When out in the snowy wasteland, the mood is tense and attention-grabbing. Graphics are beautiful in their simplicity, and although muted because of the depth of darkness contrasting against the never-ending snow, the little smatterings of color pop. Despite its current issues, Impact Winter was crafted lovingly, and the aesthetics and music alone are more than enough reasons to play.

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.

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.

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.

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.

While it draws upon influences of games long past, it ultimately fails to incorporate more recent innovations in its genre.

We Happy Few is far from flawless, but ultimately makes up for it with its fascinating story of a comically-dark dystopia.

Urban Empire boasts a political system crafted with fun and originality in mind, as well as historical accuracy and gorgeous aesthetics. Yet even such impressive features do not make up for a lack of dimension and depth on which the success of simulators almost exclusively depend.

You fall in love with the story and become so attached that it’s a huge letdown when it ends so abruptly. I truly wished The Little Acre had been longer, as it had so much potential. With more time to play out the story, The Little Acre could have been a huge hit.

Blue Reflection is an excellent release in both design and execution. The title, and what it means, run along the story and plays a prominent role in nearly every aspect. Not unlike the Persona series, this is not an RPG where your main focus is nonstop battle. Unlike that series, however, there aren’t deadlines about which you must worry. For a JRPG that balances its combat with school life and befriending classmates, while providing a relaxing time, look no further.

A relaxing walking simulator that, while beautiful and narratively interesting, ultimately does not have much for you to do.

While there are dozens of Sci-Fi Survival games to choose from, ION LANDS has blended a remarkable combination of elements to create a saga that stands out from the crowd.

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

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.

While a serviceable dungeon crawler, the lack of polish keeps Conglomerate 451 from being truly engaging.

Desert Child attempts to capitalize on nostalgia with a mish-mash of references from different decades. There are some mildly funny moments, but other than that it’s a side-scrolling shooter dressed up in a cyberpunk motif.

While a fighting game featuring a wide variety of Weekly Shonen Jump characters seems like a no-brainer, the shoddy execution and surprisingly limited roster hinder JUMP FORCE from being the all-star it wants to be.

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

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.

TARTARUS is a unique concept in that it makes computer puzzles come alive with realistic representations, where most titles try to make abstract mini games out of “hacking.” The plot and overall horror atmosphere don’t come together, however. Overall, this is a solid attempt at making light programming puzzles interesting, but more work needs to be done in this area before we see a title that is truly free of tedium.

Between the graphics and exploring this abandoned world and piecing together what happened, Empathy: Path of Whispers is incredible and highly recommend, even if you might not usually play an exploration-driven title.

While fans of turn-based strategy might find some features to be enjoyable, long-time players of the Jagged Alliance series and strategy connoisseurs might feel shortchanged of the beloved gameplay of this genre.

Bio Inc. Redemption presents us with a confused tone: part of it wants to be taken seriously as a realistic medical simulator, while other parts seem to be trying to get a cynical laugh with out-of-place gore and sound effects. Still, this title is well polished and the gameplay is interesting (save for the Achilles’ heel of a terrible point management mechanic that destroys the immersion and fun). Flaws in both balance and theme could have been overlooked if not for the inclusion of this one unfortunate element.

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

A ridiculous romp through a universe that doesn’t take itself too seriously, A Knight’s Quest offers an enjoyable and forgettable ride that’s only slightly marred by bugs, uninteresting combat, and a storyline that makes you laugh every once in a while.

Despite the occasionally lonely world and lacking interactivity, the rewarding and creative ways to complete missions make this FPS title a blast to play.

Haimrik is an out-there mixture of puzzler and platformer that succeeds in heart, yet falls short of being intelligent — much like the main character.

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.