The core game design of No Straight Roads attempts to synchronize action and music, but unfortunately it misses the mark. Also, a lack of clear explanation makes this a flawed action game as a whole. That being said, visuals heavily inspired by Japanese video games, amazing sound design and lovable characters give NSR the potential to become a cult classic.

Dragon Quest Treasures is a new challenge for this long-running series. It is full of Dragon Quest’s unique charm and delivers a wonderful experience that lasts for many hours. However, altogether the experience feels a bit too shallow. Deeper character development and more monsters could have gone a long here. Still, as a more compact game, Dragon Quest Treasures is a great open world to casually have some fun in.

Bringing a Dead Space-style SF horror atmosphere to a Dark Souls-inspired action game makes things interesting, and the speedy battle system, which includes cutting off body parts and crafting elements, is a success. However, the somewhat dull pace of the game results in the player dying a bit too often, leaving plenty of room for improvement when it comes to the game’s overall balance.

Team Sonic Racing is not just a kart game with tight mechanics. By introducing teamwork as the core element of its gameplay, it becomes a racing game with its own unique appeal. Its lengthy and diverse adventure mode could teach Mario Kart a few lessons too.

While a sandbox game focused on magic spells feels like a fresh adventure at first, it gets old too quickly, and the lack of content doesn’t help. While there is a PvP mode, it doesn’t deliver anything unique to solve the problem.

Boyfriend Dungeon is not only the weirdest game in the love simulation genre, but also the most mature. While the experience is linear and doesn’t provide any real challenge, the concept of spending the summer with a human partner who can transform into a weapon works. The unique atmosphere is worth a try regardless of your gender or sexuality.

By implementing too many popular elements from famous games in the wrong way, Salt and Sacrifice is a game that feels unbalanced throughout.

Scoring by delivering a through pass to a sprinting player is a great feeling, but with too many options for the attacking player, it can become difficult to defend against so many different attack patterns. This results in too many goals for a realistic soccer game.

If you look at Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin as a hack-and-slash action RPG, it’s a roughly balanced game with problematic endgame content that isn’t any better in the visual department either, and even its story seems to be a huge disappointment at first. However, if you stick with it, the well crafted battle system and the job system that allows for a wide array of fighting styles should win you over, and eventually you’ll be rewarded by an extremely passionate and overwhelming finale to the story.

Twelve Minutes is a game that allows the player to experience what life is like for a protagonist caught in a time loop. While spending the same 12 minutes in a small apartment over and over might not sound too epic, the loop cycle is well done and has something new for the player to discover each time. That being said, the game’s story and theme aren’t as well executed. In many ways, Twelve Minutes is a game with a truth you might be better off not knowing.

Dead or Alive 6 looks even better than its already stunning predecessor, and it succeeds in being more accessible for newcomers while keeping the fundamentals that fans have come to love intact. The tutorial and story modes do their job, but an online mode that only has ranked matches ultimately renders it unwelcoming to many players.

Dread Templar is a fast paced FPS that seems like an exhilarating experience at first, but due to balance issues it doesn’t really feel all that good to play. The enemy’s heavy shots come at you from far away, while the player’s attacks don’t deal a lot of damage, which causes frustration. It can feel good to take down an enemy by throwing a katana sword or using a bow and arrows, but altogether this game is more exhausting than fun.

As the first mainline entry to depict a school-life story, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has appealing characters, mysterious twists and a well prepared ending, making it one of the best stories the series has ever had. While it struggles as an open world, the game approaches multiplayer in a new way and is full of elements that can be enjoyed for a long time.

Wattam is unlike any other game when Keita Takahashi's unique sense of humor and world building come together, but don't expect everything to click all the time.

Phoenotopia: Awakening aspires to be a retro 2D action adventure, and it succeeds in many ways. The cute sprites and soundtrack are appealing, and there’s lots of great exploration and puzzle gameplay. That being said, some elements bring along unnecessary stress, making the experience as a whole feel like a juicy durian that can only be cracked open with your bare hands.

Legend of Mana is unique within the Mana series, providing an immense amount of freedom in its gameplay. The therapeutic sandplay feel of the Land Make system allows the player to experience a unique and refreshing world. The newly arranged music allows the player to appreciate the environment and atmosphere to an even deeper extent than before. That being said, it’s too bad that issues of the original such as the confusing map display and story progression weren’t addressed.

While most of the new features don’t really enhance the experience, the remaster looks stunning, and you will be surprised by how well the gameplay of this classic has aged.

As the first mainline entry to depict a school-life story, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has appealing characters, mysterious twists and a well prepared ending, making it one of the best stories the series has ever had. While it struggles as an open world, the game approaches multiplayer in a new way and is full of elements that can be enjoyed for a long time.

With a large and beautiful open world, swollen hordes of infected freakers, and over 30 hours of story, Days Gone is a well-polished game on the surface. However, the game does not offer anything truly remarkable, and maintaining your bike can be annoying. That said, its strengths lie in exploring its open world by bike, and the qualities of its biker protagonist, Deacon.

While Asterigos has excellent graphics and music, basic elements like the combat system feel cheap, making the package as a whole feel like an unbalanced Soulsborne title.

Life is Strange: Double Exposure successfully course-corrects after its predecessor lost sight of the series’ direction. By toning down the more grim elements and refocusing on the relationship between Max and Chloe, as well as the dual-protagonist system, it recaptures the brilliance of its core appeal as a coming-of-age mystery. Its highly satisfying choices and conclusion provide a fitting and impressive landing as a final chapter.

God Eater 3, the latest entry in the fast-paced hunting action series, offers a fresh location as well as a new set of characters. While introducing new elements, the snappy core gameplay remains intact, and the difficulty is well balanced. However, the story develops in a rather clichéd way, and some characters would have benefited from a little more depth.

Taken as a spin-off ahead of the long-awaited Eiyuden Chronicle, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising offers great world-building and characters. That said, the repetitive gameplay mechanics do get in the way of making this a great action RPG that can stand by itself.

While there are obviously some differences, Lord of the Fallen is very similar to Dark Souls. Sadly though, Lords of the Fallen is nowhere near as polished or well made as one would expect from a Dark Souls game. Its implementation of two worlds layered on top of each other is more cumbersome than interesting, there is a huge lack in enemy variety, enemy positioning can be too unforgiving, and technical issues like an unstable framerate and bad camerawork can be added to the long list of its shortcomings. On top of all that, the second playthrough is way too demanding and makes the first playthrough feel distorted.

From overall balance to questionable design choices, Sonic Frontiers might not be as sophisticated or polished as the very best games out there. However, when it comes to discovery and sense of wonder, Sonic Frontier’s Open Zone design can proudly stand side by side with any open world masterpiece. While admittedly many of its activities are simple, the amount of content it offers is staggering. The Open Zones and their epic boss battles make great use of Sonic’s speed, creating an experience that still feels authentic to the character. While far from perfect, there hasn’t been a Sonic title that feels this relevant in a long time.

Crossing Souls makes interesting use of eighties nostaliga, but there is little to be excited about beyond that, and I found it difficult to engage with the story.

Code Vein is the kind of game that makes you think it could have benefited a lot from another delay. Animations, sound effects and more are heavily inspired by Souls-like games and definitely feel cheap. The game is not well balanced either, and the level design is especially lacking. Still, it brings interesting ideas to the table, such as a buddy system and the freedom to switch between a wide variety of builds. While there’s certainly a lot of bugs and other issues, if you keep playing, it does actually become fun.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles faithfully recreates popular anime Demon Slayer as a competitive 3D action fighting game. While the amount of playable characters and the exploration part leave room for improvement, there’s a lot to love here for fans of the source material.

Unrefined controls and unclear objectives make it hard to appreciate the fantastical atmosphere, unique flora and fauna, and the language-barrier-breaking story of Fe.

Since many of the course layouts have become more difficult, mastering this year’s iteration of WRC will take quite some time. As long as you become able to carefully listen and react to the navi’s instructions, the most exhilarating rally race experience available is yours.

As a hybrid between the occult and technology, Soul Hackers 2 boasts a unique world. The story, which depicts grown-up devil summoners, is its biggest appeal. In battles, powerful Sabbath attacks allow you to clean up all enemies with a single move, resulting in an exhilarating experience. That being said, the high encounter rate and overall tempo of battles do have pacing issues.

The Solitaire Conspiracy’s story about direction – which later transforms into a techno-horror story – is sharp and intelligent. But due to the card-based gameplay’s lack of flashiness and variety, you might get bored before it all comes to an end. While this issue was partially fixed with the Version 1.03 update, there is still work that needs to be done in order to make this a game that has not only literary quality but is also fun as entertainment.

Before setting on an adventure in the woods together with my dog, I didn’t really understand the link between this game and Blair Witch, the movie it is based on. However, it didn’t take long for me to understand that this inspiration source is exactly what makes this a unique horror game. Overcoming this bewitched forest together with your partner results in a stellar gameplay experience. However, the horror tropes are used a bit too often.

While Star Ocean: The Divine Force’s bold battle system is worth praising, the title shares many of the same issues as previous iterations in the series. That being said, its tale of adventure and well-portrayed party members make this a worthy new entry in the Star Ocean series.

While feeling a bit flat, this soccer game largely succeeds in faithfully portraying Captain Tsubasa’s world and atmosphere. The game’s slow pace can stand in the way of your enjoyment, but both the story and action are of great quality, and there’s a lot of it too. The simple controls make for an exhilarating soccer experience, but it’s hard to deny that the progression of each match largely feels the same.

While it has its flaws, LOST SPHEAR succeeds in restoring our memory of classic JRPGs, and manages to feel fresh while doing so.

Oninaki has an unbalanced battle system and lacks any guidance through its appealing story. Yet the unique setting and world should be interesting enough for most players to want to see it through.

Etherborn is a surrealistic puzzle platformer that combines gravity mechanics with fantastical art direction. The responsive platforming action comes with camerawork that enhances the experience, making Etherborn a game that is both fun to play and aesthetically pleasing. It is too bad that the number of environments is limited, and the clichéd narration makes these mesmerizing locations feel more common than they actually are.

Character creation could have had a little bit more variety, but the feature does make it easier to empathize with your character, which benefits the more serious tone of the scenario. However, the balance between item prices and the amount of currency you can obtain make it hard for the player to spend money when needed, which makes the game less enjoyable as a whole. There are several other issues such as bullet-sponge enemies, resulting in an experience that can be hard to enjoy.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon’s atmosphere is faithful to the series, and your favorite critters are as cute as ever. The visuals will remind you of the picture books from your childhood, creating a sweet and lovely experience. While gameplay-wise there may be few new surprises, this remake is a great entry point in the spinoff series for anyone.

Sailing through the mind of Kay is a very lonely experience. Looking for a solution, you will head into her mind alone, with no real answer to be found. However, playing this game will not just make you feel lonely, since the abstract and ambiguous story will also leave you confused. It’s definitely not a therapeutic experience, but its depiction of loneliness will make you think.

Tiny Metal's mechanics succeed in creating an accessible war sim like Advance Wars. However, its level design is a bit too much on the easy side and does not offer enough depth.

Déraciné has a fantastic atmosphere and wonderful storytelling. It utilizes VR and PlayStation Move to create a type of interaction not seen in other games. The innocence characters show to the player add a warm and friendly feeling to what is already a fascinating adventure game.

inKONBINI successfully combines a gameplay experience that has you working the late-night shift at a convenience store with strong storytelling that connects you to fellow staff members and customers alike. From a Japanese standpoint, there are certainly moments that feel a bit inauthentic, and it’s unfortunate that the Japanese localization leaves room for improvement. Even so, by blending a VA-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action-like narrative style with a commitment to realism that was inspired by Shenmue, inKONBINI ultimately delivers a one-of-a-kind experience that is well worth your time.

With low quality puzzles and unpolished motion for certain objects, Somerville feels rough around the edges when compared with the games that made its creators so well regarded. Sudden twists in the game’s second half feel unnatural, and the multiple endings don’t feel different enough from one another. That being said, the studio’s potential can be felt throughout the game.

While Steel Rats comes with elements that sound interesting on paper, the developer lacks the ability to combine them into a compelling package. It may be a game about an unconventional biker, but I would at least have wanted the developers to keep their hands on the handlebars to prevent this terrible mess.

With its relatively realistic physics, Gravel is a game on the hard side. However, if you are looking for an arcade-like offroad race game, you should be able to appreciate this one.

With a campaign that has an interesting story and deep interactions between characters, tons of collectibles and action gameplay that is well tailored to each hero, Marvel’s Avengers succeeds in delivering the appeal of this iconic team of characters in game format. However, access to the game’s modes feels unnecessarily inconvenient, and an often cumbersome UI makes the experience feel less smooth than it could have been. Depending on the updates and new contents planned in the future, Marvel’s Avengers could very well reach its true potential, but at this point, there’s still a lot that needs to be addressed.

While the story's climax left us disappointed, Shenmue III is a precious game nonetheless. Feeling the lingering presence of your deceased father in a country far from home, sharing a roof with someone you love, and overcoming the teachings of a stubborn kung fu master are only a few examples of how this game portrays deep human relationships. Shenmue III also has a very addictive gameplay loop that makes great use of the attention to detail the series is known for.

Rage 2’s nonsensical story is unbearable, and the unskippable exploration parts are mostly irritating and boring. Luckily, the shooting gameplay is so amazing that it’s easy to forgive these flaws. And while encounters can become repetitive, new weapons and abilities make sure there’s always some fun to be had.

As an action-adventure game, Giraffe and Annika may be rough around the edges, but its cute cat-eared protagonist and the visually stunning island feel so genuinely magical that you’ll be smiling throughout anyway. If you’re looking for good action and interesting puzzles, Giraffe and Annika won’t deliver, but if you’re the kind of gamer who treasures superb atmosphere and hand-crafted details above all else, you’re in for a real treat.

With high quality visuals, Bright Memory: Infinite is about as impressive as independently developed videogames get. Sadly, the controls don’t feel like a good match for the game’s complicated skill system and your character’s low endurance skills. The story offers a great deal of interesting twists and the world is visually stunning, which results in a relatively short but packed adventure.

Sword of the Necromancer is a real-time action RPG with roguelike elements. Reviving monsters after you beat them and having them fight alongside you is an interesting concept, but it never fully reaches its potential. The story about two girls - which plays out like a visual novel - is interesting and crafted with care.

Chronos: Before the Ashes is a Soulsborne title in which your character becomes older each time you die. With well-timed dodges being an important aspect of the gameplay, hit-and-evade style gameplay makes this an experience that is just as exhilarating as it is nerve-wracking. The balance between battles and puzzles is struck well, but while the idea of aging with every death is an interesting concept, it doesn’t work well, as the ways you can level up become more limited the older you become. Furthermore, the idea doesn’t connect to the story either, making it feel like a wasted opportunity.

Detective Pikachu Returns takes place in Ryme City, a place where Pokémon live alongside humans rather than being used for battles. This is a setting that every Pokémon fan has dreamed of at least once, and the Pokémon are all portrayed wonderfully. Pikachu can now collaborate with other Pokémon during the investigation, an element that was not present in the series’ first installment. However, as a detective adventure, Detective Pikachu Returns feels overly simple and lacks depth, both in its gameplay and story.

Home Sweet Home is an unsettling horror experience that uses East Asian religion as its theme. Being pursued by a grim knife-wielding woman is enough to make this a game that will haunt your dreams, but the overly simplistic gameplay and an unfinished story keep Home Sweet Home from becoming an indie classic.

Hyakki Castle comes with quite a few flaws -- including its UI -- but eliminating ghosts in a haunted castle makes for a great deal of fun, and the exploration that has you split up your party is well utilized. If you enter this castle with the expectation that you will die a lot, a game full of excitement awaits.

While Ninja or Die’s core of high-speed jump action is well realized, its 2D rogue-lite level design has many shortcomings.

Valkyrie Elysium’s world and characters based on Norse mythology are fascinating, and its speedy combat is exhilarating. It’s too bad that the title feels like it could have used a little more polish, and the button mapping doesn’t match the game’s systems. The game lacks a bit in volume as well, and its world and characters could have been fleshed out even more.

CODE VEIN II isn’t merely an evolution into an open-field format; it’s a carefully refined follow-up that identifies and polishes the weaker elements of its predecessor. The revamped Buddy System in particular feels like a true innovation, transformed into something entirely new that brilliantly balances tension with a strong sense of camaraderie in battle. The story, however, leans heavily on repetition and often lacks emotional impact. Even so, thanks to its many user-friendly features, CODE VEIN II stands as a Soulslike—indeed, an Elden-like—that can be confidently recommended to a wide range of players.

Koei Tecmo’s attempt to drastically change the Dynasty Warrior series has resulted in a mediocre game. While I appreciated what they went for, sadly Dynasty Warriors 9 does not quite do the job.

Like No More Heroes, Scott Pilgrim and Kick-Ass, YIIK: Postmodern RPG features a nerd as its protagonist – but it’s nice to finally see one who doesn’t eventually become cool. The game is well presented, with eye-catching toon-shaded visuals, a great soundtrack and a deep story. We would have preferred more strategy in battles, while a few bugs sully the experience slightly.

In the end, fans of the series will be able to appreciate the game's story. But the game has so many flaws that it's hard to recommend it to anyone else.

While the controls leave a lot of room for improvement, Pascal’s Wager: Definitive Edition is a Souls-like game that offers sufficiently high quality.

Metal Unit is a treasure hunting experience that creates excitement and tension by implementing the risk of losing your items, and it also comes with a light-novel-esque story. While it’s not for everyone, Metal Unit does appeal to a certain kind of gamer. It’s too bad that there’s lots of room for improvement in the Japanese localization.

From creating your own character to a wide array of vehicles and a unique world, there’s a lot to love in Biomutant – which makes its shallowness all the more disappointing. The inconsistent battle system and the amount of bugs doesn’t make things any better. While the game certainly knows how to hook you, the fun doesn’t last very long.

Last Labyrinth is a VR puzzle adventure with a wide array of interesting gimmicks and unique presentation. If you want to truly understand the story, be ready for a lot of repetition, but in the end that effort will be well worth it.

What makes The Sinking City unique is that it really feels like you’re investigating while struggling with hallucinations and madness as you step foot inside the world of Cthulhu mythos. If that sounds like your cup of tea, definitely give it a chance. However, after you get used to the gameplay you will notice that as a game, The Sinking City feels like too much of the same. An open-world design was not the ideal direction to take for this developer specialized in a specific genre.

The Friends of Ringo Ishikawa might look like an old-fashioned belt-scroller, but it is actually an open-world game full of life and… well, philosophy! There’s plenty of dialogue, and the way the story is told through everyday life events at school and in your neighborhood feels like real life. The game’s systems aren’t well explained, which will catch many gamers off-guard at first, but its climax has a lasting impact that is worth experiencing.

Forspoken is an ambitious title that builds both its fluid movement and its battle system around the concept of magic. From comfortable exploration to speedy combat, this unique open world action RPG has plenty of appeal, and its story that depicts the spiritual growth of its young New Yorker protagonist is immersive. That being said, the game does have issues, such as a lack of variety in side quests and a hub area that takes too much time to navigate through.

Call of the Wild: The Angler is a fishing game that allows you to explore its wide map beyond just the fishing spots, which makes it fun to discover new fishing locations. That being said, for players not looking for exploration this can also result in a tedious experience. Also, the fishing float mechanics are terrible for a fishing game.

Respect for the original game can be felt everywhere, but translating all that into 3D creates many issues. From inconsistent dialogue to UI that is rough around the edges, this is a remake that could have used a lot more polish.

Call of Cthulhu’s strange and eerie visuals somewhat succeed in recreating the atmosphere of Cthulhu mythology. However, instead of contributing to the story, stats such as Sanity feel like they deny the player’s trial-and-error. From shooting to stealth segments, the wide array of different systems needed more polish as well.

Goodbye World is a short yet emotional tale of two struggling indie game creators that never turns into the obvious success story you might expect it to become. Despite its characters feeling symbolic and one-sided, it manages to feel genuine throughout its two-hour journey.

Slitterhead’s body-swapping system is unique, and its grotesque monster design is definitely appealing. However, it feels like the choices the team had to make with its limited development budget did not work in the game’s favor. Combat needed more polish, the characters lack emotional expression, and the first half of the story is weak. Things do get more interesting towards the end of the game, but not enough to forget about its shortcomings. While its ambitious ideas deserve praise, it's a shame that Slitterhead was not able to fulfill its potential.

It’s too bad that there’s no challenge mode, but an asymmetric multiplayer game based on a movie is an interesting concept itself.

Combining the realistic settings from the series’ earlier titles with the over-the-top style of entries that came after Saints Row: The Third, this is an excellent reboot. That being said, a lack of polish in the gameplay department and low quality localization for Japan cannot be ignored.

Trying to follow the success of The Fast and The Furious is a welcome new approach for the series, but it fails to deliver. An underdeveloped story and repetitive gameplay result in a game that could have used some more polish.

With a wide variety of crabs and weapons, and with each crab's claws controlled in detail with the analog sticks, Crab Fighter delivers a surprisingly deep battle experience. It’s great fun to play with friends, and the campaign mode offers plenty of satisfaction. However, the game is not balanced well enough for more serious competition, and online fights will be difficult to get into for newcomers.

This is a casual fighting game where SNK heroines come together, and while it may succeed in serving that purpose, the game’s main modes and graphics are far from ideal.

Metal Gear Survive's greatest strength is that it offers many ways to play. Its survival gameplay creates a lot of freedom and variety, but sadly the unsteady co-op experience greatly limits the game's appeal. The story is underwhelming, and the game's overall balance has some problems.

While it is not bad as an action shooter, lackluster gimmicks and unnecessary characters make both Immortal Legacy’s action and story feel like an unorganized product.

Godfall combines common sword-fighting gameplay with typical hack-and-slash elements, but controls and enemy animations lack polish and don’t feel well balanced. There’s not enough of it either. Godfall also does not come optimized for PC: The UI is cumbersome to navigate through, and while in the end there’s still some good hack-and-slash fun to be had, there’s nothing unique here you won’t find elsewhere.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a gem of the good old days, and this remaster aims to bring its former glory to the modern era by implementing crossplay and online multiplayer. The beautiful score and a visual style that stands the test of time make it feel worthwhile, and both are enhanced by this HD remaster. At the same time, this remaster also brings all the issues the original had, and doesn’t improve upon any of its flaws. Omitting a local multiplayer is the biggest mistake, as this stood central in the original experience.

Bringing unique mechanics from the Shikigami no Shiro series to present day, Sisters Royale is a worthy successor of the vertically scrolling shmup series. Some players might feel reluctance towards the “moe” anime-style characters, but the bullet-hell gameplay itself will satisfy hardcore fans of the genre.

For a flagship adventure-game developer that has titles like Until Dawn and Hidden Agenda to its name, Supermassive Games' VR horror title The Inpatient is a big disappointment.

This game comes with loads of great fan service, including a full voiced cast. Sadly, when you look at it as a hack and slash action game, the game has little depth. Still, if you can live with average gameplay there is plenty to enjoy here.

Travelling through underwater relics left by mankind before they left Earth is a compelling experience, thanks to great environmental storytelling enhanced by stunning art direction. However, tedious and repetitive gameplay throughout the 5-hour journey makes this experience feel like a good story poorly written.

SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris has a great battle system that feels like a full-fledged fighting game. With some of the original characters being more fleshed out, there’s some good fan service here as well, but as a whole the game feels like a low-quality effort. There are just too many errors, bugs and so on that often make SWORD ART ONLINE Alicization Lycoris frustrating to play. The biggest problem is the game’s original story, which has none of the appeal of the work it is based on.

Wanted: Dead feels like it was released with only the game’s most basic concepts brought together. Its combat doesn’t evolve, enemy movement feels unnatural, camerawork is bad, the difficulty balance is a disaster, there is a lack of enemy variety and the story doesn’t make sense. The idea of combining sword fighting and third-person shooting in one combat system isn’t bad in itself. If the development team had focused on fleshing this out rather than adding unsatisfying minigames on the side, things might have been different.

Kirby Battle Royale is an extremely simple party game. It shouldn’t be full-priced, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad.

Stages divided into chapters and automatic health recovery make this newly released shoot 'em up for the Nintendo Switch an easy pickup for people unfamiliar with the genre. However, its level design and presentation fail to shine anywhere in particular, making this mediocre bullet hell STG a game with little excitement or sense of accomplishment.

Faithfully recreated hero characters and a scenario that makes it feel like you have been transported to the original manga are great for fans of the series. However, repetitive battles and a bad difficulty balance ruin what could have been a great experience otherwise.

From “moe” characters and hip-hop to cyberpunk and yakuza, Orangeblood is a 2D sprite-based RPG that provides interesting cultural juxtapositions. The battle system, which includes hack-and-slash elements, provides enough options for strategic combat. However, after the credits had rolled, I felt that both the story and combat needed a bit more volume.

Jump Force is fine as a sandbox fighting game. However, when you consider that this was released to celebrate 50 years of manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump, a character roster that only pays homage to a few major franchises feels unfair. Add to that a terrible storyline and clunky UI, and you have a game that’s very difficult to recommend.

While the universe of Made in Abyss is recreated with class, as a game there is a lack of tension and balance. The game’s original story is faithful to its source material, but its twists feel so sudden that it is hard to advise newcomers to join the world of Made in Abyss through this game.

Space Channel 5 VR is not challenging as a video game, and its exercise mode does not have enough content at launch to offer a serious workout. That being said, reuniting with Ulala in VR will be a memorable experience for fans of the series. If becoming a part of a short but atmospheric musical sounds fun and you already have a PS VR and two PlayStation Move controllers, Space Channel 5 VR is worth trying.

Fallout 76 feels like a single-player experience that was forced into an online game. Still, if you stick with it, trying to survive in Appalachia indeed delivers a different kind of appeal from previous iterations.