With the additional playtime, Age of Wonders IV still impressed me even though I am concerned about the AI. The other issues I have brought up are all easily fixed over time, if not on day one. Between the customization options, atmosphere, and Pantheon system, Paradox Interactive and developer Triumph Studios have a great start to the next entry in the Age of Wonders series. I can’t wait to see how they expand the spells and Pantheon systems further, for fans of fantasy 4x strategy games, Age of Wonders IV is worth checking out if you want to evoke that old feeling of needing to take just one more turn.

Despite performance issues throughout my gameplay, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor meaningfully improves on many of the gameplay issues from the previous title. From a more rewarding cosmetic system to side quests that give more meaning to exploring the beautifully rendered and realized worlds, it was a joy to explore the galaxy as Cal once more. Add on the much-improved combat system that fuels the Jedi fantasy beautifully and the touchingly emotional storytelling and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is a triumph.

While I could see some minor tuning that may still need to be done for balance in the near future, the Chaos Dwarf faction feels great once the ball gets rolling. Creative Assembly nailed the vibe of being an evil dwarf and shook up the typical gameplay that comes to mind when I think of Dwarfs. I can’t wait to jump back in and set the Total War Warhammer III world on fire again with enchanted burning metal and chaos magic.

If you like a challenge, are a fan of Roguelikes, enjoy good humor, or are just wanting to try something new, I can eagerly recommend Have A Nice Death! I laughed. I rage-quit. I spent hours at a time trying to get farther than before. I still want to play more! Perhaps I’m addicted but I just can’t wait until the next time I get to hear “Welcome to the Afterlife!”

Everspace 2 lets me live out the outer space-related dreams of my youth thanks to its open space exploration and well-designed spacecraft combat. Moving from a roguelike to an open-world exploration game is a tall task, but Rockfish nailed it here. Flying around space is exhilarating, fighting against enemy ships is a rush, and the story keeps me guessing. There are a few issues throughout, namely with the disorienting nature of the ship's movement, but once you're used to it the game simply sings. I have a feeling I will be traveling in the dark reaches of space for hours and hours to come.

Just don't forget to bring your patience, and your twitch combat skills, you'll need them when the going gets tough, and the tough get... Ravenbound.

Combat on its own just doesn’t feel satisfying enough to hold my attention-I’d kind of rather hop back onto Planetside 2 or Chivalry 2 for that. But, the combat combined with all of the features I mentioned earlier really come together to create something special-it still just needs a lot of work and polish. I especially love the concept of taking a large faction-based map and adding mmorpg elements to it, so I will absolutely be keeping my eyes on Gloria Victis over the next few months. If the developers keep making steady improvements like they are now, I’ll more than likely keep dipping my toes in every now and again to scratch that PvP itch.

Remnant: From the Ashes is still an excellent game. Gunfire Game’s port to the Nintendo Switch has made an exceptionally great game accessible to a whole new group of gamers. Tight, responsive controls and consistently smooth gameplay performance make up for some downgraded visuals. This leaves you with a solid offering for the Nintendo Switch. If you’re in the market for a Souls-like with a unique story, a bit more forgiving gameplay and also like to game on the go then I can highly recommend picking up Remnant: From the Ashes on the Nintendo Store.

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 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.

Octopath Traveler II is simply a better version of the original. It expands upon what made the first game great while shoring up its weaknesses. That being said, if you didn’t like Octopath Traveler then the formula is similar enough that you probably won’t like the sequel either. This is an excellent take on the classic 2D JRPG and fans of the genre won’t be let down.

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.

All in all, Company of Heroes 3 is great, and should be on the list for any strategy fan looking to get stuck in one more turn, or one more fight. It's a fitting inclusion in Relic's library of incredible RTS games, and continues to show why the developers there are some of the best in the business. I cannot wait to tuck myself back into the fray, delighting in its beautifully crafted RTS-goodness over and over again in the coming weeks and months.

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.

Overall, Warlander just doesn’t do enough to make it feel special or justify its predatory monetization scheme. The first few matches are fun, but once you run into enemies who are objectively more powerful again and again, the fun begins to fade and there isn’t enough variety to keep things fresh.

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.

Overall, Warhammer 40000: Darktide is an immersive, fun experience that allows players to shape the game to their playstyle while still challenging them to adapt to the game mechanics. Darktide delivers graphically with RTX on gameplay but is nothing special when RTX is off. Further, though the gameplay is immensely satisfying and challenging, the repetition leaves much to be desired. Warhammer has great potential and opportunity to build a truly unique experience for gamers who want to take on its challenge and serve the God Emperor’s just will.

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.

What Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion accomplishes is something few other remasters or remakes get right: it revives the original core experience – pun intended – of the original Crisis Core release and places it on modern consoles with modern upgrades. The combat system is more refined and responsive, the visual upgrades are serviceable if not as extreme as some may hope, and the storyline is virtually unchanged – for better or worse. That said, there were some areas that Square Enix could have made some adjustments and didn't, meaning we all have to sit through ghastly lines of dialogue that were awkward the first time around, let alone now. That's not enough to completely dull the effort, however, as Crisis Core is one of the best remasters available today.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns is a lot of character and base building built into a unique deck building Strategy RPG. There are some story pieces that just aren’t entirely enthralling, and you may find the exploration to be lacking. What Midnight Suns does happen to do exceptionally well, is provide a purely satisfying strategy game, once you wade through all of the monotonous upgrades to get you to the combat. With plenty of characters to unlock, and multiple difficulty levels to amp up the strategy required, this is one of the best Marvel games to release in years. The best part is, whether you’re a Marvel fan, or you’re just a strategy buff, Midnight Suns delivers. Do not make the mistake of passing on this one.

Dragonflight has been the revitalization that World of Warcraft sorely needed after Shadowlands. Yes, there are some issues that still could use some work, but that’s the nature of MMO development, especially when you change things up to such a degree as this expansion did. I’m also heartened to see them willing to make big adjustments like they have planned in 10.0.5. I honestly thought Guardians were going to have to suck it up until 10.1, at the least for a talent tree rework. If they can keep this up and regularly deliver content and adjustments, Dragonflight could be the best expansion World of Warcraft has ever done.

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.

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.

Embers Adrift has a lot of fantastic ideas, but I just don’t feel that it is quite there yet. I do genuinely hope that the Embers Adrift team continues to make improvements and listen to their passionate community, because they will be critical in those days ahead as they start to iron out improvements and optimization issues. Maybe one day in the future I will return to Embers Adrift, but for now, I would just honestly rather play anything else.

I really wanted to enjoy Dual Universe, and at first I was. I truly did enjoy the grind early on, until I realized that, for the most part, the grind was all there was. The ambitious systems that define Dual Universe also doom it, and as a result there just isn’t much to do aside from harvest, sell and rinse and repeat, even if you add layer and layer of industrial complexity to the loop. While player ingenuity and artistry will make some of these systems more and more interesting, especially with LUA scripting and more, for me, it just doesn’t make for a compelling experience I can recommend.

God of War: Ragnarok is, simply put, the complete package. It tells one of the best stories in video games, one that will have you run the gamut of emotions while playing through it. Fighting the enemies of the realms feels a lot like the previous game, but there's enough new and refined elements to help it stand on its own.[...] Ragnarok may be coming, but this is one world-ending event I'm excited to experience over and over again.

The content of Wrath Classic is still great and has held up over time really well. However, the many issues and bugs of the launch have dulled the experience, particularly for players on very high-population servers or players who were hoping to join friends already on high-population servers. I’m hopeful that as we move through phase one and into phase two Blizzard will continue to polish things up and get everything righted. However, their history of solid Classic launches has been a bit tarnished with this one.

Victoria 3 is a game that has captivated me now for weeks. I love the level of granular detail Paradox Games allow me to dive into, and Victoria 3 has this in droves. But my favorite parts of Paradox Games are the alternate history playthroughs. I found myself talking to friends and family about the quirks of the countries in my playthrough as if it were real geopolitical news. Every second in Vicky 3 I was hooked, sometimes finding myself sitting at my desk for hours into the night, losing track of the time yet never getting tired of the simulation. I craved more. And for me, that is high praise. As someone for who it takes quite a bit to really hook me, Victoria 3 certainly has in a big way. In fact, I think I’ll start my next campaign right now.