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.

Country Tales isn’t going to light the world on fire — and at $10, it’s more than a little overpriced — but if you’re looking for an easygoing time-waster, it does the trick.

Ultra Hat Dimension is a throwback in the best sense of the word, a retro-infused puzzler that fully understands the era it’s trying to mimic. If you’re looking for a game that’s weird — but also fun — as heck, this will most definitely do the trick.

Awesome Pea 2 works just as intended — apart from that weird thing about saving progress — and it does so in a way that makes it genuinely enjoyable. There are certainly tonnes and tonnes of other retro-y platformers to choose from, but this one does enough right that you certainly couldn’t go wrong in playing it.

Focusing on combat in a game like Metro 2033 is kind of missing the point. You’re here to survive to see the next day, not go in with guns blazing and rack up body counts. It’s a dark, tension-filled experience, and it’s well worth checking out on the Switch if you haven’t yet had a chance to play it.

The game touts itself as a bite-size ‘pick-up & play’ action title and by all counts it absolutely delivers on that promise, however once you’ve done everything there’s no real reason to go back…yes the title does unlock a hardcore difficulty level which you must get through the game with only 1 heart, but the effort required will probably not reap a bountiful reward. Nonetheless, the title is worth a taste, and could absolutely be a comfort meal.

As far as DLC goes, this initial offering for Cadence of Hyrule does feel a little light, mostly because there are only two characters that really brought anything new to the table for me. Thankfully both of those characters are pretty great and provide new ways and mechanics to play through the story or dungeon mode.

Super Soccer Blast isn’t a particularly deep game. Notwithstanding the existence of a player/team editor, you can’t really control that much. You don’t get to swap in new players (either during or between games) and you can’t change your tactics or formation. What you see what you start up the game is what you get. But that’s what makes Super Soccer Blast so refreshing. It knows what it wants to be — a slightly more modern-looking version of a ‘90s-era soccer game — and it gives players just that.

The existence of Fall Guys is a boon for those who wish to partake in the battle royale craze, but lack the dexterity and fast reflexes a shooter requires. The highs are high and the lows are low. Games flow pretty quickly and there’s definitely a playerbase for the title for now. Let’s hope Mediatonic will develop more features such as new events, the ability to create private lobbies, crossplay and make it available on platforms it didn’t launch on. If this first week is any indication, we’re in for a lot of Fall Guys this Fall, guys!

Where Angels Cry is just kind of there, existing without really doing anything, taking up space on your SD card. It’s not aggressively bad, so you could do far worse, I guess, but I don’t know why anyone would want to play it when they could play literally anything else.

It’s really all kind of shame that Those Who Remain is so flawed, because it’s got such a good idea at its core. In better hands, this probably could’ve been a much better game, but as it stands you’re safe avoiding it entirely.

Get 10 Quest may look like a clone of all kinds of mobile games, but once you dig into it you’ll find a lot more variety. It makes for an addictive experience, and it’s well worth investigating if you’re in the mood for a pleasant little puzzle game.

I definitely think Skater XL is worth checking out, more so on the PC for the mod side of things than the console version at the moment. But if you’re not opposed to challenging yourself and seeking out your own fun with a responsive, unique physics-based control system, then I think you’ll still get some enjoyment with the current release of the game. Ideally, future updates will flesh out the experience even more, and based on the early access process prior to release, it does seem as if developer Easy Day Studios is committed to Skater XL for the long haul.

Because the game is such a chore from beginning to end and all points in between, it feels more like you’re trapped in a world that should be a whole lot more fun than it is. Summer in Mara will try to suck you in with promises of being all charming and delightful, but all it takes is a few minutes (and a few hours after that) to reveal just how empty those promises are.

I’ll freely admit that my expectations may have been a tad high, and that for someone who’s far more into politics than is healthy, it would’ve been hard for The Political Machine 2020 to compare to the real thing. But this game barely even tries. Rather than offering players a chance to play a real-life real-time strategy game, it reduces politics and campaigns to nothing more than clicking a few random icons for points and cash, and it’s impossible to see how that could possibly be seen as a good thing.

Beyond Blue isn’t going to make you forget The Last of Us II or Ghosts of Tsushima or any of the year’s other big hitters. But it’s also not about to make you remember all the other terrible stuff happening in the world (assuming this game doesn’t make you think about all the terrible stuff happening in the oceans). At a time when most of us need all the relaxation we can get, I can’t think of a game that’s any more perfect than Beyond Blue.

It might just be the best of the current batch of Lovecraftian games. While a lot of them have visual horrors, few of them are scary. By contrast, Omen Exitio: Plague only has a few sketched drawings here and there, but it captures the creepiness of its influence spine-tinglingly well.