Arslan: The Warriors of Legend does nothing new, but it looks good and plays well. The story is run of the mill, but is nice if you're a fan of swords, sorcery, and royalty.

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.

Steve Jackson's Sorcery! Is an interesting digital implementation of a pencil and paper gamebook.

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.

The Political Machine 2016 is a fun simulation game to play despite its serious subject matter and repetitiveness. On the plus-side, the game requires no real understanding of US politics to play - Robotic Elvis proved that.

Republique is a relatively simple stealth game with a lot of love dumped into its presentation and its world, but Episode 4's attempt to shake things up in both gameplay and plot is weak.

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.

Its biggest strength is also its main weakness. It is a very good version of a familiar game. The card art is beautiful, the user interface is crisp and clean, the booster packs are frustratingly realistic, the deck builds are flavorful and diverse, and it all feels a great deal like card games most genre fans have played before. It's an excellent take on the trading card game, digital or otherwise, but given that it's competing in a very well established place, it might not do enough to develop a huge audience.

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.

Great puzzles that are unfortunately marred by sub-par presentation with cringeworthy dialogue and voice over.

Five Nights at Freddy's World is a retro parody JRPG that feels incomplete now, but is steadily getting better as patches come out.

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

If you can overlook the early game difficulty, Pocket Mortys is a freemium game that is never in your face about taking your money. With short rounds of gameplay and a lot of post-game activities, Pocket Mortys is well worth a download if you enjoy Pokemon and are slowing wasting away while waiting for the third season of Rick and Morty.

The Westport Independent will leave you more aware of the media as a whole, and how editorial direction can have wide-ranging results. While the game is short, that playtime is justified since you can replay and explore different possible outcomes. The $9.99 initial price might be too high for some people's liking, but the story is certainly enjoyable for the hour or two needed to complete it.

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.

Here Be Dragons is a fun, if modest and repetitive expansion that stays true to the gameplay of Knights of Pen & Paper 2.

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.

Energy Cycle manages to hold itself up on the concept. There were moments of frustration at some of the more challenging puzzles. But the premise of the game makes it clear that there was always a solution possible. What sets the game's strengths back is a distracting aesthetic choice. The soundtrack and background that gameplay uses made strategy difficult rather than complimenting it.

Resident Evil 0 HD Remaster includes more content than most HD remasters, but does little to fix design flaws from the original.

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.

Like inventing and describing a new color, That Dragon, Cancer tries to describe something indescribable, and does an admirable job of it.

A tense, challenging, and addictive strategy game with strong atmosphere, weakened by excessive randomness that too often pushes things past "hard" into "hopeless."

While some more star power in the soundtrack would have went a long way, and the way Harmonix artificially pads the game's length with its song unlock requirements is ridiculous, Amplitude remains an exciting blend of rhythm action and electronica that does well by its predecessors.

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.

For the short time it lasts, Pale Echoes has an interesting and creative battle system, a compelling story to tell, and an interesting world to explore.

Steamworld Heist is an absorbing world wrapped around a decent game whose technical bits take away from a stellar personality.

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

Corgi Warlock has a great concept and decent core mechanics, but never quite elevates itself into an engaging or memorable game.

A beautiful, charming, humbling, and difficult experience that's a good fit for shoot 'em up fans, but perhaps strange and unwelcoming to newcomers.

Given the lack of content, the game feels like a work-in-progress with some poorly conceived features and contrivances that only diminish the game's few strengths.

The additions of the wingsuit, dual tethering grapple hook, unlimited C4 and regenerating health system are all fantastic additions that would've made Just Cause 3 a breakout game in the franchise, if not for the dull story, repetitive story missions and technical issues ranging from long load times, to poor framerate and to constant disconnections for a single player only game.

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.

Star Wars: Battlefront does a fantastic job of transporting players into the Star Wars universe for a big initial kicker, but that ultimately fades when you realize how light it is on content and game features. A textbook case of style over substance.

Blood Bowl 2's dry humor, colorful visuals, explosive brutality, and over-the-top fantasy characters will appeal to die-hard Warhammer fans.

With a little bit more cohesion and fewer drastic system changes over the course of the campaigns, Hard West could have been amazing. Instead, it's merely quite good.

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.

Knight Squad is a fun distraction to play with friends, but there's nothing for the single-player lone knight to sink their sword into.

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

Despite the feelings of deja vu sprinkled throughout the 10-12 hour campaign and the flawed crafting system, Rise of the Tomb Raider is still a hell of a roller coaster ride, featuring fantastic gunplay, exceedingly clever puzzles, and a breathtaking world to explore. It may not rise above its 2013 predecessor, but it certainly meets it in the upper echelon of the third person shooter genre.

Whether or not players find other changes displeasing, such as the new dialogue system and its limitations, is likely going to depend on their personal relationship with the Fallout series. Newer players will probably never know what they're missing and are likely to have a fantastic time, while fans who have stuck around may be disappointed with the direction Fallout 4 takes.

Black Ops III has upped its game, giving exciting updates to the fan-favorite Zombies and the classic multiplayer, but the single player doesn't measure up to the same standard.

Yo-Kai Watch is a good variation on the monster collection genre of RPGs that will definitely please fans and earn a few new fans, but has just enough tiresome elements to keep it from being great.

Playing a blind girl helped me see how challenging it was, but I wish I saw a reason to care about the world Eva lived in.

Rebel Galaxy offers an exciting, if streamlined experience of commanding a large spaceship with a heavy focus on combat. It doesn't do much with the story beyond inviting you into its universe, but the gameplay, Western-inspired setting and procedurally generated nature will keep you playing for many hours.

Vermintide is a great medieval-themed cooperative FPS. Despite being developed by a smaller studio, Vermintide never feels cheaply made.

I was surprised that The Coma delivered on the premise it advertised in a way that was able to appeal to someone outside of its target audience demographic. I beat the game over the course of about a day, and I was left wanting more of this world as I watched the ending that set up an obvious sequel.

Bedlam serves as an homage to the first-person shooter genre. It's not quite as polished as the games it emulates, and its nature as an imperfect replica should be quite apparent to any FPS veteran. In spite of its shortcomings, Bedlam is highly entertaining and well worth your time.

Sword Coast Legends is a comfortable return to the D&D rules and universe, but oversimplified combat and a repetitive feel to dungeons and quests keep this game from being great.

It's a shame that Halo 5's story is disappointing, because nearly everything else surrounding it is fantastic. The friendly AI definitely needs work, and there are a few too many enemy types that need to be attacked from behind in order to damage, but the level design is some of the best the series has ever seen, and the new abilities the player can use dramatically improve both the campaign and multiplayer. Throw in the robust Breakout and Warzone multiplayer modes and I think it's safe to say that you could find yourself wrapped in Halo 5 for quite some time.

Assassin's Creed Syndicate features a solid campaign, elevated by challenging assassination missions and a spellbinding setting. Syndicate delivers all of the innovations I had hoped to see from Unity, which was the franchise's first new-generation console entry, as the adjustments to combat, stealth, and travel breathe new air into the series.

The changes made to Guitar Hero: Live go a long way in giving the series its own unique identity, but at the cost of making the game less fun to play than its competitors. An innovative post release content delivery system of streaming music elevates what's otherwise an average and expensive rhythm game.

Quiplash XL, Fibbage 2 and Ear Wax are must haves and are worth the price of admission alone, assuming you don't have Party Pack 1 and the standalone Quiplash.

Easy on the eyes and the ears, this game is fun to see and listen to. It could have had more gameplay content though - the journey just ended too soon.

Broforce is a silly, but sincere love letter to iconic action movies, refined to perfection with rich environments and wonderfully-crafted enemies. Even when you're killed by an out-of-control explosion which you triggered, you'll be having an absolute blast with this game.

Hearts of Stone, despite not really adding that much new "stuff", tells an amazing, engaging story that is worthy of the $10 price tag. While The Wild Hunt was the conclusion to an epic, climactic saga, Hearts of Stone is simply another story in the life of Witcher Geralt.

The ending certainly proved to me that Jon Oldblood knows how to think outside the limits of what's considered normal.

So cute I almost vomited.

Transformers Devastation is a blast to play while it lasts, and expertly blends elements of Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising, but packages it in a way that makes it come off as completely unique.

Great addicting roguelike space game where the punishment is balanced perfectly with reward.

To use a Civilization V metaphor, this is "Beyond Earth: Gods and Kings,": it adds a few new things, adjusts a few others, but overall doesn't really have much impact on the core game. The mechanics are still there, but it's sort of ironic that this expansion adds in aquatic combat, since the thing it seems to lack most is depth. It's a coat of paint, not a deep fix.

The Escapists: The Walking Dead is a clever puzzle game that brilliantly utilizes its strengths - but the strengths aren't powerful enough to outweigh some of the game's flaws.

While it's undeniably expensive, LEGO Dimensions delivers a grand cross-over experience that's fun for all ages.

Dengeki Bunko: Fighting Climax just isn't giving fighting game fans or anime fans what they want. There's potential, which may be realized in the sequel, but as it stands it's a mashable fighting game with more novelty than anything else.

Like many, I've been a fan of Rock Band for years, and Rock Band 4 fills all of those gaming inclinations. The several minuscule issues coupled with the primary, yet still small concern of ambiguous song difficulties mean it's imperfect, but not by much.

Like Cactus in the opening sequence, the ultimate result of Assault Android Cactus is looking at the relentless danger, thinking "I'll take my chances with the lasers," and wading into the chaos. Reckless, gleeful, and a really hard, incredibly good time.

Extreme Exorcism will have a fairly broad appeal, given the simplicity of the mechanics. You'll likely need to explain to your non-gaming friends how it works, but even the most staunch luddites will be able to grasp what's going on.

Armikrog is a fun and quirky point-and-click adventure game with unfortunately dated mechanics.

The cartoony appearance might throw you off, but there's no shortage of violence in this retelling of a folk legend's homegrown rebellion.

To some players it's going to feel like a handful of aesthetic features, but once you use the new mechanics After Dark draws you deeper into making your own little world.

Although it doesn't feel as full as New Leaf, Happy Home Designer is a fine game that should've aspired to more.

SOMA is a worthy successor to Amnesia: The Dark Descent, and sits among the best video game stories of 2015.

With its tense naval battles and huge array of historical vessels, World of Warships is the free-to-play MMO that can make a wargamer out of anyone.

Skyshine's Bedlam is a tough but rewarding trip through a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

It's good enough that it's easily worth the $30 price for fans of heist games, yet still good enough for people like me to get it at about a 33% discount on Steam. If it's $20 or less at some point and it looks interesting, get it. The characters alone are worth the money.

Until Dawn struggles with clunky video game elements and rough pacing, but mitigates it with B-movie slasher mainstays and a willingness to embrace player failure.

Kyn is a solidly-crafted RPG with some fun and interesting set pieces, but isn't innovative enough to stand out among similar titles in the genre.

King's Quest: A Knight to Remember is a very promising start to a worthy revival of the classic adventure franchise.

Lost Dimension is a fun and deep tactics RPG with interesting mechanics and a horrible story with horrible endings.

Guild of Dungeoneering is simple, light-hearted fun with an adorable sketchbook aesthetic and delightful humor. It's not perfect, but as obscure indie games go, it's certainly top tier.

The Magic Circle is the best "broken" game you've ever played - and a rich satire of the industry to boot.

Ronin is a remarkably average game. When it works, it's kind of fun, but there just isn't enough here to maintain interest, and it has nothing that we haven't seen before.