It's interesting to get a look into the past that's as well cared for and presented as Shadow Man Remastered. Maybe I didn't find a new favorite, but there's no reason why you might not end up loving this. If you're okay with having a walkthrough ready and are willing to traipse through the same few corridors numerous times, Shadow Man is certainly a good way to kill some time between big releases.

Princess Peach: Showtime is a very approachable game and tries a lot of different ideas, which makes it perfect for extremely casual players or a younger audience. It's just a shame that it doesn't capture the 'kids of all ages' feeling of Mario's adventures or the aforementioned Luigi's Mansion. It's more like Yoshi's Crafted World, which makes sense as the two games were developed by Good-Feel. Though a significant step up from Super Princess Peach, Princess Peach: Showtime tries a little too much, and that means its best performances are overshadowed by discordant notes from the understudies.

It’s safe to say that Chocobo GP doesn’t out-do Mario Kart, but then I don’t think anyone would ever really expect it to. Most players, myself included, will simply choose this title because they love Final Fantasy, not because they think it’s going to be GOTY material. It’s a fun kart racer that you can easily while away your time with, but ultimately brings nothing groundbreaking to the genre. If you’re looking for a Final Fantasy fix, it might not quite hit that sweet spot for you, at least, not until you hand over your hard-earned gil for the season pass.

If Arms Race is updated and improved, then I could see it being worthwhile, but if this is all it has to offer, then Designer's Cut feels like something that should have been a free update rather than an integral part of a new season pass.

It's a cute little runner that has the aesthetic and feel of a children's TV show, which could make it ideal for younger audiences or people looking for a game that won't stress them out. Aside from that, Tadpole Treble Encore is a tad too shallow of a title to fully recommend.

Dredge is a nice, enjoyable fishing game with a low-fat horror coating. The mechanics, upgradability, and weird fish variety are enough to make for a lightweight and engaging time. But if your primary interest is in the narrative or atmosphere, you may find yourselves disappointed.

Avowed is a valiant attempt at fantasy you can play your way, but while it delivers well enough with combat, the narrative just isn’t there. Too ambitious in what it wants to do, it falls way short. It’s a very mediocre version of the masterpiece it tries to be, but it’s also a solid version of Just Another Video Game. The story goes nowhere and all ends the same way, but maybe the journey is just about worth it.

Some people will be okay with that and will even enjoy the open-world trappings Ghost of Tsushima offers. For me, I'm not sure if I can tolerate more riding around looking for boring filler while wishing triple-A gaming could finally deliver a truly compelling story.

C-Smash VRS is an interesting revival of a forgotten classic, perfectly suited for the virtual reality medium from the active nature of the gameplay to the futuristic visuals. However, it conspires to make the experience frustrating with precise controls, harsh timers, and a lack of solo play modes despite the (doomed to be mostly unused) multiplayer option having a far greater range. It's not quite 6-Love, but it's just about 6-Like.

The Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered collection is the easiest way to play these games, even if only one is worth playing. I’m still not sure retrofitting Chronicles and Angel of Darkness into what feels like a tight, connected quadrilogy makes sense, but Aspyr has made experiencing The Last Revelation on modern hardware so much more intuitive, while also preserving the very dominoes that led to Core Design losing the keys to the kingdom. This is Tomb Raider’s legacy, warts and all.

There’s plenty to enjoy about Wuchang, but it is not a game for the casual soulslike enjoyer. It’s a game for the soulslike sickos. I’m usually right there alongside them, but frustrations upon frustrations sour the whole experience.

The Isle Tide Hotel is an uneven game. It delivers in its goal to tell some compelling stories about very interesting people and a cult that’s up to some incredibly odd behaviour, but the inarticulate efforts to gamify the experience may prove too frustrating for those not already enamored with the concept or the genre.

The Edge of Allegoria is a grown up Pokemon game, for better or for worse. I enjoyed my time with it, but I think the fact it was so obviously Pokemon helped that a lot. A worthwhile experiment, and good for a larf, but not a game changer. It may be the first game ever to reference the 'why do they call it oven when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food' meme though, and that's got to be worth something.

Little Nightmares 3 is fine, but I’d be lying if I said it lived up to the series's namesake or managed to take it anywhere worthwhile. Supermassive never quite hits the mark of what made Little Nightmares so distinct and terrifying. Over a disappointingly short runtime, I feel no desire to return for any collectibles, and not one moment has stuck with me. Instead, I’m only left wondering what could have been done better.

Your House is a short game, clocking in at about three hours to beat it all in one go, and with five clearly separated chapters if you want to play in small bursts, but because of that, you notice the time to take walking back and forth in tunnels, not being able to take the turns you want to take but having to guess or remember the entire layout and each room's name. This, combined with puzzles that seem to solve themselves and the strained narrative, drag down any enjoyment the individual problem solving might have granted. Your House is a good facsimile of an escape room, but the flaws only become more apparent in the digital realm.

It’s a shame this one misses the mark so widely, because there’s a really strong foundation here. Maybe it would work better as a PvP game, or maybe it just needed to ease up on the story and focus on delivering more variety. The first couple of runs of Battle Train feel magical, until you realize that’s pretty much it, and the rest of the game is just a lousy version of Archer and a lot of trips down the same old tracks.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is the epitome of wasted potential. It’s one of the most beloved TTRPG franchises of all time, and the original game has become a cult classic over the years. This isn’t the sequel we hoped for, wanted, or even expected. It’s a Vampire: The Masquerade in name only.

Mortal Kombat 1 hasn’t missed once with its post-launch DLC characters (and really, with its roster as a whole) so I’m sure that the rest of the expansion’s soon-to-be-released fighters will be great, but as it stands I can only talk about these three. While they are some of MK1’s strongest characters (in terms of how they play at least), they can’t make me overlook what is otherwise a weak expansion greatly overshadowed by NetherRealm’s last offering.

Rushed is basically the best way to sum up Serious Sam 4. In development for around eight years, I imagine the current global pandemic played a big role in how scattershot everything is. At its core, the weapon feel and early level designs aren't bad. There's a solid game buried under these weird choices, but Croteam seems to have shoved it out the door with little finesse.

Paradise Killer is a game that looks and sounds great, but ultimately, feels devoid of any discernable raison d'etre and actively holds itself back with baffling design choices. The developers are clear talents, and I'm truly looking forward to what they make next. Next time, though, I hope that there's a bit more there to unpack.

Two years ago, Sackboy: A Big Adventure proved Sumo Digital was more than capable of creating its own unique vision of Media Molecule's banner Little Big Planet series. Now in 2022, as I write this while listening to the game’s choral remix of Material Girl, I can’t help but be excited for what is next for weird potential of future Sackboy games. People should go back and play this game, just not on PC.

Soccer is a game all about teamwork; which is fitting for Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions, a title where the multiplayer and co-op features shine the brightest. However, when it comes to single-player features, like the game's Journey mode and figuring out the soccer gameplay mechanics, you're better off benching those aspects.

MindSeize isn’t necessarily a Metroidvania that brings anything new to the genre, but it is a fun and overall enjoyable experience that has a lot of potential. Interested players just might want to wait until the game receives another patch or two before giving it a go, unless you’re willing to deal with its current technical issues.

The only thing that Liberated needs to be liberated from is its lackluster game design and bland story.

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.

There are parts of this game that are highly relatable. You can scroll through social media and see what are essentially Tweets (or Posts, thanks Elon), mostly about the impending meteor impact, that capture Twitter (sure, X) culture with hilarious accuracy. The third act also shines, with tensions between characters finally bubbling over and leading to huge blowouts that feel very true to the nature of teenage friendships. Fang’s relationship to their parents and brother Naser also feel very complex, more than any other relationship they have with the other characters. But none of this is enough to carry the weight of the game’s slow first acts or make up for the game’s unrealised thematic potential, and that’s a shame. What could’ve been a meaningful meditation on the importance of community turned out half-baked. The seeds of something great were there, but it never quite had the payoff it deserved.

The Complex has some good ideas and solid acting, but for an interactive movie, there's not enough going on here that makes it more worthwhile than just watching something on Netflix.

As it stands right now, The Captain Is Dead is an interesting take on the strategy genre, but I feel like it boldly goes too far in being a frustrating, teeth-grinding, mind-numbing exercise in futility.