If you’re a bigtime Marvel head and your goal is to maximize your collection of Marvel video games, then look no further than the Marvel MaXimum Collection as a hefty step forward in that endeavor. Pun intended. For a low price you get a fat stack of games, and if you ignore the fact that several of them are probably bargain bin occupiers in retro game stores right now, that’s not a bad deal from a collector’s point of view. You can hop online and have fun with X-Men, check out the other games out of varying degrees of curiosity, then admire the thing on your shelf once you’re done. That’s fine! Also, it’s easier than ever to hit your unsuspecting friends with Silver Surfer, and that’s always a hoot. Just don’t expect to set this bad boy up next to… any other reputable retro compilation.

Despite the developer's pedigree with slower-moving games like Echo Night, it had great difficulty putting together a meaningful narrative that was pleasurable in any real way to watch unfold. If From Software opts to create another VR title in the future, I hope it's at the very least a different genre.

I will give Kill It With Fire credit for running smoothly on my PC and being a bug-free (groan) experience from the start to finish of its uncommonly short run time. The one fear-inducing music cue it uses repeatedly was worth a half-chuckle the first time I heard it, so I will give credit there. I don’t feel like there is anything here I can recommend to players unless they are deathly afraid of spiders or want to fake scream for a livestream show or two. The spiders can’t even hurt you, so the stakes here are literally zero for those not already stricken with bug phobia.

Phantom Breaker: Omnia is a really interesting anime fighting game with an eclectic cast of characters, even if some of those characters’ art styles look strange and out of place. An interesting and easy-to-understand fighting system also means being able to specialize any given character with the game’s three systems and further boosting playstyle variety.

If you’re a fan of Umamusume Pretty Derby, Party Dash is worth getting. Its cute retro art direction manages to capture the energy and charisma of the franchise even if it's a little lackluster on the surface level. The PC port I played ahead of release ran perfectly fine but being able to use resolutions above 1080p would've been nice. What is here is a great and will delight fans but might not be enough to turn newcomers into Umamusume-believers.

As a Metroidvania-enjoyer, I largely had a good time with Inayah - Life After Gods. There’s a creative world to explore, some truly impressive art and animation, and the weapons doubling as your door keys and fake sequence-breaking gadgets was awesome. Combat was a real downer, though, and the awkward map and enormous rooms made for some unpleasant backtracking. Even if you don’t end up in a goofy situation like I did, you’ll feel the pace dragging down. It’s probably a good idea to start with the sword.

Gauntlet is the perfect party game. It brings people together while tearing them apart. There's fast action that's easy to pick up for more casual players, and a decent selection of relics for players that want to make to experiment with ways to make their character an unstoppable loot grabbing killing machine.

Project Cars 3 is the first game to feature the all-new 8th generation Corvette, a car that driving enthusiasts were itching to get their hands on. It is used in the opening tutorial where its grand first impression is wasted on a two-lap quagmire of bad AI drivers and garish UI popups. Maybe that Mad Box console will come out one day and make things better

King of Seas does lots of things well, from its visual presentation to the simplicity of its sailing mechanics. It touches base with many of the things that made classics out of the games that came prior while streamlining the experience into something that feels like a store-brand version of the thing I actually wanted.

Hatoful Boyfriend is very much a mixed bag, in terms of story quality, but also proves to be a quaint curiosity. If nothing else, the anime art style is a pleasure to behold, with some bright and engaging set pieces on display.

Costume Quest 2 fits in wonderfully as a Halloween tale, but its RPG mechanics and whimsical quests fit in just as well at all times of the year. It's charming and sweet enough to induce cavities, which really should be what Halloween is all about.

A more coherent story and confident use of setting could've helped Ad Infinitum live up to its full potential. The dilapidated mansion, nightmare trenches, and horrible creatures still give it a unique identity that goes some way toward making up for the narrative shortcomings. However, I hope there's a "next time" for Hekate and Ad Infinitum and a chance for both to play into their strengths.

While I wish that Splitgate 2 was a stronger, more confident evolution of the awesome concept presented in the first game, I can’t deny that I had some good fun just hopping in and shooting around for a few matches every night. Battle royale ultimately feels derivitave, but the modes I actually enjoed were able to scratch that FPS itch. I wish it was the kind of shooter that I could get completely lost in, but it’s not that. Still, it’s among the more interesting options in an arena shooter genre that’s pretty barren right now.

I had much more fun with Last Man Sitting than I ever expected I would. Part of it comes from gameplay systems I’m familiar with. The roguelite elements, character and weapon selection, perks, and other unlockables in and out of a match make Last Man Sitting go from decent game to excellent game. When you hit that perfect assembly of weapons, perks, and upgrades that carry you to a victory, it feels excellent. This might look like a silly game about white collar workers fighting a robot uprising from the comforts of their office chairs, but once you add some fire, poison, lightning, and a large caliber rifle to the mix, Last Man Sitting blooms.

Artifacts of Power hits most of the right marks. There are some wonderfully creative physics based puzzles, multiplayer support, and breathtaking graphics. There's even some nice humor in the game, like when Amadeus briefly tries to explain why getting into the Wizard's Academy is so weird and difficult...At the same time, there's a feeling that the game lost something when it went fully 3D.

Serious Sam 4 is fun to play – and an even bigger joy if you bring co-op into the mix. If you’re a fan of the series, then you’re going to feel right at home. If you’ve never played a Serious Sam game, then just don’t go into it expecting the same level of narrative as story-driven games, because you aren’t going to find it here.

PUSS! is a game that’s distinctly unique, if nothing else. The visual presentation and art style are oozing with weirdness and have no shortage of absurdity. The levels themselves are also quite well done, though it’s a shame the experience is bogged down by unnecessary roguelike elements. Despite those issues, PUSS! is still quite the challenge for any hardened player looking to test their skills.

Unfortunately, the pacing is slower than a triceratops wading through a tar pit. Cooler dinos and greater objective variety should keep players coming back for more, but they're unfortunately locked behind a story that's more tedious than Jurassic World and unfolds just as slowly. This is without even mentioning that cutscenes can sometimes play twice and some story instances (I'm looking at you, Magnum!) will not only play out multiple times, they'll play out with the same unskippable dialogue, the same extended loading times, and the same objectives...I just want to shoot dinosaurs, man.

Battlefield 2042 has a serious identity crisis. It clearly wants to be like Call of Duty: Warzone, with its overreliance on fast-quip Specialists that will serve as mannequins for endless cosmetic microtransactions. It also wants to grab some of the audience who religiously play Hunt: Showdown or Escape from Tarkov with its undercooked Hazard Zone mode. Finally, it also wants to be Battlefield to what’s left of a dedicated fan base that’s been left to watch the franchise chase the tail of its competitors for years. We loved Battlefield because it wasn’t Call of Duty or Counter-Strike or Fortnite or Apex or any other popular shooter. This mismanaged project clearly needed more time in the oven and a cohesive design that works to Battlefield’s strengths rather than a game attempting to be multiple things to multiple audiences. In a year where so many releases have been marred by a lack of polish and bugs, Battlefield 2042 may be the biggest offender.

The game shows that not only can Purple Lamb Studios give games the proper remake treatment, they can also follow them up with something refreshingly new, and I can’t wait to see what else the studio cooks up in the future. Especially if it’s another SpongeBob game, because if Cosmic Shake is any indication, Purple Lamb Studios clearly “gets it” concept wise, and are fully able to execute that concept to the fullest.

If you’re looking for a chill and often lackadaisical journey you'll steer in meaningful ways, Where the Heart Leads is a narrative-heavy series of roads you may be inclined to explore again and again.

Rollers of the Realm, by most respects, is an excellent pinball and RPG hybrid. However, it takes a great amount of skill and no small share of luck to get through it.

For a while there, things weren’t looking so great for Bomberman, one of the most underappreciated gaming mascots out there. But it feels like the weird, little guy’s alive and kicking now, with two retail games within a few years of each other and more. Super Bomberman R 2 isn’t the ultimate Bomberman experience, but it’s a cute, wholesome package of old school, multiplayer videogame glee. Which is weird to say about a game with Pyramid Head in it.

It’s a shame that Seeking Dawn didn’t perform as well as I hoped, especially with the production values through the roof. Multiverse clearly has a firm grasp on creating worlds within VR. Hopefully, their next experience will trim the fat and give us the lean adventure VR game the team is certainly capable of delivering.

Just Cause 4 is a very entertaining package and its potential won’t be fully tapped for a long time.

It is rare for a game to be about something, to work its themes into every fiber of its being, to ask us to think about the world around us and reflect on who we are, the world we live in, and the things we’ve done to make it what it is. Dustborn does that, and it's special because of it. It doesn’t always work, but what it gets wrong pales in comparison to what it does right. It is a reminder that what we say and do matters. That, to quote Hemingway, “The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for.” That a better world is possible, if only we have the courage to build it, if we can find the right words to speak it into existence. Let there be light.

Encodya truly has some neat aspects going for it. Endearing characters, beautiful art design, solid quality of life features. However, none of those are enough to overcome a heavy-handed narrative and some messy gameplay mechanics. Encodya is a sometimes passable, middling take on Cyberpunk, and an average point-and-click adventure.

It’d be nice if the game did more in the way of teaching you the ropes, offered different control schemes, and provided a wider array of accessibility options. In general as well, it’d be nice if the game offered more in the way of incentives, excitement, and action to keep you coming back for more, regardless of its punishing difficulty.