Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds may not have the polish of Mario Kart World, but it’s a Sonic racer that finally earns a spot in the conversation with the genre’s best. The mix of vehicle types and gadget setups alone give the gameplay a layer of depth that most games in the genre don’t really aim for. It has its grindy moments, specifically with Donpa Tickets, but the foundation here is strong enough that the fun outweighs all the flaws. For fans of kart racers or Sonic in general, this is easily one of the series’ brightest surprises in years.
This 2025 remake of Trails in the Sky serves as a strong introduction to the Trails series. It has a more focused story and a cast you’ll quickly grow to love, and that smaller scale makes Liberl feel incredibly cozy and vibrant. This results, though, to a much slower narrative, and many side quests can feel trivial in the grand scheme of things. Regardless, as a starting point for Zemuria’s larger story, it succeeds at pulling you in and making you want to see what comes next.
LEGO Voyagers is a short and sweet co-op adventure best enjoyed on a relaxed afternoon with a friend. However, it doesn't leave much behind once it’s over. The puzzles are easy, sometimes too easy, but they’re carried by how naturally the game encourages two people to figure things out together. I do wish, though, that it lasts longer than just a few hours, especially since it also doesn’t quite push its mechanics as far as it could.
Silksong took everything that made Hollow Knight memorable and made it even better. It’s a faster and more demanding experience that somehow feels natural for Hornet’s journey. Pharloom is a labyrinth of beauty and menace, each corner stuffed with secrets that make getting lost feel like part of the design. Bosses will break you, platforming will bruise you, but the thrill of overcoming both is what makes it unforgettable. It’s everything you’d expect after six years of waiting—and then some.
Daemon X Machina: Titanic Scion doubles down on everything that made the first game a cult favorite. It has better mech designs, larger environments, and customization so deep it can blow the brains of those with obsessions on min-maxing their builds. The Switch 2 version struggles to keep up during larger battles, but the spectacle of giant boss fights and the thrill of fine-tuning your Arsenal usually outweigh the technical hiccups. Flawed as it is, it’s still one of the most exciting mech playgrounds you can strap into.
Shuten Order is messy in places and far more linear than it wants you to believe, but it still finds ways for you to engage with its mix of genres and sharp storytelling. The constant illusion of choice can be frustrating, and the padding doesn’t always feel earned, but the variety across its five routes, unfleshed though they may be, keeps things from ever getting dull. It’s wordy, yes, sometimes to a fault, but even with all its rough edges, it makes you want to keep pushing through its murder mystery anyway.
Super Robot Wars Y is a crossover that works more often than it doesn’t. It thrives less on its tactical RPG mechanics and more on the joy of watching decades of mecha anime crash together in one giant spectacle. The story is good if a little dry in its delivery, but the crossover event and battle animations more than make up for it. For every stretch of jargon-filled dialogue I zoned out to, there was an explosive robot finisher waiting to pull me right back in. It’s a little uneven, but it never stopped being fun.
Turning Zephyr Town’s market from a ghost of its former self into the liveliest bazaar on the continent is as rewarding as it is repetitive in Story of Seasons: Grand Bazaar. The weekly loop can drag in places, especially early on when inventory limits and the backtracking make the grind feel heavier than it should. Yet, this is a game that's easy to fall for. Between the quirky cast, the calming routine of tending to your farm, and the joy of seeing your hard work pay off in the town's revival, it's a cozy and occasionally frustrating game that's hard not to enjoy once the market starts bustling.
A clever control scheme and flashes of competitive brilliance can’t hide the fact that the rest of Drag x Drive is running on fumes. The basketball matches are fun, but they’re weighed down by awkward hardware ergonomics, lopsided AI, and a hub world that is just devoid of anything fun. There’s a potential here for something great, and I wish Nintendo explores this some more in the future. But right now, it plays too much like a really polished tech demo.
Super Mario Party Jamboree is still the same friendship-ending game you may or may not have loved a couple of months back, and Jamboree TV sprinkles in a few bright ideas. Frenzy Rules and mouse-control minigames are very fun. The problem is that everything else feels like a tech showcase in search of a reason to exist, and the awkward separation from the base game doesn’t help its case. What’s worse, there isn’t even a new game board! When the highlight of a $20 add-on is a handful of quick novelties and minigames that force you to buy a peripheral, it’s hard to imagine this being worth picking over other party games.
Fia and her band of lovable disasters in Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy might not cast the deepest spells, but they’ve got just enough magic to keep things moving. The dungeon crawling is light, the combat mildly engaging, and the school life fluff adds just enough variety to break up the loop. Thankfully, it’s all wrapped in a silly, self-aware package that leans into its anime logic and wears it proudly. There’s not much depth to uncover, but you might end up smiling more than you’d expect.
Juggling escape rooms, dream dives, and alien conspiracies while wearing a scanty bunny suit sounds like it shouldn't work, but No Sleep for Kaname Date somehow makes it all come together in a way that's equal parts ridiculous and compelling. The puzzles are clever, the cast is endearing, and the story—while occasionally overstuffed—remains hard to look away from. Even when the visuals lag and the exposition gets heavy, it will definitely keep you up late into the night to find out what happens next.
What starts as a straightforward romp quickly reveals itself to be one of Nintendo’s most creative and mechanically playful platformers in a long time. Donkey Kong Bananza's level design is smart, the gameplay mechanics even more so, and the sheer joy of controlled destruction never really gets old. Even with a few performance hiccups and a main campaign that flies by quicker than expected, there’s a ton to dig into here if you’re willing to peel off its many layers (pun very much intended).
Patapon 1+2 Replay finally gives these quirky rhythm-strategy games the treatment they deserve. It not only polishes up the originals but also significantly improves upon the 2020 remasters with quality-of-life enhancements we never realized were missing. It’s still as grindy, as bizarre, and as utterly unique as ever, even almost two decades on. It’s a bit disappointing that this collection excludes Patapon 3, but what’s here marches to the beat just fine.
The bottom line of it all is that Uma Musume: Pretty Derby is fun, despite the repetitiveness and some smudges. Yes, at face value, you’re managing horse girls with names lifted from real-life racing legends like Tokai Teio, Mejiro McQueen, and T.M. Opera O, but under that oddball concept is a fun sports management game. It’s the kind of experience that sounds ridiculous when you try to explain it to your friends—believe me, I tried—but quickly snowballs into something that’s hard to put down the moment you actually start playing, which, in my case, translated to me spending literal hours glued to my PC and phone, looking up guides, micromanaging stats, and watching gloriously over-the-top race cutscenes that had no business being as hype as they are.
Mario Kart World may not be the cleanest ride in the series, but between its fun modes, expansive open world, and sheer replayability, there’s a lot to love under the hood. The bloat and some odd choices occasionally throw a banana peel in front of the fun, but they rarely send the whole kart spinning. With enough friends and willingness to explore its quirks, it’s an addictive racer that keeps pulling you back in.
Survival Kids is exactly what it sounds like: a game for kids. It's not reinventing the co-op gaming, but it sails along smoothly thanks to its co-op design and low-stress puzzles. It's definitely best with a buddy or two, especially one who won't lose it when you "accidentally" toss logs off a cliff. A few clunky design choices and some repetitive bits keep it from hitting a higher score, but as a family-friendly adventure, it totally nails its target. You probably won't remember the plot, but you might just crack up thinking about the fifth time your raft went belly-up.
Unlike the original Shadowverse, which was known for its free-to-play generosity, Shadowverse: Worlds Beyond currently lacks that same accessibility. Players can still get a lot out of the game, but its monetization model and the new liquefy system are different and, frankly, less player-friendly. This is especially disheartening considering how much the original's accessibility contributed to its widespread appeal. Worlds Beyond retains the core Shadowverse experience fans love, with added mechanics and the more personalized Shadowverse Park, but it feels like it's lost some of its soul to the pursuit of profit.
Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is the series’ most ambitious entry yet. From its well-told story to its surprisingly deep village-building system, it’s a game that fully embraces the joy of planting turnips at dawn and saving guardian deities by night. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, Azuma is a harvest of everything Rune Factory can be when it dares to dream big.
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Battle Destiny Remastered arrives on international shores for the first time with a fresh coat of paint, so lovingly polished for modern eyes. Its roots are unmistakably Vita-era, with all the clunky lock-ons and sterile arenas that implies, but when you’re soaring through the stars, beam saber in hand, it’s easy to forgive the rough edges. The game trusts its audience to know the lore, feel the weight of its Mobile Suits, and embrace its mission-based grind like slipping into an old pilot suit.