An amalgam of excellent new augments, though for the most part it stays the same and implements new looks and skins. I'm not sure there's enough that it actually changes from the other game, but there's still plenty here to enjoy and hungrily devour, like Pac-Man and ghosts, if you're a diehard fan or even have a passing interest in the game.

While the heavy tilt towards simulation provided by Project Cars 2 is not really in my wheelhouse, I can still objectively see it for what it is, a love letter to driving that hardcore players will find irresistible.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is a testament to what great writing talent can accomplish. Even with the game's increasingly archaic engine and an art style that isn't quite as unique as it used to be, The Final Season offers a story that ranks up there with the original first season. It is a marvelous piece of work and acts as a bookend to one of the best gaming sagas of the decade.

MLB 14: The Show is another excellent entry in the series from Sony San Diego, with enough "new" to make it feel fresh. Online isn't quite where it should be just yet, but what's here will keep you swinging for the fences regardless. The PS3 version is excellent, and establishes a solid base for the PS4 version coming next month.

Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy isn’t going to light the world on fire and turn millions of gamers on to a lost RPG franchise of gold, but it is neat that it exists and hasn’t gone through any weird legal filters. Sega heads finally don’t have to be a savvy enough person to be aware of niche-within-a-niche fan translations to get a little slice of history of their favorite puzzle game. Mystery Dungeon sickos may be disappointed with a game that looks like one of those but thoroughly isn’t, but the combat mechanics feel distinct and fun to play with even if their busyness doesn’t always translate to a challenge. Sometimes a dungeon-crawler can just be cute, and that’s okay.

I walked away from Captain Spirit wanting to know more about where the story is headed, but even without the game's overt hints pointing to the eventual Life is Strange sequel, I enjoyed Chris' story for what it was. And given the current state of the world, it's nice to experience a story from the eyes of an innocent child. Captain Spirit challenges players to approach it with a different perspective and that challenge is one everyone should welcome.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 offers an excellent framework on which more can be built. The world, especially the Zone, is just oozing with style, and the systems that are present are worth investing in, despite how shallow they can feel compared to other games in adjacent genres. Honestly, if I wasn’t so enamoured with this gorgeous world, I’d be scoring this lower. Similarly, if there was just more to do and richer systems in place to engage with, it’d be higher. I think that those out there who love the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise will feel at home in this game, as the world is stunning, the sense of loneliness and isolation permeates everything, and the combat against the human factions is intense. Fortunately, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is still on its path to greatness. It’s just going to need a little more love to get it to its destination. I just hope the rest of the journey is a bit faster than Skif’s walking speed.

It's honestly a shame that the story quality takes such a dip compared to previous games and can't complement the combat improvements. This is a game that trades in eight captivating character arcs for one mediocre one, and quality-of-life improvements like "The Story So Far" recaps at the start of each chapter can only help so much. There are very few exceptions in this game where you feel like a companion Traveler character has a satisfying storyline, but the rest of them feel faceless and interchangeable. Honestly, this series deserves better than that, especially given how much I enjoyed the game's town-building component. It's one step forward, one step back for Octopath Traveler 0. Or maybe that's eight steps forward and eight steps back? Really, who's counting?

I went into The Axis Unseen hoping it would be my jam, and it was. It even made me okay with not having a map (well, after a while), and as someone who has a terrible sense of direction on their best day, that’s no mean feat. I just wanted to explore its world, fight new monsters, and see what I could find. Mostly, though, I think about the stories I got to tell while playing it, like that bit with the Elder Horned Beast I told you about at the beginning here. A little while after I got the fire arrows, I realized I could probably kill a Tree Golem with them, and when I finally ran into one, I finally took it down. It was incredible. And there are so many stories like that in The Axis Unseen. I hope the technical issues get fixed, but even with them, I think Just Purkey Games has made something special. Just... be careful if you venture into this realm between realms? You’re off the edge of the map. Here be dragons. But if you play it right, the scariest thing in this world might just be you.

MLB The Show 23 is another solid addition in what is the best annual sports sim franchise. San Diego Studio continues to show a deep knowledge and understanding of baseball and the culture surrounding it. The addition of The Negro Leagues is a massive improvement to the overall product, and the ability to scan your face into Road to the Show is a fun new feature as well. Outside of some minor league woes, MLB The Show is another grand slam.

There are a few open-world games that sit above the rest, but Assassin’s Creed Odyssey falls just short of them. Its use of systems that appear in other open-world Ubisoft titles make this a bit like a yearly installment of a sports franchise looking to build on last year than a genre-defining experience.

I once again have to point to Minishoot’ Adventures succeeding where it matters most: execution. Genre mashups are plentiful these days, and sometimes the math is off, or there’s something incongruous the developers struggle to overcome. I think of games like TMNT: Tactical Takedown or Pac-Man World 2’s bizarre Sonic DLC as recent examples of mashups going hard in the paint and nailing premises that sound odd on paper. Minishoot’ Adventures definitely stands among them as a new stellar example of presenting a strange-sounding concept and nailing it at a base level.

PGA Tour 2K25 places plenty of pressure on EA Sports PGA Tour to step up its game. The two-year hiatus has given 2K’s latest effort, with its solid gameplay and improved graphics, a slight edge over its rival. It’s disappointing that a couple of the new mechanics in MyCareer don’t go far enough, and the microtransaction shenanigans with the equipment and locked skill trees have been shoehorned in unnecessarily. Still, the game is sitting at the top of the leaderboard when it comes to golf sims and is looking back at EA to see if it can catch up or be left in the sand trap.

Children of the Sun excels where it counts. It’s a cerebral puzzle in which you weave a bullet between targets, and solving the puzzle is dangerously satisfying.

It feels like Battlefield, it works like Battlefield, and it has plenty of opportunities for amazing things to happen that have only ever happened in a Battlefield game. It’s nice to see DICE returning to the roots of what makes this series so amazing, and I’m happy that, for the first time in years, a new Battlefield game doesn’t feel like it is in the middle of an identity crisis.

There’s a lot to digest with the latest entry in the series – from new mechanics and weapons to the return of some iconic demon classes – and Doom Eternal is one hell of a good time.

The way in which you cut your own destiny within Wrath of the Righteous might be as close to the creative freedom of a proper tabletop RPG campaign as I've gotten out of a video game adaptation of one.

Despite the lack of multiplayer and fetch-quests that interrupt the blood-spilling action, Wolfenstein: The New Order is a welcome return to form for the series. Its gameplay is good fun, whether you prefer blasting enemies to bits or being sneaky-like. The beautiful presentation makes the most out of the new hardware, and it squeezes some impressive life out of older systems. Blazkowicz's return has a long time coming, but Machine Games has assured that it was worth it.

Remnant: From the Ashes is immediately familiar and infinitely enjoyable. Gunfire Games has created something really special. The randomized experience means that subsequent playthroughs feel fresh while offering continued purpose through leveling, alternate boss kills, and weapon acquisition. Though it does have a few rough edges with pacing and story, Remnant: From the Ashes takes its rightful place at the Soulsborne table.

Moss is a fantastic game with a story that will draw players into its world and it has some great visuals to back it up. While there is some death and darkness to the title, I would still consider it a family friendly title, but maybe not something for the young, young kiddies.

Dead or Alive 6 has complex, satisfying combat and enough variety to keep players of all skill levels happy. It has great graphics, it's stylish, and it's packed with bonuses. It's also full of what still feels like unintentional humor, which somehow makes the experience more of a spectacle. Sadly, the unimpressive online infrastructure and convoluted character customization serve as two big blots that mar the overall experience.

The premise behind Code Name: STEAM is so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but enjoy myself the more I played it. It doesn’t go very far beyond a “there are aliens at this location, get rid of them” type of story, but its gameplay, as brutal as it can be at times, can be rewarding when you figure out just the right combination of squad members to use during missions.

I loved Wild Hearts from the moment that a giant flower-infested rat spawned an entire towering cherry blossom tree in the middle of our epic first fight, and my love only grew as I experienced its weapons, gadgets, environments, music, and other creatures.

Darkest Dungeon 2 offers an addicting gameplay loop and satisfying systems.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a thoroughly enjoyable spin on the Borderlands formula, but it’s still very much a Borderlands game. Fans of the series will surely enjoy the new spin-off, but don’t expect to be the one that finally grabs you if you haven’t been a fan of the franchise up until this point. Either way, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands does enough to solidify its place among the better entries in the Borderlands franchise.

Action-RPGs, especially ones that didn’t have “Devil May Cry” in the title back in the PS2 games, were an actively evolving genre back in the PS2 days. The rules were still being written, and many games didn’t have the depth or complexity we often take for granted these days. Raidou’s debut was one of those, a niche within a niche within a niche that had interesting ideas but only so much runway to explore them. Raidou Remastered: The Mystery of the Soulless Army is an attempt to bring an old school, fan favorite character to the modern Megami Tensei fanbase, but one that’s afraid to present the original’s rough, experimental edge while simultaneously too risk-averse to swing with a full remake. So much like the Frankentitle, we have a Frankenupdate. Neither historically accurate nor boastfully made-over, what we have is… weird! Neat, but weird.

SoulCalibur VI is an incredible package, only bogged down by a few minor issues, and one that should be near the top of any fighting game fan's library.

Boyfriend Dungeon is an impressive matchup of two genres that I’d never think would make a decent pair. It juggles interesting personal entanglements with challenging action gameplay via its dungeons. Though it could really benefit from some depth to its romantic structure, it’s not enough to sour what is overall a fascinating experience.