Devil May Cry 5 is a game that delights in setting the bar high up front and then continually one-upping itself with ever-more-ludicrous cutscenes and some of the most stylish combat in the business.
Only a Metro game could get away with wiping two hours of progress and still score this high
Resident Evil 2 ($60 on Humble) is more than just a remake. It’s proof there’s room for Resident Evil in the modern horror landscape—and without compromising the core of the series the way Resident Evil VII did
I love when something like Return of the Obra Dinn comes along and reminds me, even briefly, how many ideas are still unexplored.
I plan to chip away at Just Cause 4 over the next week or two and hopefully write a definitive review at some point. Between the technical issues, the drab story, and the baffling mission structure though I’m feeling pretty disappointed so far.
Call of Cthulhu should be a great horror-detective game, but lackluster mechanics and a heavy-handed story undermine its stronger points.
Overall it's a pretty great year for Call of Duty, even if it feels like the once-dominant shooter series is now playing catch-up to an industry that left it behind. That may be the case, but Treyarch did a damn fine job catching up at least.
The Final Season managed to surprise me multiple times already, and if anyone deserves a satisfying finale it's Clementine. Six years of build-up desperately need some sort of catharsis, even if it's a tearjerker.
Far Cry 5 offers a fun, vivid take on rural Americana, but doesn't dig into the questions its setting raises.
Surviving Mars has a lot of interface annoyances and other small issues, but its blend of optimism and dread makes a compelling foundation for a city/colony builder.
Q.U.B.E. 2 is a better physics puzzler than its predecessor, grander in scope, but without the same novelty the genre once enjoyed.
Into the Breach provides the same satisfaction on a smaller scale. It’s turn-based tactics distilled, a bite-sized version that still manages to have deep and complicated combat systems to discover within its otherwise-limited scope. Turns out, that’s exactly what I want.
Where the Water Tastes Like Wine's slow pace may grate on some, but those who can acclimatize are in for a fascinating deconstruction of America, as seen through the myths, folklore, and scraps of history we tell each other.
Age of Empires: Definitive Edition might always live in the shadow of its younger sibling, but Forgotten Empires has crafted a gorgeous update for diehard fans of the original or simply fans of ancient history. Wololo.
For now, Kingdom Come: Deliverance is decidedly niche, and all the better for it.
Celeste is the best precision platformer in years, but it's also a game about the figurative mountains we all struggle with, and that's what makes it truly special.
Rusty Lake is as bizarre as it is brilliant, and while Paradise isn't the best of the three paid entries, its brand of Victorian Gothic weirdness is still unique enough to earn a wholehearted recommendation.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm isn't as groundbreaking as its predecessor, but it's an excellent refinement of those ideas and a solid prequel.
Let's just say I expect quite a few of you will have those "Oh damn, it's already 4 A.M.?" moments.
Delicious, mindless fun filled with some empty calories.