This is the best Fire Emblem game to play ever. No exaggeration. I have not experienced all of the very early games, but I have seen enough to plant my flag for this one. But to fully experience? Way down the list. It's frustrating in the extreme - I just do not care about these characters and their plight, and even the ones where I might have, the game offers me no reason to invest whatsoever. I highly recommend Fire Emblem Engage because the gameplay and battles are stellar. Just be prepared to find yourself skipping a lot of stuff by the end.

Unless you’re aiming to find every Waddle Dee and complete every secret objective, Kirby and the Forgotten Land won’t challenge you, but it sure as hell will keep you smiling. Most of all, it proves that Kirby works remarkably well in 3D and cements itself as the next big thing for the pink puffball. I don’t want to see him limited to just moving left and right ever again.

Cat Quest 3 lured me in on name alone but won me over with its great gameplay loop. A better tale might have worked wonders for it, but start to finish, it’s still a good time.

Code Vein 2 isn’t breaking new ground in most of its conventions nor will it become the new face of Soulslikes. But it has its own unique ideas that are fully realised, letting it stand out against its contemporaries in the genre, while surprisingly strong characters help blend the gameplay and narrative together. If you have the appetite for it, there’s plenty to sink your teeth into.

Recommending Doom Eternal on Nintendo Switch ultimately boils down to two factors: the Switch is the only gaming system you own, and/or you plan on playing the game near-exclusively while on-the-go. Honestly, for a Nintendo Switch title, Doom Eternal is solid. It just feels like a game that benefits from being played on a more powerful platform.

Priced at $8.99 on Steam, the game offers a fun adventure. It's a great game for all ages, featuring smart level design and a charming art style.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a dynamic game that provides novelty with every chapter. The combat is packed with robust and interesting mechanics, and it is easy on the eyes. While there are a number of niggling issues, it manages to capture some of that old-school magic from an era of games that weren't afraid to go off the rails. Relink doesn’t nail everything it does, but it does quite a lot successfully. I expect that it will find an adoring audience, and surely the co-op aspect will give it an extended life among its audience. Just don’t come for the story.

Madden 21 on PS5 exceeds my expectations. As someone who plays Madden every single year, that says a lot. If you already bought the PS4 or Xbox One version of the game, dual-entitlement will allow you to snag the next-gen version for free. It’s well in your best interest to do so with your brand-spankin'-new next-gen console.

Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective has long deserved a second chance at life, and in this form, it’s easily at its most definitive. Making new friends while saving their lives as a friendly ghost never gets old and only makes you feel deeper and deeper in love with everything the game has to offer as you progress. Embrace death, make friends with dogs, and delight in a brand of chaos you won’t find anywhere else in the medium.

Shin Megami Tensei 5 is a punishing delight. It revels in its classic approach to combat and exploration, brought to life with a battered and broken vision of our world as it teeters on the edge of extinction. JRPGs of the modern era are often content to hold our hands and guide us through each new journey, but Atlus decides to punch us in the gut, steal our wallet, and sprint away as we try desperately to catch up. As I’ve said time and time again, this isn’t a game for everyone, but those who gel with its specific brand of masochism will find something very special indeed.

Super Crush KO is a fun brawler, plain and simple. It combines punching gameplay with frenetic shooting. The game flow is excellent and leads to fast-paced strategizing. Although never becoming too difficult, one will have to be careful with some of the tougher enemies. Also, trying to rank high on the leaderboards will appeal to veterans in the genre, so the challenge comes from that. Levels and boss battles, overall, are a joy to play through. Unfortunately, the core experience is a rather short one.

So much of what The Vale does feels like a reinvention of the video game wheel, and not always out of simple necessity. I think the developers at Falling Squirrel are visionaries, and I can’t wait to see what they do next with everything they’ve learned about game design while making The Vale. This is a fully blind accessible game, but that doesn’t at all mean it's an experience only the visually impaired would enjoy. There’s nothing lesser or limited about The Vale. It’s a fully realized experience that could only work in an audio space, and I sincerely believe it's going to inspire a lot of people to reexamine their beliefs about what a game has to do or be. If this is the beginning of indie audio games, I can’t wait to see where the genre goes from here.

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

Even if it were left as it is, Bluey: The Videogame is a step above every other game built with children playing their very first video game that I’ve played with my son to date. The Peppa Pig games are great, the Paw Patrol ones are okay, but much like when you compare the shows, what Bluey has to offer on the video game front is comfortably superior. The show is for adults and kids alike, but the short runtime and minor bugs mean the game is far more catered to the little ones - but as one of the best of its kind, it’s pretty wackadoo.

Many of Tails of Iron 2's new ideas feel out of place, underused, and poorly implemented. More often than not, they simply get in the way rather than adding anything of value. It’s a great experience and a worthy follow-up to one of 2021’s standout indies, so it’s unfortunate to see some of its ambitions fall flat.

I’ve been playing Piczle Cross: Rune Factory for nine days at this point, and I’ve racked up 34 and a half hours already. I don’t feel like I’ve made a significant dent in the game’s massive roster of puzzles, and I’m already dreading the day I reach 100 percent completion and have to find something else to fill the void. This game is a wonderful obsession that I’ve cultivated entirely on a whim, and I’d recommend it to anyone.

If it wasn't for its awful art style and attitude that screams "look how rad we are fellow teens!" then I'd probably like it a whole lot more. But as long as it adds more content, I can see this gaining an audience with players who are really into over-the-top sports games like Rocket League. Just remember the five D's of dodgeball and you'll have a fun time in Knockout City.

Moon is going to be a hard sell for a lot of people, as it's hard to get across just how bizarre and unique it is. It has its frustrating moments and the fact that the developers have asked fans on Twitter to seek out the manual for the game is telling, as it comes from an era where nothing is explained. Once the player comes to terms with the annoying parts and things start to click, they will find a game that's strange, engaging, and unforgettable all at once, with a story that may change how people look at RPGs in the future.

The most important thing for a game like Redacted is that it makes you want to immediately start a new run upon dying. And it does. One quick run before bed becomes two, becomes three. And that's pretty much all it needs. I know where and why my guard died and immediately want to rectify it. And, despite coming back to the same build, I do want to unlock the remaining weapons and buffs.

Dying Light 2 is a game with a troubled development, and unfortunately, it shows. I know how much the first game grew significantly over the years with patches and content updates, and I can only hope that this one gets as much support, because it still needs a lot of work before it becomes the game we were first promised back in 2018, if ever.

South of Midnight doesn't reinvent anything, but it does a competent job of everything it attempts. With all that’s going on in gaming right now, that's worth something. South of Midnight respects your time, delivers an emotional narrative, trusts that you know how to play it, and is bursting with texture and taste. This is a future classic for someone, and it might just be you.

I wouldn't necessarily call this high-art or a gaming masterpiece, as it's rich with horror movie cliches and light on actual gameplay. But if you liked Until Dawn or Man Of Medan, then you're sure to enjoy this. Just make sure you have those fingers ready to go because some of these QTEs can be deadly.

Much like James Sunderland, we have returned to Silent Hill, but what was once our special place has changed. Thankfully, enough of what made it special remains and will likely warm the cockles of nostalgic fan hearts and newcomers alike, even if you’ll have to look past some of the garish new additions in the process.

Deadpool VR isn’t going to change the world of virtual reality or convince many newcomers to give the medium a try, but it is a gruesomely good time with satisfying combat, plenty of parkour, and a surprising amount of variety across its roster of villain-focused levels. Those with a Meta Quest 3 gathering dust in dire need of a new exclusive will have a bloody good time here, even if its occasionally formulaic nature risks holding it back from greatness.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered doesn’t need to exist, yet here we are, and considering the $10 upgrade fee, its presence could have been significantly more barbaric. Passionate fans looking for an excuse to replay Aloy’s debut adventure with lovely visuals and a fresh list of trophies will find this remaster a no-brainer, but for a more sceptical soul like myself, it’s hard to look past the lack of quality of life improvements that only serve to highlight how far things have come since Horizon Zero Dawn first arrived, and how hard it’s become to look back.

Maybe this new release could have been a chance for Atlus to tweak other aspects of the game, but Persona 4 Golden remains a thoroughly enjoyable romp through teenage life. If you have any interest in the setting or genre mash-up games, don't hesitate to grab this.

There is no other way to explain it other than an all-encompassing “One more iron ore, one more dungeon run.” I’m a sucker for it. I can’t help it. I am continually swept away by the tide of grinding, progression, experience bars, little chats here and there with strangers, battles over iron ore, faction skirmishers, putting a new stove in my house, and finally hitting level 60. I am a sailor slumped on a beach huffing on a bright pink flower. My flatmate says, bleary-eyed, “Go to bed. It’s daytime outside and those trees aren’t real.”

I eagerly await the day when Primal Game Studios announces a sequel or a spiritual successor. Built on the wisdom earned with this project, I could easily see Mandragora’s sequel becoming a must-play for action RPG fans. But I’m not reviewing potential. What’s currently here is an ARPG that nails its setting and core gameplay; everything else is underbaked. Fans of ARPGs will likely have a great time with Mandragora as I did, but those who are more interested in a nail-biting Soulslike or a clever Metroidvania won’t find it here.