For those looking to enter the fray to see what the fuss is all about, BlazBlue: Continuum Shift offers the best ticket to the show.

DOOM Eternal is simply a really good game. It provides players with a brutal and extreme power fantasy while also presenting a challenge, a tightrope act of balancing that few games can ever accomplish with a masterful hand. There’s an almost tactical feel to the encounters as you manage health, shields, ammo, and movement around the arena, yet those tactics never slow the pace of gameplay. It’s got a solid single-player campaign that somehow weaves in engaging live-service elements that serve to enhance the experience instead of ever distracting from it. id Software lovingly recaptures the spirit of classic DOOM while making a game that feels perfectly at home at the tail end of this console generation.

Thanks to the smooth, physical gameplay, the amazing animations, and the various and strategic game modes, PES 16 is easily the best title in the franchise. To go one step further – PES 16 is likely one of the best sport games out today.

Zero Escape: The Nonary Games fixes some major issues with 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, but doesn’t go all the way in updating it for current consoles.

For the game's only con to be the music and a silly tune that plays too often, that's really saying something. Everything else, is nearly flawless.

A gold standard for baseball games and sports games alike.

For better or worse, Mass Effect Legendary Edition is effectively the same classic trilogy we played a decade ago, warts and all. BioWare finely balanced updating the games with leaving elements that would recapture that classic nostalgia of first taking off across the stars in the Normandy. For my experience, this was the perfect way to bring the classic trilogy to modern audiences while preparing everyone for more Mass Effect to come. We’ll get our proper new-gen Mass Effect soon enough, but right now, this is where players should experience where it all began with Commander Shepard’s epic three-game saga. Whether you’re an eager fan looking to return or a curious new player who wants to see what all the fuss is about, this is Mass Effect.

I had high expectations going into Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, but MachineGames managed to outdo them in every way imaginable. They've created one of the most ridiculous video games ever made, and one that is never afraid to be clear about its message of equality & justice. While it's easy to focus on the over-the-top story beats and memorable scenes, The New Colossus is carried by an incredible amount of heart from start to finish.

Odin Sphere Leifthrasir is an outstanding remaster of a game many JRPG fans missed on PS2. Perhaps its most striking feature is the refreshing availability of information that comes with its fantastic interface, from easy-to-read maps to detailed descriptions of each item that comes your way.

If you haven’t played the original or you were stopped a bit short the first time around, Scholar of the First Sin is the perfect excuse to come back and try your hand at the experience again. The new additions and visual upgrades make this the best version to play the game on.

Somehow, Christian Whitehead and team have made the definitive version of Sonic even more definitive. The genuinely challenging stages are chock-full of secrets, and will require multiple playthroughs to find everything they have to offer.

After 16 years of waiting, though, Psychonauts 2 more than makes up for lost time. It’s a glorious return for the franchise, one that should keep existing fans happy while being perfectly welcoming for new players. Let’s just hope we won’t have to wait a similar amount of time for the third game.

While there are certainly some stumbling points, NBA 2K16 is another great entry in 2K’s series. Livin’ Da Dream may feature more cutscenes than Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain, but it’s an interesting way to present a career mode.

Tales of Arise is gorgeous. The lands are lush and vibrant, even those trapped in extreme weather patterns. Calaglia’s arid landscape makes me thirsty and trudging through Cyslodia’s tundra reminds me of long Canadian winters. Sadly this all seems to be lost when it’s time to throw in some anime. The switch from game graphics to anime cutscenes is actually rather jarring and I’m not a fan. I like the anime separately as its own entity, just not within the game itself. If the coloring matched the game, sure. But it washes out all of the hard work the level design team put into the game. Pair this with just way too much going on with the artes system and you can see how, though a fantastic game, it falls just shy of hitting a perfect ten.

Many games fall into the roguelike genre, but few define it. Spelunky 2’s secrets and danger-infused caverns make it simultaneously one of the most frustrating and rewarding games I’ve ever played. Yet, having barely scratched the surface of what it offers, I can’t wait to start another run—whether in search of secrets or just to see how far I can ultimately get. And in the end, isn’t the desire to continue playing the hallmark of any great game?

Aside from a few minor technical issues (they should be fixed in a future patch) and less than impressive visuals, Velocity Ultra is perfect for PlayStation Vita owners who want a fun, fast-paced, and just overall awesome game.

Lumines Arise takes Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s puzzle game masterpiece to a new level. With plenty of mesmerizing stages and gameplay that is as entrancing as ever, this is one of the best puzzle games ever made.

Take everything great from the PS3 release, add characters, levels, and features that were introduced in Joe Danger 2, and you have a game that holds up great even four years after its original release.

It’s a bit rough around the edges in some areas and could do with a dab of polish. Regardless of these small faults, the stories told and discovered are fascinating and the Commonwealth is immensely interesting to explore.

DJ Hero 2 really is a party in a box, and one of the best the music/rythym genre has to offer.

Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection is not one or two, but three of the best PS3 games, remastered with precision, love, and care for the current generation.

While not the most novice-friendly racing game, those who put the hours into Codemasters’ latest F1 title will find it a worthwhile endeavor. The on-track action is great, and the level of customization is rarely seen even in other simulations. Unfortunately, a lot of the finer racing concepts aren’t introduced well and the gigantic R&D tree can be overwhelming when first seen during the career mode. If players can get past that, they’ll have a blast.

At its heart, this is the same Crash Bandicoot 4 that we loved last year when it came to PS4. The improved loading times alone are enough to make the PS5 version stand out, and the enhanced visuals are an added treat, seeing Crash in native 4K at 60 fps. Additional PS5 features round out the package, but as I played, it was mostly just the improved loading that really stuck out to me as the defining feature of this next-gen port.

They did a great job at smoothly connecting the gameplay parts of the game to the story parts so it doesn’t seem forced or unrealistic. Velocity 2X is a game that, once you play a bit, guides you into a sort of rhythm. Much like music games, it’s a very seductive effect.

Stardew Valley is a game so completely full of content, that it is hard to fathom that it was created by a single person.

At a price of only $5.99, Soldner-X 2: The Last Chapter is hands down one of the best DLC offerings on the PSN, and is easily worth the price of admission.

A massive game that can get even more massive if you date to venture outside the box and get creative on your own. But even if you don’t care for sandbox-style gameplay, there is more than enough story to keep JRPG and Dragon Quest fans occupied. If the first game seemed a little out of your comfort zone as a traditional Dragon Quest fan, rest assured that Dragon Quest Builders 2 smooths out nearly all the first game’s rough edges, has plenty of Dragon Quest fanservice to shake a slime at, and has plenty of tools to make the sometimes icky survival and resource management of the genre easy enough to deal with. With so much to do, fun, engaging play and a cute, lighthearted story that takes its time to breathe, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is the best kind of sequel.

It has all the charm of the anime, all the narrative excellence of the original, and a refinement that hasn’t existed in either up until this point.