Aside from some minor technical hurdles like occasional slowdown, it looks great, and plays like the best parts of all four Halo games up until now. If you were worrying that Bungie would phone it in for their swan song, worry no more. And that's not even getting into the multiplayer

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

At the end of the day, my fiance and I both enjoyed our time with Split Fiction. While it definitely has some narrative issues and the pacing can be a bit uneven, it’s still a great time for two players who want to experience a fully fleshed-out co-op adventure. Its highs are arguably higher than It Takes Two thanks to its numerous setpieces, and outside of a few puzzles that made us a wee bit angry, our relationship is stronger for it.

Despite some lingering flaws, the gameplay is fantastic in both single and multiplayer. A big part of the game's audience won't care about the lack of variety or depth among the characters, but the monotonous tone still holds the game back from being as great as it otherwise might have been.

Silksong was a joy to play through. This review was written from the perspective of a Hollow Knight nerd who was concerned that the game may not live up to expectations, and is delighted to have been proven wrong. We reviewed the game on Nintendo Switch 2 and found it ran perfectly, with no noticeable frame drops, visual quirks, or bugs – other than the actual bugs themselves – to report. It all looked incredible, but more importantly, it felt incredible, with smooth movement, well-designed levels, and an agile main character. While the difficulty level and unforgiving nature of some bosses may be understandably off-putting to some players, others are bound to fall in love with Silksong. It’s beautiful and mean, with a vast world, a fierce roster of bosses, and an engaging story. Just remember to pick up Hollow Knight as well if you haven’t already – it’s just as lovely. Silksong was worth the wait.

Rather than pushing off being sneaky to sections or merely offering it as an option, Mark of the Ninja is a return to form for the stealth genre where bypassing an opponent is just as thrilling as killing them.

A Link Between Worlds is a sentimental game that skates off its predecessor's successes, but is so good at doing so one hardly minds. A few neat new tricks and a beautiful visual style help make up for the game's more frustrating hurdles.

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.

Everything that made Dark Souls into a cult success carries over: complex game mechanics, punishing but fair gameplay and a richly detailed setting if you dig a little deeper. To keep things fresh, this is peppered with a mix of new elements, from improved graphics and game engine to a better designed starting sequence and new mechanics. Dark Souls II is a perfect sequel to Dark Souls.

Playing as NBA legends in their prime is awesome, and the My Player improvements are great, but the amalgamation of modes and features doesn't transcend the genre like last year's game did.

Blizzard tears WoW to the ground and builds it up more skillfully than ever before. The new content is creative, has a tangible sense of story and progression that you wouldn't expect from an MMO, and is implemented so skillfully and smoothly that the bumps in the road are actually a bit jarring.

A fantastic dungeon-crawler that is still mercilessly addictive two years after the fact, Diablo III turns out to be a surprisingly good console fit. Just don't leap at the chance to get a current-gen version if you already have it for the prior systems.

Limbo is genius. Freaky, weird genius. Disturbing, uncomfortable genius.

If you like to shoot things, you should absolutely have this game. It builds upon its predecessor in all the right ways, delivering a healthy gaming challenge. Fans of movies like Aliens and Event Horizon in particular will enjoy the game's blend of sci fi and horror elements.

My favorite Civilization to date. Hex tiles and no stacking makes combat fun and more tactical. The new systems work incredibly well without altering what makes the game Civilization. Civ V is an excellent game.

Super Mario 3D Land is a great platformer with lots of gameplay and fantastic visuals, slightly overshadowed by some awkward camera issues.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown will have you swapping horror stories at the watercooler, and loving almost every minute of it.

The MMO industry has been tirelessly chasing the coat tails of a certain game, attempting to capitalize on being the same formula but with something like better storytelling or PVP. In a fresh contrast, the developers behind Guild Wars 2 have taken the time to truly examine the MMO from the ground up. Guild Wars 2 may not completely revolutionize the genre, but it certainly appears to be the new standard that future MMOs will look to.

A worthy sequel to one of the most celebrated PC games of all time. Aside from a few, easily overlooked missteps, this is easily one of the most enjoyable games of the year.

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.

The series has scaled down from Empire but lost none of the drama or excitement. The smaller scale makes it easier to appreciate all the things the game does right.

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.

Borderlands 2 is a denser, richer version of it's predecessor, never compromising on the gunplay that made the series worthy of a sequel.

Majora's Mask holds up well, and even if it isn't as near-perfect as Ocarina, the comforting improvements make it more than worth your time.

If you've never played Plants vs. Zombies before, then this is - wait for it - a no-brainer. The game is an amazing gigglefest of unbridled fun, overflowing with game modes and replayability.

It's the best new, isometric RPG to come out in years.

This is a fantastic game, but only if you desperately crave the second half of the Assassin's Creed 2 experience. If you hated the original game, there's nothing here to sway you and the story certainly doesn't welcome newcomers. The multiplayer adds a nice diversion.

Fez straddles the line between platformer and puzzler, taking the best from each genre and blending it into a refreshing whole. It doesn't punish experimentation or require advanced controller skills, letting you discover the game's secrets at your own pace.