Goose Game takes the common video game fantasy of being someone else’s bad day and dresses it up with pastoral allure. I think you could probably cobble together a critique here: All the power fantasy with none of the consequences. But I think the more pertinent read is that Goose Game is an excellent example of how much incredible white space video games have yet to explore.

’Trials of Fire’ blends a roguelike deckbuilder and tactical hex based combat with small maps that don’t feel cramped.

'Otxo' is a twin-stick shooter about revenge and expertly choreographed, improvisational violence.

Gearbox can patch out the screams of the bosses, but it can’t patch the heart back into Borderlands.

The combat isn't especially deep, but successfully getting through a challenging encounter is rewarding. The game's story has been hit-or-miss, but some of the hits have been dead on—I especially enjoy how they're playing out the ethnic and political divides among Greek, Egyptian, and Roman characters. And hey, I say this with some degree of trepidation, but so far the loot has been pretty fun to get. But my fear is that no one will see that Origins is actually a competent and enjoyable action RPG and instead bounce off of the aimless intro.

Shovel Knight Dig doesn’t strike me as a game that’ll demand dozens of hours to see it through, but in a way, that’s part of the appeal. The game isn’t a pushover, but it’s not full of crap-your-pants moments that result in immediate and hair-pulling deaths like a Spelunky. It’s a lil’ gentler. But four hours or 40 hours, I’ll get there, because I need to see what’s at the bottom.

Again and again, Far Cry 5 served up its opposite: Moments that were incredibly loud, but increasingly timid. And because of that, Far Cry 5 itself will always be more of a curiosity than a destination.

Age of Empires IV is content being a familiar and affable RTS companion, but it's not a complacent one. It's not making the kind of flashy, noisy challenge to convention that Relic made with the Homeworld, Dawn of War, and Company of Heroes games. It very consciously returns to an old genre formula, but finds enough places to add new touches and twists that it feels less conservative than its forerunners did. Perhaps more importantly, this kind of RTS went from being the default to being a rarity, and in that context it's become easier to appreciate its craft and to concede that our parents and normie nemeses may have been onto something.

In light of its ambitions, Company of Heroes 3 can’t help but feel like a disappointing version of that game that it feels like it should be (and, with patches, perhaps still could be). The dynamic campaign is a fun novelty with some real highlights, but it’s miles away from achieving what Total War’s campaigns regularly do. Still, this is a new Company of Heroes in a setting that makes its classic elements feel fresh and exciting again. It’s easy to recommend with some caveats, and if it ever comes close to delivering on the promise of that campaign, it will be an all-timer.

As fascinated as I am by the main story unfolding across Ishin’s cutscenes, I’m doubtful this is a game I will or should stick with. I don’t really want to play more of this game, I just want to know what is going to happen in the next set of cutscenes.

A puzzle platformer that smoothly finesses the line between feeling challenging and keeping me motivated.

A nearly-great game that captures the best parts of Gears, but which is let down by its campaign structure.

Like many of my favorite small strategy games, Dorfromantik activates what I think of as my meditative lizard brain, thanks to the tiny thrill of getting those hexes to fit together. It’s well-suited to casual engagement, and challenging enough for the score obsessed (myself included) to play it over and over.

Fire Emblem Engage is obsessed with the series’ past. It builds itself around the protagonists of previous games, re-uses those game’s most memorable maps, and builds its narrative around referencing the beats of older, better told stories. If the next Fire Emblem game is like this, it will be a disappointment. Engage’s tactics, however, set a new standard for the series. IntelligentSystems managed to perfectly meld mechanics and tone, but the tone they picked was fun, but ultimately empty. If they could manage to apply these same principles to more interesting narrative ends, the next Fire Emblem game would be the series’ best.

But I think it's worth the investment. With Endless Space 2 I feel like a lot of the loose observations and conclusions I drew from Endless Legend are finally coalescing into knowledge, and Amplitude's strategic language is starting to sound like poetry.

So, coming into this game as a relative newbie, I’m sure there are longstanding gripes with the series that longtime fans have. Having only put any time into one game in the series prior to this, I can’t speak to an overall evolution from past entries to this one. What I can say, though, is that for those who are on the fence about this style of game, as I was, or those who are just looking for a great entry point, F1 25 is perfect for you. If you’re willing to really lean into how races actually work and the management that goes on during them, you’ll have a great time. [Highly Recommended]

The Evil Within was more tense than scary, dropping players into claustrophobic spaces where survival lived on a razor's edge, ammunition always at a minimum. The Evil Within 2 is exactly the opposite, with open spaces and an emphasis on exploration, experimentation, and ample time to hide, scheme, ambush. It's shockingly good.

If you’ve been itching for something that’s more in-depth than most cozy games, while still offering plenty of moments to relax? Guardians of Azuma is the game for you. No matter if you’ve never had the experience of a Rune Factory game before, or the idea of mundane and repetitious work is intimidating, there’s plenty here to keep you happy. [Highly Recommended]

It’s a game of iteration and variation, one so similar to its predecessors but so different in execution that it has made an old franchise feel new again.

For the most part it’s a game which understands its weaknesses (depth, polish, uniqueness) while being pretty good at foregrounding its strengths (variety, storytelling, visual splendor). It’s here to sell us that awkward smile, it’s Quill posing in front of a mirror in his corny leather jacket. Easy spectacle without too much crunchy, frustrating friction in the way.

Sure, some parts of the original game aren’t here, but it’s easy to see why people are loving the newest entry. It’s incredibly unique, features fantastic music, and looks stunning to boot. I hope Level-5 keeps the content coming, because I don’t want to put down Fantasy Life i any time soon. [Highly Recommended]

Old Skies isn’t the flashiest game – but it doesn’t need to be. Rather than a grandiose, sci-fi thriller that the “time travel” trope tends to accompany, it grounds itself in a more sobering proposition. Ordinary people with ordinary desires, making extraordinary decisions. You aren’t here to save the world, but instead, to witness small slices of humanity. Sometimes, you don’t need an extravagant exit; you just need a shoulder to lean on. [Highly Recommended]

On the merits of just being a really good game, it’s easy to recommend. But if you’re not comfortable with some of the subject matter, I’d suggest staying away from this one. [Highly Recommended]

There are some beautiful, grotesque pixels in this game, and it's backed up by an equally fun ride.

Obsidian rarely misses, but this is a tremendous accomplishment they should wear proudly on their sashes. Avowed is unique enough to stand out in a crowded genre and is a game that deserves its roses. [Highly Recommended]

What could have been a lazy cash-in title turned out to be one of the most feature-packed, content-rich, and genuinely best-feeling cozy games I’ve ever played. No matter what type of player you are, there’s something to love about the cozy vibes on display here. [Highly Recommended]

Regardless of these little issues, Atelier Yumia is a great step forward for the roughly 30-year-old franchise. It proves that GUST still knows how to make the franchise feel new and exciting, all while keeping long-term fans happy. Yumia is a great protagonist, and the action-battle RPG feels great in action. Be ready to learn as you play, and prepare to sink plenty of time into this world. It’s a fantastic addition, and I’m already eager to see what Yumia’s next adventure is going to look like. [Strongly Recommended]

The series, rather than making large structural changes from game to game or adding many additional systems, finds more nuance and complexity in the encounter and level design that was created to hold a great deal of depth, and Etrian Odyssey V—which released this week—is particularly, even for the series, stripped to what it's always been and what it's always been good at.