The Westport Independent has important lessons about ethics in journalism, but the game's tendency towards caricature leaves it feeling like it just barely grazed the truth of the matter.

Traverser looks beautiful, but it's not nearly as fun to play as it is to look at.

I am Bread is clever but ultimately shallow, relying on its gimmick more than anything else. But it's a pretty hilarious gimmick.

All I can do is review the game I was given though, and the game I was given is mediocre. Functional? Sure. Flashy? Absolutely. But it’s a puddle disguised as a lake, a universe with so much potential that makes good on almost none of it. To make matters worse, I don’t think the core loop is interesting enough to keep me playing. The tougher end-game enemies are so damn spongy, and the shooting isn’t nearly as tight or as punchy as Destiny, a game that kept me playing long past the point I’d exhausted its similarly dreadful story.

For now, as I said, I’m (mostly) enjoying Ghost Recon Breakpoint. It’s mindless, and I’ve definitely listened to a handful of podcasts already while tooling around Auroa. But I’m at least pausing them whenever major story beats occur, because Bernthal really is that damn good. He’s carrying this entire game on his back, as far as I’m concerned. Whether I finish it? And whether we ever write a proper review? That remains to be seen. Destiny 2’s new Shadowkeep expansion released today, so it’s a big week for thousand-hour shooters—and quite frankly, I’d rather play Destiny.

ReCore features adorable robot companions and snappy platforming, but a chore of an end-game, bugs, and terrible load times make it a hard sell.

The Technomancer has all the appearances of an epic sci-fi RPG, but it's surface level sheen over a cavalcade of boredom.

Homefront: The Revolution ends up a more fitting sequel than I think anyone could’ve predicted. Like its predecessor, this is a kludged-together mish-mash of trendy design ideas from other, better games, glued to a story that punches far above its weight and aspires to something much greater...It’s a shame the finished product feels like a work-in-progress, because there’s so much to want to like here. I just can’t.

A confusing end to a confusing era for Microsoft. We can hope, at least.

Bombshell is more "bomb" than anything else, with anemic shooting and lackluster exploration—when bugs aren't tossing you back to the desktop.

Rusty Lake is as bizarre as it is brilliant, and while Paradise is probably my least favorite of the three paid entries, it’s still unique enough to earn a wholehearted recommendation from me.

The story and the zone together represent one of those rare moments when ESO distinguishes itself by bringing something genuinely new to the Elder Scrolls universe. It’s one big reminder that there’s often beauty and rich variety in things we too quickly dismiss as ugly. Murkmire may look bland in comparison to a wonderland like Summerset, but that’s only when you’re drinking in the big picture.

Globesweeper is a great package. Sure, a modernized take on Minesweeper isn’t going to change the games industry, nor is it likely to show up on our end-of-year accolades. But I can’t stop playing it, and that’s enough to (in my opinion) make it worthy of a write-up. Like Pictopix in 2017, it’s just a well-built take on a tried-and-true puzzle game, and sometimes that’s all you need.