Lies of P is wearing Bloodborne’s cloak, but it has its own heart, one encased in metal and powered by ingenuity. It sometimes transfixes on tropes of the genre to its detriment, yet still overcomes by the sheer quality of its boss fights, combat mechanics, and world design. Lies of P’s steel heart may not be born of blood and flesh, but it still pumps heartily enough to be a worthy substitute for the real deal.

DiRT Rally 2.0 features some positively exhilarating racing. While there aren’t a ton of different modes to choose from this time around, there are plenty of courses to make up for it.

Besides not being able to share levels and the somewhat overwhelming backgrounds, Joe Danger 2: The Movie is a fun and addicting game that easily lives up to the energy of its prequel.

An absolute blast to play. It retains the core gameplay of the series and streamlines the experience to a fast and action-packed jaunt into New Marais.

It gives you more of the wonderful mix of platforming and puzzles that make you feel clever once you solve them. Trine 2 becomes incredibly easy when working with two or more people, however the game is so fun when playing in multiplayer that you don't really care about the wizard being able to bypass puzzles completely.

With good presentation, deceptively easy to pick up combat, and great team mechanics, SMITE will be one to invest time and money into.

Gathering loot and buddy attacks are super additions that do just enough to improve the series.

I can’t imagine how painstaking it was for this team to perfectly balance the growing difficulty with the puzzles, building upon each puzzle learned and amping it up just a smidge. No room was above and beyond more difficult than the one prior; it was slow and steady growth, and one that will keep you glued to your controller until you finish it.

Given that Catch a Ride drifted through the unknown for much of its running time, it’s nice to have a solid destination as we begin taking that corner into the final stretch of the season.

What the game does do is bring together a compelling story full of interesting characters, vibrant worlds, and a combat system that is fun and fluid. The team behind the game didn’t just recycle the same old game, as the linking system adds a new and interesting dimension to the already phenomenal combat system.

Though some elements feel like relics of its portable past, like comic-book-style cutscenes and a lack of voice acting, there’s no denying it’s still a hell of an aesthetic accomplishment.

The Cabin in the Woods of point-and-click graphic adventure games. Its self-referential awareness of its own existence belies a level of thought and planning that simple parodies do not. It leans into the sins of the past, and comes out all the better for it. This isn’t a modern day triple-A title, but if you want a taste of why the Ron Gilbert classics are so beloved by many longtime gamers, Thimbleweed Park is a window into the past that shouldn’t be missed.

I absolutely love the ridiculous puns, the pop culture references, and the riffs on (in)famous video game characters as potato people.

Ultimately, the incredible amount of fun and content to be had within Metal Gear Solid 2 and 3 outweighs a lot of this package's negatives. But the lack of Peace Walker is such a glaring omission, it really cannot be dismissed all that easily.

Lethal League joins the ranks of Rocket League as one of the PlayStation 4’s best multiplayer games. Underneath the simple control scheme lies a highly competitive game with a tremendous amount of depth. It’s a bit disappointing that there’s not a bit more to the package, but there’s enough mutators that players can make their own mode variants in order to entertain themselves. Overall, it’s a frantic game that’ll have you cursing and laughing at friends every time it’s launched.

If you’ve never had the opportunity to indulge in one of this brand’s prior incarnations, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a fantastic chance to explore your inner gumshoe. The amount of content delivered in this package will keep you gleefully badgering witnesses, in glorious HD, for far longer than the price would indicate. However, for those considering a second trip into the courtroom, you may want to consider if you hold high definition visuals at a premium.

It’s the absence of stand-out creature encounters that weighs heavy on The Pathless as a whole. And there’s a redundancy to said moments that never rears its head when freely exploring and solving puzzles. Undoubtedly, the exploration and puzzle-solving represent The Pathless at its best. Giant Squid’s latest manages to perfectly capture the calm before the storm, along with the post-battle respite that few games master in equal measure. In that case, it would seem the disappointing creature confrontations do serve a greater purpose to some degree.

Orgarhythm does a great job of blending two genres together in a perfect celebration of music and strategy.

Granted, its more iterative than innovative, but Shank 2 is a reasonably priced game with several fun elements that improve upon the original's formula while also scaling the game back in other areas.

While I can’t help but feel I’d rather boot up Steam and play my PC copy, Everspace still occupies a meaningful spot on any PS4 hard drive. It’s enough of a roguelite as to give people a taste of the wild side while not offending their modern sensibilities, and fans of the genre will find great creativity in applying the dungeon-crawling formula to the backdrop of outer space.

Players looking for an in-depth simulation of F1 racing have just found their porn.

Limited graphical and audio faults aside, altogether, Wolfenstein; The New Order is a very good game — a true gem among shooters in a sickening sea of shooters.

Split/Second puts players right in that sweet spot between a kart racer and a racing game.

While the game isn’t perfect, it is clearly ready to take on all comers and creates a firm foundation for EA to build upon for years to come.

The Wolf Among Us is an excellent visual novel with, I’m sorry to report, a maddening cliffhanger for episode 2.

In terms of exciting moments and fun, varied competitive combat, LawBreakers has a great lock on what makes players want to play, both from the fast-paced competitive side and the specialized character side.

Mortal Kombat 1 has some of the most liberating combat mechanics NetherRealm has ever made, but some of the peripheral features fall a little short of what the studio has achieved prior. Being able to access more tricks and dig into the Kameo system gives fights more depth than they’ve ever had. That ingenuity clashes with the vague unlock system, repetitive Invasion mode, and inconsistent campaign that strangely don’t match the heights of previous NetherRealm games. Mortal Kombat 1 is a victory in many ways, just not a flawless one.

Despite closing weaker than it starts, there’s a lot to like about Matterfall‘s unique blend of platforming and shooting. It’s great to see Housemarque trying something new, and besides some tricky controls, they nail most of their ideas flawlessly. PlayStation 4 owners can safely rack this up as yet another Housemarque gem.