The Witcher 3 still triumphs as one of the greatest RPGs ever made, largely on the strength of its complex characters and first rate storytelling. There is no shortage of narratives to uncover and activities to partake in that all feel unique and lack the canned, recycled feel that has plagued other open world games like Watch_Dogs, Far Cry 4 and Dying Light.
Shadowrun Chronicles is not necessarily a game that can stand on its own merits; it exists to fulfill the lack of multiplayer in the Shadowrun series, and while it does this rather well, players approaching this game from an uninformed position should do so only once they've become fully aware of what they'd be getting themselves into. In short: do not play this game by yourself. If you prefer a singleplayer experience, play Shadowrun Returns or Dragonfall, or even the upcoming Hong Kong.
Overall, however, Crypt of the Necrodancer is a solid game that is easily recommendable to just about anyone. Although it consists of twelve brief levels, each of these levels are randomly generated and, if you want, can be played to your own custom music, rather than the game's own soundtrack. The game's ability to map out the rhythm of whatever song you select from your music library is great, but it's highly recommended that you select songs that have distinct rhythm and manageable tempos (My attempt at playing the game using Fredrik Thorendal's Herr Faust, for example, ended in complete disaster). This well-thought out element of the game ensures that players will have potentially unlimited amounts of replay from this indie game, and with Steam Workshop support, there's so much that can be done within Crypt's simple but effective gameplay. Crypt of the Necrodancer is a fine, fine game that serves as yet another example of what game developers can do when they are free to take creative risks and try new things out, and as such, it deserves both your time and money.
Mortal Kombat X in the end is an excellent fighting game, as many will tell you. It is not, however, the greatest PC Port, as it lacks any clear advantages over its console counterparts and also has a number of technical problems that are unique to the platform.
Rockstar delayed the release of the enhanced GTA V on the PC by several months, and now that it is released, it's easy to see why. In bringing what is essentially a flawless game to the PC, they have understood the most important aspect of porting over any console game to the PC: control. The ability for players to control even the most seemingly benign setting of their game is crucial to any decent PC port. Combined with its superior visuals, movie making tools and flawless controls, Grand Theft Auto V on the PC is with little argument the best way to experience this acclaimed title.
The truth of the matter is that Pillars of Eternity has no significant or crippling faults; it is merely a game so dedicated to its genre and its lore that players who don't know what they're getting themselves into are likely to be blindsided. For players that do know what they're getting themselves into, however, Pillars of Eternity is another triumphant example of the resurgence of no-nonsense, story driven PC RPGs.
Dying Light overall is a solid zombie action game that boasts one of the finest mixes of melee combat and parkour action in its genre. It's central weakness is that it purposely interferes with many elements that could have been truly phenomenal. It has a day and night time mechanic, but sabotages this somewhat by severely truncating the night time. It has a vibrant open world with plenty of places to explore, but holds your hand a little too much and gives you little reason to wander off on your own. Basically, Dying Light holds itself back too much. It has the capacity to be a title with a rare combination of triple A production and hardcore survival gameplay, but doesn't think that it's players deserve the latter. I hope that Techland wise up and update the game to at the very least lengthen the night, but even if they don't, Dying Light is still very much worth playing if you're comfortable with a more action oriented experience.
REmake's HD re-release is certainly worth the price of admission, especially for those who never played the Gamecube-exclusive original, but I'm hoping that beyond entertaining and scaring us, the game serves as a reminder to Capcom on what the next Resident Evil needs to be more like.
In the end, whether you're a diehard fan who plays Call of Duty or a disgruntled one who hasn't played it in a while, then you'll probably find a lot to like with Advanced Warfare's multiplayer that warrants a purchase, but with expectations becoming exceptionally high for triple A gaming these days, Activision's reliance on an 11 year old formula is doomed to inevitable failure.
Overall, Isolation is a superb game that stands on its own feet, regardless of its ties to the Alien franchise. Of course, fans of the series will be the ones who enjoy it the most; if you consider yourself an Alien fan even slightly, you pretty much have to play this game. It treats the alien creature with the respect it deserves; as an indestructible perfect organism, and not some screeching bug that can be blown apart with a shotgun. The Sevastopol is a pure joy to explore, brought to life by the game's pristine visuals and sound. Newcomers to the series will also find plenty to enjoy, as Isolation brings a new level of unpredictability to a genre that has lately come to lack it. The long segments of exploration will probably put off people who don't understand where Isolation is coming from, and some might find it too long. My opinion is that a game like Isolation, which many of us have been waiting for longer than today's newest generation of gamers have even been alive, can never be too long. This is a stunning return to form for a series that hasn't seen anything good since 2001's Alien vs Predator 2, and I hope a signal for more to follow.