The action would be passable if it were buoyed by a compelling story, but I ain't gripped so far. [2-Hour Impressions]

Once it finds its footing, Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is an engaging romp through a charming and dynamic world.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon puts an interesting spin on Arthurian legend and presents a competent world that plays like a love letter to the open-world first-person RPG genre.

A weird and funny story with a lot of surprises, but control and camera issues dampen the fun.

Elden Ring Nightreign is just as confusing and abrasive as FromSoftware's other games, but there's really nothing else like it.

Wonderfully authentic, but it's too familiar, cumbersome with a pad, and the career management is unusually tedious.

Bursting with ideas, enthusiasm, and a solid physics model, but JDM seems more preoccupied with throwing another idea in than polishing what’s already there.

An all-time great deckbuilder gets a sequel worth risking God’s wrath for.

Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny represents the design tenants of a bygone era, more often for worse than better.

Blades of Fire can be great fun, but it definitely overstays its welcome.

Labyrinth of the Demon King offers familiar first-person retro dungeon crawling, but distinguishes itself with its overpowering—almost unbearable—mood of dread.

Doom: The Dark Ages is indulgent and deliciously violent, but surprisingly safe.

A witty take on sci-fi and co-op that’s teeming with life and begging for you to get creative with its gadgets.

Take an indie platformer like VVVVVV or Downwell and up the ultraviolence, that's Shotgun Cop Man.

A beautiful remaster of a great game that leaves some very old, obvious issues untouched.

Skin Deep is an indulgent masterclass in immersive sim shenanigans, but lacks a standout level you'll be telling friends about for years.

A new adventure game classic, and a bit of a tear-jerker.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's gorgeously realized world is let down by its emphasis on combat, marred by a few fatal stumbles.

There's much less game in Tape 2, but a strong narrative conclusion is worth seeing. It won't take long, either.

It's so mundane that I expected Schedule 1 to get boring by the fifteenth time I'd lugged a bulk order of plastic baggies to my crappy apartment, but like my latest strand of weed called "Wedding Ass," the drug-dealing sim dominating Steam right now is undeniably habit-forming...Chalk up that success to a lot of smart design choices from developer TVGS—its constant sense of progression, clockwork open world, expressive characters, gratifying supply/demand loop, day one co-op support—but I reckon Schedule 1's secret sauce is a crafting system that doesn't suck. [Early Access Impressions]

Tempopo's rhythmic puzzling is undeniably great, but is let down by a lack of mechanical pacing and an absence of Witch Beam's coveted storytelling.

Unashamedly retro in spirit yet modern where it counts, Tempest Rising is a riveting flashback to the halcyon days of the RTS.

I love Blue Prince so much I'm going to spend the next 1,500 words or so telling you as little about it as possible. Unraveling its many mysteries and solving its multitude of puzzles—several of which I'm still working on even after finishing the game—is best done if you go in with nearly no information. Don't watch videos. Don't Google solutions. Don't even finish reading this review. Just go play it.

The least amicable city council meeting you've ever attended and probably the best game you'll play this year.

South of Midnight's action may not have the strongest hook, but its poignant tale of hope and sorrow tailored to Deep South mythos keeps its head raised high.

A rough port and bungled narrative make The Last of Us Part 2 hard to recommend, though the remaster's additions and moment-to-moment action satisfy.

Rosewater tells an engaging Western story despite a well-worn formula.

Stylish and often satisfying, but surviving Grit and Valor’s later campaigns demands persistence over clever tactics.