Bugs aside, Werewolves Within is an incredible social experience and the first online game to really make it feel like you are sitting around the campfire with seven other people.

While the twists and turns wind up going down a sci-fi heavy route in its back half, Chaos;Child never forgets that the main issues are societal. This is a visual novel that’ll leave you thinking long after the ending has occurred.

It’s visually striking, earns its laughs, and gives plenty of reasons to re-explore both the living and dead sides of Penny Doewood’s little town.

At first, playing Candleman will be an unsatisfying, slow-paced act of just going through the motions, but if you stick around, you’ll discover some magic by the end.

The Alto Collection console release is more or less a straight port of the mobile titles made to work on a big screen with a controller. That’s not a bad thing at all, as the mobile releases were deservingly award-winning games, but it’s a missed opportunity to make some slight UI and gameplay optimizations that could have really polished the experience on console. Still, The Alto Collection is deserving of your attention, a peaceful mountain adventure that’s designed to be played in short spurts, but almost impossible to put down once you get going. “Just one more run,” never looked so beautiful or felt so zen.

Scott Pilgrim EX is filled with a lot of charm, depth, and ambition. While not every choice is a home run, it’s a blast more often than not, and its multiple endings and secrets will keep you playing for far after you roll credits the first time. Tribute Games continues to experiment with beat ’em ups, and this is another strong one from the studio.

A safe entry in the franchise...Still, with solid combat, a very fun grappling hook gun, a wonderful recreation of Victorian-era London, and a pure focus on the single-player campaign, Assassin’s Creed has returned to its roots, and hopefully this has set the stage for something epic as the series used to be known for.

The story itself may not make you shriek in excitement (remember that grandma from Twisted Metal II that only wanted to watch her soap operas?), but the multiplayer certainly will.

Over 20 years since it initially released,Windjammers is finally getting its chance to shine as a competitive game. It’s got the accessibility and depth to deliver memorable play sessions, and while the online play can sometimes be disappointing, I’m largely left impressed. Few multiplayer games have made me scream (and make some strange primal noises during the heat of the action) like Windjammers, and it’s simply a blast when played with friends.

The Vita version does have a little more to offer for owners of the PS3 version, but as a standalone game, still offers an incredible, in-depth baseball experience that will keep even the most hardcore of baseball fans interested for quite some time.

The story is the star here, and Witching Hour Studios have crafted a narrative they should be proud of.

Control: AWE is good in that it’s more Control. But it feels like it was leaning a little bit too hard on being a teaser for its Alan Wake connections and the Remedy Connected Universe, which hurt its ability to be a really fun and engaging expansion for the Control side of things. For as brief as the expansion is, much of the runtime feels like it’s just spinning its wheels and never really going anywhere. I’m always happy to step into the shoes of Director Jesse Faden again, but AWE never gains its own identity as anything more than an interactive MCU-style post-credits scene; a lot of set up that we’ll need to wait years to see payoff. But hey, now you can replay the Ashtray Maze while you wait.

While The Old Blood could have definitely either turned up the grindhouse factor in part two, or stayed more true to part one, it still had incredibly fun combat and satisfying Nazi killing.

A good game for kids, since its never very challenging or frustrating, and it makes for simple platforming fun.

The difficulty alone is enough to keep you busy for a long time, even despite there being three sectors. But if you're a glutton for punishment, you could give a go at topping the leaderboards. Aside from that and few cheats that let you change the visual filter, there's really not a lot of replay value here.

A pleasant and often challenging run through a fascinating world that ends much too soon. While the game doesn’t present anything innovative or bring anything new to the Metroidvania genre, it’s still quite an enjoyable albeit disappointingly short experience.

There is a lot to like about Minutes and its most egregious flaw is that it ends so soon.

Feels like a solid follow-up to an already promising new franchise. Unfortunately, though it attempts to correct some of the series’ deficiencies, it still fails to deliver a cohesive single player campaign.

Dying Light 2 is probably exactly what fans of the first game wanted. The story may not be particularly motivating, but combat is fun while the PS5 powers a smooth experience. A few questionable tweaks by Techland will not be appreciated by all players, but co-op will make it easy to forgive some of that. If you’re not completely tired of zombie games yet, give Dying Light 2 a try. There’s plenty to see and do, and you’ll likely enjoy your harrowing stay in Villedor.

Even on the easy setting, the game is very unforgiving and style and technique trump power and speed. This is a fairly true simulator that should end up trackside in a fancy setup with a rumble seat and steering wheel. Driving with a controller is very touchy and a decent wheel would be the choice way to play.

When I wasn’t cursing at my television screen upon dying on the same puzzle for what seemed like 20th time, I was recognizing how brilliant Expand‘s design was. It’s rare to see a game this fully realized, one that sees all of its mechanics fully fleshed out, and when I finally escaped the maze after hours of play, it felt like a genuine victory. Expand may take joy in frustrating the player at times, but the true feeling of jubilation comes from overcoming its trickery.

You can tell that Marble It Up! Ultra had a great foundation to build upon, as it is as polished as the marbles you roll around inside the game. The difficulty curve is satisfying, and it’s genuinely fun to improve and start lowering your times in search of unlocking more bonus levels. While it’ll appeal to players that love time trials and a challenge first and foremost, there’s a lot of charm and fun to be had for any fan of platformers.

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.

Far Cry Primal evolves the series through devolution, bringing an incredible prehistoric landscape to gamers in 2016. Consequently, the focus on authenticity draws a disconnect from the player and fails to offer relatable characters or a meaningful narrative.

While the difficulty level has been ratcheted down noticeably in the name of accessibility, the harder modes should suffice for those looking for a challenge.

When you consider that Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden came out of nowhere, the insanely polished tactics gameplay and charming characters are absolutely remarkable. If you’re looking for a darkly charming way to burn hours over the holidays, look no further than this apocalyptic hellscape. Who knew that the end of civilization as we know it could be so damn entertaining?

There’s a decent serving of 55 characters. The action has been sped up considerably with the new Hyper moves.

The amount of teams to choose from is actually very impressive and should give everyone a great choice of selection.