Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 can be a mentally taxing experience by design, especially if one already has their own litany of mental health struggles. It is a necessary part of a game that explores its themes touchingly and tastefully, a beautiful and astoundingly stylish production. Like its predecessor, the presentation outstrips the gameplay, which suffers from repetition and a lack of escalation or variety. It’s a damn fine thing in totality though, one well worth digging into.

I’m glad we got two wonderful action games out of the Darksiders property, even if that’s all we ever get, and I’m really glad I played them again, because they’re not lost a step.

What a lovely game it is. Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny has its faults, but it aged really well and it’s been a blast replaying a PS2 title I truly loved back in the day. A welcome throwback to a time where publishers would put out some genuine curios, ones that stayed with me for life.

All told, Flinthook is a damn good time. It’s demanding with its difficulty but provides all of the tools necessary for success; not so cruel as to seem unfair but steadfast in its expectations of the player. The core mechanics are satisfying to use and well balanced, while offering the player ways to upset individual aspects of that balance through perks and carve out their own style.

Even though I famously hated Frontiers and still do, I want it to get a direct sequel because I want a version of the game I can actually love. That said, playing Sonic Generations X Shadow has me hoping Sega never forgets that kind of game either, because I’ve been reminded that when 3D Sonic platforming is good, there’s nothing quite like it.

It’s adorable, it’s got plenty of amusing content, and it’s cheap as dirt.

It’s just one of those games - the ones you like but have to acknowledge are riddled with things to complain about. Fun and frustrating all at once.

It's okay. It's pretty much more Pokémon, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. However, it's quite clear the game needs a proper overhaul, something to drag into the modern day. Or at least the modern century.

Fantasy Life’s biggest problem is a complete lack of ambition, being interested only in replicating what was done ten years ago despite how much should have been done to update the gameplay and make something truly worthy of a promising concept. It’s definitely got its enjoyable side, and its aping of Nintendo games gives it some longevity, but otherwise this is a so-so retread of an archaic game that was always far too limited compared to what it claimed to be. And its NPCs need to just glue their mouths shut. Stop. F.cking. Talking.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare may revel in its edgy depictions of armed conflict, but it's so one-note and routine about it that none of it really lands. It's visually impressive, and the combat all works well, but ultimately I spent hours playing something I just can't care about. I think I kind of hate it. Not because it's a bad game, but because it's just so... Call of Duty.

Dropsy‘s resolve to bring back the old school point n’ clicker is a success, though it’s perhaps a bit too successful, given the overreaching ambiguity in certain areas. Even in spite of its tendency to obstruct the player, it’s a beautiful, bewildering, unforgettable game of hugs, love, and hollowing sadness.

It's okay. It's pretty much more Pokémon, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. However, it's quite clear the game needs a proper overhaul, something to drag into the modern day. Or at least the modern century.

Avowed ought to have been a more linear action game. Combat is good enough that a streamlined and direct experience could serve it well, but as an RPG there’s simply not enough of anything. It feels like vast chunks are missing, with an initial promise of adventure that rapidly shaves off expectations until you’re left with a toothless story and a frustrating dearth of material...It’s fun to create a snowstorm and jab lizard men with spears, but the shallow trudgery between fights is consistently disappointing. I don’t think it’s unfair to have expected far more from Obsidian. Thanks to Avowed, I know I can expect far less.

A superb game in a not quite as superb package.

RiME is certainly one of those games that prove how ridiculous it is to rail against linearity considering how a well paced, smartly designed corridor can be as enchanting, if not more so, than any massive open world on the market.

I had fun going back to Crash Bandicoot, even if I found myself wanting to toss my controller at certain points and that notorious sky bridge level is still one of the absolute worst pieces of interactive crap you could ever suffer.

It’s six Mega Man games and something that takes all those games to create a far more interesting prospect. Mega Man fans deserve better than this, but it’s the best they’re apparently getting, and it’s pretty good for what it is.

Gravity Rush 2 is a bigger sequel, but not necessarily a better one. While it offers more to play with and in greater variety, the lack of improvements to core features – as well as graphics that are far from impressive – hold it back from being something truly great.

For all its visual appeal, however, Far Cry 4 remains a shallow experience. It has loads of things in it, but having a lot of things is not the same thing as having depth. With a vapid story, activities that rely more on regurgitation than anything else, and a campaign that is exciting only for as long as you can ignore how insincere it all is, this is a game that affects a meaningful experience, rather than manage to be one.

It's okay. It's pretty much more Pokémon, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. However, it's quite clear the game needs a proper overhaul, something to drag into the modern day. Or at least the modern century.

It’s not going to be for everyone, but I must confess I’ve not been this into a Pokémon game since Pokémon Red, way back when I was a ruddy boy. Just a shame the motion controls Nintendo forced in wreck it for a lot of people.

While not a thoroughly outstanding game, BOXBOY! is an eminently pleasant, breezy little puzzle-platformer that offers some moderate challenge and focuses more on just having a nice time. A fuss-free, no-pressure adventure that takes a plain gimmick and showcases just how versatile it can be.

Guitar Hero Live is a bold new step forward for the series, as well as peripheral-based music games overall. While Rock Band 4 stuck more rigidly to tradition and provided a solid party game, Live delivers a more personal game, albeit one with a lot more going on under the hood.

I love Lies of P until I don’t, but those less adoring moments are always followed by something that ropes me right back in. A slickly directed, beautifully presented game that takes the absurd concept of marrying Bloodborne to Pinocchio and commits so earnestly that it transcends the silly and just plain works. Difficulty spikes and dodgy pacing undermine it at key points, and some systems aren’t as useful as they should be, but none of that takes away from the high quality and the amount of imagination poured into what could’ve been just another Soulslike...Even at its most exasperating, I wouldn’t let it lie.

Tom Clancy’s The Division is a “playable” game in the same way Anaconda is a “watchable” movie. As adequate as entertainment gets, it’s capable of providing solid amusement while it lasts, but it’s not something worth remembering beyond the scope of the time spent actively utilizing it. It’s something you can use to waste time, and it’s good at that, but it’s not particularly brilliant at anything else.

It’s really quite nice. Completely inoffensive rhythm-based fun. At the very least, it’s something your kids will dig, if you happen to own any of those little freaks.

While most of this generation’s avalanche of double-dips have felt cynical and unwarranted, Gravity Rush truly benefits from a change of system and a chance to reach a comparatively huge audience. It is, simply put, a better game than it used to be, and I can’t complain about that.

The game has been affected by the loot box system...The game is compulsively playable.

Judgment is Yakuza with a hardboiled twist, which unfortunately means the addition of tailing missions and lockpicking minigames. When it's not doing that, however, it's brilliant as always...With all the usual punching, nightlife, and bizarre side missions, Judgment continues Sega and RGG's winning streak. More faults than usual, but nonetheless fun as heck.

A truly excellent game, Children of Morta is like a checklist of my favorite things. Hack n' slash gameplay, dungeon crawling, roguelike elements, constant rewards, charming narrative, gorgeous visuals. Children of Morta has what I need.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order feels like a throwback for Electronic Arts, a nod to a time when the publisher let its studios simply make and sell honest videogames...While it's deeply flawed in several aspects, Fallen Order is pretty fun, and it's nice to finally see a mainstream story-driven Star Wars game. Shame about the glitches and the frequent annoyances, but when it's good, it's really quite good.

Yeah, it’s alright. It’s not Yooka-Laylee, and that’s better than being Yooka-Laylee.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is a great time. The remake is faithful in the ways that count and adds enough new content to be well worth revisiting, even if that content isn’t universally brilliant. I could take or leave the theme park conceit, and I wish the Mecha ability was as good as Sand, but with an enjoyable epilogue campaign and a bunch of unlockable masks that I couldn’t stop thinking about, there’s no denying this is a remake that puts the work in to justify itself. I like it when things do that. Did I mention the game has masks? I can’t emphasize enough how important that is.

Yoshi's Crafted World is a chill little platformer. So relaxing is this game that I heartily recommend it as Sekiro's ultimate companion piece.

It's really good. I recommend it.

Dynasty Warriors: Origins is one of the best disappointments I’ve ever played. The groundwork it lays could’ve been the basis of a genuinely amazing Dynasty Warriors game, but this one is so obvious about its corner cutting, and conflates “realism” with a lack of personality. The huge battles are impressive, general combat’s rather fun, and the parrying system works way better than I thought it would, so there’s a good wad of stuff to enjoy. I just wish Origins was an actual Dynasty Warriors game and not something so flavorless.

That’s Prey all over. It works, it’s well made, and polished, and all those things we expect “AAA” games to be. What it is not is exciting. At all...It’s an also-ran that I was quite frankly happy to see the back of once I was blessedly finished.

Until Dawn is everything that Quantic Dream games have tried to be – unsuccessfully – for the past decade. It emulates horror movies while demonstrating a clear understanding of what makes those movies work, its focus on consequence is nervewracking and intricate, and its story is silly but strongly delivered. It’s the best David Cage game not made by David Cage, and it’s the best interactive horror flick you’ll play.

Cultic’s shameless revelry in gore is delightful.

It’s not going to be for everyone, but I must confess I’ve not been this into a Pokémon game since Pokémon Red, way back when I was a ruddy boy. Just a shame the motion controls Nintendo forced in wreck it for a lot of people.

A competent, mechanically enjoyable shooter that suffers from aesthetic blandness and a quiet, drab atmosphere. Basically, it's a Call of Duty battle royale game.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is as excellent as it is scary, and it is very scary. Take it from someone who doesn't scare easily - Capcom pushed the boat out on making this one pure paranoia fuel...While the zombies can sometimes be annoying, the overall experience is just as good as Resident Evil 2, which was already amazing, and adds more tension. Also, the new Jill Valentine is just too darn likable.

When it comes down what truly matters, I can be a dingus mushroom and wear an eggshell for a hat. That alone makes Kirby Air Riders one of the best spin-off games a platformer’s ever had.

I loved this latest episode, and I’m adoring Tales From The Borderlands, easily the best thing Telltale’s done since season one of The Walking Dead. It continues to demonstrate how the light-adventure formula can be played for humor as much as tragedy, how good writing can shine in a videogame with the right presentation, and just how accomplished the studio behind it is.

It’s okay, but it just doesn’t do anything anywhere near special enough to make it little more than an aping of games and sci-fi media that have come before.

Another November, another Call of Duty. Rinse, wash, open loot box in front of friends, repeat...Goes through the motions.

I, for one, just truly appreciate seeing a game that isn't desperately, embarrassingly trying to pry open the customer's wallet after purchase to see what extra little coins it can scoop up in its talons and scurry off with like a cockroach in the night.

Is it just me, or are Quantic Dreams' games getting more and more boring with each subsequent release?... But boring, actually, on reflection, isn't quite enough to describe this. This is tedium. It's like they doubled down on the worst shit from the other games. And I had high hopes for this one.

I’m really liking the idea of a “spiritual” series of yarn-based games, and would love to see more Nintendo properties go the same route as Epic Yarn and Woolly World. That said, they need to bring a little extra freshness of their own rather than walk over familiar ground, because this highly promising idea already runs the risk of submerging into mediocrity.

Dying Light: The Beast benefits from a more focused approach than the series usually has. Its obligatory suite of repetitive jobs still wears thin during extended play, but overall I enjoyed this one more than the prior outings. It’s a leaner game with a better story and some nice touches. Some of the series’ long running flaws still need ironing out, and without them we could have a legitimately great game. On a personal note, it’s really nice to see this series improve as it has over time. Despite being a vocal critic of its shortcomings, I want to love Dying Light, and if this represents where future games are going, I may just get what I’m hoping for.

Marvel Rivals is a good time. Its large cast of characters has something for almost everyone, and they play quite differently outside of a few redundancies. Despite this, gameplay is fundamentally standardized, and things become routine once you’ve found your main picks. It’s not a game I can see myself sticking with for a very long time, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a go - indeed, for a way to spend a few hours at a time, it’s a fine enough choice.

Cloying adorability is Unravel‘s saving grace. Propped up on a crutch constructed from mawkish sentimentality, it gets away with a fair few missteps and manages to claw together a smattering of memorable moments. This pretty shell, however, is undeniably a shell, and no amount of pretty little animations can make up for a total drought of engaging game design.

Days Gone Remastered is an entirely basic upgrade that feels every bit like an attempt to shake some loose change from a dormant product. I’m sure the original has fans who are less ironic about it than me, but they’re the only people this’ll really speak to. If Days Gone didn’t win over enough people for Sony’s liking the first time, a slightly better looking reproduction probably won’t change matters much.

Challenging, beautiful, and exquisitely mournful, Blasphemous flavors its methodical pacing with a little influence from Dark Souls and Metroidvanias, while maintaining its own unique voice...From gorgeous visuals to magnificent boss encounters and evocative themes of religion and punishment, Blasphemous is well worth checking out.

This came out around the same time Nintendo started charging for online play, and while the blame’s on Capcom, the fact this was promoted in a Nintendo Direct makes the timing absolutely awful. At least on Switch, the Capcom Beat ‘Em Up Bundle is an online disaster.

Although far from the highest quality Soulslike, Another Crab’s Treasure is an original, intensely likable one. Its sharp script is backed up with a fun gameplay conceit, wrapped up in a package with a whole lot of character.

Ashen isn’t trying to hide the fact it’s exactly Dark Souls. It’s Dark Souls, people! And that’s… fine? Perhaps the best Soulslike ever, Ashen understands From Software’s formula better than many other pretenders.

Ironically, if it had tried to be less of a game, it would have been a much better game.

If you’ve never had a Rock Band game before, this is as good a time as any to jump in, but be aware that you’ll be wanting to peruse that huge store of downloadable content in order to get a setlist you’re happy with. Series veterans, however, will have no such trouble, and very little reason not to check this one out. It’s a good basis for something that has potential to get even better as the years go on.

This is what people have (been) praising? This mediocre shooter with broken co-op and the most unimaginative boss design I've seen in years? Well... okay, then...Remnant: From The Ashes is a game I do not understand the love for. At best it's pedestrian, drab, and repetitive. At worst it's a pissin' nightmare.

Aside from some problematic resource balancing and some unavoidable repetition, Hand of Fate is a clever game of risks and rewards that is well worth getting dealt into.

RIGS: Mechanized Combat League joins Until Dawn: Rush of Blood as one of the very few virtual reality games I’ve truly come to enjoy. The head-track aiming system works great, the combat is engrossing, and it’s a remarkably comfortable experience even after extended periods of time with the PSVR clamped on...Guerrilla most definitely gave Sony what it needed – a deserving mech battling game for its virtual reality foray, as well as a damn fine multiplayer frolic to boot.

Ultimately, Heavy Rain is an experiment that both succeeded and failed, when it could easily have been a total success if the brains behind it weren’t trying so hard to be smart and cared more about providing a sensible plot as opposed to a shocking one.

The latest from the Retro City Rampage studio, this Grand Theft Auto style take on capitalistic business models is worth a scope.

Tacoma is Fullbright’s latest interactive drama. It’s in space and it’s pretty okay.

Warriors action at its finest.

Atlas Mugged is pretty good stuff all around – not as explosive or hilarious as last time, but consistently entertaining nonetheless, with a handful of slick action sequences to keep things spicy. As far as the bigger picture goes, Tales From The Borderlands currently runs the risk of becoming my favorite Telltale game series.

If you took out the branding and populated it with generic creatures instead of marketable pocket monsters, Pokémon Legends: Z-A would be rightly seen as a sub-mediocre and sloppy RPG, the kind with 115 "mostly negative" user reviews on Steam. Game Freak knows how much grace the public affords Pokémon and has taken the absolute piss with it, churning out a cheap budget game with a premium price, expensive DLC, and a ten buck markup to get a decent framerate...The audacity of this exploitative cash-in is honestly quite disgusting. At least Ekans is in it.

We’re on the fourth game and series fatigue has kicked in, that much is true. We have four games maintaining the same consistent pitch and tone, with the same structure, the same feel, the same missions. I can still play Dynasty Warriors and stay awake, so my getting tired of this routine should be a pretty strong indictment...Borderlands could have done with a shakeup, but a substandard grappling hook and an obscene number of fetch quests in which players take luggage for walkies isn’t it. Such banality permeates what is otherwise a decent enough shooter, impacting so many other elements that it wrecks things. Adding to that is a one-note tone and huge technical difficulties, making Borderlands 4 a far from “premium” game.

Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture really is a walking simulator, and possesses all the traits associated.

Elden Ring Nightreign is worth taking out for a few runs, but the incentives to keep on running aren't quite there yet. The prospect of ending another forty minute expedition empty handed after an anticlimactic wipeout isn't quite coaxing enough.

Reigns is shrewd and playful, with a straightforward interface and a handful of terrific twists thrown in for good measure. Whenever things risk getting too stale, a new event or set of cards can turn up to keep one hooked, and a single playthrough won’t uncover all the secrets, as well as the ways to meet some grisly fate.

Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 is a different beast than its prequel, and some may find its gimmicks a little too gimmicky this time around, but I find it hard to pick a favorite between the two offerings. There’s no doubt in my mind that this is the cleverer of the two titles, boasting an inventive central mechanic that informs some thoroughly brilliant level design. Regardless of which may be the superior Pac-Man, this second round of Championship remains a bloody terrific time.

When it comes to fighting against someone, it’s one of the most polished Street Fighters to date. When it comes to everything outside of that fight, it’s a huge steaming turd that I look at with a scrunched up, grossed out face.

Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is a truly beautiful production, far more so than one boasting a cast of animalistic amalgamates and sentient polyps ought to be.

While not quite the revelation Hyrule Warriors was, it’s nonetheless another case of lightning in a button-smacking bottle.

If only its laudably permissive tools were supplemented with more substantial material, it would be a top tier production. A weirdly large selection of unlockable fences just doesn't put any gas in the tank, but it really is a fun ride while there’s fuel.

Pacific Drive is one of those amazing games that I’ve fallen in love with despite it doing so much I’m inclined to loathe. It’s brilliant in its externalization of survival gameplay with a car that acts perfectly in its dual role of burden and bearer. Its humor, style, and a luxury assortment of modifier settings have kept me spellbound. I can paint my car pink. Game of the year contender.

Quantum Break is not the most revolutionary of games, and its cute time toys cover what is, at heart, a fairly standardized shooter. However, it carries itself with style and speed to create something genuinely fascinating to play, flavored by a story that, while failing to pay off in the final stretch, is more detailed and engrossing than most in its league.

Arms is a really weird game. At its core it’s a simple, accessible fighting game with a really strong gameplay loop and room for player growth competitively, but a pair of fundamentally flawed control schemes, a lack of decent modes and a glacially slow random unlock system for items that fundamentally change how characters can function make it a really tough package to recommend. Which is a shame, because there’s such a good game in there

The Sword in the Darkness sees Telltale’s Game of Thrones start to really hit its stride.

No game yet has quite captured the look and feel of the only real Transformers experience quite like Devastation. The fact they added a brilliantly entertaining combat system and an engaging bit of looting on top is a very welcome surprise.

Amnesia: The Bunker is a pleasant step up from its predecessor Rebirth, but it all too often falls into the problem many horror games have - resource management and monstrous harassment are balanced in such a way as to inspire annoyance more readily than fear. For much of its campaign, The Bunker is an absorbingly gloomy experience with a nice sense of rhythm to its progress and an effective illusion of dynamism in both its monster and environment. This is somewhat offset by enforced backtracking, a piddling inventory, and an embarrassingly rubbish flashlight. If it had expanded its promising ideas and balanced its threat-to-tedium ratio better, this could have been a fantastic experience. But, y’know, it didn’t do that...It still did well enough though, and for the average horror game these days, well enough is pretty good!

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare is very much like Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate in that it’s a promising show of energy for a series that desperately needs a break. Despite alternating studios and the claim this game took Infinity Ward three years to make, the backbone of this series is tired and needs a considerable rest. Incremental updates just aren’t cutting it, especially not so soon after the financially less successful but creatively superior Titanfall 2. Still… good campaign while it lasts.

Make no mistake – The Sexy Brutale deserves as much attention as any Horizon, Zelda, Nioh or Persona.

As an overall game, it offers a basic shooter with a nice gimmick, and I do think you can gather some friends together to get an afternoon’s worth of laughs out of it. I don’t believe there’s enough mileage to have those laughs regularly, though, and certainly not enough to where I’d recommend rushing out and getting it so soon after launch.

Cronos: The New Dawn is far and away the best work Bloober Team’s put out and a splendid survival horror game in its own right. What starts as a post-pandemic Dead Space cover version becomes its own brand of scary that conditions paranoia into its players with undeniable expertise. There's a great script to go with the A-grade psychological puppeteering, and the whole package deserves to be seen as a genre classic...I am truly impressed.

Karmazoo is a wonderful cooperative puzzler that encourages wordless teamwork in a way that should lead to chaos but instead results in elegant simplicity - most of the time. With its cute sense of humor and even cuter character designs, there’s a huge amount of appeal in simply unlocking and trying new characters, of which there are many. A game about being polite to strangers is as twee as it sounds, and it’s a tweeness I’m absolutely here for...Plus you can be a duck.

Darksiders Genesis is a strange one. While it may look like a Diablo style affair, it remains a Darksiders game at heart, with combat and mechanics taken straight from the main series. The new perspective is jarring however, especially when it comes to jumping and platforming. The lack of dungeon crawler RPG features also makes the pulled back camera feel just a tad cheap. Nonetheless, it's a decent enough game.

The plot’s driving forth at an effective pace, the characters are each growing in their own unique ways, and things end in a way that promises a lot of huge things for episode five. If you’ve been following along with the series up to this point, you’ll definitely be gripped by this one.

It’s the best game about a toy cat using his sentient hoverboard to dismember killer unicorns you could play this year.

Thanks to the improvements made – and maybe the lack of anything like it outside of maybe Bayonetta 2 – it was a true pleasure to return to Capcom’s world of jacked up angels, plant dragons, and Dante hamming up every single delicious scene he’s in. Truly, it’s good to be back. It’s better to be back than it ever was.

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood continues MachineGames’ commitment to offering classic ultraviolence with some sensible modern concessions and a deeply buried philosophical side.

Ultimately, For Honor doesn’t focus on making sense or being historically accurate, it just puts cool stuff in a field and tells it to go out and fight. Everything outside of playing online sucks, like microtransactions, customization options and single-player. Hell, the multiplayer itself sometimes sucks when it pairs you with a badly selected host player...However, when the game is working and you’re murdering a single human player while screaming “FOOOOOOOOOOOR HOOOOOOOOOOOONOOOOOOOOOOOR” at their corpse, it’s pretty damn rewarding...It’s just a shame the single player couldn’t capture the soul of playing online.

There’s more to this game than it’s 90 minute runtime. The fact I’m still thinking about it, deeply, hours after I played it is all part of the value too...The fact it prompted me to write much of what I wrote here is something… special.

Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is actually good.

Far Cry Primal is a great example of trying new things in a smart and relatively safe manner, demonstrating how a popular series can keep itself invigorated. While other venerable franchises like Call of Duty are afraid to challenge themselves and make only halfhearted gestures toward invention, Primal plots a course through uncharted waters with a battle-tested vessel and actually commits to making its new ideas more than vapid window dressing. The result?...You can ride on a goddamn bear. Enough said.

A pretty decent survival horror game, immediately better than the first one...Remarkably better than the first one.