The Death Stranding Director’s Cut adds enough new tools and toys for players to utilize to make the experience worth replaying for those diehard fans. And for those that were unsure about getting in, the shuffling and redistribution of tools ensures that the early game is more approachable, while still retaining the sense of scale and progression offered at launch. The other features, like the firing range, racing track, and new location elevate an already rich experience. So collect your order and tie up your laces, because you’ll want to walk another 500 miles or more to experience what’s on offer here.

Sable is a beautiful story about self-discovery. It’s themes of solitude and what it means to be independent strongly resonated with me. The game is bolstered by a one-of-a-kind art style and an excellently crafted original soundtrack. If you can handle a slow burn and push some UI issues aside, Sable is an overwhelmingly pleasant experience.

Toem has you take your time, frame things up, put the zoom on proper, and take as many tries as you’d like to get it right with good music to accompany the process. It’s a short-lived expedition and can get choppy on the switch when there’s a lot going on in an area, but it’s still a charming experience I very much enjoyed my time with. I wouldn’t mind seeing more games take this more carefree route to a photographic experience in video games.

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.

As a big basketball fan and avid player of sports games, it’s hard not to have a love and hate relationship with the NBA 2K series, and NBA 2K22 is no exception. The basketball gameplay itself is as good as it’s ever been, and it genuinely feels satisfying to move the ball around, shoot, and play defense. However, modes like MyCareer are heavily bogged down by useless baggage, and a strong emphasis on microtransactions. Spotty servers mean that even the best parts of the game are often hard to enjoy. MyNBA is the only aspect of NBA 2K22 that provided a thoroughly enjoyable experience with practically nothing to complain about. NBA 2K22 gets in its own way, but there’s some genuinely great things there if you’re willing to endure it.

There a lot of elements of SkateBIRD that are great. The birds are fun, as is customizing them and finding more things with which to dress them up. Their little adventure is also fun, the soundtrack is excellent, and the levels are fun miniaturized takes on the normal skatepark fare. It’s just that there is so much dragging these charming elements down, the most noticeable of which is the actual skating and the physics involved with it. SkateBIRD might be fun to experience for its premise and cuteness, but those looking for a good technical skate game experience will likely find their expectations crashing and burning frequently, much like most of my sessions with it.

GameDec does right by the cyberpunk genre by using it as a backdrop to an excellent detective story. The series of virtual worlds makes for a diverse range of environments, filled with characters that all have their own unique characteristics and motivations. The lack of a fail state raises the stakes, and makes it important to learn the ins and outs of dialogue and deduction. Though some bugs and missing functionality can make it rough around the edges, GameDec is still an overall quite enjoyable experience.

Sega is clearly capable of making a compelling mystery game that could stand in league with the work we see out of studios like Naughty Dog, but that will require a more focused, better-paced approach that Lost Judgement seems eager to avoid.

Still, as a multiplayer romp, WarioWare: Get It Together is a great game to bust out and if you're pressed on time, that's even better! Just don't expect this to be your go-to game for nights in with your buddies.

All things considered, it took me a little over an hour or so to see just about everything that Cruis’n Blast has to offer. The Nintendo Switch racing scene has been dominated by Mario Kart and I feel like Cruis’n Blast had a chance to make a real case for bringing other classic Nintendo racers back into the scene. But if lackluster graphics and mediocre racing mechanics are all we’d get it might be better to leave our precious memories in the past. Cruis’n Blast isn’t unplayable though and would probably make an enjoyable experience for someone with kids or younger siblings. Everyone else should probably head to the arcade and hope they have a much more enjoyable arcade experience available to try out.

Mixing stealth, weighty gunplay, supernatural powers, and play-your-way weapons and gadgets, Deathloop is a greatest-hits amalgam of Arkane style with a splash of grindhouse grittiness and a satisfying murder puzzle narrative to put it apart from anything that has come before.

Even and Dicey’s Journey to save Odd and stop the Queen is well written and presented by the game’s action, music, and narrative, but it feels like there’s also varying degrees of jank just sitting in your periphery. Get past that, and I still feel this is a fairy-tale adventure that deserves a cover-to-cover read.

Outside of a few flaws, True Colors is the peak of the Life is Strange series to date.

While The Artful Escape does a strong job with its presentation and sense of style, it still suffers the same drawbacks as most adventure games, particularly with the boring-at-best game mechanics. The celebrity voice cast does well enough, though I only recognized Weathers during my time in the game. The trip here isn’t long, though it does manage to be memorable thanks to its relentless desire to look like a Liz Frank-emblazoned Trapper Keeper. Depending on the drugs you keep handy, this could be the ticket.

Tales of Arise is an excellent JRPG that delivers just about everything you want from the genre: a rich story, intriguing characters, satisfying combat, and an endless amount of lore. The game isn’t able to skirt around the issues that often plague JRPGs, which I feel will make for a higher barrier of entry for newcomers. That said, Fans of the series and those that just love a good JRPG will fall in love with what’s there in Tales of Arise.

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.

Sonic Colors: Ultimate is a decent return to arguably one of the best 3D entries in the series. Though there are some solid visual upgrades, I was disappointed by the missed potential in having a version for the newest consoles. Besides that, refined controls, a revamped soundtrack, and some new features still make Sonic Colors: Ultimate a game that fans of the franchise will surely enjoy.

WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship is a solid all-around experience built on a reliable foundation. Rally fans will find no shortage of things to do across the mountain of content included on Day 1 (plus new cars and rallies planned for post-launch release). If you are new to all of this, the package is very compelling, but most of it will be old news for those who spent any amount of time in WRC8 or WRC 9. While it's more than the cliched roster update and higher number in the title, the criticism carries some validity.

Even if it does get monotonous sometimes, I certainly can't fault the originality of the pickpocketing idea. The Big Con is not the kind of adventure game I see every day and credit to Mighty Yell for trying something different. I don't know if it's because I was hoping more would be done with the idea or because the game felt too short, but I ultimately came out of this game wanting something more. Maybe that's just the hunger for a bigger score.

KeyWe does a great job at delivering exactly what’s on the parcel: it’s a cute and charming co-op experience that will challenge your communication skills. So grab a friend and get ready to sort the mail, because this one is something special.

We can appreciate flashy action and grindhouse exploitation nature of No More Heroes 3 for what it is, but it kept the camera on the boring parts a little long for our liking. Still, if you’re looking to continue the weird assassin adventures of Travis Touchdown, then the chores are also probably worth doing to see how the escapade unfolds.

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.

Hoa is a peaceful experience that makes sure not to overstay its welcome. The environments are gorgeous, the gameplay is neat, and the soundtrack is captivating. More than anything, it makes me excited for what we’ll get from developer Skrollcat Studio down the road. It’s the perfect game to pick up and chill out with if you’re stressed, anxious, or just want a breath of fresh air.

Its third-person perspective and mission design elements make it feel like a relic from fifteen years ago, though it carries modern trimmings that may please those who love unlocking cosmetics and similar items, even if those parts of the game feel weirdly disconnected from the source material.

Psychonauts 2 is a well-expanded sequel to the first game with tons of personality, solid platforming and action, and a great story with a memorable cast of new and returning characters.

Madden NFL 22 is an upgrade from the last few entries in the series. The new momentum mechanic, addition of Quality/Performance Modes, and some changes to Franchise genuinely make it feel like a step forward. However, the game fails to skirt around some of the same issues that’s held it down for years. A poorly executed Face of the Franchise, and an Ultimate Team mode that’s pretty much more of the same stop the game from being the endzone celebration that it could be.

If you’ve already played through what the core game has to offer, Iki Island is a reasonably priced expansion (as is the PS5 upgrade). I do wish it had just a little bit more to offer, but I will take it over nothing. If you loved what this game already had to offer, how could you turn down more of it?

Axiom Verge 2 was more of what I wanted for the most part. Thomas Happ’s understanding of the metroidvania formula works very well throughout the game and it even changes up quite nicely from what the first game had for us. I enjoyed exploring and discovering new abilities, taking in the atmosphere of music and pixels, and platforming through varied pitfalls and foes. Combat feels half-baked and sometimes I really wish the game would have just told me what it wanted me to do next to move the story forward. The narrative going on is intriguing, but also a bit too technobabble at times. Even so, it’s a journey that pushes you into the unknown to overcome a vast tapestry of obstacles and enemies in stark isolation. For that, Axiom Verge 2 continues to nail down the Metroidvania-style in a solid and challenging way.