Order & Chaos is a novel, interesting, and intriguing application. Being a truly fully-fledged MMORPG on the iPad makes it very endearing to a goblin-loving veteran such as I, but there are some glaring problems with the game to overlook before you can truly enjoy it. A WoW clone until the end, but for the price of admission, and the amount of "I Can't Believe It's Not Azeroth" fun you can have, you might just forgive it.

Sea of Thieves has made enough improvements that I will likely rally the sea dogs I used to sail with back together to complete both adventures and have some fun. With the PS5 release, I can also make some new friends in the game. The biggest hurdle overall to the PS5 release is that this isn’t anything special for anyone who has played this on either a PC or Xbox.

If you're a fan of the newer, more lighthearted Like A Dragon titles and enjoy quirky pirate adventures, then Pirate Yakuza is worth your time. However, if you’re looking for the grittier crime drama of previous Yakuza titles, you might find Pirate Yakuza is too wacky of a departure for the franchise.

If you liked the original Shadowrun Returns campaign you are going to enjoy Dragonfall. It takes everything you liked the first time around and refines it. While your character may be the protagonist of the campaign you are certainly not a hero. This is made abundantly clear in side missions like Loose Ends. You are hired to break into a corporation and kill the last surviving member of a Shadowrun team hired by your employer before he can be tortured and sell your employer down the river. Dragonfall doesn’t waste your time with a brand new tutorial either. Your PDA has all the info you need. While this game is far from perfect, the thing it does the best is capture the feel of what Shadowrun should be and that is a world I want to play in.

While it’s clear that Lost Ark isn’t necessarily an ARPG, but rather a traditional Korean MMORPG with an isometric view, Smilegate is very clearly looking to cater to a specific audience. Lost Ark finds itself focused on a never-ending gear treadmill, and it does an extremely good job at it. Unfortunately, casual players who want to explore an interesting world or want diverse or more dynamic content will likely be let down. And while Lost Ark is fun, the arduous leveling process and repetitive endgame will likely lead to polarizing opinions about it, with most players either loving or hating their experience in the end.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is best experienced for yourself, not spoiled by a friend or watched on a YouTube channel. To fully understand what it's trying to do, you need to hear those voices for yourself, feel that anguish and pain as it happens, and continue to press on through it. It's a powerful game with a powerful message, even if some parts of it aren't as engaging as the rest. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 requires your patience; if you provide it, you will be rewarded handsomely.

Fire Emblem Engage has a lot of great elements, from its striking visuals to the classic Fire Emblem turn-based strategy gameplay. The story being told, however, does not live up to the bar set by other games in the series, while some battles drag on to the point where I'm fighting off a nap just as hard as I'm fighting the enemy armies. I enjoy the game in spurts, but before long I find myself wondering when I can stop engaging with this Fire Emblem. There's enough here to enjoy Fire Emblem Engage, but only the most dedicated will be able to see this through to the end.

Honestly, I do love the gameplay. But literally everything else tangential to and surrounding the core gameplay experience is a genuine pain. What’s worse, these pain points have been solved so easily by the games Valorant is so clearly inspired. It’s a damn shame that these existing easy solutions were simply ignored. A veteran team with the experience and containing the caliber of talent like Riot should simply know better. I cannot overstate just how much this frustrates me.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is a good game and has the potential to be an excellent game with more patches and polish. It could become a very exciting title if the Questline development team eventually adds more depth to character-build mechanics through DLC, item design, or expansions. In its current state, it is a worthwhile experience if you are looking for another open-world RPG with an interesting storyline, lots of interesting areas to explore, and, at times, a spectacular-looking world setting. But don't expect a fully polished and bug-free experience.

In short, ArcheAge does a whole lot of things most MMOs never would dare dream, but the sad truth is that it’s not exceptional at any one thing. And that, unfortunately, makes the grand idea that is ArcheAge a little underwhelming overall.

Far Cry 6 has some explosive action, but in my 25-or-so hours of gameplay the stretches between the most explosive missions bring the experience down. Yara is huge and full of things to explore, but exploration should not mean "walk 1000 in-game meters to get an objective that sends me 2000 meters in the opposite direction. Every character is expertly portrayed--not the least of which is Giancarlo Esposito, whose Anton Castillo ranks right near the top of best Far Cry villains. The world and the people in it are interesting, interesting enough to overcome the monotony, but getting there can certainly be difficult. Far Cry 6 doesn't move the needle at all, but it still holds its own amongst the other shooter games available.

Despite the optimization issues and random difficulty spikes, I do think that Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is ultimately good – it just could have been so much better.

If Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is any indication, the core philosophy of the game still works in 2024. Running around the mall with an array of silly weapons is still brutal fun, the time restrictions of 72 Hour Mode make each decision heavy and important, and the Willamette Parkview Mall has never looked better. However, there's some jank under the hood, a few key improvements are missing, and the story could have used a small adjustment or two for modern times. None of these problems, however, serve as mortal wounds; like the zombies, our enjoyment with DRDR keeps coming back whenever those issues turn up.

The graphics won’t blow you away and it won’t be making too many “best graphics of the year” lists. But it’s a loving tribute and beautifully recreated edition of a much-beloved classic. There’s a lot to like in this remake, and if this is the building block for what’s to come in the franchise, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.

Green Hell is a survival game set in the Amazon jungle where I played as a man lost trying to figure out what was going on while searching for his lost wife and making sure I didn’t die of dehydration along the way. At the normal settings, the survival aspects of Green Hell were harsh enough to make me wonder whether I would actually finish the story. However, after some tweaking, I was able to enjoy most of the game. Though, in the end, I was left wondering whether the experience was worth it in the end.

There is more than enough variety to keep players coming back and having fun for months, just with the solo and collectible game alone. If you’re an extreme sports fan, Riders Republic is a no-brainer. For MMO fans looking for more than a madcap mass race challenge, I would let the game mature for a few months longer before picking this one up.

There is no question that Van Helsing II is head and shoulders above its predecessor in terms of game play and in the replayability factor that the additional two classes bring to the game. It's a solid entry into the aRPG market and one that fans of the genre are sure to enjoy. It's a fantastic bargain and quite a lot of fun to play.

Zenless Zone Zero achieves the flash and thrill of a modern fighter built for players of all skill levels. The fantastic combat can often get hampered by the pacing of story, and the mismatched feel of the world inside the Hollow and the slow-paced life outside of it. There are a lot of great game modes, some unique characters to collect, an enticing story and a fun arcade diversion that updates some retro classics. It’s obvious from the quality this is a Hoyoverse game. For the introductory price of free this is well worth your time, maybe even more than other Hoyoverse titles that require a higher cost investment. However, Zenless Zone Zero feels like it’s a Hoyoverse game that needs a little more time finding itself.

There are a lot of enjoyable aspects to Immortals Fenyx Rising, but very little feels new. Instead, it’s similar and safe, like I’ve done this all before. And I have but with a different main character and color palette. Its biggest sin is being entirely forgettable once you move on to the next game.

Once you distill it all down I did have fun in Destiny. I just wish the ride would have lasted longer. The endgame grind is not what I was hoping for and has turned me off completely. Bungie has stated repeatedly that the game really starts at 20. If that is true then this game will have a very short shelf life. The grind just is not fun. Hopefully these special events will keep the game fresh and new for most players to drop in and out of and get more value for their dollar.

If you’re looking for something new and fresh in the world of strategy games, this might not be the game for you. But if you’re looking for technical, celestial battles with lots of tiny details to optimize and organize, you might end up falling in love with this behemoth of a game.

Legacy of Romulus is a welcome expansion to Star Trek Online. With a totally original story, a new faction, new ships and the option to start as any faction, STO has been improved significantly.

Let's get one thing straight: I do enjoy playing Dying Light 2 Stay Human. The story is great and warrants additional playthroughs thanks to multiple endings, the combat feels awesome, and there's a ton of stuff to do in this sprawling city (500 hours worth, apparently). It just needs to clean up the technical issues and stop spawning the final boss inside the platform he's standing on, among other things. If that happens, the impact--much like the game itself--will be night and day.

Riding along the Oregon mountain side is pretty fun if you aren’t on chase missions, and there’s nothing more satisfying than the instant stealth kills, watching Deacon dig his knife into the spine of a freaker and pull it straight down. If nothing else, Days Gone is a good game that’ll hold you over while waiting for that next game.

Absolver is a great combat game, and a fantastic blend of genres. It’s just sad that the PVE side of things is so short, because I’d really have enjoyed the game if there was more of an adventure to play through. Still, if you’re an old pro and fan of fighting games then Absolver may very well be worth the buy. It’s unique blend of ARPG and traditional kung-fu mastering is a whole lot of fun.

Although WILD HEARTS puts up a valiant effort to capitalize on the success that Monster Hunter has found in the West these past few years, it still leaves a lot to be desired. The most disappointing aspect is how bogged down it is with technical issues that prevent a seamless online co-op experience. A lot of the joy in hunting monsters is being able to do it with friends. Despite featuring cross-platform play, I preferred to play WILD HEARTS alone rather than be bothered with the slow-downs that I encountered. It shows great promise with their weapon types and the upgrading mechanics, but ultimately WILD HEARTS feels like an unfinished product. I hope that the upcoming content updates can turn that around. In the meantime, I’d look elsewhere for getting that next hunt in.

Dying Light has some issues when compared to its forbears, but it also sets itself apart in some remarkable ways. The parkour really is as good as you’ve heard and is the first bit of innovation we’ve seen in the zombie genre in far too long. The RPG systems definitely allow you to hone your character in a natural fashion, but it would have been nice to see some extra classes for variety. Night play isn’t for me, but I won’t knock it for that. Techland never hid its brutal nature. As a piece of zombie fiction, Dying Light isn’t the most original tale. As a way to experience the undead apocalypse first-hand? It’s hard to beat.

None of us will ever be as questionably cool as neighborhood otaku a**hole Travis Touchdown, nor have a world that sings and flashes to his tune as we dance around swinging a laser katana. Nor will we be flooded by such an incredibly preserved imagination of cool 80’s and 90’s nostalgia. But we can pretend for a few minutes! That’s the fun of a video game like No More Heroes 3, right?

While there’s no doubt that AoW has levels of intricacy that are unusual in MMOs today, those intricacies are numerous, and the localization an ongoing effort, making the whole experience difficult for many. Not everyone has the time or the patience to read through scads of text, assimilate and apply those many, many lessons. For those that do, power to you. Here’s hoping you find plenty of gold at the end of that complicated, text-heavy rainbow.

Creatively Assembly has made a good, solid game. Total War: Pharaoh offers a fun experience for anyone interested in the time period surrounding the Bronze Age Collapse. The technical issues I experienced were few. Out of the various gameplay systems, I particularly enjoyed the Royal/Hittite Court intrigue. But while the initial experience was great, some players may find the mid to late game lacks depth.

What I’ll take away from my time with Where Winds Meet is how much I enjoyed just roaming the open world and seeing the beautiful vistas, and how great those first hours of combat were. If developer Everstone Studio and publisher NetEase can figure out a way to make it so that future updates and additions to the game match that feeling, then there is real potential here.

Overall, I’ve enjoyed my play through of Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior. The replayability is there with the time objective to try for a better time, with different modifiers and different spells. Lysfanga has challenging arenas, but it feels so rewarding when earning that victory. The story doesn’t stick out particularly strongly with the plot, but the gameplay along the way was pretty fun.

The Ascent equally frustrates and impresses me, one moment dropping my jaw with the city's neon-soaked beauty and the next making me clench my fists in anger. Veles is a brutal, unforgiving world, but it's one I enjoyed blasting my way through...when the game was being fair about it. Navigating the menus is a chore, but building a character is fun and the story is interesting enough that I don't mind the technical issues that pop up. It's not a perfect game, but if this is the beginning of a new franchise then it's a solid foundation from which to make its Ascent.

Neverwinter is worth a visit by anyone who is a fan of both MMOs and of action-RPGs. Despite some glaring issues, including the lacklustre PvP and the Zen Market, the game is wildly fun and is a worthwhile detour on one’s journey through the MMO space today. It remains to be seen what Cryptic does with the feedback it has received from the players during the past month, but Neverwinter is one to keep an eye on as time goes by. As the title says, Neverwinter is an Astral Diamond in the Rough.

This drastic change in tone and structure from the Rainbow Six: Siege we've all come to enjoy is cool…for a time. The different alien types--while seeming overly familiar compared to other video game monsters--are fun to fight and strategize against. The objectives are fun and tense, and the "do we continue or leave now" choice is always filled with tension. I just wish there was more of this game to play, and that the repetition of the game didn't set in so soon. Extraction is certainly worthy of the Rainbow Six moniker, I just don't know if it will be laying Siege to the other game's fanbase anytime soon.

While I wouldn’t ever call it a masterpiece, I had hours of fun and laughter as I found the joy in killing orcs. One of the most satisfying things to do was to launch a grenade into a group of low level orcs and watch them explode with orc guts flying all over the place. It was humorous. It was satisfying. It scratched that itch to just sit down and shoot something especially after a bad day. My hope is to see OMD!3 come to the Nintendo Switch and/or Steam where the internet issues I experienced with Stadia won’t be a factor. All the same, if you’re a Stadia Pro member, I do recommend giving it a try. You just might find that you too get a kick out of killing orcs.

If you’re in the mood for a decent top-down shooter with some solid ARPG elements in character building and load-out tweaking you could do a lot worse than the budget-priced Livelock. If you’ve got a good friend or two to play with, even better.

Medieval Dynasty isn’t meant to be rushed, rather, to be an experience and a personal challenge for those that want to see how long they can rule and keep the peace within their kingdom. While there are still clearly some stark improvements that can be made, I think that Medieval Dynasty succeeded in bringing something new to an already saturated and stale genre, and can be a lasting favorite, as long as they continue to make improvements and provide updates.

In Genshin Impact, I enjoyed my initial meetings with Amber, Jean, and Diluc, and even while I didn’t care for Venti, his character was at least entertaining. However, I didn’t feel that way about a single member of Wuthering Waves’ cast. Everyone felt generic with slightly different haircuts or clothes, and the world felt like it was built from stock sci-fi aspects. Too much of the rest of the game falls flat for its great combat to carry it across the finish line.

The Elder Scrolls Online: Greymoor isn’t a bad chapter by any stretch. It’s dark themes really shine through in the storytelling, and while the main questline felt lackluster thanks to its predictability and my issues with the buggy boss fights, the side quests told complex and entertaining stories - the kind I’ve come to love from the ZeniMax team.... But it’s greatest enemy wasn’t the Vampire coven at the center of the year-long Dark Heart of Skyrim storyline, but rather the unpolished feeling Greymoor gave me as bugs and performance issues plagued the experience, even after the team deployed multiple fixes. In the end, it leaves me wondering whether or not Greymoor should have been delayed longer and given more time to stick its landing

If the developers went back to the drawing board and designed a strategy RPG from the ground up and implemented the systems present in PXZ2 they would be off to a great start. However an overly long introduction that becomes boring after a few hours distracts from what is otherwise a decent game. If this game had a tighter story, trimmed up the dialogue, and improved upon its technical performance by reducing slowdown, it would be something special.

The bones of Worldslayer are excellent, but the story and end game content are greatly lacking.

Lords of the Fallen is a very capable, if not fully realized and polished RPG. Its story and adventure are linear, but your path towards completion is Zelda-like in that you’ll revisit old areas and uncover new secrets. So a small world is made compelling by having it layered and fraught with danger. Deck13’s game is the sleeper hit for me of this year. I did not expect to like it as much as I did, and it certainly is a “Dark Souls Clone” much in the same way there are now “Diablo Clones” in the wild. Yet Lords of the Fallen proves there is plenty of room for more difficult, deep, and engaging RPGs in the world and does enough different to stand out from the pack. I sincerely hope we get a sequel, as I feel like Deck13 is only just beginning to build this world and carve a niche in the genre.

In the end, I found myself staying up late for strategy not story. That’s the heart of Hard West. It’s not the richest game out there, but it is a great entry point for players new to tactical RPGs. When I finished the game, instead of going to bed, I immediately turned to Steam to find more of what Hard West had to offer. If that’s not a sign of success, I don’t know what is.

The overhaul to a single-player game with optional multiplayer still has an echo of the MMO design it once aspired to be. The expansive world, character archetypes and end game loop are all remnants of what was, and yet Airship Syndicate has managed to twist the formula just enough to make it worthwhile for solo and co-op RPG players. While some systems may be as dense as the Gloom itself, Wayfinder ultimately lights the way to an enjoyable and rewarding adventure.

Atomfall is a really fun time that suffers from several flaws. They’re not quite enough to hurt the experience too much, but they’re noticeable. If what you want is a new survival experience, and you’re willing to put up with them, though, then I think you’ll be very satisfied, especially with the upcoming DLC.

I want to fully endorse Gamedec, and up to a certain point I do, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention the radical shift in the game's focus. Up until then the investigations are mysterious and fun, telling a legitimately interesting tale. After it the game feels like it goes into hyperdrive, not stopping until the credits roll. If this universe is ever revisited, I would hope there would be more investigative stories and less weird color-coded mazes. As it stands then, Gamedec is best described as a promising title with uneven execution.

Throne & Liberty was a game I wanted to love. It was something I had anticipated for roughly a decade with the hope in my heart that it would be good. I see the skeleton of something I adored — the massive PvP battles, the caution that came with entering places like the Ants Nest to get rare jewelry and a social component that I honestly sorely miss. But the poor localization, an uninteresting story, and the reliance on PvP for progression makes the game a hard recommendation. It’s a shame, because there is a glimmer of something great there, but Throne & Liberty just isn’t that.

In the end, Wildgate doesn’t try to hide what it is; what you see is what you get. If the trailer looks exciting to you then it’s really not that expensive to give a try. The PvP content can be quite intense and is really fun with a group of friends, but on the other hand the exploration and PvE combat is pretty shallow. One of the problems with space-focused games is that there’s a lot of room to travel but often very little to do, and Wildgate is no different once the initial appeal wears off. Thankfully, there is a roadmap that promises seasonal content drops and I do hope the developers are able to expand to game into something more.

With routine patches and dedicated bug fixes, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could end up being a transcendent moment in franchise history. The ambition of its branching paths, the size of its open world, and the selection of different Pokemon available are all massive, signaling that Game Freak and The Pokemon Company wanted this to be a flagship moment for the series. Unfortunately, all of that ambition is marred by the technical trials left in its wake, creating some truly infuriating moments during a game where I should be adventuring with a smile on my face. The foundation of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is strong, but there are too many technical shortcomings in the experience to truly call it great.

Sure, this new Battletoads exists - but did anyone stop to think that maybe it shouldn’t? As a Battletoads fan who wanted to return to a semblance of the original, I didn’t care for this game at all. However, to someone with no attachment to the source material, you’d probably have a decent time running through it as a few hour distraction with your kids. It’s passable at best, but honestly you’d be better off revisiting Castle Crashers Remastered.

Despite its shortcomings, Styx: Master of Shadows is an enjoyable hardcore stealth game with the light trappings of its RPG forebear. At $30 and offering around 15-20 hours of sneaky goodness, if you can overlook the poor combat and budget animations, chances are you’ll find a lot to like in Styx. The PC port controls are actually solid, though I still wound up playing the game mostly on the 360 controller, mainly because it was more comfortable. Just keep in mind there’s a reason he’s called the Master of Shadows, not the Master of Fighting, and you’ll likely be very pleased with your purchase.

With routine patches and dedicated bug fixes, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet could end up being a transcendent moment in franchise history. The ambition of its branching paths, the size of its open world, and the selection of different Pokemon available are all massive, signaling that Game Freak and The Pokemon Company wanted this to be a flagship moment for the series. Unfortunately, all of that ambition is marred by the technical trials left in its wake, creating some truly infuriating moments during a game where I should be adventuring with a smile on my face. The foundation of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet is strong, but there are too many technical shortcomings in the experience to truly call it great.

What it really boils down to is this: if you really enjoy Star Trek, especially TNG, then you’ll likely love the story being told in Resurgence. As a Star Trek story, it’s fantastic but as a game, it’s terribly buggy. So be aware that this Star Trek gem is not perfect before you decide to boldly go where no man has gone before.

More than anything, I'd say Portal Knights felt mostly pleasant to me. A relaxing push forward, the visual asthetic along with the relatively unthreatening enemies (barring a few surprises) it seems like despite the push forward, the game is more encouraging of players willing to stop and smell the roses; and then build a huge castle on top of them.

The Claws of Awaji expansion offers plenty of new content for Assassin’s Creed Shadows and satisfyingly wraps up the cliffhanger in Naoe’s story that was hinted at the end of the base game. The expansion’s pacing with Yasuke is better, too, but it’s a shame that he didn’t get a new weapon while Naoe did. Still, Claws of Awaji is a worthy send off to two of the best Assassin’s Creed characters in recent memory.

Naraka: Bladepoint does have a lot of cool and unique ideas for the battle royale genre. I love its melee-focused combat, I love the varied weapon selection, and I dig the durability system replacing the "limited ammo" functions of other games in the genre. However the game's longevity suffers due to becoming stale quickly, the lack of variance in the core gameplay loop rearing its ugly head quickly. It's the kind of game I would absolutely recommend to a friend, but only for one or two matches at a time. For long marathon sessions, there are far better options.

In the end, Age of Empires Online works well as a demo rather than a F2P game. There just doesn't seem to have been enough thought about what each element from the MMO and RTS genres bring to the party. Instead, they've just been thrown together.

Black Prophecy is an interesting take on how flying/space combat can and should happen. However, its lack of content and specifically Endgame creates a short appeal for the modern player. The lack of an economy creates a one-dimensional gameplay experience. I would sincerely like to see this game introduce a universe wide resource system and a multitude of ships and weaponry that required a similar crafting system to many of the modern games. By introducing more group quests we would see a surge in the social atmosphere, and see Black Prophecy be more than the mediocre experience it is now.

I wish I could recommend Ancestors Legacy to Switch players. I wish I could say I had an amazing time and couldn’t put it down. Unfortunately, I mostly just wish I had played it on PC. As my brother told me, “not every game belongs on the Switch.” I suppose he was right.

New World is off to a rocky start, but if Amazon can right the ship and address real player concerns, it has the chance to be something really special. But right now, it’s an okay experience overall that leaves me wanting more in order to stick around.

Zoria: Age of Shattering has the makings of a good CRPG. The game has hooked me, and I want to see where the story goes next, even if it is so far standard fare for a fantasy game. I like making the tactical decision of what Character to bring while exploring and how best each class can help me during combat and while encamped. But I still need to find that feeling of being fully engaged in the world, and that is because Zoria: Age of Shattering is missing some quality-of-life additions and polish. But even without that, it snagged me into exploring one more area and upgrading my keep one more time before I quit for the night. For $24.99, it's a decent pickup if you are looking to try a new CRPG.

The Outer Worlds: Peril On Gorgon is a story-driven DLC that offers some new (albeit) uninspired depth to the game’s lore. Some odd narrative reveal choices and lack of originality left me feeling unimpressed with the whole experience. Still, with solid combat, new locations and a chance to spend more time with your crew, Peril On Gorgon does flesh out the universe the Obsidian has worked to create.

If nothing else, come for the combat. With TERA on the horizon it's refreshing to know that the future of the action MMO isn't restricted to just one title. There are a lot of things that Bigpoint Games have done well here. It may not be the game that occupies you indefinitely, or even for that long…but I defy anyone to try it out and claim it was a waste of their time.

Lost Sphear is a good JRPG from Tokyo RPG Factory that falls short of being great. The refinements made to the combat system from I am Setsuna are a welcome addition. The additional colors in the environment also spruce the game up a bit. However, no matter how strong the overall story arch is there are some deep lulls in the early game that are hard to push past.

High on Life is a decent FPS with great voice acting and an interesting new universe to explore. While I didn’t find any point in the game where I laughed out loud, if you are someone who enjoys the humor of Rick and Morty, then you will likely enjoy this experience as well. Just be aware that at different points the subject matter can be offensive to some, and the swearing is pretty much constant. High on Life may even be too much for some fans of Justin Roiland. While players won’t find anything new for mechanics and world traversal that has not been in other FPS titles, it is a good set of bones for future DLC and/or sequels.

One year and twelve updates in, Warframe appears to be a solid action game leveraging really excellent technology to create a fun and engaging experience. There are still some rough edges and many opportunities to amp up the variety of content, but with a compelling world and addictive, twitchy action, Warframe has a lot to offer.

World of Warplanes is a solid game, but one that suffers from poor controls and a lack of options. If there is one thing that Wargaming has shown us, it is that they support their games with post-release updates. That is promising. In the future, many of the issues currently plaguing the game may disappear entirely. Others, such as its soft-edged art style and poor sense of speed, are likely here to stay. But, as is the case with all free-to-play games, your best bet is to try it for yourself and see. There is a good game here, if you can get past its wrinkles, and one that will only get better with time.

Lichdom: Battlemage is a fun, if shortsighted RPG with some fantastic upsides. Is it worth the asking price of $40? I’d say no at this point, and hold out for a Steam sale. It’s definitely something fans of the old Hexen will enjoy, but fans of open ended RPGs will find Xaviant’s game lacking. A solid effort, but not quite what I’d hoped for after seeing the game at PAX East this year.

Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is a valiant attempt to build upon its predecessor’s successes and address the shortfalls. Its story is much more comprehensible this time around due to opting for an open-world instead of a mission-based structure. However, it still felt undercooked with potentially interesting concepts and the supporting cast’s character development wasn’t executed well enough. Even so, the customization, gameplay, and movement are just as great as ever. Just maybe choose to play on a different platform than Switch 2 to avoid the performance issues.

Stardock has created a game with good bones. Some of the new systems, such as the core world management and ideology system, add to/improve the game. Unfortunately, other systems feel tedious at times. They are not broken per se but are not quite there yet. They either bog down the gameplay or lack impact on the experience. The core gameplay loop is decent, but it just didn’t hook me into feeling the need to play one more turn before bed. If you enjoy the series, Galactic Civilizations IV is worth picking up. Otherwise, I would wait for a few patches or DLC to help flesh out some of the systems.

At the core, MechWarrior Online delivers deep, fun tactical combat, serving it up with a fantastic visual experience. There are all sorts of nuances and tricks to discover that help set skilled players apart from newcomers. But all of that is squandered by an incomplete wrapping that’s more focused on selling items than covering the basics. This is reinforced by the high price of some item shop ‘Mechs.

Multiplayer online games rarely, if ever, emerge from the developmental womb spit shined and bug-free. That doesn’t mean that Marvel’s Avengers gets a pass for releasing a multiplayer game with poor multiplayer, but it does mean that, as with most MOG’s, the game will only get better. Right now, Marvel’s Avengers is in its baby Hulk infancy, but it has a bright future as a World Breaker.

I had such excitement for Diablo: Immortal through development, and the game itself is a solid experience and well worth the time. I'm not sure how well it will hold up over the long term as an MMO, but it's a good effort, and if I could just score that alone, it would be a 9. However, the monetization is very player unfriendly currently. Rather than getting out of the way and letting players enjoy the game and then spend money because they want to support a game they love, we are consistently being leveraged into feeling like we have to spend an indeterminate amount of money just to have a chance. Heck, you might have to shell out money just to make a clan to play with your friends. This isn't the worst monetization I have seen, but it's still a far cry from good.

Crash Team Rumble impressed me more with every completed match. Those hoots and hollers from SGF make a lot of sense now, as it's one of those games where one late-game maneuver can spell victory for your team, and it can happen in an instant. Not being able to connect and play the fun game was frustrating – almost as much as connecting, playing one match, and then watching the game crash – but once I was in, I was having a blast. If Toys For Bob and Activision continue to support this game through building its roster, adding new modes, and offering more silly cosmetics, I can see this game enjoying a long and successful run. They just need to make sure we can log on to play it.

What does it do well? It does a number of things right. Necore nailed the look and feel of 40K. The many weapons and gear pieces are accurate in name, description, and functionality. The enemies, factions, and lore details is immaculate. If any game deserves a “10” in this area, Inquisitor does.

Even with Death end re;Quest 2’s visual issues the combat and skill system keep the gameplay enjoyable. It’s quite fun watching monsters smash into each other and bounce off the arena walls like taking a part in a game of Beyblades. Just be sure you know what you’re getting into because there are several periods of downtime when experiencing the beautiful visual graphic novel portions of the game.

As a fan of Destiny 2, I am enjoying Lightfall. It definitely had a bumpy start, especially if you’re a big story buff, but almost everything after the campaign has been solid. I wouldn’t say anything blew me away, but nothing has been horrible either. They stuck to the tried and true formula that has worked for them for quite a while now, and while I hoped for a bigger spectacle around some characters, Neptune itself, or even the raid, I am wanting to play more and do more.

Despite the mentioned issues, Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice is a good VR game on the Quest 3. Fast Travel Games tells a good story and nails the atmosphere of the Vampire: The Masquerade setting. Playing as Justice has some fun gameplay and many moments that make you feel like a vampire hunting down their enemies. But to make Vampire: The Masquerade - Justice shine, I would have liked to see more polish and depth to the vampiric power/discipline system.

Achilles: Legends Untold feels like an unfinished product still working through Early Access. Combat balance and the limited amount of loot would be at the top of my list that needs improvement. You could follow that up with a wider variety of boss fights, a deeper crafting experience, and the writing and voice acting are marginal at best; maybe double down on the writing staff and cut out the voiceover altogether if there isn’t enough budget to do both well.

Sands of Salzaar, for all intents and purposes, feels more like a work in progress as opposed to a final release. If this were an early access preview, I would say that each of the core components has potential and just needs to be fleshed out. As a final product review, I must say that even though Sands of Salzaar promises an intriguing blend of RPG and strategy elements, it fails to provide the depth and complexity needed for long-term replayability.

If you aren’t a Batman fan, I’m not sure that there is enough that stands out that dropping full retail on Gotham Knights is a smart move. The game could certainly use some patches, the full four-player mode isn’t out yet at release and I feel like holiday releases may quickly overshadow this game. That isn’t to say that there isn’t a great concept, but like Batman, it's crushed to death under all the debris.

I really want to recommend The Outer Worlds on the Nintendo Switch. I’ve seen some developers do a great job bringing triple-A titles over and I had high hopes for Obsidians’ Sci-Fi RPG. However, after spending a week pushing through pretty rough gameplay experience, it’s clear that this port just doesn’t cut it. Too many sacrifices were made to make it run and it shows. Should you play The Outer Worlds? Definitely. Should you play it on the Nintendo Switch? only if you have no other option.

For all of the things that it does well, Forge feels like it needs more time in development and beta to achieve its potential. I really like the game's model of instanced PvP, and enjoy Forge's dynamic third-person combat. The overall features feel unfinished, however, and while it looks like Dark Vale Games is aware of Forge's missing - and necessary - elements and is working to include them, the game in its released state requires a bit of faith in the developers to make it what it should be. The core gameplay experience is fun and frantic, but Forge will need to attend to a more robust feature set to encourage the dedicated community it requires to succeed.

You will find great value for the cost of nothing with Prime World. It’s also a fairly small download, currently clocking in at 1.36GB, so there’s no real reason why you shouldn’t try the game if you’re a fan of the MOBA genre.

Between the flat power curve, unexciting items, and unlocking all your abilities by level 20, Torchlight 3 ultimately suffers a dire pacing problem. Getting to the end game is a fairly non-exciting and long grind and not enough changes with the experience at the end game to keep me playing. I think the developers could get there with a few good patches that make items exciting, enchanting less painful, and skills synergize better together but they have to recognize the problem exists to begin with. The groundwork is there for a great Torchlight installment if they would listen closely to player feedback and fix these pitfalls. Until then I’ll keep checking in with the patch notes and hoping for a No Man’s Sky-esque comeback but for now if someone asks me how Torchlight 3 is I’ll simply respond with “Eh, it’s okay”.

Risen 3: Titan Lords sets out to cater to a niche of the RPG market and does so, for the most part, successfully. The pirate setting differentiates it from other, similar, games on the market and the open and explorable world is vast and potentially very dangerous. The game is crippled somewhat by a lack of graphical shine, and the storytelling leans heavily on lazy cliches and trades mystery for clarity and motivation. Despite those problems, players looking to plunk a parrot on their shoulder and slap a patch over their eye then head off in search of buried treasure will find a lot to enjoy.

I liked After Us in the end, I appreciated the story it told and the imagery it used to tell it (even if most of it was as blunt as blunt gets). However, what could have felt like a two-hour conversation is bloated into a ten-hour lecture series due to overly large worlds with very little to do in them. It seems like there was an internal struggle between "brevity in storytelling" or "filling the world with collectibles," though unfortunately, the solution they reached was far from the most efficient. If you can stomach the slog, there's a beautiful, important message to be heard in After Us. Unfortunately, and ironically, it's buried in excess.

Defiance is a really fun game despite its numerous rough edges. But can that fun overcome its mediocrity? That would likely be up to each individual gamer. If you’re hankering for an online PvE-centric shooter that’s out of beta, Defiance may be for you. If you’re a mega-fan of the show and like to game, it’s also probably a no-brainer. But if you’re looking for a polished and complete experience to rival other MMOs on the market, you might be better off waiting to see if Trion can remedy the problems marring Defiance’s launch. If the blogs from the studio are any indication, Defiance could wind up being a diamond in the rough. But it’s going to take some time to get there, and hopefully it will before we all forget it exists.

It is hard to articulate just how detrimental the Chaos Portal section of Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning - Fatesworn is to the rest of the new content. Until those portals opened this felt like a story worthy of Amalur, with a few twists and turns and Agarth acting a fool (as is tradition). Then the brakes were pumped, and I was buried in purple Chaos energy for far, far too long in the main arc. If there's one lesson I hope any prospective sequel developers take from this big adventure, it's this: leave the Chaos Portals out of this and just make the game you know you can make. As the rest of the adventure proves, the Amalur franchise can still hold its weight.

Ultimately, I'd encourage you to give Spiral Knights a go as you'll know before you've expended your first 100 points of mist energy whether you want to keep playing. The question of whether you'll have the strength I lacked to grind your way out of the constrictions of the energy system is another question entirely. If you treat the game as a dip in/dip out sort of affair, then I think it's possible to really enjoy it.

So yeah, FBC: Firebreak is just fine. If you're looking for something mindless to play with some friends one weekend, this'll get the job done. I'm sure that its lowered retail price–it's going for $40 USD–and launch on some subscription services is going to entice a fair few. But if you're expecting anything as fun or curious as Control, something that encourages you to plumb it for mysteries, or even something daring enough to commit to a new tone and style and substance, allow me to caution you. FBC: Firebreak is not that game. It's regrettably emptier.

All in all, Van Helsing III isn’t a bad game exactly, but it’s not a great game either and in some ways, it’s a disappointing end to what has otherwise been a good series in the ARPG genre. For my money, the series reached its zenith at the second and should have closed the door then.

In the end, Forspoken is okay, with its world, parkour, and combat as its high points. And while I didn’t thoroughly enjoy the story, I want to see Ella Balinksa as Frey again in a sequel as her performance (and, frankly, the majority of the cast) was a definite highlight, despite the poor writing she was given. Unfortunately, the performance issues really have made Forspoken hard to recommend at its full price, as it negatively impacts so much of the moment-to-moment gameplay. Hopefully with a few patches Square and Luminous can improve it over time. But until then, traveling down the rabbit hole into Athia might be best done on a sale.

RaiderZ is a very fun action-oriented MMORPG. With action combat and very good monster/zone design, it's one of the better MMOs on the free-to-play market at the moment. Although it is not without faults, it still makes for a very enjoyable casual experience.

I had such high hopes for Dragon’s Prophet. Everything about it sounds like so much fun on paper. But what we have is a clear case of a game that needs a lot more time in development before it should be taking money from anyone. This shouldn’t be an open beta, and you shouldn’t be able to spend money in Auretia. I understand that SOE and Runewaker need to pay the bills, but both parties would have been far better off letting the game take a little more time in closed beta to take in and react to feedback from its community. Dragon’s Prophet isn’t the worst game I’ve played this year, but it could have been so much better. And that’s what’s really unfortunate.

There are a lot of holes in the plot and despite trying its very best to make you care about what’s happening, the characters are so underdeveloped that it’s easy to be apathetic to their cause. If you’re looking for a good strategy game that you can play on modern platforms, I’d still give Arcadian Atlas a pass. Go play Triangle Strategy or any of the Fire Emblem games first. Even Final Fantasy Tactics on your phone is going to be a better experience.

Devilian is free to play, and is infinitely better than most other imported MMOARPGs on the market right now. If not having an MMO world isn’t a deal breaker, you might be better off with Diablo 3 or Path of Exile. But if you’ve always wished TERA and Diablo would just make a baby and let you have a Corgi pet, then this is the game for you.