A few bugs aside, Beat Cop is a highly engrossing and addictive adventure, a cross between classic ’80s action and routine cop duty that makes for some extremely interesting gameplay as you get sucked in and even get attached to everyone in your little part of Brooklyn. Proper management and investigation skills are rewarded with satisfying results and advancements in various intriguing narratives, and the gameplay is the kind that’s enjoyably simple to learn and fun to work with. Long story short, even if this is more of a tribute to the like of Harry Callahan, it’s Sonny Bonds who should feel proud that Pixel Crow made an enjoyable game about police work that does his legacy justice.

There’s an engaging storyline in Miniature Garden which unfortunately gets cut a bit short by the end. Even with a multitude of endings, things still feel a bit lacking after completion. Still, the ride provided by the game offers a whole lot of creepiness as our cast of high schoolers work to their school before its curse gets enacted upon them. If you appreciate mystery visual novels which won’t take dozens of hours to finish then Miniature Garden is one new release to check out.

Components blend in such a way to entice a new player to give it more than a few runs. After the honeymoon is over, though, a game that leans so heavy into the rogue-like trappings needs to do something to maintain player interest. Regrettably, that is where this title falters.

PacaPlus excels at being a strange visual novel with a girlfriend turned into a fluffy alpaca. It falters when attempting to create a tale which is joyful to read, through. With middling writing, readers will most likely find themselves playing simply because of the silly premise rather than because they care at all about Kazuma or Yukari’s plight. That’s not awful — but it would have been fantastic to see the second English version of this game offer immensely improved translation quality. Instead, we’ve got a bare-bones effort which reduces the Engrish-ness but otherwise leaves the mechanical script alone. In some respects, the game is far funnier in the PacoProject translation and as such may be worth grabbing from DLsite instead of Steam. Still, if all you need is ridiculous sequences with a goofy alpaca, PacaPlus has you covered.

Chaos Code – New Sign of Catastrophe doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but what it does provide is a lot of high-quality 2D fighting action. The cast isn’t the most diverse in gaming, but still offers up a great deal of variety when it comes to play styles and the usual fast-paced Arc Systems Work fighting action keeps you on your toes at all times. Online play is a huge missed opportunity due to the sheer of lack of players currently, so anyone looking to buy it for that would be wise to wait a bit until the player base is built up over time. It’s a visually-pleasing game despite some archaic aspects to the graphics and presentation, and delivers a satisfying soundtrack alongside exceptional sound effects that make each blow feel that much more damaging.

Despite a lack of traversable areas and series-renowned stressful choices, “Above the Law” represents a solid and polished episode of the latest The Walking Dead season, thanks to some intriguing conflicts and character moments. While the season still doesn’t feel like it quite knows where it’s headed next, the intermediate episode gives players plenty of reasons to continue following the drama of the Garcia brothers.

Not everything is perfect, though as many of the characters and their roles too closely resemble that of how Persona 4 is set up, and managing so many relationships at once can occasionally feel like busy work.

With over eighty hours of content, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 + 2.5 Remix is the ultimate way to experience the franchise and the perfect time sink as we wait for Kingdom Hearts III.

The Show 17 is fundamentally sound, but doesn’t move the sports genre forward. It will appease longtime fans that flock to it year after year, but until the series does something remarkably different, it’ll fall short of being able to stand out of the pack. This year’s version of The Show does a lackluster job of making it seem like anything more than a yearly roster update built upon the same foundation of last year’s game and that is by far the heaviest critique that can be handed down to any yearly sports title.

Dark Souls III: The Ringed City isn’t the swan song that we hoped it would be, but it’s still an enticing adventure for hardcore fans. The problem lies within city itself, which is a bit of a formulaic mess that fails to capture what made the series great. The first half of the DLC has an excellent setup that will leave players wanting more, especially with callbacks to Dark Souls II, but city portion is structurally boring. It’s still intertwining in on itself, but it feels like the developers had a checklist of all their favorite areas and design tropes that needed to be in this short experience, lessening their importance. No one area feels fleshed out enough to be memorable. Regardless, the bosses are a decent showpiece, especially if you can find the secret one, and the new enemies are a welcome addition. It may be only a few hours long, but The Ringed City still a worthy addition to the Dark Souls universe.

Though the plot opens the door to some compelling storytelling only to trip while walking in, there are so many other reasons to give Toukiden 2 a spin. This is faster and more action packed when compared to other titles in the genre. It features a truly open world with load times only occurring when first starting up, fast traveling, story transition or game over. Even then, loads are short. The player can explore and quest for hours without ever needing to stop. When taking into account the massive amount of options packed into this title, they might not want to.

Vikings – Wolves of Midgard takes the formula made popular by the game named after the Spanish word for devil and makes it its own. I wouldn’t go as a far to say this is a Diablo killer, but this is one of the more impressive titles that follows that game’s template. The looting, crafting and killing formula is one that has been done many times over and it is no less addictive in this title. This interpretation of Ragnarok and Norse mythology creates an interesting campaign setting that’s not often used in games, and the visual and sound design make this an engrossing title once the player gets past the tutorials. For fans of action RPGs, Vikings – Wolves of Midgard is a must play.

Battlefield 1: They Shall Not Pass feels like it shouldn’t have taken as long as it has to release. While it feels good to finally have something new to sink our teeth into in Battlefield 1, They Shall Not Pass feels like content that should have been there at launch or earlier in the lifecycle. Three of the new maps are fantastic and stand strong when compared to the base maps, but there’s a strong sense of déjà vu about them. The final map, while good on paper, is ultimately brought down by poor design decisions, and the new weapons, while fun, are locked beyond arbitrary walls. There’s a decent amount of content here, but it doesn’t justify the asking price, or how long it’s taken to actually get a substantial amount of new content in Battlefield 1.

Snipperclips gives players an overall enjoyable experience that allows them to sit down and relax while playing alone or with some friends. The puzzles start simple but get complex enough that it will take some creative thinking to figure them all out. While it may not offer a ton of replayability after every level has been beaten, it can easily make for a fun experience when showing it to someone who has never tried it out before. Someone looking to pick up a simple multiplayer title for the Nintendo Switch to sit down and enjoy with a friend need look no further than Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together!

88 Heroes is an excellent 2D platformer that makes great use of a unique premise to make it infinitely replayable. Having 88 characters to choose from keeps each play session different while also giving you enough familiarity with the main goal to ensure that you have some idea of what to do for each stage. The controls are sharp and the graphics are gorgeous for what they need to be. The music could use some improvement, but its shortcomings are overcome by strong voice and sound effect work. Anyone craving a new 2D platformer with a unique twist on classic gameplay should check it out.

Anyone who enjoys racing games and owns a Switch does not have many options for games right now beyond FAST RMX. Fortunately, it should provide players with at least a dozen hours of gameplay as they work their way from the novice cups to more advanced races. Online and local multiplayer also adds some additional fun into the mix. There’s not much else to the experience, however, and some may wish that the game were a more “pure” arcade racer rather than one with additional gameplay aspects layered on top of simply racing super fast.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is an unbalanced experience. It’s an incredibly ambitious game with a colossal scope, but it doesn’t always hit the right notes.

Desync is not the worst first person shooter I have ever played, but it just doesn’t bring anything to the table to make it that worthwhile either. It does a good job at recreating how the ’80s tried to create something that looked futuristic, but this stylized homage to that decade is definitely style over substance.

Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight is the ideal mix of old and new. The visuals and 2D platforming scream ’80s NES, but the detail that went into the pixel art and the attack combos mixed with fluid animation give this title just enough of a modern feel so it doesn’t feel dated. Fans of Metroidvanias and old adventure games owe it to themselves to check out Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight.

Touhou Double Focus is a quirky Metroidvania that offers fun and challenging gameplay. This isn’t the first game that requires the player to switch between two different play styles, but the simplicity in doing so does enhance the exploration aspect of the beautifully designed areas of the book world. While not incredibly long, this doesn’t feel incomplete since each area is filled with many nooks and crannies to explore with secrets to find. Time attack and replaying boss fights adds to the replay value and certain trophies need to only be attempted by the most masochistic of gamers.

For its price and what its trying to do, Ghost Blade HD isn’t the worst time. Navigating mazes of instant death in the form of the projectiles does have an inherent value. It’s just that there are so many better examples of the genre available across all platforms. If the player is looking for something to ease them into this type of game, this will fit the bill. The bullet pattern design does play fair. The real worry is that a newcomer might play this and wonder what all the fuss is about. Already indoctrinated fans will just find themselves bored in short order.

Touhou Genso Wanderer is a worthy addition to any roguelike fan’s collection, and even more so for Touhou fans as there are references to their other games throughout this one. The everyone takes one turn at a time system might not be for everyone, for this title is one of the better implementations of this format.

Whether new to the series or a long time veteran, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the perfect balance of challenge, adventure and fun that shouldn’t be missed out on.

With some tuning of the initial time mechanic and a rework of the characters, Atelier Firis could have been the best the series has seen. Still, it can boast the best world the franchise has offered to explore, and that is saying something.

The game mechanics are on par with some of the better known stealth titles out there, and taking place in a massive and beautiful fantasy world only enhances the experience. The typical stealth elements such as hiding in the shadows and hanging off building ledges mix well with the more unique abilities such as invisibility and having a clone run amok to take the focus off of Styx.

The Shadows of Pygmalion provides a tremendously enjoyable dramatic story which showcases just how strenuous being a “hero” can be — especially when you’re just a normal high schooler. While it sounds initially like yet another one of those stories, you’ll find that The Shadows of Pygmalion takes things in intriguing directions. It also manages to give the yuri community a more action-driven tale than what they might be used to, which is fantastic. The biggest letdown may simply be that there is not room for more gameplay choices. Fortunately, most readers will find themselves swept up in the story so quickly that they won’t even notice a lack of dialogue options on their journey.

Stranger of Sword City Revisited is an improvement over the original release, making this the version to play if Stranger of Sword City is a title on your radar that you haven’t gotten to yet. Stranger of Sword City Revisited is an intelligent old school dungeon crawler and is among the better games that have attempted to utilize this style in recent years. For fans of old school dungeon crawlers, this is a must-play title. The tricky part is, is this worthwhile for someone revisit that has completed the original version? The changes are many, and they do improve the overall game quite a bit, but Stranger of Sword City was not a short game, and revisiting it for those who completed the first game would probably be limited to only the most die hard fans. Old school.

Da Capo 3 R is a massive visual novel that is set to provide hours upon hours of entertainment for the sort of visual novel fan who loves their slice of life tales with a dose of fantasy. Anyone not enthused with generally sappy tales of high schoolers may unfortunately find large parts of the story dull — in which case the huge length is a detriment. At least MangaGamer has provided an option for fans to get an all-ages edition or 18+ release via Da Capo 3 R X~Rated. No matter which you choose, you’ll be in for an enormous visual novel with a likable cast, mysteries to uncover and an anime-styled look at magic.