As it stands Splatoon 3 feels more like a delayed expansion than a brand new experience, but for those who just wanted more of the same old Splatoon, this will offer up more inking and splatting for them to partake in.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II continues the trend of a Michael Bay action film packed into a video game format. There's spectacle, voice talent, zombies, and finally a story with a good set up and player agency to boot. It may lack significant innovation, and the missions set in the 20th century are far from compelling story pieces, but with a robust multiplayer experience and a half-decent story, Black Ops II does the series proud.

There are certain games that are ubiquitous for the Steam user. Pretty much everyone has Portal in their Steam library. Copies of Thomas Was Alone are more common than sand in the Mojave. Bleed 2 needs to be one of those. As a game, it is side scrolling action perfected. There are no truly cheap parts or dull moments; everything is designed to be learned and surmounted. This is something that just cannot be said about even some of the best games on the market. Considering that even its base price is under ten dollars, there is no reason to miss out. Skipping Bleed 2 is like shoving toothpicks under your fingernails. Sure it can be done, but it hurts and there is no point.

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.

Strange Horticulture is a true hidden gem and a pleasant surprise to start the year on, a delightfully quirky and charming puzzle game that puts a unique spin on botany and requires you to develop a green thumb in order to succeed, largely thanks to puzzle design that truly excels in creating simple yet challenging orders. Backed up by an intriguing world that allows for a lot of interesting lore behind each plant and a relaxing atmosphere, this is something fans of puzzlers should check out. Pardon the awful pun, but it’ll grow on you.

Other than one minor imbalance that could potentially be attributed to personal skill, there’s no reason not to pick up Puyo Puyo Tetris. Even those who have long grown weary of the component games will find the well worn gameplay injected with new life with this melding. With no real learning curve, this is a game that allows for a meditative, self contemplating state of mind through the arranging of shapes and colors, or a frenetic and action filled battle against a dirty foe that just cheats. You know they cheat. Either way, this is a title that offers an extreme value for its price, and absolutely deserves to be added to any collection.

Life Is Strange does suffer from different technical issues — much like its console counterpart in 2015 — but it’s not enough to detract newcomers from experiencing its riveting narrative in full effect. With the addition of features like Photo Mode and bonuses like the iMessage stickers, Life Is Strange reiterates why fans need to rewind time and once again step into the shoes of Max.

It’s sad to see the series go but the satisfying revelations and conclusion makes Blackwell Epiphany a must play.

Thankfully, Battlefield 6 is exactly what the Battlefield franchise needed. Setting aside the terrible campaign, which fails to tell anything resembling an actual story, Battlefield 6 is a return to form for Battlefield.

One Finger Death Punch 2 is an epically huge arcade two-button brawler that shouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it turned out to be, but if stick-men are going to die by the thousands for our personal entertainment, they’re determined to put on the best show possible while doing it.

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is a metroidvania masterpiece. It captures the same melancholy feel of its predecessor, yet brings that feeling to a brand-new adventure that improves many of the gameplay elements. Ender Magnolia doesn't reinvent the genre, but it does a phemenonal job of executing the metroidvania formula in such a way that it's one of the best games in the genre. On top of stellar game mechanics, it has an incredible soundtrack and art direction that help create a beautiful and bleak world. Challenging but rarely frustrating, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is a must-play experience.

Shift shows a lot of potential for the series and will go down as one of the best racing games of 2009.

In the end, though, it's a testament to the game's quality that even in the face of the imperfect camera and combat, the wonderful adventuring aspects manage to make up for whatever other shortcomings this game may possess. [July 2007, p.54]

Overall, Bangai-O is a fantastic shooter, and the sheer customizability of it is amazing. Still, if you like shooters, or puzzles in general, it is worth your time—oh-so-worth it.

Cassette Beasts is one of the best and most entertaining monster-collecting games outside of Pokémon. Not since Monster Tale on the DS have I had so much fun capturing monsters and this being a blend of a Pokémon formula with a more grounded, realistic slice of life anime puts enough of a twist on the formula to make it feel fresh. It plays like a dream and is a ton of fun even for those burned out on recent Pokémon games hurting the format. A lot of those have felt overburdened with gimmicks or too many long quests, while Cassette Beasts streamlines things to take out all the fat. It’s the “all killer, no filler” of monster-catching games.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered is a solid remaster that enhances the original game with beautiful new visuals and a little bit of extra multiplayer content, but Raven Software may have stuck to the original a little too much. A few tweaks would have gone a long way to fixing some balancing issues, but for those looking for a blast from the past, this works just fine.

The series remains excellent and the updates are nice, even if these updates are focused more on appeasing the hardcore fans that play and grind on a daily basis. The online experience is still suspect but is vastly improved. Even though it may not be the best value, MLB The Show 20 remains the top dog in representing its sport on a video game platform.

While players won’t get jacked muscles playing Ring Fit Adventure, it’s a fantastic way to do exercise indoors when other ways to work out are expensive or inconvenient. There’s a ton of variety here to allow players to exercise how they like even without touching the adventure mode. Nintendo has really outdone themselves by combining an encouraging RPG adventure with exercise to push players to their limit in Ring Fit Adventure.

New cutscenes build on the lore and character development, the wonderful soundtrack is improved and the areas that warranted the most criticism such as game mechanics and graphics no longer do so. The story takes surprising twists and hits the emotional depth making this is a truly memorable experience.

In essence, though nothing beats being in front of the actual machines and feeding in a quarter to square off with it, Pinball Hall of Fame – The Williams Collection is about as close as the video game medium allows for.

It’s a mixed bag and the game is nowhere near perfect. Stick through the linear and less gripping parts for the first few hours, and you’ll end up with a story and combat engine that’ll hold you hostage until completion.

With tons of references and entertaining gameplay, Portal Portal is a great new table. It’s a little thin on content and will require the purchase of either Zen Pinball 2 or Pinball FX2 to play it, however, so it’s an investment that those coming only for the Portal aspect might need to rationalize.

Gradius Origins offers enough fun for players looking for something simple yet challenging, or who are just in it for the sake of nostalgia. If you love the series, can forgive the missing games and need to have Salamander III, Gradius Origins might be worth owning if you’re okay with the price tag. If not, you might want to wait until you find it on sale. As for curious new players, if you don’t mind a little repetitiveness, then Gradius Origins might be worth it. If the idea of doing the same thing again and again sounds like it’ll get dull, then this collection might not be for you.

Simply put, Project CARS is simulation racing done right. The subtlety of the nearly countless gameplay tweaks, combined with a robust open Career mode, makes for an experience that racing fans should fall in love with. Of course, none of this would be possible without driving that feels tight, workable and exciting, which is certainly present in droves.

As a piece of history, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is a must-play for anyone who missed out on the late '90s/early '00s era of fighting games and especially those who lived through it. It combines so many kinds of games together within a single genre that its breadth is impressive even if its scope is "just fighting games." The archival images and soundtracks are also fascinating and having access to so much high-quality artwork is a treat for the eyes and makes this another must-buy for fans of that aspect of the industry. Not every game here is going to be to everyone's liking, and it's a shame console-exclusive modes weren't put in for everything, but it's still an incredible collection of titles executed very well.

Thanks to a nice set of challenges, a charming style and sense of humor, and a ton of unlockable items to toy with combined with a hefty chunk of customization options, Two Point Campus easily graduates at the head of its class. The task of having to manage a successful university is tough but fair all around sucking you in as you try to figure out how to best increase your campus’ attractiveness for that one goal without breaking the bank. Two Point Campus is another winner from Two Point Studios and we can’t wait to see what profession they bring their unique simulator style to next…

Danganronpa is bizarre in the best kind of way. It’s an engaging visual novel that never stops being excessive, but so many of the characters are charming it’s easy to want to learn about what happens and see if favorites will make it out alive or perish at the end. Visual novels as a genre crave more creativity like this and other detective-styled adventures, so it’s nice to see it now made available for more to try out on Nintendo Switch. Although it’s been some time since it released, Danganronpa is a delight and easy to see why it has such a strong following after all these years. Anyone who hasn’t tried it yet but even has the slightest amount of interest can’t go wrong with trying out Danganronpa Decadence.

Unpacking is a delightful and charming puzzle game, one that perfectly takes a chore such as moving and perfectly shows how it can highlight the most important parts of our lives, allowing us to reflect upon them and the transitions we go through along the way. It helps that it also has terrific gameplay built around trying to find space by rearranging items as if they were blocks, all while telling a captivating story through each small bit taken out of each box. It’s an impressive little package that you’ll want to dive into.