Destiny has always been better when played with friends, but this time doesn’t feel like it actively punishes solo players.

If you are seeking a challenge, look elsewhere, but for anyone after a fun and simple jaunt into a classic that lives up to its predecessors, this game is the perfect fit.

General distaste for some of the game’s networking features has surrounded Splatoon 2 since launch, but none of these choices ruin the experience. Bizarre, dated design choices hold back online play, but with free updates and new content coming in the next few months, it will be interesting to see how this already great game can improve.

The game is far from unplayable, but the persistent problems make it impossible to recommend for people who plan to play alone.

After playing over 30 hours of ARMS, it is hard not to be excited to see where the community grows from here. Still, players need to understand that they are coming in on the ground level of an experimental fighting game that will only feel more rewarding as time goes on.

With a solid story mode and comprehensive tutorials, it never once feels like the fighting mechanics are too difficult to grasp. While it may not be the most technically impressive or competitive fighting game ever made, Injustice 2 surely is one of the most accessible and difficult to put down.

Despite a few missteps, Prey does a lot of smart, rewarding innovation with its gameplay. Your abilities are balanced with those of the enemy, and the progression system ensures that you’ll never become a one-man death machine. That palpable tension of a shadow lurking just out of sight remains taut for the entire campaign, and each encounter layers on more reasons to be fearful while poking around Talos I.

A game of inconsistent highs and lows. The simple joy of interacting with a colorful, childish world serves to remind us of a different time for video games. But when stuttering camera angles send you plummeting off a high platform, the lack of polish is painfully obvious.

The slinking sensation of the fascinating control scheme makes it easy to recommend Snake Pass to casual fans and hardcore gamers alike. The soundtrack from Rare alum David Wise adds a soothing atmosphere to quiet moments and ramps up steel drums and pounding rhythm as the player tests their snaking skills. As the grass sways and the cartoony characters start chattering, it becomes hard to resist the charm and obvious love that went into this unique take on the genre.

Despite some flawed execution, the core concept of Has-Been Heroes is strong enough to recommend the $20 downloadable title. It isn’t quite the endlessly re-playable adventure implied by constantly changing maps and a rotating cast of characters, but the bite-size dungeon crawling action is perfectly suited to a portable option like the Nintendo Switch.

It’s a shame that the central narrative of Mass Effect Andromeda is deflated by this burdensome gameplay, because the crew of the Tempest is worth meeting. The mystery of the Kett is a fresh spin on the apocalyptic war of the original trilogy, and following the stories of people in the Heleus cluster often leads to surprising developments with tough decisions waiting at the end. Ryder’s tale and the thrill of colonizing a new star system set Andromeda apart from other Mass Effect games, but it often plays worse than a game from five years ago.

Breath of the Wild’s only tangible constraint is how creative the player can be at any given moment. The game is genuinely challenging, with secrets and rewards to be found around every corner. As you play, the staggering amount of ways in which you can interact with Hyrule naturally reveal themselves. There is always something new to discover, but at your own pace. Somehow, the adventure never loses momentum over dozens of hours of exploration, the inspired design holds up, making for an unmistakable Zelda game that completely changes everything expected from the series. After spending so much time with Breath of the Wild, it is already hard to imagine going back to the antiquated presentation of the past.

The open-world sensations of Horizon Zero Dawn are some of the best of the current console generation. Climbing snow-capped mountains and crawling through verdant valleys never fails to be as exciting. This apocalyptic wasteland feels remarkably dynamic, with randomized characters and enemies roaming the world and creating emergent encounters...Though Horizon doesn’t represent a revolution in open-world adventures, it borrows heavily from past success stories and elevates the genre to a beautiful new standard.

Resident Evil 7 is that breed of survival horror that manages to instill a omnipresent sense of fear. I was constantly concerned about my immediate needs rather than planning for the long term. In turn, I broke with my survival horror play-style traditions, using all available weapons and resources when necessary instead of playing conservatively in anticipation of challenging boss fights and possible difficulty spikes. It turned out to be the right choice, which is a credit to Resident Evil 7's fair difficulty.

In its finished form, the game tells a story with uncompromising vision and engrossing emotional heft. The resulting experience comes off as delicately prepared, and the mythical nature of the game’s development only enhances the fantastical tale at its core. Imagining the missteps the game could have taken if released in an unpolished rush is easy, but bickering about the build-up to The Last Guardian’s release will be long outlived by its success as an emotionally evocative masterpiece in the annals of modern gaming.

Final Fantasy XV overcomes its narrative lows with gameplay highs that consume the player's time with engrossing optional quests and frenetic battles. As a whole, it does not represent the best in the series, but it delivers just enough to deserve a place in the mainline series, which is an achievement for a game that originated as a Final Fantasy XIII spin-off.

Watch Dogs 2 is such a fully realized mid-2010s time capsule that—even if the online features are unavailable down the line—it would make for an especially insightful playthrough a decade from now, personal San Francisco native bias notwithstanding.

Pokémon Sun and Moon are best Pokémon games released yet for the 3DS. While the framerate still takes a dip whenever there’s multiple Pokémon in battle, the engine suits the swaying trees and sunny beaches of the Alola region wonderfully. The music, characters, and story are some of the strongest in Pokémon history and the core gameplay is irresistibly rewarding.

Pokémon Sun and Moon are best Pokémon games released yet for the 3DS. While the framerate still takes a dip whenever there’s multiple Pokémon in battle, the engine suits the swaying trees and sunny beaches of the Alola region wonderfully. The music, characters, and story are some of the strongest in Pokémon history and the core gameplay is irresistibly rewarding.

Dishonored 2 is just the latest example in a long line of games that continue to illustrate the close relationship between quality stealth games and emergent gameplay. Any given playthrough will present you with myriad chances to both create and react to opportunities, many of which appear with little to no warning. It's in surviving these situations (preferably undetected) where Dishonored 2 delivers its most tangible rushes and most profound sense of gratification. It's a tale of vengeance that's presented in an imaginatively conceived world, one that is as threatening as it is inviting.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is the definition of a decent game. It’s fun in short doses and will keep you amused for just long enough to make you feel like you got your $60’s worth. That said, it’s definitely a step back from last year’s Black Ops III, which impressed in almost every regard, and despite being packed with features, modes, and more futuristic fanfare than any Call of Duty before it, a world of laser guns and space battles might not be where the franchise’s time is best spent.

Titanfall 2 builds on the promises of the first game in every way imaginable. Rewarding gameplay innovations remain intact, providing consistent thrills in both multiplayer matches and the campaign. Fans of the genre will find themselves blown away by the unique level design, even if the narrative fails to stand tall.

Battlefield 1 is a refreshing, gorgeous shooter that breaks up the monotony of futuristic action games with solid mechanics and a setting that has never gotten the attention it deserves.

Victories in ReCore, whether they were rooted in platforming or combat skill always felt satisfyingly earned, and that for me was enough to balance all the frustration along the way. But if I hadn’t enjoyed the Disney-like tone of ReCore’s story and had not genuinely liked the game’s characters, my patience for ReCore’s shortcomings would probably have strained to the breaking point.

Playing No Man’s Sky is very similar to my experience of playing Minecraft. I will spend months exploring a Minecraft world, gathering coal and iron and diamonds to make the weapons and armor, brewing the potions and enchanting the gear I need to keep me alive. I go on mapping expeditions to chart the entire world. And then I invariably spin up an entirely new Minecraft world so I can start over again from scratch and enjoy the thrill of discovery.

I have a lot of patience for VR control schemes with wonky elements. Developers are still figuring out how best to create games for VR. But there has to be a valuable experience to balance out the frustration those control schemes can create, and other than a single moment of empathy for a suffering animal that I don’t think would have been possible without VR, The Assembly failed to deliver that experience.

Abzu is clearly a labor of love, but its heart is missing. It has all the trappings of a universe that we long to inhabit, which makes the lack of depth all the more bewildering. By introducing intriguing images and wonderfully strange encounters, we are invited into a fascinating world. The problem is that it's never clear what we are there to accomplish. Plunging into Abzu is ideal if you're there for the scenery, but not so much if you're looking for more.

While not as challenging as some of the JRPGs of the past (no Emerald Weapon here, sorry), I Am Setsuna makes it clear that someone is listening to all of those grumbly veteran gamers who miss the adventures that made them fans for life. They long for a story to care about, and that's what this game provides.