Super Lucky's Tale is simple yet engaging platform game that players of all ages can enjoy thanks to its pick-up-and-play experience. The game, however, may be too simple for some, and the easy and short experience may be a turn off for others, especially for those who have experienced other excellent platform games this year such as A Hat in Time and Super Mario Odyssey.
With a new focused story, a harshly beautiful new area, new weapons, enemies and skills, Horizon Zero Dawn The Frozen Wilds is a worthy expansion of the open world game developed by Guerrilla Games. Ultimately, it's more of the same, as the expansion lacks any major new gameplay mechanics, but when so much love is put into a product, is it really an issue? Highly recommended to all Horizon Zero Dawn owners
The .hack//G.U. Last Recode remaster is a more than worthy way to experience the original PlayStation 2 releases, offering several enhancements which improve the experience considerably and a real closure with the new Reconnection volume. The enhancements, however, do little to improve the stiffness of the experience, the repetitive dungeon design, and the slow story pace, making .hack//G.U. Last Recode a must buy only for fans of the series. Newcomers, however, may still find something to like in the games, as the story, albeit slowly paced, is quite interesting, and the world well fleshed out.
Nights of Azure 2 had the potential of being much better than the original game, but it fails to build upon some of its best features, such as the character development and interaction. The experience offered is thus slightly worse. The game can still be enjoyable with its fast-paced battle system, humorous interactions, and plenty of fanservice, but the low challenge level, bad dungeon design, and underwhelming story make it difficult to stay engaged for a long time. A missed opportunity.
Megaton Rainfall is, in more ways than one, the perfect superhero simulator, making players understand that special powers can do way more harm than good. With a short but very sweet campaign, an engaging story, and a good gameplay variety, Megaton Rainfall is a new take on the arcade shooter genre that no fan of the genre should pass on.
With witty writing, colorful presentation and smooth and varied gameplay, A Hat in Time is one of the best platform games released in recent years. While the game wears its influences right in the open, it's never bound to them, offering features that do manage to make it stand out from the best classic games. Yooka-Laylee was meant to bring a new golden era for the genre, far from the spotlight for too long, but it's a small spacefaring kid and her trusty hats that may finally be able to do so.
Vaporum offers a very engaging blend of dungeon crawling, RPG and survival games that it's hard to put down until the end of the campaign. While the mechanics may not be all that original, the customization possibilities, exploration, and puzzles make it so that players won't be troubled by the relative lack of innovation.
It's hard to find a game with little to no flaws, but Larian Studios proved that, sometimes, it happens. With excellent story and characters, smart writing and masterfully crafted gameplay enhanced by the multiplayer modes, Divinity: Original Sin 2 truly deserves a place among the best cRPGs ever released.
As a brand new IP, Blue Reflection does its job well and may serve as a good foundation for a sequel, with an enjoyable (albeit not all that original) story, good character development, a unique leveling system, and a stylish presentation. Sadly, most of the game's features resemble too much those found in the latest Persona games and, as such, the game doesn't feel very unique, while the low difficulty level prevents the RPG mechanics from reaching their full potential.
Tyranny: Bastard's Wound builds upon the excellent world-building and writing of the main game to offer a compelling side-story filled with engaging characters and twists where players choices matter as much as ever before. With the lack of any significant new mechanic, however, those who expected more than just a new story may be slightly disappointed.
With Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition, Paradox Arctic managed to do make a computer RPG playable on consoles with little frustration, thanks to the cleverly redesigned UI and controls. For the rest, Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition is just as great as it is on PC, with excellent writing, world-building and characters, an involving and challenging battle system, and true roleplaying.
Ys Seven is the first entry in the long-running series to feature a variety of features and mechanics that have become a staple of the series, such as a bigger focus on the story and the party mechanic. While the renewed focus on story slows down the pace a bit, especially with its slow first few hours, the game's fast-paced combat system, engaging dungeon exploration, and fun boss battles make Ys Seven one of the best action role-playing games released in years. With some technical enhancements and a 60 FPS frame rate, the PC version is the definitive edition of Falcom's excellent RPG.
It took years for Falcom to develop the perfect entry in the series, and with Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana, they finally managed to do so by refining the renewed story focus and gameplay mechanics introduced in Ys Seven without taking away what makes the series so enjoyable. With a well-executed, albeit not really original story, charming cast, fast paced battle system, engaging boss battles, tight challenge level and plenty of side-content, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa Of Dana is without a doubt the best entry in the series and one of the best action role-playing games released this year.
Observer is a very interesting first person adventure game featuring a well-crafted setting and characters as well as the team's signature transitions, which manage to carry everything forward in spite of the gameplay which gets slightly repetitive over time. While the single elements may not be particularly original, the sum of the parts more than makes up for it, making Observers a worthy purchase for fans of psychological horror and dystopian settings.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails Of Cold Steel takes the best of the Trails in the Sky games and enhances it to new heights. While the school setting isn't particularly innovative, all surrounding mechanics have been masterfully implemented, resulting in a game that's incredibly engaging despite the slow pace and a few other minor issues. Additional, the wealth of PC exclusive features make the game one of the best consoles to PC port ever released.
Super Cloudbuilt is a high speed, low gravity platform game featuring an excellent level design, a lot of additional content and some online modes that help make the experience never feel dull. Controls may take some time to get used, but after a few stages, players will be able to fly through stages in search of the fastest way to complete it and score a high place on the Leaderboards as if it were second nature. Highly recommended to platform game and especially Sonic the Hedgehog fans.
Accel World vs. Sword Art Online is a competent action role-playing game offering a simple yet solid combat system, good story and characters and plenty of content. Due to the very bland exploration and a couple of other issues, namely technical and controls issues on PlayStation Vita, the game can only be recommended to fans of both franchises.
Dungeon Defenders II offers the same unique blend of action RPG and tower defense games of its predecessor while adding some new features that deepen the experience. The tower defense elements are still more important than the action RPG ones, but there's still plenty to keep fans of both genres engaged. Things, however, can get grindy if you want to unlock everything without spending money, so don't expect the experience to feel fresh if you plan on doing so.
Nex Machina manages to tribute arcade games of the past such as Robotron and Smash TV without relying on nostalgia alone, offering a deep experience that doesn't require sub-systems to please players with a strong competitive attitude. As the experience is mostly geared towards getting the highest possible score, however, some players might find the game too short, as the main Arcade mode takes very little time to complete. As such, Nex Machina is not a game for everybody. All those who enjoy the genre, however, should definitely give it a spin.
The Town of Light tackles some very controversial themes in such a direct way that it's impossible not to be emotionally invested in Renée's story. Vastly enhanced by the faithful recreation of the Volterra asylum, The Town of Light manages to be an incredibly engaging experience thanks to the narrative flow, which drags players into this Hell on Earth and doesn't even let them go after the game's incredibly bittersweet ending. Actual gameplay may be lacking, but don't let this put you off you if you like psychological horror games and have the stomach to witness straight on the horrors inmates had to go through.