how cute and cuddly it may present itself as, the reality is much more demanding.

It may be a little short on originality, but all in all, it’s fun enough that it’s pretty easy to overlook that.

Even an occasionally stutter-y MLB The Show 24 is still a fairly solid baseball game, allowing you to dig as deeply into your franchise or Diamond Dynasty as you want. It’s undeniably a step backwards from last year’s version, but if you missed that edition or if you want updated rosters, then now is as good a time as any to check it out – as long as you’re okay with some less-than-stellar performance.

It makes for an interesting experience that probably won’t appeal to everyone – but it’s such an intriguing mixture that it feels like it deserves to be recognized, and it’s very easy to imagine someone absolutely loving Chasing the Unseen.

Pepper Grinder is an innovative platformer that should be on your backlog of games to play and is the perfect snack-sized experience to hold you over until your next big title. The fluid gameplay, stunning pixel art visuals and slapping soundtrack will make you hungry for more.

Does Princess Peach: Showtime! reach the level of, say, Super Mario Bros. Wonder? Probably not. But it’s certainly on par with any of the solo Luigi or Yoshi outings we’ve had. Here’s hoping that we don’t have to wait another two decades for Peach to get another starring role, because this one is well worth your time.

Overall, I believe that South Park: Snow Day is quite a great time. It offers good replay value with changes to the game once you complete the main campaign, encounters seem to change when you replay levels, and it just offers a lot of that fun roguelike/roguelite feel we’ve come to enjoy from other titles. I genuinely believe that for the price point, get your friends together and I think you’ll enjoy yourselves a ton. It’s a very well put together game, and I don’t believe we encountered any bugs in our playthrough other than maybe some collision issues in terrain. It’s just a very solid title, I don’t really have anything negative to say other than perhaps its length. Tyler and I managed to finish our first playthrough in roughly 4 to 5 hours, but again, it offers reasons to replay it, so I don’t particularly see that as an issue. Absolutely great release from the team at Question and from publisher THQ Nordic.

If you just focus on the fun and the joy of movement, there’s definitely something in Neon Tail worth experiencing. It may not be a GOTY contender, but as I said, if you like JSR and its ilk, you’ll want to check this out – just make sure you don’t get bogged down in its tutorial first.

I wouldn’t call MLB The Show 24 a disappointment overall, though. However, I also wouldn’t call it an unqualified success. It’s certainly better this year than it has been the past few years thanks to a few fun tweaks, but the bottom line is more or less the same as it is every year: if you skipped a year or two it’s a good place to jump back in; if you played last year’s edition your mileage will vary depending on how important it is to you that you get a new season of storylines, plus the ability to create a female player. Nothing in MLB The Show 24 achieves the same comparative highs of the franchise during its glory years from a decade ago, but it’s undeniably a very outing.

I’d wholeheartedly recommend checking out Dragon’s Dogma 2, whether it’s a game you’ve been anticipating for the past 12 years, or you’re just curious as to what all the hype is about. It’s an extremely fun RPG in a year that’s already seen a number of excellent RPG’s, which is really saying something when you look back at what’s come out since January. Definitely give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed.

Anyone wanting a semi-RPG, semi-hack and slash, semi-historical epic, semi-action adventure game will probably find something to enjoy here. I was just never able to find that spark within Rise of the Ronin, and am glad that I am finished with it now.

The game’s star, Cutter Slade, is a wise-cracking jerk who’s trying to get back to his daughter while also apparently being the prophecied Chosen One. That doesn’t make any of it good, but if you’re a connoisseur of that very specific genre, there’s a reasonably good chance you’re going to love Outcast – A New Beginning. But again, appeals to a certain kind of nostalgia aside, it’s worth emphasizing that Outcast – A New Beginning is not a good game. Its predecessor may have been groundbreaking for 3D open-world games, but we’re definitely not getting that this time around.

It’s such a great time to be a horror game fan and I feel going into Alone in the Dark with an open mind will help for a much more enjoyable experience. I think Jodie Comer and David Harbour did a great job in their respective roles and would love to see more content in the future. We have an IP that inspired so many games into a genre all its own and now it’s time for the master to become the student as it’s learned so much from other staples in horror like Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and The Suffering for some examples. Alone in the Dark doesn’t try to mimic any of these games by inspiring them to pay respect to what fans love.

I would recommend that you buy Highwater for the soundtrack alone if anything else. The moments I got to sail around and just listen and take in what was happening around me were fabulous. If you can get past the very sobering fact that we are currently dealing with a climate crisis in real-time, I would give this one a try.

If you don’t care about the various characters that make up The Lost Legends of Redwall: The Scout Anthology, you’re just left with a 3D platformer where you move at a crawl and you’re constantly getting stuck in frustrating stealth sections. That may be fine for fans, but for everyone else, I have to imagine it’ll be a non-starter.

The Switch has plenty of fishing games on offer, so there’s no need to waste your time with one as frustrating and dull as Pocket Fishing.

Unfortunately, I did not enjoy my time with qomp2. I found it to be boring, frustrating and not very fun overall. Granted there is NOTHING wrong with the game itself, as everything is presented as intended by the developers. It’s just one of those games that will not appeal to everyone. Some people out there may like it while others, like me, will find it repetitive and boring. If you are looking for a puzzle game, based off of a classic game that is challenging to the mind while offering a feeling of slight accomplishment, then you should give this one a try. Everyone else, I suggest you skip this one. qomp2 is not broken or bad, but definitely not for everyone.

You’ve got an interesting setting, a ton of material, all kinds of ideas, and a studio that clearly knows what it’s doing. That all of that got combined into something as forgettable as this is pretty disappointing, and it makes it awfully easy to skip past this game without a second thought.

Overall this is an excellent sequel to the series and great addition for new players and experienced ones. After an 11 year wait since the previous title it feels good to say that Shiren is back.

As I said up top, the whole game is something you’re either going to love or hate. Pacific Drive isn’t going to leave many (or any) people saying, “Enh, it was okay.” You might think it’s a brilliant take on the survival genre, or you might think it’s endless amounts of busy work without enough of a payoff, but either way, it’s guaranteed to get a reaction out of you.

I know I really hammered on the Showcase mode, but I really did enjoy my time with WWE 2K24 as a whole, I just expected better from that mode especially based on its history. Regardless of that mode this is the definitive wrestling video game of this year or even the past five years! The enormous roster and multitude of match types will leave you with many hours of dream matches or fantasy bookings. This is an absolute buy, so grab a copy and FINALLY finish your story. Also let’s go McIntyre!

Of course, I’m sure I’ll regret complimenting Golfinite a few months from now, when there are half a dozen different versions of the game clogging up the New Releases section. But for now, before we get the rush of “Ultra Deluxe Summertime Fun Editions” that are surely in its future, I’ll say that golf fans could do a lot worse than checking Golfinite out.

Block Buster Billy is definitely worth checking out if you like your puzzle games hard. It’ll challenge you and it’ll probably frustrate you, but you can rest assured that it’ll make you think.

There’s a great game somewhere inside Penny’s Big Breakaway, and it’s entirely possible we’ll see it one day, but right now, it’s just not there yet.

Overall, I think Promenade is a platforming adventure that’s definitely worth your time. It has a decent challenge curve, enough so that it might not be for everyone, but the difficulty never feels particularly unfair, and failing a tough segment generally only sets you back a handful of seconds. It’s also an absolutely beautiful looking game, well animated, and the various worlds and areas you uncover are often cleverly designed, especially compared to other likeminded platformers out there. I loved Promenade, and I think you will too, so check it out when you get a chance.

Ultimately, it’s hard to know who Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 4 is for and why it exists. If there are still Ty the Tasmanian fans pining away for the series’ PS2 glory days, they’re not likely to care much for this 2D take on a 3D series. And for everyone else, it’s hard to see why you’d want to play this instead of the many, many other 2D platformers out there that look nicer and have much more interesting gameplay.

Overall, I wouldn’t say Mario vs. Donkey Kong is a challenging game. It’s a nice puzzle and platformer that urges you to want to collect all the collectables in each stage for that gold star marking your completion. I would say it’s a good introduction to some puzzle games for younger audiences, or if you just want something to relax with and play, Nintendo has you covered with this release. It’s not the deepest game you’ll play, and it’s not super complex, but I find that it is a very nice game to sit down and just bang out a few levels. If you’re looking for something nice and simple, but yet something you can still have an enjoyable time with, definitely look in the direction of this new Mario vs. Donkey Kong game.