Exist Archive may test your time and patience, but if you’re willing to make that commitment, you should find a worthwhile experience.

This journey takes you across the beautiful steampunk city of Watchtower, which is a joy to behold. Sadly, the annoying gibberish voice acting does damage the emotional experience to some degree, but you’ll be far too busy scratching your head solving one of Clockwork’s enjoyable puzzles with the use of its largely functional time-bending puzzle mechanics.

Mafia III took me through a grand tale of loss and, in the end, after all of my macho escapades, I was left more empty, realizing no amount of killing could change what was done. For that reason, Mafia III is not a game to be missed by anyone.

As a complete package, Gears of War 4 is everything I could have asked for and more. Yes, I’ve got a few slight gripes with the lackluster final fight in the closing moments of the campaign and Horde 3.0’s class system, but as a whole, this is one game that every Gears fan needs to own.

FIFA 17 dramatically outshines its rival off the pitch with its re-creation of the match-day atmosphere. On the pitch, the transition to Frostbite has improved the look and feel of the game but a few gameplay inconsistencies frustrate and the returning server issues are just as prevalent as always.

Describing its world as an “ancient German future,” Lichtspeer is filled with amusing overtones, and the enemies themselves are often ridiculous and fun. Whether it’s viking penguins aboard longships or blue-skinned giants in sunglasses, there’s a comical feel to the whole thing that helps keep it entertaining.

If anything, Clustertruck is a simple, novel idea fleshed out and turned into a viable game. At its current price, it’s also worth every penny, and I can see myself using this for study breaks, a filler game for listening to podcasts, and that’s not counting my current strive to get to the top of the leaderboards.

It isn’t the first game that had something to prove, and many others have come and surmounted all obstacles put before them. This latest entry into Sonic’s legacy simply failed to do so. While the game works well (I experienced no bugs whatsoever), it’s just not very fun to play. The story lacks substance, the action is slow and very by-the-numbers, and there is no real challenge at any point. The Sonic franchise has been in a rapid decline and it needs a game that will reinvigorate the series and restore faith from fans. Unfortunately, Fire and Ice is not now, nor will it ever be, that game.

Even with its few faults, Rise of Iron is an impressive expansion. Just when everyone thought Destiny was finally dying and we were moving to the sequel, Bungie went and spiced it up again with something fun and challenging.

It is easy to come away from Virginia inspired and reeling from the vision that the team at Variable state have conjured; it is impossible to come away unchanged.

While its story and approach play it safe, the smooth gameplay and optional “perma-death” Hard Mode still bring plenty to enjoy. With a wide variety of weapons and spells to choose from and a unique experience behind each randomly-generated door, it keeps things fresh without stepping too far outside of established comfort zones.

Batman: The Telltale Series is still firing on all cylinders in terms of story, and is introducing new and more complex dynamics to character relationships with Bruce and Batman, as we should know to expect from the studio. Due to this, I find myself less enthused about pulling off slick combos as Batman, and more about watching how he and his human side tackle this sticky situation and the consequences of their choices.

Its combination of the English language, beautiful orchestral score from Curry, and picturesque environments create a perfectly moody and melancholy escape.

A truly great racing experience. The fact that the developers were able to combine their premier arcade racing with a new layer of depth and control is something definitely of note. It’s proof that an accessible game doesn’t have to be overly simple and can provide options to the full spectrum of fans, from those wanting to just drive around all the way to those who really want to fine-tune their own monstrous machines for the road.

PES 2017 on PC is a mess, especially when comparing it to the PS4/Xbox One version.

An entertaining, challenging game that will put your resource management skills to the test. Even with a lack of any real tutorial and some bad animations this was still a game worth picking up.

What RIVE does well is in its design of levels and enemies.

If you, like me, occasionally need a rest from fast-paced, action-first gaming, I truly cannot recommend Seasons after Fall enough. The art alone is sufficient to offer a unique and worthwhile experience, and the light yet engaging gameplay offers a wonderful way to experience it.

Blade Arcus from Shining is one of the best games to pick up if your interested in learning or teaching someone how to play a traditional 2D anime fighter. The simple mechanics and beautiful visuals are enough to keep someone enticed long enough to feel adequately comfortable to move onto more popular and complex fighters. But the bare-bones content and uninteresting story/characters certainly won’t keep most around very long outside that.

There is a clarity to proceedings that invokes the memory of a time when games were uncluttered with narrative baggage, when a single, simple idea was front and center, and gameplay spoke louder than all else. In that sense, playing Boulder Dash now is a nice little hook, and it will keep you entertained for a short while, but with irritating barriers to progress, and a lack of any depth or nuance, it will be a short while indeed.

Apocalypse’s brand new story, engaging characters, and deep gameplay systems are more than enough to warrant a playthrough for fans both new and old. If you’re looking for a lengthy, satisfying handheld RPG to play, Apocalypse is a great candidate.

If you’re not very into management games, I could definitely see Project Highrise being an absolute bore as you wait for earnings to come in. I mean, you’re building a tower, not saving the world from aliens. But for fans of the genre or curious gamers, whether you’re playing through the games scenarios or in sandbox mode, this is one of the best management games to come out this year.

If you’re looking for something to break through the mould, look no further than Event [0], an innovative indie title with a lot of charm.

NHL 17 continues the overall trend of the series, but brings some much-needed new content that builds on what’s already there.

A short, sweet tale, which you’ll enjoy mostly for its delightful visuals and enchanting soundtrack. The overt homages to The Legend of Zelda can sometimes feel more like blatant imitation than respectful tribute, and we wish there was a little more punchiness to the combat, but developers Cornfox Bros demonstrate competent game design here, and Oceanhorn subsequently represents one of the better mobile to console ports out there right now.

While its platforming and shooting gameplay was fun, if not a tad basic, the story is there to do little more than drive things forward, and the environment it all comes in is dull and not enjoyable to explore. When combined with the need to do exactly that, some crashes causing you to exit and reload, and painful load times, ReCore becomes more of a drag, the more you play. If you’ve got the patience to put up with its load times, and technical blips, there’s a fun and interesting take on the platforming genre here. Just don’t expect the most polished or groundbreaking experience, though.

Hue is easily one of the best additions to the genre in a very long time.

A deeply-involved game with a huge number of things to keep players busy. With a freshly-generated map and sequence of events for each new start, the experience is ever-changing and presents a wide variety of ways for players to approach it.