Despite its occasionally confounding UI and weak level design, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an essential turn-based RPG that is both a love letter to its inspirations and a potential vision of the genre's future.
As a whole, Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is a stronger start to the next ten years of the game than we expected. But that doesn't make it immune to key criticisms. The game has come a long way, and there's only so much you can expect to change again without a full-blown sequel. Even still, the highs and lows felt too much like a literal rollercoaster over the 2+ weeks of evenings it took to power through its story content.
Against the Storm is a prime example of what can happen when a small team has clear inspiration, passion, and a willingness to collaborate with its players. It's a brilliant mix of roguelike, strategy, and small-scale city building that will hook you from the jump.
An intriguing story of exploring new frontiers and an easy gateway into retro sci-fi literature, The Invincible is a powerful, engrossing cosmic drama that's held back by a lack of variety and innovation, rough edges around its core mechanics, and a supporting cast that can't quite match the energy of its stars.
Though certainly one of the stronger hunting games to come from a rival, Wild Hearts might only truly shine with a sequel that will live or die by how players respond to its convoluted, but impressive, main gimmick.
From a solid score to a rapturous cast of characters, Fire Emblem Engage refines the strategy format into a worthy successor to what kicked off the West’s obsession with the series. The story is barebones at best, but the Emblem system is bound to ignite a call for more remakes and releases. And we’ll take them.
The most genuine fun I’ve had with a story-driven game in ages, and one that’s a great entryway into a beloved franchise.
Given it technically only costs the price of a World of Warcraft subscription, absolutely. It’s incredibly rare to have the opportunity to go back in time with an ever-changing MMORPG. Experience history. You probably won’t get a third chance.
Post-game updates will ultimately decide whether this is a sure-fire classic or simply a solid stepping stone to something greater, but even at launch, Monster Hunter has never felt better.
The reason to question Bravely Default 2‘s existence boils down to its inability to think for itself. The Brave and Default combat system strikes a near-perfect balance between two rival battle mechanics that have struggled to coexist over the decades, but that’s about the extent of the game’s individuality.
As it stands, Shadowlands feels a little lost in translation. Blizzard spent the better part of the last year saying how it wanted its juggernaut MMO to feel more like an RPG again — where choices matter and rewards and plentiful. Yet, oddly enough, Shadowlands feels more bereft of that than ever before, becoming something of a jumbled experience that sits awkwardly between being an open-world “sandbox” MMO and a more linear “theme park” one.
Gears Tactics doesn’t have to rival the latest main-series game to get across the franchise’s grand ambitions of worldwide conflict.
...although the complete Final Fantasy VII storyline is a fascinating, emotional globetrotting adventure, this first 40-hour romp is anything but.
Call of Duty: Warzone is the definitive battle royale experience right now.
Classic's captivating community and world help it to withstand the test of time.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is the strongest start to an expansion since Heavensward.
Life is Strange 2 isn't re-writing DONTNOD's rulebook when it comes to gameplay, but the tale being told this time around is a far bigger statement than their last. And it's only just begun.
Running meaningful industries in your city is like playing a game within a game. Suddenly feeling like an entire county builder, it's safe to say that the unstoppable force of Cities: Skylines just got a whole lot bigger.
Unless Blizzard has some real story shake-ups and a phenomenally tuned raid on the horizon, I'm honestly expecting the sharpest player decrease to set in within the next few months. The expansion itself has some interesting ideas, but sticking to a World Quest grindfest is quickly becoming the norm, and the Island Expeditions aren't exactly exciting.
Capcom perfected the combat formula over countless releases, but it wasn't until Monster Hunter: World that they stripped away what ultimately was never much fun to begin with. You spend less time spent preparing, and more time actually fighting. And sales figures suggest, as we all expected, that Capcom really had something special sitting under all that bloat.