If you're in the mood for a quirky puzzle game where you're responsible for creating the funny moments, Untitled Goose Game fits the bill. Before it steals and drags it into the lake.
NHL 20 finally offers some forward momentum for this sports franchise, and though it's not all smooth as ice, at least fans have a variety of good reasons to lace up the skates again this year.
Daemon X Machina is an underwhelming mech game that offers too few enjoyable qualities to recommend, even for the fans of the genre. Fleeting fun from the action is buried beneath a poorly told story, lackluster presentation, and barebones mechanics.
What's in a name? For eFootball PES 2020, it's just words. Even with the new moniker, this year's footballing title offers more of the same - mostly solid gameplay, but lacking any sort of forward momentum in all other areas.
Overall 80 - Astral Chain successfully combines great action, exploration, and puzzles together with a strong narrative. Despite a few problems with pacing and repetition, it's a fun, engaging, and above all original experience.
Gears 5 offers a familiar action experience that should satisfy fans who gravitate towards its expanded multiplayer options. And yet, the uneven campaign and lack of significant gameplay innovations mean this latest chapter does little to draw in the uninitiated.
Telling Lies makes great innovative tweaks to its gameplay formula, and offers a high-quality live-action adventure, but it completely fumbles merging these two elements together. A word of advice would be to try your hand at the puzzle and discovery for a while, and then eventually just watch the clips outside the game to enjoy the narrative.
Erica offers a very casual take on the adventure game genre with a rather convoluted story, but a great price and solid production values make it a novelty thriller that's worth a look.
The Great Perhaps is a nice looking adventure game that takes players on an interesting journey with solid dimension-shifting gameplay. Just be wary of the poorly handled mood swings and occasionally annoying design elements.
Quench is an okay puzzle game that has a few solid mechanics with a noteworthy art style, but its linearity and awkward controls don't help offset the somewhat steep asking price.
Metal Wolf Chaos XD has moments of entertaining mayhem, but they are hidden beneath layers of dated gameplay, nonsensical story, and gated behind a high asking price. Instead of being able to potentially discover a lost classic, mech fans get a rusted out blast from the past.
Tetris Effect reflects the classic puzzle game through a particle filled kaleidoscope, putting players into a mesmerizing trance with its unique presentation, alongside classic gameplay. Its price point might jolt you back to reality, though.
Traffix is nice little game that takes a seemingly straightforward puzzle concept and makes a fun experience out of it.
While an exciting sim on its own, F1 2019 does the bare minimum to qualify as a brand new outing. There are no breakthroughs this year, so unless you're a hardcore fan, those just looking for a great F1 racing experience can safely pit stop to last year's version.
Alt-Frequencies has a unique hook in its gameplay and story, with plenty of potential, but it skews towards being an all-too-brief mobile game rather than a full fledged adventure puzzle.
Koral's ambition to bring awareness to the problems faced by marine life largely falls flat. While it looks nice, the formulaic and repetitive gameplay means this title fails to stand out in a sea of similar indie releases.
Days Gone is a fairly typical open world post apocalyptic survival title that offers a few memorable mechanics and story beats, but is eventually consumed by genre clichés. Poor technical performance further hinders its chances of survival, but perhaps with time that wound will heal.
Tropico 6 sees the long running strategy game series continue its leisurely Caribbean life and embodies the definition of not rocking the cruise boat. Newcomers should enjoy their visit to the sunny archipelago, while returning fans will be appeased by the various tweaks to the formula.
Weedcraft Inc is a fairly typical management game at its core, but one that feels limited in scope and yet with too many busywork mechanics. It also offers little insight on the real world issues.
Generation Zero is an amalgamation of ideas, some of them pretty decent, but none executed with any great level of confidence. Despite the surprisingly strong atmosphere, gameplay annoyances and serious technical issues prevent it from having a chance to survive.