Days Gone offers an emotional rebuttal to apocalyptic nihilism.

Toukiden: Age of Demons is a solid little Monster Hunter tailgater, but it's highly unremarkable. It's simply okay, and it's not even intrigued by the idea of being more than that.

The Elder Scrolls Online is a ton of fun in an outside-the-box sort of way. It can't seem to decide whether it wants to be single player or MMO, so be prepared for some in-between weirdness, but nothing that really detracts much from the experience. Between Guilds, crafting, PvP, and dungeons, it has all of the makings of a solid MMO.

A hardcore experience in just about every sense of the word. If you're looking for a simple hack-and-slash brawler, you'll need to look elsewhere. Strategy is paramount here, and while the skill - or lack thereof - of your teammates can indeed doom you to failure, the rewarding feeling of waging a successful war is well worth it.

A well-crafted, easy-to-play game with an entertaining fantasy bent, Warlock will have you staying up nights taking one more turn to blast King Rrat to kingdom come.

While The Medium’s design stumbles are disappointing, its human characters and gorgeous world are ultimately the things that stuck with me. Once I finally made it to the end of the road, I immediately restarted the campaign to experience all of the narrative breadcrumbs with the newfound clarity of the ending in mind, which is the sign of an effective story. And the game’s day one availability on Xbox Game Pass is just another in a long line of reasons why the service is a must-have. It might not reach the unforgettable highs of James Sutherland’s time in the town of Silent Hill, but The Medium carves out its own corner of the genre that’s worth losing a bit of sleep over.

If you've been dying for a classic Final Fantasy title that's closer in mechanics to Final Fantasy IV than Final Fantasy XIII, you'll enjoy 4 Heroes of Light. If you despise retro RPG conventions, 4 Heroes is not for you unless you really want to morph into a chicken.

Samurai Warriors 4: Empires is fun, but scattered. It's a decent diversion but it's complexity and lack of transparency will keep you from being hooked.

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

If you’re a fan of open-world adventures with punchy combat and charming stories, The Knightling is a solid pick for your next gaming session. It offers a blend of exploration, combat, and platforming, along with memorable characters and a vibrant game world.

I had the same response in general to playing The Sinking City. There’s so much wonderful potential in this game that its flaws are all the more maddening. I wished that it had followed Call of Cthulhu in abandoning combat altogether and just used its larger space and considerably more nuanced investigation system to tell a great story. But it seems I’ll have to keep waiting for the perfect Lovecraft game.

Little Nightmares 3 is not a bad game by any means. As noted, the art and sound design teams both did a splendid job, and I hope to learn more about Low and Alone in the DLC, too. The game just felt somewhat overshadowed by the creativity of its predecessors, offering a decent but oddly familiar experience.

Like all good party games, Fruit Ninja is a bit bland by yourself, but add some friends into the mix and it becomes a goofy good time. You won't spend a lot of time with it when you play, but it'll be a surefire hit at your get-togethers.

Asura's Wrath is a novel idea with some poor implementation. It often feels strained into too many directions, but there is something undeniably fun about certain outrageous moments. There really isn't much else quite like Asura's Wrath.

A polished and satisfying reflex shooter that removes meaningful decisions from the game and trivializes its own greatest technology.

With plenty of missions, new enemies, new weapons, minor enhancements and lost of things that go boom, Crackdown 2 offers hours of satisfying, brainless fun for those who enjoy that sort of thing. Newcomers to the series and die-hard fans alike will find plenty to obsess over.

It's almost as though Ubisoft wasn't confident enough in Liberation's story and gameplay to let it stand on its own. The result is a game that is fun to play, but in spite of itself. It's an Assassin's Creed game through and through, and fans of the franchise will find the key elements very much intact. But brace yourself to deal with useless gimmicks and a patchwork story that ultimately holds Liberation back from greatness.

Demon Gaze is tough as nails, sometimes dishearteningly so, but its overall charm and excellent sense of polish make it impossible to stay away from for long. A truly excellent example of challenging dungeon crawling.

The Cave's offbeat sense of humor is mostly charming, and actually solving the puzzles inside it feels delightfully difficult. However, the severely diminishing returns on its replay value make it more of a momentarily amusing distraction than something you'll be holding onto for years to come.

Despite the unstable camera, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is a hilarious action-adventure with a lot of variety between the platforming, environmental puzzles and hack-and-blast action, but unless you're a hardcore Ratchet & Clank fan, you won't get the full experience playing it by yourself.

Hyrule Warriors Legends should have been made a new 3DS exclusive, as the performance issues on the older system make the game nearly unplayable. However, the new characters, and the ability to swap fluidly between playable characters, make the game feel more fresh than a standard port.

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.

This is a retro re-release at its finest. The game feels like its classic counterpart, but it has a number of improvements to make it more palatable to a modern gaming audience.

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

While it's difficult to ignore the surface appeal of an oddball title like Lollipop Chainsaw, what are merely workable mechanics, and some overused humor can't keep the experience afloat.

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.

If Assassin’s Creed Valhalla was as vast and interesting as many seasons of Game of Thrones, think of Wrath of the Druids as the forthcoming House of the Dragon spinoff. It’s not going to change anyone’s minds, but if you were still on board, it’s exciting to return to that world.

On the whole, Code Vein 2 is far from a perfect game, but it is far from a bad one, too. This will not hit the same highs as Elden Ring or Dark Souls; however, perhaps it does not need to. As another in the burgeoning catalog of Soulslikes, it offers unique combat and plenty of panache while owning its imperfections and inspirations alike.

EA Sports UFC doesn't cater to button mashers, so be wary if you're not eager to learn an overly-complex control scheme. More technical gamers will be able to appreciate the gameplay to a greater extent, but the laggy servers make even this an exercise in frustration.

Burial At Sea tells an interesting tale with plenty of twists, but it doesn't have enough substance on the gameplay side of things to back it up.

Rue Valley has much beauty, but it’s not without its clunky issues that can clog up the gears of this well-oiled machine.

My Recommendation, then, is clear/ But so I don't deprive/ You any longer, here it is: / You'll love it if you strive/ To overcome the boring bits.

There isn't enough game in Homefront The Game to contain Homefront The Multimedia Concept. It would work great as a film, and works just fine as a game-based counter-culture argument against the complacency of modern Americans. As a game, however, it just doesn't cut it.

Rainbow Moon isn't terrible, just terribly dull. It's functional and fun to look at, but the lack of story, character arcs, and creative mechanics makes it a chore to play.

The Sims 4 is basically The Sims 3, but shrunken and sterile. While some tweaks and enhancements are nice, none of them can offset the overall lack of engagement provided, and the looming promise of DLC is no compromise.

Terminator 2D: No Fate is best enjoyed as a short love letter to one of the greatest action movies of all time, with a ton of love poured into every pixel. Those who love the franchise and have despaired at the lack of great games will find a lot to love here. Anyone who isn’t a die-hard Terminator fan but loves the 16-bit run-and-gun era should also like it, but only if they go in knowing that their time with the game will likely be as brief as the second film itself.

This is old school side-scrolling beat-em-up. As such, it's a bit of an anachronism. If you can get into the spirit of it, it's fun, but it's not as compelling as it was in the arcades.

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.

The Walking Dead: Michonne - In Too Deep is a strong opening chapter, but the overall experience doesn't stray too much from past seasons. Future episodes will prove whether Michonne has an explosive payoff or is simply an average mini-series for passing the time.

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.

Magicka 2 is Magicka refined - the same wizard-killing simulator co-op fans love with the fixes and improvements players craved. While it doesn't break new ground or surpass the original, it's a blast to play with friends.

It's a great way to reincentivize the most enjoyable Warriors game since DW3, and it looks suitably pretty to boot.

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.

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

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.

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.

The LEGO Movie Videogame is an okay game that LEGO fans will enjoy, but is missing some of the charm of the film and doesn't feel like it lives up to TT's other LEGO titles.

Its brevity and reliance on contrived challenges work against Octodad: Deadliest Catch, but when it's at its best, it's a damn hilarious game that'll charm the pants off most players.

With an remarkably robust spell crafting system and spectacularly entertaining combat, Lichdom: Battlemage finally brings the glory to the magic user that it has long deserved.

The map can indeed be bleakly dismal to explore, but it can still make for a lively playground to test your builds for a bit of mindless entertainment, nevertheless. However, in the event you’re someone who can get easily put off by a mediocre story, graphics, characters, and even repetitiveness from playing too much, Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion is definitely a big ask with its full $69.99 launch price. In that case, waiting for this one to go on sale is a must.

Screencheat is undeniably fun, party/shooter hybrid which brings back fond memories of the good old days of split-screen.

Spider-Man's landed himself in one more somewhat cockamamie story that doesn't quite work, but a slick movement system and a fun combat scheme do a lot to make up for it.

In the end, Blackguards feels a lot like the first time I played Neverwinter Nights in all the good ways and all the bad. Take from that what you will.

I fully expect patches to iron out a lot of the issues, but reviewing what’s here as a footballing sandbox that has some sand missing, it’s still the best around – in fact, it’s the only name in town.

Silent Hill Downpour is an average survival horror game that has a few good ideas, but doesn't live up to its predecessors.

A rewarding business simulation for all types of players, though one that eventually boxes in the player a little too much.

I've got nothing against big stupid action games. In fact, they're some of my favorite games of all. Earth Defense Force 2025 tries too hard at not trying hard enough, like one of those awful SyFy mutant movies. It knows it's terrible, and thinks it can get away with it by doubling down on its own awfulness. Clearly, this has worked for some, as the series has a fanbase. I don't get it, though. This is not so bad it's good. It's just plain bad, and there aren't enough giant insects in the world to convince me otherwise.

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

I like Brink quite a bit, but it's definitely not for everyone. The cumbersome interface is the antithesis of the modern streamlined shooter. If you can get past all the obstacles the game puts in your way, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

The guns and bugs make for some spectacular fireworks, but, after the sparks settle, you are left wishing you had played something a little more substantial.

The Undergarden is laid back, gorgeous, and pretty damn weird - the main character is some kind of strange grinning monkey thing and your mission is to grow flowers in underground caverns.

Arrowhead made a very true-to-source Gauntlet game, no doubt, but the source is 30 years old, and could use some modern accouterments. Gauntlet is as much fun as it has ever been, but it'll get old fast for those who still remember slogging through the original.

Winter Burrow is a delightful game to play through, whether you’re a fan of cozy titles or survival adventure games. It boasts a gorgeous aesthetic, featuring a well-crafted world dotted with charming details, as well as a surprisingly detailed survival system. Fans of comforting survival games with good stories will get a kick out of this title.

Devolver Digital and Mediatonic's Hatoful Boyfriend is a faithful upscale to the original game by Hato Moa and has the same charm and humor.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 definitely has its moments and I can't deny the game's quirky charm. But the great strength of the roster of cars, the enjoyable driving model and compelling location can't eclipse the lack of enjoyable content or the confusing economy.

Even though MLB 2K12 improves the pitching feedback and the throwing mechanic is a nice feature, the game doesn't really make a convincing argument for investing another $60 if you bought the game last year, or the year before.

Shadow Labyrinth is still a competent Metroidvania game that, despite the surprising tonal shift for the franchise, works. Being based off of Pac-Man gives it a unique identity and the nostalgia manages to elevate the story. While the disjointed pacing and rigid controls leave some to be desired, the combat and exploration are fun enough to make this worth a playthrough.

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

While a solid job of remastering the original has been done, the game itself could have used a lot more of an upgrade. It's aged pretty damn badly, and no amount of visual polish can mask that.

Outsmarting zombies, rather than facing them head on with whatever weapon is handy, is a great idea, but the game's environmental puzzles feel too samey after just a short while. The story has its own share of clever seeds, but it's presented so poorly that you probably won't bother to find them. Without satisfying mechanics or narrative, there's nothing pushing you forward towards Deadlight's conclusion.

The Bureau: XCOM Declassified doesn't tell much of a story, and the gameplay is split between the action-packed missions and the supremely boring HQ meanderings. You'll have a ton of fun when you're actually on missions, but that only accounts for 60% of the time you'll spend in game.

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.

Warts and all, The Last Case of John Morley is an immersive game that gets under your skin, not least of all because you’re constantly looking over your shoulder. This feels like the beginning of a new franchise, one that could challenge the established status quo of Sherlock Holmes’ dominance in the mystery/puzzle genre. Whether that actually happens is beyond our control. But even if this is genuinely to be the last time we join John Morley on a case, at least it’s a compelling and fitting conclusion for the gifted detective.

Sony wants SOCOM 4 to be COD in "tactical" clothing, but all they ended up with is an utterly bland amalgam of missions and cutscenes that lacks any soul.

Utterly stupid and often frustrating, Deception IV: Blood Ties is one of those games that manages to be enjoyable in spite of itself. It's a "bad" game, by most standards, but it's good in that "not good" way.

Nier delivers all of the facets that make up a successful action role-playing game: fun combat, diverse characters, good voice-acting, and addictive quest mechanics. It just doesn't do any of them excellently.

Square Enix heavily marketed the title as a games-as-a-service affair, so a long road is ahead. With a substantial amount of new content in the future, as well as some variety in mission objectives, Marvel’s Avengers could be worth a player’s time and effort. At the very least, the roughly 8-10 hour campaign is worth experiencing if only for the amazing portrayal of Kamala Khan. Right now, though, you may want to steer clear until more updates arrive.

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

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.

Thief is a mess. It's disappointing that there's a genuinely good game hidden under a lot of mediocrity.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes doesn’t invite you in. If you’re unfamiliar with the huge swatch of game history, Grasshopper’s catalog, or even games industry business gossip referenced within, this will come off as a less entertaining surrealist action game overshadowed by Suda51’s old work like Killer7 or even No More Heroes. Anyone that can actually speak the language of this game will be richly rewarded by the promise that there may, in fact, still be heroes out there.

If you enjoy Castlevania, if you don't mind time limits, if you don't mind having to replay levels numerous times, and if you can deal with minor irritants like not being able to share teammate-resurrecting Water of Life items (in fairness, the game does let you keep playing as a skeleton even if you've croaked), then you'll probably have some fun hacking and slashing your way through Harmony of Despair - but that's a lot of "if"s.

You feel like a superhero playing alongside your favorite characters in an open MMO world thick with action but with a frustrating user interface. The fun combat and beautiful scenery more than make up for any shortcomings.

When you get down to it, Resident Evil 6 isn't a horrible game, but it certainly isn't a great game, either. The action sequences and boss fights can be fun, and even challenging on rare occasion, but the whole experience blends together far too easily, feeling more like a generic action shooter than a classic Resident Evil game.

Cute, and sometimes unnerving, Among the Sleep draws the player to an affecting conclusion, but its banal puzzles and shallow storytelling doesn't do a lot to inspire many thrills.

Gat Out of Hell is a comedic romp through myth, literature and video game tropes. The writing is smart, the gunplay is solid, and the city of Hell is a blast to fly though. Some may miss the more traditional mission design or lament its brevity, but Gat Out of Hell is a great way to cap off the story of the Third Street Saints.

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

Snowblind Studios delivers an experience that will satisfy even the staunchest Tolkien purist, and playing through the new story with your friends is fun even though the action and UI is not as impressive as the lore.

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.

If you were hoping that Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was going to be a return to Square's RPG greatness of yesteryear, you're going to be disappointed. This latest title continues to attempt to straddle the line between RPG and action game.

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.

Consortium is an ingeniously subversive gem, containing enough backstory to fill a Triple-A trilogy while focusing exclusively on an airship crew in distress. The execution is a little clunky at times, but Consortium still has the charm and depth to encourage multiple playthroughs as we wait for the sequel.

There are some features to love in King Arthur II. The story is interesting and there are a handful of solid, entertaining gameplay mechanics, but be prepared to fight through a few of the game's weaker elements.

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.

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.

Destiny of Spirits gets a pat on the head for trying to be better than the worst free-to-play games out there, but since that's not difficult, and since there are far better examples in existence, the reliance on cooldown periods and senseless restrictions come are disappointing.

Kane & Lynch 2 is a decent game, with some fun cover mechanics and tactical complexity, but the visual realism kind of shoots itself in the foot with unrealistic situations and tedious level design.

Black Knight Sword isn't particularly good at anything it sets out to do. Moments of gorgeous art design are offset by shamelessly cloned enemies and pointlessly confusing dialogue. The game is clearly doing everything it can to be different, but it appears more time was spent making the game weird than making it a cohesive experience.