I can see why longtime Famicom Detective Club producer Yoshio Sakamoto was so excited to share the story of this game. Emio - The Smiling Man is an intriguing story that takes us on a deeply emotional journey. The characters, both old and new, are very fun and easy to follow as well, not to mention coming out great in their animations and dialogue. I wish Emio stretched its legs a bit in terms of gameplay, but I also can’t argue too much with a working system that’s mostly meant to be a vehicle for an engaging mystery. If this is the final Famicom Detective Club game, it’s a strong one to go out on, but I can't help but hope we get more Famicom Mystery Club with this game acting as a stepping stone to the series’ future.

Sunderfolk proves to be an admirable debut from developer Secret Door. It features many of the best aspects of tabletop games, capably molded into a two-screen video gaming experience. Even the parts of the game that feel subpar, like the mundane story, can still be a net positive simply through the power of friendship. Whether folks come together through a weekly game night or through a short session on Discord, Sunderfolk's bold ideas shine through and will hopefully set the stage for more exciting campaigns down the road.

Kirby Air Riders is a beefy Switch 2 racer that’s constantly shifting gears, and it’s a damn good time behind the wheel.

Everything from the menu presentation to the game emulation is crafted with such care that its developers clearly understood the subject matter. It's the best Mega Man game collection to date, and shows how a classic series can be revitalized in the right hands.

The Order: 1886 feels like the perfect balance between story, gameplay, and atmosphere as Ready at Dawn has struck gold with its first attempt at an original IP. There may not be much to do after the credits begin to roll, but once they do, you’ll be met with a unique story told within an absolutely gorgeous game.

Laser League is delightfully chaotic.

Simultaneously a franchise cash-in and love letter to the classic LucasArts PC space combat games of the 1990s, Squadrons sticks to its mission and comes out the other side of a warp-speed jump successfully. Pummeling a star destroyer against the Wild Berry Skittles-esque backdrop of Yavin Prime doesn’t require my undivided attention or multiple scans of my credit card. Seems like a fair deal to me. 8/10 burning embers of Alderaan.

Until Dawn kept me intrigued from start to finish. I came for the campy teen horror movie feel and left extremely impressed with how well rounded and influential an experience Supermassive Games delivered. This is a game that you'll be talking to your friends and colleagues about for years to come as you'll find no two experiences are alike no matter how hard you try.

If you haven’t played the original version, Tales of Berseria Remastered is a must-play. It tackles revenge in a way you don’t see often, especially in games that look like this. Violet is an all-timer of an anti-hero protagonist, and the supporting crew of misfits are great to spend time with as well. The combat system is fun too, although it’s not as strict or expressive as others in the series. If you already know Berseria well, there isn’t really a great reason to show up outside of convenience and a new set of trophies if you’re not already hankering for a replay. I’d love to see older Tales games get the re-release treatment instead, but I can’t deny Berseria’s banger status, either. An enthusiastic but slightly confused thumbs up from me, then.

Most of these additions and tweaks are bonuses or minor quality-of-life improvements learned from later games. The core is intact, unchanged, and still spectacularly fun. As the saying goes, they don't make them like they used to. Ratchet & Clank argues that maybe they should.

Despite its quirks and difficulties, Not a Hero is a spectacularly addictive game.

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is another exemplary update for a classic game that desperately needed refreshing after remaining somewhat dormant for several console generations.

BlazBlue Entropy Effect X is one of those “pure gameplay” roller coasters that offer you tons of value just in terms of how awesome it feels to press buttons and really dive into what you can do. If you like BlazBlue already, great! Pick your favorite (hopefully they’re here) and dive until you want to throw up from the excess. If you aren’t into BlazBlue, it doesn’t matter - if you just like dope combat systems in 2D action games, that’s what’s on the table here and in heaping piles. Even the roguelikey build-crafting stuff takes a backseat in terms of relevance once you get your first few upgrades. It’s really just all about Ragna the Bloodedge fighting ninjas with his demonic blood powers. And that’s plenty.

As an offline package, Nintendo Switch Sports is a hoot just for Bowling and Chambara alone. The other games are worth trying at least once. Volleyball might even grow on some people. Unfortunately, Badminton, Tennis, and Soccer lost steam with me after a while, but half a package that I'll return to again and again is certainly nothing to sneeze at. I hope this is a collection that will continue to grow, because I had forgotten what a crowd-pleaser the Wii Sports era was. It's good to have that spirit back.

While Infinity Ward might have played it a little too safe when it came to the competitive multiplayer mode, the improvements in the single-player campaign and Call of Duty: Zombies are substantial. The single-player campaign, in particular, hooked me, and I hope that future campaigns in the Call of Duty universe get the same care.

Open Roads is the quintessential Annapurna Interactive video game. There are prominent actors giving authentic performances in a story that’s beautifully written, there’s a unique approach to art direction, and the music is top-of-the-line. I didn’t vibe with all of the design decisions, but it’s impossible to walk away from Open Roads without feeling at least a little contemplative about your own life journey and relationships.

Company of Heroes 3 is a splendid and rewarding RTS game. Tense battles, brilliant map design, and streamlined unit management make it easily one of the best in the genre, with the Italian campaign acting as an exciting blueprint for the series’ future. If Relic wants to use Company of Heroes to tell serious and significant stories, though, the team needs to commit to actually doing that beyond just giving them a surface treatment.

Fuser definitely has a few rough patches, like the Battles multiplayer and the slow rate of XP growth. Plus, let's face it, we can't all be as good as Marc Rebillet, so there are some features that players won't be able to take full advantage of without sounding ridiculous. But, for pure musical fun, there are few games in 2020 better than Fuser.

The Disney Afternoon Collection may not have the consistency of Capcom's previous work with the Eclipse Engine, thanks to its library varying in quality. But it is just as reverent and breezy, and the addition of the Rewind feature helps ease the journey into the past. If you were a fan of even a few of these games, you owe it to yourself to see them presented so respectfully for a modern audience.

They say the Tetris Effect happens when you start seeing Tetris blocks everywhere, but I'm starting to see Insane Robots chips and circuitry wherever I go. Does that mean I'm addicted?

Sonic Mania is at once a blast from the past and a wormhole to Sonic's future, bypassing everything between it and the early '90s. Come for the callbacks, stay to get a firsthand look at what Sonic's custodians have in store for his future.

Bramble: The Mountain King is as gorgeous as it is horrifying, with surprises lurking around every corner. The game excels at building tension and suspense while maintaining visual splendor throughout. Although the game isn’t particularly long–I rolled credits around 7 hours–it is an experience that horror game enthusiasts will not want to miss.

An excellent racer that’s every bit worth picking up to add to your arsenal of Nintendo Switch games. There are plenty of tracks, vehicles, and reasons to keep coming back for more. But the one you can’t ignore is the greatest of all: The speed. It may not be the racing game you asked for on the Switch, but it’s the racing game you didn’t know you needed.

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales will appeal to loads of gamers and I suspect it will be a hit for PlayStation owners this holiday season. While there isn’t as much to do this time around and what is included is mostly recycled, the asking price is lower than normal. Being Spider-Man is still as fun as it was in 2018 (and potentially more fun now at 60Hz) and Miles Morales is a character that is more compelling than Peter Parker. Should the few technical hiccups get sorted out, this will be a solid inclusion for any game library. Anyone grabbing a PS5 at launch would do well to grab a copy.

It may be too bogged down in its own story and look slightly dated, but the pure puzzle mechanics still work both in and out of the courtroom, and are bolstered by the crossing of ideas. It's more than the sum of its parts, and as a result is a nice treat.

Look at Wild Card Football as a late-round NFL draft pick that dramatically overachieves on the field. People likely didn't expect much from it, but what they have now is a pleasant surprise.

This colorful burst of anime goodness may not be flawless, but it's exemplary for the genre, and another of Arc System Works' great efforts. It's quite short and a bit on the shallow end, but when it comes to presentation and sticking close by to the anime, few titles have done it better. For newcomers, it's best to watch the series first, but for Kill la Kill faithful and Trigger enthusiasts, it's a great weekend rental or purchase.

As a revolutionary step forward for the arcade SHMUP, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing misses its mark. However, as a perfectly entertaining arcade romp, it does hit its target. Whether players boot it up and play a level at a time for the story or try to do it all in a single life in Arcade Mode, it hits all the right notes with engaging mechanics, fluid gameplay, challenging enemies that frequently fill the screen, and intense boss battles. CYGNI throws everything and the kitchen sink at players, sometimes to its detriment, because dozens upon dozens of enemies filling the screen did lead to occasional performance issues, even on the PlayStation 5. For a debut effort, KeelWorks should feel proud of CYGNI. It's also a foundation to build on, because there's certainly one in place to make something even better.