This will be a better game once the community goes to work, but I’m not willing to drive my truck over this bridge just yet. 5/10 snapping steel beams.

Deliver Us Mars is a decent narrative adventure, even with a fairly unmemorable story and some dull characters. The puzzles were simple enough and the beautiful environments were enough to make me want to keep going. Some control quirks and unpleasant character models did bog the experience down slightly, however. This game isn't bad to the point that I'd want to blast it into the sun, but it has enough quirks that it never fully reaches the stars like it should.

Thief has its hang-ups, particularly with frustrating loading times and repetitive gameplay that will have players unlocking the same doors over and over again. However, Eidos Montreal has captured the essence of stealth gameplay with their take on Thief.

Song of the Deep has a sweet and appealing core at its center, but small frustrations make it difficult to appreciate those qualities.

As someone who plays a lot of games, it is very rare to question “Why am I doing this?” “Why am I getting platinum trophies?” “Why am I levelling up every sub-class?” “Why am I prestiging?” We do it because it's fun, or satisfying, or because it will reward us in some way. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap had me questioning those rewards and that satisfaction in a very fundamental way. I have leveled up characters, beat hidden bosses, and gotten golden gun skins… But to what end though? So I can do it again? So I can move the boulder ever slightly further up the mountain before it slides back down again? For most games, we do it because the answer is, “It's fun.”...Simply put, the act of playing Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is not fun enough to abate that existential question from rattling around your head while you play.

Survive the Fall is a fun game that does a lot right, but its rough edges, bugs, and optimization issues also mean it never reaches the heights it could. There are a lot of good ideas here, and patient fans of base management and survival games can find a lot to love. Sadly, that love is not unconditional, and your patience may be tested sometimes while playing.

At its center, it is a hardcore RPG that will reward players that invest in it heavily and it has more than enough value at its lower price. The game’s most significant issues have been addressed with a patch, thankfully, and any that step into the world of Andal is in for a treat.

I walked into Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles without much knowledge on the source material, but the game's approach to its story had some highs and lows. On the one hand, much of the gameplay felt thoroughly average and there wasn't a lot that made me want to keep coming back. However, the presentation did, at the very least, make me interested in the anime. There were a lot of cinematics, maybe too many, but if their purpose was to draw interest to the anime, it did that job well. Not having every fighter out of the box is going to be really frustrating for some players, but if nothing else, experiencing the Demon Slayer story is a pretty fun ride.

Crime O’Clock is an enjoyable throwback to hidden object games, with modern visual and mechanical design elements that eliminate the frustrations of the genre. Its art style and level of detail make each level a visual treat in addition to a challenging puzzle. I look forward to seeing if Bad Seed is able to expand on the experience with additional levels and puzzles down the road.

The entire investigation was worth it and this is an origin worth exploring for any fan of mysteries or the great Sherlock Holmes.

The game is an easy recommendation for anyone that has been pining for the shoot-’em-up glory days or any fan of arcade-style games. There is a lot of trial and error that is inherent with games of this nature and if rote memorization coupled with some light strategy in weapon choices doesn’t sound like your idea of fun, you might not find it here. There are multiple difficulty modes, however, that add continues and alter some boss patterns. I found the easiest setting offers a fair challenge while still teaching lessons to take into the more demanding difficulties. R-Type Final 2 is a prime example of a competent product that fills a niche perfectly. Even though R-Type Final was meant to be the last game in the franchise, this new sequel proves there’s still some fight left for shmups.

The Devil in Me often subverts your expectations in such a way that diminishes player agency and makes your own choices feel arbitrary. Although its added gameplay features make for a more interactive experience, they hardly break the mold and were poorly executed. Technical issues tarnished the experience overall. The game still relies heavily on QTE-based survival mechanics and does little to set itself apart from its predecessors. What had the potential to be a truly horrific conclusion to The Dark Pictures Anthology amounts to little more than a lackluster thriller with a predictable narrative that opts for shock value and jumpscares over quality.

Times like these I’m glad I get to blindly jump into games like Outcast - A New Beginning. I admit, I’d never give a game like this the time of day if I saw it on a shelf or in a Steam list or whatever. But I urge people out there who like retro sci-fi or classic games in that 90s PC style to give Outcast a shot. It’s charming and silly without being corny, and has a pitch-perfect game feel when it comes to flying around the world and fighting. The storytelling doesn’t hit any home runs, but the sum of the other parts hold the game up regardless. It’s a good time, and bigger, more expensive games could stand to learn a thing or two from it at the end of the day.

Madden NFL 25 isn’t a bad game, it’s just the latest mild variation of the same game I’ve been playing for the past half-decade. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that modern Madden games won’t be better than “just alright” until there’s some sort of major change in the philosophy behind how they’re developed and released, but at least I’ve got College Football to go back to.

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions marks the franchise's return to gaming after a ten-year hiatus. This action-sports title delivers on the charisma and charm that have become synonymous with the series, despite a middling story. While there are some minor gameplay issues, Tamsoft does a great job at integrating the over-the-top and stylized action into core soccer mechanics. Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is a more than solid addition to the long list of adaptations of the classic manga.

Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp Complete does a great job at taking the freemium version of the 2017 game and offering a more complete package, albeit at a premium price. For those that never had the joy of setting up camp when it first came out, this could very well be your next mobile game addiction. But for me, there just isn’t enough here to warrant diving back in with the same fervor I did seven years ago. While this collector goblin is glad she’s got all her digital knicknacks stored in-game, it’s time for this tired camper to find a new place to rest.

Hauntii has some flaws, but it's short enough with enough unique ideas that I'd say it's worth experiencing. The opening alone is a brilliant example of the type of artistic expression that games are capable of producing. Even if the majority of the rest of the game doesn't quite hit its lofty heights, it's still an enjoyable way to pass a weekend.

DICE may have failed to address all of the problems of its predecessor, but it completely re-captured what Mirror’s Edge was all about. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst is a great way to bring new fans–and old fans alike–back into the world of Faith Connors.

Unfortunately, it's tough to center a game's progression around cosmetics when the skater that's being customized looks so bland. Add to that a limited availability of game modes at launch and Roller Champions gets off to a rough start at the track. Fortunately, the core experience is enjoyable enough that it could feasibly pick up some momentum and score some goals down the road.

It's a game that doesn't have the courage to be itself, so it throws every half-baked design idea it has at you instead. Next time, Nintendo, listen to the rabbit: trust your instincts.

I Am Fish can be a delightful and imaginative romp, especially when Bossa Studios gets creative with its level design and world building. Whether players experience that whole world will depend on how much of a tolerance they have for the game's painfully strict physics, which can become enraging, especially when combined with the game's camera. But, even with its issues, Bossa Studios deserves credit for putting something whimsically different together while also combining it with a heartwarming story about fish friendship.

Lone Ruin will test your patience, but let’s all be grateful the arcade action comes without the arcade cost. The “just one more try” gameplay benefits greatly from the snappy load screens and menus, even on the Nintendo Switch version, making it easier to recommend this brutally difficult and magical indie hit from Super Rare Games.

Warhammer: Chaosbane is an absolute treat for fans of the Warhammer universe. If you like dungeon crawlers or Warhammer in general, you should definitely pick this up – especially if you don't have a phone. Be sure to check out the full review above for an exciting look at Warhammer: Chaosbane, which should absolutely be on your radar when it comes to Game of the Year considerations later in 2019.

2024 has been a year so full of RPGs I can’t begin to imagine ever being able to finish all of them. Coming across Harold Halibut in the middle of so many massive, complicated adventures was a breath of fresh air. Just being able to slow down, soak in all the impressive minutia of a world built entirely by hand in an art studio, and wonder about what it was like to construct and digitize, felt like a release. I was able to let go a bit of having control over every piece of a game, and still have a story in front of me that was thoughtful and engaging enough to sit with me well after the credits rolled. Even the parts that felt rough around the edges were refreshing, as they enhanced the very human feelings that are so clearly front and center here. Harold Halibut is the kind of game I discovered by accident, but one I’m grateful to have come across in that way.

Despite its loud style, Shuten Order doesn’t land with the same explosive impact as its predecessors. It has a more tame energy, and seems more interested in being a true mystery story at the expense of Too Kyo Games’ more absurdist tendencies. That stuff is still in there of course, but it’s almost like Shuten Order takes itself a bit more seriously. And there’s something to that train of thought, especially since the biggest boon from its anthology-like structure is a greater emphasis on character development compared to games like Hundred Line or Rain Code. Many of the gameplay gimmicks ring hollow, with generic puzzles and busywork interrupting the stuff you actually care about and threatening to drag the momentum down. I mostly appreciated the novelty of this approach, especially as a fan of short stories as a format. Let’s just do without the slider puzzles next time, please!

As a player, a lot of what’s on the table with The Outlast Trials ain’t for me. The prospect of time investment for a survival horror-style game combined with the Fortnite-style game loop makes my brain hurt. But I understand why it works for the folks who are down, and looking at those sickos having a great time in the Early Access version is a vicarious sort of fun you can have from the critic’s position. I don’t enjoy it, but I “get” it, and being able to see the enjoyment elsewhere helps wrap my head around the game holistically and fill in the blanks. I open this window into my brain for y’all to help explain why a game I won’t be picking back up again still gets a good score!

I would have liked to have seen this game get a more polished release, lessening the grinding and leveling, improving the world-swapping abilities, and adding more things to participate in overall that aren't just hacking through enemies. It's pretty enough, but perhaps it was mainly meant to inhabit the Beyond.

There’s combat and light puzzle-solving, but at its core, High on Life is a narrative sandbox adventure that requires little more than your time and attention. As someone who’s been feeling a little stressed and seasonally depressed lately, I sincerely appreciated that (and the ability to watch Tammy and the T-Rex, that’s also pretty rad).