Beneath the awkward plotline and the average gameplay, you can see the game that it was meant to be, and that is the saddest story of all.

Stifled is an exercise in taking a great idea and applying it to a worn out genre. The indie horror tropes bleed through, despite a unique initial premise. Mumbling under my breath to be able to see barely plays into the narrative, and no scare ever got me to scream out loud, so it didn’t quite have the intended effect, seeming more like a gimmick by the end.

On one side of the coin, Outcast: Second Contact is a warranted revisit of a beloved title. It has a fantastically well-constructed narrative that’s a genuine treat to delve in to. However, on the other side of the coin are the terrible combat controls, embarrassingly low-fidelity voiceovers and a bland, bug riddled world design.

More than seven years after its initial announcement, Ray’s the Dead just doesn’t feel like a finished game. Clunky gameplay and numerous bugs don’t do the imbalanced and overly difficult encounters any favors, while certain other concepts in the game feel underexplored and go unutilized. It’s potential to delve into unique puzzle mechanics is overshadowed by obnoxious and frustrating combat segments and bugs impacting critical elements of the gameplay. Ray’s the Dead might have a lot of heart, but that heart is contained within a cumbersome rotting corpse crawling with bugs that make coming back from the dead more chore than triumph.

There are some really great ideas found within Touhou Double Focus, but they aren’t fully executed here. The gameplay needs to be tighter if it’s going to focus on difficulty, and it pales in comparison to other difficult platformers like Shantae. If you get this as part of the physical copy of Touhou Genso Wanderer then by all means check it out, but Double Focus leaves a lot to be desired by itself.

Despite being the second go-round for Chronos, Before the Ashes does feel like a decent take on the popular From Software Souls formula. It’s stripped-down design, while somewhat rewarding, does tend to leave a bit to be desired in the depth department. And though it may have been a welcome sight in the barren VR landscape of four years ago, trying to simply re-release the same experience without progressing the gameplay any further ends up leaving quite a bit to be desired. Unless you are extremely invested in learning more about the back story of the Remnant universe, you’d probably be better off dodging this skirmish entirely.

The greater likelihood though, is that confusion and frustration will kick in before the addiction does.

Beholder is an interesting management sim with brilliant morally ambiguous themes taking center stage, however it suffers from imbalanced execution. There’s far too much of an uphill climb to finally understand and begin to enjoy Beholder.

If you’re a huge fan of Nippon Ichi’s games, then this is the game for you. However, the same reasons that fans enjoy their games are the same reasons to avoid them if you’ve not liked their work up to this point. The story is absurd, bordering on nonsensical at times. The graphics are disappointing at best, laggy at worst. Combat has a unique multi-weapon approach, but still mostly boils down to mashing the Square button until you can occasionally use a special ability.

The story aspect feels a little bit forced and awkward and level selection is limited, but if you are absolutely dying for a match three game on your Vita and/or PS4, Sparkle 2 is an ok experience that feels just like the match three titles of yesteryear that gave me some fun for a few hours, and yet is not enough to draw me back in to my old habits.

The game was enjoyable when it worked. However, there are far too many times that it didn’t work that marred my experience.

Lost Sea harbors (see what I did there?) a good idea and bright visuals with flawed execution.

“Cute” just about sums up Amnesia: Memories. It’s got a light tone, lots of warm moments, and above-average production values. If you’re the sort of person who enjoys dating sims, and you’re in the mood for something airy, goofy, and kind of mindless, this might be just the ticket...If not, this is a pretty tame and unsubstantial entry in the visual novel genre.

It’s a shame that Twin Mirror manages to create such a compelling and interesting opening but just doesn’t manage to stick the landing. It definitely didn’t take me on the same kind of emotional journey as some of DONTNOD’s previous games, and unfortunately I found myself not really caring too much about Sam or the residents of Basswood.

Unless you are down for hours of aimless fieldwork, it may be best to avoid this rustic chore.

Hidden underneath all the issues with Poker Night 2, there’s an enjoyable game. If Telltale manages to patch Poker Night 2 on the PS3 to a level where it runs smoothly, you should buy it, especially if you’re a fan of the characters features in the game. Since we aren’t at that point yet, hold on to your money.

Moon Hunters is worth playing, just not on PlayStation 4. The lack of online play is a devastating blow to the overall package. Throw in the constant technical issues, and you have a bad port of what is a really interesting game.

Predator: Hunting Ground is a haphazard collection of intriguing yet incomplete concepts slapped together into a mediocre experience.

I wish Tormented Souls had a story to match the amazing visual work. I get imparting the tale via personal journals but pairing that with characters that pretty much ignore Caroline’s direct questions and statements regarding it is just sloppy and uninspired. This could have been a game that left me with my hairs standing on end and delicious goosebumps. Instead, when Caroline’s screams persisted through the continue screen and bled into my game it ate away my desire to pick the controller back up. Not enough morphine in the world to make me want to suffer through this again.

Tennis in the Face is far from a grand slam, but at the right sale price, it might be worth stepping on the court.

While Nickelodeon Kart Racers’ provides plenty of content and has smart references that integrate well with some very solid racing, the poor visuals and botched battle mode leave plenty to be desired. If you accept the game for what it is there’s definitely some fun to be had but its shortcomings are jarring enough to require some substantial blinders.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is a fun enough game in its own right, but it’s encumbered with the weight of near-ancient game design practices. It’s new bright visuals bring Bikini Bottom to life in a whole new way, with character animations now better portraying the classic cartoon than ever before, but its gameplay is still firmly anchored to 2003, some of which has been negatively impacted by its updated visuals. At its core, Rehydrated is a repetitive and cumbersome 2003 platformer. A bit of water in 2020 isn’t enough to soak new life into this old dried up sponge.

Salary Man Escape is an interesting idea for a puzzle game, but its execution ends up being more along the lines of the very drudgery that it tries to parody, rather than the escape that video games promise.

Candlelight is a lot of great and fun ideas that feel more disjointed than cohesive. Rather than teach the player or provide a challenge, it throws things at you as if to say “hey, check this cool thing out,” without utilizing that mechanic as a lesson to overcome future challenges, instead getting redundant by often falling back on very basic platforming in the later levels.

If this is the final Syberia game, perhaps it’s for the best. Pure point-and-click adventure games are becoming rarer and rarer these days, and this entry does nothing to instill confidence in the genre. Between the glaring technical issues, over-the-top antagonists, and even lazy captioning, Syberia 3 is not recommended at its launch price of $39.99. If you absolutely need to complete Kate Walker’s story, then perhaps wait until the price comes down, and play an adventure game that got things right, such as King’s Quest.

A middle-of-the-road effort: there are certainly a number of people out there who will be able to work through its less-than-polished mechanics long enough to enjoy the silly story, which is reminiscent of classic Chinese action cinema in the best possible ways. Then there will be folks who fall on the other side of the fence, without the patience to deal with the slightly clunky controls and dark, slightly muddied aesthetic.

My advice for you is to beat the game simply to unlock Z mode. It’s a worthy pursuit. After that, shun the campaign.

Telling the story through environment, providing better direction, and rewarding extensive exploration are just a few things that could have really helped AER to escape the high res, low poly shell that it is, but AER: Memories of Old is simply too empty to feel like anything more.

Skate City is buoyed up by its excellent and mellow lo-fi soundtrack, a veritable repository of chill beats to skate to. This defining aspect helps elevate a simple concept to put you in the right mood to engage with it. While the visuals are nothing to write home about and the finnicky controls can sometimes cause frustration, there’s still something special about chilling out with a 20 minute skate session after a hard day’s work, and discovering yet another great lo-fi tune. However it should have launched for consoles with at least all of the content and modes from the mobile version, if not more for its bigger platform debut. While Skate City is a relatively engaging and mellow experience overall, it’s one I have a hard time recommending on console at its new premium asking price.

Mind Zero has the makings of what could be a decent dungeon crawler while tripping all over tropes that could be avoided. Poor graphics aside, story segments get boring while watching text boxes spew pointless dialogue, and the dungeon crawling and battling is the only actual bit of gameplay that there is.

Far from a bad title, as it does a great job of keeping some tension with its lite roguelike design, and it contains more than enough content to warrant its $14.99 price tag. But, if you’re like me, and are particular about how a game should feel on a fundamental level, then you may find that this one is lacking where it matters most.

Goat Simulator is unapologetically absurd but fails to meaningfully give players anything to do beyond the occasional ridiculous party trick.

Killing Floor 2 just doesn’t have the variety needed to keep the attention of players. No matter what map is being played, things start to feel eerily similar after the first few hours.

Compelling combat would allow you to look past some of Regalia’s rougher edges, but the frequently dull and repetitive battles on offer here don’t get the job done.

I genuinely appreciated what We Happy Few was trying to accomplish. Its unique perspective to storytelling and compelling setting kept frustrations at bay for far longer than they had any right to. I even think that the game has the potential to course-correct though their future DLC. However, this doesn’t change the fact that the game has serious issues that make this full retail release feel more like a second round of Early Access. I cannot in good conscience encourage anyone to purchase the game in its current state.

To continue that with a story that has no strong motivating force outside of general survival cheapens our time as Lee and his reason for pushing forward.

Most of the success of Murasaki Baby relies wholeheartedly on its art style, and thankfully it does pull the game pretty far. But, the puzzles are more about execution than thought, and even though the story felt like it went much deeper than I had expected for a portable title, it still falls short from being memorable.

There isn't enough variety between modes, and even though the games are indeed quite fun, the brevity of them and how quickly they begin to repeat leaves Lights, Camera, Party! feeling like there is a distinct lack of content.

At its core, Ghost Warrior 3 is easily enjoyable but its issues just as easily breaks the experience.

Mugen Souls Z feels like more of its predecessor, with the same plodding story pace, whiny, forgettable cast, and fill-in-the-action cutscenes.

I wanted more of what The King’s Bird was, and less of what it became.

Sure, there are graphical issues, slowdown, and the game is rather easy in areas where it should provide more challenge. However, the story is goofy enough for some laughs, the ability to switch between 4 weapons in battle is fun, and despite its repetitive nature, the combat does enough to keep you interested.

Thief may be a throwback to the early days of stealth games, but this reboot really feels aged and dated. While there is some fun to be had, you will have to sift through a mess of problems to find it.

Die-hard strategy fans or those into all things military might want to give it a go, but honestly speaking, the game just isn’t ready to be played on the handheld.

It truly rides that line of mediocrity without falling into either camp too heavily. If you’re curious, I’d say go for it. It does enough right to make it worthwhile to play through for those that can enjoy themselves despite some missteps.

Ultimately this feels like a one trick pony that has been stretched to every conceivable limit. Though it may be initially enchanting, it won’t take long before Grimm’s spell wears off, leaving players wondering if getting some pizza is really worth all of the hassle.

Homefront: The Revolution fails to stir any real revolution of its own in the genre of first-person open world games. It still has a unique premise with the notion that a unified Korea could ever overtake the United States, but the game is simply adequate. Couple uninspiring gameplay with occasionally broken physics and stupendously idiotic AI, and this is a purchase for fans of the franchise only. Otherwise, just go play Far Cry.

The concept of using metrics based on your character’s own movements to manipulate a living infographic that you need to platform on is one that sounds great in design, but the execution of said concept needs to be tweaked before I could recommend that anyone spend much time with Metrico. Sadly, it does feel like you’re just bringing work home with you.

Snow Place Like Home is the weak link in the King’s Quest chain, with weak environments, terrible puzzles, and a lack of any real immersion in the narrative choices as Chapter Four gives players the cold shoulder.

It’s an undeniably cute platforming adventure that’s sure to provide a good few hours of enjoyment, but this is mostly due to it not stepping out of the norm. The Adventures of Pip does little wrong simply by not doing much at all, its colorful stages, tight mechanics and often humorous writing are all disappointingly dulled by an overwhelming and unshakeable sense of déja vu.

It’s great that games like this manage to get western releases, but it’s also easy to see why they’re so few and far between.

It’s colorful and quite ridiculous; it’s simple, accessible and well populated. Hardware: Rivals has most of the ingredients present to cook up a fantastic arcade experience, but it’s missing a vital ingredient: fun. The sluggish pace that permeates everything from movement and destruction to respawning and leveling up constantly holds it back.

While I loved getting that classic RPG nostalgia, much of the game found certain levels of tedium that quickly drove the experience of Pier Solar from nostalgia to a chore.

Ultimately, Zombie Army 4: Dead War is an amalgamation of tropes you’ve seen before, but it never quite nails any of them in a meaningful way. Want a fun cooperative zombie experience? Play Left 4 Dead or Call of Duty: Zombies. Want something funny? Play Dead Rising. Or how about something with a worthwhile story? Telltale’s Walking Dead might be up your alley. In 2020 when there are so many games releasing, begging for your time, mediocrity is a tough sell.

Murdered: Soul Suspect is a really great idea for a game. It could have been really high quality all around, but maybe certain things were overlooked while focusing on the story rather than getting feedback about gameplay during development.

For all of its promise, Dead Alliance falls frustratingly short of its full potential. The combat is well executed and the creative uses of zombies are easily the most satisfying aspects of the mechanics. Sadly, it lacks the polish necessary to justify its considerable $39.99 price tag.

Purely when looked upon as an educational vessel, Chernobyl VR has a genuinely compelling story to tell. Unfortunately, the overall lack of visual polish undermines the ambitions of the developers. It may be a bit much to ask $9.99 for an experience that has such a short run time and lacks any substantial replayability.

An intriguing narrative is interrupted by long bouts of boring wave-based shooting against generic enemies in dull locations. I can’t help but think of the early moments in Ian’s house, seeing ceramic horrors in reflections and being excited for a cinematic psychological-horror action game that would never come to be.

Extreme Exorcism isn’t a bad game, but its core hook fails to captivate players from the get go.

While the ties to the AMC series are fun and interesting, Saints & Sinners is simply a better game.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XIII undoubtedly has a cult, niche following, as games don’t usually receive that many sequels without such a following. However, this is one niche that is as obscure for newcomers as it is deep, and it’s certainly an instance where real-time strategy simply does not fit on the console with a controller. If you’re a fan of this series, save yourself from grief and pick it up on PC.

These are just some of the many signs that suggest the game was rushed past the finish line (including a reference to game crunch), but its problems run deeper than something that can be fixed with a couple of patches. The story isn’t explained well, the dialog is over the top, the tutorials don’t do their job, and the open world is just a boring place to be. While the combat and the linear facilities go some way to redeeming Atomic Heart, it’s not a game that I can faithfully recommend right now.

Madden NFL 21 feels very much like the byproduct of a game being developed in a vacuum, devoid of any true competition. Why bother reinventing the wheel when you are the only person manufacturing them? This lack of inspiration feels like a breeding ground for many of the franchise’s biggest complaints, most of which have been festering for far too long. It’s a good thing that the next generation is on the horizon, because without that new tech boost to hang their hat on, there’s nothing substantial enough to recommend this fumble over last year’s outing.

Anamorphine makes an important distinction by not only exploring the mental illness, but exploring the impacts that it has on those around you.

A flawed start to what might become an interesting journey down the line. While the execution was sloppy, I’m invested in Prometheus and Alice (you never forget your first VR kiss, after all), and am looking forward to finding out what happens next.

Quotation forthcoming.

Sorcery is like baking a cake, but with only a teaspoon of sugar, one egg, a pinch of flour, and a tablespoon of baking powder; all of the ingredients are there, but there's not enough of each ingredient to make the magical game that PlayStation Move owners have been looking for.

The lack of depth and overall variety and longevity make Little Deviants feel more like a $9.99 PSN title over a retail title.

Lethal VR fails to dial up the phasers from stun to kill, a decidedly less lethal experience on PlayStation VR than its original Vive counterpart. It has a really fun arcadey core that could make for some great quick VR shooting gallery moments, but is hamstrung on PSVR by a tightened field of action and piss-poor accuracy using the Move controllers.

With only three levels, and a strangely designed main menu, it feels more like a proof-of-concept that never was fleshed out.

Ultimately, Blair Witch is an intriguing story plagued by unsatisfactory gameplay, with a few neat ideas sprinkled throughout. Your canine companion presents some interesting mechanics, along with altering time through the camcorders, but in the end, even these features aren’t enough to save Blair Witch from being a chore to play. There’s still some to appreciate like the characters and story, which make Blair Witch almost enjoyable.

The final product is a reskin of a paint-by-the-numbers dungeon crawler that is devoid of motivation, originality, or replayability.

Rainbow Moon is not a bad game, but the removal of some systems and the polishing of others would make is stand more than “the game with a ton of stuff to do.”

Senran Kagura Estival Versus sure has a lot of fanservice…and, unfortunately, not a whole lot else.

A cute indie game that has its moments of brilliance, that are sadly overshadowed by rather boring gameplay.

Even with all its flaws, major and minor, the game is filled with moments of hilarity and high tension. Playing alone or with friends, the simplistic mission design that always has you sneaking about or sprinting for your life is a blast to take part in. There’s a deluge of customization options that is only matched by the Payday games and the humor is surprisingly consistent. RAID: World War II can be frustrating at times, but there’s a lot of fun to be had with friends.

Impressively updated graphical prowess for a unique visual styling isn’t enough to save it from a myriad of cheaply laid gameplay issues.

Get Even is almost afraid of what it could have been, settling for a more traditional horror experience instead of becoming what it really wants to be. The genre has been healthy in recent months, but a wildly different approach is always welcome and Get Even only accomplishes that in fleeting moments.

Unfortunately, everything that could be used to make Inversion a unique and standout game - if not a sleeper hit - has such a small presence in the game that it just feels like a squad shooter with decent mechanics and some different ideas.

Knock-Knock is a game with great sound work, a nice, unsettling art style, but several flaws. Its mechanics are never explained. You can expect to replay the entire thing over again to see its “best” and “good” endings.

This remaster seems only well suited for folks who’ve experienced the series before. It’s tailor-made for folks who want to take a trip down memory lane. Even then, you’ll find the same surprise I did—that Onimusha: Warlords is a game remembered as being better than it actually was.

Oceanhorn‘s gameplay isn’t as polished as the SNES title it attempts to emulate, and the level design never evokes the brilliant dungeons that the developer was inspired by. Every aspect of the game feels like a poor imitation even down to the Wind Waker art style that falls apart when seen up-close.

Despite its brazen disregard for social appearances, Our World is Ended lacks drive and confidence needed to help a weird story come together in the end.

If you really love this type of game (tunnel/artistic), you may enjoy Entwined. But I ended up hating the mechanics, and that ruined the experience for me. The emotions didn’t come through, and the colorful visuals didn’t make up for it.

If you’re a huge puzzle fan, like me, there’s something here for you. But in all honesty, there are plenty of puzzle games out there that wouldn’t come with this big of an asterisk. Go play those.

If you absolutely must play this game on the go, and know that it’s going to be an average experience for an above-average price on this platform, then have at it. Otherwise, wait until an inevitable sale.

Having the online multiplayer on the free side of the paywall is a smart move on the part of the developer, but with limited success in finding or maintaining a game, I caution anyone hoping to use this as their online game of choice on Vita.

That is kind of the way Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China feels like in general — it starts out okay, but soon becomes dull fairly quickly thanks to a lackluster plot and uninspired gameplay.

While I understand it’s trying to emulate the movie, this ultimately makes Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son not any fun to play. Having to repeat the same tedious, overly lengthy, and often difficult, minigames over and over is just not fun. While I can say I was impressed with the storytelling and voice acting, and it really did feel a lot of effort went into making the game feel just like the movie. I just wish it was actually fun to play.

Infernium attempts to pay homage to older games, and mostly leaves the player alone to discover the world on their own. Problem is, many of the connections between levels only make sense to the developer, and while the game’s scares may cause a good jump or two, they are easy to see coming after the first few times.

It does a few interesting things with its multiple endings and sanity systems and the atmosphere is convincing enough in what it does well. It’s just a shame the bulk of the gameplay — the puzzles and controls– are just so darn poor.

If you’re an experimental gamer who seeks out the weird and unusual, no matter how unintelligible it is, Killer Is Dead will be right up your alley. For everyone else, the game is bargain bin at best.

When it comes down to it, Nier is a decent game that has some very cool ideas behind it, but overall falls short of what it could have been.

Everything outside of stripping clothes off of vampires feels safe and doesn’t do enough to build upon the initial idea, which is such a disappointment. It’s like getting a sneak peak at something new and fresh, only to start playing and have a game that is kind of ordinary.

There’s a lot of fun to be had in ELEX at higher levels, but the game opens far too slowly and spreads itself out too thin to make any sort of impact.

While Quantum Theory boasts its own unique attributes, it ultimately is not a title which shooter fans will be blown away by. It is a shame since, if the title delivered where it essentially failed, it could of been a totally fresh experience for gamers.

While its brevity impedes the story, Assassin’s Creed Mirage is thankfully a lot shorter than the last few entries. However, its relatively slender figure only points out how the series has used quantity to overcompensate for its stagnation. This is laid bare in Mirage, as its stealth and open-world design all pull from eras that have long since fallen out of style — an unforced error that is mostly because of Ubisoft’s decade-long overreliance on that structure. Baghdad’s potential as a classic setting in the franchise has also suffered because of this and has been undermined by the artificiality of its blueprint. Mirage was designed to go back to basics, but it just ended up being too basic.

I like the idea of Gang Beasts on paper. Hell, I even like Gang Beasts when I see other players play. The jelly physics of up to eight players smashing into one another and trying to toss each other over the edge is great fun in theory, but becomes more of a frustrating chore and test of patience in practice.