Techtonica is a huge and rewarding automation adventure that can be hard to tear yourself away from and will easily occupy a fair amount of head-space when your'e not playing. It's a long way down and the only way to get there is to automate all the things, and each new factory is another step on the way to the mysteries buried deep in the heart of Calyx.

Like the winding roads of Farewell Wilderness that contain both serenity and danger, Days Gone is a journey with a winding range of emotions. Though the game borrows heavily from other open-world games, Bend Studios has done a solid job melding it together into a package that’s more than the sum of its parts.

Speaking personally, Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online was a tonic I needed that arrived at just the right time. It’s pure, cheerful escapism that only wants to be fun for the player. Some might say that it tries too hard and this outing won’t change any minds. Fans will tell you that the damnable earnestness of it all lifts it up. This is also the first time that the series has managed to feel great in a true action form. Perfectly hitting every note that makes this series so popular, fans of Neptunia will have plenty to do with 4 Goddesses Online and those curious about the series should start here.

It's not demo material or a novelty release, but an uncompromising adventure game that weaves an engrossing story while utilizing the full potential of motion control. It doesn't always work flawlessly, but the sheer ambition alone makes it a must-own for Fable and Kinect fans alike.

Don’t be fooled by the somewhat goofy exterior of Tentacular, as what lies beneath its surface is a crafty and unique physics puzzler with a wicked sense of humor and a well-done story that cleverly has you work with the limitations of your massive kaiju body. While it would have been nice to have more ways to interact with the island, a nice variety of challenges and tools to experiment with ensure that you’re never going to be bored. It’s an odd VR experience, but one worth looking at (as long as you can handle some of the NPC behavior).

Thus, if you haven’t had the pleasure of playing Muramasa before, and you have a Vita, Rebirth is wholeheartedly worth playing. It’s breathtakingly beautiful in all aspects — from its combat to graphics to soundtrack to the sword forging mechanic, this is just an immensely enjoyable game, even in spite of its repetitious combat and under-emphasized story.

Despite these flaws, Alpha Protocol is still a fun and entertaining experience with a dynamic storyline and solid RPG mechanics.

Dragon Quest XI is still one of those 100 hour RPGs that deserve the attention. It may falter in some spots, but it shines brightly in others. There’s no better time to get back into the slime-slaying business.

The greatest pleasure of Ladykiller in a Bind is interacting with an incredible cast of characters.

Few games in recent years offer the immeasurable amount of content offered in Disgaea D2. With a 35 hour campaign, multiple endings to complete, side-missions, an expansive and randomly generated item world, thousands of character customization options and endlessly replyable levels, the series didn’t really need to make many improvements or changes to remain a true value.

MotoGP 22 is the best game in the series to date, but is hampered by its aging core design. Nine Season 2009 is a revolution in racing games as it’s one thing to include legendary riders or drivers and tracks, but another to do a documentary featuring the entire season. The racing is what’s most important and this is the most accessible and fun the racing has been to date all while managing to the up the realism with the tyre and suspension models in the game. The visual and audio design is beginning to feel dated, although certain aspects have been increased for the current generation of consoles, but none of this changes or improves from last year. Then again, the game is only $50, but maybe an overhaul of the visuals and audio would justify a higher price when factoring in the innovative content that Milestone continues to provide year-over-year.

Its unflinching tendency to do things that were not part of its predecessor’s legacy will solidify it as not only its own game, but the best role-playing experience on Wii U.

On paper, it’s easy to pick apart Resident Evil 7 for its inconsistencies; the game struggles to find a balance between being purely horror or a title more reminiscent of Resident Evil’s past, and the poor presentation and writing don’t help. And yet, in the moment, much of that can be easily forgiven or even straight-up forgotten because it immerses the player so well into a terrifying world of horrors thanks to the polish, initially intense combat sequences and numerous memorable sequences that range from simple exploration to grand, over-the-top boss fights.

Less a case of reinvention for reinventions’ sake, it’s the mix of familiar genre staples with a widened focus on smaller details that ends up with Gunbrella proving to be a brief, yet highly-satisfying entrant for action-platformer fans. In looking towards those minute moments — from NPC dialogue to pixel art and even the music that accompanies your travels — Doinksoft successfully broaden not just the studio’s palette of aesthetics and gameplay mechanics alike, but so too an understanding on how to build out a world to engage with. A pitch that may not be striving to be the most complex or densest of takes, but whose free-flowing approach to combat and presentation alike is well appreciated. A fitting step forward from the black-and-white, feline stylings of previous, Gunbrella‘s ballistic-fueled ballet of fluid movement and subtle details alike marks this down as one more success for the Doinksoft team.

Set against the backdrop of a gorgeous Japanese aesthetic, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice combines what makes a From Software title special into an excellent, solid package that fans are going to love. Death may be a constant in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but it’s worth getting up each time.

Even though the controls can sometimes feel frustrating in the 2.5D sections, it’s never enough to kill the momentum, and when you finally dial in to what’s expected the area is cleared and it’s back to the exploration. There’s a mystery at the heart of the Starfall Islands and it’s got Sonic’s friends trapped within, but a cocky and determined hedgehog is more than a match for whatever may be happening there. But first there are a couple hundred areas of the map to explore, tricky routes leading to memory tokens, enemies and mini-bosses to test new combat skills on, and maybe a few koco to rescue. Whatever happened on the Starfall Islands seems to have taken place centuries ago, so it can wait just a bit longer for Sonic to bounce, dash and rail-grind his way through every challenge Sonic Frontiers can throw at him.

As it is, it's merely very good on several different levels, and is more or less a must-play for RPG fans. It will drive shooter fans completely up the wall, though. [Dec 2007, p.56]

Classic II: Dominique's Curse is a fitting finale for Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night. It continues the story of the base game in an interesting manner while paying tribute to one of the more divisive classic Castlevania titles. Making a game in the style of Simon's Quest was a risky move, but the execution was exactly what it needed to be. Dominique's Curse perfectly captures the retro vibe. The overall feel of Simon's Quest has been transported to Bloodstained, where all the positive aspects of the classic title have been maintained and the main areas of criticism have been improved to make this a more accessible and less cryptic experience. As a retro-inspired title, the more simplistic approach to game play may be off-putting to people who want something that plays like a more contemporary metroidvania, but for those who have enjoyed the Bloodstained throwbacks to classic Castlevania games, this is one that shouldn't be missed.

There is not much to be said about Green Day Rock Band that isn't covered by the simple fact that if you enjoy Green Day as a band, you will likely enjoy what the game has to offer.

After over a decade, Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta proves itself just as good as it once was under the moniker of Memories of Celceta. Its only major caveat is that it really doesn’t bring much to the table as a new edition. On the other hand, for anyone who hasn’t given it a try, it’s pretty much a must-play.

Once you are willing to pony up your five bucks a month, though, Dungeon Runners becomes a surprisingly addictive time-waster. [Sept 2007, p.68]

If you can take the heat of its difficulty, Isbarah is a unique twist on bullet hell shooters, one that turns repeated defeat into a captivating and surprisingly fun experience.

The Uncharted franchise has been the spectacle of video games for fifteen years, meshing strong writing and characters with exhilarating scenarios. Granted, most of these scenarios aren’t particularly realistic, but that’s the whole point: you’re in it for the absolute absurdity of the events. Whether it’s escaping a crumbling structure while dodging fists and a hail of gunfire, or falling from a clock tower only with a couple of scuffs, it’s an overly-entertaining experience. The best part is now you’re able to experience all of this on PC where you’re able to control the level of detail, resolution and framerate. Iron Galaxy has done a magnificent job porting over two of Naughty Dog’s fantastic pieces of work, creating an even greater spectacle that fans can enjoy. Whether you’re new to the franchise or a long-time fan, the PC version of Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection only helps excel the franchise in a greater direction.

Mekazoo proves to be a joyous platformer built on the ideas of just about any platformer one can think of, specifically sticking to ones that came out of the 80s and 90s.

Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition is a respectable spiritual successor to a legendary game. Yes, technically Dynasty Edition is added DLC, but it is the first to come out on a physical format and also on the Nintendo Switch. Even though the football action is a 1-to-1 representation of NFL Blitz, the strategy involved from the Dirty Tricks and field traps add a deeper and strategic experience to football. The Dynasty Mode is a worthy edition as has enough elements to make it stand out on its own. For $29.99, the package that is here is worth the price for a football fan of any level. Football nerds will all enjoy the name and team parodies where casual football fans will enjoy the action and comedy on the field.

F1 23 makes welcome changes and additions to the series with the most beneficial being the racing. My Team, Career and Two-Player Career have surface updates, but is largely the same. The new icons in the Champions Edition aren’t much to write home about outside of Nigel Mansell. I don’t think many would clamor to have Pastor Maldonado as a teammate. F1 World is a surprising addition that adds a whole new element to the series while Braking Point 2 is a good follow up if you’re in the mood for some drama. The team did include the Supercars again, but it’s buried in F1 World and the cars are exactly the same. There are still no classic cars or track options, which was a great addition but has been phased out in recent years. Also, a lack of a PSVR2 version when PC has VR is disappointing. The best element still comes with the actual updates to the racing physics and how the car behaves. F1 23 is a solid improvement in some regards over F1 22, but one can question if it’s enough.

Axiom Verge 2 is exactly what a sequel should be in that it’s more of the same but different. Indra isn’t Trace so her skills and abilities don’t try to mirror his too closely, and the world she’s been dropped into frequently has wide open vistas in its background instead of more types of caverns. The level design is every bit as good if not better, featuring varied biomes that stand on their own but eventually all interconnect as new skills open up more passages. The switch back and forth between Indra and the drone provides a nice change of pace, with each earning different abilities that complement the other. And of course the soundtrack is fantastic, with its non-US-traditional instruments and vocalizing. If you loved the first Axiom Verge then odds are good the second one is everything you hoped for, and if you’ve never played the original then the standalone nature of the sequel means you don’t have to worry about having missed out. Either way, Axiom Verge 2 is an excellent Metroidvania, and a rare perfect example of a series that can balance quality and change to deliver something new.

Sorcery! is one of the best games that this reviewer has played on the iPhone and iPad, offering a plethora of options and an excellent story.