Facial animations are still odd, and monetization rears its head in practically every mode. But the core ball play, plethora of gameplay modes, and a great presentation all combine to make NBA 2K20 the basketball game to beat this year.

At the risk of sounding overly infatuated, I cannot begin to understand how the hell Torchlight II has aged so well. The art style, combat mechanics, and even loot drop loop are so finely tuned that it feels like the game fits in as well now as it did, seven years ago.

It’s a perfectly solid local co-op game that can be worth a few runs with some friends. Is it great? Nah. Does it have issues? Certainly. But don’t be like me and just turn it away because of its dubious origins. More VR games should look at catering to the local co-op crowd anyway.

WRC 8 is a rally racing fan’s dream.

Final Fantasy VIII Remastered is the definitive version of this game. The core experience is still here, but with some added flourishes, mainly the beautiful character models. But other additions, like the “cheats,” can also add up to make this a much more inviting experience for all fans. Final Fantasy VIII is one of the strangest entries in the Final Fantasy pantheon, but that’s what makes it so special at the end of the day.

There’s still plenty of room for Decay of Logos to mature into a quality experience. However, it’s hard to shake the feeling that with these many issues, it had no business being released at this point in time. Through diligent work and keeping a keen ear to the community, these missteps can be overcome. But really, the paying audience shouldn’t have to be your QA team. Unless you are fond of the “early access” style of unpolished releases, you should absolutely steer clear of this cataclysmic clusterf.ck.

Now I look at Catherine and while it’s still fun to engage with its systems, and the soundtrack still rips, I don’t find it nearly as clever as it wants me to. All I see is a story that embraces its own toxicity, with views on relationships so useless and counterproductive it’s almost suspicious how desperately it wants Vincent to be a hero.

The problem with Whipseey and the Lost Atlas is that it doesn’t do anything to differentiate itself from the platformers it has clearly been inspired by. And despite looking, sounding and controlling wonderfully, Blowfish Studio’s two dimensional platformer invites unflattering comparisons due to its lack of originality.

There are neat bits and pieces here, but it all feels messy and undercooked.

MXGP 2019 is a safe bet for those looking to race with the full weight of the real MXGP behind the game.

At a budget price and launching with a last minute ad bumrush, Remnant: From the Ashes is the kind of title you’d expect to come out and vanish quickly. But for fans of tough RPGs, action shooters, or post-apocalyptic fiction, passing up on Remnant would be a devastating mistake. It easily joins the ranks of games like Vampyr, that stubbornly outgrow their financial constraints to truly innovate and elevate a genre that has long since needed new ideas.

Just like Until Dawn before it, Man of Medan is a knowingly schlocky and incredibly fun horror movie in video game form, tailor-made to bridge the gap between those two mediums. It’s never truly terrifying, but always edge-of-your-seat thrilling right through to what can be quite an abrupt ending. As jarring as that may be, it’s a great way for Supermassive to leave players wanting more and ultimately keen to check out additional short-form, budget-priced entries in the intriguing Dark Pictures Anthology.

Knights and Bikes is a fun, frantic, top-down adventure game with some light puzzle and combat elements that I imagine would be more appreciated by either a younger crowd or a parent playing with their kid. If you’re looking for a solid co-op adventure, this can easily fill the void. Even solo it’s still fun enough to be worth a look. Just be ready for a few awkward moments, and a seriously terrible UI.

If you’re looking for a beefy console RTS experience that’s inspired by real events and oozing violence out of every bloody orifice, then look no further than Ancestors Legacy. It may not be the perfect experience, but it’s shockingly solid, especially when you consider the design hurdles that the development team must have been facing. This is the perfect entry-point for anyone who’s been curious about real time strategy, when armed with only a Dualshock.

Control is another game from Remedy that does exactly what you’d expect from Remedy. It’s a little off-kilter, but thoughtful and meticulously written. It’s a little janky (sometimes a lot janky), but its mechanics amount to solid junk food when everything is functioning as intended. Control is definitely a step back into “AA” territory after the big ambitions that powered Quantum Break, but frankly this is exactly the sort of space Remedy excels in. While it can be rough at times, Control is like a paperback novel you pick up to kill some time, then unexpectedly find a lot of intrigue and charm.

Wreckfest just doesn’t live up to the promise of its name. The destruction is technically impressive, but oddly distancing. It awes with flying debris, but rarely exhilarates.

CRYSTAR is a game that feels like it came out of nowhere. Double-A-ish Japanese action games have been kind of a dime a dozen since the PlayStation 3, yet this one’s narrative ambition and strength blew me away.

It is a succinct experience with lots of different choices that change the story and lead to different sorts of outcomes. It is well performed has good transitions, and there are no overly-complicated inputs. That it basically requires you to get an outside app and use your phone and goes a little overboard with quick time events is a bit of an annoyance. But, it has an interesting story to tell about a woman who has been through terrible things and finally has a chance at answers and, if you are smart, a happy ending.

Is Sairento VR a masterpiece of technical innovation? Far from it. But despite its obvious visual and mechanical shortcomings, the game knows what it does well and takes every opportunity double-down on delivering this experience. You will find very few games on the PSVR that can provide a combat experience this frenetic, kinetic, and goddamn amusing. If you’re looking to take a slice out of crime and indulge your inner ninja, this one’s a cut above the rest.

This cannot be stressed enough: No Man’s Sky Beyond is a killer VR app on any platform, but it is a showcase-worthy example on the PSVR. Dust off those Move controllers and head back into the Euclid galaxy–you’ll be instantly glad you did.

No question, ONINAKI has reignited my long extinguished JRPG spark. I’ve actually been looking forward to booting up my PS4 every day to follow Kagachi and Linne’s journey. It’s not a slam dunk game; there is a lot of predictability in the storyline, but even then, I’m compelled to see this through to the very end. There are Daemons I absolutely do not enjoy having in my party but will eventually grind out simply to view all of their lore and max out skill trees. All in pursuit of that feeling of accomplishment for hitting the one hundred percent completion mark, or perhaps in this case, my next Platinum trophy.

Conceptually it’s quite familiar, but the game injects a lot of bizarre fun and skill-based gameplay into what can otherwise be a very serious, numbers-based genre.

Alas, if you’re coming to Age of Wonders: Planetfall for a brand new angle on games you’ve played before, then you’ve come to the wrong place. It’s novel to see several different recognizable mechanics blended into one genre soup. The final product isn’t better than the sum of its parts, though. It makes the 4X a faster game to play, but not a better one, ultimately.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD does show its age on PS4, but with an overblown and strangely topical narrative, absurdist humor, unaltered so-bad-it-is-good dialogue, and enough destruction to initiate impeachment proceedings, it is no wonder that this third-person relic has earned enough attention over the past decade (and a half) to get this remaster made; further solidifying Metal Wolf Chaos’ cult status.

Solo: Islands of the Heart is perhaps the most introspective game to release this year. The gameplay may not have much to do with the story, but the puzzles are decent roadblocks on the journey.

It’s a shame that Labyrinth Life didn’t choose to go the route of Criminal Girls 2, where it released with mini-games in tact but had artwork that was redrawn by the original Japanese team to be a bit less smutty. Releasing the game without many of the naughty mini-games means that you see it for what it truly is; an uninspiring dungeon crawler that, apart from the challenge dungeons, is a bit of a dull slog to play through.

The puzzle difficulties are perfectly varied, giving you a challenge when you need it, then letting you come back down to something more chill and fun to navigate.

The Church in the Darkness is a smart stealth game that impressively warps to reflect your actions. It lets you get in and break out as you see fit. While failure still feels like failure, success is sweet and varied. Once it gets a hold of you, you may not want to break out, at all.