It’s without a doubt that Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Remastered comes with very little hand-holding and a steep learning curve that may be off-putting in today’s limelight. However, its unique approach to non-linear gameplay and storytelling, in addition to its impeccable art direction and soundtrack, combine to create an exceptional adventure. 

Tactics Ogre: Reborn makes some changes to a classic, which meet with mixed success. Qualify of life changes like rewind and simplified class changes are very welcome, but the newly balanced battle system slows down battles that already felt on the slow side. Don’t be mistaken, though, the core game here is still one of the better strategy RPGs of its era, and it holds up in 2022. If you’re a fan of the genre and haven’t gotten the chance to check it out in the past, there’s no need to wait. Pick up Tactics Ogre: Reborn and get ready to lose fifty hours of your life.

Despite a few rough edges in terms of stage design and enemy variety, Evil West is a must-own experience for fans of the character action game genre. With a deep and engaging combat system, a meaty campaign, and a killer sense of style, it’ll leave you glued to your controller until the credits roll. If you’re a fan of Flying Wild Hogs’ brand of gory, in-your-face action, Evil West is a non-stop thrill ride through the freaky frontier that you won’t want to miss.

I don’t have too many complaints about The Witch’s House MV. Yes, the game is short, and sure, the story is lacking. But when this game is on point, it’s really on point. The Witch’s House MV expertly utilizes its creepy atmosphere, unsettling sound effects, and delightful jump scares to ensure at least a few moments of increased adrenaline. While I wish the game was longer, there is a decent amount of replayability, with the newly added difficulty mode offering different puzzle solutions and an ending you’ll definitely want to obtain. For such a short and simple game, it was certainly a memorable experience.

I’ve never been a big fan of games that require you to invest huge amounts of time before they get good. Our time is valuable and while Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord does eventually get good, the uninteresting grind along the way and lifeless world didn’t do much to pull me back. Fans of the series will still have a great time and if you are willing to invest your time you’ll definitely be rewarded for it, but its frustrating to see so much potential for an even better game left unrealized.

McPixel 3 is an intensely fast and fun time. It’s that point and click adventure game that us 80s/90s kids would have talked about on the playground alongside Mortal Kombat, swapping stories about potential fatalities and gags to discover and giggling at the crude humor. I’m struggling to think of who this game wouldn’t appeal to — a labor of love that just about anyone will find interesting (or at least funny). If you’re ready to save the day — or die, die again trying — the titular hero in McPixel 3 could certainly use the help (before he explodes… again).

Super Woden GP pretty much delivered everything I wanted from it. An addictive gameplay hook, fantastic track design, and a simple yet challenging-to-master handling system all contribute to a retro racing experience that delivers fun in spades, all while looking stunning in action. The difficulty wall that the early hours present may be off putting to some and it is undoubtedly frustrating early on, but those that battle through it will find one of the most charming and rewarding racing experiences that Nintendo’s hybrid has to offer.

Games like I Was a Teenage Exocolonist are few and far between. The aesthetics are stunning, featuring eye-popping colors and gorgeous music. The story is intense, keeping you on the edge of your seat for hours on end. And the replayability factor is massive, with at least two playthroughs required for optimal understanding of the world and its inhabitants. I fell in love with every last character, their strengths and flaws often making them endearing — or, in the very least, human. If you want to live a multitude of lifetimes exploring a whole new world each and every time, I Was a Teenage Exocolonist invites you to become part of theirs.

I don’t know what happened with Crossroads Inn. I don’t know why, in the 3 years that have passed since the original release on PC, Crossroads Inn is still a confusing, buggy mess. I don’t know who thought Crossroads Inn was ready for the extremely small Switch screen in its current state. I typically pride myself in being a reviewer that can see the positive in any game and find the audience a title was made for, but when it comes to Crossroads Inn, I find I’m at a loss. If you must get this game, try it out on PC first to get a better feel for the controls and UI; if you only have a Switch, I can’t in good conscience recommend this game to you.

Valkyrie Elysium could have been something great, with its excellent narrative backdrop built on the basis of Norse mythology. As per usual with Square Enix titles, the art direction and soundtrack are outstanding and leave me wanting more. The fast, fluid, and satisfying combat system is what carries an otherwise mediocre title bogged down by washed out visuals and uninspired level design.

Despite its issues, Somerville manages to offer a mostly enjoyable experience. The family bond forged in an opening scene, which is easily the highlight of Somerville, simply works and drove me through the game. I wanted to figure out what happened to my character’s family and see them together again, and that kept me going through a relatively short game. 

I didn’t realize how much I needed a game like Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom until I started playing it. The gorgeous watercolor visuals, soothing soundtrack, relaxing gameplay, and loveable cast of characters makes it an easy game to keep coming back to. If you need a break from brutal dungeon crawlers and difficult deck builders like I did, or if you just need something peaceful to float away with, I couldn’t recommend Doraemon Story of Seasons: Friends of the Great Kingdom more.

If you’re a fan of classic 2D adventures, Astlibra Revision offers a retro-inspired quest worth undertaking, and I am genuinely glad that this review crossed my desk because, without it, it would have very likely evaded my attention. Do yourself a favor, and do not let that outcome happen to you.

I really tried to enjoy Depths of Sanity. It’s a unique take on the Metroidvania genre, and it introduces some neat ideas. Sadly the execution of those ideas were held back by the awkward and consistently problematic controls themselves. As a result, even though the game has really great atmosphere and interesting concepts, most fans of the genre will likely lose patience incredibly quickly.

Pentiment is one of the most interesting games I’ve played in 2022, going far beyond even what most RPGs can manage when it comes to player choice and consequence. Between its setting, its graphical style, and its fantastic story, Pentiment demands your attention.

I played Gungrave G.O.R.E with zero knowledge of the franchise, and I reckon that is for the better. I would be infinitely more disappointed going into this game as a diehard fan of the series and seeing what a disservice G.O.R.E does to the Gungrave name. It’s astonishing to see Iggymob charging $50 for a low-budget, niche game riddled with unoriginal gameplay, multiple soft-locks, atrocious level design, and laughable voice acting.

Supermassive Games successfully concludes the first season of The Dark Pictures Anthology on a thundering note. Powerful performances from a diverse cast of characters and an extremely interesting premise based off of real-life serial killer H.H. Holmes allows The Devil In Me to outshine its predecessors in just about every way.

Ultimately Sea Horizon was a very solid and enjoyable experience. While the quite steep difficulty and dual-component RNG can be tricky to deal with, and may push some gamers away, this is sure to appeal to hardcore fans of the deckbuilding genre. If you’re looking for something challenging and unique, I’d give Sea Horizon a shot.

The team at Digital Eclipse has done some of their finest work with Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration. Creating a compilation that could quite easily be translated into a museum exhibit, they’ve set a new standard for the presentation of retro collections, one I hope future collections will follow.

Few games released in 2022, or any year for that matter, are as well designed and made as God of War Ragnarök. While it doesn’t completely move beyond its predecessor, it eventually offers enough fresh content to stand apart, and additional variety helps make it the stronger game of the two, even if it’s perhaps a bit less focused. A beautifully told story that carries the themes of the prior game while allowing Atreus to stand on his own kept my interest until the very end. If you didn’t care for 2018’s God of War, then Ragnarök won’t change your mind, but everyone else should absolutely check it out.

While The Entropy Centre sticks very close to its Portal-esque roots, the well-crafted puzzles work perfectly with its simple but effective time travel mechanic. There are some sections where too many enemies can be an annoying distraction from the puzzling, but these are forgivable because the temporal manipulation powers provide such unique challenges. Time is our most precious resource, but it’s well worth spending it here.

Harvestella is hard to readily recommend to the farming simulator crowd, but for those who miss PS2-era JRPGs/dungeon-crawlers, this is not a game you’ll want to pass up. Everything here feels comfortable but fresh, like a beloved, clearly worn jacket tailored to current measurements. Its streamlined approach to farming allows players to focus on a rich story set in an even richer world, featuring exploration and combat mechanics that actually make you want to stick around in the dungeons for hours. If you’re looking for a JRPG/farming sim that doesn’t compromise on story or beauty but allows you to turn your brain “off” after a long day, Harvestella is ripe for picking.

There’s little incentive for fans that already have a copy of another version to purchase the PlayStation 5 port again. But this is an absolute must-play for anyone seeking an adventure. It’s wonderful to see so many players across different platforms being able to enjoy Nihon Falcom’s magnum opus.

While I went into 41 Hours fully expecting a single A experience, I struggled to find 41 minutes of enjoyment out of my review playthrough. I honestly don’t see any quick, feasible ways to fix 41 Hours either, as there isn’t much here that isn’t a mess. Between the game’s unnaturally accurate and overpowered enemies, graphics would barely be noteworthy on an Xbox 360, and a plot does little to spurn interest, I can’t help but feel this one came out of the oven 41 months too early.

The amateur-hour writing and uneven combat are just too difficult to overlook, especially considering just how stuffed the genre is with competing titles that do just about everything The Last Oricru does, only better. Sure there is fun to be hand in exploring Wanderia and its intricate level design, but every “wow” moment is typically followed by a facepalm, as Silver says something that is tonally deaf or falls to yet another attack that should have had no business hitting him. If you’re after another slice of Soulslike action in 2022, then your $40 can absolutely be spent better elsewhere, with The Last Oricru serving as little more than a pale imitation that struggles to even nail the Soulslike fundamentals.

There’s a lot more to Bayonetta 3 than there was to the series’ prior titles. A lot of it works really well, offering a game that’s far larger in scale while still nailing the core action the series is known for. While the lack of focus may stop it from being quite as strong a total package as its predecessor, the high points here are as good as the series has ever been.

I can’t hide my disappointment with The Chant. I had a real hankering for a supernatural game this year, after getting some hands-on time at Gamescom. Instead, I’ve been left with questions about what this game could have been. It could’ve usurped Until Dawn, one of the best recent examples of a supernatural horror game, but with a more intriguing and deeper plot. It could’ve been a new fascinating way to approach and manage combat situations with three meters that operate together in harmony, giving you complex gameplay decisions to tackle alongside challenging combat. It could’ve been a new campy horror game, a guilty pleasure, similar to some of those dreadful TV shows I named at the start. But unfortunately, it’s neither of these things. Instead, you’re left with a story that feels incomplete and lacking depth. You’re left with combat that lacks any sort of meaningful challenge. And ultimately, you’ll be left like me: very, very salty.

While it would be awesome if someone would come along and dethrone Shatter from being the King of the Brick-Breaking genre, the way it once did to games like Arkanoid, for now, it’s still the best this genre has to offer, and it’s great to see it become available on modern platforms. While its upgrades are mostly aesthetic, beneath them, Shatter Remastered Deluxe still somehow feels as immediate as it did thirteen years ago.