What’s truly awesome is that underneath all the new glitz and glamour, Oblivion Remastered is still Oblivion. Bethesda games are infamous for their bugs and quirks, and a lot of that goes back to the incredibly ambitious game that was The Elder Scrolls 4 in 2006. This time around, it’s a lot cleaner and more presentable, but still littered with awkward animations and full-on flubs that have been lovingly preserved as part of the game’s legacy. There’s a real charm to this world, its story, and characters. As a kid who grew up in the 2000s, I’ve got a lot of nostalgia wrapped up in Oblivion, and a bit of concern realizing that this game is approaching its 20th anniversary. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered is undoubtedly the new definitive way to experience Bethesda’s flawed masterpiece, a game that continues to be a standard for western RPGs.

Calling Tempest Rising "familiar but fun" sounds damning, but it's the most accurate way to describe it. Most of what Tempest Rising does, it does very well. There's nothing particularly exciting about it, and it's all been done before.

It was a fun game about a bald man who shoots guns at the floor to do Mario Things while Satan says mean words at him from a distance. It is never more or less than exactly that. I had a great time for around three or four hours, and will probably never think about it again. But that’s okay, because I don’t think Shotgun Cop Man intended to reach beyond that outcome. Shotgun Cop Man simply is, and I respect that about him.

Skin Deep is a neat, little game that takes recognizable gameplay conventions from immersive sims and repackages them into something smaller and sillier. Rather than gathering garbage, crafting endlessly, listening to pretentious audio logs and grappling with awkward combat physics in dark corridors, you’re doing similar things but in a framework more like The Three Stooges in colorful boxes with weird, blocky cats everywhere. It’s familiar yet distinct, and legitimately funny despite repeating the same three or so jokes over and over again. Combat’s still fumbly, though, and the parts asking you to do more of that are a buzzkill.

The magic of Expedition 33 is that it never gets old. You’re always discovering something, meeting new characters, learning skills, finding secret areas, battling hidden bosses, or discovering remarkable places. Through it all, Expedition 33 tells an incredible story of defiance in the face of impossible odds, discovery, loss, love, death, and belief. It’s the kind of game that reminds you what games can be, the kind with characters you’ll remember long after the credits roll. Sometimes art comes into your life when you need it. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is a story I needed in a world that feels like it’s falling apart. Things are not always what they seem, and there's always hope, no matter the odds. A better world is possible; you just need people willing to fight for it. When one falls, we continue.

To its credit, Steel Seed doesn’t overstay its welcome. You can clear the whole thing in about twelve hours, and nothing here (well, aside from the combat) is bad. It’s just dull. Storm in a Teacup clearly knows how to make games and knows what they’re doing here, but it’s such a mismatch of parts from so many other games that none of them really manage to come together in a coherent way. Steel Seed never finds its identity, which is a shame because Storm in a Teacup is clearly a talented developer who understands how to make games. But Moran was onto something when he said that technique wasn’t as important as conviction. Zoe may be the chosen one destined to save the world, but the game around her never really feels like it's convinced of it — or itself. And if you can’t persuade yourself of the story you’re telling, it’s damn hard to convince anyone else.

This sounds like a bunch of different parts stacked onto each other like Lego bricks, and that’s kind of true. In some ways that’s vibe with games like Danganronpa or Master Detective Archives. But there’s a sense of each piece working together in those games to form a fully realized whole. In The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-, the visual novel and combat parts hit that target, but the social and resource-gathering elements don’t. And those parts happen to eat up a ton of extra time that grows increasingly obnoxious as you explore the narrative. That stuff is padding that loses more and more substance the longer you play and the more you do a thing I can't really talk about here. That’s a weird sentence, but you’ll have to trust me on that one, just like the kid being told by a cartoon ghost to stab himself in the chest with a magic knife to save the world.

I have been waiting most of my life for much of what this game brings to the table. It’s a solid-feeling fighting game in one of my favorite series with good offensive and defensive options, a great starting cast that promises even more in the years ahead, a mostly good variety of modes, solid music (and the availability of classic tracks), a fun comicbookish animation style, and an editor to adjust character looks to your liking. That said, it’s not like this is perfect by any stretch. I kind of wish the last two months of news for this game hadn’t happened, because one of the results is shoddy and problematic (not Ganacci. He can stay). That paired with a checklist story mode and a somewhat unintuitive online UI keep this from being my ultimate fighting dream come true. Even so, if you've been waiting on a good new Fatal Fury game, it's here, pure and simple, and if that's all you care about, then City of the Wolves delivers.

Sunderfolk proves to be an admirable debut from developer Secret Door. It features many of the best aspects of tabletop games, capably molded into a two-screen video gaming experience. Even the parts of the game that feel subpar, like the mundane story, can still be a net positive simply through the power of friendship. Whether folks come together through a weekly game night or through a short session on Discord, Sunderfolk's bold ideas shine through and will hopefully set the stage for more exciting campaigns down the road.

When a game like Lost Records: Bloom & Rage shows such potential, I feel a grander sense of disappointment when it doesn't stick the landing. The game's characters aren't going to be everybody's cup of tea, because they can be over-the-top at times, but their love and friendship made me fall for them despite their imperfections. The refinements in the formula that began with Life is Strange ten years ago make this story resonate more, because you gain a more intimate insight into everybody's mindset.

Lunar is a tremendous series, a crucial high point of RPG history that doesn’t get nearly enough love today. And the reasons for that are complicated enough that the Lunar Remastered Collection existing at all feels like a small miracle. For the most part it’s a success, opting for more of a restorative, hands-off approach meant to make it look like a literal widescreen conversion of a PlayStation game. There are some unfortunate pain points that keep a great re-release from being a total slam dunk, but the other side of that is a brand-new dub that makes up for the awkwardness with its high quality and reverence for the original. Overall, I commend GungHo for mostly letting these all-time classics speak for themselves. That’s all you really need to do with Lunar.

Rusty Rabbit is the kind of game that sticks out because you can tell it’s made by people who care about their craft and have ideas they want to dig deep to explore. It’s not just a toy made for empty, vague metrics like fun and enjoyment. There are plenty of those, and those things have their place and value of course. But capital-p Passion Projects like Rusty Rabbit are few and far between, and offer alternatives to the norm that ask the audience to use their brains to engage with media in ways they might not be accustomed to. And there’s still plenty of fun to be had, from exploring dungeons to taking in all the silly rabbit-themed, sci-fi lore and background details that make such an off-kilter premise appealing. At the same time, this game might make you think about what you find important in your own life, or what it might be like to grow up seeing the world differently than people older or younger. This one is gonna stick for a while.

For what it is, Disney Villains: Cursed Cafe is fine. It's a simple visual novel that gives some extra flair to some tried-and-true Disney baddies. I certainly had a good chat with more than a few of them, but it wasn't something that could hold my attention for very long and was made worse if I felt like I made a mistake and had to blow another 5-10 minutes to redo the day. Some people are made for the daily grind of potionista work, but maybe I'm just not one of them.

Putting aside the weird, tone-deaf childishness of the plot setup, Grit and Valor – 1949 is occasionally an exciting little strategy game. Some of its map designs and optional objectives force you to make the most of scant resources, and for all the challenge, it's refreshingly quick and easy to make up losses when you fail. It's just frustratingly shallow in its take on roguelike structures for longer than it should be.

Claymore Game Studios realized what made the original Commandos games so great, retained the heart and soul, and sanded off all the prickly edges. Commandos: Origins is a love letter to the originals in everything it does. The mechanic-heavy sandbox gameplay, the unique cast of commandos, the gorgeous environments, and the level design, all of it coalesces into an experience that is contemplative and intense. It’s a brilliant and challenging strategy game. And doesn’t it feel damn good to punch Nazis?

Blue Prince is a puzzle gaming experience like no other. It's a roguelike that tests the player's ability to progress in their own mind as much as through whatever's in the game itself. It's deliberate with its pacing, which isn't always a good thing. It'd be nice to be able to move at a faster speed than walking speed, but I guess there's no running inside the house (or outside the house, for that matter). Despite that and an ambient soundtrack that can feel dull, Blue Prince's formula and its abundance of secrets are undeniably engaging. Even if it takes over 100 days to get to the fortune in the 46th room, this is a game that will have players feeling rich regardless.

When everything came together and the journey(s) ended, I knew I’d remember SaGa Frontier 2: Remastered for its compelling and distinct storytelling. That’s on top of the usual dopamine-spewing systems and aggressive contempt for convention I expect and enjoy from SaGa. But the annoying gimmicks, especially the Duel system, had me immediately second-guessing the prospect of hitting that New Game+ button. The remaster does a wonderful job making changes to the original without breaking anything, and even makes a big problem easier to deal with without paving it over to make it unobservable. This might not crack the top of my SaGa list, but it’s still a worthy entry in my favorite cult RPG series. Frankly though, I’m glad I waited for the remaster to try it.

Reading about Koira doesn't convey just how well-designed it is. It's a rare case where every piece of it, from the visual direction to the smallest part of audio design, exists in exquisite harmony. Sure, it still relies heavily on a specific kind of emotional appeal to pull you in, but when everything beyond that is this good, it's easy to overlook.

South of Midnight is an impressive narrative feat from Compulsion Games. It’s a well-paced adventure that goes big on characters and story, though combat and platforming feel a bit uniform. I hope it’s not the last we’ve seen of this world and these characters.

Bleach Rebirth of Souls makes an excellent first impression, with cool, loud menu UI, amped-up music, and in-game action that looks fast and furious from a distance. But when you actually dive in to learn the game and experience all of its parts, the cracks show rather quickly. The mechanics feel unrefined and poorly balanced, and the story mode has a low budget vibe that betrays the new anime’s energy. Aside from impressive animations and a few distinct ideas, this isn’t the comeback Bleach fans have been hoping for over the last decade.

I have for years held the opinion that MLB The Show is the best of the annualized sport sim franchises. While it’s not without its faults, it’s pound-for-pound the best simulation of its real-life counterpart, while hosting a bevy of modes that feel thoroughly fleshed out and supported. It’s the most hours I’ve sunk into a new MLB The Show game in years, and it’ll probably be my go-to sports game for many months to come.

It's easy to write Khazan off as just another Soulslike at a glance, and it would be refreshing to see Neople create its own style and structure instead of just imitating a popular convention. However, Neople went further than most Soulslikes and actually innovated with its take on the genre's combat. That's a big positive, seeing as there's not much else to Khazan outside of battle, but at least all the time spent in combat is enjoyable.

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.

I see and respect what Bubble Ghost Remake attempted here. Take an obscure game, reimagine it, make it big and beautiful, and offer something fresh to puzzle fans. But as it turns out, “bigger” was a crucial mistake. Not everyone will see this and seek out the original, but if they do, they’ll plainly observe how a smaller, stage-based challenge structure turns something kind of wonky and frustrating into a true hidden gem. And considering how my biggest takeaway is how grateful I am to have Game Boy Bubble Ghost in my rotation now, I suggest anyone and everyone do just that.

When I saw that Coulombe was involved in the cult classic, Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, I knew I was in for a ride simply by association. But I wasn’t fully prepared for the depths of creative madness I was gazing into with Look Outside. Each step was full of dread and morbid glee, as I never knew what to expect, was terrified of what could happen, but absolutely refused to miss a thing. I would’ve liked a little more balance when it came to getting mauled by random enemy encounters, and controller support was a little weird, but any frustration I felt from a momentum-halting game over melted away when the next stop on this roller coaster of suffering came into view. Frankly, I was bummed to get off when the ride was over.

Your goal in Atomfall is to escape, but the reality is this world is far too interesting to want to leave. I cared very little about finding this Interchange at first, and instead preferred to hunt for buried caches, find recipes, read notes, and uncover secrets. I killed characters just to see what was in their pockets, but not before I heard what interesting things they had to say. It wasn’t personal on my end, but those three bullets and the key to the secret room behind them was far more valuable to me than their life. If that seems harsh, no problem, because you’re free to play the complete opposite of me, and I promise it will be just as entertaining.

Series fans will find a lot to love here, even if Shadows doesn’t quite take the step of truly challenging itself to be more than what we might have expected it to be. The moment-to-moment gameplay is fun, Naoe and Yasuke are both compelling in their own way, and the backdrop of Japan really does make for a beautiful stage on which everything plays out.

If you can get past its tedious organization and swaths of overleveled monsters in your way, Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition is incredible. This was a game that eluded many fans back in 2015. Now, it has a fresh chance to shine and do so with a new coat of paint and some thoughtful QoL changes. It doesn’t always hit the bullseye, and some 2015 issues went unaddressed. That said, if you let yourself get lost in the wilds of Mira, it’s more than easy to overlook the few things that drag the fun down. Whether you missed Xenoblade Chronicles X the first time or are revisiting Mira, there’s a lot to love and appreciate for fans and newcomers alike.