I don’t think Tomodachi Life as a series is at a critical tipping point just yet. I’m still enjoying Living the Dream a lot, but the game’s focus on user-generated content seems indicative of the direction the rest of Nintendo’s cozy games seem to be heading in, too. Really, the problem with the game is spelled out in the title. When I’m playing a life sim that’s known for being an ant farm full of ups and downs, I don’t necessarily want to live the dream. I just want to live life.

I came into Legacy of the Dark Knight with my walls up against its typical Lego humor, only to find that it functions as a rebuttal to my proclivity for self-serious Batman games. Not only is it tremendously satisfying to play, but by making its linear scenarios so rich and absorbing, it also grants Batman the freedom to be as comically endearing as he is ruthless. Batman doesn’t have to be any one thing, Legacy of the Dark Knight reminds us, and Batman games don’t, either. [Hands-On Impressions]

So far, 007 First Light feels like an awesome blend of what makes a good James Bond story work. It’s equal parts moody espionage thriller and high-octane action film, and its gameplay mechanics reflect these tenets well, despite it forgoing some risk-taking in terms of exploration and combat. Despite playing it safe, it feels like IO Interactive has concocted a recipe for a great 007 game, if not a mechanically revelatory one. The game truly shines when it comes to its story, characters, performance capture, and sandbox elements, and even when combat feels like it treads familiar ground, it’s some of the most fun and engaging I’ve had the pleasure of previewing, with enough of its own DNA to set it apart from the pack. From what I played, I anticipate 007 First Light will be a standout among 2026’s slate of blockbusters. [3-Hour Hands-On Impressions]

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.

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.

A few late-game difficulty spikes, some heavy-handed story elements, and a few lackluster weapons hold back Mouse: PI For Hire a bit, but it’s still an incredibly creative, inventive, unique, and action-packed FPS that mixes classic cartoon animation, noir cliches, and satisfying gunplay into something that is unlike any shooter I’ve played before.

Dosa Divas is, in the end, as blemished, bruised, and beautiful as its slickly animated characters and lavishly illustrated world. It feels like Outerloop threw the whole kitchen sink at this game, and while I admire its craft as well as the various spices and ingredients thrown in the mix here, it feels like the essence of what Dosa Divas is trying to communicate was lost in the concoction.

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.

It seems Horizon 6 is trying to rein the franchise in a bit, though its wild opening is a reminder that this is still a Horizon sequel, so expect some exciting shenanigans, too. After playing a few hours of Forza Horizon 6, I’m excited to hop into the full game. [Hands-On Impressions]

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.

Reunion has all the trappings of a “Fix Fic” written by a disgruntled fan who desperately wanted some third option at the end of Life Is Strange a decade ago and was miffed that Don’t Nod denied it to them.

Marathon is a good game. It is a great game. It’s a special game. This is something that I’ll remember for a long time, even if it dies like so many other live-service games.

MLB The Show 26 fields the same features and experiences the series has been leaning on for years now, and while nothing revolutionizes the game, it’s still a very good baseball simulation. Firing up The Show and playing a few games gets me pumped for the upcoming baseball season, which I realize is the entire point. The lack of competition from other baseball games has created some stagnation, but when the parts are working together well, it’s less noticeable than it seems on the surface.

Pokopia does a great job of making even the minor characters in its world stand out by giving them memorable bits of dialogue and interactions for you to stumble upon, and making them involved in the day-to-day town management by helping build structures, break down resources, and just contribute to the city’s development with ideas and gifts.

If you’re a Monster Hunter fan of any stripe, you should give Monster Hunter Stories 3 a try. I think RPG players who aren’t Monster Hunter fans should play it, too. The Monster Hunter universe is fascinating, rich, and well-suited for turn-based mechanics. Monster Hunter Stories 3 is its own animal, and that’s all it needs to be.

Wait for a sale or go pick up a used copy of Mario Tennis Aces instead.

Requiem starts with a lot of promise, seemingly striving to pave the way for the future of the series that it then seems too afraid to follow through on, but the bigger swings it had the chance to take only happen if a game is interested in real introspection about its legacy. Resident Evil is 30 years old now, and we’ve reached a point in this medium’s existence where a lot of franchises are celebrating long lives and considering what the next 30 years looks like. Requiem seems mostly content to think about the past and not give much thought to the future. But hey, the guns shoot good, the scares still hit, and Leon still looks good in a tight shirt. So maybe there’s no real need to make sweeping changes when the formula of multiple eras still goes down real smooth, even if it leaves me feeling a little bit empty.

It’s a shame that this game is in such a rough state at launch, including numerous performance hiccups on Xbox Series X. There are some really cool and funny ideas in High on Life 2.

In a word, Crisol is uneven, and that’s the most novella-ass thing about it. See, the thing about novellas is that though they attempt it all–comedy, melodrama, camp, action, steamy romance, and thrills of all sorts–they also kind of fizzle out by their end. The balancing act is tough to maintain so consistently. Crisol‘s ambitions seem to lie all over the place, but despite that, it still brings out top-notch performances. I was hooked on its drama plenty enough to blast through Tormentosa’s clubs, caverns, and cathedrals. And it is a competent enough survival-horror title to thrill and occasionally provide a good scare along the way, even if it feels at times like its action and horror is pulling its punches. But for all its missteps, I couldn’t help but love Crisol‘s authentically Spanish heart, and I can’t help but desire more of it. From Crisol and from games at large.

Relooted is a big, Black middle finger to the lingering violence of colonialism. It’s a game that does more than ask, “What if Indiana Jones was actually the good guy he claims he is?” It’s spiritual wish fulfillment. Instead of relying on the benevolence of colonizers to do the right thing, Relooted lets you take back what should have never left in the first place.

The highlight of Reanimal is its final hour, which includes sequences that differentiate themselves from the rest of the game by putting you in the position of being both the hunter and the hunted. And the conclusion helps give some meaning to the repeated images you see throughout the adventure that hint at its larger story...If anything, this bright spot only highlighted my disappointment with the game even more because I know Tarsier can make a good game. Unfortunately, a handful of highs and a nice ending don’t redeem the hours I spent meandering from place to place, unmotivated and unamused.

Romeo Is a Dead Man is full of little moments like this, mixed media distractions from the bloodshed that seem pointless before eventually taking on a greater meaning. They aren’t specifically built to tickle consumers’ dopamine pathways. They won’t always hit you the same way—or at all—but allowing Romeo to wash over you rather than trying to package its complexities in a neat little box will let you walk away with at least one thing to appreciate. Suda51 and the team he’s gathered at Grasshopper Manufacture continues to put out games that function both as entertaining distractions from the pressures of reality and thought-provoking art installations. It’s almost like having your cake and eating it too.

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.

Dragon Quest VII Reimagined is a wonderful remake of Dragon Quest VII 2000, but as I said earlier, all Dragon Quest VII can be is itself with its small islands, portals, and a lot of walking back and forth to fix specific problems like appeasing an active volcano or helping a kingdom fight against rampaging robots. I’d more easily recommend Dragon Quest XI, which is a great entry point for anyone curious about 3D Dragon Quest. And of course, there’s the trio of HD-2D games that lay out the origin of everything Dragon Quest is about. There’s nothing wrong with choosing Dragon Quest VII Reimagined as your first Dragon Quest, but remember what I said before? We Dragon Quest fans are spoiled for choice now. And with that last thought, celebrate and revel in our good fortune.

Code Vein II doesn’t just take a superficial anime aesthetic and use it as window dressing on a popular genre. Its story and charming cast elevate it to create a unique middle ground that will appeal to JRPG and Soulslike fans alike. It’s got its fair share of issues, such as the performance woes and boring enemy fodder design. Still, if you’re looking to ease into the Soulslike genre before hitting the big leagues, Code Vein II is worth spilling blood over.

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]

Don’t Stop GirlyPop is an example of a shooter that oozes style and has some cool ideas, like using a flip phone to communicate with your handler, a woman who appears in live-action video clips on your phone’s screen. But its visuals get in the way, and its combat is too focused on chaotic speed and screen-obscuring effects. Perhaps I could still enjoy all of this if the guns were satisfying to use and the enemies fun to kill, but more often than not, I wasn’t sure if I was doing well in a fight or if my guns were even hitting anything. So I’m sorry to say I stopped playing GirlyPop before the game ended. But hey, at least I’ll have the music to jam out, too.

It is perhaps about time we stopped being surprised by just how brilliant each new game from Inkle is capable of being, but I’m still delighted by how different TR-49 feels from, say, Sorcery!, Heaven’s Vault, and Overboard! Each game is an extraordinary demonstration of a mastery of language, and TR-49 is no different. Except it’s very different, not least in its paranoia over the power of language, its potential dangers, and indeed the explicit dangers of its exploitation and censorship. 2026 is a chillingly perfect time to release a game about a machine that learns the atomistic contents of books, destroying them in the process.

Mio is stylish and elegant to boot, but that and a decent grasp of the fundamentals are not enough to deepen my appreciation of what’s ultimately a pretty by-the-numbers Metroidvania. It’s an adherent to the form, but I rarely like the tune it sings, and don’t quite love it despite my efforts to.

In 1991, a great opportunity was missed: the opportunity to make an action game for home consoles that captured the immense potential offered by the Terminator 2 license. But at long last, Bitmap Bureau has rectified this wrong with a game that almost feels like a classic of that bygone era. If only we could send it back in time so we all could have enjoyed it back in 1991.

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.

Horses is fine. It’s not particularly trailblazing, but it knows what it’s trying to convey, and it uses a pretty concise visual metaphor to get it across. It is gross to look at, but I only really mind that when its jittery framerate makes me queasy. I don’t believe it is as distasteful as Epic or Steam does, and I still am surprised that something that feels mostly tame and along the lines of an A24 horror film has caused such controversy. If Horses didn’t expose anything we didn’t already know about the dangers of a sheltered, puritanical lifestyle, it at least unmasked Steam and Epic as cowardly companies that can’t be bothered to actually vet the work they’re barring from entry. I wish we could’ve had the conversation those bans sparked about a better game, but Horses, at the very least, is fine enough to have deserved better than being locked out in the rain.

Kirby Air Riders is not deep. It’s not substantial. It’s never going to become the hearty dinner its curated clips or indulgent Nintendo Directs want you to believe it might be. Kirby, the godly creature that he is, can inhale an entire match and waddle straight into the next challenge without once wondering what he just ate. I can enjoy the rush, but I can’t live inside it like him. After an hour or two, the buzz wears off, the repetition settles in, and I’m left wanting something that lets skill accumulate or understanding compound instead of just teaching me to parse the screen more efficiently. After enough hours with it, I’ve learned to stop waiting for the game to transform into a meal and to simply enjoy the carbonated geyser it actually is.

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond is a good game made worse by some really bad choices. It features annoying characters who ruin the isolated and haunting vibes that this latest sequel strives so hard to create, and forces Samus to drive across a boring desert over and over and over again for no good reason other than forcing you to do some extra busy work to extend Prime 4’s runtime to around 11 hours for most people.

It’s over too soon and just one extra mode shy of what might feel like a more complete experience. If it follows the mold of Shredder’s Revenge, we’ll get a steady cadence of free updates and a paid DLC at some point. But for now, it does exactly what it needs to: add fresh tricks to a classic genre that makes it feel like you’re a ’90s Marvel action figure rampaging through a Saturday morning cartoon.

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.

Routine was announced over a decade ago at this point. So was it worth the wait? Hard to say, as I wasn’t waiting for it, but I can confirm that a decade after it was first revealed, Routine is a damn fine horror game that stands toe to toe with other heavy hitters of the genre.

In a vacuum, this year’s Call of Duty is a weird, really big, and mostly bad misfire that I doubt hurts the franchise all that much in the long run. But if we look beyond Black Ops 7 and consider the larger context, this might be the worst version of Call of Duty for Activision to have launched in 2025, as it’s going up against the super popular, grounded, and back-to-basics Battlefield 6.

In the end, I had a fine time with Dispatch. I liked it when I was playing it, looked forward to its next episodes when I wasn’t, and most of my biggest complaints with it I express with a shrug. Sometimes your experience with something is not that serious, and it’s nice to be able to leave something behind knowing you’d pick it up again if another pair of episodes dropped next week. And if no future episodes come, that would be okay, too.

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.

Silksong still yields so much to see, and there are inarguably more nooks and crannies than ever to explore in Pharloom, but Hallownest’s elegant and understated mystique is absent here, and it is instead replaced by a labyrinthine behemoth–complete with many proverbial Minotaurs–though one that instills in you the pressure of obligatory completionism rather than the liberating sense of adventure.

The Outer Worlds 2 promises flexibility in storytelling, but when that flexibility comes from interacting with one-dimensional characters who inhabit such an unconvincing world, there isn’t much of a point to it.

Z-A is a game of trying new things and hoping for the best. Not everyone agrees on what the best course of action is, but nevertheless, Lumiose City has to move forward and carve out a future for itself, much like the Pokémon franchise has been trying to do in recent years. It has started abandoning long-held traditions, both in the games and elsewhere, in the hopes that it can be something greater than the corporate machine has forced it to be for so long. Maybe not every change is going to work for everyone, and it will take time for a series that was stuck in its ways for so long to find its footing.

Keeper isn’t a mechanically deep game or a complicated thing to play. Instead, Double Fine wants you to just vibe out with it for like three hours. Enjoy all the pretty colors, the weird shit, and hopefully, by the end, feel something. And to Keeper’s credit, by the time credits rolled, I did indeed feel something. It’s wild to think that a story about a lighthouse and a bird with no dialogue could make me tear up a bit at the very end, but that’s exactly what happened. I didn’t expect it, but the conclusion was a wonderful way to end this epic journey.

Battlefield 6’s campaign is too unevenly executed to make its vision as compelling as it ought to be, but it still works well enough to inflect the entire game with a healthy cynicism unusual for the genre. Though every multiplayer military shooter feels at least slightly callous when viewed from a distance, unending war modeled with a twinned desire for both realism and the rendering down of martial violence into sport, Battlefield 6 manages to make a natural home for its design ethos in that discordance. It finds the road to global ruin pretty exciting, and believes that you will, too. For the most part, it’s right.

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]

Time Stranger sometimes awkwardly fumbles its way to the point it’s trying to make, but every time it shows its hand, it proves it’s willing to punch above its weight.

The Ivalice Chronicles isn’t the perfect version of Final Fantasy Tactics I can imagine in my head, but it’s unquestionably the best version of the one that actually exists. The Ivalice Chronicles, like its protagonist Ramza Beoulve, stands athwart history a flawed but uncompromising messenger with one simple plea: “Go back and play one of the best games ever made.”

Supergiant’s core design philosophy is still kinetic enough to cut through the noise, and unpredictable enough that I want to see where it goes. This is still Hades we’re talking about, II or otherwise.

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.

Bugs, performance problems, a less-than-memorable villain, and a grindy endgame are disappointing for sure, but what Gearbox has put together is still a mostly fun, action-packed, and hand-crafted looter shooter that proves once again that this studio is still the best at making these kinds of over-the-top FPS RPGs.

One of Sonic’s best spin-offs in recent memory. The game is best when it’s focusing on being an extremely fun Sonic racer, rather than a billboard for other games and TV shows.

But unlike Ultimate Edition, which was a massive improvement over the original back in 2015, Reloaded is just a minor upgrade. The improved performance in both campaign and multiplayer, which runs at 120FPS now, is a welcome improvement. Still, when comparing screenshots side-by-side, it’s pretty tricky to spot the differences between Ultimate Edition and Reloaded. And I’m the kind of guy who was excited for the PS5 Pro, which I played Reloaded on. Yet even I can’t find much beyond the improved framerate to praise in this reheated remaster.

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.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater modernizes the classic mechanics of the original while preserving the breathlessly tense feeling of its stealth gameplay, and its painstakingly accurate recreation of the original’s aesthetic and vibrantly beating cinematic heart preserve so much of why these games have withstood the test of time. Should Delta be not just a one-off but the dawn of a new generation for Metal Gear Solid, it’s a promising one indeed.

Mafia: The Old Country’s story was good enough to keep me engaged to the end with its authentic portrayal of 1900s Sicily and its superb characters. It’s too bad, however, that while the narrative traveled backwards in time for its new setting, the gameplay mechanics went along with them.

This is such a delightful game, and so wonderfully intelligent in its creation.

I would hope the short runtime and cheap price tag would be enough for you to say, “Ah, what the hell,” and download it onto your PC or Switch, but times are tough, and not everyone likes to go into a purchase blind.

It’s a shame those stuttering screams are littered throughout a game I was otherwise drawn into. If you have the tolerance for jump scares, especially ones that have no real basis in the world, have at it. For everyone else, you might need to take some breaks walking through Cain’s mansion like I did, but once you’re past them, there’s a pretty compelling escape room mystery here, elevated by great performances from its two leads. Dead Take is scariest when it’s rooted in something real, and even if there’s a disclaimer assuring everyone it’s not based on anyone specific, know that Duke Cains walk among us.

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.

After I moved away from being a professional musician to write about video games for a living a decade ago, the compositions I once spun in my head like breathing became background noise in my everyday life. I’ll find a new song or artist I resonate with, one of my faves will put out a new album, or I’ll go to a live show and remember all my musical inclinations like I’m putting on an old glove. Fretless gave me that same feeling, all to the tune of a well-crafted deck builder.

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.

I have no idea who this game is for, and I don’t think it will find an audience. Perhaps after months of updates, MindsEye will run better and feature fewer bugs. But that won’t change how boring, bland, and utterly unremarkable this game is. MindsEye is a bad game that isn’t even so bad it’s good. It’s just bad, and it will probably be forgotten in a few months, only remembered briefly when the game’s servers are shut down with little warning.

I’m not sure I want to go through another chapter in Death Stranding’s convoluted, messy, and often contradictory universe. Especially if the next game’s ending is as unsatisfying as Death Stranding 2’s finale. Sure, the bizarre moments are amazing to watch on screen. So much money in Death Stranding 2’s development budget was put into some of the silliest and strangest ideas. And that’s all wonderful. I love it. But it doesn’t make up for the fact that so much of the game feels, ironically, disconnected from what you actually do in Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. Or that it all ends so poorly. But I guess I can always build more ziplines and roads and get the satisfaction of a job well done.

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.

Sandfall Interactive is made up of a lot of veteran talent, but as a unit, it’s still finding its footing, so it makes sense that despite all Clair Obscur’s polish and vision that there would be a few oversights that frustrate. But if the team’s debut project is this impressive, I can’t wait to see what the future holds.

While Old Skies is a more “traditional” adventure game than Unavowed, it does the game a disservice to leave it at that. This is a hugely ambitious game, perhaps even seven different games combined into one, repeatedly reinventing its approach to its central conceit throughout. And it’s one that’s stuck with me, one I keep thinking about days after I finished playing. [Impressions]

The Life Is Strange team’s latest supernatural teen drama probably didn’t need to be two parts, but its conclusion was worth the wait.

Like the South itself, South of Midnight is a messy, complicated, but often beautiful and passionate thing worth experiencing.

I’d love to see a sequel to Spilled that adds more levels, more ways to clean stuff up, and maybe even co-op. But for now, Spilled is a solid and gentle indie game that lets me clean up the world for an hour, and that’s nice. I really like that.

I might run out of gas in the second half, especially if the difficulty keeps ramping up, but so far Khazan has been one of 2025's nicer surprises. [Impressions]

I took so many screenshots playing Shadows because I kept being stunned by how much color and variety its world contains. A valley during the winter might feel cold, miserable, and icy, but later during the fall it becomes a breathtaking collage of orange, brown, and yellow as the wind whips thousands of leaves around. It’s almost like Ubisoft has built four different, massive open-world maps and each one is a visual treat.

The studio was straight up just showing off at this point, and I’m kinda mad I’ll never experience it for the first time again. That’s the kind of feeling you can’t scrap from a creative person’s brain and sell as slop. Split Fiction is a culmination of the design ideas the studio has been working with since A Way Out, and it kinda feels like Hazelight threw everything it had at a wall, and it all stuck. It’s a tribute to several video games and to genre fiction, but also to the creative process itself. Fares may think people and AI should co-exist in creative fields, but when you’re already making games this inventive, do they have to? I don’t think so.

Like Rama’s music, Afterlove EP balances the thorny and heartwarming parts of love and loss.

Monster Hunter Wilds is at its most beautiful and chaotic when all the elements and residents of its dynamic world accidentally collide; multiple monsters locked in a turf war as smaller creatures scurry around, some trying to escape, others following their pack leader into the action, all while hunters set exploding traps and raging storms pass through before eventually breaking into daylight. I wish all of this were integrated into the harder, better, stronger, faster logic at the heart of the game’s RPG progression in more sophisticated ways, but that liveliness does inject more life and zeal into a very familiar pattern, one that still works and now feels more robust than ever.

I just hope the second half lives up to the first when it launches on April 15.

Avowed is a special game that I’ll likely replay multiple times over the next decade not just because I want to see every option, but because I want to return to this world and its people again and again.

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

Right now, Marvel Rivals has the potential to learn from its inspiration’s mistakes, rather than repeat them. For now, it’s an extremely fun One of Those. Let’s keep it that way, yeah?

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.

At the very least, Lego Horizon Adventures feels like a game made with a lot of love for the property it’s based on rather than a cynical cash grab. Whatever comes next, I can at least say that.

And that’s really what it comes down to for me, what makes Double Exposure a strong and worthy sequel to the original. It’s genuinely interested in Max as a person, in exploring her, in developing her further. It respects her enough to let her grow and change in ways that feel consistent with her experience and who she’s always been. Fans who just wanted more of what they got in the original Life Is Strange may be frustrated by the fact that Max’s life has entered a new chapter of ambiguity and growth, but, then, things rarely go precisely the way we want them to. Much of getting older and growing as a person is about carrying the pain of the past with some measure of grace and still maintaining the capacity for hope, joy, and love. If you ask me, Max is doing just fine.

The Veilguard pulls off old tricks with a level of polish unlike anything the studio’s done before. There will inevitably be division and scrutiny around every choice BioWare made, but Dragon Age: The Veilguard represents the first time in many years I’ve played a game from this studio that didn’t leave me worried about the future. Instead, I’m ready to look forward to it once more.

While this new Quiet Place game isn’t the most innovative or scariest game I’ve played, it’s a very well-made and tense adventure that had me more terrified of metal cans and broken glass than any random zombie I’ve encountered in Resident Evil. Who knew trash could be so scary?

Fear the Spotlight offers me solace over escapism. It tells me that love is everywhere, especially in the dark.

If the stages themselves weren’t enough to make me appreciate how good Shadow Generations felt to play, the White Space’s open world solidified for me that Sega cooked with traversal this time around.

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.

Metaphor does a succinct job of illustrating that progress is slow but still demands we take action, but the struggle for a better world still feels insurmountable to me some days in the face of what feels like never-ending systemic failure. Reading fiction that believes in the possibility of a better world is not the same as fighting for one. Posting isn’t activism. Imagining a world where everything is different, with no consideration for how to actually get there, is meaningless. Metaphor knows that fiction can change the world, but it also knows that inspiring people isn’t enough if they don’t follow through. And if despite my deteriorating hope I’m thinking this way, maybe that’s a sign that even if Metaphor isn’t exactly revolutionary in its politics or worldview, it still must have done something right.

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.

Funko Fusion could have been something fun! A wacky adventure mixing together different franchises and worlds. Instead, its a boring, annoying, barely functional third-person action game starring ugly Funko Pops solving bad puzzles and fighting the same 10 enemies over and over again with guns and laser pistols. Don’t play Funko Fusion. Save your money, buy some pizza, and watch one of the movies included in this collection instead. It will be much more enjoyable and you won’t have to restart the movie five times to reach the end.

The Plucky Squire is all about that lineage of art, inspiration, and creation. The most important role Jot fills as the hero of his book isn’t that of Humgrump’s vanquisher, rather it is his ability to inspire the kid whose desk his book sits on to create something of their own. Every person has a story about what game made them fall in love with the medium, and there is a chance that The Plucky Squire becomes that for some kid that plays it—the thing that will push them to create. How can you not be romantic about video games?

It’s tempting to call Wild Bastards an evolution, but that’s unfair to Void, which has its excellent crafting elements and the permadeath of characters (albeit with persistent progress). What’s crucially similar about both, beyond the excellent art and fantastic sense of humor, is that unlike so many roguelite games, they both want you to win. They’re about progressing forward, being able to reach an ending, and then starting all over to try it completely differently. It’s just that in Wild Bastards, there’s so much more that can be different each time.

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.

Structurally, The Answer is an often frustrating epilogue that shaves off some of the best parts of Persona games. Thankfully, Reload’s quality-of-life updates make the grind more tolerable and the remake adds enough small social elements like reading books and watching movies with your friends that it doesn’t feel like it’s all business. But as a meditation on grief, it feels like a kindness afforded to characters who once had to rile in the ambiguity of the original ending. It would have been easy for Persona 3 to end on a nihilistic note, showing the entire group fall apart without their leader and denying all the lessons they learned. But grief never really goes away. We just learn to help each other live with it a little more each day.

Astro Bot is a mighty game and so is its eponymous hero, but I don’t think either is likely to save the world or this industry. For what it is, though, Astro Bot is incredible, and that is worth celebrating here and now. I just can’t help walking away from the experience with a bittersweet taste in my mouth and a hope that someday soon, we don’t have to look to gaming’s past for the best bits of it all.

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is a surprisingly big game. It features a robust and well-made blockbuster campaign that is only held back by some difficulty balancing issues, a really awesome and in-depth co-op PvE mode that offers a lot of replayability, and a PvP mode that is fine and might be fun for some. The complete package is very enticing and I think that, even with some of its flaws and some minor performance issues on console, Space Marine 2 is probably the best Warhammer 40K game ever made.

I feel like I’ve spent the majority of this review dogpiling on a game I mostly enjoyed. Maybe that’s because I’m frustrated by the squandered potential smothered under a pile of excess, like someone unwilling to say “when” to the person holding the Olive Garden cheese grater.

I helped heal Visions of Mana itself from its illness. Things were wrong, the world was not functioning properly. And the poor people doing their best to keep life worth living couldn’t see it. Even in the moments when they could feel it, even when Val at one point begged to be “the villain” under the weight of grief, the world was sticking to its guns and refusing to acknowledge the problem. But in those final moments, when my confusion almost turned to tears as the world was right again, I realized I had helped put Mana back on track. Just like so many folks out there hope Visions of Mana itself is doing. How do you put a score on that? I’m grateful I don’t have to this time.