The strategy in Overland is fun, but the lack of an RPG element, limited movement functions, and a confusing interface for action points and item usage can make the title frustrating.

The story is a great idea, but as such a common theme in the sci-fi genre, I feel a little more could have been done to set Icarus.1 apart and really provide the player with a more unique experience. However, the mechanics, sound and graphics of the Icarus.1 really tie it all in to make it an experience worth purchasing.

Nyheim is a strikingly illustrated dice-rolling game which emphasizes the challenging survival element inherent in any post-apocalyptic title. While the difficulty seems challenging at first, once you have established certain strategies, Nyheim risks feeling repetitive.

Breathtakingly beautiful, but short and without much variety, means that you’ll probably really have to love side-scrollers to fully enjoy Planet Alpha.

The price point of the Farming Simulator: Big Bud DLC is pretty high for the content that it includes. While the models are fantastic and a cut above mods of the same machines in earlier installments of the franchise, the pack will not convert the average gamer away from their favorite FPS title and into tractor seat. However, if you are a solo farmer looking to tackle bigger maps and larger field sizes, but don’t have a community of players with which to work your fields, then this pack may be right up your alley.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar combines the classic turn-based RPG with action-RPG elements. This fun twist to the traditional RPG divisions enhances gameplay, strategy, and character customization. Despite a slow start, this title surely becomes more engaging and a quick favorite for RPG enthusiasts.

Although it succeeds in both maintaining familiarity for fans of the genre and introducing novelty, Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy fails to deliver engaging combat or efficiently introduce players to its unique mechanics. It boasts a solid and engaging story that starts with strong momentum, but suffers from distractions which ultimately hold Operation Abyss back from capitalizing on its strengths, resulting in a title that is simply good, despite clear potential to be great.

TAURONOS promises an intriguing story, but since running out of lives forces you to start your journey again from the beginning, few players will have the patience to persevere and experience more than a fraction of it. Even so, the perfectly fitted aesthetic supports a minimalist but hardworking narrative, guaranteeing that players who grow frustrated enough to walk away still do so with regret.

State of Mind is a dystopian rehash of digital dysfunctionality that’s neither new nor complex enough to distinguish itself from the horde. It redeems itself with character writing that feels barbarically realistic, thoughtful world-design, and the occasional stunning vista. State of Mind works hard to provide a serious discourse on the impacts of technological revolution — the only problem is, we’ve already heard most of it before.

Small Radios Big Televisions is a thoroughly exuberant experience. The gorgeous, very analog soundtrack coupled with stimulating visuals that change dynamically create interesting worlds the player wants to explore more of. The ideas and thoughts this title instigates helps spark new discussions and views to contemplate and reflect among friends. Sadly, lackluster gameplay and a very brief completion time work against the narrative, quickly leaving you to ruminate on your own.

For fans of sims that offer a good range of what you can do, this is worth taking a look at. Although it still needs more tweaking, it’s headed in a good direction.

Albion Online, the brand new MMO PvP game, from the Berlin-based studio Sandbox Interactive, is portrayed as a sandbox MMO with a player-driven economy and robust PvP. However, it falls short on both its promise and entertainment value. With thousands of players online simultaneously, a huge landmass to explore, and plenty of room for Guild vs Guild combat, Albion Online has potential to be an outstanding experience — but this is yet to be the case.

The Rome II: Empire Divided DLC is the standard Total War that we all know and love. There are no huge surprises and for the most part, mechanics added do a good job at immersing you into the Third Century and a Roman Empire fallen into chaos. Banditry isn’t all that noteworthy but Cults are fun and thematic. In sum: if you can’t get enough of Total War, give this one a try.

More of a remaster than a reforge, this remains a quality RTS title, but is a letdown for long-time fans with its lack of new content and Blizzard’s creativity-stifling ownership of custom maps.

While pacing and the talent tree could use some improvement, Attack of the Earthlings is otherwise an enjoyable and entertaining release. This refreshing take on the traditional monster-in-space story melds lightheartedness with simple-but-fulfilling strategy.

Apocalipsis’ art style complements its gloomy tale incredibly well. While the story is nothing to write home about and the puzzles range from boring and easy to interesting and difficult, the voice acting and visual aesthetic make this title stand out from other point-and-click games. If you’re a fan of games as visual art, check it out.

If you loved the first Cook, Serve, Delicious!, then you'll probably love Cook 2, as well. While there are major bugs for the Mac version right now, there are only minor bugs for Windows. I feel like using a mouse and keyboard will always feel somewhat constraining, however, although improvements to the gameplay could alleviate that feeling somewhat. As Cook 2 stands now, it is compelling, with plenty to enjoy in it, although ultimately the dish feels a bit stale.

An unnecessary remaster that, while fun to play, can feel drab and tone-deaf overall.

There are plenty of fish, yes, but there are also too many menus, along with repetitive music and odd sound effects. Twice Circled has some upward swimming to do to reach the surface of the title’s potential.

While fans of the series will feel right at home in their foxholes, scoping in on the shambling formations of the undead, the title lacks some much needed variation in gameplay.

The fact that it's free makes up for the fact that it looks free. You won't appreciate it for its art, and you won't enjoy the frame rate drops. Nonetheless, Dead Maze provides a fun, genuinely free-to-play experience.

In this debut beat ‘em up from Deadbeat Productions, chunky graphics mix with smooth mechanics. Add a layer of cheesy one-liners, sandwiched between saucy superheroes and crusty villains. You hold something tasty and classically-inspired in your hands, if perhaps a little unexceptional. It’s not Disneyland’s Monte Christo, but an enjoyable BLT.

Just in Time Incorporated is Just Okay. It’s a great concept, but the execution is lacking. As it stands, the puzzle solutions feel too stilted and leave you craving more challenge, however, the brief title is still more enjoyable than not, with humor that consistently delivers. Though fairly polished, and with mechanics that plainly work, we get the impression that there's a great game in Just in Time – just not this time.

An impressive amount of mechanics and a nice variety of play styles are available, yet Weedcraft Inc lacks depth in social interactions and suffers from a few tedious features.

Despite its quirky humor, Vicious Circle doesn’t provide enough variety in gameplay to hold your interest much longer than your average asymmetric multiplayer game.

Don't expect much from the visuals, music, or story in while True: learn() and simply appreciate it for its puzzles.

No70: Eye of Basir is an ambitious title; while the visuals and audio are noteworthy, in the critical areas of story and gameplay, Basir is passable, not exceptional. The brief plot explores, then seems to abandon, what appeared to have been a key plot point, and, at times, it’s a bit unclear who your character even is. Issues with performance and geometry clipping, combined with some sloppy foliage and prop placement, occasionally break immersion: No70: Eye of Basir is a flawed gem with some good facets.

Quirky and deliberately cheesy, Earth Defense Force 5 boasts hours of enjoyable if straightforward content.

This slightly peculiar game has a surprising amount of appeal, despite a few small flaws. Pretty environments paired with decent replayability provides a fun, relaxing few hours, at the very least.

An interesting take on the post-apocalyptic genre, full of beautiful vistas and a streamlined interface, but moments of awe are punctuated with run-ins with the buggy and inconsistent AI.

A fun and refreshing take on the zombie fighting co-op experience that is hindered by network lag and unimpressive AI.

Trackless is a neat little experience. The puzzles are not very challenging, and it doesn’t take long to get through them, but the message is unique and thought-provoking somewhat. This title offers minimal raw entertainment, but the art and music have their own characteristic appeal, and the ending is a fair payoff for a brief time investment.

Five Elements is an original, challenging, and solid real-time strategy game. Apart from those accolades, though, there’s not much else to wow the player. If you're a lover of strategy and puzzles for the sake of strategy and puzzles, you will most likely find it a worthy addition to your collection. If you aren't, then Five Elements may prove to be frustratingly challenging and lacking enough of a storyline to keep you going.

While not everything works, the cartoonish world of Viktor, a Steampunk Adventure shines, and the comedic-relief factor makes it an even more worthwhile addition to a point-and-click library. Although it's a relatively short journey – roughly four to five hours, give or take a few mini-games – the lasting quality of the humor and overall narrative make this title stand out in a sea of puzzle-laden adventure games.

The genre-bending Masters of Anima is most compelling for its fusion of RTS and environmental puzzling, all of which is complemented by a richly simple art style. The gameplay, however, is as delectable as the storytelling is stale, causing Masters of Anima to feel more like a preview of something great than the actual thing itself.

A darkly humorous and entertaining addition to the series, with a charming assortment of unique characters and a host of interesting choices that doesn’t always translate well into the visual novel format. Fans of the series will enjoy seeing their favorite characters in outlandish scenarios, but the lack of any lasting consequences ultimately detracts from the title’s overall impact.

Sticking to the established 4X formula helps to make Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War enjoyable, but also keeps it from greatness. For fans, there is fun to be had in growing an army of Terminators, Assault Space Marines, and Predator tanks to crush your enemies with. But, after all the toys are smashed and the maps explored, there is sadly little else left to do.

Age of Fear 3 is a lot of fun, and if you like to think long and hard about your next move in war games, pick this one up. Good tactical combat, restrictive movement and no-hex system create more realistic troop movement. Large armies and RPG-like leveling system will be rejoiced by many types of players. This expansion specifically is light on material but if you're a fan of the original game, get it. It won't add much or fix existing bugs, but for $4.99, it's a welcome addition to an already good game.

If you can look past the rough edges, there is a lot of fun to be had in the charming world of Mara.

Chook and Sosig: Walk the Plank is a charming point-and-click adventure that offers fun for all ages. Despite a few errors in execution, the humor, premise, and choice of endings deliver something for everyone to enjoy.

A humorous and beautifully drawn point-and-click adventure, Angelo and Deemon: One Hell of a Quest is fun to play, but unfortunately falls flat story-wise.

Demolish & Build 2018 is a franchise heading in the right direction. While there could be a significant amount of development and tightening of the mechanics and controls, there are many improvements over the previous title. It’s an enjoyable, cooperative sim experience, despite an emphasis on demolishing stronger than on building. A good one to watch for patches, improvements, or to pick up during a Steam sale.

Ayo shares with its audience a sincere message encapsulated by game, and continues the progression we have seen recently of video games used as a vehicle beyond the immediate capacity for ‘interactive entertainment.’ Despite a clunky camera and some problematic puzzles, this platformer boats a solid foundation, with promise of several hours of enlightening fun.

A JRPG that will appeal to fans of the genre with its interesting setting and unique combat system, but it's ultimately marred by tedious battles and dull dialogue.

NieR: Automata contains twenty-six different endings, which inevitably incentivizes those who want to see all possible conclusions. But, the apparent lack of story, which drops off for a good while after the introductory level, is stinging, and you must have enough commitment to see past this. The combat is unique and, at times, refreshingly variegated gaming styles emerge from NeiR — from hack-and-slash to arcade-esque air fights — but enemies themselves show little variation and predictable movement. If you are looking for a hack-and-slash with extraordinary graphics and a fair amount of character customization, then it is likely you’ll enjoy playing this release.

Even those who don’t normally play point-and-clicks can enjoy Darkestville Castle, but only the die-hard devotees of the genre will be able to persevere past the inevitable and frequent bouts of frustration from struggling through convoluted puzzles. An intriguing story and captivating art style round off this puzzling puzzler.

Despite issues with AI and a level of complexity that will likely frustrate new players, Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a well-rounded experience with stunning visuals and extensive replay value.

With strengths in vehicle handling, Monster Jam Steel Titans is a very fun title to play, but ultimately lacks longevity and replayability.

Cladun Returns: This is Sengoku! achieves what it sets out to be with an apparent abundance of effort on the part of the developers. However, Cladun is not for everyone, and probably not even for most people. It’s intensely focused on customization, attention to detail, and a formidable obsession with stats. In the process, it sacrifices story and the option for casual gameplay; those not familiar with heavy RPG play, might want to think twice before plunging into Cladun.

This squad-based tactical shooter is a fun and easy way to spend an hour, but suffers from paltry game modes, map variation, and character identity.

Hampered by subpar performance and graphics, coupled with a repetitive storyline, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics serves only as a starting point for a genre rife with unpolished entries.

While good for a single playthrough, Terra Incognito doesn’t provide much in the way replayability.

Challenging puzzles and a thrilling story makes Observation truly fantastic — but launch prices paired with the brevity of the experience and its lack of replay value make it hard to recommend.

The core breaching and shooting mechanics never get old, but gameplay, sound design, and co-op mode all have some problems.

Secret of Mana (2018) makes for a nice jog down memory lane, even if there were some long-forgotten design flaws that years of nostalgic memories had blocked out over time. If you remember enjoying the SNES game, Secret of Mana holds onto many of what you liked about it back then. But if you’re looking for a polished, modernized version of the game, then you will be disappointed. For better or worse, not much has changed in Secret of Mana since its initial release in 1994.

Cooking Simulator is an entertaining simulation game that allows you to cook to your heart’s content without the real-life mess and can easily consume a few hours of your time, but does suffer from several glitches, can feel repetitive, and is in need of future optimizations.

Final Fantasy XV’s beautiful graphics and exciting fights unfortunately come with a confusing story, irritating characters, long and unnecessary cutscenes, and optimization issues.

While the puzzles can be somewhat surface-level and may require backtracking, the colorful visuals give enough entertainment to never bore. It's a game that sets out to challenge the player with quirky and simple puzzles, and it does that well.

While an interesting concept, Override: Mech City Brawl is simply too short to hold attention for long. With friends and a focus on multiplayer, you may be able to justify the price tag. Without that, it’s still a solid product worth a look.

The Spectrum Retreat is a short psychological puzzle game with a subtle but thought-provoking story and comfortably challenging puzzles, although it can be repetitive at times.

Super Cloudbuilt has the potential for unlimited playability simply due to the fact that there is always a higher challenge to aim for. The downside to this, however, is an intense level of frustration from repeated failure. The visual aesthetic and puzzles are commendable, but the awe doesn’t even register in comparison to the amazement you can experience due to your own reflexes and persistence – if you ever actually manage to make progress.

Though it is not without its flaws, My Hero: One’s Justice will have appeal for both fans of the series and fans of the genre.

Despite the issues, Rezrog is an engaging experience if you stray away from problematic classes and can avoid a glitch mid-run until the bugs are worked out — but, the frequency that a glitch occurs makes the title difficult to enjoy. An RPG that shows promise, once fixed.

A relentless roguelite with a solid foundation. Beautiful but grindy, it lacks a complex story, deep characters, and emotional impact.

Challenging but repetitive, The Hong Kong Massacre has a barely-there story, but is big on gunfights and style.

A successful PC port with exceptional storytelling that lacks important control options and falls short of expectations in certain technical areas.

Despite clumsy camera work and few bugs along the way, Shiness: The Lightness Being is a delight to play. Colorful and enchanting, it’s a role-playing game that offers an engaging story with numerous cutscenes and a combat system you’ll find entertainingly challenging. If you’re the forgiving type come fluidity and smoothness in gameplay but a fan of action-driven RPGs with a good tale, then consider the purchase.

Headspun makes up for its lack of gameplay with an emphasis on visual style and storytelling. While not for everyone, fans of narrative adventure games will find something to enjoy here.

With interesting characters, this RPG is a fun way to pass time, but the overall gameplay is not immersive enough to provide an involved experience.

King Machine had a new and interesting idea, but it failed to execute it properly. The developers attempted to create a title that would innovate upon multiple styles of games, but did not make it intuitive to its users.

Jurassic World Evolution is a challenging park simulator that emphasizes micromanagement and requires players to carefully and strategically balance resources. For those who enjoy the genre, it’s worth considering.

Vaporum shows promise but still, has ways to go. The art style is finely tuned, but time spent polishing the look should’ve been invested in more various assets. I enjoyed playing it but still felt bored and uninterested at times, and it would’ve benefited from a larger variety of enemies and weapons. That being said, it’s not half bad, and one of the better games you’ll play this year; a sequel with some more attention to certain details would be an instant buy.

DYNASTY WARRIORS 9's gameplay has a relaxed feel that allows you to choose what to spend time on. There’s plenty to explore, missions to complete, and tons of options to customize your character. The only real problem is occasional laggy graphics. If you enjoy the JRPG genre, I recommend getting it.

While this title is a fun and relaxing way to pass the time and the map editor is a nice addition, it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – Episode 5 is a gripping, emotional ending to this chapter in the series, but it's also one that doesn't quite hit the mark as well as the prior seasons of this successful franchise have. When it comes to the grand finale, players simply deserved a bigger, more satisfying resolution to Javier's story and the outcome facing him and his loved ones. And, while I did enjoy Clem's ending – again, I'll keep it vague – Clem's presence alone isn't enough to carry this piece of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier to the heights that prior episodes in this saga could reach.

Xenon Valkyrie is enjoyable, given you have a knack for the brutally challenging and are willing to invest time and tolerance to unravel what this rogue-like has to offer.

Attempting to blur the line between arcade and simulation, Gravel feels like it isn't sure what it wants to be. While offering a solid gameplay experience, it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. More disappointingly, its career mode is a bit of a hit and miss: the series of circuits and sprint races to face “masters” of given disciplines was a cool idea, but incentives to advance are lacking.

Kyurinaga’s Revenge is decent for its platform genre and provides interesting challenges and levels but is lacking in story and battling functions.

A visually stunning and entertaining way to pass the time. As far as arcade racers go, this is definitely a solid one, though it isn’t entirely without flaws.

Steampunk Tower 2 feels repetitive at times, but it holds interest through intriguing dialogue, a rewarding progression system, and a consistent steampunk theme.

If you’re a fan of the Tokyo Ghoul series, you’re probably going to enjoy this title, and if you’re unfamiliar with the series but enjoy combat-focused games, you might get a kick out of it as well. In either case, wait for a sale.

There is a stinging lack of purpose to it all, more so than what you would naturally expect going into a game about knocking down and putting-up walls.

Odysseus Kosmos and his Robot Quest is a charming title and a solid first entry into an episodic series. The old school pixel graphics and humorous banter give the game a human touch, while it gets hurts by dialogue that feels long-winded at times. As a narrative-driven point-and-click the story is paramount, and while the puzzles are interesting there isn’t much character development or narrative so far. Just enough to keep you hanging on for further episodes.

While The Franz Kafka Videogame ends up feeling a tad pretentious in its use of Kafka’s name, the artwork and some of the puzzles are worth appreciating. Bits and pieces can be frustrating, and the short play time is a downside, but fans of experimental point-and-click adventures might still want to check this one out.

A stealth-focused DLC for the much-celebrated Aragami, Aragami: Nightfall offers a tantalizing mouthful of backstory for enthusiast Aragami players. As an extension to the first it does well, but in many ways it falls short of the outstanding original, leaving newcomers and fans alike still hungry for more.

Black Ops 4 combines all the elements of pop culture in gaming and the ease of access the franchise has always offered into one of the best Call of Duty games to come out in recent time. However, the AAA asking price for a minimized full title is slightly unnerving, as the game cannot and does not offer a full experience.

The cleverly lovely Camp W is a charming visual novel where you simply click your way through to the end — for better, or for worse.

There’s a lot to like here, from gorgeous graphics to a robust crafting system, but frustrating combat and high difficulty early in the game may drive some players away.

A true motorbike simulation, MotoGP18 provides a gritty, realistic experience for the most part, apart from flaws in braking, a wheelie ban, and some twitchy animations for the crowd.

At times bland, Exorder can also be fun to play. A lack of reward for any achievements contributes to a sense of no progression, but that's compensated by the complexity you'll find in troop types and maps. In sum, an option to consider if you like turn-based games.

All the elements are there: you’re gunning down massive hordes of baddies and you’re doing so with outstanding visual fidelity, a variety of weapons, and you’re able to cause this mayhem using big, explosive abilities. But, a bit too much of Destiny 2’s action is watered down by long cooldowns, the lazy sit-behind-cover until you’re full-health again, and the way enemies completely lose their ability to aim once your health hits the blinky-red portion of the on-screen life bar. The stakes always seem so low, the rewards so random and barely earned. It’s not a bad game, but it’s not one that lives up to the lofty expectations set by the way it’s marketed and talked about by its fans. Miles wide, but an inch deep: Destiny 2 is not the game it should be.

Dark Souls: Remastered can almost barely be considered a remastered title for PC gamers and, while it provides some increase in graphics and quality of life improvements, these additions are largely negligible unless you’re a dedicated multiplayer fan. Despite this fact, Dark Souls is still an amazing game that is worth playing through more than once, and there’s a lot here for gamers who’ve never played through the first title in the Souls series.

The austere elegance of winemaking has a broad and timeless appeal, and the austerity and elegance of the craft is captured beautifully with the minimal aesthetic of Terroir. Unfortunately, the drawn-out text and lack of interactive gameplay leave a sour aftertaste, much like strong tannins. Terroir delivers, but with thin appeal.

With gorgeous artwork, a mysterious story, and a rich atmosphere, Iris.Fall entertains for its length, yet suffers from a brevity of content.

For a majority of what BELOW sets out to accomplish, it does well. However, there are aspects which might deter: the potential monotony and a lack of a clear incentive to proceed further and see this story through.

Airheart - Tales of broken Wings, despite its dogfight combat, proffers a zen experience of flight as you twist and turn through vertical landscapes populated by brightly-hued and cavalierly-evasive fish.

A House of Many Doors is a terrifying trek through the unknown, a disjointed story with startling descriptions of lost memories and slow declines into madness. It is beautiful, haunting, gripping… and boring. It is simply hard to identify with it, and complicated to understand, which prevents it from truly capitalizing on its amazing elements which would otherwise stand alone so well.

The uniqueness of this title carries it to the end, and is ready to go for a couple episodes more, leaving you intrigued about the conspiracies and ground-breaking truths you have discovered: a solid couple hours invested in a protagonist you care about, wanting to see it to its end, and then twice over.