Knight Squad 2 is a fun, competent, and chaotic multiplayer game great for parties, but features little to keep players interested beyond the few hours it will take to tackle all the game modes and unlock all the Knights. The addition of cross-platform play is certainly nice and a feature I hope more games implement in the future. A few more unlockables or even a leveling system for the Knights would have been nice, but as it stands I enjoyed my time with Knight Squad 2.

Riddled with repetition, Biomutant is as grand in ambition as it is bland in execution. Where it shines in character creation and choice, it fumbles in its narrative and empty morality system. Where building your powers, weapons, and toys is great, finding all the parts to do so is simply a chore. Odd to say, but in this case, less might have been more, but what is here is fun. Just not as fun as it could have been.

An excellent and very welcome port of an already great and addictive game that stands out among other games in the genre.

Godstrike will test your patience and your abilities with a controller. When at its best, this game is fully creative, fun, and all around a good time, but not one game is perfect, and this game will show its cracks from time to time.

The Invisible Hand is a deceptively absurd take on the corporate circus that is Wall Street day trading. It’s at its best when it lets the player wreak havoc however they please, but in trying to juggle both stock market shenanigans and its satirical story, it fumbles on both fronts.

The team did an outstanding job with the Courtyard Oasis Kit, and for such a low price I think it’s a no-brainer. Any Sims 4 building enthusiast needs this in their arsenal! The nods at Moroccan architecture are well done, and I’d love to see more cultural Kits like this in the future! The good news is, I really enjoyed trying to build this outdoor oasis, and want to take a deeper dive on my own builds.

Rain on Your Parade has made me feel emotions for a cloud that I have not felt... well, ever! With a charming aesthetic, entertaining pop culture humor, and a wacky premise, you should play this game if you want to spend a weekend ruining a bunch of people's lives with water.

Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne HD Remaster is a fantastic game at its core, but does little to justify the HD Remaster part of its title. The visuals are improved greatly and being able to choose between Raidou and Dante is nice, but there are few improvements the base game desperately needed like better dungeon design.

Days Gone is the perfect PlayStation game to make its way to PC. It was already a beautiful game, but held back by the PS4 and PS4 Pro. On PC, Days Gone gets it’s chance to flourish, running at uncapped frame rates, high resolutions, and touting an FOV slider. While it is missing some cool next-gen upgrades like ray tracing and DLSS, Days Gone runs nearly flawlessly on PC, and serves as a testament to Bend’s tradecraft. Even if you’ve already played the game on PS4 or PS4 Pro, it’s worth jumping back into the shoes of Deacon St John on PC to massacre a freaker horde at the highest level of performance possible.

All and all, Resident Evil Village is more than playable on Google Stadia, even with the drawbacks. When your experience is dependent on internet connection speeds, you can’t really complain about not getting every bell and whistle a console loaded with your game would have. Village is both convenient and competent on Stadia, and while yes, the frame rate and resolution drops can be disappointing, playing on the go is a nice benefit, even if I’m not sure it’s a worthy compromise.

So the saying goes, you can’t step into the same river twice, but Mass Effect Legendary Edition is certainly going to make one hell of an attempt at it.

Wrath of the Druids is simply more Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, both for good and ill. For a paid expansion, it doesn’t add much new or interesting and the main quest doesn’t have much to deal with Druids. Still, more Valhalla is more Valhalla and it’s enjoyable for what it is.

Having multiple Lords to hunt and take down, each with their own unique territory and play style, greatly helps Village stand out from previous entries. Bringing back a merchant, giving hunting and fishing options, an upgraded inventory system, allowing the story to go absolutely off the rails, and switching the gameplay to be more action focused, even though I understand that may upset some players, all combined to help Village stand out from previous entries while still feeling unique. Upon completion I immediately spent my CP and hopped back into the campaign, the greatest compliment I can give any game. Village may very well be my new favorite entry in the series.

New Pokémon Snap is a delightful photography game that I’ll be coming back to constantly for just one more course. Seeing Pokémon in their natural habitats captures a unique magic the series has been missing for a while, and seeing how they react to you is a ton of fun. While filling out the Photodex is rewarding, equally rewarding is taking more creative snaps, editing them, and sharing them online.

NieR Replicant ver. 1.22474487139… is a pitch perfect update to one of the greatest stories ever told in the medium. Combat feels fast and fluid, much like players’ tears once they finish the game. The new content feels natural, magic is more useful than ever, and the reprised music and voice over bring the world to life.

Creepy as hell but the jump scares too often failed to frighten and some performance issues dampened and otherwise well put together game.

SELF: Where’s my father is too obscure, busy, and uninspired to enjoy. It’s perfectly functional, and while there is a bit of evidence that it could have been great, it falls flat due to some shallow gameplay and incredibly amateur writing.

Heaven Dust isn’t an awful game, but it has some awful parts. Uninspired gameplay and a lack of originality aren’t enough to make the game worth a recommendation. However, there’s just enough love put into that, perhaps, old-school Resident Evil fans could have a good time.

Star Wars Pinball VR is a serviceable pinball game that has no business being in VR. The eight tables all feel very similar, the visuals are incredibly low quality, and the Fan Cave is pointless.

While the less powerful Vita version of ScourgeBringer does have a few performance issues, this is a great way to get into the addictive roguelike. With some brilliant swordplay, gorgeous pixel art, and a great progression system, you should prepare your handheld and get ready to judge the Judges.

As a $9.99 download, the Switch re-release of Shantae is a great look at the half-genie’s debut for those who want to check her out. It might be dated compared to the rest of the series, but it’s a nice look back at the classic series we know and love.

Judgement is a fantastic Yakuza game, but the spinoff’s other elements can feel half baked. Brawling and investigating can both be fun, but it’s clear there’s depth missing from both aspects. The PS5 version is a blanket upgrade, with improved lighting, textures, and load times, but could have used a bit more care to preserve the artistic choices of the original.

Firsts don’t come around very often, but this is one of PlayStation’s first PS5 exclusives and Housemarque’s first triple A releases, and the combination is a triumphant success. I’m not sure how they’ve managed everything in play, taking the bullet-hell stylings of old and meshing them with the trappings of a third-person roguelike, but it works to a fantastic degree. On top of that, the action-packed gameplay is some of the best around, additionally being one of the most immersive and next-gen experiences available thanks to an incredible understanding of the DualSense controller. Yes, the story may take a backseat, but that’s the nature of the roguelike genre, and doesn’t hinder Returnal in the slightest. I may not be much for roguelikes, but I can see myself “returning” to play this one again and again.

Thunderflash is a highly competent, if uninspired release. While I enjoyed my hour long playthrough and a round or two of Survival mode, I couldn’t help but feel that the release as a whole was a missed opportunity to not only bring back the Run ‘n Gun genre, but to innovate and create something more complex. Still, as a co-op experience, it is well worth playing but unfortunately will be forgotten soon after completion.

Maskmaker feels like it’s going to give you full control over the game, then it takes it away from you and does it for you. The parts it gives you full control over, however, tend to be exceptionally tedious. The crafting system is great when the game wants it to be, and I loved exploring every nook and cranny that the game had to off, but in short, while the game feels like a bedtime story, ultimately it’s just that --- there’s not much lucidity that you’d expect from a VR game, and it feels more like an on-rails experience.

Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection is a wonderful re-imagining of the brutally difficult iconic series. Featuring incredible hand-drawn animation and multiple difficulty levels to ensure that players of all skill levels can complete the game, this release will win over both old fans of the series as well as new players eager for a challenge.

Short but highly enjoyable, a well put together game that took classes at the old school. Great soundtrack, a round of ap-paws for Lateralis.

Nitpicks aside, I don’t think that Dreaming Sarah is a bad game, just that it is a great proof of concept that could use more polish. But for an average list price of around $5, I may be asking for too much. Head into the game with an open mind and prepare to think outside the box and you may be pleasantly surprised. Overall it was an ok, if not great, experience and worth taking a look at.