Mouthwashing is a psychological horror game that, without a doubt, earns the “psychological” part of its designation. Within a futuristic setting is a contemporary story containing multiple themes of ghastly relatability. I cannot think of another game that upset me to this degree. It spoke so intimately to my personal trauma that playing it felt awful - and I mean that as a compliment, I truly do...It hurts. And it’s beautiful.

Nioh got attention for its similarities to other titles, but it deserves to be remembered as its own special game, one that sees and raises the efforts presented by its inspirations. With fast and uncompromising combat, an engrossing economy of loot, and a mesmerizing artistic style, action-RPGs have rarely been this refined or this captivating.

Halls of Torment is more than simply Vampire Survivors wearing Diablo’s clothes. It’s a clever and engrossing Survive ‘em Up that uses RPG trappings to add a ton of versatility and rewarding complexity to what would still be a fun game without it. There’s a pile of quirky character classes and a massive number of ways to build them during each run, just a big pile of content and not a shred of it feels like padding.

007: First Light is a high quality experience that easily supplants GoldenEye 64 as the quintessential Bond game. Delivering every required component of the classic spy series and delivering a truly relevant storyline, it’s the very picture of what one might call a romp. Now that the origin tale’s out of the way, I’m very much looking forward to seeing more from this particular take on James Bond.

Injustice 2 takes a strong fighting game, delivers an incredibly rewarding and lengthy single player that feels like a priority rather than a tacked on afterthought, and considerably increases the scope of the game by adding in a vast number of well made additional characters to the mix. Sure it hits the uncanny valley a bit, and I’m not keen on the loot boxes or their DLc plans, but it’s hard to deny how much fun I had with the game at launch.

Dead Cells really is that good. A bit of Dark Souls, a bit of The Binding of Issac, a bit of a Metroidvania, but all Dead Cells.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is something new. It's something different. It's bold, and clever, and overwhelmingly arrogant. It's contentious, controversial, conceited, and some people may view it as simply a... con. But if it ain't a subversive masterpiece nonetheless, I don't know what is.

Despite my grumbles, I have to admit Sun and Moon gets its hooks in even if it’s tough to get into at first. Once it clicks, it can instill obsession as well as any prior game, and that’s before getting to the new minigames and features that only serve to make the adventure more rewarding.

Final Fantasy XVI is all over the place. It’s a game of incredible highs and distasteful lows, boasting such a narrative trainwreck of disarranged ideas it’s borderline incompatible with itself. Endeavoring to tackle themes of fascism and slavery would be laudable if the result wasn’t inelegant at best and offensive at worst. The frustrating, exhausting nature of XVI’s miserable narrative is countered by notably enjoyable combat, impressive setpieces, and truly stunning boss encounters. When it’s not boring, it’s exhilarating. When it’s not exhilarating, it’s insulting. When it’s not insulting, it’s delightful...I love Final Fantasy XVI when it’s Game of Thrones with Kaiju. Every attempt to be more than that makes me like it far, far less.

A stunningly faithful recreation of a classic Game Boy adventure. It's gorgeous, too. I mean, really gorgeous...Its got an aesthetic that demonstrates perfectly my argument that raw graphical power is not necessary make a stunningly beautiful game. In fact, Link's Awakening may be the best looking game on a console full of lovely visuals...As far as the gameplay itself goes, it's certainly nice. And old school. With a little emphasis on the "old" part of that phrase.

Perhaps the best Spider-Man game yet made, Marvel’s Spider-Man feels terrific to play and has a near-flawless combat system. Just a shame about the open world busywork tasks and lack of villains. Still, Insomniac made a bloody fine game!

Despite my grumbles, I have to admit Sun and Moon gets its hooks in even if it’s tough to get into at first. Once it clicks, it can instill obsession as well as any prior game, and that’s before getting to the new minigames and features that only serve to make the adventure more rewarding.

Theatrhythm: Final Bar Line is a delight, and a massive time sink that I don’t regret spending hours on. From its colorful visuals to the excellently presented music and the simple yet challenging rhythm action itself, there’s a ton to love about the latest game in a series I was already hooked on. The massive collection of characters to unlock and loot to gather enhances the game tremendously, while the rewarding multiplayer is just a lovely extra on top. If the DLC wasn’t so vast I’d have almost nothing to criticize outside of a desire for more considered accessibility settings. Even then, the base game truly does have more going for it than the majority of mainstream games charging twenty bucks more...Still distraught over the lack of "Jesters of the Moon" though.

One of the finest games of its age, but still a 1992 title that has been bought and played eight million times. So, take that for what it is.

It's okay, it's been enjoyable, but I must confess, I've not enjoyed it as much as the other one, the previous one...The gameplay itself, I don't know, something just doesn't quite feel as satisfying, enjoyable. I mean, taking a fire axe to a Nazi's head is always going to be fun....The levels, as well, just not quite as well-designed. The other ones had a lot more pacing to them.

It’s a delightful adventure, dripping in imagination. It’s a saturated mess, prone to tedium. It has a knack for redefining itself in truly engrossing ways. It has a mean spirit that facilitates truly vulgar environmental design. Its world is breathtaking and vast. Its world is hateful and myopic. It sounds incredible. It sounds unbearable. It’s intensely absorbing. It’s offputtingly self-indulgent.

What I can say is that Fallout 4 is a wild ride that gets its hooks in you deep, with a number of welcome improvements and a settlement management system that could be its own entirely separate game. All that, and not a single microtransaction in sight, despite the game being easily structured for such a horrible business practice to slide right in. That is impressive.

I’ve enjoyed every moment of it, moreso perhaps than I have with any mainstay Borderlands game, and I can’t wait to return.

If you were already a fan of the series, this remastered bundle will be worth picking up. Those who are a bit more cynical, as I was, may very well find themselves surprised by the time they’ve slogged through all three of them. Pleasantly so.

All things considered? Silent Hill 2 Remake is an almost excellent game that just couldn’t help itself. It does so much to impress, but the obnoxious elements are so consistent they ensure Team Silent’s masterpiece is far from bested...I never want to see another Mannequin again in my life.

Her Story is a surprisingly rewarding experiment in game design. Perfectly presented, and with a beautiful soundtrack that creeps in at key moments of the investigation, this Sam Barlow presentation is most certainly memorable, and more attention grabbing than its passive nature might lead one to believe...It needs something extra to it to really stand as something special, but Her Story still kept me hooked long enough to dig out its secrets, and that’s definitely a success.

A lot of flash and some substance, it’s a very fun game in a package that doesn’t live up to its massive potential, much less the massive price tag it’s introduced to mainstream gaming.

Bayonetta 3 is a good time when it allows itself to be. It consists of an excellent core experience buried under superfluous bilge, an otherwise quality experience interrupting itself to such a degree as to drag down the entire experience. The high notes are high enough to ensure a genuinely quality game, but the incessant sidetracking into mediocre stealth gameplay, mundane alternate characters, and half a dozen other deviations holds it back from being truly great. Thank god for trainsaws and spider women though, because they do a heck of a lot to keep this game entertaining.

I love Ghost of Yōtei. I adore the classic mold of Atsu’s revenge tale - it’s the kind of story for which “formulaic” is more compliment than criticism. I appreciate how rich a toybox has been provided in its combat. I give it immense credit for the transformative way it uses passive enhancements to so strongly influence a player’s active playstyle...It’s a beautiful production full of mechanically enriching treats that can make a player feel like the sports car of assassins. Seriously, when is Sucker Punch going to make a John Wick game? All told, I’d say this is some of the sleekest, tastiest action I’ve seen from the big budget space in a long, long time.

Sonic Mania is a brilliantly staged celebration of the past that acts as a true sequel to the Genesis line of games.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle brings a level of authenticity you almost never see for videogames based on movies, even among the good ones...There are many things I can moan about, from the sometimes trivial challenge to the backtracking to the terrible UI, yet there are plenty of things I can praise in turn. The delightful impact of delivering blunt force trauma to a Nazi, the dense use of space, the sincerity of the atmosphere, and that amazing Harrison Ford impression. Sure, it’s marred by many little issues, but The Great Circle's a good bit of adventuring fun in the face of them.

I can say one thing with confidence, however. I’ve said it already. I’ll say it again. Pony Island is bloody genius.

In its current form, Resident Evil 7 is a damn fine game. Damn, damn fine. Although it initially looks like a desperate chase for Outlast‘s credibility, it slowly reveals itself to be more of a traditional Resident Evil adventure than one might believe, while taking successful elements from contemporary horror games and utilizing them effectively...After Resident Evil 6, this is exactly what the series needed. Both a change of pace and a return to long-neglected roots, it thrills me to say that, for the first time in a long time, Capcom is on the right track.