Soulstice features decent combat with a few unique tricks, but it grows repetitive. With a dull story and lackluster presentation, it might mostly be of interest to DMC fans on a budget.

Battlefield 2042 changes the franchise formula considerably but brings no real improvements. While it has added flexibility with specialists and the Portal mode, the balance issues, poor maps, technical problems, and missing features keep it from reaching the heights of its predecessors.

Freeform investigation with multiple outcomes is scarcely as good as it is in The Occupation, so it’s disappointing to see it paired with clunky stealth and an unwillingness to give players enough time to find the game’s best-kept secrets.

On the surface, Lake Ridden does not appear much different from other adventure games. But it doesn’t take long to see the flaws: a confusing narrative, busywork tasks, fetch quests, and a depressing and dreary world. The handful of good puzzles are simply not enough.

Just Cause 4 is an easy-to-play sandbox of chaos with a sprinkling of extreme weather. It holds strong due to an improved grapple and varied tools, and while this explosive sequel won’t set the world on fire, you can blow up enough things to make it interesting.

Although still impressive and unmatched in its scale, the 2024 sequel to Microsoft Flight Simulator can't be carried by its novelty alone. The added career mode seems competent on paper, and being able to step outside your aircraft adds immersion. But the entire experience is hamstrung by very disappointing visuals and data streaming issues, as well as plentiful bugs and design shortcomings.

MediEvil is a remake that should have taken more chances. Specifically, the gameplay needed to be reimagined for a 2019 audience. Instead, it just feels dated and obnoxious in a way that spoils its redeeming qualities.

While the colorful underground worlds in Little Orpheus look fantastic, the terribly bland platforming and irritating story drag the whole experience down into the depths.

While some walking sims have evolved, Open Roads is stuck in the past. Its two good characters cannot offset the bland interactivity and mystery that is as flat as the game's 2D conversations.

Sea of Thieves has provided some of my favorite gaming moments this year, but the repetitive voyages and reliance on currently infrequent player encounters to keep things interesting mean the seas are a bit shallower than you might expect in a full-price game.

Somerville is a nice looking adventure game with a unique puzzle element idea, but narrative and performance inconsistencies leave the overall experience a bit muted.

The Almost Gone is an occasionally enjoyable puzzle game, with a unique way of presenting levels. However, its high price and inability to adequately tackle heavy narrative themes leave it lost in the sea of mobile game ports.

Nerve has some interesting ideas, but its admittedly unique mix of roguelike elements, speed, and strategy doesn't always produce satisfying results.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie Video Game will provide some fun for fans of the film and the characters, but its high asking price and relative lack of content may underwhelm those who enjoy the typically better LEGO titles.

Marvel's Avengers has some good ideas, a satisfying campaign and enjoyable combat across a variety of heroes. But it suffers from repetitive and shallow missions, borrowed mechanics that aren't executed particularly well, and not least of all, pronounced technical issues.

Shining Resonance Refrain is a decidedly adequate game. It has dozens of hours of content, but those hours include passable battles, an average story, tired MMO elements, and a mediocre dating sim to boot. It's not going to twist the arm of someone who’s sworn off JRPGs like Persona 5 would, but it could do just enough to satisfy die-hard fans of the genre.

Transference is an enjoyable thriller that retains its effectiveness in a non-VR setting. Despite gameplay simplicity and underutilized live-action videos, the strong atmosphere and a few memorable scenes help this sci-fi adventure leave a lasting mark.

Rainswept delivers an engaging and often touching story, but its dated visuals, lack of worthwhile gameplay and disappointing conclusion leave it in a somewhat muddy puddle.

There is a fantastic RPG at the core of Elex with some excellent world and quest design, remarkably diverse factions and environments awaiting those who can get past its slow start, clumsy combat and overall lack of fine polish.

The concept of a Crash Bandicoot MOBA game sounds appealing, but this fight for the precious Wumpa fruit has missed the mark. Crash Team Rumble lacks content at launch, and despite some decent gameplay mechanics, just isn't worthy of the franchise name.

Though the idea of a Warhammer 40K themed ARPG certainly seems appealing, Martyr largely fails to capitalize on this potential due to unfocused design, clumsy gameplay and an abundance of technical and performance issues, despite boasting strong audio-visual presentation.

Weedcraft Inc is a fairly typical management game at its core, but one that feels limited in scope and yet with too many busywork mechanics. It also offers little insight on the real world issues.

Shenmue 3 feels instantly outdated, but at the same time is seemingly uncompromising in its vision. Despite some fun mechanics, lots of distractions, and a restrained take on combat, my nostalgia could only partially gloss over the weak characters, story and progress gating.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes can be engaging and stylish when it wants to be. However, it rarely wants to be either of those things, and is instead content to be a bland, boring slog that never gets out of first gear.

Fans of the story-driven adventure game will likely find parallels with previous successes like Life is Strange and SOMA, though State of Mind’s reductive puzzles and constant tone fail to match the level of personality in either. This said, the developers are committed to exploring transhumanism in relation to very pertinent contemporary concerns, and ensure there’s enough sci-fi fluff to distract from the simplistic gameplay structure.

Bright Memory: Infinite proves that smaller games don't always have to forego high quality visuals, but at the same time it also demonstrates that looks aren't everything.

XDefiant is a solid multiplayer shooter that may not surpass the leaders of the genre anytime soon, but it proves to be a notably alluring, free alternative.

High On Life unapologetically caters to advent fans of absurdist comedy, which overflows with expletive language and wacky scenarios. Lack of enemy variety and performance issues may be a deterrent for some, however.