If you’re a fan of Dredge, then I would recommend The Pale Reach without hesitation, it’s a good piece of new content to sate your appetite until Ironhaven releases. However, keep in mind that this DLC won’t change your experience of the main game all that much if you’ve already completed it, it just gives you another chain to explore. All in all, it’s like adding another puzzle piece to a completed puzzle.

Revealing the occult mystery bound to the quaint town of Kieferberg is captivating, both in terms of an unbelievably gorgeous setting and charming gameplay. Whether you’re making ritual wine for a golden serpent or tending to the village hens, it’s an intriguingly dark story into the folly of greed that is a delicacy to the eyes and one that is equally delightful to play, even if there are some slight hiccups.

While Naruto x Boruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm CONNECTIONS finally adds some genuinely important features to the series, it still lacks some important features and a large portion of its other content is passable.

Super Mario RPG is a classic for a reason, and its remake stands just as tall as the original. The visuals and sound are both top notch, and while some new features make the already easy battles even easier, this is still an excellent game that will have you grinning from ear to ear the whole way through.

Party Animals presents an overall fun and chaotic experience that will have players laughing with their friends. The characters are cute, the boards are fun and the multiplayer aspect is a plus. However, since the release date, not much has been added which makes the game short-lived with content and can demotivate players to pick this title up again.

Despite its incredible art direction and pixelated visuals, The Last Faith fails to encapsulate what makes its inspirations so brilliant. The plethora of poor and frustrating game mechanics and design choices, combined with technical performance issues and lack of accessibility options, makes this one of my biggest gaming disappointments of the year.

While the UI takes a huge step backwards, new ways to play are a step forward, making Just Sing 2024 is a marked improvement over both predecessors.

With four playable factions, excellent writing, and a compelling setting, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin delivers a solid RTS, albeit one that takes little risk. A handful of bugs and design choices may hamper the fun, but it hits stride when it lets you be powerful and unrestrained.

Tales of Arise - Beyond the Dawn might not be the most necessary followup ever made and you’ve seen this kind of story told in RPGs many times before, but it's still delightful nonetheless. Combat remains a blast, the story is thoughtful with a fantastic final boss, and the world feels like a realistic impression of what a year after global slavery would be like. Beyond the Dawn is exactly what it should be, nothing more and nothing less.

Although a lackluster campaign and reused content holds it back, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III has a few great tricks up its sleeve. The multiplayer engages in a way its predecessor missed the mark, and open-world Zombies is exactly as entertaining as it sounds. There's more to be desired as a whole, but as rushed as it was, MWIII has solid elements that can be enjoyed.

In summary, Persona 5 Tactica offers a great story with engaging factors, vibrant colors, dynamic art styles, new characters, and music. It masters a compelling story while also presenting older and nostalgic characteristics of Persona 5. With a fresh new coat of paint, Persona 5 Tactica is worth it to suit up as a Phantom Thief and liberate the worlds of the Metaverse.

Teardown has some cool tech and ideas behind it but is too structured and restrictive to give the player the freedom they crave.

Everything about Move It! feels like it should work, and when it does it’s a lot of fun. The problem is that doesn't always work. Some rotten apples in the microgame selection and the Joy-Con hardware's awkward fit with the overall concept muddy up an otherwise good time. Given the discombobulating nature of WarioWare, some muddying can be acceptable up to a point, but Move It! occasionally crosses the line from being playfully antagonistic to frustrating for the wrong reasons.

Fashion Dreamer dives into the deep end of sandbox gameplay and loses a lot of charm in the process. Having everything available from the get go is nice, but it lacks any motivation to keep playing after the first few hours. Making outfits is a ton of fun, there’s just not much to do or see outside of that.

Red Matter 2 builds on the solid foundation established by its predecessor, giving us even better visuals, more interactivity, and all new devious puzzles to solve. It’s a true showcase of Sony’s PSVR2 platform, and a fantastic sequel to boot.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a huge step up from the original. While far from perfect, it’s an incredibly fun and silly time especially online with friends. When playing solo, there’s still a wealth of things to do too - it’s just an all around good time, despite the jank or perhaps because of it.

Conrad Stevenson’s Paranormal P.I. immerses players in New Eidolon’s numerous haunted locations and history. Although hunting ghosts can be tedious, the game always excels with its ghost stories and they always finish in a satisfying manner. However, if you just glanced at the Steam page and thought it looked like Phasmaphobia, then you’re going in with the wrong expectation. It’ll be like expecting milk and getting orange juice.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a great interlude before Infinite Wealth comes out next year, with its throwback to the franchise’s classic real time beat ’em up combat in the shoes of Kiryu. The narrative does take a step back, and the new characters aren’t as memorable, but there’s plenty of bizarre and addicting side activities to partake in on the streets of Sotonbori or at the Castle.

Achilles: Legends Untold is a serviceable indie Soulslike experience with an isometric camera angle that doesn’t introduce anything revolutionary. Don’t be fooled by the Diablo-esque visual style either, because this is not a dungeon crawling looter. There’s no doubt that the game is in a much better state than it was in Early Access, but it still suffers from some core issues with its gameplay mechanics.

The Talos Principle 2 is a philosophical puzzle adventure game that’s also thought-provoking and has a deep narrative. It takes the foundation laid by the first game and expands on it in every way possible.

Star Ocean The Second Story R is a wildly inconsistent package, with the ending portions falling off greatly in quality, but still a mostly fun game. Battle and its surrounding systems can have a lot of variation depending on your party and how you choose to play. However, it lacks polish in many areas making it very difficult to want to finish.

Jusant may seem like a game about just scaling a tower, but the calmness of the climb manifests itself in a way that feels peaceful in the ascension. Movement is focused and deliberate without feeling clunky, and the involvement of the terrain is wonderful. The breezy cliff sides and beautiful landscapes make for a short and sweet experience that anyone can appreciate.

Just like RoboCop himself, Rogue City is only human, but it’s still pretty great. With an intriguing narrative and stellar side missions, exploring Old Detroit is a real treat. Gunplay feels heavy, and engaging your friends and opponents with words as well as bullets is satisfying. In a year filled with blockbusters, this is a cult classic.

There’s a lot to like in The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, and there’s an equal list of things that aren’t as polished. It’s the very definition of midtier, with all that implies. There are better survival crafting games out there, but none that offer a chance to see what nameless primordial things lie below the Mines of Moria. Always hungry, always waiting.

At the end of the day, I ask myself these questions about Quantum Error given the many genres it is trying to tackle. As a shooter game, is it fun? No. As a horror game, is it scary? Nope. As a firefighter simulator, is it cool? Sometimes I guess. Would I recommend this title as a full priced 60 dollar game? Never. TeamKill Media has done a commendable job being only a team of 4 to come up with something this massive and ambitious. However, this is another sad case of biting off more than you could chew. This might be up your alley if you’re into janky, B-movie messes.

Song of Nunu: A League of Legends Story is a magical adventure starring a sweet duo of characters. Nunu and Willump are a joy to get to know and love. With smooth platforming and great puzzles, this will be a game that any League of Legends fan will want to play. If you enjoyed old school platform/puzzle games, you’ll love this gem.

Mario is known for surprising you with new ideas and strong game design. Super Mario Bros. Wonder contains both in spades. Although it executes on the element of surprise in a way I hesitate to call an outright innovation, it always supports the strengths of both the expected and unexpected.

Detective Pikachu Returns is a heartwarming follow-up to the first game, though it does fall short in terms of depth and originality. Still, the overall experience is worth it for fans of the first game, and the movie, and for Pokémon fans in general.