Yoshi’s Woolly World won’t suit everyone, but if you find yourself drawn towards its plush, adorable aesthetic, it might be one of the most emotionally pleasant experiences you have all year.

Trackmania Turbo is the kind of game where you can easily spend an hour or more to perfect a 45 second run, constantly looking for sections of the track to do just a tiny bit better. If one run doesn’t work the next one will, and the only thing between you and the next attempt is the instant response of the reset.

Codemasters has provided enough meaningful upgrades for DiRT 4 while keeping the core simulation racing aspect intact. This should appease the hardcore fans while allowing people with interest in the series to take a drive.

The leap in quality in the sequel compared to the first entry is comparable to the transition that Final Fantasy made when it graduated to the SNES. With this in mind, hopefully Black Tome is not the final book in the world of Dragon Fantasy.

Mortal Shell’s gameplay style is what makes it so accessible, as new combat mechanics like shell abilities and harden give players breathing room until they learn. The title is a harsh teacher, however, as death will likely occur. Enemy designs are intriguing and telegraph beautifully. AI reacts beautifully during combat for fluid play. It’s a title that streamlines a lot of the souls experience down to the bare essentials while being refreshing. Veterans of the genre may find the title too short, but may like the unique combat. Whether you’ve played these kinds of titles before or not, Mortal Shell solidifies itself as a serious contender

Those yet to try out the PC version should pick it up here, as it should be enjoyed by anyone with an affinity for logic puzzle-filled games, or platformers.

The song selection is impressive, the FMV videos are well produced and the GHTV concept is incredibly exciting. While there’s still trepidation due the fact that much of its appeal rests on unproven promises and its currency system is needlessly complicated, the idea of new songs being added on a weekly basis could render Guitar Hero Live into a persistent experience for rhythm and music lovers alike.

Mages of Mystralia is an energetic and clever action-RPG, set in a vibrant and colorful land with a dark history. The heart of the game is its magic system, and the puzzles for unlocking new runes and other goodies keep things from being too combat-heavy. It’s easy to get lost in spell creation, pausing battle to dip into the magic tome to tweak a few runes or throw together something new as the monsters wait patiently for you to pull your head out of the book. Zia is a fun heroine to play as, learning and growing as the story progresses, with a strong character design that never gets lost on the screen. Mystralia’s history is making trouble in the present, but with an arsenal of spell components and the ability to wire them together together to best effect, Zia has a good chance of becoming the hero the world of Mages of Mystralia didn’t realize it needed.

Stray Gods’ unique blend of musicals and video games alone makes it worthy of applause, but it’s the incredible way that the ear-pleasing, player-orchestrated numbers are weaved into such a well-designed murder mystery which deserves the loudest cheers. Backed up by an impressive style with great visuals and an amazing cast of characters, this show is one that can hold its own when compared to some of Broadway’s best (even with the heavy amount of dialogue), so consider nabbing a ticket to go see it.

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

Whether you focus on story, decorating the island, collecting everything that isn’t nailed down, or some combination of the above, there’s a lot to do on the island of Cozy Grove and all the time needed to get it done. The long passage of time is more a concern for the living than the dead, and hanging out with the ghosts of Cozy Grove is a lovely, chill way to unwind for a few minutes as one day flows into another.

As much as we’d love to go into greater detail about what exactly makes Stories Untold such a successful adventure game, it really is the type of experience you need to check out first-hand. What starts out as a simple ode to classic ’80s games peels away its layers ever so slightly as you progress, until your jaw drops quite a bit upon the reveal as to what’s at the core of it all. It’s a quick ride, one that should be over in about three hours at most, but a ride that will leave quite the impression on you nonetheless thanks to its twists and turns all wrapped in the guise of a campy cult television series. It’s easily a notable sleeper hit for both horror and sci-fi fans, and so it’s definitely recommended that you check it out ASAP. You know, before any spoilers start to leak out. Seriously, sorry we couldn’t say more, but man, that finale…

Pac-Man World: Re-Pac takes an already-great game on PS1 and makes it even better. This is low-key one of the most diverse and enjoyable 3D platformers on the market and should be enjoyed by everyone who missed out on it in its time. It plays better now than it did before thanks to smart improvements in play control and has some of the most fun classic Pac-Man-style mazes on the market. There’s a lot to enjoy here and if you enjoy 3D platforming or Pac-Man games, you need to give Pac-Man World Re-Pac a shot.

Tales of Arise is the best Tales game in over a decade. It’s the advancement the series has needed for quite some time now, such as the far more explorative dungeon designs (as small as they are) and the switch to the Unreal Engine. On top of that, the majority of the cast of characters are compelling enough to keep your attention locked on the story, and the combat reinvigorates the tried and true formula into something special.

While the N. Sane Trilogy is by no means the perfect and/or flawless remaster fans and interested onlookers may have wanted, there's no denying that a lot of Vicarious' microscopic and macroscopic attention to detail alike is demonstrated sufficiently well in Crash's current-gen revisit.

Full Bore is a very entertaining puzzle game worth your time if you don’t mind a more cerebral experience.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1+2 provides a lot of value for players. The first four entries are top-shelf games, while the fifth is a slight dropoff and the sixth is a bigger dropoff, but still fun to play in short bursts. X7 and X8 are misfires, with a slight uptick in quality for the latter. As a complete package, there’s a lot to enjoy about the first six entries though and those games make the collection worth buying.

Samurai Warriors 4 DX is the best version of the ten-year-old game. The performance is smooth with a stable framerate on both PC and Steam Deck. The large amount of included DLC is a nice incentive for those who are only familiar with the vanilla version or simply missed out on the original when it arrived. Most of the DLC consists of cosmetic items such as new costumes or custom character creation parts, though. Overall, this is a great port of Samurai Warriors 4, but unless the inclusion of all the DLC is a major point of interest, there isn't much reason to revisit this game for those who already have the original.

Even if it could stand to benefit from a little something extra, this is still a triumphant return for the Blue Bomber. Mega Man 11 is another stellar entry in the series, plain and simple. The classic gameplay still works as well as it did years ago, and the newer touches courtesy of the graphical enhancements and the Double Gear system are welcome additions.

For some, what you make of Shadow Warrior 3 may well be influenced by the comparisons one draws from the prior 2016 entrant. While all parties will unilaterally agree Flying Wild Hog’s third outing in the series feels more stripped back and “to the point” than its predecessors — least on the surface — feelings thereafter will no doubt be split. Some will deduce this year’s offering lacks what made 2016’s title a novel but compelling shooter to play in repeated session. For others, myself included, that notion of being stripped back by no means signals a negative. But few will disagree that developer Flying Wild Hog have gone about this in as unapologetic and as indulgently-confident a manner as one can get. That attitude may only get you so far in admiration, so it’s thanks to a mixture of smart strategic additions to its combat formula, as well as a welcome care to its artistic design, where the series’ third entrant will garner a majority favor. It may not be reinventing the wheel in any drastic means, but Shadow Warrior 3‘s warranted excess and lovably chaotic flow is one you’ll easily get lost in and perhaps never want to get out of.

Avowed took us by surprise. While Obsidian Entertainment has an exceptional track record, they were somehow able to exceed expectations. This is a traditional RPG through and through, with highly-consequential decision-making that can literally level cities and a massively-diverse combat system that encourages experimentation. With that said, it’s not perfect, as while the story does have compelling components, the pacing is a bit off, with a stronger focus on essentially forcing the player to do side quests and explore the world before continuing. The combat also suffers from issues when it comes to dodging and enemy gap closing, causing frustration in heated battles. Regardless, Avowed ends up on top, being a highly engaging 50+ hour RPG that's well worth your time.

Leo’s Fortune is conceptually, stylistically and mechanically one of the best iOS games on the market.

Those simply looking for a solid game of collegiate football should ignore all that, however, as NCAA Football 14 offers the same quality the series has been known for this generation with some great tweaks and implementations added. Madden 25 will likely take the crown for the best game of football this year, but those who make NCAA Football a yearly tradition have no reason not to add this solid addition to their collection.

Sword Coast Legends is a solid loot crawl with more options than most games of its kind. It may not be the Dungeons & Dragons simulator many were hoping for, but it works well as just a straight video game.

Don’t let the letter tiles and cute characters fool you: Letter Quest: Grimm’s Journey is an addictive experience that will steal hours of your gaming time without you even noticing.

It isn’t the most beautiful or artistically consistent game in the world, with an art style that could be charitably described as generic high-fantasy. On the other hand, it is a free-to-play game that rarely reminds the player that they could or should be paying real money.

WrestleQuest does an excellent job at combining pro wrestling legends with a turn-based combat system that takes the best kind of cues from Nintendo’s more-interactive Mario RPGs over the years. Having so much real-time interactivity during battles makes them more engaging and fun, and while the game does suffer from small sprites and a soundtrack that’s weak given the legendary cast, what’s here is done well. This is a fantastic pickup for any pro wrestling fans looking to get into JRPGs or for JRPG fans looking for an excuse to play something involving pro wrestlers.

Xillia takes the familiar and blends it with exciting newness, and that’s what it does best. It’s the first must-play JRPG to release in a while, and the second couldn’t arrive soon enough.