Miasma Chronicles skillfully merges intense turn-based tactical combat, stealth mechanics, and rewarding exploration, dresses them up in a compelling world and narrative, and makes the result accessible to a broad audience.

Ara: History Untold feels really fresh, immersive, and innovative with its deep city-builder influences being the standout feature. It doesn’t nail the landing in all aspects, but provides the most exciting foundation for further expansion we’ve had in this genre for a long time.

Götterdämmerung is German for “twilight of the gods” – the Ragnarök of Norse mythology. Far from being the end, however, this DLC breathes a lot of new life into Hearts of Iron 4 after some more disappointing expansions. Though it comes at a steep price – $24.99 USD – this is very much a return to form for Paradox, providing massive replayability and detail to one of the most pivotal nations in the setting and some of its close neighbors. Both special projects and raids are neat systems that can be expanded in the future and they more tightly connect the map with the research and army screens we look at so often.

Nightdive has simply made it look nicer on modern screens, run at approximately a bajillion frames per second, and updated the controls so they don’t make the modern player’s brain fall out of their head. Lovely stuff. I hope Nightdive keeps wearing other game studios’ skins.

Despite my complaints, I would happily blast through Warhammer 40k: Boltgun all over again. There may be moments of frustration, but it doesn’t undermine the sheer joy of ripping through fast-paced levels with weapons that gods fear and metal music in the background.

Pokémon TCG Pocket is a truly fantastic mobile game that will keep you opening the app daily — and as long as it stops at once a day, you’ll probably love the experience. If you’re going back for more and more, like me, you’re inevitably going to run out of things to do. Pace yourself, enjoy the experience, and I promise you that Pokémon TCG Pocket is one of the best card games a casual TCG fan can play. At the very least, it’s better than Twitter.

Ghostrunner 2 is the definitive cyber ninja experience – an unapologetically cool power fantasy that’ll get your adrenaline pumping in no time.

Black Myth: Wukong is one of the best non-FromSoftware games in this genre, joining the likes of Lies of P in the pantheon of excellent Soulslikes. Instead of copying Dark Souls’ homework, it carries you through this journey with plenty of ideas and charm of its own.

Pikmin 2 might not be a stone-cold essential like the first game, but it’s still brilliant and well worth playing in 2023.

We Love Katamari was brilliant on the PS2, and it’s still brilliant now. If you’ve not played Katamari Damacy before, rectify that right now.

Stellaris: Grand Archive neatly builds on already existing gameplay systems without adding any unnecessary busywork for the player and does so overflowing with flavor – it’s a strong addition to the space strategy game, though quite pricey for what it offers on paper.

The issue that most Persona 3 fans will have is that Persona 3 Reload is another incomplete version for them to play. However, if all you know of the Persona series is Persona 5, then this is the version you will want to play, with all the modern conveniences thrown in. One day, we dream of the extra episode from FES, the dual protagonists of Portable, and the updated battle system of Reload all in one package, but until then, I think Portable remains the best version.

The Brothers remake doesn’t have all of the changes we would hope for, but it is still a remake of an incredible game. It’s clear that deep thought has gone into each of the small interactions that fill the world, with the personality of each brother shining strongly. Without saying a word, Brothers tells you so much, and that beautiful story is still intact. People may want to pick this one up if only for the two-player mode and commentary from creator Josef Fares himself, but it’s hard to call it the definitive version.

Tactical Breach Wizards is a wonderfully refined turn-based tactics game with fantastic humor and clever combat design that offers challenges for casual and hardcore players – and a lot of defenestrations.

Yakuza Kiwami is the best starting place for the Yakuza series, and the Switch is a great way to experience the start of Kiryu’s journey. While minor problems persist – both in terms of the game itself and its presentation on Switch – there’s not a whole lot holding it back. It’s Yakuza Kiwami, and it’s on Switch, and that’s all it needs to be.

MK1 is a pretty brilliant package. It doesn’t have the same swathe of content that Street Fighter 6 launched with earlier this year, but what is here shines. It’s gory, brutal, and incredibly kamp. This is a great step forward for a franchise that was at risk of stagnating. This is a modern Mortal Kombat klassic.

A few months on, and Star Wars Outlaws plays better than ever thanks to patch 1.4, and the Wild Card DLC might be the best example of everything this game can be. It certainly isn’t a masterpiece, but when compared to other recent Star Wars or Ubisoft games, I’d much rather be cruising around the Outer Rim in the Trailblazer than be anywhere or anyone else in the galaxy far, far away.

Berserk Boy isn’t Mega Man Zero, but it tries its hardest to capture those vibes, and mostly pulls it off. It’s a bit repetitive, and the story isn’t really worth paying attention to, but its fast, fluid, and fun movement and combat make it worth playing for anyone who’s a fan of Sonic, Mega Man, or Azure Striker Gunvolt.

Dead Rising is a silly game that’s secretly very smart. The boss battles might’ve aged, but the decisions you’re forced to make under a 72-hour time limit feel as impactful as a well-timed flying wall kick. You’ll be alerted that survivors have died when you were never even aware of them, and new ones pop up all the time. It’s just as tense and sometimes overwhelming as making that crossing through the packed shopping center on Saturday, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The narrative and character writing carried me along from dungeon to dungeon, where the clever puzzle design kept me entertained from start to finish. There’s room for improvement as far as the platforming controls and combat are concerned, but the more I played the less those complaints mattered to me as I became enamored with everything else it had to offer.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty isn’t a perfect game. The beautifully tweaked combat system is let down by a few useless weapons and some duff level design, but when it does everything right, it feels like a diamond in the rough. This certainly isn’t Nioh 3, but it’s the perfect masocore experience for both new players in co-op, and for those that need something to tide them over until we get Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree.

The keyword of Age of Wonders 4 is “choice” – the game provides a lot of it, expressed in all of its mechanics. Lending itself to near unlimited replayability, especially once the ambitious plans for expansions and new content are realized, Age of Wonders 4 is a natural evolution of the series’ classic formula and will have min-maxers and role-players alike suffer from a severe bout of one-more-turn fever.

Even after 15 hours and finishing the main story I didn’t feel like I fully understood Ultros, and that is what was most exciting about it. With pathways undiscovered and new upgrades as yet unused, the main game feels like a long tutorial for how to explore the world at your own pace afterward. Ultros is definitely a step forward for the genre, and I hope it encourages others to push boundaries and expectations in the future.

I still haven’t learned to play Seal’s Kiss From A Rose, by the way. It’s a fair bit tougher than I expected, but I’m not giving up yet. Rocksmith+ has taken my money for another month – and on the laggier PS5, whether I like it or not – and I’m going to make the most of it. I’ll at least clear through the Intermediate piano lessons, and play bass to a few Mobb Deep tracks. This arrogant fool has been humbled through this whole process, but it’s been great to drop the ego and go back to basics. Nothing quite makes you appreciate how far you’ve come like going back to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 is a great Call of Duty game when those are growing fewer and further between. It’s the best Call of Duty game on the latest generation of consoles, and it’s available to play on Xbox and PC via Xbox Game Pass. Last year’s COD might’ve been the biggest rip off of 2023, but Black Ops 6 stands as the most robust FPS release of 2024. Enjoy it while it lasts, because there’s no guarantee the series will reach these highs ever again.

As you can probably tell from the dozen mentions of Monster Hunter in this review, it’s tough to separate Wild Hearts from what it’s inspired by. These games both fit into their own niche genre of action game, and both excel at different things. But even through all my frustrations, and all the times I shut the game off after getting knocked down a single time, I still want to return to Wild Hearts with friends to get better gear and take down bigger Kemono – and that’s a good indicator that this game is doing something right.

The setup is frustrating and can even feel like a waste of time, but I also appreciate how it forced me to change my expectations. Pacific Drive expects you to approach it on its own terms, and if you’re willing to do that, you’re in for quite a ride.

Paranormasight takes the best elements from all the greatest visual novels and mashes them together for a gripping supernatural thriller.

Penny’s Big Breakaway is the closest somebody that isn’t Nintendo has gotten to making 3D platforming feel perfect, and that’s a huge achievement in itself. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s hard not to love something that’s made with such passion for retro 3D platforming.

What you will remember about Hi-Fi Rush is just how charming it is. It’s so rare for a game from one of the major developers to take a creative risk, and Hi-Fi Rush does just that. Not only is the core of the game innovative, but the way each character is written takes a big risk of having people switch off before they develop and you grow to love them. I hope Hi-Fi Rush is incredibly successful. I hope it teaches the industry that creative innovation can also create profits, and we see more new and interesting ideas from the big boys in the future.

Freedom Wars is the best game that was never ported from the Vita, and the remaster makes all of the quality-of-life changes we could reasonably expect it to. It looks more beautiful than ever, with some flashy cutscenes, and though it pains me to say, the remaster is the best way to play. My only worry is that it isn’t enough. While it surpasses the 150GB games of today in terms of innovative gameplay mechanics, fast, fluid movement options, and fourth wall breaks, it lacks the accessibility and variety modern gamers have come to expect.

Sometimes you just need to relax, calm down, and breathe in the culture, and Tchia lets you do just that. It's got its issues, the technical side of things is a bit lacking, and the combat can become a bit tedious with time, but when you're just wandering, seeking out new stories, taking in all the world has to offer, everything else falls away.

The Plucky Squire gives you simple combat and clever puzzles, all wrapped up in two gorgeously colorful art styles that stand out from anything I’ve played in a long time, with a story that made me smile at every turn.

Sure, it’s the best version of Persona 4, but a lot of that legwork was done in the Steam port, so it’s hard to really give much credit to this. Still, Persona 4 Golden is a great game with a wonderful soundtrack and a combat system that absolutely rules, which makes it worth playing (or replaying) for any Persona fan.

Mind Over Magnet is the exact kind of puzzler I love the most. It picks one idea and makes it the focus, constantly finding new ways to make you think about it from new perspectives and combing those ideas to make challenging puzzles, rather than relying on constantly introducing new mechanics. It doesn’t break the mold or revolutionize the genre, but it accomplishes what it set out to do, making me scratch my head just the right amount to make each puzzle satisfying to solve while keeping up a good pace that never let the experience drag.

It’s safe to say that this DLC will please just about any Pokémon fan. There’s so much to do, and all of it is way more engaging than usual, packaged in all of the best aspects of the main game. It may not fix the game’s biggest flaws, but it’s clear that the team at Game Freak knows what the fans want. If they can just get their technology in order and stick to the ideas pushed in this DLC, the next mainline Pokémon game could be something truly incredible.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is undoubtedly the best way to play Arc System Works’ Granblue fighter – the original can be uninstalled now – but if you fell off the original game, this probably won’t bring you back. However if all you wanted was some netcode improvements to keep you in the game, then Rising is essential. As long as you don’t buy it for Grand Bruise Legends, you’ll adore Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising.

If you never bought Sonic Origins, then Sonic Origins Plus is an essential addition to your gaming library, and proof that some games are timeless. You don’t have to have nostalgia for the originals to enjoy these four games, it is almost impossible not to enjoy yourself while running through the zones. My issue is that the additions don’t give much more than the Premium Sonic Origins, and that Premium content should have been included from the start.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is a fantastic return for a classic franchise, though it can feel a bit thin on the ground in terms of content. It’s in dire need of a .5 entry, like For Answer or Verdict Day. Don’t take that as a condemnation though – it needs a .5 entry because we need more Armored Core 6. This is a fantastic base for the future of Armored Core, and after playing this I need to see that future as soon as possible.

Imagine Earth’s console bugs are an annoying hurdle to get over, but they’re likely something Serious Bros. will patch out in the coming months. Underneath the little issues is a smart and thoughtful strategy game that makes good use of the medium as a teaching tool without making it feel like a gimmick.

Even though the feeling on the pitch is only slight different, not all of the new gameplay additions hit the mark - but even so, there's something that makes EA Sports FC 24 feel like the freshest games in the series, and certainly a good way to leave FIFA behind.

Ultimately, Frostpunk 2 is something very rare: A sequel that manages to substantially reinvent itself and innovate on the foundation of its predecessor without losing what made it great in the first place – in itself, this boldness is deserving of applause.

Goblin Stone is a wholesome version of Darkest Dungeon, ticking all the same boxes without being a blind copycat – meaningful additions like the breeding system and its narrative ensure that it’s a unique experience that can stand on its own. Though the restrictions of its budget do show here and there, it’s clearly a labor of much love and craftsmanship that will keep you entertained for many hours.

Terra Nil is the Bob Ross strategy game about planting happy little trees you never knew you needed in your life.

It’s this fantastic interweaving of the strategic and tactical layers that makes Last Train Home such an enjoyable ride in combination with the loving eye for authenticity and immersion.

Indika isn’t a game you will enjoy playing, but you should do it anyway. Whether you agree with it or not, it will ask you to question the status quo, who has the right to judge others or decide right from wrong. Video games can be a form of escapism, a power fantasy, or mindless fun. Indika isn’t that. It’s something you won’t understand right away. It’s one you’ll want to discuss with others after you finish. It’s one that could change your worldview.

WWE 2K23 does what any annual sports series should do. It gets the roster as up-to-date as it can, expands on the game modes that are already there, and refines gameplay little by little. In a year when the WWE games will finally have a big competitor in the upcoming AEW: Fight Forever, this is a solid entry to remind everyone who the king of the mountain is.

It makes Demon’s Mirror a harmony of interlocking systems that all shine brightest when you’re forced to bounce between each one to make the most efficient turn. The cards may be more simplistic than Slay the Spire, but that’s only because having the board involved adds so much innate complexity. If you try to always have a game like this on hand to kill some time, then Demon’s Mirror is a great addition to your rotation, offering you something familiar while bringing ideas to the table that no one else in the genre has.

UFC 5 is the strongest MMA game ever released, and I’m excited to see where the team takes it online. But if you’re not interested in fighting other players, there’s probably not enough meat in the career mode to fully recommend it right now.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a brilliantly made action platformer. The action is as solid as the platforming, and it all comes together cohesively. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, but solid level design and varied gameplay between levels keep things feeling fresh. Combine that with the solid gameplay mechanics, and you have yourself a winner. Rift Apart isn’t going to blow anybody away, but when a game is this well-made, you can’t help but play with a smile on your face.

Starward Vector expands on the Citizen Sleeper formula not just with gameplay features, but how they connect to the narrative. You’ll experience higher highs and lower lows in ways that will surprise even aficionados of the original. When I finished Citizen Sleeper’s multiple endings, I felt a sense of ease, as if I’d seen all that the game had to offer. The opposite is true of Starward Vector. Your decisions, actions, successes and failures all feel as if they have stark outcomes on story beats going forward. If you want a great story, I urge you to play Starward Vector, even though your experience won’t be the same as mine.

There are some exciting puzzles and well executed point-and-click elements which add to the story and encourage you to explore the town. But there are also some fighting sequences and quick time events, which seem completely opposite to the themes it’s going for. There are also a huge number of collectibles, which in general add to the world-building, but feel punishing as many are time or chapter specific. However, for these fumbles the story is so incredible that it’s easy to look past them, and enjoy one of the best stories gaming has to offer.

Look, this game isn’t going to be for everybody, but as a cute little idle clicker that has you acting as either an angel for good or a demon for chaos, it’s a lot of fun to have running while you do other things on your PC.

When you engage with it on a deeper level Shadows of Doubt really sings, and that wouldn’t be possible if they sacrificed that complexity just to widen the appeal. It knows exactly the kind of experience it wants to be and doesn’t compromise its ideas to make sure that’s what players get. The result is one of the best mystery games ever made, and I hope they continue to develop these systems even after this 1.0 launch.

Even in this subpar technical state, Cities: Skylines 2 is a potent and captivating sandbox that’ll see the hours fly by as you engage with it. It’s a worthy successor to the title that dethroned the mighty SimCity and will define the genre for the years to come. Official as well as modded content will surely supply players with even more toys and tools in the future.

A unique genre mix, Empire of the Ants positively surprised me with its beauty, story, and smooth controls. Tower Five and Microids didn’t deliver perfection, but something thoroughly enjoyable.

Hi-Fi Rush runs incredibly well on PS5, with a rock-solid 60fps output, fast loading times, and a resolution target that looks close to native 4K. It looks excellent on a 4K display. The 3D audio integration is also noteworthy, although the DualSense integration leaves a little to be desired. The same is true for no cross-save support.

Despite its similarities to so many other soulslike games, it does enough to be different. For hardcore soulslike players, there is the promise of a new story, and alternate endings among the difficult boss fights. For newcomers, Lies of P does a good job of easing you into the action. It hasn’t made me more interested in soulslike as a genre, despite me obsessing over it for the last few weeks, which I guess goes to show just how different it is. Despite how dark and rainy it may seem, there is a genuine goofiness to it that is rare to find, and the promise of a unique story for each playthrough will see it stand out.

Even after more than two decades of RPGs featuring Mario since, Super Mario RPG is still up there with the best of them, and this remake solidifies that. It’s simple, sure, but it’s great fun, and set the stage for every turn-based Mario game since. It’s been a brilliant year for Nintendo fans, and Super Mario RPG is the perfect send-off for the Switch in 2023.

If you love Against the Storm and simply want to add some more spice to your runs, because you already know every cornerstone and event like the back of your hand, then Keepers of the Stone is a no-brainer for you – it brings a variety of new content, a slight increase in challenge, and minimal mechanical add-ons that will feel impactful to someone who plays the game a lot. If you’re new to the game anyway, then you’ll be completely fine without the added investment into the DLC for a long, long while.

Park Beyond is a fabulous theme park builder with vibrant aesthetics, rock-solid controls and UI, and satisfying mechanics – and thanks to the power of impossification, the game has a much longer staying power and more variety than many other representatives of its genre. The game does exactly what it promises: It lets you build your wildest dreams.

Optimization on PC seems a tad problematic. Aside from a challenging Thrustmaster pedal set-up, the frame rate is on the low 70fps with an Nvidia RTX 3080 while resorting to a relatively low resolution of 2560x1080. Even at such low resolution, the game features aggressive dips between cutscenes and traffic at the start. This may be something to watch out for for those not playing on Xbox Series X, where performance is solid.

Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero isn’t a competitive fighter or a story-driven adventure; it’s a toybox. It’s a place for you to play and experiment with the Dragon Ball universe, toying with its timeline, characters, settings, music, and more. It’s not the sort of thing that manages to charm me, it’s a bit “10 hours of jingling keys,” but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a big smile on my face when I finished off Perfect Cell with an Instant Transmission Kamehameha before Gohan even got a turn. Wish the lads from the playground could see that now.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is one of the oddest games we’ve seen from Capcom in a while. It feels like an indie idea, given a reasonable budget, the kind of game we haven’t really seen since the PS2 era. Because of that, it almost feels hard to recommend. I can’t say, ‘if you liked X, you’ll love Kunitsu-Gami’, because there’s nothing else quite like Kunitsu-Gami. And that’s probably why you should play it anyway. If you’re not an action nut or strategy master, that might be even better, as it doesn’t fit neatly into either of those genres either. It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and it’s well worth your time.

Despite those minor gripes, Nexus 5X is a fantastic turn-based strategy game to play on a game night: It’s easy to get into, has strategic depth, and an important social element that will make you hate your friends – at least for the duration of the game.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered updates the original game with mixed results from an artistic perspective, but its abundance of accessibility options, improved performance, and technically improved asset quality make it an unnecessary but worthwhile upgrade.

Classified: France ‘44 offers a strong package for turn-based tactics enthusiasts, delivering fun, thrilling battles and some strategic freedom inside a grounded, authentic World War 2 narrative.

If I’m making it sound like a mess, it’s not. Great care has been taken to make all of these systems work together beautifully, pulling the best elements of each system into a game that is very challenging, yet satisfying to play. Gameplay has a nice sense of momentum that stops you from getting bogged down in drawn-out strategies, but there’s still plenty of room for careful planning and clever tactics.

Live A Live is a piece of JRPG history, and the remake is the best way to play it. While there are a few obtuse puzzle and pacing issues, these are more indicative of the time it was originally released than the remake. If you don’t have a stomach for heavy story, maybe leave this one, but it's one of the better narratives you can enjoy.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is a bombastic celebration of the setting, a must-play for its fans, and a bloodlust-inducing third-person shooter experience for everyone, though anyone looking to engage with single-player content only will find themselves chewing on bone a little too soon.

You get what you expect from Monument Valley 3, but that isn’t a bad thing. It’s a beautiful, whimsical journey through plenty of impossibly pathed levels perfected for mobile play, and honestly that’s all it needs to be.

The ending didn’t sour me on Visions of Mana overall, but did leave me pondering its squandered potential. This is a game that could have brought the Mana series back to its former glory, but it appears that the development team weren’t given the room to shine. If you decide to try it for yourself, you’ll still find a beautiful game befitting of the Mana series, with some of the best battles it has to offer, but just be prepared for a story that goes nowhere.

Burning Shores doesn’t add a great deal to the story and character development is seemingly optional, but if you want more beasts to bash, more ways to bash them, and gorgeous scenery to ogle at, you won’t be disappointed.

As a visual novel connoisseur Emio – The Smiling Man doesn’t go to the top of my list. However, it does gain points for taking risks with how horrifying the story is willing to go, and for the few instances of breaking the fourth wall. The pacing and characters are strong, but the way you interact with the world can be repetitive and ultimately frustrating. It’s one for those who love a mystery and don’t mind occasionally hitting a brick wall.

The Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters aren’t necessarily the perfect versions of the original six Final Fantasy games, but they’re the easiest to jump into and play right now, and they’re well worth it. If you’ve ever wanted to play the original games, this is how you should do it.

Ex Astris is a very solid start for Nous Wave Studio and worth picking up for anyone willing to sink their teeth into a deep combat system on the go or wanting to experience a mobile JRPG without the gacha looming in the background.

It doesn’t do anything special, but it is a solid story that will keep you intrigued with some tense decision-making. I captured my imagination enough that I wanted to see all six routes, with not only the good but the bad endings too. It’s a cliche, but Otome fans will enjoy this one, though it doesn’t have enough of a mystery to attract those outside the genre.

These minor niggles aside, it really is an excellent story. It’s tightly woven with clues to the eventual conclusion woven throughout from the very beginning. I thought there were glaring plot holes at first, but these are well wrapped up by the time the epilogue comes around. If you like games that challenge you with twists and turns then I can’t recommend it enough. It uses the interactive elements well, but could have tightened up how right and wrong answers are handled.

I hope Ubisoft continues to make city-based Assassin’s Creed games because it’s refreshing to play something this tight and focused after the more bloated, RPG-focused AC games, but the developers need to update it for modern tastes. From the tech powering it to the structure and base mechanics, I’d love to see where the series could go with a proper overhaul. I’m not asking for a completely different game, but the physics and parkour controls feel drastically dated, and it’d be nice if they could find a way to let us infiltrate buildings beyond making us search for keys like it’s Doom.

Planet of Lana does many things right, and there are certainly parts you’ll remember, it just doesn’t do too much different. It needed something more to subvert your expectations, but when the inspiration already did this, it’s harder to take it further. Still if you haven’t played these three games, you’ll definitely enjoy your time, or even be wowed by what you find.

The Rising Tide is considerably more content-packed than the initial Echoes of the Fallen DLC, but it doesn’t change 16’s fate. If you want more of Clive Rosfield’s adventures to defy the gods, then The Rising Tide is for you, but if you only have a passing curiosity, then you probably won’t regret skipping over Leviathan in Final Fantasy 16.

Feeling more approachable than its byzantine predecessors, Men of War 2 is a solid entry into the iconic franchise, keeping its core tenets intact: It’s challenging, highly moddable, and offers tons of ways to experience the game – unfortunately, it comes with the same baggage of jank, preventing it from reaching higher spheres.

Football Manager 2024 is inevitably an end-of-cycle game. SI's passion meant that even this year, we got a number of decent innovations, some surprising like the improvements in animation. However, the outdated engine and gameplay patterns, more and more easy to read, are still there with them. You'll play it and enjoy it, but don't necessarily expect a memorable release.

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a mostly solid port of a trilogy of games that are at best messy and at worst frustrating for all the wrong reasons. The series’ signature gameplay has been preserved very well, and the three games in the collection are a lot of fun to play, as long as you don’t mind the characters being all over the place. A bit more care could have been put into the PC port, but the complaints I have with the port are minor at best.

The part that felt they didn’t fit in with the rest of the game was the reliance on stealth. There are numerous stealth sections throughout, and I felt they were put there to make it feel more ‘gamey’. There should have been more faith in the words as the gameplay, as they are the strongest aspect, and the stealth is just a distraction. Clearer maps to work your way around also would have done a lot for the exploration and prevented some frustrating backtracking.

It’s certainly not a bad roguelike if you’re into the genre. The content there is engaging enough to keep you going for a while, just don’t expect it to be the kind of game that’ll be in your regular rotation for years to come.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, but I couldn’t stop thinking about what it could be. Some tweaks to the formula would lead to a much stronger game, though the game at its core is a fantastic and innovative idea, and gave plenty of new concepts to excite me.

What most interested me is that the ending you achieve isn’t only in the choices you make, but in the way you play. Without spoiling the surprise, even meta aspects of how you play lead you down certain paths. You can’t save at a seemingly important choice and go back and see the other path, but you have to play again, and you will notice a whole different outcome. This way of path choosing was an innovation that I had never expected, and what left me thinking about the smaller things I do in real life too. This system is something special, and despite smaller issues with the characters, this system has shown a new era for visual novels.

All in all, Hexarchy is a casual turn-based strategy game worth checking out.

Unlike Slay the Spire, this is not an endless roguelike. Maps are predetermined and have a set number of paths, though you can’t explore all of them in one go, so you’re still incentivized to go back several times. There are also secret locations you can unlock by bringing certain heroes. Team composition is also important because some characters unlock additional powers when teamed up with certain other heroes. The biggest problem with the game is that it’s a bit janky. Targeting your cards at the right character is sometimes difficult, and there is always a delay between playing the card, the little character animations this triggers, and the sounds of the animation. It’s also a very easy game, so those looking for a challenge won’t exactly get one here.

While it’s not perfect, I truly enjoyed my time with The Lost Crown. The platforming and world-building are top-tier, which makes up for many of its pitfalls (remember those in the original?). It matches up with the metroidvania greats: Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge, Symphony of the Night, and Ori and the Blind Forest in terms of the game’s map, hidden secrets, and platforming challenges. The Lost Crown gives metroidvania fans everything they crave – if that’s what you’re here for, you won’t be disappointed.

I’m left struggling with how to talk about The Teal Mask. Like the main game, it is one of the most enjoyable mainline Pokémon games ever produced, but the series’ old problems keep rearing their ugly heads and dragging the experience down from both a technical and gameplay standpoint. I love this DLC and I love Scarlet & Violet, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

While not every game in the Jackbox Party Pack 10 hits quite right, the few that do are some of the best the series has ever seen. Unfortunately, as high as the highs are, the lows are just as low, with FixyText souring the experience somewhat with unfortunate desyncs and boring prompts.

What distances it from Persona – and it really is similar in many ways – is the detail and design of the monsters, as well as the real-time combat. There are a huge number of systems at play here, combos, special moves, elemental effects, partner skills, and special skills all work together to help you take down what can be fairly difficult bosses. The downside of a condensed story is that you won’t be as close to the characters by the end but it did what it wanted to do effectively, and I’m excited to see what else comes from the team.

Personally, I’d rather play a co-op shooter that’s flawed and interesting than the third iteration of a hyper-polished template – Far Cry 2 will always be more interesting than Far Cry 6 and the Breaking Bad man can’t even change that. Redfall has a personality all of its own. If Arkane stands in front of a mirror and takes stock, it will probably see all the scars and imperfections, too, but it’s better than seeing no reflection at all.

Infold Games built a beautiful world I’d not be unhappy to live in. It’s a world in which creativity, passion, and empathy are the highest of virtues and can make a real difference – a message that’s more important than ever. Strolling through the landscapes of Miraland, you can forget about everything, reinvent yourself on the spot if you’d like, and simply space out as you veer from melancholy to wholesome vibes. If such a sandbox, such a retreat, is what you’re looking for, then Infinity Nikki hits the mark dead-on – but it falters the moment you crave a little more substance...For the moment, that is. Infinity Nikki will evolve over time, as live-service games tend to do, and many of its starting issues are in the realm of being fixable.

You have to come into Sunshine Shuffle with the right expectations. You’re here to listen to an enjoyable story while a basic game of poker happens in the background.

Showgunners doesn’t let a clutter of subsystems distract it from its main focus, which is to deliver a series of intense and varied turn-based battles in an atmosphere that neatly fits the genre – it’s not revolutionary and you won’t find yourself replaying the game again and again. Those looking for exactly that, however – a well-defined and very competent experience – will get their money’s worth.