Aquanox Deep Descent is a very welcome return for an underrated series. In this era of modern re-imaginings, this game delivers in introducing Aquanox’s world to a new generation of players. The movement may be slightly cumbersome and things may get a bit hard, but it always manages to be engaging and fun. The world and story, combined with the solid multiplayer elements for both PvP and co-op, make this a well-rounded experience and essential purchase for fans of six degrees of freedom-type shooting games. If you’re interesting in dipping your toes in its waters, swim on over here to check it out.

I’m sure Space Crew will be enjoyable for plenty of people out there, but I spent too much of my time either frustrated with complicated controls or bored by monotonous missions.

Airplane Mode is the very definition of “you knew what you were getting yourself into.” It simulates a very mundane experience and captures the essence of commercial flight quite well. There might even be some benefit when applied in cognitive behavioral therapy to help people get over their fear of airplanes. As I stated before, I’m someone who loves flying because I’m allowed to unrepentantly waste time, but this isn’t going to be for everyone. I genuinely loved Airplane Mode and think it’s an art piece worth playing, and as long as you really love flying and have two to five consecutive hours to spare, it may be your complimentary cup of soda water.

Lucifer Within Us is a must-have for any fan of the detective genre. Adding a perfect mechanic like the timelines feature should be rewarded not only with player support but developer attention — I’d like to see this continued in future titles.

UPPERS was not worth the four-year wait and lengthy localization process. As a beat-‘em-up, it lacks creativity and variety, although it may succeed somewhat as a fanservice game, even if none of the characters have any significant degree of depth. That being said, if you go in with the proper expectations, you’ll likely get some fun out of it, especially if you pick it up on sale since I think the $29.99 USD price point is a bit steep.

Disc Room is another solid title by a winning dev and publishing team that is used to cranking out quality games. Despite dying more times than I can recall (don’t worry, Disc Room counts for you), I don’t feel frustrated or an increase in blood pressure — in fact, quite the opposite, as the chill music and constant flow provided a relaxing experience. Disc Room is a fantastic title for anyone interested in retro-style gameplay with a new and improved feel. If you’re up for a slice and dice kind of challenge, you’ll definitely want to take Disc Room for a spin.

Recommending Vigil: The Longest Night is incredibly simple: if you’re a fan of Metroidvanias and you loved Salt and Sanctuary, you can’t afford to pass this one up. With a stunning art style and design that delivers all the right spooky notes and diverse boss battle tactics, Vigil: The Longest Night has my vote for one of the greatest hidden gems of 2020.

Nihon Falcom’s Trails of Cold Steel proudly stands amongst the few which can truly be considered to be at the pinnacle of the modern-day, story-driven JRPG, and it was truly wonderful seeing the culmination of the series’ work within The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV.

Big Blue Bubbles’ latest addition to the Metroidvania genre is a really enjoyable game that I had a ton of fun with. While it may be yet another Dead Cells clone, its weighty combat, challenging foes, slick maneuverability, and gorgeous aesthetics do just enough to set Foregone apart from its contemporaries. So if mad-dashing, action-adventure platforming is your niche, then picking this one up will be well worth your time.

Despite some frustrations when it came to keyboard controls and repeatedly starting over again with nothing, ScourgeBringer is a surprisingly chill experience considering how difficult it is. Even though I died repeatedly, I never felt like rage-quitting, which is honestly a pretty solid accomplishment. With glorious pixel art, engaging fighting sequences, and plenty of exploration, ScourgeBringer is an absolute treat for veterans of the roguelite genre who want some punishing pixel art play. If you’ve got a controller handy for your PC, I don’t see why you wouldn’t pick up this title; if not, consider getting it on console (or getting a controller) for a more seamless experience.

It may not be the smoothest experience and I’m certainly missing some quality of life updates that would have made quite a difference, but that didn’t stop Neighbours back From Hell from being the low-brow, low-effort kind of fun that doesn’t take itself seriously.