With impressive storytelling, amazing combat and interesting upgrading systems, Throne and Liberty excels where many MMORPGs fail right off the bat. My main concern is that I just don't know if there is something there to keep me coming back and wanting to improve my character. If I don't know how well I'm performing and how much I'm contributing to the group, how will I know I need to improve? Furthermore, if there are further ways to optimize my character, how will I know the changes I make are making a large difference, other than a "gut feel" when attacking enemies.

NHL 25 returns to form with impressive hockey. Satisfying changes to gameplay and updates to Franchise Mode including the addition of the Grudge Match breathe much-needed life into the series. ICE-Q works well and the changes to AI and being able to square up offensively against the goalie will create different results rather than just going through the motions in games and exploiting. There are still a few legacy issues here that are more personal annoyances including passing and a dated presentation model, but the move to current generation consoles has only allowed the team to create a significant upgrade to the series.

Ravenswatch is a solid tried and true roguelike with many different ways to play through the options of heroes available to players. It's difficult and rewarding for solo or co-op parties and does its best to be an interesting experience. With the diverse cast of heroes and challenging side quests, it's hard not to queue up several runs a day. Every character we have was given the care of a compelling story on why and how their tale took a darker turn. We see the developer taking something old and making it new for us once again. It's truly awesome to see old stories given new life to become something else altogether.

Enotria: The Last Song is a solid soulslike with a unique, appealing identity, which is plenty to paper over the rough spots on the quest to free the world from a script nobody asked for.

G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra brings one of the most popular cartoons of the '80s to life in a retro-inspired beat 'em up. The limited story development and virtually nonexistent dialogue, however, lead to G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra falling short of its potential. What could have been a nostalgic return to real American heroes thwarting Cobra instead feels like just another brawler wearing G.I. Joe cosplay. It's a decent enough beat 'em up that fans of the genre and franchise could find enjoyable, but die-hard fans will likely be disappointed in how bare bones G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra ended up being.

The gameday experience remains fantastic and properly replicates the atmosphere, while the changes to AI greatly affect the gameplay. These two additions alone make EA SPORTS FC 25 stand out as one of the best in the series.

Bloomtown: A Different Story is a textbook case of a promising start brimming with such wow factor, inevitably undone as soon as you get past the introductory phase. An introductory phase that does a great job at not just setting up the world and its stakes, but making you voluntarily want to remain in said world for more than its obligatory main quest demands. Indeed, the life-sim leanings and simple pleasures of moving out and around the titular setting -- scheduling allotted time to certain activities -- may just be its stand-out element. A fitting accompaniment to the otherwise supernatural, abnormal dungeon vibes, complimented by enemy/sprite work and a soundtrack unashamedly upbeat and confident in its stride. But it's the lackluster, often tedious, execution of combat that lets it down -- faltering at the most critical of moments. Not bad, but not as great as its intro so effortlessly implied, Bloomtown: A Different Story is a flawed, at times frustrating but fascinating-enough blend of role-playing staples, old and new.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown - Mask of Darkness is what every expansion should aspire to. It introduces an interesting new story, new challenging environments and enemies, but doesn't stray too far from what made fans love the original. It's a few more hours of what can be described as more of the same, but that's meant in a complimentary way. The platforming challenges, nonlinear exploration and epic boss battles are why Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is such a great game, and fans can expect to see more of that in Mask of Darkness. Most fans will be able to finish it in around five hours or so, but the quality of that time is well worth the price of admission.

While Mouthwashing has an incredible story and nicely disturbing and surreal visuals that could make it worth checking out, the shallow gameplay sadly hinders it, with dull puzzles, annoying chase bits and repetitive bits weighing it down. The twisted tale of the Tulpar is captivating, but if you're in the mood for a quick horror title, you can likely do better.

Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a delight to play. Purple Lamp did a fantastic job of remaking the game from scratch with grand visuals and the addition of a double jump makes the game more playable than its Wii incarnation. The paint and thinner mechanics are a true highlight of this Disney adventure, and the overall atmosphere of the game is both creepy and upbeat. It would be a real treat to see if Purple Lamp could make an Epic Mickey 3 in the future, as this game shows the Vienna-studio's talent of making the Wasteland come to life.

Copycat perfectly encapsulates the feeling of self-doubt, fear and hesitance that comes with building a close relationship with another individual. Although the narrative is told through the eyes of a cat, its message is universal and urges players to accept love and nurture one another regardless of differences. The technical side of the game was buggy at certain parts of the story during my playthrough, but the game truly flourishes when it centers around storytelling.

Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a fun way to revisit a cult classic, but ultimately doesn't do much to improve it. It's a remaster, not a remake, so fans should temper their expectations going in that this is pretty much the same game they played over a decade ago. There are new cosmetic items to get and the new RePOP mode offers a different visual style for the game, but there are a few missing costumes from the original and the iconic soundtrack has been completely scrapped. Being able to play on modern hardware is nice and having a new achievement/trophy list to unlock can be appealing to some, but saying this is an improved version is a tough sell. Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP can be a fun way to experience the game, especially for first timers, but overall, the original release is the better version.

While it's a solid and enjoyable game in its own right, Reynatis suffers from being unable to visually stand out. Animations in combat and cutscenes are sometimes stiff and robotic or even overtuned to the point where they look outright silly for what they're trying to accomplish.

Keylocker proves to be a great entry to the JRPG genre and it has all the milestones that many games of the genre have. There are likable characters, minigames, amazing music and a compelling story to bring it all together.

Frostpunk 2 is pretty much everything you could want from a sequel. The game expands upon the foundation laid down by the original while introducing fresh systems and mechanics. There’s nothing particularly innovative to look forward to here, but that’s to be expected and isn't necessarily a bad thing.

While The Plucky Squire could have benefited from being fleshed out even just a little bit more, it still provides a unique genre-hopping adventure, one that perfectly captures a feeling of a childlike wonder in Jot and the land of Mojo.

For a remaster, Dead Rising Deluxe Remastered brings everything you love from the original and clips the strings that held it back decades ago. While it doesn’t bring an entirely new experience, this zombie hack and slash is brought back to life with updated visuals and a great cast to back it up.

Most importantly, NBA 2K25 is a lot of fun and a great basketball experience to play with friends and experience the current and past NBA.

Despite NanoApolstle being short and without voice acting or any of the standard cutscenes, it's a delightful game that doesn’t overstay its welcome and does what it does best in the short amount of time it has with us as players. Boss fights are difficult and require quick thinking and precise timing to take them down. This makes the inevitable boss kill all that more enjoyable as they get their just deserts from the struggle they put you through. There's great art and music to pair with bosses, making them even more intense and compelling to fight against. NanoAposlte is an absolute joy to play if you like difficult games about taking down bosses and completing challenges within each boss fight.

Caravan SandWitch exceeds expectations by building upon the success of similar games with a laid-back vibe. This game has depth, an interesting narrative and a fleshed out supporting cast, which are elements that most cozy games fail to achieve through gameplay. While the game may occasionally lag or include missed bugs, its all-around quality isn't dampened at all.

Newer, faster machines mean tearing out and rebuilding the current setup, while new resources such as quartz and oil open up a host of options like enhanced computing, different types of fuels and plastics. Transportation items like trucks and trains or eventually the aerial drones allow moving large amounts of resources across the map, and each new upgrade requires rethinking the current setup to see how it can be made better. There's a story with an end-point, although not at all intrusive, but climbing through the tech tiers to complete it can easily take a hundred hours or more. That sounds like a lot, but in a game with the scope and polish of Satisfactory, that can be just the beginning of retooling a planet to be the industrial powerhouse of your dreams.

Overall, Quidditch Champions gets tedious quickly, but in short bursts, it can be fun. The different roles one can take are well done, especially with the seeker, but the lack of skill shots or moves does hamper the enjoyment. Getting new unlockables might be the lifeblood of the game as they feature fun references to the movies for the fans. Hopefully, that will be enough to keep the game forward with a solid player base, despite its repetitive nature.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown offers up a lot of fun both on the track and in its simulated world. A lot of work was put in to make Hong Kong Island feel like a realistic place with far more exploration than one is used to in a racing game. Some of those elements don't hit perfectly, but the on-track performance is what counts the most and Solar Crown largely succeeds there. Races are fun and even on-foot exploration offers up something that helps Solar Crown stand out. Unfortunately, the online-only component of things complicates far more of the experience than it benefits and causes odd problems to occur that makes it tough to fully recommend Solar Crown.

Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis is a faithful recreation of The Answer in Persona 3 FES. It’s a good, but unremarkable expansion that expands upon the story more than it does the gameplay and features. It’s a significant departure from the social building aspect the series is known for, along with the time management between school and exploration. It’s a hollower campaign by comparison, but that’s not to say it’s bad because the story does introduce a new mystery that ties things up relatively well thanks to the supporting cast and their character building.

Yars Rising is in the dreaded "pretty decent" zone, not actually bad, but not good enough to be memorable. Controls are fluid and smooth, but there aren't many areas that give them a proper workout and there was only one boss fight in the entire game that presented any kind of real challenge. The hacking games are more consistently creative, but they're also the kind of thing you'll play once and not feel any need to go back to again, despite being available as a collection from the main menu. Yars Rising is playable, Emi is a fun character that usually doesn't fall on the wrong side of the "I guess this is my life now" line, and the jump between metroidvania and classic single-screen arcade gaming is a nice hook. Altogether, though, none of the elements ever fully take off to make Emi the hero she should be.

Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics brings together multiple beloved arcade classics. The seven games included in the collection haven't been heavily altered from their original arcade releases, save for the art and music galleries and online play, but that's perfectly fine. These games were great in the arcade and they remain fun today in their unaltered state. The six fighting games, when played in order, can show the evolution of bringing the Marvel Universe to Capcom's approach to fighting games, starting with the straightforward one-on-one matches of X-Men: Children of the Atom to the three-on-three tag team matches between 52 characters in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Countless hours of enjoyment can be had fighting against friends in the six fighting games, with The Punisher serving as a nice bonus game when the gameplay style needs a change of pace.

Overall, Akimbot is a fun platformer that can be expanded upon with a sequel. The weapons are too simple for a sci-fi game like this, but they all feel fantastic to control nonetheless. Some performance issues plague the levels, but Akimbot does surprise with stellar production value and interesting gameplay elements that keep the game feeling fresh. The game does feel long in the tooth by the end, but Akimbot is a good effort by Pumpkin Jack developer Evil Raptor.

Team ASOBI has yet again cracked the code of delivering an experience that’s fun, rewarding and nostalgic all at the same time. With nostalgic callbacks, vibrant worlds and welcoming gameplay, there’s truly something for everyone in Astro Bot.