Swords & Souls: Neverseen has a constant stream of humour, looks fantastic and is a breezy ten hours or so of thoroughly entertaining action.

I know I’m coming off as overly pessimistic, and I apologize for that, but Zengeon fails when executed in almost every possible way. The variety of playable characters is neat, and the co-op feature is nice, but I can’t see myself recommending this. After playing, players will swiftly notice the inept synergy between the combat mechanics alongside the mangled performance and atrocious enemy frequency. There are plenty of other roguelikes out there, and I promise that any one of those is likely better worth your time than Zengeon.

Slobbish Dragon Princess Love + Plus won’t change your mind about the series one way or the other, but it does well at providing quick and cute outings with these characters. It also establishes a nice support system for Takeru as his friends become closer and more understanding of their unique situation. It’s low-impact for sure, but if you couldn’t get enough of this slobbish dragon, well, here you go.

Conclusively, while I certainly enjoyed my time with Boyfriend Dungeon, the sudden end to its narrative and the half-empty world map left me feeling like I had just finished an Early Access game rather than a full experience. I don’t generally have an issue with brevity in games, but the end to this one just left me craving more because I loved the cast, the representation, and the addictive leveling system. I definitely recommend this title to those who want to dip their toes in the water of dating sims, but a lack of challenge and a rather shallow conclusion end up holding it back from being a must-play experience.

Greak: Memories of Azure has a gorgeous presentation and world to discover, but the added features, although unique, require a specific type of adventure fan to enjoy. Things just become overly confusing, and my muscle memory never seemed to adapt to the constant demand for accessing the menu and switching between characters. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great game, but some elements are largely unnecessary.

IdolDays is yet another entry in this series, and it doesn’t try to be anything else. Maybe I’m just getting used to them, but I enjoyed the ups and downs this story presented, along with the goal of overcoming the hand you were dealt in life and facing your fears. It’s just a low impact, short romance, and nothing more.

The randomizing order of narrative sections mixed with the more traditional choice-based elements of Road 96 made for a compelling experience. Adding in wacky but ultimately human characters really fleshed out the world of Petria and gave some moral dilemmas weight. The occasional mini-games were also enjoyable to break up the dialogue. If you are looking for a narrative adventure that deviates a bit off the normal path, Road 96 is definitely a trip you should consider embarking on.

Christmas Tina: The Ephemeral Views of Winter is a fantastic adventure that makes the most of the visual novel medium to tell a compelling narrative about some fascinating characters. It’s an introspective story where our duo will need to confront themselves if they want a chance at confronting each other. It made me cry, it made me laugh, and it made me want to listen to Michael Jackson songs for some reason. If there’s any visual novel I absolutely want to reread from this year when I get the chance, this is on the top of the list.

Chihiro Himukai Always Walks Away is an exploration of the fuzzy lines between friendship, romance, and sexual attraction — not making any sweeping, universal statements about the subject, but focusing on a single couple, how they’re able to communicate through sex, and the ways they define their relationship. It’s a sweet, low-conflict love story that should leave you with a warm, comfortable feeling.

WitchSpring3 [Re:Fine] fails to stand out in any way, which is sad because from afar it carries a large degree of charm in its minimalist design and soft character illustration. The combat is mindless yet provides the most fun you’ll have in the adventure given that the unrefined dialogue and overtly simple gameplay mechanics are always looming over.

Spelunker HD Deluxe doesn’t quite live up to its namesake, given how it is largely based on a release from over a decade ago, where the core game itself lacks the charm of the series by design. The awkward mechanics haven’t aged very well, but the premise of the level design and progression can be interesting and even rewarding at times. Unfortunately, the experience as a whole feels needlessly frustrating and dated, especially when you’re fighting against the controls for the most part.

Punishing Gray Raven joins the pantheon of high-quality gacha greats where only so few reside. Following a rocky launch, this game offers intense action gameplay, deep customization, great characters, and highly detailed designs wrapped in a decent free-to-play model. Even though the game doesn’t break ground in the genre, every feature creates a great mobile experience. I feel communication on future events is key to the survival of this western version, but everything I’ve played so far has me hooked.

Foreclosed excels in world-building and presentation. The graphics and stylistic choices of a comic book frame the narrative and its structure. Though the brightness of the neon lights are strewn throughout the city, this dystopian world is rather dark. It’s a shame the game is only a few hours long, making it more of a cinematic experience. Despite its shortcomings with control and narrative, I still had a lot of fun trying to get Evan’s life back from the authority above.

Last Stop serves up a strong narrative, mixing existentialism with the lives of ordinary people, but it forgets to be a game at some points. The interaction and story bits keep you invested at the cost of choices and navigation segments that do nothing for the adventure. At its best, Last Stop should be enjoyed as a casual narrative-focused experience, but asking anything more of it may have you exiting before the end of the line.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: The Siege of Paris is an awesome expansion featuring gorgeous environments to explore and dozens of ways to progress through the campaign. There’s around 15 hours of content to dive into, packed with choice-driven events and distracting treasures. The added infiltration missions make the expansion feel like a true Assassin’s Creed title, but that also includes the limited enemy AI and random glitches fans of the series are used to by now.

Shadowverse: Champion’s Battle is an addicting deck-building card game on its own, but this game delivers an added campaign that makes it an adventure. Exploring the city, completing sidequests, and battling for deck codes and supremacy make each moment of playing fun. If you’re a fan of card games in general and want to try your hand at a new one, it’s a fantastic experience that’ll keep you coming back for more.

Star Hunter DX is a charming and dazzling tribute to the classics of the genre. The 2-D art style is reminiscent of the old arcades paired with a nostalgic 16-bit soundtrack. Controls are responsive with a nice variety of abilities and difficulty modes to play through the campaign. However, the lack of extra modes was disappointing and weighed on the replayability. Still, if you’re looking for a colorful shmup to test your skills, look no further.

There is prospective success in this game as an evolving creation of its writer. Taro has never handled a story that continued beyond launch day, and what little plot is in Re[in]carnation so far is basic but has plenty of room to grow and expand into a weird yet wonderful experience. Still, it’s going to need to evolve past the extremely standard auto-battler it currently exists as. Admittedly, it’s just difficult to admit that a game I still kind of like at the end of the day might have been better as a “walking simulator.”

Doomsday Vault isn’t going to overwhelm you with narrative or challenging puzzles. Instead, you’re in for a casual adventure of collecting seeds and customizing a suit. Those who enjoy the gameplay elements can spend time in the additional one-off stages for a spot on the leader board. Unfortunately, though, that ends up being the entirety of the experience. It’s cute and works as a Switch game, but don’t expect to leave with any knowledge outside of properly navigating an isometric experience.

While D4DJ Groovy Mix is a pretty standard rhythm game, it’s a solid one. There are many catchy songs to tap along to through a responsive display but be warned that the emphasis is on electric music. However, there’s a satisfying gameloop that does require a premium investment unless you absolutely want to.

Jupiter Hell doesn’t need the word Doom in the title to make an impact, but it’s commendable how well it presents DRL through modern design. At its heart, it’s a turn-based dungeon-crawler RPG, but that doesn’t calm my nerves when I’m blasting through a hallway of enemies from around the corner with more approaching from behind. This game’s launch version is serviceable, but the lack of enemy variety will leave your first hours of gameplay feeling repetitive in some areas. Still, it’s clear that there’s more on the way for this standout roguelike experience, and I’m all here for it.

Dodgeball Academia is releasing on many platforms, but personally, I would heavily recommend playing this game on the Switch. Thanks to a fixed camera angle, the controls are simple enough to grasp efficiently, and I suspect they will suit the portable factor rather nicely. I could absolutely see this becoming a new favorite party game.

Dreamscaper is a delightful and deep game, mixing elements of realistic character development with fluid combat in a dreamlike world. However, this does come with moments of tedium and monotony, making it best to experience through shorter play sessions. There’s a good balance of subtlety between the character writing and atmosphere with combat’s fast pace and tension. Dreamscaper makes a name for itself in the ever-expansive world of roguelite titles with great detail and nuance.

Grime is a Souls-like experience that’ll cleanse your pallet between the more significant releases of the genre. It mainly acts as filler, but it also keeps your reactions to tense action gameplay in top shape for whatever you’ll play next. The atmosphere really sells the dreary adventure with the help of an excellent artistic design, a stellar soundtrack, and engaging combative mechanics. Still, there’s a noticeable lack of boss spectacle and challenge required to at least cause a few fist clenches.

B.ark shines. The traditional 2-D animation is stunning, and gameplay gives off that retro shoot ’em up feel with modern sensibilities. Some features go underutilized and crowd the screen, but that doesn’t take away how excited and diverse the gameplay is. This feels like a Saturday morning cartoon and offers multiple difficulty options and characters to approach the shmup experience no matter your skill level. B.ark happens to be as strong as its bite, and it shouldn’t be overlooked.

Unbound: Worlds Apart has the appearance of a familiar indie platformer. However, there’s an exceptionally charming and memorable narrative here that guides the adventure through its many challenging areas. As beautiful as this game is, a high amount of skill is needed to progress, so thankfully, there are enough checkpoints to push yourself until you get it right.

Darius Burst Another Chronicles EX+ is a challenging and fun shoot-em-up; a must-play, I dare say. But personally, I saw monstrous red warning signs and heard boss sirens when I saw the price tag. This stand-alone may be a must-have for collectors, but The Cozmic Revelation collection seems to be the best way to experience Darius. If the series wants to make a splash, hopefully, we get a new entry.

Compared to other eroge of the time, Do You Like Horny Bunnies? 1 and 2 don’t really stand out; they’re worth playing more out of nostalgia or historical curiosity than on their own merits. Still, the fact that the remastered versions in Do You Like Horny Bunnies? Complete Collection runs smoothly and looks great on modern systems at a budget price makes me inclined to recommend them over similar visual novels.