While Titanic Scion’s narrative trods familiar sci-fi anime territory, it’s delivered well enough. Characters are bombastic and overacted, but it creates a fun narrative environment. Outfitting your Arsenal gives you a ton of customization options, and the open world creates plenty of opportunities to explore and spread your wings. Unfortunately, technical issues are problematic across the platforms we played on. That said, anyone jonesin’ for a mech game fix will still find a good time here.

Hades II is an absolute blast from moment one, and only gets better from there. Everything from the dialogue to the music, visuals, combat, and build possibilities feels polished to a mirror sheen. It’s going to take you a long time to even reach the depths of Hades or the peak of Olympus, but when you finally do you’ll get hooked all over again.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles improves upon the original in nearly every way. It truly is the ultimate version of Final Fantasy Tactics, and an amazing adventure from start to finish.

Brutally frustrating, exasperating, and exhilarating, Baby Steps is a journey befitting the legacy of its creators. While the humor may be a bit too crass for some, there’s a surprisingly poignant narrative wrapped around a fairy tale in the bizarre, uncomfortable world Nate finds himself…and a constant reminder to get back up every time you fall, to continue putting one foot in front of the other. Hooroo.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter, despite being a remake of a 21 year old game, feels like a breath of fresh air. It masterfully combines action and turn-based combat using some in-depth character customization and weaves an intricate tale of love, empathy, political strife, and redemption. It’s a game that is almost always firing on all cylinders, keeping you engaged on this road and those beyond.

The game never feels like it's trying too hard to scare you. The horror emerges naturally from character development, environmental design, and pacing. When the game finally reveals its sick imagery and body horror, it feels earned rather than cheap. The exploration of female adolescence through a horror lens is handled with remarkable sensitivity and insight. And with multiple endings to achieve and New Game Plus at launch, there’s plenty of lore to dive into.

Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds sets itself apart from other cart racers with its speed of gameplay, amount of customization, brilliant soundtrack, and great cast of characters that will expand more and more with DLC. With many different game-types, carts, and items to collect, there will be something for any Sonic the Hedgehog fan. With the announcement of Hatsune Miku, Joker from Persona 5, and Ichiban Kasuga from Like A Dragon all coming in the next months, followed by a Minecraft and Spongebob DLC, we’ll have plenty to look forward to, plus some unannounced DLC as well! Sonic Team blew my expectations for the full game out of this “Cross”World.

Dying Light: The Beast is a bloody great time. Kyle Crane's return is a highlight, and while the pieces around him don't always fit, there's enough heartfelt interactions involved to make it enjoyable. The best part is the gameplay – an astoundingly brutal and adventurous romp through a gorgeous and well crafted world. It's a beast of an effort by Techland, and it pays off handsomely.

Hunter x Hunter: Nen Impact knows its place in the fighting game food chain, and thrives within it. With a fun and crazy battle system, Nen Impact offers plenty of fun for fighting game fans looking for something fresh in the current market.

With fantastic visuals, top-tier voice acting, excellent comedic writing, and an addictive gameplay loop, Borderlands 4 is just freaking fun. While not groundbreaking, the story of Kairos and the Timekeeper is well-done and engaging. Despite some technical issues that will hopefully be resolved quickly, Gearbox’s latest is a game fans won’t want to miss. It’s good to have Borderlands back.

While Drag x Drive breeds little contempt with its inspired concept, it fumbles the ball not merely with its paltry offerings but its demanding, and even frustrating, motion controls. An interesting novelty, but ultimately a clumsy showcase for Switch 2's mouse controls.

Is This Seat Taken? is puzzling at its finest, with a basic concept that is transformed into something intuitive and provides a lot of challenge for those seeking it. The world created is small yet cute and lively, and it actually had me remembering the storylines of some of their main characters. The team didn’t need to do this, but it sure added a level of depth to a gameplay-focused game. I just hope that this will be the type of game that gets more and more DLC, so I can find an excuse to do more puzzles!

For a first game, Spilled ticks every box with not much room for error. You are looking at about 1-2 hours of gameplay, which can put some people off, as there isn’t much reason to hang around after a cleanup, but you have to expect that going in. You can jump in and out, feeling much better about yourself by taking the time to clean up the oceans and make a difference to this small, pixelated world.

NBA2K26 is a blast to play. The physics feel tight when needed and quickly swap to feeling fluid when needed. The city is awesome, and playing your character as he moves through his career is a blast.

Overall, Hirogami is a visually stunning adventure taking place in a beautifully folded world. There’s a lot to get out of each level with many different challenges to sink your teeth into, but unfortunately, it’s all let down by a lack of polish in gameplay. Platforming feels clunky, and gameplay feels undercooked; it made my time with Hirogami a mixture of being in awe of my surroundings and dismay when I launched myself off the map.

METAL EDEN is a satisfyingly fast paced slaughter as you glide through the air and tear out the hearts of your enemies. With the varied weaponry at the Hyper Unit’s disposal, you’ll certainly have a blast rescuing the citizens of Moebius from the cryptic engineers, even if the conclusion comes quickly.

Cronos: The New Dawn is Bloober Team’s attempt to prove they're more than just remake specialists. Did they succeed? You betcha.

Lost Soul Aside is a flawed but occasionally brilliant action game that represents both the potential and the pitfalls of passion-driven game development. What Yang Bing and his team at Ultizero Games have accomplished is nothing short of extraordinary, because the core combat system genuinely delivers the kind of stylish, skill-based action that genre fans crave. However, another year of development to smooth out the rough edges might have allowed this game to live up to its sky-high expectations.

Hell is Us is an experience that won't appeal to everyone, particularly those who prefer clear objectives. You will spend a lot of your time figuring out what to do next, piecing together what clues you might have missed. But, the game also represents something increasingly rare in modern gaming: a title that respects your intelligence and isn't afraid to make bold design choices. Now, get ready to take some notes.

Even after a week of finishing Shuten Order, I am still pondering how I feel. It's an excellent experience I overall enjoyed, yet left a tad bit unsatisfied at where the adventure ended. Strangely, I feel this is its own unique merit. A destination that invites you to reflect back on the journey, wishing to see more of the path forward, but content with the distance that has been trekked. Kodaka, Nakazawa, and the writing team’s simultaneous celebration and critique of religion is one I found thoughtfully uplifting just as much as it is deeply disturbing. A take that plays on familiarity to craft something subversive. Shuten Order may not reach the peaks present in their other works (thankfully it also avoids the pitfalls), but it is a deeply introspective murder mystery that left me lost in thought about the nature of my own existence past its conclusion.

Abiotic Factor is a gorgeous survival game about pushing the boundaries of reality as we know it. You won’t be stranded on an island; this time, you have to survive a facility teeming with creatures, objects, and other humans who want you dead. How far are you willing to go to escape?

Once Alive is a two-ish hour walking sim with a narratively rich story to tell. It might have some rough edges, but the love the developer put into it shines through. If you love games with a compelling story and atmosphere a-plenty, then pick this one up.

Shantae Advance: Risky Revolution is novel in that it’s a lost GBA game finally being finished and released, but that’s about all it has going for it. The adventure itself feels like just another day in the life of the half-genie heroine, with nothing really interesting to see or do. It has some bright spots, like the puzzles and transformations, but is incredibly forgettable, bland, and inconsistent.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance doesn’t settle for redoing the past. Instead, it brings the series forward with a distinct art style and bold new ideas. Art of Vengeance captures the spirit of Sega with a well-designed game that as an overly concerned Shinobi fanatic, I can muster only minor gripes about. It's good, it's fresh, and it's fun.

Mastering the manipulation of time, traversing a dreamlike cosmos, and solving immersive puzzles showcases why Hidden Memories of the Gardens Between is an adorable VR title that you shouldn’t let go under the radar.

Metal Gear Solid Δ: Snake Eater wants to have its cake and eat it too by remaining incredibly faithful to the original while also updating some key aspects like the controls and visuals. To die-hard fans of the PS2 classic, this is less of a definitive remake of the game and more just another way to play a fantastic game. Newcomers are certainly in for a treat, however, as Δ smooths over the original’s rougher edges for a more modern experience. It loses a lot in the translation, like some of the nuance in stealth and combat, but remains a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Among the Whispers - Provocation takes the formula that Conrad Stevenson’s Paranormal PI introduced, streamlines the pacing, and adds a strong story with a killer setting. Any fan of single-player ghost-hunting games should consider this one a buy.

The Rogue Prince of Persia excels in 2D side scrolling combat by infusing a buttery smooth parkour system into the mix. Retaking Ctesiphon from the Huns using the immortal powers of the Prince works so well for the roguelite formula, and each run had me wanting to jump right back in.