With an engaging story, endless minigames, always-entertaining characters, and a great blend of series mechanics old and new, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is an excellent entry into the franchise. Now we just need a patch for that lighting issue…

Avowed is a stellar RPG, with satisfying combat, a gripping story, lovable characters, and plenty of roleplaying opportunities. It has more than its fair share of annoyances and jank, but the heart is what makes Avowed a must play.

Metro Awakening is another good entry in the outstanding Metro series, though at times it feels like more of a side quest than a main entry. Still, the graphics are gorgeous, the metro underground is equal parts fun and creepy to explore in VR, and the game makes great use of VR to bring the world to life and really immerse the player. Despite a few minor issues, Awakening is a great VR experience and well worth picking up, especially if you are a fan of the series.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak II feels like a game in stasis. The story starts off strong, but fails to deliver and quickly becomes uninteresting. Those who really love these characters will enjoy spending more time with them, but the combat doesn’t feel improved enough to make this feel like a significant step forward.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a special RPG that ranks with the Skyrims and Witchers of its genre. Despite a high learning curve, I found myself lost in its clutches for hours on end, immersed in the world of 1400s Bohemia. An absolutely gorgeous setting that's satisfying to explore, combined with rewarding progression and an outstanding narrative makes KCD2 a lock for awards season.

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion feels like an incomplete game with poor storytelling and little to do. At about 10 hours to complete it’s certainly not worth the $25 asking price. If you’re looking for real-time exploration and turn-based combat, look elsewhere. Games like Divinity Original Sin 2 or Baldur’s Gate do everything Flint wants to do but exceedingly better. If Fantasy isn’t your jam, check out XCOM.

In a saturated market with games clambering to echo the soul of Animal Crossing, Hello Kitty Island Adventure has finally grabbed that baton and ran with it. It ticks every box in what I want from this genre, chucking every possible game mechanic at the player to play around with so there’s never a dull moment, and probably won't be for quite a while. My only gripe is that I had to stop playing it in order to write this review.

Let’s be real here. Sniper Elite: Resistance clearly doesn’t reinvent the series, as it simply expands on where Sniper Elite 5 left off. Those looking for a full fledged next-generation sequel will surely be disappointed, but those looking to play more Sniper Elite will rejoice at the small refinements introduced in this new package. Viva la Sniper Elite 5.5!

Donkey Kong Country Returns HD remains a classic and often challenging platformer brought to new life with a gorgeous HD makeover. Unfortunately, aside from a new gameplay mode which makes the game slightly easier and its updated visuals, this remaster is relatively lacking in new features. Still, fans of Donkey Kong or well-designed platformers will find a lot to love here.

Jedi Power Battles struggles to hit its mark but does enough to be a fun time to play once or twice either alone or with a friend. The addition of new characters is exciting and sometimes ridiculous, but if your goal is to beat the levels, most of the additional characters won’t get it done. If your goal is a trip down memory lane or the chance to show a friend a game that is nostalgic for you, this game is it.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has found its definitive version on PC. The game looks and plays amazingly well. The limited and sometimes odd options can be a bit too restrictive, but if you can find a setup that works for you, it should be smooth, clean sailing.

Arizona Sunshine Remake feels like a modern VR title, despite first releasing in 2017. Though relatively short, Sunshine provides an exciting, fast-paced, zombie shooter filled to the brim with intense situations, great gunplay, and humorous dialogue. The addition of horde mode and two DLCs certainly add value, though one DLC fares better than the other. Still, as an overall package, Arizona Sunshine Remake is well worth the cost of admission.

Fitness Boxing 3’s weak voice work and shoddy motion detection somehow do little to keep you coming back for more. By gamifying the exercise, it keeps you engaged and motivated, and you’ll quickly find yourself surprised at how tired you become from these exercises.

The My Sims Cozy Bundle will give you a nice hit of nostalgia and charm, but not much beyond that. MySims and MySims Kingdom are pretty simple and repetitive games, what you see is what you get. While you can make your own fun, it’s only within the limitations of each title.

Caves of Qud is a game that will reward you more and more for putting in the time and effort to learn about it. Even just from scratching the surface, however, I am absolutely entranced by the worlds the game can create.

Tales of Graces f Remastered is the same enjoyable experience from over a decade ago brought back in a clean package that runs well with some decent quality of life additions like the markers and toggles. Bandai Namco and the developers nailed it this time, no strings attached with this remaster. As for Tales of Graces itself, it stands out in the series with its sillier cast, striking art style, fast paced combat, and easy-to-understand and fun to master Title system. While I think this is the Tales Of game that benefits from co-op the most, you’re getting a fun RPG with a lot of “power of friendship” speeches so if that appeals to you, you’re in for a great time.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins represents a commendable yet contradictory effort to rejuvenate the series. In balancing familiar elements with new features to create a refreshing experience, it loses sight of what made the originals fun and fails to improve on what made them monotonous.

Cave Hikers is clearly intended for younger audiences, and while quite simple, it still manages to be a cute and charming bed-time story adventure. It’s a point-and-click “mockumentary” that can make for a fun evening, but there’s little else beyond the simplicity save for the amusing artstyle and great narrator.

The Oath in Felghana stands strong as one the best Ys entries to date. Its sharp and compact game design makes just as strong of an impression with this Memoire release as it did when I first played it over a decade ago. Unfortunately, this rerelease does not bring much more to the table than a great game to new consoles. Its priorities when it comes to updating the game’s visuals are questionable at best, but thankfully far from fatal.

On Your Tail has a lot of heart, but that’s sadly not enough to support a mystery that is constantly falling flat on its face. Its puzzles are infuriating rather than fun, with no real clues to follow and determine the culprit ahead of time. The characters are incredibly charming, Borgo Marina is gorgeous, and the life sim elements are fun, but the core of this taste of Italy is incredibly bitter.

Romancing Saga 2 - Revenge of the Seven is a brilliant culmination of many of my favorite aspects of JRPGs. While I have some complaints about technical issues and details about implementation, the quality of mechanics and exploration easily blow past them. Fans of the genre will not be disappointed with this sprawling narrative full of secrets and challenges.

Overall, I would say Fantasian is good. But there’s a certain something lacking and while I’m reminded of the nostalgic past, it makes me miss how revolutionary Fantasian’s inspirations were. From the character writing of Final Fantasy VI, the 3D revolution of Final Fantasy VII, one of the first RPGs with near full voice acting in Final Fantasy X, or creating a connected world two years before World of Warcraft with Final Fantasy XI on PlayStation 2. Fantasian isn’t changing anyone’s feelings on RPGs. It’s pretty, silly, and cozy with some genuine heart. But it’s like a beautiful cake. It doesn’t feel like a full meal but it’s tasty and I love looking at it. Fantasian is new-ish, but it’s not Neo.

Poor UI and equally poor communication lead to a frustrating early game experience that diminishes the value of an RPG with otherwise truly interesting gameplay mechanics. While Caves of Lore is a diamond in the rough, it’s a diamond nonetheless.

Death of the Reprobate is a delightfully devilish narrative experience that has you gasping with laughter at every interaction. The game forgoes challenge in order to provide the player with a seamless experience which is to its merit, but could do with a little less hand holding. Despite this, you really do want to stop and smell the roses when you play this game as its artstyle is a wonder to behold, and a bit yucky in other places. Its quirky characters and its use of the renaissance is unique and accessible to any player that doesn't have a degree in art as it prizes itself in how fun of a time you’ll have with it.

Antonblast is chaotic to a fault. Its explosive personality makes for an entertaining spectacle, but it left me wanting for a more controlled detonation.

Fairy Tail 2 arrives at the finale of our favorite wizards' adventure with highlights and shortcomings alike. I recommend it to dedicated fans of the manga and anime, but this simply isn’t a welcoming entry for potential new fans.

While its gacha mechanics feel predatory, Infinity Nikki is a blast in most other aspects. Finding and dressing up in various outfits is fun, and the open world has a ton of variety. The story is surprisingly interesting too, even if it has a few too many lulls. Infinity Nikki feels like the ultimate dress up game, and it’s only going to get bigger from here.

With a handful of bugs to iron out, Alien: Rogue Incursion isn’t quite a “perfect organism”, but it is a creepy good time with compelling performances and a great use of virtual reality.