The Gate Must Stand is a passable tower defence game with reasonable gameplay and decent replay value, though it can be undermined by poor pacing, UI and item descriptions that need improvement. While not a bad game, it's also not great. Reasonably cheap on a launch offer, it will sufficiently pass time and be fine doing it.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales serves as a charming, love letter to the golden age of top-down action RPGs. While its narrow world design fails to capitalize on its time-travel setting, the experience is heavily elevated by a snappy and surprisingly deep combat and a flexible character customization system, making the game one worth experiencing for fans of the genre looking for a modernized take of a classic formula.

EA Sports UFC 6 is a bit of a second wind for this veteran franchise, delivering impressive visuals, refined action, and new ways to play, including a series-first story mode and a flashy Hall of Legends celebrating the accomplishments of some of the biggest names in the sport. The series is still a bit stuck in its ways in some aspects -- grappling could use an update and Career Mode is still a grind -- but overall, UFC 6 punches things up more than you might expect.

007 First Light is one of the greatest James Bond games ever made. IO Interactive crafted a great third-person adventure game that mixes linear and open-ended levels and delivers an Oscar-worthy narrative to support it all. There's still room for improvement in the already-confirmed sequel (the credits close with 'James Bond will return'), but Bond's origin story is a must for genre fans.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is a feast for the eyes on PC, with the updated Anvil engine from Assassin’s Creed Shadows doing some heavy lifting with the overhauled visuals. Everything from the physics of water crashing against docks and boats to the inclement weather is among the best to grace a video game. Raytraced lighting with global illumination helps the world appear more vibrant than ever. This is a densely populated world, with points of interest separated only by the open sea rather than by separate screens. The biggest change that players will appreciate is the ability to sail up to an island, disembark, and head straight into a settlement like Havana without running into a loading screen. [Hands-On Impressions]

Luna Abyss is more than the sum of its parts, with individual pieces that will all feel familiar, so much so that you've likely played a dozen games just like it. But it's standout character design, environmental storytelling, performances, writing, level design, first-person shooting combat and 3D platforming that ends before it has a chance to outstay its welcome make it a must-play for single-player shooter fans.

Phonopolis is the most beautiful and artfully-constructed game yet from Amanita Design, a studio that knows a thing or two about making such games. Phonopolis perhaps doesn't venture quite as far outside the point 'n' click adventure box as it could, but fans of the genre who don't mind the occasional obtuse puzzle and a short-ish runtime will likely find themselves singing the game's praises.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book may be a bit pokey for some, but it requires more brain power than you might expect, serving up a large and varied array of beautifully detailed stages and some surprisingly impactful moments. If you're looking for something approachable for a young family member, or just a laid-back read for yourself, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is well worth adding to your library.

Forza Horizon 6 brings together everything from previous Forza Horizon titles and fine-tunes them to a perfect shine, set in a compressed Japan that is both gorgeous to behold and pure joy to race around.

The Dark Pictures might be missing from the title screen, but Directive 8020 is a return to Supermassive Games' formulaic design with some new twists and frights.

The appeal of Pokémon Champions is narrower than you might expect, as hardcore VGC vets or those hoping for a Pokémon Stadium-like experience will likely be disappointed by the game's small Pokédex and other limitations. The real target audience is clearly newcomers curious about competitive play, and the game does a fairly good job of welcoming them in without emptying their pockets. The nitty gritty of PvP Pokémon battling has worked for 30 years, and it's not broken here, but a lot more could have been done to support the experience. Of course, plenty can change with updates, but as is, this game is a Pokémon Contender at best.

Saros is a phenomenal roguelike that would have been more notable had Housemarque not already set the bar so high with 2021's Returnal.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is an incredibly fun adventure puzzle game with some very well put-together mechanics that make investigating and solving puzzles almost as interesting as its Lovecraftian roots, which is why it's a shame that it fumbles properly connecting those roots to its gameplay, leaving much of the horror and tension built up in its early chapters at the bottom of the ocean. Odd missteps in its storytelling and an unfortunate amount of bugs that entirely blocked progression and left save files corrupted don't help its case, but when it's all working as it should, the gameplay generates a rewarding and fun loop that'll keep you glued to your screen as if Cthulhu already has full control of your mind.

What you get out of Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream largely depends on how much you’re willing to put into it. Nintendo has expanded their quirky concept into something almost resembling a screwball take on The Sims, but they haven't gone so far as to provide much in terms of set goals or structure. Making you chuckle is still this game's greatest aspiration. Sure, It's all a bit aimless, but it's also oddly addictive, and those willing to dive in and feed the weirdness may need a Tomodachi Lifeline to get back out again.

CAPCOM's new PRAGMATA IP feels like a return to old-school design: extreme linearity, no unnecessary bells and whistles, and a narrative barely worthy of such a name. There's beauty in such simplicity, and the game's main quirk, the real-time hacking mechanics, provides a fun, yet original combat experience. However, it doesn't go much deeper than that in any regard, ultimately satisfying the player without leaving any lasting memories.

Life is Strange: Reunion is a fantastic sendoff for these two heroines, even if the story is ending on a bittersweet note with Ashly Burch not coming back one last time for the main role (Rhianna DeVries reprised the role of Chloe, leaving the character with an unusual lineage of leapfrogging voice actors as Ashly did come back for a few lines in a bonus episode for Life is Strange: Before the Storm). While it’s not a mystery I’m keen on replaying again any time soon, the opportunity to see the magnetism in these two characters was worth the ten-hour playthrough.

After spending roughly 30 hours with the game, I would have scored the game in the 9.0 out of 10 range. Now that I have completed the story, I feel that score is completely warranted, and would have been even higher if the narrative had a bit more cohesion. Crimson Desert is very fun and gripping, and a game that is very easy to get lost into with an incredible world density, its sandbox mechanics allowing for tons of player expression in traversal, combat, and quest completion, so much so that I feel I will continue to play the game for a long time even after having completed the story. Now completely comfortable with the game's unique quirks, I firmly believe Crimson Desert has the chance of being this year's Baldur's Gate 3 and becoming a benchmark moving forward for all open-world games.

All that said, Cryo Archive is still an incredible endgame reward for the players who make it there, and in the meantime you get to enjoy the rest of Marathon's wonderfully designed zones. Now that I've experienced Cryo Archive, I can definitively say Marathon is the full package for shooter fans, stealth game fans, and anyone who feels like they've been missing some of the magic that made Bungie the iconic studio it is today.

Pokémon Pokopia isn't just possibly the best spinoff this series has ever seen, it also captures the spirit and fulfillment of those classic early entries in the franchise better than anything that's come our way in some years. This game is mechanically sound, technically rock-solid, and has a pinch of genuine creative inspiration and joy that you don't always get from modern Pokémon titles. While the game may start a bit slow for some tastes, I think most folks who give Pokopia a chance will find they Kanto get enough.

With a much more serious and ominous narrative this time around, Monster Hunter Stories 3 manages to balancing the joy of hugging your Poogie with the challenge of besting an Elder Dragon in manual combat.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is a hauntingly beautiful reimagining that successfully modernizes one of the series' most iconic entries with modern visuals and new mechanics. While the atmosphere and puzzles are masterfully executed, the experience is slightly dragged down by a combat system that can feel more frustrating than fun. However, the expanded story and atmospheric overhaul still make this a must-play for fans of the series and survival-horror fans in general.

WWE 2K26 offers a more well-balanced card than last year, including some welcome tweaks to core gameplay, fun new match types, and solid additions to most modes. As with most annualized sports franchises, a lot of the improvements feel rather piecemeal, and the addition of a grindy new Ringside Pass nearly pushes the game into the realm of NBA-2K-style over monetization, but this veteran franchise can still deliver thrills, for a price.

God of War: Sons of Sparta is a perfectly fine Metrovania on its own, but it doesn’t live up to the Kratos lineage otherwise. Either temper your expectations for Kratos’ origin story, or go into this one with an open mind that it’s another generic Greek adventure, and you won’t find your time in Laconia to be a tragedy.

Resident Evil Requiem is the Every-Evil, as Capcom has taken all the things they've done with the franchise over the past decade or so and stitched them together into a towering monster of a survival horror game. Parts of this game are the best, scariest, and most intense this series has ever been, other parts are merely alright, but no part of the game is bad and it's all very distinctly Resident Evil. While it won't be everyone's new favorite, Resident Evil Requiem should hit enough right notes for most fans.

Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown is a text and story-heavy trek that follows the story of Voyager as it returns from the Delta Quadrant, but allowing you to change the events of the story in a game that has impactful choices wrapped around an FTL-style survival game and copious amounts of resource management. Not a masterpiece, the sum feels like more than the whole, though I will admit my view may be clouded as a fan of Star Trek, Voyager, and the genre.

Styx: Blades of Greed is the definition of a solid 'AA' game. It struggles under the weight of its own ambition and some Unreal Engine 5 optimization woes, but its charming main character and quality of its sandbox level design make it a game that those looking for an almost pure stealth experience will love.

Mario Tennis Fever still scores points for its core gameplay, particularly when playing against other people, but the game’s frustrating new Fever Racket gimmick and underwhelming single-player modes don’t bring all that much to the court. The result is a game that can be fun at times, but doesn’t stand out from other recent Mario Tennis games in a way that’s likely to raise Switch 2 owners’ temperatures.

ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN is a brilliant, fever-dream rollercoaster, made by Suda51 and Grasshopper Manufacture at their absolute peak. By leaving behind the empty-world of No More Heroes III in favor of a tightly paced, linear, almost "Soulslike on steroids" experience, the studio has delivered its most mechanically polished and visually eclectic experience to date, and a statement against the sanitized, risk-averse nature of modern AAA gaming.