If it’s impossible to have a perfect game, then the game that earns a perfect score is the one that is as good as we have any right to expect. I expected a lot from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. And with its beauty, scope, innovation, sheer playability, and nearly constant sense of joy and wonder, it soared beyond those expectations with ease...So yes, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild receives a perfect score, only the third I’ve given out here on Post Arcade. Now go play. It’s almost unimaginable that you will be disappointed.

The game is a fascinating study of a conflicted man who knows right from wrong, but doesn't always allow this knowledge to inform his decisions...He's a classic antihero: A bad man seemingly headed for tragedy who we nonetheless like, root for, and want to see make better choices.

With all the tweaks and additions, the current generation edition is unquestionably the best. It may not include quite enough fresh content to warrant a second purchase, but it’s certainly the edition that ought to be sought out by those yet to play...Most importantly, perhaps, it provides us with a small peephole into the future of the series.

Super Mario Odyssey is an absolute delight that will remind you why you started playing games in the first place.

Elden Ring is neither a step forward nor backward for the famed developer, but rather a shift to the side. It’s a different kind of FromSoftware game, one that mixes stampeding mounted combat in a vast world with more intimate, terrifying moments in dark caves and cramped castles. I’m having a grand time with it, make no mistake, but it’s not my favourite FromSoftware game to date.

I’m sorely tempted to review the 20th instalment in Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s 35-year-old Legend of Zelda franchise by simply giving it a perfect score and issuing a few words along the lines of “just go play this absolute gem of a game.” To give away more robs potential players of the joy of discovering its countless wonders for themselves.

Terror and beauty are potent bedfellows in The Last of Us, a masterwork of interactive entertainment conjured up by the master gamesmiths at Naughty Dog.

Columbia is a unique and unforgettable city meant to inspire its inhabitants — both virtual and player-controlled — to gaze in awe, shock, and horror at its bountiful marvels...So long as you remember to stop snooping through rubbish bins and take time to pause and look around, I have no doubt you’ll be properly amazed.

Kratos is no longer seeking revenge, but rather redemption. He feels multidimensional for the first time. As a dad, I sometimes found myself rooting for and even identifying with him on a gut level, especially as I watched him make some obvious parenting mistakes.

Ragnarök is well worth playing even if some of its callbacks fly over your head. We only get a handful of single-player games each year that deliver such high-calibre storytelling, finely tuned action, and gorgeous graphics in a single package, and Sony’s Dad of War ranks high among them once more.

The Last of Us Part II manages the striking feat of imbuing video game violence with meaning. Its combat is thrilling and darkly addictive, but this is a story about how violence changes people and rarely solves anything. The consequences of killing are made abundantly clear over and over again until, by the end, we simply no longer wanted to fight. I wanted to put down the controller as though it was a gun for which I no longer had desire to use. That's a neat trick, Naughty Dog. And one hell of an encore.

Happily, Divinity: Original Sin II successfully walks the thin line separating empowering choice and confusing chaos.

Endlessly creative, relentlessly delightful and eminently playable by all levels of player, SM3DW is perhaps the best 3D platformer released since the series’ heyday.

The real story is the one you make yourself as you play through each mission, making new decisions each time and writing an action thriller of your own making. That’s what makes Metal Gear Solid V brilliant, and that’s why people will still be talking about it years from now.

[Multiplayer is] competent, polished (I experienced a few connection problems but chalked them up to pre-launch network jitters), and reasonably entertaining. But it lacks the depth and long-term appeal of shooters that make online play their bread and butter.

I can imagine some players being disappointed that Inside is perhaps a bit too much like Limbo. From both games’ dark themes and imagery to the sorts of puzzles they offer up, there are plenty of lines to be drawn between them.

This web of interconnected systems is, in truth, a tad bewildering. But everything just seemed to keep developing and refining itself regardless of whether I knew how or why, so I never felt overwhelmed. I was just sort of along for the ride sometimes, and I didn’t really mind. Because, in the end, I just wanted to spend time with some familiar faces, listen to a new generation of artists cover some of my favourite game music, and see how a world I haven’t visited in decades had changed while I was away. I’m happy to say I had a great time catching up. And I got to stay at some lovely little B&Bs along the way.

Thing is, it injects so much dopamine into my little monkey brain that any intellectual qualms I may have are effectively quashed as long as a controller is in my hands. Put more plainly, Nintendo really knows how to make a fabulously fun run-to-the-right game.

Give it a chance – not just a couple of hours, mind, but five or ten; enough to let its claws sink in nice and deep – and you’ll probably find Bloodborne an intoxicating dose of pure masochistic pleasure.

There’s a sense of unfettered joy in everything here. It’s a game that just wants to be fun. For everyone. It aims for every moment you spend with it — be it five minutes or five hours — to be a frustration-free, jaw-dropping, reward-filled delight. And in this endeavour it succeeds marvellously. If there was ever a racing game that needs to be in every Xbox owner’s library, Forza Horizon 5 is it.

There’s enough new here that Enemy Within almost feels like a completely different game.

Demon’s Souls isn’t likely to convert many new players to this kind of game design, but fans of gruelling but gratifying game experiences are in for a treat.

Fire Emblem: Awakening won’t go down in history as the game that revolutionized a franchise or genre. However, traditional turn-based tactics has rarely been more compelling.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has holes that simply can’t be filled with trophies and an encyclopedic soundtrack. The customizable characters are interesting, amiibo’s have their finer points, and the multiplayer is smooth, but at its core this is a game left unchanged.

Mario Kart 8 was a great game, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the definitive edition of that experience. But I’m not sure it’s worth an extra 80 bucks for anyone who already owns the original.

Perhaps the most useful Wii U feature (at least for a family guy like me) is that it as a GamePad-only mode. Should your better half, roommate, brother, sister, mom, or dad wrest control of the TV from you the game will keep running on your controller’s screen.

Indeed, Dark Souls II is pretty much exactly the sort of game it wants to be.

Something much more tame, a word that should be the antithesis of the series...Game developers won’t fix what isn’t broken and to do so is taking a huge risk, but Bayonetta is a series of firsts and this game feels like it’s playing on repeat.

Gear is the catnip that will keep you playing Ridiculous Fishing for hours on end. Whether it’s a new pair of duel-wield uzis that make it easier to perforate your catch, a hair dryer that you can tie to your line to electrocute the first fish that touches it (essentially giving you an extra chance), or just a redneck red cap to keep the sun off your fisherman’s head, every purchase is well worth the multiple casts it takes to earn it.

Forza Horizon 2 has been my go-to racer for the last couple years. And now its position in my game library been handily usurped by its stellar successor.

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt – Blood & Wine is a bargain by any standard. In fact, you’re almost better off thinking of it as a small sequel than just an expansion pack, so broad, multifaceted, and rewarding is the experience it delivers.

A game that looks very nearly as good as did on my Xbox 360 and in some ways plays even better, thanks in large part to intuitive touch screen controls that prove a fine fit for the game’s turn-based action.

The addition of the newer, free-er structure and the loss of a lot of the chaff from the post-Link-to-the-Past Zelda’s make the game a joy to play.

2019’s Resident Evil 2 captures the vibe of the original perfectly, thanks largely to outstanding production values...Its visual design stands toe-to-toe with any contemporary work, with fantastic character models, dramatic motion capture performances and extraordinarily detailed and refined environment design. Just about everything is worth looking at a second or third time, either to catch a potential game clue or simply to appreciate its beauty.

It’s a blissfully lighthearted and colourful game filled with charm, humour — I giggled aloud the first time I caught a black bass, described in-game as “the most metal of all fish” — and a much needed sense of normalcy that comes at a time when we could all use a little pick-me-up.

Granted, sometimes it feels like Insomniac, in its push to give us more than we could have imagined, almost goes a bit too far. Like the addition of a wingsuit so that Spider-Man can glide through Manhattan’s glass and steel canyons a little more quickly. It’s an innovation likely born from the sheer size of the city, which can take long minutes to traverse by web-slinging alone. It can be useful, but it doesn’t feel very Spidey-ish. I generally preferred swooping up and down, even if it took a little longer. But if that’s the worst complaint one can level at Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Insomniac must be doing something right. And it does nothing to diminish the game’s absolutely lovely energy. Every play session left me feeling upbeat and like all was right with the world. Or at least the world within the game.

Much like when it was first released, Wind Waker is a visual and auditory feast and it works brilliantly for its first few hours.

I can see myself continuing to play on and off for months to come, getting better and trying new tactics all the while. And that, if nothing else, earns Monster Hunter: World an enthusiastic recommendation for anyone interested in the idea of seeing if they have what it takes to combat roaring, furry, fire-spewing bird dinosaurs.

Believe it or not, I found the added depth helped breathe life into the adventure. Going back to the flat 2D presentation removed much of the world’s vivacity.

Pillars of Eternity proves that the men and women at Obsidian know how to make a good traditional RPG based on their own intellectual property...And now they’ve proven they don’t even need an investor to do it.

What really impresses me about Rez Infinite, though, is that its immersive cacophony of light and music often manages to pull me out of the physical realm so completely that I find myself forgetting meatspace even exists. That’s what VR is all about, really. Losing yourself in another world.

Titanfall 2 is likely pretty close to the game the original Titanfall would have been if we lived in a perfect world where deadlines did not exist and developers didn’t need to put a product on shelves in a timely fashion in order to stay in business and feed their families. It’s a complete package, it’s polished and pretty, and it’s super fun.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 earns a modest thumbs up. It’s undeniably huge, delivering good bang for your RPG dollar, and has some interesting ideas on its mind. It’s no Final Fantasy or Zelda, but fans of sophisticated combat and Japanese storytelling should be well served.

Beyond saying, “Limbo on the iOS is great for people who don’t have an Xbox 360 and want to play the game,” there isn’t much else to this version of the game.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses does a laudable job of bringing Intelligent Systems’ strategy series to Nintendo’s hybrid console, and I’m likely going to be playing for months to come. The ability to take command of three different houses, each with their own roster of students, adds plenty of replay value. Still, I’m going to keep my Game Boy Advance Micro loaded with a copy of Fire Emblem handy for those days when I want to feel what it’s like to really risk the deaths of beloved heroes in battle.

Monument Valley is a strong contender for my mobile game of the year.

BioWare’s about to drop its mic and walk off stage...It is a paragon of multiple-path storytelling and character development. It offers a master class in intricate, customizable, multi-hero combat. And it delivers not one but ten beautiful and expansive open worlds to explore, boldly throwing down the gauntlet to rival developers.

Battlefield 1 is one of this fall’s biggest surprises with a very compelling campaign, strategic gameplay and solid multiplayer effort. The game is a refreshing change of pace in an industry currently filled with futuristic shooters that emphasize running around guns blazing.

It is, put plainly, a game of enormous scope; one that feels remarkably original in both its setting and presentation. It’s a work of grand imagination. And Aloy – a strong, confident, and captivating heroine who gradually earns and commands the respect of everyone around her, from matriarchs all the way up to a king – serves as a delightfully likeable anchor around which everything is spun.

While I can’t tell you whether Injustice 2 will be a hit with hard core fighter fans, I can tell you that it was a ton of fun for a guy like me, who generally doesn’t spend more than half an hour with any of the fighting games that cross my desk.

The Last of Us never needed fixing. Everything from combat to crafting has aged remarkably well. Still, it never hurts to polish perfection. And this beautifully enhanced edition works hard to ensure Naughty Dog’s masterpiece will remain my favourite video game for some time to come.

With just ten minutes to go I was convinced What Remains of Edith Finch was going to be one of the very best games I’ve played this year. And I’m still absolutely enamoured of its characters, setting, atmosphere, attention to detail, and the great bulk of its narrative. It stands proudly alongside narrative adventures like Gone Home, Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture, Dear Esther, Firewatch, and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter....I just wish Giant Sparrow had conjured up a final act that matched the enormously gratifying mysteries of the rest of the experience.

Fallout 4 is not the bar-raising, generation-defining post-apocalyptic RPG for which players like me might have hoped. But – and this is a great testament to Bethesda Softworks’ ability to transport us to fantastical worlds in which we become utterly engrossed – it is nonetheless a great piece of end of the world entertainment that’s managed to keep my hands firmly on my controller and my eyes glued to the screen and for dozens of enjoyable hours over the last week...Just don’t expect to be blown away with how it looks.

With great game mechanics, unique artwork and tough to master gameplay, Severed is well worthy of your time.

This new Xbox edition keeps everything that made the original one of the best puzzlers in years (except the VR part, which it turns out is pretty unnecessary) and adds a heaping helping of multiplayer to the mix.

While Mario Kart 8 wasn’t what I was exactly looking for in an MK game, it works well on its own terms, even if Battle Mode is the worst.

It’s not going to be Nintendo’s next Super Smash Bros., but Super Mario Maker is something close to essential for anyone who’s ever played a Super Mario Bros. game and thought: You know, I think I could do that.

If it’s not the best indie game of the year, it’s pretty bloody close to it.

Loads of interesting ideas and plenty of good intentions, but nothing sticks. It’s like it was made by a team of people with super short attention spans. They’d come up with a good idea, carry it half way, then get distracted by another thought, and do it all over again until ending up with an unfocused, unsatisfying, incomplete product.

But the real treasure here is the story, which is written beautifully and flows smoothly, even as players alter its direction by making narrative choices every few sentences. If nothing else, 80 Days makes a strong argument for interactive storytelling.

It’s not so much what has been added that makes Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag good — but rather, what it lacks. Assassin’s Creed III was a grim game. The world was grim, and its protagonist grimmer. Strip away the environment, and you’re left with the sea. Strip away the American Revolution, and you’re left with humour and plunder of a lawless pirate war. It’s a welcome change — but it also deviates a little too far from the Assassin’s Creed DNA. The core mechanics are there, yes, but after ACIII, it’s been hard not to wonder how much is left to say?

A deeply unnerving yet marvelously moving interactive entertainment.

All in all, though, Rift Apart makes for an exceptionally easy recommendation. It’s fun for gamers of all ages and genders, absolutely crammed with action, laugh-out-loud funny in parts, and — I can’t stress this enough — looks the way we all imagined the next generation of console games should. I think I speak for PlayStation 5 gamers everywhere when I say we’ll happily take a few more like this.

The between-mission meta game is better than ever, but if you’re like me the reason you play XCOM games is for the turn-based combat. And it, too, has been tweaked in fun new ways.

Dishonored 2 is the sort of experience that validates and reaffirms my choice to continue playing and being passionate about games as an adult...I just wish there were more like it.

Simply put, this one is special.

Fire Emblem: Fates is more iterative than revolutionary, but with three years between releases I was happy to return to the franchise’s familiar action and experience another fantastical saga filled with memorable heroes and villains. It’s another terrific entry in one of the very best turn-based strategy series currently going, handheld or otherwise.

Why are all of these old generation Pokémon appearing in the game? Where are all of the new Pokémon we were teased and promised? Sure, they’re there, but why are they so rare?

So to experience all the good of Deathloop you need also suck it up and suffer a bit of bad. Nothing too stinky, just enough to make you intermittently wrinkle your nose. But it’s worth it. Arkane’s newest isn’t perfect, but I suspect it will end up one of the most memorable games of 2021 simply because it’s so unlike everything out there at the moment. In a season of sequels and various licensed properties, it’s a treat to get to play something as original and unexpected as this.

Just a pleasure to play – and the first Xbox exclusive in some time likely to leave at least a few PlayStation owners green with envy. Download this one with confidence.

These levels are clearly designed to make us think about how to make our own levels rather than deliver the sort of flowing, satisfying play found in Mario’s best games. Some deliver lessons so short that they can literally be completed in just a few seconds.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI is a joy to play, and the best the series has produced. Which pretty much makes it the best 4X strategy game yet made. If you’ve $80 in your pocket and a half decent PC at home, this is a game that will happily and greedily consume as much of your leisure time as you allow it this fall and well beyond.

It’s a nice twist on traditional defense-style games. The strategy is surprisingly thoughtful, and the wacky traps rarely failed to bring a smile to my face.

Its carefully crafted story and dialogue rolls back and forth between the farcical lunacy for which the series has always been known – outlandish military science, over-the-top villains, and a heaping helping of gore – and moments of authentic emotion in which Blazkowicz is downright soulful, musing to himself on the afterlife, love, and family as though he were a character in a Terrence Malick film.

What will stick with me long after everything else about Night in the Woods fades away is its main protagonist, Mae. She is such a fully realized character that I felt like I knew her – or, at least, that I’ve known people like her.

It incorporates elements of arcade driving, simulation racing, storytelling, exploration, discovery, collection and even role-playing in ways that few other racing franchises have even tried and none can match. If there's space for just one racing game on your shelf, Forza Horizon 4 is probably the one it ought to be.

One thing is certain: Nioh isn’t just Dark Souls with Samurai and Yokai. It’s more than that. For those up to the challenge, it’s the first essential PlayStation 4 game of 2017.

It is at times dauntingly difficult, but there’s no denying Simogo’s slightly deranged Year Walk is among the most daring and innovative gaming experiences yet available for iOS.

It’s pretty much the best puzzle game ever created.

Dark Souls III hasn’t proven to be quite the revelation for me that was Bloodbourne, but during the time I’ve played there was little else I’d have rather been doing.

Why there are so few new Pokémon and such an emphasis on the old ones is really up to speculation, but all I know is that there’s a Chespin out there who needs a pet.

The combination of excellent level design, amazing art-style and spot-on combat should appeal to any gamer. But when you add in humorous dialogue and gads of tongue-in-cheek jokes, memes and homages to the video games, it elevates Guacamelee! to a must-purchase.

Pikmin 4 doesn’t revolutionize Miyamoto’s nearly quarter-century old concept. Instead, in much the same way as the pikmin themselves continue to gradually evolve, it grows the franchise’s ideas and themes slowly and naturally, with a bit of sci-fi whimsy and a feel-good, family-friendly vibe. I’m here for it.

It’s been a banner year for interactive entertainment, but Final Fantasy XVI manages to sit very near the top of the heap. An easy recommendation for fantasy and RPG fans.

Gran Turismo 7 is a bit of a throwback to the genre’s early days — and includes some of the series’ old shortcomings — but when it comes to accurate driving physics and sheer, unadulterated love of cars, it’s something close to peerless.

It might be the perfect remake.

It’s not perfect. There are moments of irritation, mostly during those Batmobile sequences. But when it’s firing on all cylinders – which is the bulk of the time – there’s just no other super hero game like it.

Effortlessly yet cinematically swinging from the Battery through the Village and Central Park and up to Harlem is itself worth the price of admission. And now that Insomniac has all the mechanical fundamentals firmly in place, one can hope that the inevitable sequel will give this talented studio the confidence to take a few more risks and create a truly inimitable superhero game.

The best compliment I can offer the multiplayer of TowerFall is that it makes me wish it had been around when I was 22 and still living with three roommates who would often spend an afternoon delving into hour-long matches of Super Smash Bros. Melee or Mario Kart 64/Double Dash. TowerFall would have made an excellent addition to that rotation.

I’m admittedly still a bit lost when it comes to how all of the upgrade systems, subclasses, and secondary objectives and tasks work. And I’m sad that — as usual — I’ll miss out on the new raid mission for lack of being able to schedule a big team of friends to get together for multi-hour play sessions. But perhaps this is just the cost of doing business as a casual Destiny player.

The sixth iteration in Turn 10’s reliably polished series capably lives up to the franchise’s revered name, but doesn’t dare exceed it.

Factor in multiplayer – both asynchronous turn-based play and a race mode that has players trying to beat each other to the cup with no regard to the number of strokes taken – and you have a game capable of delivering hours upon hours of fun.

Contributing hugely to Towerfall’s pitch-perfect tactile experience is the game’s pixel art visual design – a look that fills your lucky peepers with a sense of wonder rarely felt since those heady SNES days.

Tearaway is probably the most fun you can have on a PlayStation Vita.

Sometimes all a person wants is a way to forget about the rest of the world while mindlessly ripping mancubuses to bloody shreds. In this modest ambition, and others, Doom Eternal succeeds sparklingly.

The good news is that players whose gaming palates DO lean toward slaying nightmarish minions with tongue-twisting weapons are finally getting the game they probably wished Diablo III was to begin with.

If you’re looking for one of the most unusual and just plain fun games of the summer, you won’t find better.

We’ve got a classic and reverent Halo experience that embraces modern ideas where it makes sense. Perhaps I’m showing my age, but this is pretty much just what I want in a Halo game — or at least it will be with the eventual addition of a co-operative campaign mode and some multiplayer tweaks. Add in the fact that it’s included with Xbox Game Pass when it launches on December 8 — bringing millions of subscribers into the fold from day one — and Halo Infinite is clearly going to be the game to play on Xbox platforms for the foreseeable future.