Since 2013, hacks have inflicted upon the world such dross as Grass Simulator, Tea Party Simulator, and Yohjo Simulator. In comparison, American Truck Simulator remains an authentic and gratifying production, one of the few simulators out there still worthy of positive attention.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is fine. It’s simply okay, in a mundane way. While the previous games in the “reboot” continuity were great action adventures, this is predominantly a swimming simulator with a boring plot and dull backdrop...Also, the direction this game takes, with its lacking combat and focus on restrictive exploration, is a little baffling.

Outlast 2 might have had a better shot if it released years ago and hadn’t followed Outlast. As it stands, it’s a lower quality photocopy of itself, with any attempts at improvement acting more as defacement of an element that needed no correction.

The Surge 2 represents Deck 13's strongest crack at a Soulslike yet, and it's really damn good. They nailed it this time...Fast, aggressive, challenging, and wildly entertaining, not even some shockingly bad texture glitches can hold back the sheer amount of fun I've had dismembering my way through Jericho City. The Surge 2 is, simply put, a brilliantly good time.

I’m so tired of this manipulative garbage. I can't wait to stop being addicted to it.

Sega have royally messed this whole thing up.

Remothered: Tormented Fathers has a silly name, it’s a silly game, but it’s a charming survival horror nonetheless.

Donut County, a charming little puzzle game with a dorky sense of humor, is a short but sweet little jaunt.

The remaster itself, tragically, is really quite good. It runs beautifully in 4K at a smooth 60 frames-per-second, with characters and environments that still look striking today. Aside from some occasionally buggy ally A.I., it’s polished up nicely, and I wish I could say it was worth rushing out to buy...At $59.99 however, with launch-day DLC besides, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is little more than a pisstake. And that’s that.

Quite a strange little item. Its dialog makes me wince, but I will confess to being more amused by the awfulness than upset by it, at least half the time. It’s embarrassing and hella lame for totes, but there’s something almost charming about it. Still, I don’t quite think that’s what Dontnod had intended.

While its intoxicated physics can lead to occasional despair, the overwhelming joy of the whole experience is a strong tonic, over the handful of hours it takes to get through, I couldn’t help maintaining a smile.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is doing its little best, and if Skyrim is a hallmark of roleplaying quality, then Tainted Grail’s best has to be good enough.

Feeling both nostalgic and fresh at once, it’s an entertaining slaughterfest with a strange sense of humor, a gleeful celebration of comic butchery that takes some fairly dark material and makes light of it effectively.

The episodes have frequently quoted Franz Kafka to serve as a running theme for its ineffectual storyline. I’d like to end my review of this episode – and the game overall – with a Kafka quote of my own. “Start with what is right rather than what is acceptable.” If Capcom had done that, maybe Resident Evil Revelations 2 would have been good.

Iron From Ice is a strong start to the series, with some promising narrative setups, a believable atmosphere, and one particularly shocking moment that made my jaw drop... I do hope we see the playable characters get a bit of a personality injection, but I think we’ve got a favorable introduction that lays out its pieces in such a way that Episode Two is only going to be fascinating.

While the strictly defined horror gameplay might not keep one hooked for hours-long sessions, The Outlast Trials’ style and atmosphere is worth several return journeys. It makes very few changes to the series’ usual stealthy scariness, yet the inclusion of three other players makes for a breezy version that’s pretty damn entertaining. Be aware that playing it alone makes everything take four times longer and isn’t particularly fun, but with even just one more player, some torture porny fun can be had...Plus penises.

Rather than feel like an episodic release, Revelations 2 currently feels like a full game that keeps getting rudely interrupted, and it’s hard to maintain a sense of investment this way.

It’s a potentially great experience brought down to decent by its enthusiasm for trudging bollocks.

Just Cause 3 is okay. It’s far from great, but it’s not bad either. It’s just a decent waste of time. You can expect to mine at least twenty hours from it, with far more on top if you get really into it. Personally, I feel there are far better ways to waste your time, but there are far worse too.

It could have – and should have – been far better than it is. Held back by a lack of ambition and never daring to crawl from the shadow of better games, I Am Setsuna stops itself being something special...But at least it’s not garbage, and I sincerely hope Tokyo RPG Factory has something bigger in the pipeline, because I see a hell of a lot of promise.

It’s a great game. One I almost hate. One I find spiteful and cruel and perhaps even somewhat abhorrent. A game that’s beautiful as well as hideous, that makes me feel queasy while keeping me thoroughly fascinated.

An enjoyable take on visual novels and other story-driven games, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine is a pleasant little game indeed.

Despite the reduction of novelty as it progresses, Slayers X is nonetheless a fantastic idea executed very well. Retro indie shooters are a dime a dozen, but hardly any of them commit to the bit quite like this brilliantly stupid follow up to Hypnospace Outlaw...It’s the kind of nonsense I’m just incredibly happy to see exist in the world, and the possibilities it offers for potential future games set in this universe has me on the hook.

It’s still as derivative as it ever was in terms of premise, but with a more convenient controller, worthwhile gameplay tweaks, a stack of extra stuff and a stable, populated online mode, Omega Force has turned it from an “okay” game into a pretty good one.

Aliens: Dark Descent is well designed and badly built. At once a brilliant collection of wonderfully presented ideas and a defective debacle, it could have genuinely been a Game of the Year contender were it not such a shambles. I love this game to the point of being enthralled. I’m angry at this game for costing me hours of progress. I adore what it so often is. I despise what it so often does...Eh, I guess these days that’s enough to qualify for a seven, right?

Dying Light desperately tries to be all of the videogames in a bid to impress everybody. If only it had tried as hard to be its own thing, we’d have had an amazing horror game on our hands. Instead, we just have another indistinct jack-of-all-trades to throw on top of the ever growing pile.

Journey to the Savage Planet is a fun little game that looks a bit like No Man's Sky and plays a bit like Metroid Prime. It's also full of bug-eyed round birds that are kind of adorable, and has a cute sense of humor. It's a fun little game that I've been having fun with because it's fun. How fun!

Being an indie Kickstarter project, I get why Harmonix couldn’t get us Bowie anymore, but the original compositions are nowhere near good enough to replace what used to be on offer.

All the way down, the theme of “not enough” pervades Princess Peach: Showtime! The costumes Peach wears look cute but their gimmicks are limited both in terms of their abilities and the game’s implementation of them. The lack of imagination is unbecoming of Nintendo, and it’s a real shame because Peach deserves a much better game. It’s like nobody’s heart was in the making of this, and while there are some entertaining moments, Showtime! simply has very little to show for itself.

In short bursts, Attack on Titan can be a fun distraction. It definitely looks and feels like the animated series, runs through its narrative nicely, and features lots of stuff to unlock, upgrade, and play through. Sadly, almost every mission feels just like the last one, and with very little to shake up the process...Such is the curse of an Attack on Titan game. Unless someone gets really creative, attempting to emulate the way that world works is looking set to produce some enjoyable games undermined by the fact that cutting a giant man behind the neck really isn’t thrilling enough to sustain hours of gameplay.

With Virginia, Variable State has created a grounded piece of interactive narrative, free of the waffling conceit of the genre’s worst offenders, but not quite evocative enough to be a true classic. Thanks to a savvy use of visual communication, a stirring soundtrack, and a tale that confidently communicates much in spite of its silence, Virginia is a good little game and a worthy contribution to the world of minimalist indie offerings...If you like that kind of thing, of course!

It has its moments, and it’s still as enjoyable a romp as any TellTale game, but it’s an average outing at a time where things should be at a near fever pitch.

As an accessible alternative to radioactive shooters with an endearing British flavor, Atomfall provides a good deal of fun. Sadly, it offers self-defeating design choices and literal eye pain alongside it. All the elements of a truly great FPS are here, all the potential in the world is waiting to be realized, and if not for a pile of dropped balls, it wouldn’t have tripped and fallen off that course...Plus, again, actual f.cking eye aches.

I’m still waiting for things to kick into high gear and truly take hold of me, but chapter two of House Forrester’s tale leaves me in no doubt that such a moment is coming.

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition does a basic job of presenting the 2013 classic on Nintendo’s latest hardware, but expecting anything more than that will lead to disappointment. In fact, expecting exactly that may still be a letdown if you think it’ll look anywhere near as nice as it should. This is a game being pushed on how wonderful it looks, but it just doesn’t look good on the Switch 2 at all.

The best part is how it still holds up really well. What a great bloody game. And what’s this? OOH A LIVER!

Sega 3D Classics Collection is a fantastic presentation of mostly mediocre games, like a beautifully shot and directed movie featuring David Duchovny in its leading role.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun absolutely delivers on its promise of 40K-meets-Doom. Its guns are deliciously punchy, the chainsword is a consistent thrill to wield, and everything is presented with fantastic period graphics and a suitable riff-heavy soundtrack. The game’s overzealous commitment to one single note is a sadly undermining affair, eventually transforming an exciting experience into one that runs out of content long before it runs out of levels. Nevertheless, it’s fundamentally entertaining for as long as one remains invested, and I definitely had enough of that entertainment to feel like I got what I wanted out of it...Plus, y’know, it has an entire button dedicated to yelling at vile filth and heretics. That’s easily worth the cost of entry.

Minor annoyances aside, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse continue’s Kirby’s hot streak of lovable, imaginative, joyful adventures. As shrewd as it is straightforward, HAL’s latest effort provides an afternoon of unassuming fun for a fair price, and no matter how much I try, I just can’t ever over how damn wondrous it looks!

As entertaining as Toxic Commando can be, I dare say the next time I want to replay a Horde Shooter I’ll go back to something with a proper structure like WWZ or even Aliens: Fireteam Elite. In fact, my enthusiasm for replaying it is petering out already and that’s a real shame. The shooting and driving feel really nice while the bigger battles are genuinely great, but they’re framed in an overall package that fails to stand out, has no real identity, and few compelling reasons to keep returning. A classic case of being equal parts good and forgettable.

If you’re sick of all the military shooters vying for your attention but still want an honest, straightforward FPS experience, Hard Reset has the cure for your fever.

The Switch continues a hot streak as Kirby’s latest sequel turns out to be good… because it’s a Kirby game.

At this point, the whole game is in desperate need of something big.

The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes is a game that’s far better than its shackles allow it to be. Even as hampered as it is by online chicanery and distinctly “Nintendo” hassles, it’s still a great deal of fun and one of the best handheld online adventures you could undertake. It just requires some patience to get working, with a reward that’s well worth it...Also, come on… it’s gay as hell. And I kind of love that.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris is a fun distraction that, while not exactly gripping, will provide several hours of enjoyable loot n’ shoot adventuring.

As a mindless distraction played while mentally checked out, Dead Island 2 has merit. It is enjoyable for good periods of time, and it’s done a solid job of refining the messy hack n’ slash of the original game while improving ranged combat alongside it. As fun as all the zombie slaying can be, however, an intense lack of variety coupled with dreary exploration is outright exhausting at times, and I wouldn’t blame any player for moving on long before finishing the story. It’s not a game that’s entertaining while it lasts - it’s entertaining while you last.

Its episodic nature comes off as arbitrary to begin with, the DLC slinging is flagrant, and overall it looks and plays like something either very old, or a budget game punching above its weight. Raid Mode offers some longevity, and nothing the game does is particularly awful, but not even the return of Barry Burton makes this debut episode more remarkable than it is.

It feels rushed, incomplete, and woefully imbalanced...With more time to develop, this could have been something cool, but instead it requires a lot of legwork before it becomes slightly fun, and the effort's just not worth it.

Samurai Warriors 4-11 bases itself on one of the best possible Warriors games, and therefore its core gameplay is of undeniable quality. It’s a great game by all accounts. However, most of what makes it great was sold to us a year ago, so while there’s still a ton of fun to be had, I am not going to be singing its praises a second time.

Yooka-Laylee is a game out of time, clinging so desperately to past glories it doesn’t seem to understand the Earth kept spinning after the N64 was discontinued. It’s everything wrong about the formative years of 3D platforming and it somehow retained none of what made the genre’s highlights endure...Yooka-Laylee is, in a word, rubbish.

Mafia: The Old Country could easily have been phoned in but the effort is evident - it sincerely does its best, and its best is good enough. Will it make a huge mark on history? Unlikely. Is its “pseudopen” world a vestigial albatross? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it? Perfectly adequately.

The best way to describe Star Wars Battlefront, I feel, is to call it what it is – a good game that was deliberately designed to not be a great one...I wanted to rate it higher than this. Way higher.

Crisol: Theater of Idols excels as a lower budget horror with high ambitions. It's got its foibles and I can nitpick all day, but so much style and effort has been poured into it that I just have to come away impressed. Fantastic visual and audio direction does a lot of the heavy lifting, taking this from a solid little homage to something more special. Creepy, intriguing, and with enough mechanical gimmickry to feel more different than it actually is, I’m certainly very glad I played it...Also, it’s stunningly cheap to buy for what it is. These days, that’s one of the most remarkable things anything can be.

Evil West is the kind of beautiful trash I wish we had more of. It’s a ridiculous game in service to a purpose no higher than smashing monsters to gloopy bits, and by God do I admire that. While at times combat balance is uneven, any such moment is made up for by a terrific weapon set, extravagant finishers, and an immediacy of offense that ensures the action never wavers. Refined? No. Elegant? Hardly. Fun as f.ck? F.cking yes.

The core of Rainbow Six Siege is great – it’s a game I want to absolutely adore. But it’s just not a game I can recommend right now. Not at this price. Not with Ubisoft’s chicanery.

While there are some disappointments and archaic clunkiness, Dead Rising 4 is a great time that makes smart improvements over Dead Rising 3. The comedic beats are surprisingly well executed, especially early on in the campaign, and while the conclusion may be hugely disappointing to some, I can’t fault the series its boldness.

Layers of Fear is well made, but commits a potentially greater sin than a game that’s simply bad. It’s dull. It’s dreary. It’s got as much bite as a beach ball.

RoboCop: Rogue City may not boast the high production quality of a top level “AAA” videogame, but it’s more fun and shows more sincerity than most of them put together. What it lacks in polish it more than makes up for in its provision of fuss-free action with immensely satisfying weaponry alongside the occasional glimmer of witty writing. It’s nowhere near as beautifully satirical as the film from which it sprung, but it’s still made with clear love for the original, as well as a ton of sincerity...Can’t wait to see which movie this outfit gets its hands on next. Please do The Thing!

Team Sonic Racing is fine. It's a decent enough racer and that's it, really. The team mechanics are okay, the tracks are okay, everything is okay...Except the matchmaking. And the pointlessly long results screens.

A solid, if undercooked, action-RPG that tries to dabble in some intriguing themes, Greedfall could use more action and a more creative setting, but it's fine enough.

Grandia HD Collection is a hefty reminder of what a clever, heartfelt, unique JRPG experience looks like. Square Enix could stand to take notes. I have a history of starting Grandia and never finishing it, so I'm appreciating the chance to finally get through it. It's still really good. Holds up terrifically, with a famous battle system that feels as fresh as it ever did. Great game... albeit one that really shows off in the graphics department, sometimes a bit too much.

At $29.99, the price is frigging obscene for just how little you get, and how little of that is enjoyable....Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a short, flimsy, and overpriced beat ‘em up that offers so much less than its contemporaries in the genre. Skating by on brand recognition, it’s amazing how tired of it you become despite being able to finish the dire campaign in almost no time at all. The game’s barely done wiping its feet on the mat before outstaying its welcome, and it’s ready to leave soon after. Awful shite.

It’s definitely worth the time, especially being free to start, and I would recommend anybody with a PS4 and a love of brawling check it out. It’s a well put together little game with a good dash of trademark Grasshopper oddity. As a throwaway bit of violent action with some clever online features, it’s a good time...A good time, but not a particularly enthralling one. At some point, as with everything involved in this production, you’ll eventually just have to Let It Die.

Assassin’s Creed Unity is a beautiful game that’s fun to play with friends. It’s also an outmoded mess that incenses with its dated controls and shoves Ubisoft’s executive-minded priorities directly in the player’s face.

Despite a few missteps, Valley is an overall rush of an experience. Taking cues from BioShock with some Fern Gully on the side, there are few games that can claim to put players into the metal legs of an interdimensional necromantic freerunner, and be bloody infatuating while it does so.

Warriors Orochi 4 is mainly decent due to its total disowning of Dynasty Warriors 9. Even so, the reliance on older and overly stale content mixed in with the new stuff makes for a rather unexciting, if perfectly serviceable, experience.

Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is basically Yakuza, but that isn’t a bad thing at all. In fact, this is one of the most fun games I’ve played in ages. Hilarious, absurd, and full of juicy combat. Sega has done Kenshiro’s ludicrous adventures justice.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood may be a brief and silly spin-off, something far removed from 2015’s fantastic adventure game, but it’s the most fun I’ve had with a virtual reality game to date, and it’s just a brilliantly entertaining pop horror experience with enjoyable shooty-bang-bang combat.

A mediocre “remaster” of an utterly superb game, which rounds out to a pretty good package overall – provided you’ve never tried it before.

In several ways, Miitomo is the perfect kind of app for Nintendo to bring to mobile devices – it’s unexpected, silly, and it doesn’t make any sense.

Unfinished Business is pretty much a full game in an expansion’s clothing, likely not billed as one due to the single location and lack of story relevance. The premise and new toys are cool, but the brevity of touted additions like ED-209 is disappointing and OmniTower can get too samey. Lovers of Rogue City will get good mileage out of it though, even if it won’t blow anyone away.

the core of Marvel vs Capcom Infinite is there, but it feels significantly held back by its adherence to only use MCU marvel characters. It hampered the roster and character design, two constant elements of the experience, and it’s hard to overlook those and see the strong fighting system underneath.

Scarlet and Violet is a pair of obviously rushed products that look so much poorer for following an excellent refreshment in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Regressive and outmoded, the ninth Pokémon generation still boasts some enjoyable content but I couldn’t in good faith say it’s a quality experience. The utterly shameful performance issues hammer home how crudely made it is. It’s staggering just how terribly it runs. We’ve pilloried games for less, but we’re supposed to just accept it here because it’s Pokémon...It’s still fun, sure, but that fun is not enough to excuse its many, many failings. Not at all.

A pretty decent, very well presented 2D action platformer, Death’s Gambit maybe could’ve done with aping Dark Souls a little bit less.

I dare say I’d have had a lot more fun watching someone else playing it as opposed to playing it myself. Simply soaking in the color and music is captivating. All that splendor, however, is balanced with equal weight by the troubling truth that it’s just really, really not that enjoyable to play.

Dead By Daylight is a fantastic concept that, in practice, needed much more work put into it.

It’s a fantastic example of how to do a free-to-play game correctly, and the fact it’s made so much money already through the carrot rather than the stick only goes to show what happens when you don’t treat your audience like cattle.

Scarlet and Violet is a pair of obviously rushed products that look so much poorer for following an excellent refreshment in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. Regressive and outmoded, the ninth Pokémon generation still boasts some enjoyable content but I couldn’t in good faith say it’s a quality experience. The utterly shameful performance issues hammer home how crudely made it is. It’s staggering just how terribly it runs. We’ve pilloried games for less, but we’re supposed to just accept it here because it’s Pokémon...It’s still fun, sure, but that fun is not enough to excuse its many, many failings. Not at all.

New dawn, old gameplay! Far Cry New Dawn is perfectly acceptable entertainment. If you liked Far Cry, and want more Far Cry, then New Dawn is more Far Cry. It pays lip service to its apocalyptic premise, but it's still got plenty of Far Cry for you to enjoy.

Days Gone is by far the weakest Sony-backed PS4 exclusive to have come out in a while. Doesn't mean it's bad, it's just not particularly great. It takes inspiration from Red Dead Redemption, The Last of Us, and plenty other games, but fails to find its own voice or sense of charm. It's alright though, if you want yet another zombie game.

However, it does do its absolute best, and in trying still manages to be a fairly enjoyable, if somewhat frustrated, production. At the very least, it’s “more Battlefield“, which is by no means a bad thing – yet – and at its highest points, it’s a bit of silly, Vice-inspired fun.

Andromeda is an undeniable mess, one that is now being hurriedly fixed after it already “enjoyed” its most effective sales period. The state it released in – considering the money and publisher behind it – is hard to conceive, let alone forgive, but a game can be a buggy mess and remain fun. Andromeda is fun… sometimes. Other times it’s a dreary slog through recycled cutscenes, infantile character interactions, and a lot of badly masked loading screens.

The Sinking City revels in its Lovecraft inspirations and tries its very best to put you in the shoes of a detective without holding any hands. It's got a nice moody atmosphere, some great writing, and a heartfelt charm to it...It's also absolute rubbish, and I cannot recommend it. I like it. In fact I've grown remarkably fond of it. It's one of the worst games I've ever actually enjoyed.

Even with my expectations guarded, however, I did not expect just another survival/crafting game that used randomization as a crutch to the point of losing all potential personality...And I at least expected more to fu..ing do.

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn isn’t a particularly necessary addition to the Soulslike genre. It doesn’t stand out in any major way, and it’s certainly rough. It is nonetheless amusing in its own scrappy way, the many tools at the player’s disposal are well presented, and after a touchy start it develops into a decent bit of fun...Just a shame they didn’t stick with the trench stuff. Quite a missed opportunity to separate itself from so many similar games on the market. Oh well.

I feel compelled to say again - this has pleasantly become one of my favorite Soulslikes.

I really want the Layers of Fear series to be good, but Layers of Fear 2 pretty much wallows in the same mediocrity its predecessor barely kept its head above...Though they've added tangible threats and a little more variety of gameplay, this sequel feels more like a retread through a bargain basement, severely outdated horror structure. The genre needs a shakeup, and this ain't it.

With its focus on player flexibility and experimentation, backed up by tons of special abilities and character classes, Code Vein offers something engaging, even if its combat can be a little on the irritating side.

While it’s still playable, and even enjoyable in a fair few instances, its baseline problems combined with the PC’s unique setbacks make Arkham Knight fit for the price drop list.

Hyrule Warriors Legends is every bit as good as the original, with more meat to chew through and a colorful cast of extra playable characters. While some of the original game’s problems are still present, improvements made to the fluidity of battles and player freedom more than make up for it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say this is easily one of the best 3DS games ever released, at least if you have a New 3DS in your pocket.

Those who felt turned off by the critically maligned Dungeons would do well to give Dungeons 2 a look. It evolves the dungeon management subgenre in a number of clever ways, and the hands-on strategy elements make for a fantastic compliment.

Clickolding is quiet and calm in spite of its unsettling undercurrent. Through straightforward interactions and a lot of clicking, a tone and subject is strongly established. I found it affecting enough to power through moments of monotony that my ADHD really didn’t care for, and I won’t forget that weirdo mask in a while at the very least.

Mother Russia Bleeds is fun, but that fun costs patience as well as the time lost when dealing with some of the nastier checkpoints. While nailing the simplistic amusement that comes with a little digital sadism, Mother Russia isn’t shy about showing a sadistic side of its own in ways that don’t always feel reasonable. Still, it’s a good afternoon’s distraction if you need a quick fix of something vicious..Oh, and it’s a shame that its representation of kinky behavior is a little bit backwards.

A quickly-produced cheap spin-off.

I’m willing to bet High on Life 2 does not reflect whatever Squanch envisioned for it. I could practically smell the cutbacks and downscaling as I traipsed through a world that promised much more than it delivered, unraveling a story full of setpieces that didn’t come close to reaching their potential. It has funny moments, some great concepts, and it's better than the original in a few key areas, but the substance is in short supply. It's a step forward for something that's a step back.

As a big fan of Telltale’s work, and a Game of Thrones aficionado, I found this to be a dismal letdown. I expected better – hell, I at least expected to feel something at the end of this chapter. Instead, I feel nothing. I’m just completely apathetic to the whole thing, and I feel no reason to be excited about a second season because, well… it’ll just be more of the same, if past experience is any indicator.

I’ll end my review of Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers by saying Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition was a crown in the jewel for the series and I highly recommend anybody interested in Tecmo Koei’s sprawling franchise consider it for a starting point.

A bit of a janky game...A bit messy on a technical level...But I can't deny that I'm having a giggle with it. Sincere, heartfelt fun.