Given that RogueCube is around $5, it’s hardly going to break the bank for anyone, and I’ve certainly played much, much worse games than this one. Still, it would be nice if the game had any personality to speak of, and without that, it’s hard to muster up strong feelings towards the game one way or another.

Raji: An Ancient Epic is a gorgeous game, and it would be nice to be able to appreciate everything about it. As it stands, though, it’s the equivalent of the prettiest box you’ve ever seen containing an utterly forgettable present.

Demon’s Tier+ is a solid twin-stick shooter, and even if I wouldn’t say that it’s elevated Cowcat to the point where you can say that they’re making essential games, at the very least they’re making good games.

As criticisms go, “it was too addictive and I finished it in a few hours” isn’t exactly the worst thing you can say about a game. In fact, as someone who prefers quality over quantity, I’d much rather leave a game wanting much, much more — which was exactly the case with One Line Coloring. There are much worse ways to spend part of an afternoon.

It’s one of the better roguelikes out there, and makes for a great action-adventure in general, with an engaging story, excellent writing, beautiful music, and some amazing art to go along with it.

If Hotshot Racing were just a little more balanced, it would’ve been something special, but as it stands, it feels more like a missed opportunity.

While some of the early puzzles are pretty easy to solve, the further in you get, the more you need to be able to think in terms of 3D space, since you can shift gravity to get a different perspective on everything. As someone who’s terrible at spatial reasoning puzzles, I’m not going to lie: there were times when I felt like my brain was pushed to the breaking point. Even so, it still felt like there was a pretty sizable discrepancy between what Manifold Garden achieves artistically, and what it achieves as a game. The latter is pretty forgettable, whereas the former occasionally borders on breathtaking. I leave it up to you how much weight you place on those two halves, but for me, it added up to a somewhat uneven whole.

When Lonely Mountains: Downhill works, it works pretty well. It’s far from perfect, but if you want a game that captures the zen of cycling, it mostly does a decent job of that.

Tangle Tower is built around an excellent whodunit mystery that moves along at just the right pace. There’s a great balance of plot, puzzle, and humour, and it does a good job of keeping you invested all the way to the very end. In this respect, you could say that the game carries on in the traditions of the very best adventure games from a few decades ago — but it manages to do so in a way that feels undeniably fresh.

As someone who plays nearly all superhero games, watches all the movies, and still reads the comics, I can’t help but be let down by the Avengers. Square Enix was in development way too long to turn out something that’s just fine and I didn’t even get into all the bugs and glitches that this launched with. I am optimistic though, that this game will grow if the community continues to support it. Avengers is meant to be a “games as a service” after all and once we start seeing some DLC and the type of support that Square Enix gives we can get a better idea how this franchise will grow. If you’ve played all of the Arkham games, Ultimate Alliance games, and Insomniac’s Spider-Man, you really have no other choice for a Marvel experience, but if you haven’t I would sadly recommend any of those other games over this.

Obviously, seeing as this is a visual novel, that’s secondary to whether the story itself is any good. And on that front, Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen really demands that you be invested not just in the 30+ hours of story here, but also the 80+ hours that have come before it (er, after it?) in Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth. That’s a big commitment to make, and I’d be lying if I said I thought the time investment was worth it, but if you’ve come this far with Utawarerumono and need to see it through, Prelude to the Fallen is probably a must-buy.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 is easily one of the best remasters available on the market today and does an excellent job of retaining the spirit and feel of the PlayStation era classics while adding on new features, music, and other options to propel these two entries into the modern era. The gameplay is still timeless and is sure to capture the attention of a whole new era of skateboarding fans that might not have grown up on the Tony Hawk series to begin with. Here’s hoping Activision and Vicarious Visions have plans for additional releases, as there are still more excellent entries in the franchise that are worth revisiting, especially if done so with the level of care and attention to detail that is present here.

Sure, this is the first time they’ve graced a Nintendo platform, but that only means that if you’re in that elusive “Nintendo-only gamer who likes shooters” demographic, you owe it to yourself to pick up the Borderlands Legendary Collection. For everyone else, though, it’s harder to see the value proposition. Pick it up if you want these games on the go, but be aware that you’ve had up to ten years to play some of these games on other platforms, and this doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

I wouldn’t say that A Summer with the Shiba Inu is too complicated to understand by any means, but it’s definitely not as lighthearted and silly as you might expect from a game where dogs dress and act like people. But complexity isn’t a bad thing, and neither is A Summer with the Shiba Inu. It may sound like a joke at first, but if you’re a fan of visual novels, you’ll find that it’s far better than it has any right to be.

As it stands, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered is a tough game to suggest for everyone. Playing through the game alone works perfectly fine, you’ll still get a pretty good experience provided you are willing to put up with the repetitive nature of the action combat and revisiting dungeons over and over. And the online multiplayer component works well too, I had no real issues connecting with other players, no problems with lag or disconnects. But the core co-op experience feels decidedly empty and does a poor job of echoing back to the experience I had with the original game, so much so that I leave the game a tad disappointed overall.

I know I’ve probably done a horrible job of capturing what makes Indivisible so wonderful, but you’ve got to believe me: it really is a fantastic game. If I can love it despite it featuring a whole bunch of elements I usually dislike, I think that speaks to just how good it is — and it means that you already are a fan of anime-inspired graphics, metroidvania platforming, or turn-based combat, then you should find even more to enjoy here.

Jisei: The First Case doesn’t do a whole lot, even by the standards of visual novels, but what’s here is done very well. Even if you aren’t a fan of visual novels, it’s different enough that it might just be worth your time.

It’s certainly one of the more memorable video game experiences this year, and if you have any love for classic RPG’s in general, it should be right up your alley.

Black Rainbow is a deeply, deeply stupid game. If someone told me that the game was made by throwing a bunch of random point & click adventure tropes into some kind of AI adventure game generator, I would have no problem believing that. It’s just that lousy on every level. But at least it’s short, and at least it didn’t put me to sleep, right? Black Rainbow could always have been worse. Not much worse, though. There’s a whole lot of genuinely bad elements here mixed in with a couple of head-scratching decisions, and they add up to make a game you simply shouldn’t play.

Reed 2 is pretty much exactly the same as the first game. However you felt about Reed Remastered — whether it’s love, hate, or complete and utter indifference — will be exactly how you feel about this one, too.

Simply being pretty and functional isn’t enough to make Windbound any more interesting. It’s built around a survival gameplay loop that’s not particularly deep or fun. It may be great if you enjoy sailing, but beyond that, there’s not a whole lot here.

All in all Madden NFL 21 is a major case of deja vu. Is it bad? Not in the least. Is Madden NFL 21 a great advancement in football simulation that some might be looking for? Not in the least as well. The hope for me is that the next gen versions (which is included with the purchase of this years’ release for current gen versions) will be a significant upgrade and not just a higher res version with faster loading times. So this is one of the more difficult scores I’ve had to give a sports title. On one hand you get to versions of Madden NFL 21 (current gen/next gen) and it’s a great football release. On the other hand if you play/buy Madden every year I find it hard to fully endorse buying this year’s release based on just how similar it is to Madden 20.

Really, whether you should spend your money on this game comes down to whether you have $5 or so burning a hole in your pocket, how much you want to play a Mega Man clone, and if you feel like spending 30 minutes or so on an easy Platinum. If your answers to those questions are yes, very much, and yes, then Clash Force might just be worth checking out.

No Straight Roads is like an indie band that if given a chance, you’ll end up being a fan for life. It’s not perfect, but there’s enough there to ensure you have a good time. It certainly stands out in a crowd of titles where colors are muted and personalities are lacking. In a battle of Rock vs EDM, I’ll side with rock every time!

Mortal Shell is a true love letter to Dark Souls and feels like a distilled version of the From Software masterpiece. Unique mechanics serve to separate it a bit and enhance the experience, but there is nothing here that will sell a person that just downright dislikes Souls games. Available for a modest $30, though, I strongly recommend it to any Souls fans or anyone who has ever been interested but hesitant to pull the trigger.

I usually grow tired of Metroidvanias pretty quickly, but Carrion had me hooked. There’s something to be said for putting players in the metaphorical shoes of a literal bloodthirsty monster — and that something is: it’s super fun.

I’m just judging Alicization Lycoris based on what’s present in the game, it’s hard to see it as much more than a glitchy, boring mess that doesn’t do anything that you can’t get from other, significantly better games.

We’ve waited 25 years for a proper Battletoads sequel, and Rare finally delivered. It’s art style may put off some players in the long run, but the overall solid game play can hook you quickly. If you can overlook the slightly strange control combos, you will have fun playing through this alone or with friends with local co-op. It definitely won’t appeal to everyone, but I can recommend giving this one a try, even if it’s through Xbox Game Pass. Once you play it for yourself, you are likely to see it’s charm.