A lack of originality and some storytelling flaws hurt it a little, but the end result still has enough visual flair and enjoyable bits of narrative to easily earn a recommendation.

We Are The Dwarves shouldn’t be completely dismissed, as it still at least has some neat ideas, controls nicely and looks pretty, but it comes across being so viciously unfair that it can only be recommended to the most hardcore fans of this genre.

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition adds the necessary adjustments to a game that simply wasn’t what it should have been the first time around, and while the result is hardly an action RPG classic, it’s somehow become not only enjoyable, but bizarrely likeable in the process.

Suffice it to say, Stranger of Sword City is a must-play for JRPG fans who own an Xbox One.

Knee Deep is unique, but in the end fails to capture its potential into a truly memorable experience.

There’s nothing that gets your blood boiling and your heart racing like a hardcore strategy-RPG with perma-death, and Fire Emblem Fates fits that mold to a T. It’s a shame that the overall experience is separated into three different packages, removing the significant choice near the beginning of the game in favor of what’s inside of your wallet.

Built for simplicity and entertainment, Upwards, Lonely Robot is a worthy title. With a budget price and a boatload of levels and modes to conquer, the buck to bang ratio is in the audience’s favor.

Still, if you’re a fan of the WarioWare games and want a game that scratches that itch, Peter Panic is a good choice, even if it does leave you wanting.

Sadame isn’t a terrible game by any stretch. Obvious attention was paid to get all the action/RPG trappings in place to create a deep experience. Everywhere, that is, except where it really counts.

If you can get past some of the rather tedious moments plagued throughout the campaign, Deponia Doomsday becomes a rather comical adventure.

There is more that could be done to improve the series, such as moving further from tropes to create more memorable characters, but it is already leaps and bounds beyond some of the worst examples of visual novel fanservice available.

Most of the game is well put together and engaging and when it finally reaches its pinnacle, with the bosses and the Sky Tower, it becomes a compulsory addictive game.

Galariland is a cute and friendly world being threatened by a dark evil just dangerous enough to need a hero to drive it back, and if that involves growing vegetables and tending cows as much as smacking around monsters, then Prince Pietro is more than willing to attack the problem with a sword in one hand and a hoe in the other.

Dungelot is an enjoyable roguelike that can provide a challenge to players of almost any skill level without becoming frustrating.

Alekhine’s Gun is a title where the ambition of design outmatches the execution with gusto.

There’s still a plethora of content here to enjoy if you somehow are able to look past this crippling technical issue, but unfortunately it seems the transition to the open platform has failed to live up to certain expectations.

Anyone seeking some fun motorcycle racing action should give it a shot because while it is limited in content, everything here is mostly well-executed outside of rider animations.

Simplistic and often jarring its intended design may seem, Soul Axiom is a game that requires, as much cunningly desires, the player’s warranted need to look beyond the surface that’s initially presented. Whether that be in its puzzle design or the ample conflict of environments, Wales Interactive do just enough with the overarching themes of simulation and replication to make its superficial locales feel that extra bit suspicious.

If you’re the type of gamer who is sick of the same games coming out over and over again, then Superhot is a breath of fresh air thanks to its phenomenally executed central mechanic.

Those who already own the release on consoles have no reason to double dip unless they want to play it on the go, but for those who prefer the portable experience, Mega Man Legacy Collection is a winner on 3DS.

The King’s Challenge is a serviceable old school point ‘n’ click adventure that should appeal to fans that found the recent remake by Sierra a tad too removed from the spirit of the original.

Still, The Flame in the Flood offers a genuinely new variation on the survival game theme, tuned, focused and confident in its execution.

The sloppy translations and awkward English are not what brings the game down, but rather the structure of the missions, the lack of character development, and most critically, the uninteresting, spectator sport combat.

The atmosphere and bits of story can easily help keep one hooked to it, so you may want to give this one a chance if you’re up for a good puzzler. Just don’t blame yourself if you pull the occasional hair out because your character has a lead foot.

Devil Daggers is laser-focused on providing a very specific type of shooter experience, suggesting old school classics stripped down to their fundamental core. It’s simple but not simplistic and the very definition of addictive.

TRON RUN/r stumbles in a few spots and is a little too expensive for its own good, but it’s beautiful to look at, incredibly fun to play and offers the perfect sense of challenge for players with good reflexes.

It would have been an absolute travesty to see one of the highest regarded mobile games in recent memory suffer on the big screen, but Hitman GO: Defintive Edition is a stellar way to play Square Enix Montreal’s debut title.

In Too Deep isn’t bad, nor does it fully suggest that The Walking Dead: Michonne will be a letdown. But if this helping was any indication, it would appear that splitting this side game up into an episodic adventure was a bad idea.

Even for a game priced at five dollars, Ninja Senki DX is a letdown.

There are an increasing amount of yuri visual novels on Steam these days, but you’ll be extremely hard-pressed to find something more heartfelt than Kindred Spirits on the Roof.

Melee combat can be disorienting and the story isn’t all that memorable. Still, Far Cry Primal nails what it does right. Beast Mastery is a great new mechanic, the presentation is fantastic, and most importantly, it feels just like a Far Cry game. Woolly mammoths may have gone extinct, but Primal ensures that the Far Cry franchise won’t follow suit.

While a little more realism would make American Truck Simulator more fun, paradoxical as that may sound, there’s no escaping how fantastically playable it is.

Cities: Skylines just keeps getting better. Thanks to lots of dedicated fans and modders, and the official After Dark and Snowfall expansions, the game offers endless fun and creativity.

The Following expands Dying Light in a meaningful new way, giving fans something fun to salivate over.

It’s such a shame that Street Fighter V launched in the state it did; it’s impossible to wholeheartedly recommend to everyone as a result. If you’re on the fence or a newcomer, you’re better off waiting for another update or two for the game to get fully fleshed out. But even right now, beyond all its rough edges and missing modes, Street Fighter V is a tremendous fighting game at the top of its class.

The game looks fantastic and feels like it was designed specifically for the PS Vita. Capturing the essence of what Digimon is, Cyber Sleuth is the Digimon game fans have been waiting for.

Wait for this one to show up in a bargain bin because the few things added into the series at this point do nothing to make up for its shortcomings.

While I want desperately to share yuri goodness with gamers, Sacrament of the Sheep: The Confused Sheep and the Tamed Wolf is not going to receive my recommendation.

In many ways it feels like an expansion, but one that comes packed to the brim with new content.

Move or Die is a perfect example of genius in its simplicity. Genius that involves blasting a sentient teacup in the head with a sniper rifle, but genius nonetheless.

From highly customizable characters to deep and meaningful combat that has been improved over its predecessor, there’s a lot here to like, at least on paper. Unfortunately, this is only when it all comes together properly.

Starward Rogue is easily the best arcade roguelike since Binding of Isaac: Rebirth and while it doesn’t stray too far from its inspiration’s influence, it makes up for this by executing its formula incredibly well.

If you’re looking for something to scare you for an hour or two on a dark night, then this is a title you should consider picking up. If you’re looking for the next great horror title, however, your efforts will be better served elsewhere.

Unfortunately, Doors fails — as a finished product — with so many of its critical aspects.

Awakening’s new multiplayer maps are well designed, encouraging players to experiment with different playstyles. Skyjacked will be appreciated by those who loved Hijacked, but others may find its constant spawn-flipping annoying. Der Eisendrache is an excellent Zombies experience that longtime Zombies fans will have a great time sinking their teeth into. The only downside to Awakening is Splash thanks to its numerous glitches.

Players who don’t need everything to bristle with a dark malevolence will find a great time in this one.

It’s an inventive game that skillfully captures the perils and intrigue of space exploration, wrapping it up in an endlessly replayable package.

In the end, those who are more familiar with works of Nitroplus will get the most out of Nitroplus Blasterz (shockingly enough), but even those with no prior knowledge of the included franchises should easily be able to enjoy it.

Sickness is not a visual novel for the faint of heart or those looking for a good, comedic romp with adorable anime characters. While you will find anime-style art, it is hardly attributed to anything adorable or sweet for long.

Arslan: The Warriors of Legend takes the Warriors formula and franchise in a new direction, but the core gameplay is largely familiar.

Firewatch is one of those games that you need to take a step back and think about after it’s over. This tense four-hour adventure might lead you to believe it’s going places it never goes, and while some might wish for a grander tale loaded with conspiracy, what’s actually there stands on its own as wonderful. A touching human story sprinkled with player agency, Firewatch succeeds in causing players to consider what it truly means to be alone.

If only it was a little longer and more fleshed out, Rise of the Tomb Raider’s Baba Yaga would have been something special, but alas, it ends up being only a solid, albeit dry, in the middle deviation from the main campaign.

It’s a game that tries too hard to be vague and ambiguous that it ultimately leaves the content that is there to process feeling disproportionately stagnant.

It’s an experience that was quite intense for this particular reviewer. It is a wondrously constructed game born of love and culminating as an incredibly, beautifully bittersweet, emotional adventure. Filled with heart from its opening to the cessation of the credits, it will wow you, make you smile and make you cry. Gamer or not, you need to play Unravel.

If you’re smitten by the style and want a casual dual joystick shooter to plow through in an afternoon, AIPD isn’t a bad purchase. But if you’re hoping for a shooter with some real meat to chew on, AIPD will leave you wanting.

There is depth and relevance to The Political Machine 2016’s gameplay and content. It’s easy to pick up and play and whether you take it seriously and really play to win or approach it with less reverence, the game will accommodate you. Because it is so tied to the issues and candidates of the moment, it is both amusing and instructive, but probably not something you’ll want to revisit after next November.

Lost in Harmony is a fantastic experience and an incredible presentation, but it’s a shame that it’s just not that good a game.

In DarkMaus, Daniel Wright has created a focused, challenging experience that successfully translates the core tenants of Dark Souls — careful approach to combat, high level of initial difficulty, wise use of resources and character development — into a game that looks deceptively innocent and benign.

Without forgetting a presentation that harkens to the best of past and present-day animation techniques, even if Klaus is not one of the most extravagant of platformers, it’s at least one of the more memorable.

As is, No One But You is a game with some intriguing moments and great artwork but overall feels too disjointed.

Megadimension Neptunia VII is slightly refreshing, but not enough to really revitalize this aging series.

Yes, it’s a massive bummer to see games that appear to be prime split-screen titles go completely without this functionality, but if you’re looking for a solid game to hop into with friends before larger multiplayer experiences begin to drop, you could do a lot worse.

LEGO Dimensions felt like much-needed innovation for a game series that has seen little change since its inception in 2006. Unfortunately, LEGO Marvel Avengers didn’t take many of those innovations to heart.

Blade & Soul is a free-to-play MMORPG and as such offers a lot of content and gameplay for literally nothing.

Death by Game Show is not an incompetently made game, but as a collection of design decisions the sum and its individual parts are annoying, disappointing or frustrating.

Enjoyment of Final Fantasy Explorers is defined by two things: nostalgia for Final Fantasy and the amount of immediate challenge desired.

It has an interesting cast of characters, but proscribes our interactions with them and too often crucially frames relationships as a series of tasks or gifts. On a second thought, that might be true to life, too.

If the story is nonsensical, the fighting and platforming are great fun.

If its use of nostalgic video game styles had been more deliberate and integral and some of its puzzles more essential to telling the story, Between Me and the Night’s art and atmosphere could have carried the experience.

To put it bluntly, Bombshell is a dud. What once began as something that had potential to become a so-stupid-it’s-awesome classic ended up being merely…well, it isn’t even really that stupid as a whole, just dull.

Rise of the Tomb Raider’s PC debut is nothing short of phenomenal, and provided you have the PC to back it up, it can look and run substantially better than its Xbox One counterpart.

Harvest Moon fans will find themselves enraptured all over again with the gameplay and world that these games create.

Everything about it screams “knockoff” like a “ROLAX” watch, but don’t be fooled: if you’re a fiend for devious puzzles, Attractio is the real deal.

World of Tanks has arrived on the PlayStation 4 in spectacular fashion. It plays better than it ever has before on a console, looks fantastic and features some PS4-only content to add extra value.

Gravity Rush Remastered is close to perfect. The original Vita game was very well received, and while this update doesn’t exactly push the PS4 to its limits, it still looks and plays extremely well.

The Witness is a game that can easily cause players to eclipse the one hundred hour mark and the vast majority of that time is going to be spent engaging with hundreds of brilliantly designed puzzles. While it won’t have the industry-shifting impact that Braid did in 2008, The Witness will influence video game puzzle design for years to come.

The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human may have its share of flaws, but is a highly original and mostly enjoyable entry into the increasingly congested metroidvania subgenre.

Minor issues aside, The Deadly Tower of Monsters is a pleasant surprise indeed and a particularly impressive budget action game showcasing a lot of creativity.

Still, Homeworld: Desert of Kharak is an accessible and well-made strategy game with outstanding production values and a legitimate claim to being part of the legendary franchise.

In the end, Pocket Mortys ends up being the video game equivalent of Pirates of the Pancreas: something that had the potential for an amazing ride, but is held back and never gets a chance to shine, doomed to wind up being talked about in unenthusiastic tones.

Tachyon Project is for the people who have played that to death and want something else along the same lines.

Gemini: Heroes Reborn in itself is an enjoyable superhero simulator, but it gets by as a Heroes game in title and references only and is far too long winded and repetitive to be considered much else.

There’s nothing wrong with a fluffy, simplistic story, but it’s a shame that it rarely manages to actually capture genuine interest because of how it plays so closely to trope conventions.

Night School Studio’s debut release is spooky, touching, and beautiful, and an adventure absolutely worth experiencing.

Arguments could be made that the inception of this title was well intentioned with some great plans, but the execution is where everything falls apart like a Formula One racer held together with Silly Putty.

Darkest Dungeon is difficult, but not because its systems are unclear or unfair. In fact, the richness and complexity of its mechanics are miraculously transparent. What makes Darkest Dungeon challenging is balancing and equipping a party and the essentially unpredictable nature of the dungeons and combat.

Cossacks fixes the diplomacy system in a way that was sorely needed.

The Bug Butcher is a good-humored throwback to an almost-forgotten series, updating the gameplay while preserving the heart of what made it great in the first place.

The new control scheme works great in the remaster, as well, although it can get finicky with some of the unfortunate camera angles. With all the enhancements in visuals and gameplay elements, Capcom has not only set a precedent for how remasters should be done, but helped excel Resident Evil 0 into being a far more enjoyable horror experience.

While Pony Island is a short game —we clocked in at around two hours for a playthrough— it is an achievement. Very quickly, Pony Island’s subtle ominousness becomes a journey into utterly fun madness.

Played on its own, without worrying about whether it effectively changes up the hallowed tropes of early JRPGs, or conversely, sticks a little too closely to them, Echoes of Aetheria is fun.

Lazy Bear Games have created a retro themed-world that is wonderfully entertaining and simply must be experienced by gamers far and wide.

Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen for PC is a gem among the RPG genre, despite it being flawed in places.

Ultimately, what’s disappointing about Herding Dog is that its aspirations, demands, tasks and ideas are simply too small scale.

Good level design and challenging gameplay sadly end up getting hindered by cheap shots, questionable controls and an underdeveloped premise.

While the mechanics are enticing, it’s far from standing out as an otherwise satisfying experience.

Pale Echoes manages to be a pleasant surprise. Not only does the story intrigue, it does so with an interesting battle system.

While ultimately not a disaster; Tharsis compares to getting to the final round and failing due to a slight miscalculation.