Shadow Warrior 2 is a beautiful, fast-paced shooter with a ton of guns. There's an RPG-like layer of additional skills and extensive weapon customization, a great cast of characters, and nothing to get in the way of pure reckless shooting. And when you're done with the campaign, there's four difficulty levels, New Game+, and co-op play waiting for you.
It might look like a shooter, but Superhot's unique game mechanic - Time moves when you move - means the game plays out more like a puzzle. You'll punch, slice, and shoot your way through waves of red shapes and feel awesome while doing it. It's over pretty quick, but once you're done, there's still a whole host of challenge levels to tackle.
Fire Emblem Fates: Birthright is a great followup to the amazing Fire Emblem: Awakening. The story is solid, the tactical combat is great, if simplistic in this version, and the characters are wonderfully endearing. The game excels in providing options, letting players tailor how they want to experience this world. If you care more or equally about the romance and social aspects of Fire Emblem, this is the version you should be playing.
Though you can tackle it at anytime, Blood and Wine is definitely CD Projekt Red's farewell to Geralt of Rivia. The great storytelling, interesting characters, and solid hunting mechanics all return in one last adventure, taking Geralt to a new region. If you've played Wild Hunt and Hearts of Stone, you owe it to yourself to experience this excellent finish to Geralt's tale.
Civilization VI is a worthy sequel for the franchise. Firaxis has crafted the best vanilla version in the franchise's history, with a host of leaders, a great soundtrack, some keen art direction, and new features like the city expansion. There's not much missing this time around and I look forward to seeing what Firaxis adds to an already amazing game.
Arkane Studios returns to the world of Dishonored, with a bigger, badder version of the game they debuted in 2012. Choose between the direct violence of Corvo Attano or the deception and guile of Emily Kaldwin. With a host of amazing power, you'll stealth your way through huge, expansive levels with amazing artistic design. Dishonored 2 is a great stealth-action game and deserves every accolade.
IO Interactive brings the Hitman series back in grand style. Not every level is Season 1 is amazing, but at it's best, Hitman contains some stunning settings, amazingly detailed level designs, and a vast number of ways to kill your target. It's handicapped a bit by its online implementation, but if you can get past that, you'll find one of the best games in the series.
The first Injustice was a well-done fighting game, but it's completely outclassed by its sequel. NetherRealm Studios offers up a love letter to the DC Universe and fighting game fans. An accessible combat system underpins a game with a great roster, tons of character customization, and several robust gameplay modes. The story mode alone is worth witnessing. As a complete package, Injustice 2 sets the bar for fighting games.
Eight years after the masterpiece that was Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar Games is taking a second shot. New protagonist Arthur Morgan gets a better supporting cast, an absolutely beautiful open world with more visual variety, and a ton of things to kill or collect. There's some occasional tedium in travel, and a few bugs and annoyances, but nothing that prevents Red Dead Redemption 2 from being an excellent game.
Final Fantasy XIV just keeps getting better. Stormblood stands as an improvement over the great Heavensward, with a strong story grounded in people attempting to free themselves from oppression. There are some stumbles here, but when Stormblood is on, there's an excellent adventure, great characters, and some awesome enemy encounters. Stormblood is the ongoing foundation of something magical for MMO and Final Fantasy fans alike.
Disgaea 5 Complete is everything that Disgaea 5 was, including all the downloadable content, on a system that you can take with you whenever you go. It's the same game, but the Disgaea series has always been a more enjoyable experience in its portable iterations and that's no different here. If you own it on PS4, it's still worth a re-purchase here. If you don't, welcome to the world of Disgaea.
Crusade is everything that an expansion should be. It takes Galactic Civilizations III, sands off the rough edges, and adds new options for a deeper, more strategic experience. The new Citizens system offers more late-game options, espionage returns, planetary invasions are more tactical, and alongside the three new races, there's a new Civilization Builder letting you craft your own. If you're a GalCiv fan, it's an instant pick-up. If you're not, this might be the time to pick it up.
Minecraft Switch Edition isn't quite the best at any one thing, but it fills its niche with style. It stands below its PS4 and Xbox One counterparts in the size of the world it can build, but makes up for that by being a pitch-perfect portable experience. The physical controls and four-player splitscreen put it ahead of the full-featured Pocket Edition. It's everything the Vita version wanted to be, becoming the best portable version of Minecraft yet.
Far Cry 5 is a game that struggles in trying to serve two purposes. On one hand, there's a dark, horrific tale of a cult taking over a small town. On the other, it's a playground of destruction, letting players fly and drive around, blowing up things with a bear and a dog. Both sides are good, but they don't really meet in the middle. If you can survive the tonal whiplash, you'll find a great game here and Far Cry Arcade only makes it better.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a game that sounds like it shouldn't be any good. On the contrary, Ubisoft has crafted a charming adventure for Mario and its Rabbids. The game streamlines the strategy combat experience while still offering surprising depth. Its world is absolutely beautiful, full of color, life, and hints of Mario's long history. Mario + Rabbids has no right being this good. It's not perfect, but it stands as one of the better gaming surprises of 2017.
Assassin's Creed returns with an entry that moves the series forward, but also goes back to the beginning of the Brotherhood. This new entry is a bit more of an action RPG, telling the story of how Bayek of Siwa becomes the first Assassin alongside a number of intriguing side quests. Combat is overhauled, but it's still a bit muddy when fighting multiple enemies. What absolutely does work is the world itself; Egypt is beautiful and the diversity in the environments is impressive. I'm unsure if Assassin's Creed Origins will convert anyone who isn't already a fan of the series, but it does what it does well enough to join the top of the franchise.
After two years of additions and tweaks, Capcom has finally gotten Street Fighter V into the state it should've launched in. What was only a tournament-ready fighter is now a robust package. A roster of 29 characters, the long-awaited Arcade Mode, Extra Battle, Challenges, a great Training Mode, and solid online play add up to a release that shouldn't be missed for avid fighting game fans.
Insomniac Games takes Marvel's most popular character for a spin and the results are fantastic. The developer establishes its own Spider-Man with a unique supporting cast and a beautiful recreation of New York to play around in. This is an absolutely beautiful game, with solid combat and a great story. Most of all, it really sells the feeling of being Spider-Man. The gaming history of Spider-Man has been uneven, but this is an amazing entry in that history. Pun intended.
Building upon the foundation established in Assassin's Creed Origins, Odyssey brings together that title's RPG adventure with the ship-bound exploration of Black Flag. Choice and consequence feature heavily in Odyssey, with the player guiding Alexios or Kassandra through a massive journey to reunite their family and kill a lot of people. Not every feature is perfect, with things like recruitment and Conquest Battles needing a bit of work, but overall Odyssey is a grand next step for the journey Origins started.
The field of indie roguelike Metroidvanias is littered with competition, but Dead Cells stands out by focusing on movement and combat. None of its peers feel as good in their moment-to-moment play.