Tales of Kenzera: ZAU proves that innovation isn't always necessary to craft a compelling experience. With its heartfelt story, compelling protagonist, and solid metroidvania gameplay featuring excellent pacing, Zau's journey is one that resonates, especially for those grappling with similar grief to the young shaman.
While its premise, story beats and main characters echo Suikoden II a little bit too much, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes manages to stand on its own with a compelling tale, excellent characterization, classic JRPG gameplay and great presentation, which make it easy to look past some of its shortcomings, such as balancing and minor gameplay issues. The world of Allraan may never get into the spotlight again due to the unfortunate departure of its creator, but it is undeniable that it couldn't have been introduced to JRPG fans in a better way.
Outcast - A New Beginning is a missed opportunity, abandoning the unique elements of its predecessor for a conventional open-world design that doesn't work well. With uninspired open-world exploration, clunky movement, lackluster combat, and mediocre quest design, it's a hard sell for everyone but Cutter Slade's biggest fans who wish to know how the character's story continues, as there are far superior titles on the market that have executed similar concepts much more effectively.
With its excellent level design, challenging gameplay, and twists on the classic formula, Contra: Operation Galuga offers a compelling reimagining of one of the most beloved arcade games ever made. However, despite its strengths, the game's short campaign length, limited amount of content and lack of online multiplayer may deter some players, especially considering its price. While the inclusion of extra characters and a Challenge Mode adds some variety, they fail to provide a good reason to continue playing the game after having gone through the eight stages multiple times.
With a unique twist that gives it a puzzle-game feel, Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior is a solid title that definitely stands out in the hack-and-slash genre. The emphasis on combat, the absence of RPG-like mechanics, and reliance on trial-and-error impact the experience slightly, making the game a worthwhile purchase only for die-hard fans of the genre who are tired of the constant grind for better loot.
Featuring cutting-edge visuals for fighting games and exceptional learning tools, Tekken 8 stands out as one of the best releases in the fighting game genre over the last few years.
The Last of Us Part II Remastered is, without a doubt, the best way to enjoy Naughty Dog's excellent survival horror game, thanks to addition of the surprisingly fun No Return roguelike mode, the cut Lost Levels, developer commentary and two display modes for a proper 4K resolution experience. The main campaign's bleak story remains as controversial as it was when the original game launched on PlayStation 4, but underneath it is one of the finest survival horror games ever made.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown couldn't have brought back the series after its more than a decade-long hiatus in a better way. With an engaging story, well-crafted Metroidvania mechanics, and a touch of character-action games features in its combat system, Sargon's adventure will be remembered by fans for a long time, even with its minor issues.
With its roguelite take on the base game's formula, engaging story, decent amount of new content and excellent accessibility, God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is a great expansion that is worthy of any God of War's fans time. The focus on combat may turn some players off, but it's only a minor issue in an expansion that could have been easily sold as paid DLC.
With the great amount of love for the setting that was poured into the game evident from every line of dialogue and every little detail, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is one of the best games based on the universe created by Games Workshop, and a solid tactical turn-based role-playing game that can provide hundreds of hours of fun.
The narrative remains compelling, the characters charming, the presentation slick and the solid tactical rounds the package well, making the game an engaging experience from beginning to end. The game's low challenge level, however, and the established status of the Phantom Thieves limits its appeal to die-hard fans of the series.
The Dead Island 2 Haus DLC is a very small expansion that doesn't bring anything substantially new to the experience. Its brevity prevents it from overstaying its welcome, but the additionl of a cool crossbow weapon is not enough to get most players to return to Hell-A so soon.
Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn feels like a missed opportunity. While the story held some potential, it doesn't go beyond passable at best, its uneven pacing and the lack of meaningful gameplay additions making the whole experience feel dull at times. As such, only die hard fans of the base game will find some value in what is, essentially, an extended prologue with limited appeal.
Star Ocean: The Second Story R is, hands down, the best entry in the series, and one of the best remakes ever made. With the excellent combat reworking, massive slew of quality of life improvements and impressive 2D-HD visuals that make the game's simple yet engaging story and charming characters even more enjoyable, Gemdrops has set a very high bar for classic JRPGs remakes that will be very difficult to top.
With its excellent trippy horror story, memorable characters, amazing atmosphere, and some of the best visuals in gaming to date, Alan Wake II is a game like few others and Remedy Entertainment's best. It took 13 years for the acclaimed writer to come back, but the long wait was worth it. We could have hardly wished for a better sequel, despite the derivative survival horror gameplay holding the experience back a bit.
Lords of the Fallen boasts impressive visuals and an interesting story for a soulslike, but unfortunately, that's where the praise ends.
Not even attempting to hide the massive influence Bloodborne has had on it, Lies of P is a solid imitation of the game developed by FromSoftware. While it lacks the same combat and world design finesse of its illustrious inspiration, the action role-playing game by NEOWIZ is among the most accomplished soulslike game released this year, thanks to its dark retelling of the story of Pinocchio, combat and character customization tweaks and great enemy design.
With an engaging story, well-developed characters and lore, and a huge amount of meaningful content, Starfield is one of Bethesda's finest games and one of the best role-playing games released in the past few years.
With its unique premise and setting, Atlas Fallen could have been one of the best action games of the year, but its mediocre combat system, dull open-world areas, and lack of interesting characters drag the experience down. The full package ends up being just a decent game for those willing to look past its most critical shortcomings.
With its engaging story, charming characters, extremely dynamic world that constantly reacts and adapts to the player's actions and choice and a solid tactical combat system, Baldur's Gate 3 is among the best cRPGs ever released. A wonky interface, the lack of some quality-of-life features and Larian Studios' trademark save scumming design impact the experience, but they're only minor issues that don't away too much from the whole experience. After years in development, Baldur's Gate 3 definitely exceeded all expectations, and in the best possible way.