Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril is a traditional 2D platformer that stays true to its NES roots. Its simple controls and charming 8-bit qualities make it a no brainer for any retro gaming fan. The over-the-top difficulty, while a little too much at times, creates a satisfying experience overall, making this a great game for anyone seeking a challenge.

Puzzle Quest 3 is an excellent addition to the match-3 puzzle combat adventure genre. The game is easy to pick up and plays smoothly. With an intriguing story and amazing cast of characters, it's sure to be a hit for people across the board.

Road 96 is a politically charged piece of interactive art. Its themes of opposing fascism are depressingly relevant and conveyed through charming and funny characters. While the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired, this is a trip well worth taking over and over.

ANNO: Mutationem had a lot of promise, but ended up spread far too thin. Both the exploration and combat lack any sort of depth, the story is nonsensical, and the sprite work looks ugly in motion.

When it comes to the world, the narrative, and the characters that inhabit the Weird West, there’s a lot to love. If you’re looking for a game that’s well written and where your choices feel important and consequential, then it’s likely you’ll be able to forgive some of the lacklustre RPG elements that unfortunately weigh this one down.

Moss Book II is a game very deserving of your attention. Its novel use of VR as a medium is fascinating and helps to tell a heartfelt story with you and the adorable Quill at its center. It’s bigger and better than the first in many ways, but is greatly held back by small yet consistent and progress blocking bugs.

Submerged: Hidden Depths is the perfect game to play when needing a break from the more stressful or narrative intense experiences. Featuring a powerful orchestral score, relaxing exploration and puzzle solving, and a subtle yet interesting story about the bonds of family and the power of hope, Submerged surprised me and provided me with one of my favorite experiences of the year.

Quest for Infamy is a near perfect recreation of point-and-click adventure games of the past. Featuring hilarious dialogue, immature humor, a variety of locations to explore, some clever (and some frustrating) puzzles, and a decently long campaign with an interesting story to unravel. Game breaking bugs and a few of the genre’s persistent issues, such as frustrating design and confusion as to where to go or what to do next, do present themselves and in this modern era are far harder to forgive. Still, Quest for Infamy is fun, funny, and worth giving a shot.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an excellent first foray into 3D for the pink puffball. There’s so much to see and do on this adorable adventure it’s hard to focus on just one thing for long, and it’ll keep fans new and old entertained for some time.

LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga takes LEGO games to a new level; changing the way we’ll see LEGO games moving forward. With 300+ characters to unlock, 1000+ Kyber Bricks to collect, and 20+ planets to explore: there’s something for every fan in this Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s modern port is the definitive version of the game as it provides a good amount of quality content Die-hard Persona fans and fighting game fans will undoubtedly enjoy.

What Lies in the Multiverse is one of the most unique puzzle/platformers released in recent years. Featuring gorgeous pixel-based graphics and a charmingly self-aware sense of humor, the game constantly throws a variety of new set pieces and obstacles at you and continues to find clever ways to use its central universe swapping mechanic. Despite some unexpectedly dark undertones, the game remains mainly upbeat, telling a story that deals with loss, friendship, and life in a surprisingly mature way. What Lies in the Multiverse is well worth picking up for fans of puzzle based games.

Ikai is a wonderful entry into the psychological horror genre. The story is intriguing and beautiful in its own way. The spooky music kept me feeling on edge, giving away no hint of any looming dangers, adding that much more to my sense of unease. I just wish there had been more of it.

Stranger of Paradise is a good game, but it had the potential to be a great game. Its self seriousness backfires to a genuinely endearing degree, but also leaves the story poorly fleshed out and possibly hard to follow. The combat may be fun, fluid, and visceral, but issues with the PC version should make players look to other platforms.

Rune Factory 5 delivers everything you would expect from a Rune Factory game, though it does so without adding anything new. It moves from a rather rough start into an enjoyable experience which combines quirky characters, a story wrapped in a bit of mystery, farming, fighting and taming monsters, crafting, and consuming unhealthy amounts of Recipe Bread. Fans of the series will enjoy their time in Rigbarth, though the series and its formula are starting to show their age.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands presents a fresh take on Borderlands, retaining the core of the series while adding some fun new twists both in its setting and gameplay. Character creation and multi-classing ensure each Fatemaker is unique when shooting, looting, and questing. While it certainly has issues like less weapon variety and a lack of challenging content, this is the best in the series so far.

It's somewhat unfair to compare the next-gen console versions to a PC as my video card costs more than both consoles combined. That said, what Rockstar has pulled off here is as close to a PC running at max settings, but with a slightly lower draw distance and less feature-rich anti-aliasing. On the other hand, if you are coming from the PlayStation 4 or the Xbox One, the difference is staggering. Most of the time a next-gen native version of a game is just a higher-resolution minimal-effort wallet hug, but here it's clear that the developers are looking to deliver the best version of their most successful game ever, ahead of finally getting another proper installment in the series.

Paradise Killer is now the perfect murder mystery. With some visual and performance issues taken care of and the addition of new secrets to uncover as well as some gorgeous Ray Tracing, there’s never been a better time to breathe life back into paradise.

Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream presents an immediately engaging gameplay hook. The story is interesting and can get new players caught up fairly quickly, though the character designs can leave a lot to be desired. Battles and alchemy are a ton of fun, but the game does have trouble explaining all of its systems effectively.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a unique blend of FPS, RPG, and horror with a creative twist on how we approach fighting in an FPS. Despite a few grievances about the length and ambition of the project, it is still a good game, but unfortunately it merely toes the line between good and great, never quite finding its footing. Still, Ghostwire: Tokyo is well worth picking up.

Tunic sits among the pinnacle of indie titles and is just as fun as it is cute and colorful. There are an astounding amount of secrets to discover in the game and, once you’ve found everything, you can easily play it again and again to do things in a different order using your knowledge. It’s a delightful experience that I just can't get enough of.

Triangle Strategy boasts a deep story with an involved battle system that remains fun throughout and approachable to those who might not have a strategic head. The cutscenes can be overly long and choices don’t have as big of an impact as they should, but it’s still a great strategy game that you can really sink your teeth into.

While it stumbles greatly in execution, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla - Dawn of Ragnarök reignites the magic of the main game with a vast realm to explore and myriad secrets to discover using the new Hugr powers. It’s still a ton of fun, just don’t expect the story to be all that coherent.

While it can be complete chaos most of the time, Chocobo GP is still a fun and charming kart racer at its heart. There’s enough charm here to combat the frustration and bland tracks, and the multiple modes will keep you interested.

Gran Turismo 7 is an excellent racing simulator for those looking for a more realistic experience or to learn more about cars. There’s a ton of things to do, cars to collect, and tracks to master with the game’s great driving model. While you can feel the sheer passion the developers have for the subject, it does come with some flaws like very slow and tedious progression gates and persistent microtransaction prompts.

Elden Ring is the culmination of all the Souls entries up to this point, creating a near perfect gameplay experience filled to the brim with incredible boss fights, gorgeous graphics, and an insanely large world to explore. A variety of new ideas, including crafting and the addition of the spirit horse Torrent, help bring a new level of immersion to the proceedings while simultaneously helping Elden Ring feel like a unique entry in the Souls genre. With gameplay tailored for players who want to experience the world solo as well as those who wish to play nearly the entire game in co-op, Elden Ring is a masterclass in design. Minor gripes about a couple of boss fights and the sheer density of the world to explore leaving many areas potentially undiscovered aside, Elden Ring is a nearly flawless experience which old and new fans of the Souls series will enjoy.

Final Fantasy VI is still a classic and one of the best in the franchise, now with orchestrated music and redone pixel art. It still retains the issues of the rest of the Pixel Remasters, but does have a bit of extra visual spice on top to make them hurt less.

The sequel to FAR: Lone Sails scours off the rust and polishes the rest to an acceptable shine. It’s a well-oiled machine that runs for twice as long, with a lot more adventure hiding under its hood to compensate for the series’ shortcomings.