Twelve Minutes is a good adventure game, but its puzzle design makes it feel— mature, cinematic presentation aside—like something of a relic. If it was released in 1995, you'd be ringing up the LucasArts hint line for help and getting scolded by your parents for running up a massive phone bill. But it has its charms, and the way the story is gradually peeled back, growing more disturbing with each loop, is effectively done. There's a huge amount of emotion, drama, and conflict squeezed into this tiny, dingy three-room apartment. But also a lot of frustration as you struggle to determine precisely the correct sequence of events to let you move the story forward and finally get some closure.

Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life remains one of the best that the series has to offer, managing to preserve what made it so special in the first place with its unique emphasis on an aging town and cast of characters, while also raising the bar with new content and improvements. While more recent titles in the series tend to offer distractions in the way of more mechanics and options, A Wonderful Life is a return to form that focuses more on the life sim and farming aspects that fans fell in love with all those years ago.

It feels like nobody in Rise of the Ronin is connected to the world or its events, much in the same way most mechanics of the game don’t feel connected to each other. The game is inconsistent and unpolished. Annoying stat-crunching, a poorly handled story, and some really awful boss fights make it feel like a bad Soulslike was bolted on to something that could’ve been so much better. But its traversal mechanics, top-notch side missions, sublime open world, and the varied and likeable characters you can build relationships with all help prop up its weaker elements.

In a medium where narrative adventures have grown rather predictable, this one shines.

I love WarioWare: Get it Together for bringing this charming series back into the limelight. It introduces a bunch of excellent new microgames and a huge selection of returning characters I was so happy to see, yet the short campaign and lacking amount of extras can make the overall package feel underwhelming. Unless you’ve loved the series for decades, this one might be hard to recommend until the game is subject to a discount or two.

Ultimately Shin Megami Tensei 3 HD Remaster is a perfectly acceptable port of a cult classic PS2 RPG. Playing this at the same time as Mass Effect Legendary Edition has definitely coloured my perception of what we should expect from a remaster, but despite the fact it doesn’t have AI upscaled textures and 4K60fps presentation, it’s still a masterful example of how to build atmosphere in a game while still keeping players engaged, instead of bored. It also features Dante from the Devil May Cry series, which always helps.

Penny’s Big Breakaway might be a bit unrefined, but behind the occasional bugs and argumentative camera is one of the best momentum-based 3D platformers I’ve ever played, with unique movement mechanics that rival Sonic at his absolute best.

Mechanically, this is the Call of Duty game I’ve enjoyed the most since Modern Warfare 2, and the only game in the series where I’ve ever felt the need to finish the campaign more than once. It’s just a shame it’s a bit light on multiplayer maps, even if there’s no denying that, between the three modes, it’s still one of the best value video games you can buy. Enjoy, Bell.

While Mortal Shell does nothing to reinvent the Soulslike wheel, it still manages to bring many of its own ideas to the table while invoking the feeling, mood, and brutality of previous Dark Souls games.

Although the game is a single-player experience, I never felt alone while whipping up drinks and talking with characters who - as odd as it might sound - genuinely felt like my closest of friends.

Jurassic Park Evolution 2 delivers improvements across the board. It takes the best parts of the original game, adds new ways to play, and changes up mechanics to make them feel more realistic and interesting - making everything more engaging and immersive. Building straight paths and fences is easier, keeping dinosaurs fed is a breeze, and even speeding up time is now possible, yet managing those raptors is still a welcome challenge. While I may not actually be the best dinosaur supervisor yet, I can’t see myself putting this game down for a long time.

While the VR medium definitely makes the game scarier, there’s absolutely nothing about Wraith that wouldn’t have worked just the same in a normal game. The hide-in-seek genre of horror games has been done to death, and Wraith would have been much better served by more scripted encounters, on rails scares, and fewer (or no) fail states. Once a monster catches you and sends you back to your last save, it loses almost all of its power to scare you. Wraith stopped being scary when it started being tedious. It’s one of the most disappointing horror games I’ve played because I loved the way it started, but its strong introductions never developed into anything more compelling.

Watch Dogs: Legion is a good game that could have been a great game if it had fully committed to its systems. Its recreation of London is stunning, its core concept is up there with Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system in terms of innovation, and I would love to see where it could go if Ubisoft gives the team a second crack at it. With a stronger story, a much better ending, an improved driving model, and a bit more polish, I could see Legion being a classic. I hope the series continues in this interesting direction and it’s not unceremoniously shunted into a lake.

The defining strength of Replaced—besides the stunning visuals—lies in its cultural commentary. Though the main narrative focuses primarily on one aspect of the apocalypse, organ donation and the subsequent dehumanisation that comes from losing a part of oneself, there's plenty of flavour there for the world's other tragedies: extreme poverty, the frivolity of the elite, fascism, police state and especially the dangers of technology.

If you can't wait for Metroid Prime 4, Savage Planet is a modernized version of that series that will scratch the itch. I wish it was longer, deeper, had more tools, more weapons, and more upgrades, but it's hardly a criticism of the game to say I wanted more of it.

Technical issues aside, Wavetale is a charming, chill time with beautiful visuals that’s perfect for winding down. It’s a little too simple and chill for its own good, but I still loved gliding along the sea and taking in what Strandville had to offer. If you're looking for something a little more relaxing than saving Ragnarok this Christmas, Wavetale might be the one for you.

After seven entries, it's clear the Jackbox team knows how to make a fun set of party games. Jackbox 7 keeps it up with an instant classic in Blather 'Round, another solid take on Quiplash, a zany time with Devils and the Details, the unfortunately bugged Champ'd Up, and Talking Points, a game that's really hurt by the current world circumstances. I can't blame Jackbox Games for the pandemic, but two of these games do take a hit from being played over Discord. And the bugs may be a side effect of at-home development, but I can't say for sure. All I can say is Champ'd Up has so much potential and is destined for Twitch fame once its bugs are flattened. So yes, Jackbox 7 is worth buying. But maybe wait for an eventual sale. And for this dumb pandemic to be over.

With a grim mystery, vividly violent world, interesting side quests and minigames, impressively real animal characters, and multiple endings to experience, you’ll struggle to put Into the Hive down once you pick it up. The story of Into the Hive is fresh enough to stand on its own, but with endless ties back to the first game between characters and references, the experience of playing both weaves together a horrifically beautiful story of inequality, crime, and style that sticks with you long past the ending.

Playing Afterimage, then, is a lot like going to a congested airport. It offers you the chance to visit a ton of interesting destinations. But, getting to them can feel like waiting through a long TSA line only to find out you're missing essential paperwork. Yeah, I want to see Naples, but maybe not that bad.

Hayfever might not be a revolutionary platforming experience, but it strikes a solid balance of fun and difficulty that makes it worth picking up, especially with it’s replayability and appeal to completionists. Cabin fever may be running rampant right now, but Hayfever can certainly help combat some of that boredom.

These are solid remasters of excellent games, and fans of the series will thoroughly enjoy the experience. It’s part nostalgia, part respect for its legacy, and part truth when I say Tomb Raider 2 is a perfect game for its era, and the titles either side of it aren’t bad either. I hope newcomers give it a chance, but it does feel like the remaster could do more to help that happen.

Rematch has good bones. It’s full of energy, raw and unbridled. But it’s a rough diamond, and rougher than most. The game has serious issues that border on rendering the game completely unfun. But if players stick around for long enough for developer Sloclap to polish those defects, to improve the servers and make goalkeeping feel responsive, then we might just have something here. At the moment, it’s a bit of a mess. But it’s a mess that keeps you coming back, that forces you to play ‘one more match’ in case it’s the one where you finally net a hat trick of bicycle kicks. And it’s a game I’d prefer to play over EA FC any day.

Power Wash Simulator is a darling escape into a profession I never knew I had any passion for. I’m not saying I’m about to quit writing and start going to town on my nan’s filthy patio, but there’s something about living a distant occupation through the medium of video games that pulls you in and refuses to let go.

With the blessing of Sam & Max creator Steve Purcell, Skunkape Games has done well to bring the original highly-praised title to modern platforms, offering up plenty of reasons for new players to check out the game, and former players to come back.

There is value to Modern Warfare 2’s campaign. It is art. It’s also just intense fun throughout, because it is ultimately a video game. To say anything else is to take away from the years of hard work that has gone into producing this spectacle. But we can’t forget about the context: millions of people, a lot of them very young and impressionable, will play this campaign. This is why it’s important to have these sorts of conversations. The campaign constantly dances a wobbling tightrope between being too fantastical and exposing the realities of modern war. Sometimes it slips too far into the realistic horrors, and it’s unable to commit, so it has to pull you back with just one more big budget explosion. [Campaign impressions]

On a personal level, I'm still not truly gripped by everything here, but there are a lot of risky design choices and themes in Vigil. Developer Glass Heart Games should be commended for paying homage to the Dark Souls series while taking it in a slightly different direction.

Even with the balancing issues and a clear rough start to its first season, MultiVersus’ incredibly solid and unique core mechanics, along with its clear love and respect for every character and series that it represents, let it stand close to the top of the genre. It still needs some fine-tuning, but I’m confident that in a year’s time, MultiVersus will be standing strong next to Smash.

Fae Farm gets off to a slow start, but you’ll see the game’s true value from Chapter Three onwards, when the crafting, romance, questing, and other optional content becomes so vast that you’ll never be able to keep up with it all. For fans of farming sims willing to get over the first hurdle, the actual gameplay is highly enjoyable, and the style and setting are utterly adorable. Just don’t expect a standout narrative, but do expect a few minor bugs.

I will say that Ubisoft’s rerelease of Scott Pilgrim is relying a lot more on nostalgia than other recent beat ‘em ups. I’d still think something like Streets of Rage 4 is a fine game on its own even in the absence of Streets of Rage 1 through 3, while Scott Pilgrim might not have the same appeal to someone who’s never read the comics, seen the movie, or played the game back in 2010.

A fantastic port that is a great addition to the Switch library.

I have a love/hate relationship with Endless Dungeon. When it’s good, it feels excellent. The early-game progression is incredibly satisfying, filling out quest logs and completing pages of upgrades is rewarding, and it looks and sounds sublime. On the other hand, the lengthy runs take a toll, and once you get into the late game, the rate of progression doesn’t cut it anymore. Suddenly, the time invested doesn’t match up with the strength of the upgrades you can acquire, and the game feels very much like a Sisyphean task as originally intended, a punishment.

While much of Visions of Mana’s bloated side content misses the mark, its gripping storyline, likable cast, ample mechanical tweaking, and engaging combat combine to forge a very good game, if not quite a great one.I wasn’t at all confident that we would ever get another big swing at the series, so for all my caveats, I’m damn glad this game exists.

The procedurally generated tracks look and feel great, providing plenty of challenge for those looking to master the downhill course, but being welcoming enough for casual players looking for something more than another Trials-clone.

Considering how long Onimusha fans have been waiting for Samurai’s Destiny to make a return on modern platforms, the lack of significant bonuses doesn’t feel like a big sticking point. More than anything, it let me finally experience a brilliantly unique series that for years I’ve been missing out on.

Homeworld 3 is a solid game for new and returning RTS players. Creating massive armies and watching the digital chaos unfold is one of my favorite parts of this genre, and Homeworld 3 does it better than most RTS games I’ve played. With that said, diehard Homeworld fans will be polarized about this campaign. Waiting over two decades for a story that abandons the principles of its predecessors is a tough pill to swallow. And when you consider the paltry post-campaign offerings, I find it difficult to recommend Homeworld 3 at full price. It’s a good game that could be great with some patches and DLC, but as of now, I’d sit this one out.

Fans of The Expanse will enjoy this story. I’m curious about what happens in the next couple of episodes, and that’s exactly the sort of narrative pull that I was looking for. But you might also get frustrated with the game at times - it’s not a flawless experience by any means, and I really wanted more from it.

This is a title that is intended for One Piece fans and it offers one of the most fun trips to the world of pirates so far.

Star Wars Outlaws is a frustrating experience to critique because its high points are numerous, from spending an entire hour infiltrating a deceptively vast imperial outpost to upgrading Kay’s skills by engaging with the open world in ways that feel natural and rewarding. There are times when I didn’t want to put this game down, which only made its glaring omissions all the more noticeable. A lacklustre story, a bizarre lack of polish for a production of this scale, and a main character that isn’t the step forward she should have been all hold the game back from excellence.

Lego Bricktales could be up your street depending on what you’re looking for. If you want a simple action adventure like so many other Lego titles then this isn’t for you. However, if you want a unique puzzle game that uses Lego elements well then you’ll find more here to enjoy. The main thing that lets it down is the clunky control system and the variable difficulty means younger players hoping for a building game will likely end up frustrated. The environmental puzzles you’ll need to solve to collect everything can also get very repetitive. Overall though it’s a fairly average game that offers a decent-length story mode, some interesting puzzles, and a few extras for those who want them. Now if you’ll excuse me I have a pirate ship ride to build.

Wild Hearts shows up as a colorful and curious contender in the hunting game genre, and a very welcome one right now. With games like Monster Hunter Rise going for a less challenging approach, this game brings fascinating ideas that make it the breath of fresh air that the genre needs, combining difficult battles with some twists in mobility and construction, in a completely unexpected fashion. Some improvements to the unfortunate performance issues are needed, but the overall experience isn’t less enjoyable because of them.

If you like playing games that ask you to make difficult decisions that you’ll agonize over, then this could be the game for you. Otherwise, Yes, Your Grace demonstrates that sometimes it's not good to be the king.

It’s a game with a goofy premise told with the utmost sincerity and conviction, buoyed by its believable cast and comforting aesthetic. If you’ve ever loved a video game – like, truly loved one – this is the game for you.

The balance of needing to manage your lair and check your world map is particularly well done. As your network grows it can get harder to avoid lockdowns, but upgrades bring it back in line. My only minor gripe is that you can’t properly micromanage minions. They have auto-assigned tasks and if you need things prioritizing - for instance, the removal of dead agents blocking the corridor - you need to get your Genius to step in, which can be dangerous. If you love building games, creating elaborate strings of traps, playing the bad guy, and generally living your best island life scamming tourists, Evil Genius 2 is for you.

I’m enthusiastic for the future of Lemnis Gate. You can play for hours and never see the same map twice, and you can play for an eternity and never have two identical matches. There is so much depth and strategic potential that it feels like you could spend a lifetime learning the game and inventing new strats and synergies. The turn based, asymmetric nature of the game makes it feel like a competitive shooter for people that don’t like shooters, and I’m always impressed when a game can cast a net so far outside of its core audience. Unlike a lot of team-based indie games, Lemnis Gate can theoretically survive with a much smaller player base thanks to only having 1v1 and 2v2 game modes. Despite its inaccessible premise, Lemnis Gate has a lot going for it and I’m excited to see how deep the wormhole goes.

Jackbox Party Pack 8 is a great entry in the Jackbox series, propped up by Job Job and Drawful Animate. The Wheel of Enormous Proportions is one of the better trivia games when it’s not trying to be funny, and less punishing than Trivia Murder Mystery Party. The Poll Mine and Weapons Drawn are both new ideas for the series, but only Weapons Drawn really lands, and even then if you have the collective works of Jackbox, I don't think it'll come up in the rotation much. It's a solid Jackbox Pack with two great-if-not-quite-legendary games, one good trivia game, and two more experimental titles that your mileage may vary on. It's not Jackbox 3, but hey, it's also not Jackbox 6.

There are teething issues and a reluctance to let go of the past, but it’s also a daft Sonic game with a charming story told in the most competent way we’ve seen in years. Sonic might not be back in the big leagues yet, but he’s catching up. Like Sonic Adventure all the way back in 1999, Frontiers could give the series a new lease on life - Sega has to ditch the old ways and let it happen.

Dark Descent is a generic XCOM clone with brief moments of engaging puzzle-piecing strategy. The horror is underused and feels wholly out of place as it pushes you further and further into action. Music is adrenaline-pumping and clearly designed to compliment firefights, troops yell ‘LET’S GO TEAM’ every time you move, and xenomorphs are easier to mow down than avoid. Nothing about Dark Descent wants you to be scared, but everything about Aliens does. Mix in the cocktail of performance issues and thin mechanics, and what you have is another disappointing entry in the catalogue of Alien games.

Ace Attorney is a wacky series, balancing murder plots and despair in the face of injustice with punny names and the supernatural. Despite this clash in tone, its narrative and character writing are strong enough to carry each entry and make this collection a worthy successor to Phoenix Wright’s original trilogy. Bringing these particular games to modern platforms is a worthy effort in itself, but Apollo Justice is guilty of going above and beyond to produce an experience worth the time.

While I’m sure that’s not going to be enough for those who have already played hours of Worms Armageddon or who already own it on PC (which remains the best way to play), for everyone else it’s a nice way to experience the series at its best. Hopefully, above all else, it’s a reminder to Team17 what makes Worms works so well - and it isn't when it's trying to be a battle royale.

Mechwarrior 5: Clans gets most of the important stuff right. If you like the idea of manning mechs, I’d say it is well worth climbing into the cockpit.

Under all the dinosaurs, the bug hunting, and the match-3 boards, it is at its core a love letter to game development and an indictment of the industry as it exists now. It seems impossible for one short game to juggle all this, to feel so unique in a gameplay sense and so prescient in a thematic one, and yet, it does. If only I wasn’t fighting against all these real-life bugs in an attempt to find the fictional ones.

PopCap has brought together the defining elements of each port for the definitive Plants vs. Zombies experience. But it's hard to look past the discredit that Replanted does to the talented devs who brought us this game nearly two decades ago, and the many cut corners.

Sintopia is a far better game than its title suggests. The title Sintopia sounds like someone came up with the name first and built a fabulous idea around it, but look past that, and you have a deep, charming, and constantly unpredictable experience that is well worth your time.

At the moment, Everything Is Crab is in a great state, but I think it’s missing a lot of content for more replayability and variation from run-to-run. I can see a ‘meta’ developing quickly, too, which will reduce choice even more. That being said, even in its current evolutionary form, I’d say this is one of the better roguelikes so far this year.

I think I’ve sunk about 250 hours into Ace Combat 7. Most of that was spent just endlessly replaying the campaign with as many different aircraft as were available. I’m not sure yet if I’m going to play Project Wingman for quite as long, but given how I’ve lost sleep all week just so I could play one more mission, I suspect I might come close.

WarioWare: Move It! is a complicated game to talk about, because at its heart the whole thing is so deceptively simple. You follow simple instructions presented on screen to stay alive and complete bizarre tasks, all of which are framed by adorable characters and fun stories which aren’t important, but remain stylish and lovable enough to ensure this cute package feels complete, despite its short campaign length and a reliance on local multiplayer to draw the most fun out of it. Nintendo has repeatedly said this is a full successor to Smooth Moves on the Wii, and I’d be lying if it doesn’t capture the same joy that comes from waggling WiiMotes around in my living room as a kid.

Lords of the Fallen’s Umbral world is unlike anything we’ve seen, providing a unique spin on the Souls genre. Copycats have started to stagnate in recent years, rarely offering anything new, and the genre as a whole risks growing tired. FromSoft itself tried to break out of that habit by exploring what it would look like in an open-world setting with Elden Ring. To see a Soulslike that iterates in its own way rather than chasing new trends is a breath of fresh air, and offers hope for a genre that has never escaped FromSoftware’s shadow.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is a shooter unlike anything I’ve ever played before. Its depiction of Japan is frighteningly lifelike in its execution, begging for us to explore its abandoned streets and dimly lit alleyways in search of wayward spirits that all have stories to tell. Whether you’re bounding across rooftops or doing battle in construction sites, it is constantly surprising in ways that few games in recent memory have managed to. It is fresh, exciting, and a demonstration of what a major studio is capable of when they’re given the freedom to tackle a new universe without compromise. It isn’t perfect, but it’s so different, and that should be more than enough for people to take notice.

It's not perfect, but Willy Jetman has plenty to offer people looking for a retro-inspired game that doesn't take itself too seriously. If you're willing to look past its rough edges, you'll find yourself having a good time.

Despite its bugs, Deceive Inc. is fun enough that I immediately started asking my friends to play with me. Nobody has taken the bait yet so I haven’t tried the multiplayer mode, but solo mode is fun enough that it’s tiding me over. Here’s hoping that the game fixes its many bugs quickly, because there’s plenty else to love about this game as long as they build on the base they’ve started with.

It feels weird to call Endling - Extinction is Forever’s brutal tale enjoyable, but it was. The unique survival gameplay from the perspective of a family of foxes combined with the dark themes and storyline is a captivating mix. Though the gameplay can sometimes get repetitive, and it would have been nice to have a broader range of random events to experience, it’s still one of the more interesting games I’ve played recently. Keep a box of tissues nearby, though, as it’ll punch you right in the heart.

Urban Myth Dissolution Center is a fantastic game for those who appreciate short story collections that encompass all things weird and creepy. I played it on my Steam Deck, curled up in bed with it much like I would with one of my folklore books. Just don’t forget to check under your bed before you get into it.

All being said, I never believed I would live to see the day a worthy successor of Jet Set Radio materialized into existence, and yet, here we are. For better or worse, Bomb Rush Cyberfunk embodies the vibes and fun of the early 2000s era in video games and succeeds in delivering a great experience, whether you’re a fan of that era or not.

Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars features a striking and quirky tabletop style with delightful gameplay that doesn’t overcomplicate things. While the storyline won’t necessarily grip you, it’s told in a fun and interactive way and this is an easygoing pick up and play title that you can enjoy at your own pace. You won’t be challenged when going card-to-card against your enemies, but you can still find the thrill of a frustrating hand if you delve into the minigame.

Chernobylite is special. If you enjoy RPGs that feature things like crafting, base building, team management, and heists, the ambitious Chernobylite is one that you won’t want to miss.

Loretta’s story is one of a woman trapped in her circumstances, desperate to escape. It’s also a story about fate, where as hard as you may try to guide Loretta away from the bad thing, events keep unfolding that force you to take more and more dramatic actions and suffer her decline with her. The game was harrowing, but your actions can’t change the narrative that much – she is doomed from the first bad decision she makes. All you can do is stop her from going too far, or let her freefall.

There are moments when Tape 1 stumbles. Performance issues crop up from time to time. I noticed pop-ins pretty consistently when the story switched from third-person to first-person. And the frame rate chugged for me in a climactic moment towards the end of the chapter. But the game's bigger problem is that Lost Records continues Don't Nod's penchant for corny dialogue. Some of that stems from the game incorporating dated '90s slang like "parental units" and "geez-o," which works well enough as period language. But one big late-game moment, where a character attempts to make a serious point by reciting lyrics to a punk song, falls especially flat. But the game's utter sincerity is a major point in its favor, and these kinds of missteps are a side effect. If I have to put up with some deeply goofy choices in order to get a character as heartbreakingly earnest as Swann Holloway, I'll accept the trade-off.

Age Of Empires 3: Definitive Edition is still a solid game. Its single-player content will last you over a dozen hours, and its multiplayer matches will last you several dozen more. While there is no longer that drive to farm XP for updates your Home City, the game itself is good enough that you'll be coming back for rematches time after time.

In a time where I needed hope perhaps more than ever, Dontnod delivered it. For that, their masterpiece has firmly cemented itself as my absolute favorite video game I've had the pleasure of playing.

The problem is that everything in Layers of Fear (2023) seems to be taking cues from the first game, not the second. The Writer's frame story and both pieces of DLC share the first game's approach to ubiquitous, weak voice acting, and both pieces of DLC return to the unpleasant mansion setting. Layers of Fear 2 should have been an evolution for the series that informed what Bloober and Anshar Studios built here, but that isn't the case. Maybe it's fitting, after all, that this collection shares the first game's name.

The only major downside is the lack of online play. There could have been a lot of fun comparing how one uses their shovel or shield around the world. Because of that, Shovel Knight Showdown will probably only be enjoyed by core fans of the original game.

Harmony: Fall of the Reverie is too connected to its core concept of steering the future based on fate and factions, and this idea means players must abandon both the choice and the narrative in this choice-based narrative game. It's not exactly a formula for success. Despite some interesting designs and a potentially compelling tale at its heart, there's nothing harmonious about Harmony.

Fans of the IP will have some fun here, but you likely already know whether you’ll like this game or not. Boltgun competently blends the Warhammer universe with a genre that felt made for it, but offers no surprises. It set out to be a Doom clone, and it succeeded. That’s fine in some ways, but a shame in others because this could have been special with the application of a few original ideas.

I'm glad we have No More Heroes 3. This is Suda51 to a tee: a wonderful and utterly ridiculous celebration of otaku culture and the series he's built up over the years. Travis' fourth-wall-breaking smart mouth makes me smile incessantly, despite how stupid it can be - and it can be very stupid indeed.

If you’re a veteran RTS/grand strategy fan that is looking for something that innovates – Troy won’t fully satisfy your appetite, but it will entertain.

Its compelling early story beats can’t save it from its repetitive battle system and lack of meaningful connections, and I came away from my experience feeling like this was a rare miss for a company that is usually so consistent. It’s certainly a weird choice for a remaster.

Murayama and the rest of the fine folks at Rabbit And Bear did it. They've created a masterwork. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes may have one foot firmly planted in the past, but make no mistake, its other foot is lunging forward into the future.

Although I prefer more responsiveness, quicker movement, and greater control than the new RTS has to offer – Iron Harvest strongly delivers in its own way. It’s an absolute must-buy for fans of Company of Heroes or steam-punk aesthetic lovers. Even if you’re just a moderate fan of RTS games, Iron Harvest is a tough experience to pass up.

The Outlast Trials is good because Outlast was good. This is a creepy horror experience with all the dashing about and horrific mutants I loved about the first one, and I’m going to find myself coming back to it more often than I care to admit. It feels like The Outlast Trials is riding the coattails of the series, using the same tricks and scares instead of effectively innovating on the formula. I had a good time, but I leave it unconvinced Red Barrels even knows what made the first game such a sleeper hit.

Although I’m sure completionists will find a lot to love here, I had the most fun with Demon Turf when I forgot about its myriad side quests, collectibles, and second visits to a level, and just ran through stages with my mastery of Beebz’s moves letting me fly through levels like I was Sonic and I’d finally learnt how to work in 3D. When Demon Turf is fast, it’s glorious, it’s just a shame it has some extra baggage stopping it from peeling out.

If you love movies like The Thing and have enjoyed the games of Devolver Digital before then you should definitely give this a go. Carrion may not have the good looks of a Nathan Drake or a Lara Croft, but it has the kind of gooey, tentacle-y charm that you just can't find anywhere else.

Had the gameplay been tuned up a bit more I could see myself recommending this, but unfortunately, Ghosts 'n Goblins Resurrection is one game that feels like it came back from the dead a little too soon.

With its retro-future, animated aesthetic and soundtrack that fits the vibe perfectly, Inertial Drift is a treat for both senses. The twin-stick drift mechanics certainly won’t be for everyone, but if you’re willing to put in a little time, it’s ultimately a pretty enjoyable experience. Inertial Drift isn’t likely to take the top spot as my go-to racing title, but the light-hearted game is a nice break from the more realistic racing sims.

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is a remaster that should have happened years ago, and I’m so glad that the JRPG classic has finally received the respect it deserves in the modern landscape. You seldom see it discussed alongside other genre greats in the mainstream zeitgeist, but perhaps that perception will change now Serge’s iconic adventure is available on a selection of platforms with myriad improvements. Not all of its changes are for the best, but are easy enough to accept when the underlying game is still so masterful.

I had a lot of fun with You Suck at Parking, something I could stick on for the night and play while passing the controller back and forth with a friend to try and one-up each other when we kept inevitably failing. It has that communal feel, especially with its leaderboards, that will no doubt push people to try and perfect its Deathrun-like level design. I can’t wait to see what community pops up around it, but, unfortunately, I don’t think You Suck at Parking built enough of an identity to leave a lasting impression.

Card games can be a tough sell, especially in video games. The threat of mechanical complexity can put some off, while for others it just seems a boring choice when fully-animated adventures are just as readily available. Sometimes, Foretales doesn’t do the best job of countering this argument, as it can disappear up itself through endless, monotonous combat. And yet, when it puts down the dagger and lets you explore the world to work things out for yourself, it shows that we’re nowhere near close running out of engaging new ways to use small slabs of art.

The audience for Dark Nights is likely as small as the town of August where these stories take place, but I found a lot to enjoy.

Outcasters is truly a unique experience. For Stadia, it's no doubt a huge win. Splash Damage did an incredible job of homing in on the essence of what makes a great multiplayer experience – and the result is Outcasters. Curving bullets is a blast, every battlefield is blessed with adorable graphics, and the unlockable cosmetics and abilities give you plenty of reasons to keep coming back. I'm hopeful that Outcasters will eventually land on other platforms. Otherwise, it may not get the attention it truly deserves.

Neversong has a strong identity in that it is a short, colorful experience – it doesn't try to be more than it is.

Despite its shortcomings with performance and AI pathing, Total War: Pharaoh has been one of the most enjoyable Total War games I’ve played for quite some time. Its refined focus on a smaller period of history has allowed for experimentation elsewhere, with dynamic weather and terrain, resource generation on the campaign map, and a wave-based invasion system with the Sea Peoples that constantly keeps you guessing. I hope that some of these mechanics can be taken and expanded on for future, main series releases for Total War.

Compared to other puzzle games, Superliminal doesn’t necessarily feel like it stands out. However, its use of perspective is incredibly well-executed, and provides a nice mental exercise for those willing to give it a try.

It’s a gorgeous pixel-art game that liberally borrows from Diablo in all the right ways, and as a big fan of both ARPGs and roguelikes, Dragon is Dead was a refreshing mash-up of both that ends up being greater than the sum of its parts. It doesn't quite hold up into the end game, but by that point I’d had so much fun cosplaying as a certain Norse deity that I found it hard to complain.

Alder’s Blood feels like a love letter to a genre which ironically doesn’t get all that much love anymore. Sure, there’s no shortage of turn-based strategy games on any system, but games this well-designed are few and far between in the indie space, and it’ll be quite a while before something as well done as Alder’s Blood hits the eShop for a price point as low as twenty dollars.

With a beautiful atmosphere, loveable characters, and intuitive controls, Void Terrarium is a great dungeon crawler for those looking to dip their toes into the genre. Unfortunately, it lacks substance beyond that, rendering it a pretty unremarkable entry in the rougelike game canon.

Biped is a great game that is great fun for two players. However, potential buyers needs to be alright with only playing locally, a short amount of content, and the potential for a level editor to be far off from release. For these reasons it might be best to wait until more concrete news becomes available, but if those are not huge problems, Biped is a real treat.

Dungeons 4 is a complete package that delivers a way to embrace your dark side, build your very own evil empire, and see the forces of good reduced to dust. It heavily focuses on resource management more than strategic combat, which may be off-putting to some, but there’s a lot of challenge here, and combat is equally as satisfying. Just watch out for the unicorns. They’re more fierce than you’d think.

If you want a charming, easy-to-follow game about managing a supermarket, and don’t mind if the story isn’t the most engaging, then this is a fantastic pick and I definitely recommend this. If you want super complex storefront mechanics or need a deep, well-developed plot, then you might find this one underwhelming.

Phoenix Point stands out in the tactical-RPG genre, even from obvious comparisons to XCOM, because it so fearlessly explodes the management systems on the battlefield. Even among tactics fans, it's clear this isn't a game for everyone, but if you're looking for something to really sink your teeth into, Phoenix Point is it.