Dragon Quest Treasures is some of the most fun I’ve had just exploring a game world all year, between its great world design and excellent soundtrack. This treasure hunt is a delight for players of all ages and one of the more unique experiences I’ve had on Switch in recent memory. The strange combat system will disappoint some, but if you can just get over that and a few other little quirks, this is an adventure well worth taking.

Ultimately, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion doesn’t do anything too crazy beyond massively upgrading the visuals and expanding the audio. And frankly, that’s good enough. The original PSP game was excellent with its strong central character and carefully crafted combat, and the addition of a right thumbstick on modern controllers to control the camera is a huge upgrade all by itself. By just taking this foundation and freshening up the graphics and sound, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is both one of the most successful video game prequels and one of the best action RPGs in general.

Atelier Ryza 2: Lost Legends & the Secret Fairy is a strong entry in the series and is an improvement on the previous game. It introduces new mechanics that fit well within the context of the story without feeling like they were forcibly implemented just for the sake of it, while also refining existing core gameplay elements. While I’m not entirely satisfied with a change, or lack thereof, here and there, this game is certainly worth your time, especially if you enjoyed Ryza’s first adventure.

Still, Immortals Fenyx Rising is one of the best games of the year. It doesn’t matter if its inspiration is so blatant when the team uses that as only a springboard. This isn’t a repaint of Breath of the Wild, but rather an evolution of it, and more often than not it makes smarter gameplay decisions that in full create a more enjoyable, irresistible world. The disjointed, sometimes crass tone leaves a bad taste, especially among those looking to enjoy this with their kids or siblings, but as clear as the throughline is between Breath of the Wild and Immortals Fenyx Rising, it’s just as obvious that Immortals will live again. This is just the start of something special.

By virtue of its smaller scale, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a tighter, better designed package. It might not boast as many hours of content, but what it has is far more worth your time. If you felt the original Marvel’s Spider-Man was a bit average or too bloated with open-world gaming cliches, Miles Morales might just be what you’re looking for.

My 40 hours in Yakuza: Like a Dragon were a great experience regardless if I was playing on my original Xbox One or seamlessly transitioning my save onto the Xbox Series X for improved resolution, frame rate, and loading times. I loved its characters, humor, and willingness to balance complete absurdity with utter sincerity. And even though the battle system would occasionally trip over its own feet, I still adored watching my crew beat the hell out of some weirdos, grow a little bit closer, and celebrate their victory with karaoke back at the pub.

While it’s sure to be overshadowed by the excellent pair of Spider-Man: Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a wonderful platformer and a strong part of what makes the PS5’s launch lineup arguably the best in video game history. The aesthetic beauty, incredible use of music, and wealth of unlockables overshadow some of the finicky control issues. Whether you’re going it alone or partying up with some pals, Sackboy: A Big Adventure is a great entry to one of Sony’s beloved franchises.

Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin is ultimately a charming and fun adventure. The farming mechanics could have been explained more explicitly, but once everything clicks, you come to appreciate how well both the farming simulation and sidescrolling action adventure aspects complement each other. Sakuna starts off as a spoiled goddess with no concern for anyone but herself. But as she learns the value of hard work through harvesting rice and bonds with her group of outcast humans, she truly grows into a heroine fit to conquer the Isle of Demons.

Since nearly all the various trinkets and relics and map markers have meaningful purpose, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a rare open-world game where virtually every activity feels worth doing. Like Eivor scaling the snow-covered mountains of Norway, Valhalla achieves new heights for the RPG era of Assassin’s Creed, and I’ve never been more excited to see where the series goes next.

Wasteland 3 succeeds on its narrative, choice system, strong characters, and compelling factions. It stumbles in its lifeless world, inconsistent presentation, familiar gameplay, and technical side – it often feels like a snow-themed reskin of Wasteland 2, with many of that title’s limitations and janky systems. Nonetheless, designer Brian Fargo has here made the best post-apocalyptic RPG since Fallout: New Vegas. It’s just not as good as the one he made 23 years ago with Fallout.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is absolutely wonderful all around. Each of the 13 protagonists gets relatively equal screen time, and they’re all brought to life by both the great English and Japanese voice tracks. You’re sure to have your favorites, but it’s incredibly satisfying to see how each of their stories intersects through time and space and coalesces into the battle for mankind against the alien invaders. This is one adventure you simply don’t want to miss.

Despite the time skip, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night feels like it could have come out just a year after Order of Ecclesia, when IGA and his team were still riding a hot streak and at the height of their abilities. Even after all this time, the house that IGA built has collected no cobwebs.

Samurai Shodown is a pristine work of fighting game clarity.

Judgment is as magical and grounded as true city life.

Add in some surprisingly good plot twists and emotional arcs and SteamWorld Quest is a game that storied RPG developers like Atlus and Square Enix could be proud of. The fact that this is Image & Form’s first outing in the genre begs the question of what exciting adventure the developers will rush headlong into next.

Days Gone offers an emotional rebuttal to apocalyptic nihilism.

Would my love for Sekiro have deepened if it allowed me to make it easier by softening its combat or giving me endless resources to survive? Probably. I’ve always wanted to be a tourist in From Software’s worlds rather than a permanent resident. I prefer my leisure masochism to be based around exploration and discovery, not challenges of timing and pattern recognition. But I also can’t indict the game for being something it isn’t. I may loathe playing Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, but I also have to acknowledge that it’s wholly committed to its artistic vision and executes it with astonishing care. I may hate that I’m physically incapable of finishing it, but my god do I respect it.

Humor keeps Tropico 6 from getting too stressful.

Devil May Cry 5 is 99 percent about doing things that are totally sweet and looking totally sweet while doing them. There’s no thematic depth waiting beneath its bombastic, blood-drenched glamour and its vulcanizing, improvisational violence choreography. But when Hideaki Itsuno’s unlikely sequel drew me into a meditative flow of stabbing angry skeletons with a sword the height and width of a Bob’s Big Boy statue, I still found myself carried back to electric moments and powerful memories.

This is not a horror game or even a survival horror game so much as it is a Resident Evil game — Resident Evil 2 is the Resident Evil game...Because of that, Resident Evil 2 can feel overwhelmingly formal. It’s slick and splendid, but also rigid. In excising all the flaws of past entries, Resident Evil 2 loses the unpredictability of the tradition it seemingly codifies. This is a remake, a returning to the serieses roots and, presumably, a commitment to a new path forward. Resident Evil 2 soars as a definitive statement of intent after a decade of recentering. Beholden to the past as this game is, it’s a promising new beginning. Now that Resident Evil has found itself, it will be exciting to see what kind of gross hot-dog dinosaur it mutates into next.

In an age where instant gratification is an essential feature in nearly all art, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate might seem almost miserly in its slow drip and patient reveals of its staggering depth. After more than 20 hours with the game, I’d still only unlocked two-thirds of the main cast and explored half of the World of Light’s map. Rather than feel irritated or cheated by its patience, I instead found Ultimate a luxurious experience, every bit as meditative in practice as its fights were bombastic. This is a game to be enjoyed over time, to be savored with a refreshed palate after you’ve spent some time away.

Overall the game is a pleasure to play, a breezy RPG packed with beauty and charm that will bring older players back to the series’ beginning while recruiting a new generation that will ensure Pokemon’s future. So much of my favorite childhood media just doesn’t hold up to my modern tastes and I have no real interest in using some form of emulator to relive the original Pokemon Red/Blue’s archaic gameplay. Let’s Go brings back the warm memories and blends them with a satisfying new experience.

As far as the narrative itself, it’s brilliant and terrible. It’s epic and overlong. It’s moving and predictable. Inspiring and exhausting. It is an achievement in video game writing, acting, directing, and motion capture. It will win awards. It will be remembered long after the game itself is rendered unplayable by the advance of technology. It is also gratuitously self-indulgent, derivative, and too goddamn long.

As a course correction to an aging series, Soulcalibur VI is unimpeachable. More significantly, as a fighting game with a singular identity, this game could shed its name entirely and impress on its own merits. The game world is enveloping, full of posh art and luxurious conflict that evokes a waltz more than a brawl. The soul, against all odds, still burns.

Mega Man 11 doesn’t have to change video games, though, and it doesn’t have to inspire a new legion of followers. It just has to be as honest and good as it is.

Any review of WoW is inherently a work in progress, with the full scope of the expansion taking years to reveal. But Battle for Azeroth has me hooked again and I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts as the war rages on.

Marvel's Spider-Man is a modern, AAA blockbuster video game in every possible sense. It is highly polished, intricately designed, near-flawlessly produced and intelligently scaffolded. And it has achieved for the character of Spider-Man what very few games about comic book heroes accomplish: creating an experience both purely focused on the character and broad enough to have mass appeal. It will, without a doubt, stand for some time as the definitive Spider-Man video game.

Tekken 7 is the first modern fighting game I've played that really seems to maintain the feel of the classics in its entirety. As much fun as the results of the genre's evolution has been, there's always going to be a place in the gaming collective for the classics, and Tekken 7 is fundamentally just that. It's nearly perfect as a core Tekken experience. The only thing that was truly disappointing was the lack of Tekken Ball.

Endless Space 2 doesn't sugarcoat the 4x experience, and it can be daunting when you realize that all 600 icons on the screen have a tooltip you need to read to make just this one decision. Despite all that complexity, none of it seems unnecessary, which means every one of those tooltips has essential information.

For the first time in a long time I only have one complaint about a game I'm reviewing. This game really needs to add a single player mode. I have no idea how it would work but it's kind of pain finding people to play with. The game has occasional hang ups and graphical missteps on occasion. As I said earlier, the average player should expect to spend at least 15 minutes getting the hang of the games concepts and core principles of the game and that's mostly because of the seven house card rules. If you enjoy party games and insanity, play this game.

This time around, Kickstarter actually did come to the rescue, delivering a game that is very much worthy of being called the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie. Yooka-Laylee is a game for fans who miss the N64 days of running around a huge, open map, collecting a bunch of stuff and having a bit of a laugh. It's cute, it's funny, and a few minor technical issues aside, it's exactly what it promised to deliver.

Bleed 2 is a great choice for anyone who loves extremely fast-paced action games that reward skill. Particularly if you've ever wanted to quadruple jump a path through a swarm of gunfire and flaming wreckage, riddle a bunch of enemies with bullets in slow motion, and finish off a hostile helicopter by deflecting one of the dozen missiles it's launched that you back in its freaking face with your sword before touching the ground. It's that kind of game.

Halo Wars 2 is the sequel that no-one really asked for, but is a surprisingly solid traditional base-building RTS, and is finally on a platform suited for the genre. The campaign is a little lacking, but several different multiplayer modes and the promise of "six months of regular updates" make up for it.

Resident Evil 7 is in your face, behind your back, and under your skin horror, and it features the most suspenseful, terrifying setting I've seen since the Spencer Mansion. While I have plenty of complaints - unspectacular boss fights and forgettable puzzles - none of these things detracts from the overall atmospheric horror, enjoyable gameplay, and brilliant antagonists that you love to hate. It's everything the series should have been up to this point, and I honestly would have been satisfied with less.

Beholder feels like it isn't saying much politically, while still shouting at the top of its lungs about what is and what could be. It's an interactive moral dilemma that will force players to rethink everything they thought they knew about themselves.

Sun and Moon may just be another iteration of the Pokemon formula, but it's the best we've seen so far. So many subtle quality-of-life changes, as well as tweaks to old features and helpful new features add up to make Pokemon's final hurrah on the 3DS one to remember. Just don't go expecting anything fantastic out of the story.

Sun and Moon may just be another iteration of the Pokemon formula, but it's the best we've seen so far. So many subtle quality-of-life changes, as well as tweaks to old features and helpful new features add up to make Pokemon's final hurrah on the 3DS one to remember. Just don't go expecting anything fantastic out of the story.

Owlboy is the product of much work and iteration, and while a lot people have been waiting a long time, their patience has been well rewarded. This is the perfect game for anyone who enjoys the nostalgia of late 90's platformers. Owlboy is full of character, and features a level of polish that justifies the long development process.

Civ VI has improved upon nearly every system and mechanic in the game, at no real cost to the experience. It's the easiest Civ to play, but it's also the most complex Civ to date. There's enough default automation that you can ignore a lot of the minutia if you want, but micromanagers like myself will still have all the tedium they can dream of. There's nothing quite as satisfying as pillaging every single tile in an aggressive neighbor's civilization.

Battlefield 1 is the game that DICE needed to keep the series fresh. The WWI setting makes for great gameplay, and it's well-executed and super fun to play. The campaign is short but enjoyable, and the multiplayer is outstanding.

Gears of War 4 is the best Gears yet. Don't expect a revolution, but a refinement of all of the aspects that make Gears great, including an over-the-top, almost cartoonish campaign, and a kick-ass upgrade of Horde mode. It's also a flawless representative of Microsoft's new "Play Anywhere" and Universal Windows Platform initiatives.

Event[0] has the length and teething pains of a tech demo, but tells a story to beautifully to overlook without good reason.

Chime Sharp is an incredibly simple game, just like the original, but the dynamic soundtrack and mesmerizing gameplay makes for an exceptional experience.

Legion is more focused on the player's personal story than any other World of Warcraft expansion has ever been, and it does an absolutely fantastic job at telling it. The Demon Hunter class isn't as fleshed-out as it could have been, but there is still a ton of new content for every kind of player.

Master of Orion is a beautiful reproduction of a strategy classic. The game itself remains almost entirely unsullied, with the most notable updates applying to graphics and interface.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is a thrilling, suspenseful game that holds a mirror up to our own world without losing track of its own. Action, puzzles, a fantastical setting, and a compelling story merge together in a world where conspiracies are real, you can't trust the media, and a razor thin line separates your allies from your enemies.

It's a bit rough around the edges, and the first few hours are a slog, but Starbound is a deep and vast constructor with a killer soundtrack.

It's a really highly polished experience with a lot of secrets to be found, coupled with a story that pulls you along with strong characters.

It is a rare breed of game that offers exactly what it promises, and does so flawlessly.

SMAA doesn't aim to do anything particularly novel, preferring to embrace the clone nature of the game and make that aspect as good as it can be. There's no doubt they made the right decision there, as you'll be hard pressed to not enjoy your time with SMAA.

Ashes of the Singularity has limited depth in some aspects, but as an RTS experience, and particularly as a first showing for its Oxide Engine foundation, it is absolutely stellar.

Blood and Wine is not the epic "save the world" adventure prior Witcher titles were, but that's okay. It's a fond farewell to Geralt of Rivea, ensuring your last adventure with The Witcher leaves a smile on your face.

Overwatch is a fast, fun, and fresh take on the class-based shooter. Blizzard has made sure its first new IP in 17 years is polished to perfection.

Doom manages to challenge the conventions of the first-person shooter genre by going back to its roots. It will have you breathing heavily, cursing in frustration, and screaming in triumph. The multiplayer is a bit of a letdown, but the campaign is absolutely glorious.

Uncharted 4 is a grand adventure: over the top yet, simultaneously, graciously restrained. It is a reflection on a grandiose life with an overcast of impermanence and a dignified maturity. A Thief's End doesn't settle for telling the final story of Nathan Drake, it also tells the human story of Nathan Drake, serving as a fitting, elegant farewell. "Immersive" is a word that is often used to describe well-executed games, yet never has it been more appropriate than for A Thief's End. Never have I felt more respected as a player, as a fan, than I did during my time with Uncharted 4.

I can't imagine a game so fundamentally about number crunching being universally appealing, but the audience it will appeal to will absolutely love it.

Stories: Path of Destinies is a whimsical, cartoonish story experience that demands a near-methodical approach to navigating storylines. You learn with each run, but it's harder than you think to avoid making the same mistake twice.

Hyper Light Drifter is a breathtaking game that draws heavily from gaming's most prominent pioneers without relying too heavily on their influence. It is an eclectic masterpiece that feels more like an experience than a video game.

Epistory doesn't try to do too much, instead focusing on perfect execution of what it does. The world is gorgeously crafted around you as the narrator lulls you into contentment, but the creeping insect enemies will keep you moving and actively entertained.

Leap of Fate offers a challenging rogue-lite experience without making it unapproachable to less serious gamers. The combination of unique characters, randomized skill trees, and an abundance of interesting Glyph effects makes every run feel like a different game.

This is a brutal hybrid of Metroidvania and action RPG that will beat players down and have them coming back for more. Though it doesn't stray far from its inspiration, Salt and Sanctuary is a finely-crafted tribute to From Software's work and is absolutely dripping with the signature cartoon aesthetic and punk rock style fans of Ska Studios have come to know and love.

Stardew Valley is an absolutely charming little gem about forgetting all your worries and relaxing on a farm.

Hitman lives up to the legacy of the original games, and redeems the series from the lows of Hitman: Absolution by taking the series to new heights.

Into the Stars is a gorgeously-rendered sibling of FTL, featuring all the tension of collecting resources and fighting space aliens with none of the tedious micromanagement.

Superhot is a shining example of how to build a game around a single clever game mechanic. Its story mode is short, but the unlockable Endless and Challenge modes provide plenty of worthwhile reasons to go back for more.

Far Cry Primal is the Stone Age survival game we never expected from the Triple A industry, complete with a lush prehistoric world you can explore for hours.

This expansion for Galactic Civilizations III is a solid gameplay update that introduces the ability to buy merc ships, overall adding to the long war space battles that the base game introduced.

Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm 4 is solid, both in gameplay and narrative. It has been a long time since a fighting game has been this fun for me.

Fire Emblem: Fates takes two steps forward and one step back for the series. It still retains and expands on many of the great Fire Emblem elements, but Fates slips on a few important aspects.

Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part 2 offers a focused, fast-paced endcap to the Watcher's tale, answering all of the lingering questions from Part 1, and then some. The encounter design brings some ongoing problems with Pillars combat to the forefront in several areas, but the overall experience is balanced out by high quality storycraft, interesting new locales, and momentous, world-shaping decisions available to the player.

While it is incomplete by design, with the missing content being dolled out for free over the course of the year, Street Fighter 5 is the most accessible the franchise has ever been and remains mechanically brilliant.

The true masterpiece is the endless struggle to create art. Jump scares and predictable tricks in horror games won't work anymore. The story of the artist is intriguing while still making you feel tense and uneasy about what you see. Layers of Fear made story, gameplay, and atmosphere work together in harmony.

The Beginner's Guide is an incredible art piece of a game that gets you thinking your relationship with the games you play.

Firewatch is an excellent, tense story, uncanny in spite its numerous beauties, and unmissable despite weaker mechanics.

A challenging experience centered around gameplay that has you deflect bullets by rolling head first into danger.

Fortified marries multiple different genres while maintaining consistent waves of challenging fun in a cohesive experience. The game is best when played as part of a team, although the omission of split-screen co-op is a disappointment, and the lack of a health bar is a bit frustrating.

XCOM 2 improves on its predecessor in almost every way, and proudly stands as one of the most deeply satisfying action-strategy games currently available.

I went into The Bug Butcher with few expectations, so I was pleasantly surprised by how well the classic arcade mechanics held up to today's standards. It's a challenging game that never feels cheap or unfair.

The Witness is a beautiful, brain-tickling, "puzzle-adventure," that will manage to both frustrate and awe you at the same time.

While the story sometimes sticks too close to familiar ground, Deserts of Kharak is a fun and challenging RTS title that's a worthy addition to the Homeworld franchise.

Knights of Pen & Paper 2 simulates the imperfect, but undeniably fun experience of a tabletop RPG. It's a game that pokes fun of entertainment culture and RPG stereotypes as a whole, bundled into an engaging 16-bit retro experience.

Oxenfree is a story about human interaction and how we choose to treat each other, all set against a backdrop of supernatural horror. It just feels really human in spite of all the weird stuff.

Dragon's Dogma still holds up as a solid game in 2016. Capcom fixed many of the technical errors and glitches of the 2012 console release with patches, allowing a reliable framerate to go with your experience. The included difficulty modes raise the stakes of the challenge.

Darkest Dungeon will kill your party, drive you insane, and leave you a gibbering mess at the Sanitarium. Yet it's so compelling and rewarding at the same time, you won't be able to resist diving back in for one more quest.

Echoes of Aetheria weaves narrative, combat, and exploration together wonderfully, with no one aspect of the game overshadowing another. However, dialogue is occasionally cheesy and design flaws cast a shadow on what is meant to be a tactical combat experience.

Pony Island is an incredibly clever puzzle-horror game that manages to immerse you in a screwed up world of ponies, code, and demonic machinations.

One of the best examples of how good the Japanese RPG can be, even if no single aspect sets the bar for the genre.

A fantastic cyberpunk game whose biggest strength is its writing.

A strong entry for franchise fans, and runs fluently on PC to give the expressive anime visual style the opportunity to show off its fullest potential.

While Valhalla Hills doesn't have the presentation and energy of some of the more popular RTS games, it does manage to offer up an addictive experience that is a lot of fun. Listening to the intriguing sound effects of the Vikings mustering up their strength to work remains delightful and humorous throughout the entire game.

Downwell is an unique take on the shoot em' up and roguelike genres that is sure to keep you coming back.

I played Xenoblade Chronicles X for about 70 hours and didn't finish it, happily alternating between short sessions and long binges. It's one of the most accessible JRPGs I've ever played, combining some of my favorite parts of games like Monster Hunter with a wonderful world to explore and a lot amount of content to consume. I say consume because a lot of that content is, in the end, repetitive - or tiring because of limiting mechanics. Despite that it's a fun game, intensely satisfying to succeed at, and stands alone as a superb entry in the pseudo-series that started with Xenoblade Chronicles. An engaging world with interesting things in it, I expect I'll get another 40 hours out of this game just exploring, seeing the sights, flying my mech, experiencing the story, and picking fights with random monsters. Just to see what happens.

The Old Hunters is a worthwhile expansion to one of the best games of the year and a shining example of how DLC should be made.

Undertale is fantastic in ways that are hard to describe. It's a love letter to RPGs, gamers, and gaming in general.

Don't let the difficulty of Mordheim: City of the Damned throw you off. The initial experience looks punishing, but a few rounds of skirmish matches will help you understand the mechanics. From there, you'll bond with your squad through the trials, triumphs, and failures you experience together. Mordheim: City of the Damned isn't about winning or losing, it's about making the best of the bloody journey.

Guild Wars 2 continues set itself apart by being an MMO that stresses and encourages players to adventure and tackle challenges together.

Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition offers a well-written story, in-depth character development and tactical combat that will be more than enough to please most tactical fans.

A simple yet entertaining "city builder" that'll provide a difficult challenge.