For all it invests in big-scale brawls between Dominants, the game also leans into quieter human connections. Many of the side quests are almost too simple: Go to this place marked on the map, listen to somebody talk, kill some bandits, get a bunch of bloody hides as a reward. But there are so many exceptional vocal performances and well-written arcs that you can’t help but come to love this world as much as Clive does. Show up for the kaiju fights, but stay for the tender series of quests exploring the complicated and noble backstory of your hideout’s resident blacksmith.

For now, I’ll say Housemarque’s “house style” of tough-as-nails roguelike dipped in symbolism has managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice, and in a PlayStation ecosystem where Sony threatens to homogenize all its output, this studio maintaining what makes it distinct in the company’s catalog is just as challenging a feat as anything you’ll face in the game itself. Saros is a prickly, demanding game whose hours of physical and mental carnage will make it difficult to parse for some, but I keep diving back in and finding new philosophical and mechanical challenges to overcome each time.

Link’s Awakening is a beautiful recreation of a legendary game, but it doesn’t have much to offer to players who already know the ins and outs of Koholint Island. For newcomers, or people who played Link’s Awakening two decades ago and can’t remember exactly how to finish the trading quest or track down that damn singing frog, this is a worthy remake and a must-play Zelda game.

Immortality, the latest from Her Story creator Sam Barlow, is a game that functions like a movie. Its excitement lies within clever or opulent shots, lines delivered with pleasurable believability, and an alluring plot. But it has a real bad attitude about art.

As a playground for one of the most idiosyncratic superheroes of all time, Marvel’s Spider-Man is sheer bliss. It’s a sandbox platformer first and foremost, and a damn good one. Throughout playing the game I was constantly hounded by the question of whether this—sublime superhero traversal in a gorgeous, idealized version of New York—were enough. After countless hours later spent cleaning up every last icon on the map, I’m convinced they are.

For 20 years now, Pokémon games have presented fantasies where people live, battle, and grow alongside powerful monsters. In Pokémon Sun and Moon, that wistful reverie invites you take a holiday, leave your worries behind, and grab yourself a lei. As it happens with all good vacations, Pokémon found itself again.

Psychonauts 2 isn’t about gunning down the big boss at the end and cheering over their dead body. It’s about understanding that even the biggest asshole is still a person, and deep down they may just need some help. We all need some help sometimes. The key is asking for it. Today, in 2021, it’s easy to look around and see people who seem cruel and evil, and to assume they are lost souls, not worth saving. Psychonauts 2 says otherwise. It says that everyone can change. I’m not sure I fully believe that, but I’ll be damned if that’s not one hell of a hopeful message.

Doom Eternal’s philosophy is simple: make the most intense experience possible. That mostly works out. Combat, while occasionally busy, is sure to satisfy even the most voracious of shooter-mavens. The ripping and tearing is as good as it has ever been. There are a few sticking points— a shaky story that’s hard to engage with, the few moments when style trumps substance, a glitch here and there—but there’s no denying that the highs are among the highest you can experience in any first-person shooter. Crank up the difficulty, throw your elbows around, and embrace the chaos. From the deepest diehards to fresh-faced demon slayers, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Blood, guts, music, mayhem. You might get the occasional bloody nose or interrupted by an unwanted tutorial pop-up, but there’s nothing else like it.

Phantom Liberty is a succinct summation of the best parts of Cyberpunk 2077 and all the strife it took to reach this point. It reflects on V’s story in a new, insightful way, and it’s maddening that it’s as good as it is, because I feel like I just got here. There aren’t many games that’ve made me feel such a push and pull, so maybe it’s fitting to watch it self-destruct in a spectacular explosion just as it course corrects. Much like V, my time in Night City is limited. I better make the most of it.

Neva prioritizes a meditation on life and loss that too often feels half-baked and pales in comparison to Gris’ execution of the same themes. Much of Neva feels propped up by its predecessor to cover its weaknesses, with familiar themes and the same platforming (flaws and all) from Gris encouraging fans of that game to not look too closely at this game’s faults. Ultimately, when Neva attempts a final narrative twist that fully leans away from the initially compelling and original themes of its story, it’s too much of a shift too late in the game, and only serves to undermine the few unique choices this experience attempts. At least it’s short.

It takes a great foundation and turns it into a game that, after ten hours with a near-final version, I think I might love even more than the first.

I’ve also been won over on the idea of these half-sequels. Warhammer 2 might have a lot in common with the first game, but everything it has done to set itself apart is big and fresh and daring, making this a game that’s worthy of its own place in the spotlight.

If you can get over having to rebuy the game again and not being able to transfer over old saves, Ultimate Edition on next-gen consoles is the best way to play Control outside of a solidly powerful PC. If you didn’t like Control back when it first came out, because it was too hard or you didn’t find the world engaging, this new port won’t change your mind. But if you bounced off the old game due to long load times or performance problems, this might be the best time to jump back in.

If you’re simply seeking a solid if slightly overlong action-RPG about flawed people looking to sand down their rough edges, Tales of Arise is exactly that. Just know that it comes with some rough edges of its own.

I’m still pretty early in HI-Fi Rush, but there’s something kind of magical about every fight feeling like it could be choreographed on a piece of sheet music. It excels in style and humor, has some great musical picks, and despite being a rhythm game, it doesn’t lose sight of the depth and skill that you need to play an action game. I’m excited to keep going and see where Chai’s silly story takes me. [Impressions]

You’ll need a powerful enough rig to get the best of the best visually speaking—4K 60fps with ray tracing set to max will have to wait for a patch—but even at lower tiers the game looks amazing. [Impressions]

I do know this: As a longtime Halo devotee, it is so, so good to be back to a Halo that genuinely feels like a Halo. I’ve been playing these games for, f.ck, man, two decades now. Time was, somewhere in the era before (and momentarily after) Halo 5, I could picture myself hitting a point where I was take-it-or-leave-it on the series. Now? Absolutely not.

I’m still chipping away at runs and cracking the foundations of Absolum’s world, but my short few hours or so with it have been more than enough to keep me banging my head against its stone gates. It is one of the most rewarding spins on both the beat-em-up and roguelike genres I’ve played all year. [Impressions]

This is a game that knows what life is made of; all the perfect nights with friends, all the loneliness, all the grief, all the frustration with ourselves and others, all the searching and wondering and wanting. This is a game that knows that we take our beauty where we can find it, that sitting outside a bar under a starry sky with a true friend as you talk about the uncertainty of the future is a gift, that there’s wisdom in being grateful for the grace we’re afforded, as imperfect as it may be.

This is not a game that is trying to be a narrative masterpiece; it is trying to be a mechanical marvel, and it accomplishes the latter in spades. The endlessly inventive and incredibly well-designed tactical systems at play in Unicorn Overlord make it a thrilling challenge to tackle. It isn’t just a game that longtime fans of Vanillaware should pay attention to, it’s for anybody wanting to play the next great tactics RPG. Unicorn Overlord is the game you’ve been waiting for.

Cuphead feels a bit like a good magic trick. The experience is brief and so artistically impressive that it’s hard to believe it’s happening before your eyes. The game has one of the most memorable art styles in years and turns every moment into a picture-perfect display of cartoon merriment. But this is more than just an eye-catching game. Cuphead is all about the big fights and the feeling you get from winning them. It’s delightful and fun and worth the effort it’ll take to clear.

Make a Lord of the Rings version next if you have to. Then Conan. Then Game of Thrones. Then, I don’t know, Krull. Whatever it takes to keep injecting that old strategy vs tactics formula with cool story quirks and fantastic magical powers, I hope Creative Assembly keep doing it, because Total War: Warhammer has been a blast.

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a spiritual successor that draws inspiration from Wonder Boy III, modernizing the formula that made the original game such a classic. The action is faster, the controls more responsive, the visuals are sharper and the music is more full and lush. It improves on the original in every way. It’s even a little more sadistic.

What isn’t a mystery is how Titanium Court won the latest IGF Awards. Some will call the traffic jam of all these dynamic variables a roguelike, but I like to think it sees the hidden richness hiding beneath the chaotic shifting pieces of a match-three. A box of candy whose surprises can be complex, riddling and dangerous.

Yakuza 0 is the closest thing video games have to a prime-time soap opera.

Panzer Corps 2 had a lot to live up to, both because of its predecessor’s success but also the fact that publishers Slitherine have a competing series, Order of Battle, that already improved on so much of what Panzer Corps did. This sequel does enough to justify standing on its own merits though, finding a cozy spot between its rival’s offerings. I’m normally always playing a game like this in my spare time, and I’m confident that this is the one I’ll be playing a lot more of through 2020.

Nioh 3 also does something that established franchises, especially today, sometimes seem allergic to: it takes risky swings to switch up a beloved formula. In the moments where everything aligns and the shift to a more expansive, exploration-focused experience fires on all cylinders—creating surprising stories and unique victories—it’s not hard to imagine how successive games could build on these changes and continue to offer further excitement.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is an exceptional Metroidvania that’s as accessible as it is punishing. It’s an impressive accomplishment, one that exemplifies how approachable doesn’t mean dumbed down. I’ve certainly had my fair share of frustrations during my multiple hours with it, but I’ve also come away from The Lost Crown feeling more excited about the genre than I have been in a long time.

If you’re looking for a clever murder mystery with interactive narrative decisions, beautiful 2D art, and a wonderful historical fiction treatment, you owe it to yourself to check out Pentiment. [Review impressions]

Mixtape wears its heart on its sleeve, even if it tries to cover it up sometimes with a sick ‘90s-throwback bandage at first. Its stuttery, Spider-Verse-esque artstyle makes it feel like a playable animated hangout film, and its writing is witty enough that it doesn’t have to rely on pop culture references from the ‘90s to be endearing. Though it draws from a certain subcultural aesthetic and occasionally deploys grossout stoner humor, the connections it draws between the music we listen to and the memories we make are pretty universal.

Although things fizzle a bit in the final act, as the story moves into the realm of crystals and gods and other JRPG nonsense, the game never stops feeling consistent. Even the random NPCs never stop getting old.

Arc Raiders rarely eases up the pressure it puts on you. For some, that’s likely to be a dealbreaker. But if you’re game for something thrilling and you’re willing to tolerate loss, Arc Raiders is one of the most approachable and engaging examples of the extraction shooter yet.

The New Colossus crafts a world that can deliver exciting action and human drama. The messy gunfights give way to something much larger. The New Colossus examines violence, resistance, and the necessity of revolution. It’s bloody and occasionally silly but never stupid or crass. It comes down firmly on the side of punching Nazis and throwing bricks, concluding that such resistance isn’t just cathartic but essential.

Arc System Works has created the most approachable Dragon Ball game ever, and one of the most accessible fighting games. Fans of either should be overjoyed to welcome newcomers to their ranks, and those newcomers get to experience two of the most accepting and supportive communities in fandom. Everybody wins.

In so many ways this is the best Total War game ever made, the latest example of a series that has spent the last 3-4 big releases (we don’t talk about the Saga games here) successfully refining a decades-old formula to keep it fresh and interesting. It’s a shame, then, that having come so far in so many respects this time around, Warhammer III stumbles right where it matters most: at the end.

The whole game is a tremendously satisfying experience. From the wonderful alien design, to the slow-burning storyline and its blank-faced staring astronaut, to the satisfying array of weapons, and perhaps most importantly, to the way the statues crumble when you hit them, this is something utterly solid, and eternally compelling. And unless my rig proves a fluke, finally a console-to-PC port to celebrate on day one.

Sonic’s early days stressed his supposedly edgy attitude and speed, traits meant to differentiate him from the slower, more deliberate Mario. But it was never really about attitude or speed. Sonic Mania clearly articulates Sonic’s true appeal: Sonic is pure joy, a spinning ball of fun blazing a trail towards the next adventure.

I recommend that everyone who loves immersive sims and mechanically rich stealth-action games play Great Circle. It’s one of the best games Bethesda has ever published, and I’m happy this thing will be on PS5 next year so more people can experience it.

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance has all the right stuff at its core. The fluid action is a blast at its best, and the breathtaking visuals are a sight to behold. Unfortunately, the unfulfilling exploration and so-so platforming keep the game from hitting its full potential. It’s an enjoyable playthrough on a rainy day, especially for the person who wants a strong hit of Sega nostalgia or needs to decompress from more intensive games. But like spending time with someone who wants to be everyone’s friend, the experience feels a little too shallow for its own good. Shinobi’s long overdue return is easy to like, I just wish I could love it too.

Resident Evil 7 can occasionally frustrate with excessive boss fights and patronizing puzzles, but it’s still a scary and violent blast of survival horror that paints a bright future for the franchise. Bloody, tense, and exciting throughout, Resident Evil 7 is exactly what the series needed. Full of dread and brimming with anxiety, the series that started it all has finally found itself after decades of wandering.

In spite of technical flaws and the dreary mirror it holds up to us, Battlegrounds in consistently enjoyable and surprising. There is a reason why it is the battle royale game. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds isn’t the most technically capable or mechanically complex game, but it is laser focused on delivering excitement...Battlegrounds is exactly what it wants to be and, love it or hate it, that honesty makes for a remarkable game that changed multiplayer forever.

It’s the sheer variety of experiences in Luigi’s Mansion 3 that keeps it entertaining throughout. While you might at first think you’re in for a repetitive time as you go through the first few floors and find nothing but standard hotel rooms, things get quite unexpected as you continue higher and higher. While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it’s a solid take on a series that hasn’t had many entries over the last nearly 20 years. Mostly, it’s just nice to see that Luigi is indeed alive, and not dead.

Crucially, my experience with the game is incomplete, and everyone else’s will be, too. It’s built for replayability, but it’s also built for collective mapping and interpretation. I can’t begin to comprehend on my own how many variables and alternative outcomes are at play here, especially given the game’s intentionally restrictive save options (one save slot, limited manual saving; when you make a decision, you need to stand by it). One particular mechanic I don’t believe I saw at all: “dragonsplague,” a disease pawns can contract as they pass through various game worlds that, supposedly, has cataclysmic effects if left unattended. I still don’t know what dragonsplague does, because I played Dragon’s Dogma 2 pre-release, and not many of the available pawns were player-made. (Big ups, though, to the few people who did hire Skroat. He and I both appreciated it.)

The central fantasy of every FromSoftware game is pretty much the same—that through close observation and relentless practice you too can bootstrap your way to greatness, slay the dragon, save the kingdom, or solve the puzzle to unlock the mysteries of the universe. In many of the Soulsborne games this means mastering the violent gauntlet ahead of you. In Armored Core VI it means changing yourself until that death march becomes a cakewalk instead. It’s a game about having faith in yourself, even when no one else does, and becoming an ass-kicking mech pilot in the process, not because it will save the world, but because it’s cool as shit.

Everything I have said about Dragon Quest XI being one of the best games of all time is definitely correct, because I played the game in Japanese for 300 hours. I wouldn’t have done that if it weren’t a masterpiece.

The game is freakin’ gorgeous. You get the standard next-gen fidelity benchmarks—4K resolution and a framerate of 60 frames per second—but the beauty of Returnal is more than mere numbers. It’s how moonlight peeks through the forest canopy, or how blue-tendril fauna arcs toward Selene in moments of respite. It’s the way snow shuffles in the wind. It’s the way fog parts as you stroll through buried tombs. Returnal moves at a brisk pace, but I’ve spent long moments just standing still, drinking in the sights.

Even if the issues are never patched, THPS 3+4 is still a fantastic game. If you’ve enjoyed playing Tony Hawk games in the past, then you should check this thing out ASAP. While the changes to THPS 4’s levels might disappoint some, the new music and levels are rad, and the skating feels as perfect as ever. If that gaming room in heaven exists, it better have a copy of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4.

As with all adventure games, solving puzzles in Day of the Tentacle sometimes feels like trying to get inside the designers’ heads and understand exactly what they want you to do. It’s there that the 23-year-old wrinkles sometimes show.

On my PC, beefed up specifically for the game, Cyberpunk performs OK. I can work around the technical failings and laugh at or even admire the bugs. It’s only crashed once, hilariously, when another car hit me so hard the whole game mysteriously shut down. So I’m not playing the broken mess we’re all talking about. Instead, I’m playing a game whose various pieces don’t fit together, where busyness and choices feel like illusions to cover up its emptiness, where key features like driving and gunplay are a chore. I leave each play session a little befuddled and dissatisfied, but then I read about a quest or see a video of an unfamiliar area and boot the game up again. I can’t quite say if I like it, even though saying things like that is part of my job. I’m still playing it, but I’m not always sure why.

Climbing requires you to be aware of everything from your toes to fingertips. The game’s attempt to replicate that is an admirable one, but the gap it tries to bridge between how the human body moves and how a video game character does feels like it doesn’t quite meet in the middle. What’s left is something that rewards a level of patience I don’t think I have anymore. I’ll just keep my feet firmly planted on the ground for now. [Impressions]

Cadence of Hyrule feels like a french fry dunked into a milkshake. There’s two distinct flavors at play—the deep exploration of a Zelda game with the bouncy pace of a rhythm game—and they mix together into something greater than the initial pitch. In combining two addictive yet contrasting gameplay styles, Cadence of Hyrule crafts a brief and brilliant flash of adventure.

The Metroid story is one of feast or famine. That avalanche of new games in the early 2000s itself followed nearly a decade of dormancy. I hope that Samus Returns’ title has some greater meaning beyond being a simple inversion of the Game Boy game’s, and indeed heralds the return of this sadly neglected series. Samus’s return to the past was fun; now here’s looking to the future.

I can confidently say WoW is back. Well, it was back in Dragonflight, but it’s extra back now. Not only does The War Within make the player experience better with great additions like Warbands and Follower Dungeons, but it also demonstrates that Blizzard isn’t afraid to keep refining good ideas like Hero Talents or reworking those that may have failed previously and molded them into nuggets of fun and flavor like Delves. If this is just the start of what to expect with Warcraft in the era of The Worldsoul Saga, then I’m eager to stick around and see where these new adventures on Azeroth take us next.

Echoes of Wisdom successfully combines the feel of earlier Zelda games with the new creative direction that the modern entries have been going in. By fusing the classic key item progression of older Zelda games with the more modern, player-driven problem-solving of Tears of the Kingdom and Breath of the Wild, Echoes of Wisdom creates something both familiar, yet distinct from every other game in the series so far. Also, our long-suffering Hyrulian princess finally gets some time in the spotlight, and that is a welcome change of pace.

The Outer Worlds is so impactful that it made me question and ultimately settle more thoughtfully into my beliefs.

All the problems Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has are clearly and unsurprisingly tied to its ridiculous scope. There’s stuff piled on top of stuff, and not all of it feels substantial, fully baked, or in some cases functional. But the foundation Respawn laid in Fallen Order is still here, and everything about Survivor that’s connected really shines. The characters are more fleshed out and their conflicts are compelling and relatable. The level design is appreciably authored in that way that makes “Metroidvania” a stupid-looking word that means so much. And when it comes to combat, there are so many different ways to brutalize droids and Stormtroopers, the combo video community will feast for years to come. It’s a hearty stew, even if you still have to watch the sodium.

If you can get over having to rebuy the game again and not being able to transfer over old saves, Ultimate Edition on next-gen consoles is the best way to play Control outside of a solidly powerful PC. If you didn’t like Control back when it first came out, because it was too hard or you didn’t find the world engaging, this new port won’t change your mind. But if you bounced off the old game due to long load times or performance problems, this might be the best time to jump back in.

For a game that built momentum so perfectly throughout its entire run, it’s unfortunate that it ends with a whimper. Note for the future: When you reach the finale, end the story. Don’t do a second finale. Considering the fact that this game will get some DLC in the future, it will one day have the equivalent of three climaxes. I need more shotguns in Doom, not more finales...Regardless of that mistake, Doom: The Dark Ages is still a standout example of how to take an old franchise and do something with it that feels fresh while still being true to the lineage of the series. And while Dark Ages has one too many cutscenes and endings, none of that ruins the frenetic and ultra-smooth combat, not even some bits in which you ride a dragon and pilot a mech. Doom: The Dark Ages is a brilliant, bloody, and hyper-aggressive remix of the Doom formula that works in more ways than it doesn’t.

The destination is...interesting, which is why I consider The Forgotten City in the category of odd B games I’ll think about for several years.

Pragmata is short, but it’s also sweet. Plenty of games will tell you that parenthood is hard and requires you to self-actualize in ways you never have before, but Pragmata is for those who have already done that work. Pragmata feels like an older game, but maybe it’s also a sign that in the years since the games it was influenced by first came out, the way that games treat parenthood has changed for the better.

Even with Lake House on the horizon, I think I’m already itching to go back to Night Springs.

Silent Hill f is ambitious in its desires. It asks for permission to deviate from the series’ traditional setting while offering up quicker, more action-focused combat. It leaves behind its titular setting in favor of a new horizon. It succeeds on all these fronts as a spin-off that explores Silent Hill’s classic gloom and internal psychological struggle, toying with themes of friendship, gendered expectations, commitment, and individual worth like a cat, or a fox, playing with its prey. It is a horrorscape I was terrified of and yet unable to look away from, one that’s resonated with me long after the credits rolled, and that quickly pulled me back in for another trip down the miserable foggy alleyways of this strange mountainside village.

There was no game quite like Citizen Sleeper when it first came out. It’s nice to finally have another one.

By adding an enthralling tale packed with rich, engaging characters and an ever-looming man-versus-nature conflict, Nihon Falcom has crafted a game that’s incredibly hard to put down. There are no real “Everything’s okay now, we can rest” moments in Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana. The struggle isn’t over until everyone escapes the island...I’m somewhere between 35 and 40 hours in, and it doesn’t look like I’m getting off anytime soon. That’s fine. I’ve got everything I look for in an action RPG right here.

Nioh 2 is a big improvement on an already impressive initial outing. With more weapons and powers, combat expands into something truly special, while the story holds more emotion and impact. Fans of the first will enjoy returning to Japan and seeing familiar characters; they’ll also welcome the fresh challenges. If you’ve never played Nioh or shy away from Soulslike experiences, I can’t stress enough that Nioh 2 is worth checking out. It’s an incredibly smart game that rewards you for your time and patience.

This isn’t a GTA clone, or an RPG, nor is it a brawler. It’s something more than that but also different, a human drama that combines rudimentary game elements and weaves them into something that can make you laugh, cry and feel within the space of minutes.

Dragon Ball FighterZ’s biggest strength is its simplicity. When it tries to get complex, like its onerous online multiplayer lobby system, it stumbles.

Within five minutes of starting Death’s Door I knew I was going to love it. The combat was basic but weighty. The visual presentation was sparse but bespoke. Its music, sometimes pastoral and serene, sometimes grim and despairing, made no secret that something special was going on, and my love for the indie action-RPG only continues to grow.

This is clearly a high point, the highest since The Taken King launched nearly two years ago. It’s a red-carpet welcome for new players and a slightly bittersweet payoff for those of us who’ve been there from the start. Soon enough, everything will change yet again.

I adore how the game escalates as you progress, with challenges becoming not only tougher but much more involving, while enemies step up with attacks that don’t just do more damage but are more interesting to deal with. Few games get this close to perfect.

Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a confident game that doesn’t always earn its bravado. It is beautiful, thrilling, and paradoxically fractured. But if you’re able to endure the clumsier scenarios, you’ll find a rousing war story with plenty of challenge.

From its rapture beginnings to its M. Night Shyamalan-like twist ending, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a shining example that Kirby warrants his lion’s share of open-world treatment alongside other Nintendo properties like Legend of Zelda and Mario.

For those new or interested in the series, this is absolutely the best place to start, as it’ll ease you in and communicate its complexities better than any other Total War. And if you’re experienced, you’ll just love how this is a smoother, smarter ride. Three Kingdoms isn’t a perfect Total War game, but it’s the closest the series has come in a long time.

Too Kyo Games easily could have set its niche obsessions of killing games, branching narratives, and mind-bending twists aside and created something that aimed for the widest personal audience in hopes that it would save the studio. Instead, it committed to what it knows, leaning into what has always made its leads’ work so memorable. Where others might have pumped the brakes on their ambitions, Too Kyo slammed its foot on the gas and hoped there would still be another route to follow when it reached the end. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy may not be for everyone, but anyone can see what it’s done and know that it’s earned their respect.

There is no other game I can turn to that will let me leap about a roomful of demons, firing a satisfyingly chunky assault rifle into the throng as beasts disintegrate into a bloody pulp. It sets my heart racing in a way that not even the original Doom managed.

Marvel Snap, a new digital card game available today for everyone on iOS and Android, has kept me up far too many nights over the last few weeks. The game has a fantastic mix of fast action, short matches, cool cards, and smart ideas that help make every round feel different.

Mario + Rabbids is way better than it has any right to be.

Don’t let the lush, colorful graphics and whimsical, xylophone-heavy soundtrack fool you. Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time’s fun and frivolous facade hides a game that feels like it’s actively trying to murder mischievous marsupials. It’s about snatching victory from the jaws, bombs, fast-moving vehicles, spinning blades, laser grids, and fire spouts of death. I failed much more often than I succeeded during my run thanks to Ray West and his lackeys, but I had a great time doing it.

In Shin Megami Tensei, gods and demons alike are created by humanity’s belief in them. They are the products of the stories we tell. Gods, built by our own hands, shape our lives.

The beautiful illustrations, framing, and score make this game truly special and well worth checking out.

When a piece of media as earnest as Octopath Traveler 0 comes along—packed with wandering swordsmen, villains ascending to the Heavens, and more—it’s hard not to end up smitten. There is a belief that so long as you tell a story with your head held high and love for your audience, everything else will work out. And the damndest thing about that is that belief is correct. Meet this game with your own child-like sense of earnestness, and you will have an experience that you’ll not forget anytime soon.

Planet Coaster is best when treated as a giant LEGO set. A sunny, cheery tabula rasa, lying there waiting for you to go nuts in a never-ending quest to make yourself as happy as the grinning faces of the people lining up to take your rides for a spin.

The creative team for this series has changed a lot since its beginnings. The world around Gears has changed, too. Gears 5 seems like a reflection of those changes. It’s a game that further complicates its world and stars a more complex hero. It’s still a game with a chainsaw gun, but now, those chainsaw guns can have a grenade launcher attached. Sometimes, change is good.

Reviving Dark Souls means embracing these imperfections and leaving the majority of them intact. Save for a few glitches like the ability to gain infinite souls, Dark Souls Remastered keeps most of the original game’s flaws rather than significantly revamping or fixing issues with the original.

Mortal Kombat 1 is truly a fighting game that anyone can enjoy, even if you just button-mash endlessly. And while I wish it did more to reinvent the blood-soaked wheel, MK1 is still a worthwhile package that will please most fighting game fans, pros and casuals alike.

Most every task the game has set before me has been entertaining, challenging, and rewarding. Yet I feel my former student’s weariness mixing in with my usual optimism. There’s always something else to go do, but on the other hand, there’s always something else to go do.

I’m left wondering what a true metamorphosis of Gears could look like, how this series could go about defining a new generation of video games. It’s a lot to ask. Gears of War might continue as on as it has, a single revolution followed by a lifetime of refinement. It’s enough.

It’s a realistic depiction of depression, but it’s as tiring to play as it is to live.

This is a splendid creation, superbly written, with spellbinding art, and a unique approach to telling a story. It’s also a fascinating exploration of grief, loss, and more than anything else, how we react to change. That and secret underground organizations and their evil plans to control towns through fertilizer production.

Wargroove takes some of the best elements of all those games and creates something of its own. It’s not a hollow imitation, but a spirited homage, characterful and generous. Even when I didn’t love it, I still couldn’t help but like it.

While Oxenfree II: Lost Signals isn’t an overhaul compared to its predecessor, it didn’t need to be. It tells an excellent story with a cast of well-developed characters, and the smaller changes are what help define the sequel. Better pacing, smoother controls, and more interesting gameplay ideas make it a worthy follow-up to the supernatural coming-of-age story that first graced our hearts seven years ago.

Streets of Rage 4 feels more like a celebration of that history inside of a new and updated world. I will continue to play an absurd amount of this game in the years to come, and I’m glad to fit it into rotation when deciding which in the series I want to dive into with friends.

For all that I hope Naughty Dog refines their next game, I can’t say I regret taking another scenic spin down Uncharted lane. Lost Legacy tells a winning tale of friendship set against a backdrop of gorgeous mayhem, and it might even teach you a thing or two about Indian history along the way.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound captures virtually everything that made 2D action games of yesteryear awesome while ironing out all the rough edges synonymous with that era of gaming. It looks spectacular, controls like a dream, and boasts levels that are worth experiencing over and over again. It does end too soon for its own good, and its short runtime may throw some people off. Aside from that, however, the developers at The Game Kitchen have proven themselves to be masters of their retro-inspired craft with this one. Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a worthy successor to its NES predecessors, without a boomerang bird in sight.

It’s impossible to predict what Magic Arena will mean for the paper card game’s future. That said, it’s easy to look around and see hype for the game snowballing alongside Arena’s release and the launch of Magic’s new esports league. For my part, Magic Arena’s pitch has finally gotten me hooked on a game I’ve been playing on and off for seven years. Its ease of play makes the average Magic game more of a ballet than a stop-and-start football match. As most of its clunkier aspects game melt away, the heart of a card game that has nearly three decades’ worth of staying power shines through.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone doesn’t miss many beats. Though a couple of my more recent favorite Miku tunes didn’t make the cut (notably “Love Song,” featured in last year’s Project Diva X), I am overwhelmed by what Sega’s latest vocaloid rhythm game has to offer.

Hatsune Miku: Project Diva Future Tone doesn’t miss many beats. Though a couple of my more recent favorite Miku tunes didn’t make the cut (notably “Love Song,” featured in last year’s Project Diva X), I am overwhelmed by what Sega’s latest vocaloid rhythm game has to offer.

In one delightful moment, my historical knowledge was used to mislead me, as the game both conformed to and subverted my expectations of what I expected a character to do based on her actions in actual history. Games often reward players for knowing their lore, and it was exhilarating to be punished for it. I’m not saying that you need to have a dozen Japanese history tabs open like I currently do. But playing the game while knowing the history gives you a unique experience.