Phoenotopia Awakening is filled with a lot of potential from its wonderfully-charming presentation to utterly-delightful characters, but it just falls short of being something iconic and memorable with systems that often work against the player and can feel almost unfair like many retro video games most people don’t tend to pick up and play anymore. With a few tweaks it could make for a much more balanced experience, but Phoenotopia Awakening would be hard to recommend to those not looking for a steep challenge.

Despite its downfalls and legacy design issues, I simply cannot put down PGA Tour 2K21. Much like the previous Golf Club title, this is a golf game with smidgen of the PGA Tour tacked on it. MyPLAYER is designed to be a individualistic experience, but a lack of depth on the branded items and the fact that there’s no leveling up the player leaves the long-term aspect in question. Couple that with a season that is mostly full of fantasy courses with some mid-tier PGA Tour courses thrown in and those expecting a full on PGA experience will be disappointed. What matters the most here, however, is the golf and the proper representation of a golf broadcast. The addiction of building confidence until you find that sweet spot and the ability to nail shots that you crafted in your mind makes it worth it. Just avoid higher difficulties until you get comfortable, but I also feel getting too serious about your play style may ruin the experience that’s otherwise extremely fun. In the end PGA Tour 2K21 is a great game of golf and a promising start to the new franchise, and with 2K onboard, we should continue to see more of the PGA positively implemented in the future.

Battletoads revives what was thought to be a long-dead franchise without missing a step. The game benefits from modernized game mechanics but maintains the overall gameplay feel of the original titles. If you have fond memories of the earlier titles, it’s a no brainer that this is a title worth playing. The game does rely on nostalgia, but this is one of the better reboots around. Battletoads succeeds at making a game look and feel modern while maintaining the essence of what made it good so many years ago. Battletoads does offer a variety of different modes in addition to primarily being a beat ’em up title. It’s a truly ridiculous game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s good to see that after such a long break the ‘Toads are still on top of their game.

Spiritfarer is an absolute triumph and easily goes down as the best game that Thunder Lotus has created. It’s no easy feat to juggle a cast of charming characters with captivating stories, a vibrant world that allows for a ton of fun platforming, enjoyable bits of resource management and crafting, and genuinely moving moments, but they have somehow pulled it off. It’s easily one of the year’s most unique games, an incredible hybrid of genres that almost feels like it has something for everyone. It may be a lengthy beast, clocking in at a meaty twenty or so hours, but it’s a rewarding one. Even long after the curtain falls on the tale of Stella and all the friends that they’ve made, you won’t be forgetting this charming take on the afterlife anytime soon.

Death end re;Quest 2 follows the mold of its predecessor but is ultimately more enjoyable. There are times when the day portion of the game feels like it’s going on for too long but the story is at least interesting enough where it’s not too tedious. The battle sequences are simple but the enhanced knockback mechanics make them more enjoyable. It’s not the deepest RPG out there, both in terms of depth of a character development and combat mechanics but the gameplay is enjoyable and the story finds a way to be grisly and dark while still having an overall lighthearted feel to the game. It does have the certain feel to it that Compile Heart/Idea Factory games have, but Death end re;Quest 2 is arguably one of their strongest games overall.

EA Sports UFC 4 is a fun albeit bland fighting game. For something in a biennial release cycle, we would have hoped to have seen more evolution to the formula than what we’ve gotten...There’s a lot to like with EA Sports UFC 4 as it’s still an entertaining fighter, but it just doesn’t go beyond what we’ve come to expect from it.

The Revenant Prince is as far from joyous as one can get, resulting in one of the most frustrating, tedious and downright awfully cobbled-together RPGs to release in recent years.

Moose Life is an upbeat hardcore shooter that’s just as inviting to the casual player and a wonderfully-orchestrated fireworks show from start to finish.

Metamorphosis manages to whip up an impressive tribute to Franz Kafka in its quick story thanks to its offbeat sense of humor, style and eye-catching world. It’s just a shame that the game flounders when it comes to figuring out how merge together the various gameplay aspects needed to keep going in this tale of transformation. Still, it does have enjoyable platforming and a few surprises here and there, so if you have about three to four hours to kill, this is a crash course in abridged Kafka worth checking out.

Despite its low price tag, the vague roadmap and bare bones nature of Fall Guys is hard to ignore, raising some sustainability questions as the game aims to remain relevant in a crowded market in the weeks and months to come. But for now, Fall Guys is easily one of the most widely accessible and consistently amusing massive multiplayer games of this year, as the race for the next crown continues to remain just as thrilling after hours of matches.

Fight Crab is one of the more ridiculous games of 2020. The level of ridiculousness works to its advantage, as the game mechanics themselves are rather mediocre the absurdity makes it interesting. It’s not the deepest fighting experience by far, as the gameplay didn’t hold my interest so much as wanting to see what the next bizarre arena would look like. A game this ridiculous is best enjoyed with the company of friends to revel in the absurdity or may even be one of those rare games that might be more entertaining to watch a streamer play it. Fight Crab is a novelty title, and while it’s an amusing one, the gameplay doesn’t do much to prolong the enjoyment after the novelty wears off, but prior to that the game does provide many authentic chuckles.

Though there may be better and more narratively-intriguing entries out there already, for genre enthusiasts focused squarely on the puzzles themselves, Relicta‘s subtle self-awareness in its own pitch — as much the assortment of challenges on display — are enough to help it win out in the end.

Void Terrarium is a strange and beautiful dungeon crawling RPG, and despite the familiar genre, manages to feel like there’s nothing else out there like it.

It’s apparent that a lot of work went into Fairy Tail to ensure that it’s something fans would embrace. While its target audience is obviously fans of Fairy Tail its pacing and mechanics provide an engaging enough experience where those unfamiliar with the franchise would still find it a worthwhile experience. Taken strictly on the merits of gameplay without taking the license into consideration, it’s a good though unremarkable JRPG. Side quests were abandoned a few chapters in due to their repetitive nature, but the main story and character side stories are interesting enough to keep the player engaged to completion.

From a technical perspective, Crysis Remastered looks fantastic when taking in the sights, but that presentation is ultimately marred by consistent and noticeable framerate hiccups and technical issues. Crysis Remastered manages to outshine the PS3 and Xbox 360 console versions and stands as a solid return to the Crysis franchise. It just feels like too much was sacrificed to get such a demanding game running on the Switch.

Hellbound may not be great but it’s a short, sweet thrill ride while it lasts. The action is nice and fast with the guns packing a solid punch, and all the weapons earn their place in the arsenal. The length of the game means its limits don’t have a chance to feel grating and the sameness of the enemies is nicely offset by the personality of the levels. Even after the game is over there are still a handful of arena levels to play in, trying to survive as long as possible to claim a spot on its leaderboards. Hellbound may be restrained by its limits but there’s no question it does a lot within them and it’s good bloody fun while the ride lasts.

It’s hard to hold the positives in one’s mind without reminiscing on the kind of game Skully could’ve been. Yet take out the personal ambition of this being some grand, 3D adventure to explore in another scenario and Skully is still too much a case of good intentions marred by bad or downright odd decision-making in parts. While die-hard followers of the genre are sure to scrape together some joy in the spots of twitch-heavy platforming and hunt for collectibles the game affords, the lingering of one too many time-heavy design choices and back-end issues means the best Skully can hope for is the perception of a flawed “charming-enough” effort. Whether you can look past the inconsistent physics work, rough technical performance or the narrative’s hackneyed attempt at something resembling personality, will depend on how invested you are in the gameplay. It’s a rough, uneven, disappointingly-middle of the road trek. But for all its faults, Skully‘s acknowledging and understanding of 3D platforming’s appeal does count for something. A game whose heart is most certainly in the right place.

Fae Tactics: The Girl Who Destroyed the World is a top-notch tactical RPG and one that any longtime fan of the genre should check out. It’s great for veterans as the bright setting is unlike anything on the market today, while lapsed fans will want to try it to fall back in love with the genre. If you’re a newcomer to tactical RPGs, it does a fantastic job of easing you into the core mechanics of combat and makes it a fun story to see unfold with each battle. Having various risk/rewards systems in place encourages bold play and helps keep things fresh too. It’s a great looking and playing game with a strong soundtrack.

Othercide may challenge you harshly, but it also adequately rewards your perseverance.

Destroy All Humans! is a rare example of a remake that changes just enough to maintain the essence of the original while improving the overall experience. The gameplay enhancements give this a more modern feel but it maintains the original story and visual style to appease those seeking a nostalgia fix. Destroy All Humans! was always a fun game though hasn’t aged all that well. This version revitalizes the title, changing just enough to make revisiting Area 42 a worthwhile invasion.

Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon 2 is clearly a love letter to the NES Castlvania games. Players who have played the original know exactly what they’re getting into here, although the sequel is overall an improved experience. Making 8-bit retro style games isn’t as novel a concept as it was several years when these type of titles were popping up in the indie game scene but Curse of the Moon 2 is an example of one of the better executions of this concept. Iga may be irritated with the constant Castlvania comparisons Bloodstained titles receive since the latter is filled with an interesting new world and lore but they also recreate the everything great about the former. A proper sequel to Ritual of the Night is what Bloodstained fans are really wanting to sink their teeth into, but Curse of the Moon 2 helps solidify Bloodstained as its own franchise and is a great game on its own merits for fans of retro games.

Even if it was all-action/no-brain, Panzer Paladin‘s retro-look is bursting with style in a way that other NES-throwbacks frequently miss. There’s a lot to love here, including harder remixed versions of the levels and a speed-run mode, but its mean-spirited death penalties mean you have to work for it.

Disappointing it may be to see the same infrequent defining of difficulty — as much the over-reliance on visual gags at the cost of gameplay variety where it matters — Rock of Ages III: Make & Break still manages to entice, but not impress. At the very least, ensuring players will gladly once again come back for another roll down a winding level or two.

Rocket Arena is a fantastic game with well-crafted shooting mechanics and a diverse mode lineup that manages to be both fun in short bursts and long play sessions. There’s more tweaking that can be done to make it a more robust experience as the roster is lean at launch, but what’s here is great and every character manages to feel different from one another. The mix of shooting and platforming skills helps make it a great gateway shooter for those who may not otherwise enjoy the genre and its quick pace ensures that no match is ever boring. The graphical design is sharp, but the soundtrack could use some work even with strong sound design that helps amplify the effects of your rocket-filled arsenal.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is a wonderful new entry that helps sell the idea that trying new things was the right move. While the series has had some ups and downs, Origami King nails the mix of enjoyable combat and fun gameplay. It would be nice if there was a little bit more depth to the story, but there’s enough to make everything fun and lighthearted while occasionally having dynamic story moments that bring the characters together. The combat could potentially be more difficult for younger players, but it’s hard not to recommend picking up Paper Mario: The Origami King when it’s simply a blast from start to finish.

Despite the short length and minor replayability factor, Phobia Game’s debut is still a cleverly-concentrated experience. One that wastes little time on padding, even if it means its more repetitive segments are more visible to spot. It may not be firing on all cylinders, but Carrion‘s frantic, do-or-die action mixed with pleasant strides in its aesthetic make for an odd yet entertaining few hours.

Necrobarista may have changed since it was first seen, but the end result is still an engrossing visual novel that succeeds thanks to a cast of memorable and fun characters, a stylish and cool presentation, and a well-crafted story that hits all the right notes, providing a terrific tale of having to move on that has room for bits of both laughter and tears in your coffee. Despite a few hiccups along the way, it’s an adventure that was both worth the wait and visiting the Terminal for.

Neon Abyss is a highly playable action-roguelike with a huge number of perks and weapons to take on the ever-growing horde of monsters that show up in each room. The powerup progression in a run is almost always satisfying, assuming it doesn’t take too long for the random drops to start piling up in a helpful way, and while sometimes the chaos can become unreadable it’s usually due to becoming trigger-happy on entering a new room.