The Banner Saga 2 is a stunningly animated game that sets a new standard for both presentation and narrative outside of the AAA sphere. The game does stumble with a poorly designed combat UI, and a claustrophobic battle system that doesn’t offer much breathing room for different strategies. While monotonous, combat is serviceable, and doesn’t greatly detract from what is otherwise a defining narrative tale.

Chicken Assassin: Reloaded has good intentions with its clicker-style gameplay, and has a cheesy art style and presentation. However, a few performance issues mixed with UI problems and some monotonous grind mechanics make for a mixed experience that entertains as much as it frustrates.

Hand of Fate 2 has stellar writing, fun deck building, and interesting stories. What it doesn’t have, however, is good combat. While I have grown to find the combat manageable, it should be fun and exciting. It stands as an odd blemish that has been carried over from the original while everything else as been prettied up. Still, I recommend giving Hand of Fate 2 a chance, especially if you never played the original. Even with the lackluster combat there is plenty to enjoy here.

Semblance lets you deform your platforms to solve puzzles how you want, but it limits your tools so severely that the promise of that idea is wasted on mediocre puzzles. It has a neat look, but like its core mechanic, it wears thin even before you get to the end of your two hour trip through the game.

Legacy Collection 2 is a roller coaster of emotions. Only about one and a half of the games in the box are actually good, but it will also complete the X series and fulfill hardcore fans. If you don’t care about any of that, save the $20 and just get the first collection. Or, buy collection 2 and laugh at X7 with your friends.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 isn’t just a collection of faithful ports on new hardware, it’s a mix of some of the best Mega Man games with plenty of love and goodies. The addition of medals is a great way to encourage players to fully explore every title, and X Challenge is fun, if not disorganized at times. For players new to the Mega Man X series, this is where to begin.

20XX isn’t just a good Mega Man X clone, it’s an insanely fun and addictive roguelike with plenty of personality and possibilities. Each run is different from the last, and each death feels fair and justified. I’m confident that 20XX will only become better over time and be a shining example of how to do platformer-based roguelikes.

Frost takes the deck-building and survival genres and mashes them together to create a truly challenging and strategic game. At times the game can feel unforgiving and overly hard, but requires players to actually think about their next move rather than rushing through a turn. The art style is beautiful, and paired with an eerie soundtrack creates an unsettling and true survival feeling.

Earthfall is a cooperative FPS with a few interesting ideas that it fails to deliver on. Built on a poor foundation of unsatisfying combat and repetitive mission structure, every aspect of the game is mediocre at best. With some serious retooling, its light building mechanic could be an interesting twist, but there’s little reason to play Earthfall in its current state with so many better examples of the genre already out there.

Pato Box takes the Punch-Out!! fighting style and gives it a Madworld aesthetic, resulting in an unexpectedly wonderful combination. The 3D sections aren't the most exciting, but the boss fights more than make up for that. Pato Box offers an intense challenge that will put your gaming skills to the test, but also potentially frustrate you at the same time.

Miles & Kilo is a massively improved sequel that mixes great platforming mechanics and tough but fair difficulty in the package. It’s a cheap title that you should definitely pick up if you have an hankering for fun, lighthearted platformers. Grab your canine friend and get ready for a howling good time!

A fun adventure with two of the best characters from Far Cry 5, Lost on Mars is a quick jaunt to the Red Planet with more hits than misses.

Danger Zone 2 attempts to bring back the crashing thrills of the Burnout franchise, but unfortunately falls prey to presentation issues and a lack of overall content. It’s still a fun time for the couple of hours you have with the game, but there are much better arcade racing titles from which to choose.

Trion Worlds’ reimagined Defiance does little to fix the crippled MMO and instead, uses the opportunity to try and capture a new audience with the same bland experience of yesteryear. Defiance 2050 has nothing to leverage but its free-to-play status, nothing to separate itself from the competition, and nothing of quality for new players to latch onto.

Bomb Chicken is a very innovative puzzle-platformer that unfortunately suffers from a short runtime and limited replay value. However, for those that want a quick little single-player game that stars a cute chicken, there is no game better suited for the job.

After a year of delays, the Switch version of Pocket Rumble unfortunately disappoints on multiple levels. While it has a distinct art style and some great multiplayer options, the overall lack of content and limited moveset hinder the game’s true potential.

Mario Tennis Aces isn’t a terrible game, but is a forgettable one. Online doesn’t work consistently, Adventure mode is pretty boring and uninspired, and there is a smattering of content. The game just lacks the heart that Nintendo titles have, and this leaves us with a bland and forgettable game that doesn’t do anything interesting. It’s not bad if you are just looking to get some friends or family together to play a few matches, but don’t expect the appeal to last much further than that.

GARAGE: Bad Trip is a top-down twin-stick shooter that wants nothing more than to impress and excite. The sleek visuals and sublime sound design lure you in, then the fast-paced, challenging combat keeps you hooked on clearing level after level. However, missed opportunities and wasted potential take their toll on the game, limiting gameplay variety and giving rise to the game’s tamer moments.

Although built as an educational tool, HoloLAB Champions also succeeds as a completely new way to experience practical science. It engages the mind as well as dexterity courtesy of challenging measurements, mixing puzzles, and mathematical elements, which should be fun for the science nerd in kids and adults.

The Lion’s Song is a beautiful narrative-focused game if you get passed the sluggish cursor and the slow character movement. Each episode contains its own beautiful story which are woven together to form a satisfying conclusion. Any fans of the art scene in the early 20th century or anyone hungry for a good narrative should definitely board the train on this one.

Racing through remixed and all new zones at blistering speeds is reminiscent of old Sonic while also surpassing it in almost every way. The new characters they bring to Sonic Mania Plus are excellent additions to the stable of playable critters, so it’s somehow an even better package than Sonic Mania was last year.

NieR: Automata is a masterclass action game with deep RPG mechanics, and a beautiful open world. While it’s held back by a weak narrative and a clunky game format that mandates replaying hours of content, it offers a wide variety of enjoyable experiences that make it well worth the asking price.

The Crew 2 is an ambitious undertaking that puts over-the-top arcade racing front and center. Though it makes large strides in the right direction over its predecessor, it suffers from odd game design choices, a lack of PvP, and a lackluster presentation that puts it squarely in the rearview mirror of its competition.

Shining Resonance Refrain is an entertaining adventure through a somewhat cliche story, but it contains its own unique aspects that keep you engaged. Combat is easy to learn, but there's a decent amount of depth to it. Dragonshift and B.A.N.D. sessions are wonderful combat mechanics that add more charm to the game. The relationship building and dating also adds a cute slice of life portion to the adventure.

Yuso offers a charming puzzle game experience that can be enjoyed at home or on the go. There's a nice challenge to the levels without being irritating. The atmosphere of the world and levels create a peaceful space for players to enjoy for awhile. It isn't long, but it's definitely worth your time.

Mushroom Wars 2 is a challenging yet fun real-time strategy game that focuses on battles between mushroom people. The gameplay takes a minute to get used to, but once you get acclimated, you'll be killing it. Hero skills are a cool addition that can turn the tide of battle if used correctly. There are a ton of missions that will give you hours of playtime.

Between fumbling through the menus, mashing your way to a choppy and exceedingly easy victory, and clicking through meandering dialogue scenes that hold no weight, you’ll find yourself too bored to actually collect all the parts you want to make your perfect Gundam. If you’re itching to fight big robots, play Gundam Versus instead. Or, go punch that actual Gundam in Japan (don’t do that).

Lost in Harmony is a very ambitious title that mixes a surprisingly infectious soundtrack with frantic and fun rhythm-platformer gameplay. It’s one musical romp that’s great for rhythm game players of all sorts, and I can’t wait to see what DigixArt does next!