While it could have done more with its central concept, Observation is a terrific, thrilling adventure game and a superb follow-up for No Code. The blend of the realistic workings of space exploration along with more bizarre elements is perfectly executed and creates an engrossing story with a haunting atmosphere that you’ll want to see through. It’s an epic mystery you’ll want to experience, and while it may not be the full-on video game equivalent of 2001, it’s still a killer ode that Kubrick would hopefully be proud of.

Rise of the Ronin aims to deliver an epic story filled with well-rounded characters, an open-world adventure, action-filled combat and a presentation taking advantage of current-gen hardware. For the most part, it succeeds. The story is indeed epic, with plenty of intrigue delivered by well-rounded characters, even at the cost of the player character.

That being said, DJ Hero is a quite fresh approach to the rhythm genre despite the areas where it obviously falters. It’s certainly an expensive game to grab, but its unique style of play and well-done mashups do a good job towards warranting it.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Necrom checks all the boxes of what players would want from their annual expansion and then some. The new arcanist class was a joy to play and helped make the nine-year-old game feel new again. Storytelling is an area where The Elder Scrolls generally has no deficiencies, but even so Necrom’s story goes above and beyond in weaving an unpredictable and memorable tale where it’s impossible not to become emotionally invested. The new areas and companions were masterfully crafted in such a way where it’s easy to lose oneself in exploring the new landscapes and learning the backstories of the new characters. The Elder Scrolls Online has gone through several evolutions since its launch and Necrom shows that there’s still a lot great adventures to be had in Tamriel.

Madden NFL 13 is the first Wii U port we've played that uses the console to make a notable impact on gameplay. Instead of simply throwing in disposable features, time was taken to ensure the GamePad was utilized to its full potential.

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.

Those who experienced Guilty Gear XX Accent Core first on the PlayStation 2 back in 2009 will feel right at home with Plus, as it looks and feels the same - which is both a positive and a negative. Overall, though, the transition to this console generation has been kind to Accent Core Plus, with astoundingly deep mechanics that still play impeccably in the year 2013.

RKGK proudly wears its influences on its sleeve, ending up as a superb blend of '90s platforming and classic anime, all given a unique twist thanks to a great emphasis on speed. Movement is fun, levels are nicely challenging and filled with a lot to explore, and to say the whole thing is pleasing to the eyes and ears would be an understatement. Even when it fumbles, it does so due to wanting to be so ambitious, and that makes for something that easily stands out as much as one of Valah's murals.

It may not revolutionize, but Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes 2.0 Edition firmly establishes the property in the gaming landscape.

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games is as close to the perfect package as is currently available for folks looking to jump into the Zero Escape world. The only thing that would make it better is if it somehow included Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma to complete the set. Even so, the two included games offer players over twenty hours of gameplay as they work through dozens of distinct endings. The lack of tweaks to Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward may seem strange in comparison, even though that title didn’t need much reworking to begin with. In either case, there’s no doubt that Zero Escape: The Nonary Games is a set of visual novels that are both worth a look.

Simply put, The Rising Tide is a fitting end to Final Fantasy XVI. It delivers more stellar gameplay and an interesting narrative, all while further solidifying the legacy of the franchise's sixteenth title. While it may play it safe with the characters, bosses and story, it makes up for it with the addition of Leviathan and Kairos Gate. Furthermore, the DLC is a perfect sendoff to the game, lending itself well to what was established and giving fans a chance to return to Clive, Torgal, Jill and Jonathan one last time. Those who enjoyed the base game will find The Rising Tide to be an enjoyable and worthwhile adventure to travel back to Valisthea for.

Praise be to Blasphemous, for it’s an impressive game that has truly joined together the peanut-butter-and-chocolate-style union that is souls-likes and metroidvania games. While certain levels and enemies could benefit from a bit more polish, the end result is still a sinful delight filled with heavily-enjoyable combat, tons of areas to explore and secrets to uncover, and some jaw-dropping (if brutal) sights. It may be a game filled with countless unholy terrors, but it also oddly has a lot of love put into it as well, so don’t miss out on it (if you don’t mind the occasional nightmare).

Eldritch is brutally tough until you learn it, and then settles down to be pleasantly challenging, It’s a big random first-person dungeon crawl dripping with atmosphere, evil and fun in equal measure, and as a bonus you get to be a librarian reigning in the power of dark tomes of terrible knowledge.

Hero Must Die Again is a well-crafted game with a unique concept. Starting off strong and becoming weaker over time forces you to think more than you usually do in a JRPG. It’s a challenging, but rewarding game with a fun and intuitive battle system. Your hand isn’t held and you will have to use your wits to make significant progress in an efficient manner — but it’s well-worth the sacrifice. It’s a bit hit or miss visually, but sounds great — with a multi-faceted OST that fits the anime-style visuals and faster-paced combat.

In a world of game that take themselves too seriously, Alienation is simply fun, and it’s a game that I can see myself coming back to when I need just that.

It’s a shame the experience is so brief, but because this is an arcade title that only costs fifteen bucks to scoop up, it’s a nice amount of depth and a completely absurd amount of fun. It’s just funny that this may turn out to be one of the better things released this year and it started out as a joke.

While not the best in the franchise, Silent Hill f is a true Silent Hill experience. It's just a great horror game even if you don't want to judge it against other Silent Hill titles. This is the second AAA horror game released in the same month, so Halloween is looking very competitive this year. The technical aspects involving both the audio and the visuals showcase what the PlayStation 5 Pro can do, albeit one bad section. The other world gameplay elements do stray a bit too far, not to mention the relatively short campaign — although it does have some replayability thanks to the five different endings, each feeling like director's cuts. Still, the core ideas of Silent Hill are here, with a unique cultural setting with a story that has very dark endings. Both horror and Silent Hill fans need to experience Silent Hill f.

There’s no doubt that Konami still focuses on the hardcore fan as it still needs to work on providing a more fun and enticing experience as it has the technological and simulation side down. There’s no doubt that eFootball PES 2020 is the best version of the game this generation, but it’s still geared towards its own community.

So Many Me is an outstanding puzzle-platformer that fans of the genre should pick up.

As it stands, I personally rank this a good bit below the Dreamcast original in terms of quality, but above all other installments.

While some elements such as the lack of a romantic goal may be a turn off for some players, Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom is an absolute charmer much like the first title. Those who enjoyed the first may find this to be more of the same, but at the end of the day, that’s what fans of farming sims often want. It’s the variety of characters and new crops and little gameplay tweaks that make it fun to come back time and time again to work up to the ultimate farming experience. It’s a must-have for Doraemon fans and those wanting a new light-hearted Story of Seasons experience will likely enjoy the change of pace that the crossover brings to the table. Hopefully fans of the genre check out Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom as it truly is an endearing delight and exciting to see this series get such a lovely sequel.

Survios has another winner on its hands with Battlewake. Instituting an anti-sea sickness technology should allow people who are more prone to this to actually enjoy the game. While the single player allows for getting the premise and feel of the game down, it truly shines in multiplayer. Multiplayer is seamless and works extremely well and people can hop on with friends. Single player will get redundant, but what is done here will go towards the multiplayer experience. Motion tracking is wonderful along with the controls but will take a little bit to master as there is a lot going on at times. The visuals are vibrant and vary based on environments. Battlewake is the only game of its kind and even better, it retails for only $30 on PS4. Battlewake is a must-have game for VR owners.

Point Perfect is a fun game that, although meant to be enjoyed casually in short bursts, rewards getting better and lasting longer, allowing more of the game’s crazy randomness to be experienced as a high score worth bragging about is racked up.

What Asteroid Base has done here shouldn’t be brushed aside: this is a game that feels like some real effort and soul was put into it, and the result is a title that is emblematic of everything awesome about the independent game development scene.

With some great stories that don’t overstay their welcome and an endearing cast of characters, the King’s Quest reboot series manages to overcome some rough spots to become greater than its parts.

It may not be the RPG we had sought at the beginning, but it’s one that marries together most (though not all) of what makes this Mario spin-off so immediately engrossing.

More than four years on, SUPERHOT remains as instantly recognizable and immensely appealing a gameplay concept as it ever was on day one. MIND CONTROL DELETE may feel more like a continuation of a good run, rather than a full expanding upon the foundation, but that doesn’t mean that what new features it does offer up fail in helping to bolster what still remains a fun and ingenious interpretation of first-person shooting and puzzle-solving fused together. While it’s easy to pick out the over-reliance on repeated environments, as much the disappointing lack of committing to the subversive elements of previous, there are just as many — if not more — new additions brought into the fold, that ultimately, rightfully, claim most of the attention. A familiar reflection of what the base game managed it may be, a slew of new threats, devious twists and further reinforcing of smart tactics to compensate for such unpredictability result in MIND CONTROL DELETE ending up a great addition to the SUPERHOT experience.

Exactly what fans of the series have come to expect, whilst still providing one or two interesting deviations in gameplay along the way, Like A Dragon: Ishin! fuses familiar traits with a delightfully-versatile combat system to great effect. Those worried that a game both spin-off in nature and far-flung from the series’ present day roots would feel too isolated should take comfort from the fact this year’s remake of a pre-0 entrant remains quintessentially Yakuza in all the right ways. And while the take on style-switching, combo-chasing combat this time round is admittedly imperfect and far from the most fluid system to engage with, some occasional scuffs and rough edges aren’t enough to deter Like A Dragon: Ishin! from coming away as one more worthwhile and thoroughly-entertaining spin-off in the Yakuza series.