When the bones hit the dirt, I'd rank the Necromancer highly in terms of sheer fun factor and uniqueness when compared to Diablo 3's other classes. I do feel like $15 might be a bit much to simply unlock a new class, especially when so much of the new stuff in this patch (like some new areas for adventure mode) is being released for free. If it's within your budget, though, I don't think you'll be disappointed with the new playstyles and crazy strategies Rise of the Necromancer brings to Sanctuary.
Planet Zoo is a wildly satisfying park-builder with a menagerie of lovely looking animals.
I've never been terrorized, stalked, or fascinated by enemy AI quite like I was in The Forest. It's a harrowing survival ordeal that knows how to play with tension and create the sense of a real world with complex inner workings and mysteries I was eager to discover. It's I Am Legend told in the depths of the hinterlands, with a meaningful story progression that doesn't overstay its welcome. Disregard the warnings on the walls and hidden between the trees at your own peril – and if you want a unique and memorable survival horror experience, then you should absolutely dare to do so.
Two Point Hospital revitalizes the business management genre with flair, character, and enthusiasm. Easily understandable tips and icons make it relatively stress-free to get a working urgent care center running smoothly, while the potential for deep optimization through tweaking building layout and making wise hiring and training decisions leave plenty to munch on for the micromanagement lovers among us. If we're on the verge of another classic genre renaissance, this is a great first foot forward.
Age of Wonders: Planetfall is a dazzling, slick, diverse 4X with snappy and exciting turn-based combat and a story I was always eager to discover more of.
High skill cap melee combat is equally rewarding and daunting, though the archery and support roles could use some work.
CoH 2: Ardennes Assault is an adept interweaving of the strategic, tactical, and personal facets of warfare.
Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun’s uncommon attentiveness to characters and story elevate what is already a really entertaining and mentally stimulating quest across 17th-Century Japan. The near-constant annoyance of the camera definitely hindered my feeling of being a zen ninja assassin. Overall though, developer Mimimi has put together one of the most punishing and clever top-down stealth games I’ve ever skulked through.
Technical shortcomings aside, Dragonfall's story rocks; a well-spent $15 for any RPG fan.
Total War: Attila is an adept refinement of Rome 2, with a great, harrowing campaign that sets it apart.
Escalation succeeds at making Ashes of the Singularity a bigger, better, sleeker RTS that allows you to play its great new content alongside just about everything from the base game (including the lacklustre original campaign missions).
MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries checks most of the boxes I would have asked for out of a modern revival of the series.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an RPG that does the medieval era right with a refreshingly small-scale story and strong realistic combat.
Despite the frustrations its upgrade system often caused me, I had a good time navigating Nex Machina's array of twin-stick shooter challenges. The appealing art, energetic soundtrack, and pixel-perfect gamepad controls made me own every failure and look forward to whatever might come next. Arena mode seems to be where most of the lifespan on this one will come from, and I look forward to seeing people who are better than me at it pull off some crazy runs to climb the rankings. Nex Machina is not for the faint of heart, but a recipe to delight those looking for an attractive, arcadey challenge to overcome.
Battle Chasers: Nightwars' combat and activity-dense world scratch the JRPG itch, even if the storytelling and character development leave a fair bit to be desired. Its attractive dungeons and outdoor regions are fun to get lost in, and there are just enough hidden treasures to claim to make exploration rewarding in a more than visual capacity. I'd be very pleased to see more turn-based indie RPGs along the same lines as Nightwar in the future - and the ending heavily suggests this won't be the last we see of this universe in RPG form.
I can wholeheartedly recommend Bridge Constructor Portal as a rich, challenging puzzler with plenty of brain-twisters in store across its 60 levels. The pacing and methodical iteration it encourages meant it only ever taxed my mind, not my nerves. As a Portal fan's nostalgia piece, it's really not much better than a kitschy, amusement park gift shop recreation of the world many of us know and love – but the little nods serve well enough to enhance an already enjoyable puzzle game.
Imperator: Rome packs more interesting strategic systems and detail into its vast historical sandbox simulation than its interface can fully handle, but they produce some excellent political scheming and warfare.
A Total War Saga: Troy absolutely nails its Bronze Age setting and comes up with interesting ways to make the period work in its grand strategy framework, but its AI has trouble wrapping its head around it.
Pillars of Eternity: The White March Part 2 offers a focused, fast-paced endcap to the Watcher's tale, answering all of the lingering questions from Part 1, and then some. The encounter design brings some ongoing problems with Pillars combat to the forefront in several areas, but the overall experience is balanced out by high quality storycraft, interesting new locales, and momentous, world-shaping decisions available to the player.
I enjoyed just about every minute I spent playing Steep. Grandiose, attractive environments serving as the backdrop to varied, intense challenges are enough on their own to make this wintry playground somewhere I was always delighted to go back to and spend more time in - a feeling I still have even after finishing the bulk of the content.