Deadfire relies on tradition when it's suitable and tries to do something new everywhere else. The end result is one of the best RPGs I've played in recent years.

Total War Saga: Thrones of Britannia aims to focus the Total War series. Instead of a grand chunk of history to explore, it drills down to some specific decades, with a much smaller map. At the end of the day though, you still need to love the real-time strategy play for the Total War series. If you do, Thrones of Britannia is an experience that tries not to suck up all of your time and energy.

Currently, it's not my favorite tactical strategy experience, but I admit I enjoy seeing my Battlemechs tromping across the landscape to stomp out a fallen foe. Unfortunately, I need to finally finish the game's story campaign and drop bit more time in the additional multiplayer mode, which I haven't touched at all. Once I get those under my belt, I'll be back with a final score.

This is how you do a reboot. After Kratos lost his way, Sony Santa Monica has set the God of War on a new path. A more measure, nuanced character, a great supporting cast, an excellent combat system, and some of the best graphics in the PlayStation 4 game to-date add up to a winner.

MLB The Show 18 remains one of the most beautiful and polished sports sims around. If you're a new player, it'll be simply dazzling. If you're a veteran though, you'll be more apt to notice missing modes, network errors, and an increasingly bloated Diamond Dynasty. It's a great all-around baseball sim, but this year's update is as conservative as ever.

Far Cry 5 is a game that struggles in trying to serve two purposes. On one hand, there's a dark, horrific tale of a cult taking over a small town. On the other, it's a playground of destruction, letting players fly and drive around, blowing up things with a bear and a dog. Both sides are good, but they don't really meet in the middle. If you can survive the tonal whiplash, you'll find a great game here and Far Cry Arcade only makes it better.

Sea of Thieves is a feast or a famine. When you're playing with friends, it's an enjoyable voyage across a beautiful ocean, finding buried treasure and getting into trouble. When your group isn't up to snuff, you can find yourself lost, bored, and confused. There are highlights to the experience, but I wish it was a more consistent one and there were more opportunities in terms of player customization. After a year or two, I think Sea of Thieves might be a complete winner. Right now, it's uneven.

A Way Out is a fun ride BECAUSE of its co-op shenanigans. While the story is nothing to marvel over, its characters blossom beyond their bare opening descriptions, making seeing their journey together through worthwhile. Plus, it's a good exercise in working together with someone, whether it's a loved one, a colleague, or a friend. You'll really hate (or love) them by the time the game is through. If nothing else, A Way Out will be remembered as a great excuse to test the strengths and weaknesses of all your relationships.

Ni No Kuni 2 is a sweet-tempered and attractive RPG with a strong castle-building mechanic, but it's dragged down by a jarringly ugly overworld, mandatory fetch quests, and a lot of padding. It's a pleasant throwback for fans of the genre, but it ultimately fails to meet the high bar set by other big-budget JRPGs.

Yakuza 0 is simply the better game overall, leaving Yakuza 6 as just a great game. Of course, a number of games aspire to be "great", so Yakuza hitting that benchmark even on an off year is a testament to the development team and the strength of the franchise. Yakuza 6 is well worth your time, but remember to manage your expectations.

The Curse of the Pharaohs is what I wanted from Assassin's Creed: Origins downloadable content. The Hidden Ones was fine an expansion of what came before, but Curse really blows the doors out on trying something new with the concept.

Kirby Star Allies' friend-making gimmick adds layers of playful fun to this solid Kirby adventure. It's a perfectly pleasant way to pass a weekend by yourself, or with friends of your own—though the game is best enjoyed via the Switch's handheld mode.

Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is a game that still largely stands alone. There are few games that offer up this kind of cooperative experience, meaning FatShark has a chance to innovate without worrying about competition. That could lead to a sequel without many improvements, but it's clear the developer wanted to give players more options. Outside of some issues, what's here is very good.

On the surface, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine seems like it has a recipe for an incredible game. It stretches the lengths of what story-driven, Twine-like games can accomplish in scope—thematically, narratively, and in terms of the dozens of writers from different cultures and backgrounds behind them. And yet, the game's onerous pace and the way it relegates the stories you collect to flash cards ends up doing a disservice to the game's strengths.

Metal Gear Survive isn't a great game, but it is a fun game. Journeying into the Dust to find resources and survivors is a legitimately tense experience and your progress through the game feels satisfying. Unfortunately, hunger and thirst drop a bit too quickly, leaving you diving into menus for upkeep far too much of the time. With some tweaks and changes, Survive could be great, but as it stands, it's just good.

Rise and Fall feels a lot like Civilization V's first expansion, Gods and Kings. It adds some missing features back into the mix—thank you city flipping—but there are still other holes (Espionage still needs work) and some of the implementation here is messy.

If you wanted something vastly different, like Assassin's Creed III's The Tyranny of King Washington or Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag's Freedom Cry, it looks like you'll be waiting until March and the release of The Curse of the Pharaohs.

What really makes the game shine in-between all the chaotic but elegant ways to hop across the game's rooms, is the surprising heart at the center of it all.

Monster Hunter has been in need of a big change for years, and this reboot-of-sorts could have easily gone wrong. Instead, Capcom took a careful look at Monster Hunter's design and cut all the fat while leaving the series trademark dense gameplay completely intact. All the changes, from the broad, sweeping ones to the granular alterations, only serve to improve an already winning formula. The next generation of Monster Hunter has finally begun, and, with Monster Hunter World, it's off to an incredibly good start.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is a class act of a fighter and I'm looking forward to more additions to the game from Arc System Works. (Videl, Broly, Master Roshi, and Mr. Satan are begging to be added to the roster as are alternate costumes for existing fighters.) What's here is a complete package, with a fighting game that's fun for fans, but still has depth for masters.

After two years of additions and tweaks, Capcom has finally gotten Street Fighter V into the state it should've launched in. What was only a tournament-ready fighter is now a robust package. A roster of 29 characters, the long-awaited Arcade Mode, Extra Battle, Challenges, a great Training Mode, and solid online play add up to a release that shouldn't be missed for avid fighting game fans.

PUBG is such a pure and fun experience that it overcomes its many flaws. There are glitches, there are crashes, there is jank. The game will probably never be fully done. But parachuting down onto that island feels new and exciting every time. A number of simple ideas comes together to make a great game and establish a great genre.

Despite an uneven final episode, the bond between Chloe and Rachel cements the surprising prequel, sometimes even soaring above the heights of the original game. It still has all the faults of Life Is Strange as a series, but its domestic focus helps it resonate even greater than its successor. If Rachel Amber is the Laura Palmer of Life Is Strange, then Before the Storm is her much-deserved Fire Walk With Me.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2 applies an energetic signature and wax seal to a wonderful year for the Nintendo Switch, and for JRPGs in general. Between the amount of time it takes to get used to the game and getting through everything it has to offer, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 is a worthy investment for series fans and newcomers.

What's odd is they aren't really a collection in the traditional sense; even in physical release, they're seperate games. Revelations 1 looks great and is only held back by the underlying game itself. Revelations 2 is a better game, but there are cuts to make it run on the portable platform. In the end though, those cuts are much shallower than some other recent Switch ports, meaning it's more than worth it if you absolutely have to have Resident Evil on the go.

Battle Chef Brigade is a hard game to explain, coming across as a gumbo-style mix of Match 3 puzzle gaming, action combat, and anime storytelling. Surprisingly, everything comes together to make a fun and unique title, where players will hunt monsters and cook fabulous meals for judges in grand stadiums. The game falters in areas outside of its core gameplay, but that core is pretty deep and satisfying.

When I ask myself what I'm willing give up to play this on a portable, The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim on Nintendo Switch allows me to answer "I don't have to give up much of anything." That's pretty solid in my book and I'd say if you're a fan of Skyrim, this version is probably worth your time.

Similar to the other TT (Telltale Games), I think beyond here Traveller's Tales might want to rebuild from the ground up. The core works, but every now and then you need to drop a new engine into your line of cars to keep them feeling modern. But that's planning for the future. For now, Lego Marvel 2 is for Marvel fans and families alike. It doesn't hit with the impact of the first Lego Marvel, but it's still a damned fun time if you're a fan of the formula.