In case you couldn’t tell, I f.cking love this game....Baldur’s Gate 3 is truly exemplary, one of the few videogames in history that wholly deserve the universal acclaim heaped so freely upon releases above a certain marketing budget. The choices offered to the player in terms of both crafting an adventurer and influencing the story do an incredible job of translating Dungeons & Dragons to a form of interactive software that surpasses the loftiest expectation. The script is incredible, the gameplay beneath it downright luxurious. There won't be another like this in a long, long time.

Hades II isn’t Hades, and it’s the only thing keeping Hades II from being as remarkable as Hades. While it can’t surprise players in quite the same way, this game’s bottle contains so much duplicated lightning that only a player with unrealistic expectations could be disappointed. It’s an engrossing audiovisual treat that’s structured beautifully and boasts gameplay I struggle to keep away from...In all honesty, I wasn’t sure if Supergiant could make a sequel that did such an impressive game as Hades justice. I had doubts that any developer could match such an insurmountable creation. Hades II isn’t more than a match, but it's absolutely worthy of standing alongside it.

Astro Bot is one of the best games I’ve played, period. A jubilant little adventure that dedicates itself fully to making an audience happy. For a neurodivergent player the visuals, sounds, and DualShock textures are indescribably satisfying. The accessible design makes it perfect for both children and adults. It’s a wonderful mascot platformer, the likes of which I’ve severely missed, and it’s the most tasteful way a game company has ever patted itself on the back...For once, the pats are well earned.

Metroid Prime Remastered is a faithful beat-for-beat recreation of the GameCube classic with a comprehensively polished visual makeover. It remains a solid adventure shooter, even if its straightforward approach to player progress is a little unexciting these days. I’ve certainly not hated my time with it, though I do hate its refusal to properly credit the team that worked on the original...Maybe it’s the industry’s attitude toward attribution that could use a remastering.

God of War Ragnarök is truly excellent. Quality seeps out of the thing, with so much effort put into even its less consequential elements. Richly detailed, terrifically written, all with a massively entertaining blend of combat and puzzles. The overwhelming amount of content can most certainly grow tiring at points and there are moments of disruptive meandering. Nevertheless, for a game to offer so much and retain such a high caliber is worthy of applause.

As someone who has spent a lot of time with the Switch recently, and who loved the hell out of the Vita during that year or two it was getting regular games released on it, I really did find myself at times wishing this game had some kind of portable version. It just felt like the social life aspects of the game might have been more at home when I experienced them on the Vita in P4G...Still, the fact that’s my biggest complaint in 120 hours of JRPG says a lot. I was damn impressed by Persona 5, and will certainly be returning to it once I’ve had a few months to decompress from this super concise playthrough. I played 120 hours in just a couple of weeks and damn it was a lot of fun.

I’ve not had this much raw fun with a game in quite some time. It could have ditched the plot entirely and just thrown me into these environments with all the unique toys and I’d have had a roaring good time. This is, to date, Kojima Productions’ finest videogame if we’re looking at it as a piece of pure, unabashed entertainment.

Again though, I really must stress that this is a great game. It’s more serious, and suffers in comparison as a result, but its wealth of additional content, its few minor adjustments to an already terrific combat system, and the sheer excuse to enjoy Resident Evil 4 in another way makes this is a worthy title indeed.

Sony’s premier action adventure series is showing its age from a creative standpoint, if not a technical one. Recognizable story cues and shock attempts have become bromidic, and there are moments that had me rolling my eyes as Uncharted 4 expected me to be startled by twists anticipated from miles away. As cornball as it can be, however, Uncharted 4 remains a damn classy romp with a sensitive side, and fans are undoubtedly going to adore it.

It uses the limitations and opportunities of touchscreen controls almost perfectly, it’s easy to get into but increasingly challenging, and its genius in-game economy keeps one coming back for more.

Describing Inside is difficult, not because one can’t find the words, but because it has to be seen to truly be believed.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is the epitome of an instant classic. Its premise alone had something special to it, but no elevator pitch could have prepared me for how the thing blossoms and blossoms and blossoms. Exciting battles and beautiful writing unfold in a world that looks and sounds sublime, all of it pulled off with unbelievable style. I’m in genuine awe of the accomplishment.

Rebirth is totally bananas and I’ve surrendered to the ride. While its obsessive drive to always be different can prove exhausting, it so often does different with such style...My opinion doesn’t matter. For better or worse, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is going to be whatever it wants to be, and what it wants to be is anything it damn well pleases. Against all common sense, that audacity absolutely works, and I can’t wait to see how the next game gloriously screws things up.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is like a rapid firework display of ideas that never stops dazzling, throwing curveball after curveball and never lingering on a single concept. There’s something to be said for gameplay that doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, but often is the case that Wonder’s twists and tricks barely make it through the threshold before they leave, never to return. I’m impressed by what Wonder does, amazed at its drug-like wackiness, and left with a longing for some of that stuff to stick around longer than it does...There are worse things to be than a great game that leaves a player yearning for more.

Journey’s interactive, visual, and aural elements work together, rather than fight with each other, in order to provide a flowing, seamless, influential, and utterly exhilarating experience.

Bloodborne is something truly special – a barbaric horror RPG that will giveth and taketh away in perfect measure, wrapped up in a perverse world that will refuse to let you go.

Street Fighter 6 has made me the happiest I’ve been with a game in quite some time. As somebody who always wanted to play fighting games but whose neurodivergence prevented them, the new Modern controls and consistent approachability is simply joyous. Brimming with personality, immensely gratifying, and packed with a shocking amount of content, I’m still rather shocked by exactly how hooked I’ve become. It’s just a shame Capcom’s insistence on pernicious monetization lets the welcoming effort down, because besides that I have no notes. Street Fighter 6 is the fighting game I needed.

It’s been a long, long time since this style of RPG has grabbed me as Undertale has, and even longer since a small independent effort has been so ambitious, impressive, and unquestionably successful.

A beautifully polished, impeccably tight game. While I’d have liked more 3DS integration, and the much-touted Amiibo inclusion isn’t anything to go crazy over, the game remains an absolutely stellar fighting game that I’m finding very difficult to tear myself away from.

I say this without hyperbole and not as a stealth insult to anything else – I quite genuinely believe this to be the finest addition to the Switch’s library so far. I can’t argue with how much I’ve been playing it and how much I want to keep playing it, even as I type this. It’s exactly this kind of compulsive experience the Switch needed, and if that had to be the result of a remaster, so be it...It’s a damn fine remaster of a truly magnificent game.

A truly great game that rises its head above its own hot water to proudly present a prosperous experience that only the most deliriously expectant could feel shortchanged by.

It doesn’t quite have the variety and spark of Mario Odyssey, though it does offer a lot of the same rewarding collectathon structure. Unlike most of the ground beneath DK’s feet, it’s really solid stuff.

Overwatch is a beautiful game. In dedicating itself to one strong, singular style of game rather than attempting to check too many boxes with heaps of modes and features, Blizzard has crafted a finely tuned and instantly playable production. It is a game of exceptional vision, a vision realized with utmost self-assurance. This game knows what it is, and doesn’t try to be anything else.

Spider-Man 2 continues the high level of slickly presented entertainment seen with Insomniac’s first jaunt to Manhattan. Playing as the Spider-Men is yet to be anything other than beautiful, both figuratively and literally. Great as it may be, it's held back by some dodgy writing that fumbles its payoffs and dips too often into waffle. Between those moments of deflation, however, there is a truly gorgeous and absorbing game packed with delightful action where simply moving feels good.

It works extremely well on the New 3DS, with the system’s rubber clit working surprisingly well in manipulating the camera.

Dark Souls III is, in many ways, a balancing of past accomplishments. The detailed yet obfuscating narrative of Dark Souls, the convenient travel system of Dark Souls II, a dash of the speed found in Bloodborne, and the rock solid backbone of strenuous, fulfilling challenge that runs throughout the entire series...Any player who’s been through this mill is prepared to die, but once more, that fantastic beacon of hope urging players to press forward and overcome each obstacle is shining as bright as ever. Because that’s what Dark Souls is all about – perishing, persevering, and prevailing. No game series comes close to doing what Dark Souls does, and Dark Souls III has done it again. It’s an undead favorite.

Titanfall 2 is everything Titanfall should have been – storified, robust, and sufficiently multiplatform. The real series starts here, and I’m surprised at how nothing at all feels phoned in or tacked-on.

On PS4, the experience is further hampered, with slowdown in multiple locations for a game that can only handle an fps of 30 at peak. The upside is that, at least in my experience, these dips in performance occur in strangely unpopulated areas, meaning you should have a solid framerate when it comes to combat. Make no mistake, however, that console versions are inescapably inferior.