If you're willing to overlook a few missing features, you'll soon find that the biggest challenge is leaving your job at ASYNC Corp. to get back to the real world.

If you're easily frustrated, Fractal may not be for you. But if you're up for the challenge and you aren't looking for your hand to be held, it's an outstanding experience.

If you haven’t gotten Vampire Survivors yet, it is easily one of the best PC-only games you can buy in 2022. Having played more than 50 hours of it over the last few months, it really feels like a steal at even its newly increased price point of $4.99. It has remained in the most-played games on Steam Deck for months now, and Valve should just pay to have it pre-installed on every Steam Deck at this point. It is that good. If you do end up getting it, don’t blame me if you spend hours on it daily like I did when I got addicted to it. The soundtrack is absolutely worth grabbing as well. I’ve not grown remotely tired of it after all these dozens of hours with the game.

A gorgeous 2D shooter that offers up challenging stages and lots of competition.

Out of all the things that could be salvaged from the defunct original form of Telltale Games, the Sam & Max trilogy was just about the highest on my list. Now, with this excellent remaster of The Devil’s Playhouse, that job is complete. If you’ve never played a Sam & Max game before, feel free to slide on in with Sam & Max Save the World and see it through to the end of The Devil’s Playhouse. It’s quite the wild ride. If you have played these games before, the enhanced presentation might just convince you to go for a replay. They quite literally don’t make them like this anymore.

I was honestly caught off-guard at how much Exiled Kingdoms had to offer, and even how good it was all-around. In fact, I would say this game is one of the best single-player Diablo-like games on iOS.

I ended up having more fun with Djinn Caster than I expected to ever have with a game published by Kemco in its current form. I don't know if it's going to be to everyone's tastes, but if you've ever found yourself pining for the days where you could get a good, solid Eastern-style ARPG without getting a free-to-play shakedown, you'll probably want to give this one a look. The story and cast are memorable, the gameplay is enjoyable, and I really like the style of its presentation. It feels completely unlike anything else in this publisher's line-up, and if you ask me, it's about time.

While it might seem like a subjective thing, and it probably is, Versus: The Elite Trials reflected my choices back at me in such a way that I saw a slightly new side of myself. That alone makes it a great gamebook, in my opinion. Even setting aside personal epiphanies, the improved pacing, more nuanced tone, and the smaller cast of more fully fleshed-out characters make this a far better effort than the first book. As I said at the beginning of the review, though, you're going to want to play through The Lost Ones before you touch this to get the full effect. But you can now do that knowing that it's worth the effort of pushing through some of that book's rougher spots. Versus: The Elite Trials is an excellent gamebook, and I will wait with great anticipation for the next part of the story.

I definitely have to recommend Silly Sausage in Meat Land. It involves a stretchy sausage dog that can sniff its own butt, and it costs you nothing to download.

The aesthetic, music, and voice acting are all brilliant and they come together perfectly. While the initial bits of the story took a little while to get going, the time I spent with Olympia Soiree was more than worth it. It may not be the easiest and most accessible otome game, but it definitely is one of the best ones I’ve played.

Star Realms continues the trend and provides superior gameplay even amongst it's venerable peers.

As someone with no particular affinity for motorsport or management, I can nevertheless offer a very strong recommendation for Motorsport Manager.

By casually lampooning itself, He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe is entirely accessible to both the young and old alike. It's a celebration not only of He-Man and Eternia, but a respectful bow to the type of gaming that became so popular when Price Adam was still a boyish whelp, and you'd be mad to miss it.

Even with its minor faults, Ash is one of the better RPGs available in the App Store. It tells an engrossing story with characters that are full of personality and emotion. It's definitely not the most complex game when it comes to character progression, but the gameplay is fun and a nice change from some of the more convoluted RPGs out there.

Botany Manor has been a pleasant surprise from start to finish. It is equal parts relaxing, educational, and gorgeous. It also is a perfect fit for the OLED screen on Nintendo Switch in handheld mode. If you’re looking for a five or so hour first-person puzzler that doesn’t waste your time, Botany Manor is for you. Now please release a retail limited edition of it with a physical research book.

For a new IP, WWE SuperCard manages to hang with the best of them. Even without purchasing cards left and right you can still enjoy yourself, which is great news for skeptics or WWE fans.

After all is said and done, Beach Games is one of Donut's best offerings yet.

When Animal Crossing: New Horizons released around the time people were going into lockdowns across the globe, a lot of people praised the way it helped people. Unpacking is exactly that for me right now with so many long games and deadlines. It has been a perfect game to dip into as a break from longer and more stressful games. While the gameplay might be too simple for some, Unpacking has managed to make something as mundane as arranging furniture and items be a lot of fun. It also helps that Unpacking on Nintendo Switch makes great use of the system’s features.

It is rare for me to pre-order the limited edition of a game I’ve gotten for review 2 minutes into playing it for the first time, but here we are. Coffee Talk Episode 2 isn’t a huge change or upgrade from the original, but it didn’t need to be one. It is an easy recommendation if you enjoy relaxing games, coffee, and want to brew up some for interesting characters. I hope we get more from this world in a few years in a potential third entry. For now, it is time to mix dri.. I mean brew coffee and change lives.

Telltale have put a dense tale on offer, red in tooth and claw and tantalizing in its player-driven possibility, and the second episode is already overdue.

In its current state, Railgrade is an easy recommendation if you enjoy trains and logistical puzzles. Just don’t come into this expecting a simulation-focused experience. I never played Railgrade before the Steam version so can’t comment on what changed or improved, but I see myself dipping into the game regularly over the coming months as a nice relaxing experience. The shorter mission structure also perfectly suits the pick up and play nature of the Steam Deck.

The game that should come with a warning label attached, Crobble takes a beautifully simple concept and mixes it up with some fantastic gameplay modes in order to provide players with one of the most enjoyably captivating games this summer.

Despite a lack of high-concept features, MovieCat 2 manages to capture the fun of the original game with an updated collection of trivia

The Wingspan European Expansion felt like good DLC for an amazing base game, but the Oceania Expansion feels like an actual big expansion that adds to the experience across the board (no pun intended). The new Nectar food type, board, and birds accompanied by the new music all make the Wingspan Oceania Expansion an essential if you’re comfortable with and enjoy the base game. The asking price is definitely higher than expected, but this is an easy recommendation. I just hope Monster Couch gives the iOS version a bit more attention to make it feel more tailored to the platform. It has always looked amazing on modern iOS devices, but a bit more can make Wingspan feel truly special.

Xiaomei and the Flame Dragon’s Fist isn’t going to come for Streets of Rage 4‘s crown anytime soon, but it’s not really trying to do that. It speaks to a particular point in beat-em-up history that doesn’t see a whole ton of love these days, and anyone with nostalgia for those games will have a big smile on their face while playing it.

In some ways, the sheer depth of Cafeteria Nipponica acts as both a blessing and a curse.

Remarkable in its ability to match its core conceit to both its mechanics and interface, and then to mix, match, recontextualize, and refine as needed. It's finely crafted, well presented, and precisely executed.

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club is not the sort of thing we typically see from Nintendo, but if there was any rust on the team it assuredly doesn’t show. It’s perhaps a little too adherent to the original games in its mechanics, and while the plot is mostly excellent there are some times where the pace falls off or things resolve in ways I didn’t find as satisfying as I would have ideally hoped for. Still, these are minor complaints for what is otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable mystery adventure. Welcome back, Detective Club. Don’t stay away so long this time.