Archon and co-op modes provide a stair step for new players and veterans alike to rejoin the multiplayer ranks, whereas the incredibly strong single player ties up the story arc nicely. While most sequels don’t feel the freedom to innovate, Blizzard has done exactly that, making the venerable series feel fresh and new.

The first season is one that is full of hard choices and a lot of sacrifice and feels very much in line with what fans have come to expect from Game of Thrones, but just how much all of this will matter has been hidden away for a second season.

Nintendo’s best competitive sports title is just as thrilling as ever, but feels a little too familiar and light on content.

Saint Seiya Soldier’s Soul is a quaint fighting game that has its small playability value robbed by a unique fatal flaw in the restart option that drags the action and frustrates the player.

Stella Glow has a talent for keeping you engaged all the way through, which is a rare trait for the increasingly niche world of Japanese Role Playing games.

There’s a charming game in Goggles that is unfortunately hidden behind a half-baked software release. While the art style is colorful and unique, the gameplay is flat and an important portion of the experience, multiplayer, has no participants. While I love the level design, it’s not to recommend the game on.

Lovely Weather We’re Having has a solid foundation of eye-catching artwork and an ever-changing landscape based on your local weather. However, there are a few negatives that can’t be overlooked, such as the rough audio, the lack of dialogue, and the small size of the world.

Fallout 4 may be an iterative step forward for the series, but it is every bit what RPG fans know, love, and expect.

It’s easy to brush aside lofty claims, but Untame has delivered the distinctive gaming experience they promised and then some.

Broforce is a fun game, but it’s overbearing and obnoxious tone made it difficult to play for more than an hour or so at a time.

In that rubble, a wonderful bounty is excavated; an exquisite story, a compelling heroine, a fascinating sandbox, and a beautiful view. Rise of the Tomb Raider is a little more subdued, a little less bombastic, and a whole lot more introspective. It sometimes falters in scripted sequences and technical hitches. But the way it combines such excellent themes into such fantastic gameplay is evidence that Lara’s story was one that needed to continue.

How would I describe it in a single word? Fantastic! If this is the kind of work a three-year development cycle can give a AAA game, then I don’t want to see Black Ops 4 until 2018, and counting down the days to it’s release.

If you are at all on the fence on finding a game which can deliver a rich experience and dozens of hours of gameplay with a great mix of resource management, city building, and RTS combat: this just might fit the bill.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes can occasionally get tedious when playing alone, but the multiplayer is one of the greatest handheld co-op experiences around.

Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns offers everything a seasoned player could want in an expansion, and more. Coupled with ArenaNet’s track record of continuous free updates, it should be an automatic purchase for anyone at or near the max level.

The live-action scenes are a great idea and work well at times, but I also felt they were just put there to move me from race to race. I never fully found myself connecting to any characters or the story.

There are some framerate hitches to go along with the graphical and lighting overhaul, and there isn’t a whole lot new here, but if you missed out the first time, don’t let this one pass you by.

Cibele has some things going for it, such as a narrative structure based on interaction with the main character’s computer. It’s a fairly predictable story told in a new way. Some parts of it were intriguing, but overall it didn’t really wow me.

With the largest cast of wrestlers the franchise has ever seen, 2K and Yukes have done a solid job righting the WWE 2K ship. That being said, there is still a lot of work to be done.

Downwell is a simple and fun 2D platformer. Its unique gameplay makes it fast-paced and challenging, and its roguelike qualities keep it from growing bland or frustrating. Spend a little time with this game and you may get hooked too.

With over 13,000 changes to the base product, a graphical overhaul, and a bevy of UI additions, Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition improves on the original release in every way. There are a few hiccups in translation, but they are minor bumps in the road for this incredible RPG.

Minecraft: Story Mode is left with a lot to prove in the coming episodes. “Assembly Required” doesn’t do much to convince players that any of its drama is genuine, or that any of its plotlines can adequately fill up what they’ve come to expect in a full episode of a Telltale series.

The best parts of Payday 2 and Left 4 Dead in the gritty Warhammer fantasy universe, with a heavy emphasis on melee combat and loot. There’s tons here for co-op fans, and the emphasis on melee makes it stand out from the rest of the pack.

Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree’s Woe and the Blight Below is an excellent musou game and a blast to play. It retains its Dragon Quest heritage beautifully, while still creating an experience fun for any fan of musou gameplay.

A fun solo venture, but it won’t suck out thousands of your hours.

If you enjoyed The Bloody Baron quest line in The Witcher III: Wild Hunt, you will absolutely love Hearts of Stone. While it is the first piece of DLC with a price tag, the storyline justifies that at twice the price.

Overlord: Fellowship of Evil is, by a wide margin, one of the worst games of the year. I don’t know what the team at Codemaster was thinking, but they’ve wrecked everything Triumph Studios had built. Either give it back, or let this franchise die — it has suffered enough, as have we.

With a proper DM, Sword Coast Legends feels every bit like the pen and paper game come to life. On the other hand, running modules or playing through the 40-hour single player game makes it feel like more of a standard fare dungeon crawler than a Dungeons & Dragons game.