With its martial arts attacks, weapons, and general urban chaos, Streets of Rage 4 feels like a natural extension of the series. The game may have taken a long, long time to arrive, but the developers' love for the license and genre shine through in nearly every area. Late-game difficulty spikes and limited movement options dull the experience a bit, but, overall, Streets of Rage 4 is a remarkably fun game, particularly when played with friends. Hopefully, we won't have to wait decades for a follow-up.

Although a relatively short game by genre standards, Shredder’s Revenge takes you on a fun, mutagen-powered romp through New York City's ninja-filled streets.

The Tales series makes a triumphant return with Arise, a game that delivers excellent, highly polished RPG action that stands above its predecessors. Despite being a RPG, Tales of Arise features a rich combat system that makes the title contend with some of the best action games released this year.

With its reworked graphics and battle systems, Dragon Quest VII: Reimagined is the definitive way to play the beloved JRPG, though some of its mechanics aren't as revolutionary as they once were.

Super Mario RPG for Nintendo Switch is a great-looking and faithful remake that brims with the original release's charm and wonder.

Football Manager 2024's improvements make for a notably more realistic simulation with new front office options, set piece coaching, and a superior match engine.

Despite its uncanny superficial similarities to a certain popular Nintendo IP, Genshin Impact has enough personality to stand on its own, while also offering a creative combat system and an expansive world to explore.

Persona 5 Strikers isn't a Dynasty Warriors game with a coat of Persona paint slapped on it. It's a Persona game that cleverly incorporates Dynasty Warriors combat into its systems. The shift to more action-focused gameplay works extremely well.

Blasphemous 2's grim world packed with brutal monstrosities, haunting religious symbolism, and gripping action make it a standout title in the oversaturated Metroidvania genre.

Splatoon 3 offers entertaining, fast-paced multiplayer action that anyone can enjoy, but the new features don't differentiate the game much from its predecessor.

Hogwarts Legacy delivers a detail-rich world steeped in Harry Potter lore with satisfying spells, exploration, and combat, though it plays better on consoles than on PC.

Battlefield 6 reinvigorates the long-running series with chaotic and dynamic multiplayer gunplay that's sure to satisfy new and returning fans.

Although it can't match the thrill of a truly new entry in the series, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is an honorable and beautiful recreation of the original stealth masterpiece.

Featuring many beloved titles and new accessibility and graphics options, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 is a fantastic addition to any retro fighting enthusiast's library.

Dead Rising is back from the dead with a remaster that completely overhauls the visuals and brings other improvements to the 2006 classic.

From its neon graphics to its tactical mechanics, Knockout City’s take on multiplayer dodgeball is over-the-top in all the right ways. It just sits in an awkward limbo between free and paid games.

Triangle Strategy is an outstanding tactical-RPG that brilliantly marries narrative-based decision making with polished fantasy and strategy elements, making it a must-buy game for genre fans.

Starfield is a massive space-based RPG with a galaxy of content to explore, but it has a surprising lack of ambition.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon transforms the long-running beat'-em-up series into a Japanese role-playing game—and it's shockingly good. Though it retains some of the past games' clunky character animations, Like a Dragon's action-packed combat and engaging story make it a must-own RPG.

Crisis Core Reunion is a thoughtful, high-quality remaster of the PSP classic. The main story remains melodramatic, but the revamped battle mechanics deliver lots of baddie-bashing fun.

While its endgame suffers a few stumbles, Shadowlands prepares you to make one of the more meaningful narrative choices in a WoW expansion. Shadowlands thrives at its level cap, though, with new gameplay elements that combine to make an excellent experience.

Advance Wars 1+2 Re-Boot Camp successfully resurrects Nintendo’s terrific, turn-based tactics series by offering a generous package that nearly makes up for the 15-year wait.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus isn't the open-world Pokemon game fans have been waiting for, but it's still the most ambitious Pokemon experience yet, and a fun collect-a-thon in its own right.

The First Berserker: Khazan is an action-RPG set within Nexon's Dungeon Fighter Online universe that pivots from the franchise's beat 'em up roots to embrace weapons-based, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice-like action. However, the game stands apart from its inspirations by leveraging cool anime-style aesthetics and environments filtered through stylized comic book shading.

Cairn combines limb-based controls, visually striking graphics, and a somber tone to create an original and moving mountain-climbing adventure.

Resident Evil Village blends Resident Evil 7's grounded horror with Resident Evil 4's fast action and offbeat concepts. More tension, more combat, and more weirdness round out a game whose faults lie on the edges of the overall experience.

Helldivers 2's thrilling action, absurd humor, and surprisingly fair monetization practices make it one of the best PlayStation 5 multiplayer games.

Packed with action, side content, and heart, Yakuza 6 brings Kazuma Kiryu’s gangster journey to a close. Despite lacking challenge and snubbing important series characters, The Song of Life is an excellent beat-'em-up title.

Stray is a wonderfully endearing game about humanity in a world without humans, delivering quality feline exploration/adventure, with some passable action thrown in.

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla continues the series’ recent winning streak. This stellar entry boasts an expansive world, many exciting missions, and a tight, character-driven plot that make it one of 2020's best games.

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga packs the nine, mainline films into a galaxy-spanning, kid-friendly, open-world toybox.

Super Mario 3D All-Stars offers three excellent games in close to their original forms, but it misses a lot of opportunities to polish and improve them.

Super Mario Party Jamboree introduces an array of new content, modes, and options to push the Mario Party foundation as far as it can go.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is a hard-hitting action game that's sure to satisfy genre enthusiasts, but it exchanges the franchise's complex combat mechanics for a simpler, more arcade-like experience.

Featuring a potent mix of classics like chess and mahjong, Clubhouse Games is an excellent compilation of what might as well be public domain board games and card games. The titles are a blast while playing solo or online, but some games offer limited local multiplayer options.

30XX recalls classic robot-blasting action of the Mega Man X series, but adds its own fun-filled spin on the formula via multiple play modes, custom stage creation, and randomly generated weapon drops.

Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs drops classic Angry Birds gameplay into virtual reality, making it a fun diversion for its intended younger audience.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is one of Bethesda's finest releases. If you loved the original, rest easy knowing that Oblivion Remastered is almost exactly the same as you remember, now beautifully refined in the Unreal Engine. If it's your first time in this world, I encourage you to approach it with an open mind. Although dated in some ways, Oblivion is still one of the best open-world RPGs ever made.

Marathon is a thrilling extraction shooter with satisfying gunplay, beautiful art direction, and tough-as-nails difficulty. It's a breath of fresh air in a packed genre, and one of the best games of the year.

Live A Live delivers a gem of a JRPG from a lost generation. It's a nostalgic blast from the past with enough modern innovations to keep the experience fresh and engaging.

Rune Factory 4 Special delivers all the life sim, farming, and RPG action of the original 3DS release—it's perfect for fans of the Story of Seasons series or Stardew Valley.

River City Girls 2 tops its predecessor in nearly every way with more characters, enhanced combat, cross-platform play, and some of the best music you'll hear in a video game.

Ghostrunner has ferocious melee combat, nimble first-person platforming, and cyberpunk style to spare. Unfortunately, it's also frustrating and needlessly unforgiving.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a nostalgia-packed superhero celebration that features hard-hitting action, a wealth of comic book flavor, and a thrilling tag mechanic that sets the brawler apart from its genre contemporaries.

Marathon is a thrilling extraction shooter with satisfying gunplay, beautiful art direction, and tough-as-nails difficulty. It's a breath of fresh air in a packed genre, and one of the best games of the year.

More than Marvel meets XCOM, Midnight Suns is an epic comic book adventure with dynamic and inventive strategy mechanics paired with engrossing superhero socializing.

A mainline Halo game has finally come to PC as part of a much larger compilation. If you desire high-octane Halo action on PC, Reach is as good a start as any, but heed this port's rough edges and missing features.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD’s upgraded visuals and motion-free control options make this the best way to play the Wii classic, even if the game is firmly stuck in Zelda’s past.

Featuring gorgeous graphics and wildly inventive stages, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is an underrated gem of a game that's made even better by a wonderful PC port.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 sits at the intersection of the Monster Hunter series' action and the JRPG genre's turn-based battles, and will please fans of both.

Shovel Knight Dig remixes the popular indie platformer into a clever roguelike that’s an entertaining—if somewhat diminished—Shovel Knight experience.

Gunbrella's compelling revenge tale, challenging platforming, and light Metroidvania elements make it an entertaining indie action game.

Like a Dragon: Ishin! is a remastered blast from the past that will appeal to longtime Yakuza fans, but a dated design and some bugs make the game feel rough around the edges.

Stellar Blade is an excellent PlayStation 5 action game that blends tight defense and stylish combat in an impressive post-apocalyptic package.

Cassette Beasts puts a cool spin on the proven Pokemon formula by adding strategic combat, lovely throwback visuals, and a genuine sense of adventure.

Sifu is a surprisingly robust and thoughtful action game that hearkens back to the quarter-munching arcade days of old, and Capcom’s cult classic, God Hand.

Lost Ark is a fantastic, free-to-play MMORPG that features exciting combat, attractive visuals, and a seemingly endless endgame.

Black Myth: Wukong draws from the iconic Sun Wukong mythos to deliver an action RPG packed with satisfying action and dizzying magical variety, set in a delightful world.

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is essentially an interactive arthouse action movie that combines potent gameplay elements with a visceral psychological journey.

Gears Tactics is a very accessible, yet surprisingly rich, turn-based tactics game. It's more lenient than XCOM, but delivers enough of a challenge to keep you invested. The Gears setting and gameplay lend themselves very well to the turn-based format, and the creative implementation of series hallmarks results in interesting twists on genre standards. Publisher Xbox Game Studios, along with developers The Coalition and Splash Damage, should be commended for taking a risk with one of its most beloved brands and creating a tactics game for newcomers and strategy-gaming veterans and alike.

Fire Emblem Engage recalls earlier series entries by hitting familiar tactical notes, but it augments them with a cool, new team-up system. Its multiplayer modes need work, though.

Bayonetta Origins ditches ridiculous spectacle for a puzzle-filled, combat-packed storybook adventure starring the young witch.

Halo Infinite pushes the franchise forward with a deep, open-world campaign, and includes multiplayer modes that recapture the classic games' satisfying game feel and matchmaking experience.

Honkai: Star Rail is a stylish and engaging turn-based RPG that marries a quirky sci-fi tale with anime-style graphics.

Fall Guys is unique among battle royale games, with a friendly, non-violent design and addictive gameplay loop that make it feel more at home alongside Tetris 99 than PUBG. Like all battle royale games, it relies entirely on a healthy online community playing at any given time, but its early popularity is a promising sign for long-term players. This is a fun, friendly game show of a battle royale that’s safe for kids, with no violence to be found.

Fuser empowers players to remix old songs into brilliant new creations, making it one of the greatest and most creative music games of all time.

City of the Wolves resurrects the long-dormant Fatal Fury series using rich offensive and defensive combat mechanics, a cool comic book-inspired graphics style, rollback netcode that enables dependable online play, and an RPG-like mode that sees you leveling up characters while braving South Town's mean streets. It's a top-tier fighter and developer SNK's best combination of gameplay and presentation since the beloved The King of Fighters 13.

Now in its third iteration in six years, Super Mega Baseball has miraculously maintained its freshness by adding engaging new characters, features, and customization, and not becoming a spammy annualized franchise. More importantly, Super Mega Baseball 3 deftly represents what people love about the sport, with its larger-than-life characters, exhilarating moments, and agonizing defeats. We may not have Major League Baseball this year, but the game's spirit lives on.

Mario Party Superstars may bring back fond memories of Nintendo's mini-game franchise, but being from the past doesn’t automatically make it a blast.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is a fun, colorful JRPG that trips itself up by either overthinking or underthinking one of its core elements. Besides the highly entertaining boss fights, the unsatisfying, puzzle-based combat system misses the mark.

Call of Duty: Warzone is a shockingly addictive free-to-play shooter. It is highly polished and entirely self-contained, so you don't need to purchase a mainline Call of Duty game to frag your friends in thrilling battle royale action.

Pikmin 1+2 are welcome ports of Nintendo GameCube classics to the Switch, but little was done to update them in their 20-year absence.

Windjammers 2, the sequel to the cult classic Neo Geo game, delivers the same joyous arcade-sports thrills as its predecessor, but adds new moves and smooth online play to the action-packed, strategic mix.

Using the same tools behind Assassin’s Creed, Ubisoft delivers a grand, Greek myth-inspired adventure featuring a host of enemies to overcome and challenging puzzles to solve.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland Deluxe is a classic Kirby game, with enough content to justify picking it up even if you already own Kirby Star Allies and Kirby and the Forgotten Land. It’s just an enjoyable, simple platformer with almost two dozen abilities, an extra campaign, and a bunch of minigames. As a remastered Wii title, it doesn’t do anything new, but it stands strong against Kirby’s more recent adventures and earns our Editors' Choice award in the process.

New Pokemon Snap on the Nintendo Switch is a worthy follow-up to the N64's beloved photo game. It blends the classic gameplay with cool, contemporary touches.

Dying Light: The Beast is a return to form for the RPG series, but its exciting action and parkour are stymied by a ho-hum open-world design.

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii takes almost all the parts of previous main games, adds ingredients from other Like a Dragon titles, and blends them into a fresh swashbuckling adventure.

realMyst: Masterpiece Edition updates a classic PC game, making it more accessible than ever to modern audiences—assuming you master its dodgy controls.

More party game than a pure racing title, Kirby Air Riders takes everything that made the original Kirby Air Ride so beloved and builds upon it with more characters, vehicles, courses, and unlockable items.

While Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment seems familiar on the surface, it builds upon Age of Calamity's foundation, improving it in terms of graphics, performance, and combat.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty offers a cool morale system, leaping attacks, and fresh spins on magic and character customization, though stilted storytelling and underwhelming stage designs prevent it from reaching the heights of other Nioh games.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is an outstanding first-person shooter that remains a joy to play nearly a decade after its original release. This remastered version looks and plays great, but audio bugs and downgraded Classic visuals sully the experience.

Spellbreak’s fast-paced, high-flying, explosive fantasy combat makes for a battle royale that anyone can enjoy.

Overwatch 2 is as fun and fast-paced as the original game, but its free-to-play structure sullies the experience a bit.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a fine action game with plenty to do, and a satisfyingly robust combat system. It's denser and more focused than Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition, but that focus removes some of the charm. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition was a love letter to the entire Legend of Zelda series, a game filled with familiar characters and places from several of titles. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is very much a Breath of the Wild-specific game, which is certainly fine (Breath of the Wild was excellent), but not nearly as much of a fan-pleasing barrage of elements from the entire series. It’s a game that expects you to specifically love Breath of the Wild, and be invested in what happened before its events. If you dig that idea, you'll dig Age of Calamity.

Combining an old-school 3D platforming ethos with modern indie innovation, Big Hops delighted and surprised me with its creative and sophisticated adventure.

Dauntless provides a streamlined, user-friendly alternative to Monster Hunter. Though repetitive at times, there’s no denying the game's solid and enjoyable core mechanics. The dull environments could use some work, however.

Gorgeous, highly entertaining, and a thrill to unravel, Metroid Prime 4: Beyond on Switch 2 is the best single-player shooter in years and a triumph for gaming's coolest heroine.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is another excellent entry in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, one that's packed to the gills with crime drama, oddball humor, and many mini-games.

At nearly 30 years old, Myst remains a remarkable experience, made all the more accessible and enthralling in this modern iteration. This is the best way to play Myst—especially in VR.

Splatton 3: Side Order is DLC that injects fun, roguelike freshness into Nintendo's inky third-person shooter.

Another Crab’s Treasure may not convince soulslike skeptics, but it's a lovingly executed underwater take on the challenging genre.

A nostalgic blast from the past, Trials of Mana could easily become the poster child for remakes done right. It has some failings, particularly the removed multiplayer and odd voice work, but it's an engaging action-RPG that's one of the best on PC.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A tweaks the standard formula to deliver more active monster catching and battling, but it takes place in a disappointingly boring city with little else to do.

The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection brings the Game Boy Advance RPGs to modern systems, and with it hours of chip-collecting fun.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership is the plumbers' first RPG outing on the Nintendo Switch, and it's an adorable and merry high-seas adventure filled with side quests.

Dying Light 2 should appeal to fans of the original game with is terrific graphics and zombie-bashing action, though it suffers from poor pacing, a bland story, and technical issues.