Absolute brilliance that falls just short of perfection. Guacamelee! is the best Metroidvania since Cave Story.

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.

Enter the Gungeon is an exhilarating experience, but the difficulty often comes from the game refusing to provide you the necessary tools, which offers its own unique challenges.

It's so enthralling that I was crushed when I reached the end of Episode 2 and realized that I couldn't continue with the story yet.

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.

The generally short length of the campaign (5-10 hours) will leave some consumers wanting more for their 60 bucks but the beautiful graphics and balanced multiplayer will be enough to keep most pining for Killzone 4.

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.

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.

Bulletstorm is the evolutionary "next step" for first-person shooters that makes up for its jerk-off story by adding plenty of new wrinkles to a heretofore tired genre. This is a game that will be remembered for years to come (for a few reasons).

It's disappointing to see such an otherwise brilliant and polished game suffer from years-old bugs, and unfortunately our review score for the game has to reflect that.

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.

Resogun's pretty graphics and sometimes excessive effects make it look like a tech demo, but its refined action and subtle intricacies quickly put such notions to death. This is a thrilling and challenging shooter that just so happens to demo the tech quite well!

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

Steelport is a glorious sandbox with fun around every corner and the well-written story and easy-to-use design make Saints Row 3 a fantastic package.

Metro Redux revitalizes the original Metro 2033 in a smart way, offering a choice between the original experience and something more welcoming to newcomers. With the inclusion of Last Light, this is a two-hit punch of some damn fine FPS bleakness.

I went into this game as a skeptic. Madden NFL 11 made me a believer.

It’s hard to recommend this Kollection to anyone other than those who’ve adored Mortal Kombat since its early years, as when compared to the more modern entries, retro remasters of MK1, 2, 3 and 4 simply aren’t going to measure up. So much content will feel redundant, too. This is not to say that any of it is bad, it’s just a compilation that only the most committed Mortal Kombat fans will truly appreciate.

Just as Abe's Oddysee was a classic of the PlayStation era, so too should Oddworld: New n' Tasty be a classic of the modern age. More than just a remake, this is a contemporary puzzle-platformer that charms, exasperates, and delights. This is how you do a reboot.

Its main boasts - the soul subclasses and the dynamic content - are fantastic ideas that occasionally go clunk every now and then, but the core there is solid and makes the game feel worthwhile.

Absolutely bonkers, but untangling its many secrets is an addictive enterprise. There's tons of plot to discover, and the many storylines cross and reference each other in subtle ways that reward the diligent player.

The last episode of the series completes the arc of Bigby's investigation, and you'll be able to exact some final judgment on the perpetrators, but the resolution stumbles a bit after a spectacular climactic action scene. The whole series is excellent, and the conclusion may want to make you replay it to figure some stuff out you might have missed.

With a regular controller, Child of Eden is a finely-tuned, lovely shooter. With Kinect, it transforms from being something you play to something you become. It's impossible to see someone playing Child of Eden with Kinect and not want to try it yourself. And once you start, you'll keep coming back for more.

Apply Devil May Cry's stylish, breakneck sensibilities to the run-duck-and-gun of Gears of War. All of the trappings are perfectly sound if not extraordinary, and despite one or two incredibly vexing design decisions, Vanquish's combat is blisteringly fast and a genuine pleasure to watch and play when it's going well - but an exercise in maddening frustration when it isn't.

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.

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.

Kid Icarus: Uprising is a fun game with endearingly cheesy dialogue and characters, but the setup of the levels can get a little monotonous.

Gunpoint is a short, well-crafted title that combines film noir, stealth, and hacking puzzles into a incredibly fun gaming experience. No one mechanic or playstyle takes precedence over the others, but all are equally balanced and fun to play around with.

It's a port of an excellent game that matches its source material beat for beat. Whether you're a franchise fan or simply a gamer looking for something fun to play on your 3DS, Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D is one of the best options of the platform.