Dan Stapleton's Reviews
The Alters is a highly atmospheric sci-fi character study mixed with simple but effective resource and base management that cleverly builds existential and interpersonal pressure throughout its story.
Monster Train 2 is a fantastic upgrade for what was already one of the best deckbuilding roguelites out there, with so many interesting variables and options to make replays interesting that it feels bottomless.
A loving homage to classic Command & Conquer, Tempest Rising's single-player campaign brings back the fast-paced RTS gameplay but can't quite recapture the campy vibe
Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap's roguelite spin on the action-tower defense series works pretty well, even if grinding up orcs eventually turns into a bit of a grind.
It's gorgeous to look at and has some depth to its tiny battles, but a lack of modes and unit variety means Empire of the Ants's multiplayer isn't likely to have a lot of legs.
Pretty to look at but painfully dull and frustrating to play, Empire of the Ants's single-player campaign has none of the depth of the multiplayer and packages bad AI with boring missions and a meandering story.
Batman: Arkham Shadow makes most of the Arkham series' defining gameplay work respectably well in VR, and its mystery story pays off.
Starfield's Shattered Space expansion ably fills in the Va'ruun-shaped hole in the main campaign, but doesn't shatter conventions with new abilities that would make a replay more exciting.
Thanks to a ground-up rethinking of its ice-age city builder mechanics, Frostpunk 2's larger scale is less intimate but more socially and politically complex than the original.
SteamWorld Heist 2’s charming nautical adventure refines the original’s clever turn-based combat with a flexible mix-and-match class system and handmade maps that are built around teamwork.
Capes is a clever and challenging tactics game with a clear love of the superhero comics that inspired it. And no one actually wears a cape.
Homeworld 3's single-player campaign brings the series' epic space battles in for intense, close-quarters combat on visually diverse maps full of enormous obstacles to plan around. At the same time, it delivers an unexpectedly personal story that leans a little too heavily on the cliche of a new-generation protagonist seeking out the old.
Homeworld 3's multiplayer skirmish mode may be barebones, but it gives us all we need to wage visually impressive war with fleets of starships. The co-op War Games mode, on the other hand, gets an extra boost from its novel roguelite-style progression.
Arizona Sunshine 2 keeps the pressure on for a long campaign of zombie slaying full of satisfyingly gory head shots, entertaining humor, and the bond between a lonely man and his dog.
Starfield has a lot of forces working against it, but eventually the allure of its expansive roleplaying quests and respectable combat make its gravitational pull difficult to resist.
If Respawn makes a third game like Star Wars Jedi: Survivor and Fallen Order, it'll complete the best Star Wars trilogy in 30 years, hands down.
Marvel's Midnight Suns is an expansive tactical RPG that makes great use of card game mechanics to inject variety and unpredictability into its excellent combat.
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope is a major leap forward from atop the shoulders of its surprisingly smart and charming predecessor, bringing a wonderful amount of flexibility to its turn-based tactical battles.
Crypto's material has worn a bit thin. While Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed does a respectable job of making his second rampage look good, its small assortment of new weapons and enemies makes it feel like an unambitious expansion rather than a sequel.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker makes disassembling giant spacecraft piece by piece fun for a bit, but due to a lack of variety in its puzzle-like objectives it soon devolves into hard labor.