Unfortunately, Flock is hard to recommend. The game design is repetitive and confusing, not leading players enough to where they're supposed to go or what they should be doing. There's a lot of beauty to be had with Flock, which will attract many, but don't expect a fun game behind its beautiful exterior. This is a game I wish I could have liked more but found myself scratching my head, even raising my voice for a few moments.

Bō: Path of the Teal Lotus is, plain and simple, one truly superb and expertly-crafted metroidvania game. The cast of colorful characters ends up leading to quests that feature impressive gameplay that encourages exploration as you eventually discover more of the world, the action is superb and challenging with a lot of fun movement, and it all looks dazzling as you take in all of the sights of Japanese mythology, depicted here in such a charming style. If you're a fan of the genre, you need to check it out. And if not, consider Bō a good place to start.

An easy-to-grasp premise coupled with a campaign with an abundance of clever twists and turns, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess stands as one of Capcom's most interesting ventures into smaller-scale experiences yet. A game that doesn't shy away from its smaller stature, yet never feels like it's sacrificing the quality of production we've come to expect and praise Capcom for. Some great artistic use of color and lighting on top, only emboldening further a game that feels miniature yet grand at the same time. The surprise isn't that Capcom can excel just as well on newer, smaller-scale projects. It's that for a premise revolving around a combination of combat, real-time tactics, overhead management and tower defense-style adaptation, Capcom and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess have found a way to make such anxieties of the Strategy genre a still-perilous but altogether more exciting and interesting path worth taking.

SCHiM is a game that initially shows a lot of promise with a truly unique concept that'a realized through expert-level design that makes the world around you feel believable and dynamic. It's a blast to hop around and enjoy the lazy afternoon tunes as you experience a quaint, if rather unremarkable, silent narrative. In the end, however, the game fails to squeeze all the juice out of this fantastic concept, offering far too much filler content to pad the experience and not enough unique puzzles, engaging platforming challenges and environmental gimmicks to justify the amount of levels present. The optional challenges and collectibles will appeal to some who are able to make their own fun, but overall, SCHiM feels like a wonderful proof of concept that fails to achieve its true potential.

While there's a chance that Anger Foot might not make a perfect first impression, it's recommended that any players keep at it, as what lies within is very well one of this year's best FPS games. A twisted gem of caffeinated action that never lets up and finds new ways to challenge players while still keeping things accessible to all, this is one shooter that plays like bizarre dream that's filthy and candy-coated at the same time, with great humor, visuals and an intense soundtrack to boot. One way or another, metaphorically or literally, you'll get a terrific kick out of it.

Overall, Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition is a fantastic remaster with beautiful visuals and remade music. Hopefully Ubisoft follows this with stunning remasters of other classic series like Rayman. Beyond Good & Evil still has engaging characters, fun puzzles and stealth sections that make you think. The world is also glorious to explore and shows Beyond Good & Evil was ahead of its time with how it built Hillys with multiple creatures, cultures and species of people. Unfortunately, the lack of manual saves and camera issues do let down this 20th Anniversary Edition.

Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD is a great Switch re-release, making it a must-play for newcomers of the series as well as a nostalgic adventure for returning fans of the 2013 game. While the title doesn’t bring in any new features to add to the mix, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD shines with its updated look and design which matches authentically with the roster of current Nintendo Switch titles. If you can look past the few kinks in the road, you're in for an all-out spooky good time with Luigi. Just make sure to look behind you from time to time.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance stakes its claim as the definitive version of the original and sticks the landing. It changes what needed to be fixed and keeps what worked intact. While it doesn't go too above and beyond what was before it, that by no means makes Vengeance anything less than great. The original was one of 2021's best RPGs and now Vengeance can claim a high spot among 2024's best and brightest. It's a hardcore, fantastic and rich experience that should be on everyone's must-play list.

Nihon Falcom needn't have gone about overhauling things as radically as they have. But with a newfound energy and purpose to its real-time/turn-based hybrid of a premise, as well as a bountiful amount of new and returning mechanics to experiment with, Trails Through Daybreak is nothing less than another fantastic reinvention for what was already some of if not the best turn-based combat in any JRPG series. Aided on top by that familiar dedication to player customization, intriguing world-building and that ongoing desire to spend a bit longer in getting the most out of the systems on show. Countless entries later, Trails continues to prove itself as one of the most satisfying and engaging role-playing experiences available. It wasn't exactly begging for such reinvention, but with The Legend of Heroes: Trails Through Daybreak, Nihon Falcom's opener to the Calvard arc is as close to perfect a new chapter, as you can possibly get.

Dice & Fold is a casual, yet challenging, foray into the dungeon crawler genre. With a deceptively cute and simplistic art style, the game pushes players to strategize, use their decks to their advantage and make the enemies fold. What the game lacks in narrative is made up for through the ability to customize how you fight, who you bring as a companion and what you carry in your inventory. So hurry up, grab your backpack and let's get to slaying some monsters!

When it comes down to it, Super Monkey Ball Banana Rumble is an exciting and worthwhile entry in the acclaimed series. There's a lot to enjoy for newcomers and fans, from new levels and characters to multiplayer and modes. The Nintendo Switch does the title justice in the gameplay, though it hurts the graphical fidelity some of the stages and sceneries may have had. Still, it's an essential title for those looking for a fun, challenging and vibrant experience, and is definitely worth all the monkey business and your time.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road is a worthy addition to the ever-expanding game. The Scribing feature is a great addition for players who want to customize their character's abilities and the Mirrormoor Incursions help make the world feel alive. While these newly-added features help set Gold Road apart from the previous expansions, it does fall into the trap that many annual expansions are prone to where it does feel like the new features are marking off items on a checklist. Gold Road is a good addition to The Elder Scrolls Online, but after eight expansions in ten years, each expansion starts to feel like it is treading familiar ground, even with the well-done new features.

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.

Still Wakes the Deep is a standout title from The Chinese Room and is a must-play for fans of Lovecraft horror. The game utilizes all its audio elements to craft an immersive experience that's thrilling and chilling. The title has fun toying with your mind and peels back the layers of comfort that's brought during the start of the game. As the environment around you changes, so does your experience, and that's what a good story can do. From exploring the rig to hiding from enemies, The Chinese Room brings together its recognizable elements and puts together a strong sailor worthy of its sea legs.

When compared to Elden Ring, Shadow of the Erdtree doesn’t quite live up to its lofty expectations. As a standalone experience, though, Shadow of the Erdtree is an absolute treasure that only helps to enhance the enjoyment of Elden Ring as a whole.

Outside the campaign, The Final Shape does mostly well. The Pale Heart is a visually-arresting space to explore, though doesn’t change the Patrol Zone formula in any meaningful way. The addition of the Dread enemy faction and Prismatic subclass add freshness to the sandbox, though don’t offer any evolution to the way you’ll play Destiny 2. The only truly downright awful thing about The Final Shape is that, for $50, there’s still not a whole lot of included content, leaving Destiny 2’s core activities starved for anything fresh. Destiny 2: The Final Shape is, ultimately, more Destiny 2, and it provides a meaningful ending to the 10-year Light and Darkness saga.

Even with its slightly unintuitive interface and occasionally-tedious boss encounters, V Rising does what so many survival-sandbox and loot-based RPGs alike get horribly wrong from the word go: having the base gameplay start from a point of enjoyment. While the task to build one's self up and survive the ongoing perils remain crucial to one's progression, it's thanks to the game's reframing of key genre pillars like gear score and meters to manage that make the experience far from the slog it may initially imply. While its introduction may lead many to suspect the same mounting tedium is coming, a host of well-integrated mechanics alongside that consistent balancing of the risks one may be willing to take make V Rising -- and now, its subsequent release onto PS5 -- a noteworthy accomplishment.

With the original Monster Hunter Stories title, Capcom created an entirely new style of gameplay in a familiar world that fans could come to grow and love. It was an attempt at something they weren't sure would take off, but ultimately paid off in creating a beloved spin-off franchise. It's not just lovely to see this first title now available for new and old players alike to re-experience, but it goes back to the series' humble beginning before it blasted off and expanded more than people could have expected. This series is one of Capcom's greatest and we're thrilled to see it now made available for brand new audiences to experience on modern systems. It's well worth picking up for fans of the sequel or those who haven't checked it out yet. Players don't need any familiarity with the core Monster Hunter franchise to enjoy this absolutely wonderful RPG adventure.

Is Rocksmith+ the perfect substitute for guitar lessons? Absolutely not, but it is a good tool for learning some techniques and songs. The comprehensive library of video lessons covers a wide variety of techniques; from beginner to advanced, to whatever technique a player is struggling with, there's a video to help show them the way to improve. Unfortunately, unlike actual lessons, the videos are one-way communications, so there's no constructive feedback to cater to the individual's needs. The song library numbers in the thousands, and while there's likely something for everyone, many favorites are omitted. Even with its limitations, however, video instruction can be an effective means to learning an instrument. Rocksmith+ does have all these limitations, but with its vast song library and comprehensive video lessons, it is one of the better options for learning how to play guitar without taking actual lessons.

MultiVersus shows there's enough promise to expand the platform fighter genre with a new focus on 2v2 gameplay and intriguing movesets for each character. We didn't call Mortal Kombat a Street Fighter clone, despite them sharing a 2D plane. Nintendo didn't even begin the platform fighter genre: it only popularized it. The term "Smash Clone" is a demeaning one, which is a huge turnoff for many. MultiVersus should get love for its concept, and as it continues to build, hopefully it will get its time in the sun.

There are so many games in the zeitgeist that focus on offering the most realistic or the most refined and polished experience on the market, but often this can be to the detriment of fun. Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip knows this all too well, focusing solely on bringing the fun factor. It's a love letter to successful mascot platformers of old while offering some much-needed fan service to the kid-friendly GTA-clone sub-genre that gave us The Simpsons Hit and Run and Lego City Undercover. It's not a game that's going to change your life, but it's a wonderful, action-packed romp that just might make a lazy afternoon a little more memorable.

Paper Trail delivers the perfect blend of color and art style that's a standout among the puzzle game genre. The technical mechanics are innovative and creatively integrate new challenges as the story goes on, making the experience engaging and thoughtful. While this storybook looks visually stunning, the plot lacks a sense of depth and doesn’t add much to the games’ experience. Paper Trail puts a twist on the simple indie game and centers itself on display for everyone to see in all its splendor.

Nine Sols is a Metroidvania that does what many have failed to do within the genre and actually creates an experience that feels like an authentic, grueling, atmospheric and unique 2D Souls game. Artistically, it's hard to find any fault with it as the blend of Tao Tradition and Cyberpunk dystopia is captivating. The narrative is gritty, mature and uncompromising, which leads to an engaging story from start to end, and the gameplay is a refined showcase of combat, platforming and puzzle-solving. The difficulty settings may be a little askew, and some may feel that the central themes are too graphic and unsettling at times. But all in all, Nine Sols, in a stacked year, as far as Metroidvanias are concerned, does more than enough to force itself into the conversation, as it could be a contender for indie game of the year.

Ubisoft’s attempt to blend two disparate genres together backfires, creating massive balancing issues and diluting both experiences. Its lack of polish on the server side leads to outright aggravating and uneven experiences. Finally, while XDefiant is free-to-play, the fact that there’s little earn and outright unlock leaves little incentive to stick with the game beyond a couple of matches occasionally. XDefiant provides that solid, fun FPS action in small doses, but is sorely held back by a lack of focus, polish and earnable content.

The removal of content hurts this year's official Formula One game. F1 24 went in a bold direction with its physics, but now the game borders on a casual racer due to the lack of difficulty for simulating a Formula One car. Racing will be more aggressive because these cars stay glued to the track with minimal punishment for pushing the car. The graphics and audio options are where the game stands out the best. The ongoing bugs will continue to hamper the experience, so here's to hoping these things are addressed. It's neat to take one of the Legendary Drivers into the career mode, as Senna hasn't been playable in years in the series. The changes to Career Mode are subtle, but a good bit of the modes come down to the same experience previously seen or just a mode to get rewards or a high score. Maybe the overhaul needs to begin with focusing on current-generation systems.

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is still, after all these years, the prime example of Paper Mario at its very best. Its writing is still funny, its characters are quirky and fun in ways that they just aren’t in other Nintendo games, its combat is simple yet deep enough to stay interesting throughout and it’s a visual and aural treat thanks to all the enhancements made by Intelligent Systems. The improvements made both in and out of combat also go a long way towards making the game shine even more than it already did. Sure, the extra tutorials can be annoying for longtime fans, but otherwise, this new version does the original justice and makes it an even more worthy addition to any Switch owner’s library.

Starstruck Vagabond is an audacious attempt to provide a space-based life sim that doesn't go the same well as many developers have done in the post-Stardew-Valley landscape. In this bid to stand out from the rest, however, this game feels like a smorgasbord of simple, repetitive and generally uninteresting mindless chores. The game has a solid foundation with understandable, intuitive mechanics and the promise of an addictive gameplay loop. And while it delivers in one way to offer a 'switch-your-brain-off' sort of feel, the game feels as vacuous as the setting. The humorous writing does help to motivate you to begrudgingly push for the finish line, but in the end, it's all just busy work, and not the fun kind.

With its vibrant visuals, intricate gameplay mechanics and a narrative that both entertains and provokes thought, Capes sets itself up as a memorable addition to the superhero genre. While there are minor audio-visual sync issues and balance quirks in the combat system, the overall experience is overwhelmingly positive. This game promises hours of engaging gameplay and delivers a powerful commentary on control and resistance in a dystopian future.