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While Wrath: Aeon of Ruin might give off the impression that it's just another boomer shooter in a market already well-past saturation, it manages to forge its own identity by being a throwback to classics of the genre with a flair of its own. And of course, the incredible level design and gunplay go a long way in making the game incredibly fun. The only real downside is that, for its wild settings and visuals, the weapons never really break the mold of classic shooter archetypes.
From its incredible story and how well it tells it to its wonderfully realized setting and more, all of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons' biggest strengths are present and accounted for in the remake. Given how faithful of a recreation it is though, those who own the original will likely wonder if the remake is worth a purchase.
Last Epoch offers a middle ground between its contemporaries in the action RPG genre, offering players plenty of deep character customization options while still managing to stay understandable and approachable. While its story might feel meandering, the endgame content is plenty fun on its own, and its dungeons are some of the most fun bits of content in the entire game.
Mario vs Donkey Kong on the Nintendo Switch is a satisfactory update of a great and often overlooked entry on the Game Boy Advance.
The promise of those old, grand, globe-trotting Final Fantasy epics from the series' 16- and 32-bit heyday in AAA form has been fulfilled at last. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth finally realizes the series' central, implicit potential, looking to the past to pave the way for hopefully the start of a new golden age for the series.
When it's not annoying with the lackluster story and mission structure, Skull and Bones is tedious with its end game grind and activities. Bland and repetitive, it's simply a drag to enjoy.
Foamstars definitely has some charm to it, but the general lack of polish in the gameplay department and shoddy single player can bring the experience from initially impressive to ultimately underwhelming.
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered offers an appealing new visual style but retains all of the frustrating mechanics of the originals. Hardcore fans will probably enjoy it, but it's not for everyone.
Helldivers 2 is essentially the first game, except bigger, louder and more epic in scale. Despite issues with matchmaking and some desperately needed quality-of-life, it's enjoyably engaging.
Don't Nod has taken several key lessons from Vampyr and applied them to great effect with its second action RPG. Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden might not be revolutionary in anything that it does, and from a gameplay standpoint, it can sometimes feel a bit too straightforward for its own good, but with a well-realized setting, captivating story, excellent protagonists, and genuinely compelling choice-and-consequence moments, it's an easy game to recommend to fans of the genre.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 4 rises above some of its story and pacing issues to deliver a compelling end to the Erebonia saga.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel 3 is still an exceptional RPG after all these years, even if its PS5 port doesn't offer many enhancements.
Silent Hill: The Short Message isn't going to set the horror genre ablaze, but it doesn't have to. As a free offering, it's a solid showcase with a heavy atmosphere and heavier subjects, even if its narrative could have been more subtle.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League isn't the worst live-service title ever made, but its mediocrity is hard to deny, especially from a developer capable of so much more.
Granblue Fantasy: Relink's plot falters in several ways despite some impressive combat, bosses and gorgeous visuals. Nevertheless, it's a solid holdover for action RPG fans who don't mind grinding.
Graven feels like it's a game with a identity crisis. Along with being a boomer shooter, it also feels like it's trying to be an RPG, a dungeon crawler, and an immersive sim. Sadly, none of these ideas really feel like they come together well enough, and even the core combat feels incredibly unsatisfying owing to a lack of hit reactions from enemies. This is a shame, considering how interesting its world actually ends up being.
Tekken 8 is a shot in the arm for the series, advancing the story while offering addictive combat, exceptional presentation and a suite of features to attract new and experienced players.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a staggeringly massive RPG featuring the culmination of all that RGG Studios, and the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise, have worked towards over the last two decades. An incredibly high quality experience that doubles down on everything that was beloved about the previous entry, Infinite Wealth completes the series' transformation into a genre-leading JRPG franchise.
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a great modern re-release of the later half of the original Ace Attorney series. The narrative and gameplay choices in these games make them well worth playing, and the bonuses and QoL features included make these the definitive way to play these games. With the entire series now available on modern hardware, hopefully an Ace Attorney 7 is right around the corner.
New Cycle is nowhere near delivering a mix of resource management, city-building and humane stories like, say, Frostpunk. As repetitive as its core gameplay can get, it is appealing, and hopefully, early access will expand on it while ironing out all the issues.