RDR2 is one of the best games of recent years that gives all the other popular “sandboxes” a thorough ass-kicking.

It’s neither a revelation nor a reimagining of the good old series, just a really, really fun platformer without the usual drawbacks of this genre.

Baldur's Gate 3 isn't a great game. It is a sloppy sketch of a great game.

The amazing art direction and style are on double duty in The Last of Us, because the game’s designers did not think its universe through. Yes, monsters are not the focal point of this story, but only three types is too few for a campaign spanning 12 to 15 hours. There are also human bandits, but a few encounters – and you’ve seen them all.

A few insignificant nitpicks aside, this is a prime example of a modern slasher, a crown jewel of this genre, a new definitive killer app for PlayStation 4.

However predictable the ending of BioShock Infinite is, it is the journey that counts, and you will not go away disappointed.

Elden Ring is massive, sometimes to its detriment. A thorough walkthrough might take up more than 100 hours to complete, and at some point it becomes clear that From Software did not have enough manpower to produce that much unique content. Still, it remains incredibly addictive even after those 100 hours pass…

It took CD Projekt RED three attempts to create an epic masterpiece. You will laugh, feel sorrow, and reflect on important matters in-between killing hundreds of monsters in a spectacular fashion. You will embark on a long, wild adventure tempted by the myriads of tantalizing “?” signs scattered across the map. In other words, I know what you’ll be doing this summer.

The narrative, the bread and butter of The Last of Us, is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it has powerful moments that only the boldest studios can create, massive cliffhangers and it’s vicious towards the game’s main characters. Some scenes even caused internal conflict within me. Yet at the same time, Druckmann’s story is rife with plot holes, contrivances, teleporting characters and inexplicable behavior — dramatic tension takes precedence over structure and logic, and it looks very jarring at times.

Epic, beautiful, clever, melodic, riveting game. Right now, it has just a few small (hopefully temporary) flaws, and absolutely no rivals on the horizon.

Persona 5 took the best parts of its predecessors and carefully evolved them without making any earth-shattering changes. The result is a more or less traditional Japanese RPG, but it’s so good that I’m ready to go on a limb and declare it one of the best JRPGs of the decade. If not *the* best.

Hades is so captivating that you can easily spend days trying to escape the realm of the dead.

The fourth installment of Uncharted is exactly what you were waiting for: awesome action sequences, kick-ass graphics, and, finally, a full point in the story of Nathan Drake.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is the first game in the series in a long time that I enjoyed. It expands the classic JRPG and FF VII Remake. And there is no doubt that Square Enix saved all the most interesting and exciting things for the final part of the trilogy.

In Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree, the developers went a little overboard with bold ideas. And yet the story of Miquella is smoothly integrated into the monumental epic of Elden Ring.

An interesting concept, a weak execution.

Blood and Wine should be used as an interactive workshop for other developers to show them how to create awesome game expansions.

I fell in love with Team Fortress 2 because in that game, you win by being smart and considerate instead of quickly sniping off everyone you see. Overwatch improves on this concept tenfold.

Bayonetta 2 is nothing less than the best game in its genre, and it’s a solid reason to buy a Wii U.

Metal Gear Solid V is amazing at times, and I enjoyed playing it, but there are so many embarrassing blunders and contradictions. Rich tactical gameplay vs an almost dead world. Fun HQ management and interesting characters vs an unfinished narrative and boring side quests. In some regards, this is a huge step back from previous Metal Gear games.

The best way to experience Shadow of the Colossus — play a couple of levels at a friend’s or use the Share Play function. This game was a hit in its time, on its original platform, but we all moved on, and now the remastered version feels archaic, especially its gameplay.

Paradox Interactive will be growing Crusader Kings 3 for years to come, but don’t be afraid — this is not an early access release, but a full-fledged game that often makes you stay “just for one more turn.”

Resident Evil 4 is a good remake. It is not as creative as RE 2 reincarnation, and it follows the original too diligently, but it still looks very decent.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's Souls-inspired, turn-based combat system can ruin your mood. If you can handle it, you'll discover a rich, surreal world with an interesting story full of emotion.

You could, if you wanted, berate ZA/UM for having loading screens between tiny rooms, minor bugs or their numerous love letters to Black Isle Studios, but nitpicking Disco Elysium is just… pointless. It's a one-of-a-kind game that channels the wildest ambitions of their creators and defies isometric classics instead of blindly imitating them.

If you’re a fan of hardcore games, try Dark Souls 2. It is not as memorable as its predecessor, and yet it is still a phenomenal experience.

Alan Wake 2 is good at times because of a director’s work, but it often fails to deliver as a horror and action-adventure game.

A few years ago, Spelunky was a unique phenomenon. Now, when its ideas have been adopted and improved upon by Super House of the Dead Ninjas, Binding of Isaac, and Rogue Legacy, this remake is simply first among equals.

NBA 2K13 is very smart game that offers so many tactical possibilities.

Visual Concepts just needs to add some spit and polish to turn this game into the best sports sim of our time.

Brothers, unlike many recent indie hits, is very down to earth. It is not rife with intellectual puzzles like Braid, it is not as open to interpretations as Journey. It just makes you think about simple human values.

To master all the missions and complete all levels of difficulty is a challenging, but riveting task. That’s why Into the Breach is worth playing over and over; just like chess, you play it not just to win the game, but to experience the process and see new situations unfold.

The first expansion to The Witcher 3: Wild Heart is hands down the best expansion of this year.

Resident Evil 2 is thrilling enough to warrant a second walkthrough to get that extended ending. It’s a great remake, but, more importantly, it confidently stands on its own. This is the best introduction to the Resident Evil series and to survival horror in general.

Bland location design aside, Devil May Cry 5 is excellent in all other aspects. Deep combat system, charismatic characters, nice graphics, vibrant soundtrack — this is one hell of a crazy-ass meaty slasher.

It seems that From Software has finally realized that bad game design decisions were a poor addition to an already uncompromising game, and fixed them, while keeping the same level of ruthlessness.

Pillars of Eternity is a good RPG even when you play it without your rose-tinted nostalgia glasses.

Dead Cells, despite its hardcore leanings, is not game that makes you slam your keyboard with a fist or throw your gamepad at a wall when you miss a jump or die. Combat and platforming elements are top-notch, and mistakes is the best possible experience you’ll get here. Don’t worry, you’ll get back whatever stuff you lost in 30 minutes or less.

Tekken 8 is a solid fighting. It has a lot of game modes, and it is fun to play even for a newcomer.

No Time Left is Telltale's best effort to date. It has the longest heart-to-heart talk in the entire game, the most exciting action sequence featuring Lee, a hatchet and a horde of zombies, and a quiet, emotional climax.

This is a solid and filled with new content remaster of one of the most popular and technologically advanced first-person shooters of the 1990s.

There is no thrilling story, colorful characters or allure of the high seas. Instead, Return of the Obra Dinn is a bold, massive puzzle, an exquisite workout for your 'gray cells'. Unfortunately, the innovative gameplay mechanic gradually loses its appeal and excitement towards the finale, and I had to muster my willpower in order to beat the game in one go.

Dogtown without a single dog in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty looks more like a Potemkin village than an appropriate scenery for the final act of a protracted tragedy.

There is enough spectacular action to keep you occupied for a couple of weeks, but Horizon is not the hot new killer app for PS4.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is better than the first installment in terms of gameplay and narrative. But unfortunately, developers have created primarily a linear game. The open world and all related things are rather attached as an extra.

This is probably the most impressive, inventive story about a family curse. And one of the best interactive dramas I've played.

Jumping off Dark Souls, FromSoftware removed all the best components of its hit series in order to make Sekiro. It's a decent slasher if you like honing reflexes or breaking bricks with your forehead. More casual players will quickly get bored, though.

It would have been cool if every nation added in The Old Gods got the same detailed treatment as the ones from the Legacy of Rome expansion, but still, this is a fascinating journey into the unforgiving Dark Ages.

It’s a pity that Naughty Dog cut this episode from the original game. Yes, it breaks the pace, but the story is worth it.

Exhilarating, colorful, mindless – that's Far Cry 3 in three words.

Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles is a solid remaster of an excellent tactical RPG. While the game was previously exclusive to the PSP in Europe, anyone can now enjoy it on modern platforms.

If you like XCOM, and you want more of the same — well, here you go.

To make fun of video games, just like they do it in The Stanley Parable, you have to love them with all your heart.

Despite the weak diplomacy layer and clumsy UI, Civilization 6 as a whole outshines its shortcomings.

Battlefield 1 is an exemplary multiplayer shooter and, looks like, the only decent game about World War I in the entire history of the FPS genre.

Legacy of the Void is hardly a milestone in the RTS genre, but it is a nice bookend to the trilogy. Blizzard has finally fulfilled its promise to StarCraft fans.

It’s a massive, deep, exciting sea adventure, although the developers do run aground on some reefs here and there.

Like Jason Statham’s character in Crank, Doom Eternal needs adrenaline every waking second. So long as you drown hordes of demons in their own blood, it feels like a perfect GOTY contender, but during quiet moments, Doom Eternal withers and forces you to ponder unpleasant questions. id Software needs to course-correct, otherwise we’ll be playing Super Doom Slayer’s Bros in a few years.

All in all, it's a decent platformer worthy of your 10-20 hours of free time. But, as far as metroidvanias go, there is so much stuff to improve in the potential sequel, for example, a map, a teleport system, a bag of collectable items and lots of well-hidden secrets.

Playing Ori and the Blind Forest is akin to having a piano lesson — it is fun only when you press exactly the right keys. Get off the mark for just a split second, and the entrancing melody is gone, the tempo is ruined, and all you can hear is the sound of your fingers frantically tapping the keys.

Nioh has come a long way since its inception. It's not ideal, but very impressive nonetheless. Its brutal, unforgiving combat in a fresh setting more than makes up for flawed narrative.

Vast underwater worlds of Subnautica are worth exploring, but don’t forget to bring a huge tank of liquefied patience with you.

Trails in the Sky: First Chapter is a worthy remake of a niche JRPG. Fans of the genre shouldn’t miss it.

IO Interactive finished its trilogy with a great finale, and this episode is the best of three, tying up the epic World of Assassination series in a beautiful bow.

This is probably the most original iOS game since Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.

Creating a fun fighting game is akin to art. Only the select few have mastered this art form to perfection over the decades: Katsuhiro Harada, Daisuke Ishiwatari and NetherRealm’s Ed Boon.

A good remake of the introductory part of the cult-favorite Final Fantasy VII. It improves on the original game in almost all aspects, yet lacks in scale and drops the ball at the very end.

Originality, tactical depth, variety — you’ll find them plenty in Crypt of the NecroDancer. ‘90’ is not only a score but the minimum amount of hours you’ll spend obsessing over this game.

This is a solid RPG/action game. Some elements of the game are unusual and fresh for single-player parts of the Final Fantasy series, but some are too dull and rudimentary.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is sometimes clumsy, just like Indiana Jones himself. But once you start this game, it's impossible to stop playing.

It’s a spectacular summer blockbuster, and it keeps you entertained until you notice that as far as creativity goes, it’s been running on fumes the whole time.

Spider-Man is a stark example of an outdated "sandbox game” whose goal is not to entertain but rather preoccupy players, and it uses every cliche in the book to do that.

TowerFall: Ascension is polished to almost perfection in both style and substance.

On the surface, Hollow Knight looks like a simple game that heavily borrows from ages old retro cliches, but this is a beautiful, epic adventure.

Too much hand-holding, some glaring omissions in the narrative and its somewhat weak AI do let Deathloop down, but still, it’s a rare and exciting game made for both fans of Corvo Attano and those who never set foot in the Empire of the Isles before.

You move blocks and jump around only to realize that Tearaway is a fun, but shallow experience. There is no cohesive narrative, no gameplay mechanics development – just a series of almost unrelated events. Tearaway is an equivalent of a children’s book that people read to their kids at night, while the mysterious Message is just an empty ploy to keep you playing for 6-7 hours.

With this expansion and major updates, Blizzard finally did what it should have done two years ago – make Diablo 3 a fun game to play.

Nice-looking, with bright, colorful landscapes, lots of nostalgic references to the old RPGs of yore, and a very high degree of freedom, this game wanted to grab as much audience as it could. But in reality, only somewhat masochistic power players will be able to beat it. Are you one of them? Welcome to Rivellon, then!

A poignant story of devotion and hope, of love and duty, of good and justice, a rollercoaster ride of unexpected twists that keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very last second.

No one asked Guybrush to return, but he came anyway and crashed his own party. In the beginning, you try your best to acclimate to the unusual visual style, hoping that your patience will eventually pay off. In the end, you wonder how they managed to screw up a decent game with such a vile ending.

Silent Hill 2 Remake is a bit like Alan Wake 2 – also a very ambitious horror game with a lot of flaws. However, I give credit to Bloober Team: I think Bloober Team did their job better than Remedy Entertainment.

You will probably remember three hours of playing Inside as three best hours of computer entertainment in a very long time.

Last year, I called Crusader Kings 2 the best game that Paradox had ever produced. Now it is joined by Europa Universalis 4.

Just like other Nintendo’s first-party offerings for Wii U, Pikmin 3 carefully walks the same twice-beaten path. And it is refreshingly stern with the players – colorful vistas and charming characters hide a hardcore game.

It's an amazing journey — clever, spectacular and exciting. Fire up your furnaces, ladies and gentlemen, but don't forget how treacherous those twinkling stars can be.

It’s a bit weird to laud a sequel for a simple scale-up of its scope, but in case of Warhammer 2, this is the most drastic change. Thanks to it, the campaign feels like a full-fledged Total War game, rather than an amusing experiment.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is able to charm with artistic solutions, beautiful mechs, gloomy atmosphere of corporate wars. But there are too many of annoying factors in the game.

Gone Home is an ideological sister to Dear Esther, only not as beautiful or mysterious.

It’s a great reason to (re)visit Abe and his odd world, especially if you haven’t played the original game.

The depth and scope of Football Manager 2013 are impressive. I only wish that the developers hadn't taken the 2-in-1 approach where they bundled a traditional version that is in need of polish, with a simplified Football Manager Classic aimed solely at new players. Pleasing old fans while bringing in fresh blood is a very risky balancing act. Sports Interactive should think about where to focus their efforts.

Imagine the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider in a different setting using a modified engine and sans useless multiplayer, because the rest is pretty much the same.

The Nonary Games is an awesome compilation for all true fans of adventure games.

Angry Birds Star Wars is a solid game based on a tired concept.

Death Stranding is asking you to find variety in a daily rut, cooperation possibilities for a character who has fear of contact, scientific explanations in clear-cut mysticism. Today, you’re annoyed that the story doesn’t move forward, and you have to trek into the same ghost-infested area as before, but tomorrow you’ll gladly spend a few hours hauling resources for a new highway and feeling good about it. This source of joy is very weird and defies explanation.

Of all the remakes that were released in 2014, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth is truly a born again game. What once was just a sketch, turned into a beautiful painting.

Spectacular, loud, bare-bones – that’s Titanfall for you. Respawn wanted it to become popular so bad that they went overboard and cut off too much meat.

It’s a standard ”enhanced port” from Wii U to Switch with minimal changes, but those who missed it the first time around will enjoy this tropical romp.

Persona 3 Reload is a fourth version of Persona 3. No version of the game can be called ultimate, but Reload deserves that title more than any other.