Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story details the career of one of gaming’s great auteurs. But it also serves as a reminder of the time when an ambitious teenager could create the next hit, predating the rise of corporate publishing and their boilerplate blockbusters. Sure, many of the games feel dated and are geared toward historians, but Digital Eclipse’s underdog story is engaging. Given the current state of the industry, it’s also essential.

There’s a plethora of proficient first-person shooters on Steam. Dread Templar offers an engrossing ten to fifteen-hour campaign with few blemishes. Sure, the experience might lack distinction, but it’s an efficient performer on most mid-to-low-end systems, making it ideal for Steam Deck owners seeking a fast and fluid firefight on the go.

Town of Zoz swings big with its mix of combat, cooking, and community, and while not all of its ideas come together smoothly, there’s a lot to admire in its ambition and personality. It’s a slightly rough but endearing adventure that feels as much about reconnecting with culture as it does saving the day.

At times, fighting for your life on a dystopian reality show pushes the 3D brawler into a curious direction. But at present, Kiborg stumbles with ranged combat and balance, surviving thanks to an overly generous lock-on system and roguelike power-ups.

Alien: Rogue Incursion Evolved Edition doesn’t try to compete with Alien: Isolation’s stealth horror or Aliens: Fireteam Elite’s cooperative-ready gunplay. Instead, it’s an amalgam of VR-borne immersion, puzzles, and just enough firefights to ensure you don’t feel enfeebled. At its best, the game delivers a dazzling recreation of Cameron’s world and that along might have Alien fans salivating like a bloodthirsty Xenomorph.

Awakening still offers an adept adaption of Oda Nobunaga’s (or any other daimyō) attempt to unify Japan. But a push toward accessibility means that the strategy has been simplified, with your retainers doing the bulk of the work. If you’ve been waiting for an entry point for the property, this might be an opportunity worth seizing. The rest of us should stick with the game’s superior predecessor.

Enjoying Epic Dumpster Bear 1.5 DX: Dumpster Fire Rebirth hinges on your tolerance for stock assets and campy storytelling. If you’re looking for a polished experience with a sensical plotline, deduct about 25 points from the score. For everyone else, the five-dollar purchase will provide laughs and a straightforward test of your platforming prowess.

Sunny Syrup Studio’s inaugural outing is ambitious, drawing inspiration from a catalog of retro classics. Occasionally, the run-and-gun or melee-based action isn’t balanced, and your summons can mindlessly punch at the air. But the sheer quantity of different mechanics makes up for the intermittent lapse in quality.

Tiny Garden’s ambitions for a relaxed agronomy are undermined by repetition, the lack of controller support, and instability. If you’re lucky, you might be able to get one tranquil afternoon of distraction but not much more.

Don’t Stop Girlypop is glitter-soaked bedlam that works if you give in and vow to keep moving. Once the chaos clicks, it turns sensory overload into a surprisingly satisfying experience, rough edges and all.

At its best, CYGNI: All Guns Blazing requires your complete concentration, as stages pit your solitary ship against an unprecedented number of enemies. While some framerate foibles and an incongruent soundtrack are regrettable, neither truly mars the experience of tackling seven missions where adversity pummels you like a torrential storm.

Unquestionably, Go Mecha Ball action is intense, as you shoot and smash your way across ramps and quarter-pipes. While the inclusion of roguelike power-up attempt to inject some variety, it’s not quite enough to keep this ball rolling for too long.

At about two hours, Jitsu Squad’s campaign is succinct. Typically, that kind of conciseness is accompanied by a comparable amount of polish. But here, there are a few too many blemishes to recommend the game for Switch owners.

Rhapsody: Marl Kingdom Chronicles demonstrates the prodigious aptitude of Nippon Ichi’s early years. Across the two titles in this anthology, we follow characters at pivotal points in their lives. Despite the fairy tale-esque simplicity, expect your heart to be warmed by three generations of cheerful heroines.

Phantom Squad shines with friends, delivering tense, tactical thrills. But go in solo, and you're in for a punishing experience that’s more isolating than immersive.

Architect Life: A House Design Simulator offers a creative outlet for aspiring virtual architects, with a variety of design challenges and a robust sandbox mode. Unfortunately, clunky controls and inconsistent camera behavior can undermine the enjoyment, making what should have been a fulfilling and fun experience feel more like labor.

Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator is a relaxed experience that lets you build your own botanical wonderland. But with restrictions that are as stringent as your average HOA agreement, you’ll undoubtedly have to scale back on some of your ambitions.

Now sixteen years old, Kamiwaza needed modernization rather than a feature-for-feature remake. There’s fun to be found, but at a $40 price, you might feel like a victim.

With its striking visuals and stylish traversal, Star Overdrive makes a promising first impression. But the fun slowly descends into frustration as you face repetitive design, shallow mechanics, and a desolate world that offers little reward for exploration.

Irem Collection Vol. 1 contains a trio of tough, but satisfying shooters that deserve remembrance. But with numerous problems with the emulation and a complete lack of historical context, the games here deserve far better.

Dust & Neon provides some engaging twin-stick firefights across its brief missions. Between the taut pacing, tough play, and the allure of meta-game progression, this is an above-average action-roguelike. If you aren’t burned out on the genre, Dust & Neon is worth hunting down.

Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles lays down some solid ambitions foundations for autonomous city building, as you construct soaring towers and trade hubs for your oceanic colony. And while the resistance to duplicate conventional types of play is commendable, there’s a distinct lack of challenge, making this more of an open-ended plaything than your usual goal-driven game. Hopefully, the developer can make a few changes to make the autonomy a bit more engaging.

Remember when action games boasted sizeable sprites and fun, flashy combat? Slave Zero X is a worthwhile attempt to revisit that entrancing era, despite a few forgivable and fixable blemishes at launch.

For Rick and Morty fans, High on Life is a day pass to Roiland Amusement Park, where wisecracks complement the alien bounty chases. For anyone who isn’t enamored by the brand of humor, the aspiring thrill ride will be decidedly middling, with uninspired gunplay.

Like the Vegas strip, influences are pervasive in All in Abyss. From Texas Hold ‘em against CPU opponents, comical conversations, power-ups to earn, mysteries to uncover, and even some opponent fatalities, Judge the Fake’s mixture of mechanics is gratifying – at least when it’s not being too grindy.

The concept of horse girls competing in whacky mini games undoubtedly has potential as a game. But Umamusume: Pretty Derby – Party Dash’s four contests are remarkably bland, with each growing stale after a few replays. There’s fun to be had in an unlockable mini-game, dialog in the game’s story mode, and in an unlockable mini-game, but there’s not nearly enough value or vigor to recommend a full priced purchase.

Fubuki: Zero in on Holoearth – Hololive Alternative is an above-average action-platformer elevated by feverish sword slashing, great looking pixel-art and an abundance of on-screen adversaries. Just be aware, it’s shorter than one of the Vtuber’s streams.

Although there’s a bit of redundancy and some lethargic load times in the VISCO Collection, there's some solid 90's-era arcade action to be found.