Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collections was a good attempt at preserving the past, but even with 14 games it’s filled with fluff and very little substance. If you are craving old-school Yu-Gi-Oh! and are a fan of the animated show, this collection is for you. I hope they will bring out a 2nd collection with the PlayStation family of games.

MLB The Show 25 on the Switch certainly won’t win any awards for looks, but if you’re hoping that the game gets a decent send-off on the hybrid platform – or even if you just want it to run better than last year – you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

The Overkill Edition on Nintendo Switch looks and runs great, and while I have little doubt that more powerful systems make Cookie Cutter even more visually appealing, the Switch is no slouch at maintaining the 60 FPS you want for this style of game, and in handheld mode you’ll be pretty impressed with how great the game looks. I’d highly suggest checking Cookie Cutter: Overkill Edition out whenever you have the chance, you won’t be disappointed.

Without that sense of nostalgia, you’ll be left with a trio of games that weren’t all that good first time around, and it’s hard to imagine you’ll find them very worthwhile.

Wyrmhall is a rare bird: a cozy game that doesn’t try to hide how repetitive it is at its core, but finds a way to make that gameplay loop surprisingly addictive. If you’re looking for something to knock out in a sitting, it’s worth checking out.

WWE 2K25 is certainly not without its glitches (of course not on the level of the dumpster fire that was 2K20), and for the most part they’ve already been improved via patches. In my opinion, 2K25 is a must buy for a current or lapsed wrestling fan. It’s better than last year’s release, which is still saying a lot, and it’s miles better than the AEW release which feels like an eternity ago.

Even a forgettable version of MLB The Show still delivers a best-in-class baseball experience. It makes it hard to recommend if you picked up the last few years’ editions, but if you’ve taken a year or two off, it might be time to jump back in.

If you want a traditional, linear experience with clear goals and objectives, Atomfall probably isn’t what you’re after. It’s very much a player-directed experience – for better and for worse, depending on your perspective. However, if you’re the type who wants a game to give you the freedom to play however you want, then you owe it to yourself to check out Atomfall.

I don’t think Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a bad game, but I don’t think it’s a great one either. With patches I think it could seriously become a great game, but as it stands with what I was playing, I’m not impressed with the systems/gameplay. I really, really want to like Shadows more because of how much the total package feels, but those few issues are enough to really hamper that. If you’re someone that enjoys going everywhere to do things and unlock everything, you’ll definitely have a great time, so it’s not inherently a super negative. The combat experience is definitely a damper though. Fingers crossed Ubisoft and the team behind Shadows really polishes and shines it up!

No matter how fun the gameplay is, that doesn’t matter if the game doesn’t consistently work, and I don’t think anyone could realistically say that Rise of the Ronin works as it should on PC. Given a bit of time and patches, I could absolutely see Rise of the Ronin becoming a must-play for anyone who wants to roam around an open-world, exploring 19th-century Japan and slicing down all kinds of enemies. But as of now, you need to wait and see if the game gets there, because it certainly isn’t at the moment.

With a story that keeps you engaged and guessing to the end (whichever end you uncover), Expelled! is a worthy successor to inkle’s previous glories, and it’s the kind of game that every mystery fan needs to play.

Petit Island borrows a lot of well-established ideas without doing enough to make any of them feel like its own, and as a result, you’ll come away from the game wishing you could play some of those other games instead.

The Suikoden series has its good games and bad, but Suikoden 1 and 2 are my two favorites in the series. For those looking to scratch the itch of a classic JRPG, these games will do it. I hope that other companies take notes, as they kept the core game play and didn’t make any major changes to the battle system — I’m looking at you Final Fantasy VII Remake. The Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster isn’t perfect though, and Konami should have made a few more quality of life improvements, specifically to the inventory system. The story to both games is there in all of its glory, the second game’s story especially. Overall, Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars is a solid update to some classically good JRPGs!

Regardless of whether you want to play with someone else in-person or online, Split Fiction is well worth your time. It’s an excellent co-op adventure, and it’s easy to imagine the game garnering the same kind of following – and accolades – as It Takes Two.

Rolando is filled with a great cast of characters, each of which have their own abilities, and it makes a real effort to ensure you’re using those abilities to their full extent – whether it’s a hyperactive ball who can’t stop moving, a lazy king ball who needs to be rolled everywhere, or a ball that sticks to surfaces (among many others). The game is a riot of colour, and it knows how to create different worlds that mix things up enough to keep it interesting, both in terms of design and in terms of visuals. Rolando was a triumph of mobile gaming on its first release, and Rolando Deluxe shows that it’s every bit as great now.

If you’re a fan of old-school shooters – or even if you just like games where you don’t have to think much and you can fire away at everything that moves – you should definitely check out Forgive Me Father 2. It doesn’t break new ground, but with weapons and action this fun, it doesn’t need to.

Wilds is an absolute must play, and I won’t hesitate to say you’re missing out if you don’t at least give it a shot. Nothing but absolute praise for Capcom, the Monster Hunter team, and everyone involved in production.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii doesn’t move the franchise forward, in fact it’s a treat for fans who want to see their favorites back in the spotlight. That said the studio didn’t exactly phone it in with a carbon copy iteration and called it the day either. In fact I dare say some of the innovations will be unlikely to return to the franchise (but knowing RGG, they’ll somehow justify Ichiban Kasuga owning and operating a Pirate Ship…). While I wouldn’t say I’m not looking forward to the next mainline chapter of the series, I will say I am ever increasingly curious who will star in the next “Gaiden” title. Yes, we all want the main course…but sometimes you want to spoil yourself with the appetizer…and I’m certainly one who would ask for another bread basket even as my steak is coming to the table.

X-Out Resurfaced is a very simple, no frills shooter that provides a moderate to steep challenge for even the toughest players. Its presentation and gameplay doesn’t try to compete with the bigger releases and it really doesn’t have to. It stands on its own as a fun action shooter game that many will find charming. Don’t expect a mind-blowing story, quirky characters or any wild plot twists with this one, but do expect a fun and challenging ride that will stay with you for a while.

I think Macross – Shooting Insight is a tough one to recommend to most people. The Macross side of it isn’t exactly compelling, the story is an excuse to toss all these characters together into one scenario, and it’s not particularly compelling or interesting, quickly becoming something you’ll skip through as you near the end. Unfortunately, the core shoot ‘em up gameplay isn’t all that great either, it’s a serviceable entry in the genre that shows some promise, but the repetitive stage design and attempts to shoe horn in multiple flavors of shmup gameplay doesn’t do Macross – Shooting Insight any favors. If you’re just dying to get your hands on anything Macross related in the West, then you might gleam some satisfaction out of this one, but I can’t see this really appealing to anyone else.

Playing While Waiting made me look back at my own life and reminisce about the good, the bad and the things I’ve yet to or maybe will never accomplish. While the game is accessible for ages I feel like it certainly would help if you’ve got some years in to fully appreciate the game’s message.

Avowed is, as I noted above, exactly what you’d imagine a fantasy epic to be – and it’s all the better for it.

Ninja Gaiden II Black is absolutely the definitive way to play the classic and challenging title. With the stigma of how Unreal Engine 5 can treat modern releases, it is outstanding to see a game utilize the technology to recreate something lots of people have fond memories of that runs seemingly flawlessly. With availability on all modern platforms and the inclusion of its release on Xbox Game Pass, everybody has the chance to play it. Other than the camera still being quite whack, it’s a genuine must-play, especially if you’ve never had the chance before now.

Overall, though, Ys X: Nordics is a fine return to form for the series. Time will tell whether the already-announced sequel (expanded version?) is a worthwhile upgrade, but why wait until then? We know this version is good as it stands, and that’s more than enough to make it worth your time.

It’s undeniably a great game when it works, and everything that made it our GOTY a few years ago still stands. I’m sure the PC version will get there eventually, and when that happens it’ll be a must-play for anyone who loves big, open-world superhero games…but for now, you’re better off holding off, and giving the game a little more time to iron out the kinks.

Crown Wars: The Black Prince is a competent tactical RPG that fits squarely within the confines of its chosen genre, so if you want more X-COM-likes in your life, and don’t mind feeling like you’d get the same experience playing any number of other, similar games, you could do worse than checking it out.

As much as I feel I’m beating up DKC Returns HD, I do love the game, I just happen to love and appreciate Tropical Freeze more. Hopefully this means more platforming DKC titles are on the horizon when Nintendo launches the Switch 2, but until then I’m glad a larger audience of fans can still play DKC Returns.

It doesn’t do anything remotely interesting and there are plenty of other Star Wars games from the era that are available to play, so unless you have some very specific nostalgic memories tied to Jedi Power Battles, you’re definitely better off revisiting one of those other games and leaving this one alone.