The new game from the creators of 'Gods Will Be Watching" has bold, refreshing ideas about future sex—but also a pitfall into transphobia.

Underneath a few blemishes and missteps, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves offers an undeniably rich and technical fighting game experience. It’s a big step forward for SNK — in my book, at least. Both visually (we don’t talk about King of Fighters XV) and from a mechanical standpoint. While its single-player content and onboarding process leave much to be desired? Those looking for a deep, competitive, and rewarding 2D fighter to sink hundreds of hours into need look no further. [Highly Recommended]

WWE 2K25, I have to iterate, is a beautiful spectacle. Updated entrances, attires, and animations. Crowd-pleasing additions to celebrated modes. An “Eh” MyRise but a phenomenal Bloodline Showcase. The Is are dotted and the Ts are crossed. But in crafting the best version of itself, I wonder if its soul is still there.

But seriously, if you’re looking for a new platforming obsession? Shotgun Cop Man is your man. It’s weird, quirky, and plays like a dream. Plus, trying to precision platform while only having shotguns available to propel you forward is a nightmare in all of the right ways. I don’t think anything can match this madcap energy quite as well as Deadtoast Entertainment did, and I’ll be in line for their next weird project. [Highly Recommended]

While Dicey Dungeons isn’t my favorite in the genre, its approachability and aesthetic makes it stand out in the crowd. It’s the perfect ambassador for a genre I’ve been trying to get everyone I know to play. I only wish I could play it on my phone.

The end result is that you’re spending a lot of time in combat, and increasingly, I’m putting on a podcast and zoning out whenever that happens now. The Origami King even includes an option to spend money to have the game automatically move many of the enemies into the right spot, making even the most challenging fights trivial. The Origami King has so many options to help avoid combat, without being honest with itself and letting you skip it entirely.

It’s fun, and I liked it, but it’s disappointing to see Star Wars shrink its video game horizons as its film and television series widens the franchise’s scope. Fallen Order feels great in the context of what Star Wars games have become. Enjoying it feels like settling. For me, Star Wars was always about the video games. The movies were something my parents enjoyed, the books and comics something my friends told me about.

It's a new take on old ideas, in a new era, for a new audience. It’s a strong beginning, but a beginning nonetheless.

It offers plenty to love for those invested in the series since the start. I didn’t know what to expect when I jumped in for the first time. But I know I didn’t expect a game that was going to grip me so tightly and not let go. When I’m not playing Dynasty Warriors: Origins, I’m thinking about playing Dynasty Warriors: Origins. And that’s a claim I did not expect to make in 2025. [Highly Recommended]

As I play more and more—I'm about 20 hours in now—I've realized that there's a major Bioshock staple that isn't in Prey: memorable characters.

If you’ve been looking for something to scratch the itch left behind by games like Undertale and even Earthbound? I would strongly suggest looking into Everhood 2. It’s one of the most interesting games I’ve experienced, in nearly every way. It still is stuck in my mind, and I’m not sure if it will ever leave. [Strongly Recommended]

Regardless of some questionable graphical fidelity, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a fantastic game. It’s one of those stories that can only be told via this particular medium, and I adored my time with it. Plus, it’s got New Game+ in the package instead of as a DLC bonus. Now that I’ve got my Sea Legs, I’ll be jumping back in for another go with Majima and the crew. [Highly Recommended]

Most importantly, it's platform agnostic, meaning you can play with your friends even if none of you own the same console or a PC. As long as you can play the game, you can easily join a group of friends no matter what platform they're on.

It’s not bad enough to hate and not good enough to praise. That’s disappointing for two reasons. The remake of Resident Evil 2 was excellent, and the Mr. X encounters suggested that Capcom could update Resident Evil 3 and do something interesting and innovative with Nemesis. Instead, Capcom chose the most boring path possible.

As a Tales fan burned by several years of repetition and "greatest hits," it's been a joy to see the series strike out into uncharted territory with Velvet and her band of anti-heroes.

Rise and Fall is aware that there is far more about the history of human civilization that a game of the same name could and perhaps should attempt to capture. But we already have a clean, simple story. Everything else can exist at the edges, included, but not so important that you can’t ignore it.

The more I play BattleTech, the more violent it gets, and the more violent it gets, the more I love it.

Even if it did do a better job at telling the story it means to tell, the hidden costs that went into Detroit would hardly be worth it: workers in court suing over harassment, a company reportedly organized into an undisguised creative oligarchy, an entire regional block of game outlets who are too wary of legal action to mention any of this in their own release coverage of the game. All this to execute a tired concept, done far better service in recent years.

With post-launch content updates, I could see The Eternal Die winning over even more fans. It’s very charming and has a lot to love. I could even see this becoming the type of game to win over fans who don’t like roguelikes all that much. At this point, if I could choose? I’d love to see Stormteller Games continue to innovate on the Lost in Random franchise. Maybe the next game could be an action RPG, or something completely different. The world is interesting and unique, and they have the potential to truly make it sing. [Highly Recommended]

Perhaps most impressively, the world of Remnant is genuinely mysterious. There’s a story playing out about the end of the world as we know it and a conflict between forces mundane and magical, but most of the details and lore of the world are buried in item descriptions and those items are scarce.

While I do wish that there were, technically, offline modes available to play, we can only hope that 2K will add that option after launch. Local multiplayer feels great, and online multiplayer is just as solid as ever. If you’ve been searching for a reason to get back on the green, there’s never been a better time than now. [Strongly Recommended]

Tarsier’s new puzzler presents a powerful vision of terror in a very relatable environment.

Alien: Rogue Incursion took me by surprise. I was expecting a shoddy half-baked experience that tried to profit off of the Alien license. Instead, I was treated to one of the best VR experiences I’ve had since jumping into the medium. Some games just benefit from the use of VR in ways that you can’t experience by playing on a flat screen. Alien: Rogue Incursion is one of them. Combining the tense horror that Alien is known for with incredible visuals and interactivity, it’s a must-play for fans of the franchise. And even for those who may not be as tuned into it as they’d like to be. [Recommended]

Rather than getting annoyed, as is often the case in games I play where I try to collect things until suddenly I don’t, I left every stage of Tinykin feeling like a certified explorer. It was nice.

The magic of Elden Ring: Nightreign lies in how it slowly evolves the more you play. The Nightfarer you chose in Hour 1 won’t be the same by Hour 20. Thanks to relics and unlockable items, your character can improve dramatically over time. In that sense, the spirit of Elden Ring allowing players to shape their own unique gameplay style is still alive. Just be ready to play by the multiplayer’s rules during those early hours as you slowly claw your way through its progression. But, like any FromSoftware game, the reward is worth it. Finally, if you’re a big fan of Soulsborne combat, Elden Ring: Nightreign was made for you. It’s an all-thriller, no-filler combat experience—and it’s incredibly fun.

The amount of content in the Starfield PS5 release is so staggering that it would take pages for me to go into all of it. But what really stands out to me are all the little quality-of-life changes Bethesda has made to really push Starfield into a complete experience. When exploring space, you now encounter more unique NPCs and questlines.

Every aspect of The Midnight Walk is mind-blowing, from its gameplay to its character designs and worldbuilding. I truly believe this is one of the most underrated games of the year so far and should be a must-play for anyone. [Best In Its Class]

It is undeniable that this is more dynamic and specific and operable than a Civ game, but in my time with the game I have remained unconvinced that this level of fiddly knob control gives me anything unique or better than the more abstracted or zoomed out systems of a Civ. My experience of Humankind was one of seeing occasional glimmers of something special while having to fight to keep a lot of numbers and pressures in my head at once. I know that there are strategy and 4x players for whom this is where the action is. Those players love the system mastery of it all, and it's clear that the developers’ desire here was to create an abundance of complex systems that interlock beautifully. I think they accomplished that, but for me there is a point where that reaches diminishing returns, and Humankind is over that line.