The 2020s resurgence of "boomer shooters" continues with Prodeus, one of the best examples of the subgenre, and one of the best games in it, period.
AW2 is easily my favorite horror game this year. It plays well, it’s got a lot to say and it’s toying with its own narrative in unique, fascinating ways. We’ll be talking about Alan Wake 2 for years to come.
'The King of Fighters XV' is the highest-profile, most accessible 'KOF' yet and deserves to be in any fighting-game fan's library.
My complaints, it should be said, are relatively minor. Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a good, surprisingly polished callback of a game that replicates a lot of the feel of classic JRPGs without bringing along most of their flaws for the ride. I have no idea how appealing it is to anyone who didn't spend 40-hour chunks of his childhood on Final Fantasy III, but for me, it's a pleasant combination of modernity and nostalgia. That's a tricky combination to pull off.
DR2 isn't that old of a game and has been available on Steam for quite a while. If you only own a PS4 or Xbox One and you haven't played DR2 before, it's well worth your time. As long as you're willing to experiment, fail, and try again, you should get a lot out of it.
Off the Record is still Dead Rising 2, with the thematic dissonance that I mentioned in that game's review. It's even more pronounced here, if anything, as Frank throws out sly little side-long quips on everything like he's starring in both a "Mystery Science Theater 3000" episode and the movie it's mocking. I don't exactly mind Frank as a character, but you have to be a lot more of a fan of him than I am before this works as well as Dead Rising 2 did. Still, it improves on that game's basic model and adds the much-needed sandbox mode, so call it a wash.
This is a short game, and at $20, it might be a little expensive for a single evening or weekend, but it's worth checking out. There are a few other games in its small genre pool, but Little Nightmares sets itself apart with its level design and surreal atmosphere. Set aside a block of time, try to go into the game as cold as possible, and be ready for a lot of deaths, some of which are gruesome and many of which won't feel fair. It's a sort of dark fairy tale, to go by my experience, and you'll get about 60 unhappy endings before you get to a slightly better one.
For the moment, I'm confident in saying that Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite plays well, which is good, because everything that surrounds that base game is a hot mess. It deserves a lot of the initial terrible buzz it received because unless you have your hands on it, Infinite just looks like refried hell. The Vs. series has never exactly been known for its high production values, but for a major fighting game release in 2017, this borders on embarrassing. It's a fun game that's often difficult to look at, and more so than any balance patches or DLC, it could use a fresh coat of paint.
Heaven's under new management. It takes a little while to come into its own, but 'God's Trigger' is a decent weekend's worth of splatterpunk entertainment.
The puzzles and banter are as good as they've ever been, though Trine 4 has a hard time overcoming some dodgy combat mechanics.
Fight'N Rage is a 16-bit-styled beat-'em-up that expands on the genre's strengths but also keeps a couple of its weaknesses.
2019's Samurai Shodown is finally available for the Switch, bringing one of the foundational Japanese fighting games to a brand-new audience.
Resident Evil 3 is a decent horror-action game that falls short of the Resident Evil 2 standard.
Streets of Rage 4 is a surprisingly decent return to form for a franchise that's been collecting dust for over 25 years.
The indie strategy game Wintermoor Tactics Club is one of the better children's books I've ever played. Kids will love it, but adults may find it too simple.
Cyber Shadow is a beautiful, lovingly-crafted gut-punch of an experience. Get ready to throw some controllers.
Resident Evil Village has some of the biggest scares in the series to date, but it also has a peculiar feel to it, like a lot of story and gameplay was chopped out before launch.
Black Book is an RPG/CCG/detective simulator/visual novel where you're either the villain or weakly trying not to be.
Is it actually fun to be a vampire? Let's find out together, in the latest attempt to export Vampire: The Masquerade to video games.
The Dead Space remake fixes a lot of the 2008 original's problems, but leaves a couple of big ones right where they were.