While I’ve had fun with Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons, I don’t think it really succeeds at its own premise. It’s kind of a good time despite itself, with the core of Bubble Bobble’s unique, arcade-flavored gameplay shining through all the weird, clumsy roguelike stuff that doesn’t work well at all. Part of the problem is a bizarre balancing act and poor communication of what your expectations should be, and the other part is how annoying it is to have something inherently repetitive made artificially even more repetitive by making it structurally more punishing. More clarity and intuitive access to the upgrades would have helped a lot, and made especially the earlier hours feel less grindy and arduous. The roguelike stuff just ends up feeling not just tacked on, but limiting as well. But hey, if Sugar Dungeons sparks a craving for the real deal, Bubble Symphony is a perfect pack-in companion to satisfy that sweet tooth.

ARC Raiders might be a casual take on the extraction shooter genre, but it’s not a lesser experience because of it, quite the opposite. The defeats sting, but the pain of losing all your gear is softened by the approachable combat, player interaction, and the ARC enemies. And despite this approachability, the game has a gnarled edge. There’s texture to the world, a visceral tang and depth to the weaponry, and engrossing foundational systems that make the whole thing hurt so good. With ARC Raiders, Embark Studios has proved, once again, it knows how to deliver the goods.

If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. I respect Tribute Games’ approach with Marvel Cosmic Invasion because it’s very much an extension of nearly everything Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge did right with just a bit of improvement and additions along the way. This big character pool makes the tag feature a delight, giving us more chances to experience some oddball and safe picks as we go. Meanwhile, with up-to-four player online and local gameplay on solidly working systems, it feels like another fun option for folks that want to get together and have an entertaining time with friends in a universe we love. Marvel Cosmic Invasion didn’t have much need to reinvent the wheel. It’s a well-tuned Tribute Games brawler that will fit nicely into game nights.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 feels more like Black Ops 6.5. Everything from the in-game UI, to the gameplay feel of the core modes, are hardly different from last year’s game. There are a few meaningful changes to Multiplayer and Zombies, but they don’t overcome some baffling design decisions, which are tied together by the worst Black Ops storyline to date. Treyarch, for my money, is still the best studio making Call of Duty games, but Black Ops 7 is clear evidence that Activision and Microsoft need to give them more time to cook.

Constance is a game about confronting your inner darkness. Its hand-drawn cartoony art style won me over initially. Its challenging platforming puzzles and boss fights that required me to fully utilize the plethora of techniques I’d learned throughout the journey kept me engaged and always felt satisfying to complete. This fluid and extremely rewarding gameplay loop alone solidifies Constance as a must-play platformer. The heartfelt story at the core of it all is a welcome added bonus.

Total Chaos is a game of extremes for me. I really like its combat and survival elements, but the action of melee and gunplay against the lesser enemies is less enjoyable than I would have hoped. There is also some noticeable jankiness that pulls away from its best elements. However, I was almost always enamored with Total Chaos’ set pieces, environment, and sound. The bigger scares in this game and the build-ups to them are great. It’s not often we see such a thematic change between games like the move from Turbo Overkill to Total Chaos, but I think Trigger Happy Interactive has built something quite fun with this game. It might not always be consistent, but when Total Chaos hits, it hits like a sledgehammer crushing a twisted figment of our warping sanity.

Marvel’s Deadpool VR doesn’t hit the immersive highs as Batman: Arkham Shadows did last year, but it’s still a fun superhero romp from Oculus Studios. The developers at Twisted Pixel make great use of the Deadpool IP, and there’s no shortage of havoc to wreak if you’re just looking for an action-heavy VR experience.

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

An old dub track sounding like an old dub track isn’t so bad, as far as what’s taking up the “biggest problem” slot for a release like this. Tales of Xillia Remastered is a totally competent, if not intriguing or surprising in some way, refresh of a niche PlayStation 3 RPG that was cool enough to get a direct sequel, even in the middle of its series niche era. Xillia’s base holds up, from its fighting game-like combat language to its colorful characters and focused story. Veteran fans don’t have a lot to show up for unless they’ve already been jonesing for a replay, but anyone who’s become a Tales fan in the years since have a new, easy way to play a game worth catching up on, and that’s worth celebrating.

Some surprising quality-of-life additions, like the simultaneous Doominate prompts, add to an already solid package in that area. Plus, it's always easy and fun to dive into games as an audience member. The Jackbox Party Pack 11 may not go down as Jackbox Games' best overall package, but the effort to mix up the party themes is at least appreciated.

What I’ll remember about Demonschool are the little things: the jokes, the quiet character moments, when a fight clicks and what had seemed impossible becomes routine, the bliss of a plan well-executed. When I beat ol’ skeleton face from the opening paragraph, he and his minions barely touched me. Namako survived the whole thing with barely a scratch, and my whole team ended the fight feeling like they could lasso the moon. I came, I saw, I conquered. And you’d best believe I got that A rank. And then we did some karaoke. It was a good day.

Dispatch is my most pleasant surprise this year. In a pop culture landscape that’s littered with superhero parodies and deconstructions, Dispatch manages to carve its own unique path. The message that anyone is capable of doing good, regardless of where they came from or the mistakes they've made in the past, truly resonated with me. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little emotional during the final credit roll...On top of that, it’s a hilarious superhero romp with satisfying storylines and characters that I am practically begging to see again. If this is the standard of quality that we can expect from AdHoc Studio, the interactive narrative genre is in good hands.

Ultimately, the Atelier Ryza Secret Trilogy Deluxe series is a treat for fans, and a brilliant new way for possible newcomers to jump into the best the Atelier series currently has to offer. It’s a perfect way to try Atelier for the first time, especially since you don’t even have to buy the whole trilogy upfront if you don’t want to. But it’s an excellent deal between the new content and upgrades, and even if the Switch 2 version isn’t the perfect edition I had in my head, it’s still a great chunk of RPG goodness for the new console. Regardless of the platform, Ryza’s three-part adventure was a big deal the first time around for real reasons, and the DX version only serves as a reinforcement.

Arise is an absolute triumph. The visuals are some of Enhance's best, utilizing the best of both Unity and its own proprietary Synaesthesia Engine. It's wildly fun and unexpectedly challenging in places, but above all, it's a relaxing pleasure.

I wish the soundtrack had cooked a little hotter, but it’s hard to ask for much more than that out of a sequel that is otherwise improved this much. I don’t know if Nintendo will treat Age of Imprisonment as canon, but if it’s the final ribbon on the Breath of Wild era, it’s a dang good one…Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment is both an excellent companion to Tears of the Kingdom and another fantastic evolution of the Musou style.

With classic games and a heartfelt documentary, Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection continues to show that there's nobody better at this type of compilation than Digital Eclipse. Whether you're an old-school fighter or want to teach your kids what MK looked like in the old days, this is the best way to do it.

My questions at the beginning were answered pretty clearly. Dragon Quest 1 is a game that’s hard to mess with too much, as its simplicity holds most of its lasting appeal. Adding too much makes it top-heavy, although it doesn’t help when what is added feels shallow and poorly balanced. Perhaps there’s another version of this project that’s simply better in my eyes that pulls the effort off more cleanly. In fact, I can see the vision in Dragon Quest 2, which is a more robust, thoughtful, and gracefully implemented set of updates to what is at heart a Famicom game from the earliest days of RPG history. The end result of this package is strangely funny; two sides of a coin I never would have expected. It’s the worst time I’ve ever had with Dragon Quest 1, and the best time I’ve ever had with Dragon Quest 2. If this is your first time with this pair of historically powerful journeys, I almost don’t know what to tell you. But if you enjoyed your time with DQ 3 last year, you owe it to yourself to see the story through to the end. These are classics in every sense of the word, warts and all.

Despite a few qualms here and there, The Other Worlds 2 provides another solid sci-fi RPG experience from Obsidian Entertainment. It probably won’t win over folks who are tired of its corporate comedy act, but those who enjoyed the first will find that most of what they liked is improved in the second. The factional tug-of-war in The Outer Worlds 2 is fun to explore, and the companions you bring with you on the way make the adventure that much more engaging. More than that, this is an exciting adventure you can’t possible explore all of in one go, and whether you make the first one count or go back for another run down an untaken path, The Outer Worlds 2 will provide you with plenty of rewarding experiences for your trouble.

I had a lot of hope going into Full Metal Schoolgirl. My pitch for the review was simply, “hello, I would like to play this because it looks insane.” It seemed like some fun silliness to indulge in, and when it got started, the promise of a cathartic, satirical takedown of our soon to be apocalyptic real-life labor structures had me ready for something special. Then the dreaded Loop kicked in, and I realized this was going to be several hours of grinding and unseasoned chicken-coded combat. So it goes.

It’s basically the kind of greatest hits-style structure you’d expect from a quirky, arcade-style franchise game over a decade removed from its last major entry (unless you’re in the Apple Arcade mines). It’s got everything you’d expect to see but more of it, lots of unlockables, music DLC, self-referential content out the wahzoo, so on and so forth. It’s a lot of fun even if Katamari’s trademark weirdness isn’t so weird anymore, and it doesn’t really seem to have ambitions to redefine anything (not that it needs to). Aside from the whole crown thing putting me off, it’s been a blast picking away at the experience piece by piece. And listening to Lonely Rolling Star in the menu. On repeat. A lot.

Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted packs in everything fans loved about the original game, plus lots more. It’s a deep strategy game for older players and a whimsical introduction to tower defense gameplay for younger demographics. All of that, plus a price point of only $20, make Replanted a must-buy, and the ultimate version of a classic I’ll be revisiting again and again.

I have a handful of gripes about PowerWash Simulator 2, but they hardly bring down the experience. It feels like a love letter to all of the fans and the things they’ve asked for over the years, and we end up getting a really neat collection of structures to clean up beside it. If the first PowerWash Simulator was any indicator, we can likely look forward to loads of post-launch content as well. If you’re not into these games, I doubt PowerWash Simulator 2 is going to win you over. But if you hanker for more high-PSI water cleaning, this sequel provides a fantastic set of features and improvements to make it about as enjoyable as can be.

Jurassic World Evolution 3 is the series nearly at its full potential. The previous games established an excellent foundation, and the addition of juvenile dinosaurs and improvements to customization have taken things to another level. Any Jurassic fan that’s fantasized about managing their own park will find that dream realized in Jurassic World Evolution 3.

It’s not a perfect game, but Ninja Gaiden 4 hits a lot of the notes that count and ties a fine ribbon on the whole thing by the end. I wouldn’t mind playing Yakumo in more games, but if this is the curtain call on this arc of Ninja Gaiden, it’s a good one.

If you're in the kind of mood to think about the nature of the universe, Keeper is the story to check out. It's hard to imagine a living lighthouse is capable of bringing out emotion in people, but that's what makes this game a Keeper.

Battlefield 6 is a triumph in almost every way. It has problems that need to be ironed out, but nothing that can’t be addressed as time moves on. The good news is that the core of the game, the soul of what makes a great Battlefield experience, is there. The visuals, the sound effects, the destruction raining down on you while you lie prone in the rubble and exhaust the last of your rifle’s ammunition. The tools and details required to give every player, no matter their interest or skill level, the opportunity to create memorable moments. Battlefield is back, baby.

Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter is an ambitious, transformative revisit of a modern classic RPG, one that was a formative experience for a small, but hungry audience that caused a groundswell into one of today’s most absurdly epic storytelling experiments in video games. In a world full of remakes that feel like expensive wastes of time, 1st Chapter feels like it meets a moment in a helpful and genuinely impressive way. It’s mostly a massive presentational overhaul, but one that makes the “breathes new life” cliche feel like a genuine descriptive statement. The way combat is balanced is still annoying, and the weird real time, turn-based hybrid gimmick feels pointless and confused, but even so I found myself getting lost all over again in this game’s absurdly well-executed storytelling ambitions. If you’ve been hearing about Trails for years from the sickos and wanting a cleaner way to give it a shot, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. And if you’ve been a Trailshead for a long time, you’ve obviously already decided to play this, but it’s a worthwhile excuse to go back to the beginning.

Despite having a lot of verbs, stats, tinkering, and codexes, Ball x Pit feels brainless. I’m just clicking on things to make numbers go up, because numbers going up is the only way I’m going to get through a level. There’s no clever strategy or hidden breakthroughs buried off the beaten path, which is weird in an action game based on pinball you can mold into turn-based combat at one point. For all the gimmicks, ideas, and mechanics Ball x Pit has up its sleeves, it’s so focused on Being a Roguelike it misses the forest for the trees and corners you with stats from the jump. While Vampire Survivors makes me sidestep my own tastes, Ball x Pit simply reinforced them.