Overall I’ve found The Expanse: A Telltale Series to be a solid attempt to re-establish Telltale as the king of adventure games once again. They were able to consistently hit their release deadlines for each episode, and with all now available, it’s the perfect time to check this one out. If you’ve ever had any affinity for the show, or Telltale’s prior efforts, you’ll likely find something to enjoy here.

The Witch of Fern Island is still in Early Access, so it’s totally possible that the developers will build on what’s here and turn the game into something worth playing. But that’s certainly not how I’d describe the game at this point in time, so until and unless it gets there, it’s really not worth your money.

Overall, I’d say The Crew Motorfest is a big step up from the prior games in the series, and gives some hope for additional variety in open world racers in the future. Granted, it sticks pretty close to the same formula that Forza Horizon has, but there’s enough differences between the two to make this still feel like a worthwhile use of your time. It’s a gorgeous game in motion as well, which doesn’t hurt. As far as complaints go, mine are pretty minor, in that I don’t care for the limited fast travel system that’s only tied to the intro areas for each Playlist, and I wish the server didn’t time out as quickly as it does when you go idle. Outside of that, I’ve really dug Ubisoft’s latest attempt at an open-world racer, and I think you will too.

Strangely enough, the last game I played from Lightwood Games was also a logic-based puzzle game – though in that case, my complaint was that the game was too easy, and I finished all the puzzles the game had to offer in less than a hour. I certainly didn’t finish Word Web by POWGI in less than a hour – but finishing the puzzles dragged on so much, it made me want to quit the game and give it up after just a few of its 120 puzzles. Hopefully next time out, Lightwood can try a word game that’s not also a logic game, because the results so far aren’t great.

Not that being more emotional and being fun are mutually exclusive – as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart proves time and again. As the series enters into its third (!!!) decade, this PC port is a fine way to show that the Ratchet and Clank are still compelling characters, and even if there are a few points where it feels like the game could use a little more polish in terms of performance, they can’t take away the fact that Rift Apart is an outstanding game.

The umbrella that’s also a gun concept does a great job of carrying the game along, making it a joy to play and navigate across the 6ish hours or so it’ll take most to complete the game. The story is weird and interesting enough to also keep you entertained, which certainly helps make Gunbrella feel fresh despite there being a number of retro-themed action-platformers on the market today. I’d highly recommend checking out Gunbrella when you get a chance, you won’t be disappointed.

It’s an enjoyably challenging platformer that’s sure to scratch any Mega Man or roguelike itches you have. Factor in Maker Mode, and you’ve got a recipe for a platformer that’s a huge – and hugely fun – time sink.

Despite the inevitable comparisons, Round8’s title stands on its own and can fill the void for those always beseeching a new entry of Bloodborne or at least a port to different platforms. Krat in this current form is indeed horrifying and built off of the suffering of many, but man what I would pay to see the city in its prime. While I think I’m done with my playthrough, I believe a second playthrough will unlock many more insights to the world of the title and once I’ve recovered my nerves that might be something I will indeed do. Like many fairy tales and fables, I can expect Lies of P to be experienced for a long time to come.

I totally get the appeal of Super Dungeon Maker if you’re the kind of person who loves building their own game worlds. It never claims to be anything more than that, and there seems to be a solid community in place to help the game continue to grow. To me it feels like there’s still some work to be done on fleshing it out, but as it stands, there’s definitely some potential here.

I will be transparent and say that I have only spent about 5 hours with Firewall Ultra at the time of this writing, and have not had the ability to link up with friends or colleagues yet, so all of my time has been spent with random party members online. That 5 hours has been something of a chore though, and I was ready to step away within the very first hour of time with Firewall Ultra. As I said earlier, there is definitely something here, and an adjustment to environmental interaction, reloading, and the combat engagements itself could turn this around. Unfortunately, as it stands here now, I cannot truly recommend this as a VR game worth spending your time and money on, at least not yet.

Overall, Mortal Kombat 1 is a polished, beautiful work of art that is a remarkably innovative entry into the long running franchise. You can feel the love and care that went into recrafting existing characters in a way I never knew I would love.

Does all this add up to make Baldur’s Gate 3 the best game of the year? That’s hard to say at this stage, given the insane number of genuine GOTY contenders we’ve had so far this year – to say nothing of those that are still scheduled to arrive over the next few months. But notwithstanding all that, it’s clear that it’s certainly on the short-list as one of the top contenders.

The thing is, at least as far as the Switch version goes, you need to dig deep in order to see all that – and honestly, it’s hard to say that it’s worth it, all things considered. I’ve no doubt that Skabma – Snowfall is a very interesting, enjoyable game on systems that can handle it, but unfortunately the Switch isn’t one of those systems.

Year in and year out, its 3 yard gain on first down then a 10 yard sack on second down and we’re caught in 3rd and long. Just when we think EA is righting the ship on Madden, we get this lazy borderline rerelease of the previous year’s iteration. It’s clear the NFL doesn’t care about the quality of their games, as long as you’re not making “after the play hits” for which the Blitz franchise was famous. No one is holding the developers and publishers accountable anymore and the only way to see change is by voting with your wallet. Don’t buy this year’s release of Madden. Even if you didn’t grab Madden 23 last season, go pick it up used and update the in-game roster. EA should be embarrassed passing along Madden NFL 24 as a brand new release for $70. Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.

To be certain, it’s not going to make anyone forget Super Mario Galaxy. But if you’re after a game that captures the spirit of one of the best 3D platformers ever, then you owe it to yourself to give Pilfer: Story of Light a try.

There’s some good ideas in Tenebris Pictura, but, much like Pentadimensional’s other game, they’re buried by bigger ideas that are much, much worse.

It’s a thoroughly average 3D platformer that doesn’t do enough, good or bad, to be worth praising or condeming.

Red Dead Redemption was a great game when it came out in 2010, and this proves it’s still a great game in 2023. While some classics from previous generations feel dated, that’s certainly not the case here – and if you missed it (or weren’t around for it) thirteen years ago, now’s the time to finally play it. And if you did play it? Maybe it’s time to play it again.

ININ has done a fine job bringing these classics together. Even if the complete package offers nothing new outside of a game selection screen, these are all still pretty fun games. As before, 7 out of 10 games in this collection can be downloaded from from the eShop under the “Arcade Archives” line of games. Solitary Fighter, Darius II and Dinorex are Exclusive to this collection, but if those titles don’t appeal to you, then you aren’t missing anything by skipping this release. As for the overall presentation, not much has changed from the first TAITO Milestones, but since most of the games offered are much better this time, I can recommend this collection more than the first.

Starfield is, overall, a very good RPG from a studio known for making very good RPGs. Not the most surprising news I’m sure, but it’s nice to see that they’re able to break away from the Elder Scrolls and Fallout settings successfully, and I do feel like their take on space exploration is a breath of fresh air for this type of RPG experience. It’s a huge game overall, so if you’re the person that believes time played = value, you’ll be pretty happy with this one for sure, but at the same time if you’re worried about overall quality, I think you’ll still enjoy your time with Starfield. I look forward to playing a lot more of it over the next couple of months, attempting to see everything the game has to offer. So in short, check it out, it’s pretty darn good.

Honestly, even after writing all these words about Fort Solis, I still feel like I’ve only brushed the surface of why it’s such a terrible game. It may look nice, but there’s literally nothing of value here. It’s a waste of time, money, and hard drive space, and you’re better off forgetting its existence.

I’ve really been impressed with Sea of Stars overall. I think it delivers the total package when it comes to retro-infused RPG’s, and it feels pretty unique in a field that’s full of like-minded games. It also helps tremendously that a lot of folks will be able to try the game out for free via Game Pass or PlayStation Plus, but I’d honestly recommend it regardless, it’s well worth checking out.

Needless to say, nothing in Sephonie clicked with me. It doesn’t matter if a game brings a whole bunch of ideas to the table if it’s not able to pull any of them off, and judging by the evidence on offer here, that’s definitely the case for Sephonie.

Of course, the fact that Immortals of Aveum is a lot of fun to play will also make you want to invest your time (and money) in it. It may not be the most original game I’ve ever played, but when it’s this enjoyable, I’m okay with that.

I wanted to love this game, I really did. The team at Gunfire Games clearly poured a lot of love and lessons learned into this game, and they were kind enough to provide us with 3 codes for Remnant 2 so we could get effective co-op testing in. Unfortunately, a combination of some mechanics pulling the game down, as well as one of the biggest years for new releases EVER lead to Remnant 2 falling behind and getting a bit lost in the shuffle.

It really is a remarkable game, and in a year that’s been blessed with way more than its fair share of standout games, I’d put Viewfinder on the same level as any of them.

Quantum: Recharged is just an OK addition to the series and while not based on a very well known property, it’s an interesting game once you get the hang of it. This new release is not terrible by any means, but if you happen to pass this one by, you aren’t really missing much. I went back to play the original a little bit while researching since I knew almost nothing about it and I must say, I had more fun playing the Recharged version. Personally, I feel there are many other classic games out there that Atari could be “Recharging” and Quantum was not on my radar. It might be time to slow down a bit and focus on bringing out better titles for the series.

Overall, though, I can’t complain too much about a game that I had so much fun with. It may not be aimed at Dragon Quest diehards, but if you’ve ever wanted to get into the series, Dragon Quest Treasures is a great place to start.