Although shifting to a pseudo-isometric viewpoint, not much has changed here and it remains as addictive as ever. Unfortunately, the very thing that makes it appealing also holds it back. There’s nothing new here versus the many other Bomberman games and although polished and featuring a colorful story, there isn’t a major reason to return. Addictive as it may be, there’s not much content here and camera angle and control issues strain things further. That being said, it’s still a blast (pun fully intended) and can easily make for a great party for those looking to be social with their new console. A perfectly good “B game” for Zelda, Super Bomberman R is a cute ball of fun, but could have been more.

Skylanders Imaginators remains the same great game on Nintendo Switch as it was on other consoles, but with a few drawbacks and additions.

With frustrating tech, unappealing appearance and a lack of quality of life streamlining, Torment: Tides of Numenera might actually be my biggest gaming-related disappointment since I bought an Atari Jaguar.

NieR: Automata is an absolute masterpiece from beginning to end (or ends, to be a bit more accurate). Even for what was our most anticipated game of the year, I still didn’t expect to be blown away that much, but this was an absolute thrill ride in every area, from just running through a gorgeous wrecked city with wild boars roaming around to surfing down sand dunes in a desert in a cool little touch to fighting off an army of twenty-some robots vomiting corrosive material with some of the finest combat in recent video game history (oh, not to mention the actual thrill ride at one point). It is an addictive, joyous, haunting beauty with a surreal mystery at the center of its captivating world to uncover, and like the best games of its kind, you’ll find yourself diving back in for as much as you can.

The action packed gameplay and well developed story make the time in Bolivia enjoyable, and the freedom to play solo or cooperatively through campaign caters to anyone’s preferred social level in gaming. Wildlands might not be what longtime fans were hoping for from a new Ghost Recon, but putting expectations aside, Wildlands is not a game to miss.

Although it’s told through the lenses of cute cuddly woodland creatures, Night in the Woods‘ narrative themes of isolation and insecurity are nothing to shake a stick at. Despite its pitfalls Infinite Falls’ story about the declining heartland touched me more than any game has any abject right to.

Nioh solidifies the status of roguelikes and their relevance in today’s gaming landscape. Never in my countless hours with the game did Nioh feel like the knock off Bloodborne it might look like at first glance. Instead it enhances and develops the genre in new and interesting ways, building and adding a fresh layer of varnish on a previously-established framework. Although it doesn’t carry its charm completely in its later stages, developer Team Ninja deserve a mess of credit for making a game that goes about enhancing a beloved genre without tarnishing the work it’s emulating.

With an outrageous amount of content, tons of characters and freedom to manage your farm as you see fit, few will be able to resist the allure of Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns.

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…

Ys Origin is over a decade old and holds up well despite showing its age. It’s not a lengthy game and a single playthrough will only take roughly ten hours, though if one were to want to see the full story with every character, its brevity makes that much more feasible. Being as this is a dungeon crawler centered around climbing a massive tower, the short length makes it just long enough to feel like it is a complete game without overstaying its welcome. Even on easy, the boss fights won’t hand over a victory without a fight, and the nightmare difficulty will challenge even the most seasoned Ys veteran. While this is a fun game and should be played by all Ys fans, I would be more inclined to recommend it to people who are already fans of the franchise.

Dystoria will expand and challenge your mind with its six-axis gameplay element as players will be forced to approach aspects of the game differently than they would logically. Technical issues and adjustments to the controls can hamper the experience, but once comfortable, players will settle into an experience straight out of a sci-fi movie from 1982. This game seems simple at first glance, but offers a good bit of depth and replay value if one looks to master the game. The addicting gameplay will make the player want to master each level. Dystoria offers more as a puzzle game with elements of an arcade shooter.

Hidden Folks may be on the short side, and has its occasional hair-pulling moment, but the hefty amount of charm it has in even the smallest individual, combined with some particularly clever puzzle design, make it worth taking at least one quick spin with. Hopefully we will indeed see a surge of more content to up the replay value in the future, but for now the end result is a solid and cute puzzle game that would do Martin Handford proud. If you can’t afford a classic piece of Waldo literature at the moment, maybe consider hunting down a few cute folks.

For those looking for the kind of wind-me-down indie title that can still rustle up a good, nuanced frustration from time to time, BOOR will meet that demand (if not exceed it) without letting its potential annoyances get in the way or become the focal point. Unfortunately, there’s not much else to find in this brief puzzle-platformer that warrants the case a bulk of the developer’s true focus was really, truly invested that deeply. The simplified and illustrative presentation is a pleasant assortment of pinkish-reds and greyscale tones and the way this basic geometry can at times deliver something a little more complex and demanding in the gameplay front can be regarded the game’s real height at points. A pleasant experience it may be, just don’t expect anything other than conformity to a tried-and-tested formula.

Forma.8 is an interesting (if flawed) take on the concept of lone exploration in its most pure and absolute sense. It’s not pretentious to talk kindly on the use of color and geometric abstraction to give meaning to one’s World, because the way MixedBag manage to conjure intrigue with such basic structures alongside their chosen tones and particularly hollowed-out level design deserves a warm reception. Though skating a little too precariously in its more long-winded moments, Forma.8 ends up being an enjoyable alternative to the Metroidvania thesis.

Circles is a relaxing puzzle game that can still be surprisingly tricky, sometimes exasperatingly so. Making precise movements while taking the level’s rotation into account and also keeping the speed up because the circles in the level grow larger the faster you move can take more than a few tries to get past, but those sections are the exception to the move laid-back nature of the rest of the game. Try, fail, try again, experiment a bit, win, move on to the next puzzle, and repeat. It’s an easy and comfortable rhythm to fall into, as you’re gently carried along by the mellow soundtrack past one level to the next. Circles switches from relaxing and thoughtful to twitchy and precise over its visually-arresting stages, and its hard to stop playing until you’ve seen everything it has to offer.

The lack of multiplayer holds Berserk and the Band of the Hawk back from being the greatest Omega Force title, but players who are okay with this will find an experience that both captures the soul of the source material as well as one of the purest, most hyperviolent, titles to hit the market.

Even if our first follow-up to one of the most legendary games ever made is a more relatively small-scale PlayStation VR game, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin is still an absolute treat indeed, and a must-play for anyone who owns the peripheral.

Ride 2 doesn’t do everything it could have to become the premiere motorcycle racing game on the market, but it comes far closer than the original. The racing action is more intense than before, but the core game is still held back by a bit by long load times. The online play remains solid, so anyone who enjoyed the original’s online play will find more of that to enjoy here. Anyone who felt that the first game was a world of unfulfilled potential will find more to like here. The core action is far better and there is more to enjoy than before. It’s a well-crafted game and well-worth buying for anyone who enjoys fast-paced sim racing and has a passion for motorycles.

For a first attempt at the genre, Bat Country Games shows a clear understanding of how to integrate the player’s abilities within the level design, coercing players into switching between them in a rapid-fire fashion. Despite this, Dye still stumbles at the finish line by eliminating any sense of motivation to progress further, as uncontrollable, frequent deaths and infrequent checkpoints raise the challenge beyond what is necessary, or arguably feasible. Dye will still likely find an audience among speedrunners, as well as equally dedicated gamers who can put up with the repetition, but with plenty of challenging platformers already available that offer a more attainable rate of success, it will be hard for Dye to have that same rate of return that these demanding platformers so often rely upon.

This is a culmination of everything Guerrilla has learned from working on the Killzone franchise and they've successfully crafted something that delivers on the potential many saw back in 2015. Horizon Zero Dawn is not only one of the best-looking games of this generation, but a must own for every PlayStation 4 owner.

While there are some imperfections, such as a constant internet connection required and the large amount of grinding required to unlock everything, For Honor is a solid title and recommended for fans of melee combat action titles who want to try a unique twist on a familiar formula.

Flywrench is a deceptively simple challenge that requires nerves of steel and a vast reservoir of patience if you want to see everything it has to offer. When the game clicks it’s a fantastic challenge, with the difficulty offset by the short levels that make you feel like a pure ninja master when cleared.

The best thing about Sweetest Monster is the story it presents. On the other hand, it’s likely the storyline which is sure to turn some readers completely away. If you’re coming to this game from something vapidly sweet like Nekopara then it may totally rock your world in a bad way. Others with a taste for dark, disturbing tales may love it — or find it doesn’t go far enough. With such a wide array of opinions, the only way to know if you’ll enjoy this one or not is to simply play Sweetest Monster yourself.

At the end of the day, however, it’s the multiplayer and gameplay that make or break an RTS game, and Halo Wars 2 checks those boxes. If you’ve ever had the itch to command an army of UNSC soldiers, Halo Wars 2 will easily scratch it.

Most of this review was spent pointing out where John Wick Chronicles fails fans of the movie, and that is a major issue. While it doesn’t always work out, even the worst licensed game still has hopes of trying to capture the feel of the franchise it’s using. Outside of the Continental, this game doesn’t. One cannot help but think that there were some grand designs for what the game was going to be before the deadline in the form of the sequel’s release reared its head. Anyone who can put that aside and wants a decent gallery shooter can have a good time with John Wick Chronicles. The targets are plentiful and the game likes to use all 360 degrees around the player for their spawn points, meaning it takes advantage of the ability to turn around, something that some other similar titles can’t even state. So, while John Wick Chronicles cannot be recommended at full price, it’s worth snagging when a proper sale comes around.

Giga Wrecker has the attractive presentation and unique blend of genres that make for a cult classic, with only a few slip-ups getting in the way of true greatness. But even as is, it’s a terrific game with some clever ideas that also puts up just enough of a fight in every area to end up both challenging and fun in perfect amounts.

For a first title, Splashteam has shown that they are more than capable of bringing some original ideas to one of gaming’s oldest genres. The action-packed levels offer plenty of surprises to keep players on their toes, even if a few fall flat, and the brightly colored presentation further benefits the unique title. Yet, Splasher‘s distinct lack of character is unfortunate, as even a few minor touches could have greatly enhanced the context in which all of this exciting platforming is taking place. Nonetheless, casual and speedrunning platforming fans alike will find a pleasantly surprising amount of depth and content that boosts Splasher to exciting heights.

It would be easy to criticize Rosenkreuzstilette for copying so much of its content from Mega Man games, but that is what makes it so enjoyable. There have been many games that try to piggyback on more successful franchises on a superficial level but completely miss what made the source material so great. This is a blatant Mega Man clone, but it is a clone that was properly done.