Immortality is the antithesis of the belief that games are an art form, as its lofty attempts to establish prestige are built upon the language of another medium entirely (cinema). It relies on the spectacle of the project alone and not the substance, leaving an empty shell confident in but not convinced of its own self-importance.

Neva ultimately feels at odds with itself, trying to be too much at once. Its combat and platforming are competent, but not enough to carry the game on their own. Neva’s story seems to be reaching after pure emotional appeal and a more concrete tale at once, but landing awkwardly between them. While the sense of Alba and Neva’s connection is enchanting at first, the game loses focus on their relationship as it wears on. Even its stunning art — the best part of Neva by far — is stuck halfway between some of the most gorgeous depictions of nature I’ve ever seen in a game and less successful dives into surreal yet sparse environments. Maybe I’m being cold-hearted, but even its adorable wolf cub couldn’t keep me interested for long. Neva has its moments when everything briefly clicks, but in the end it takes a half-step in too many directions at once.

Persona 3 Reload is one of the weakest video game remakes I’ve seen in the last few years.

In its combat and tricky platforming sections, The Lost Crown is mostly a blast. The problem is that it’s surrounded by dull exploration, frequently underwhelming bosses, and enough small frustrations to keep it from greatness. I’m baffled at how little it dives into its unique frozen-time premise, because the moments where it does are the best parts of the game. The Lost Crown’s high points are enough to recommend it to anyone looking for a good action platformer, but if you want a game that scratches the itch for satisfying exploration, you may walk away disappointed.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a beautiful, mostly fun game held back by head-scratching design decisions and nagging issues that have plagued the series for over a decade now. While it's far from a bad entry, it's the latest game in the series to fall short of reaching the soaring action highs of the beloved Ezio Trilogy or the epic RPG adventure of Assassin’s Creed Origins and Odyssey.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a game in an odd place. I get the reverence to the original, especially with series creator Hideo Kojima no longer involved, and the bad blood that ensued between him and Konami. I get the hesitancy to retouch a game considered as one of the greatest ever made. But then, I question what the point of remaking Snake Eater is at all, if you’re going to try and keep everything exactly the same.

This all adds up to a game that feels deeply divided. Any time I was on a contract, I was captivated. The palpable tension of every dice roll left me with sweaty palms and a racing heart, wondering if this would be the job that finally got the better of me. But in slower moments, what takes up the majority of the game when you’re not on the clock, Citizen Sleeper 2 never quite clicked with me. It’s still a stunningly well written game, full of prose that took my breath away, but with a story that overall seems listless and unfocused. There are shining moments of Citizen Sleeper 2 that I’ll carry with me, but in the end it’s much like its protagonist, searching for the core of its own identity and coming up short.

Despite my frustrations with the limited ways that Octopath Traveler II improves upon the original, at its core the game still scratches an itch that no other game can satisfy. I still spent more than 50 hours in the world of Solistia, exploring every part of the map I could and seeking out new stories to immerse myself in...For those who lament the modern state of Final Fantasy, or want something that feels truly inventive in its design compared to many cookie-cutter AAA games, Octopath Traveler II is a journey well worth taking.

For all its murky mechanics and slow pace, Tactics Ogre: Reborn still blends satisfying combat with a top-tier story in a way that few games can match. If you’re a fan of the tactical RPG genre and want a serious challenge, there’s simply no reason not to play this game. But newcomers may want to start with something more approachable, or at least keep waiting for that Final Fantasy Tactics remake we’re all hoping for.

Nintendo’s newly released remake is more of a 1:1 remaster than a true remake. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this new version of Super Mario RPG, but some of the game’s design flaws and problems are more apparent. While the brilliance of the original still shines through, I continuously found myself wishing more was changed and reimagined.

Fortunately for fans who’ve been waiting over a decade for it, The Veilguard mostly succeeds in both heading in a new direction and showing the climax of what’s come before, even if the growing pains of its new combat system and an uneven story keep it from being truly great.

Aside from its fresh coat of paint, Suikoden I and II remain largely the same as they first appeared, even in spots where a modern update is sorely needed. The two classics feel stuck in limbo; not quite the games you might remember from childhood, but not transformed into something more befitting the current day, either. I have no doubt that Suikoden I & II HD Remaster will rekindle a love of the series in plenty of players, but it mostly convinces me that remasters are a pale replacement for either remaking games entirely, or preserving and playing games in their original state, where their flaws and outmoded prejudices can at least be written off as the product of another age.

So will Victoria 3 end up like Stellaris, which released to middling reviews but received years of updates that transformed it into a sublime experience? Or will it suffer the fate of Imperator: Rome, which launched in 2019 but had its support cut last year, leaving the game functional but tantalizingly unfinished? There are no shortage of directions for Victoria 3 to go in, but whether it fulfills its own economic goals remains unknown. I wasn’t always satisfied with it, but I am rooting for it.

I can take the journey to the lighthouse with Moira as many times as I want and, given enough time I will uncover every story within A Highland Song. But there is a cost. No magic would be left in those hills nor the memory of my first journey. There will be no more songs to hear. And that leaves me with a very empty feeling.

Sifu’s singular focus on the perfect run leaves the essential feeling of incremental progress too far out of reach.

Midnight Suns is easy to recommend for fans of comics, strategy, and roleplaying games. While Firaxis does go overboard with the base-building and crafting side of the game, I did enjoy getting to know my heroes better. This game truly shines thanks to its unique and memorable combat system. Thanks to the mission structure and DLC on the way, it feels like a game I’ll revisit again and again.

If you’re able to handle moderate frustration or have a friend available to help when boss battles require too much precision, many disabled gamers who couldn’t play the original should theoretically be able to conquer Skyward Sword HD. That said, it’s unlikely you’ll be feeling as cheery as Skyloft’s NPCs when it’s all over.

By the end of Senua’s saga, however, I was left wishing there was just a bit more meat on the bone of this gorgeous, meticulously prepared piece of mutton.

Fire Emblem’s tradition of focusing on character relationships hit a peak in Three Houses, and we all kind of assumed that would continue into Engage. Sadly, that’s not the case. Fire Emblem Engage scales its social interactions down to a bare minimum, leaving a cast of underdeveloped characters in its wake. At the same time, it features some of Fire Emblem’s best tactical combat, making the game feel as sharply divided as its protagonist’s over-discussed red-and-blue hair.

There’s still a lot to love about Consume Me, up to a point. Its funny, poignant story feels as original as it does relatable, supported by its wonderfully playful art. As an example of how mechanics can evoke emotions and draw players deeper into a story, it’s nearly unrivaled. But the fact that failure is never really an option is at odds with the story it’s trying to tell, and ultimately, the abrupt conclusion to that story undercuts the very points it tries to make. Consume Me is utterly original and in many ways feels like a genuine step forward for personal narratives in games, but while it is worth experiencing on those grounds, it sputters out just shy of being something incredible.

It wants to deliver the chill vibes while confronting real-world social issues. There is no commitment to the latter beyond surface-level platitudes; Otherwise, it might detract from the relaxing goals of brewing drinks. It is a problem that existed in the original Coffee Talk but has only gotten worse. While there is no denying the joys of revisiting the magical residents of Seattle, Coffee Talk Episode 2 doesn’t nail the balance of bitter and sweet like a perfect cup of coffee.

Warzone 2.0 tries to cater to a wider audience by borrowing ideas from its competition, but it delivers a hodgepodge of ideas that seems to forget what made the original Warzone so iconic.

KOF’s resistance to any grand story arc defies the pressure being applied by its rivals. Minimal solo options and routine online duels don’t reinvent anything either. This isn’t laziness on SNK’s part, however. It feels more like a focus on maintaining the design philosophy that the player base has loved all along: potent character design, instantly identifiable team play, and off-the-wall plotlines.

A game built on the message that your choices matter, The Quarry does very little to prove this design principle in execution. It’s a grand attempt at recapturing the magic of the developer’s cult 2015 hit Until Dawn, but rather than demonstrate growth for Supermassive, The Quarry makes it feel like the studio is trapped in the past. In this case, it’s an overemphasis on pulpy B-horror movies from the ‘80s.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is almost great. Its unfair difficulty is its most substantial flaw, but this is something that could be tweaked in an update. Exploring the world is an immense amount of fun, its controls and movement are fluid, and the world has a definitive sense of style. But many players won’t get to experience all that it has to offer due to its overpowered bosses, especially at the start of the game.

If you’re willing to overlook the bloated combat, you’ll find a lot to love in this macabre adventure about the bond between sisters.

Ultimately, much of Metroid Prime 4 feels like a failed experiment. As great as it is to explore the lightning-struck Volt Forge or pick through the haunted remains of the Ice Belt facility, the game’s standout moments are buried in drudgery.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name goes back on much of this forward momentum and seeks to latch onto what fans loved about the previous era of the franchise. While it retains the wonderfully designed mini-games and impressively realized city streets of its fictionalized locales, the need to live in the past holds it back. Kazuma Kiryu’s presence is the most concerning, as the story fails to justify why it needs to keep bringing Kiryu out. Every time Kiryu gets out, will he get pulled back in? Maybe they’ll finally snuff him out for real in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth.