It takes time to really get into MechWarrior 5, which is to be expected. At first, things go by at a plodding pace and your customization options are slim. But once you assemble your crew, jump into mechs you want to play as, and the story picks up, it starts to feel like old MechWarrior again. Mercenaries still might not satisfy everyone, but I enjoyed my reintroduction to the action-oriented BattleTech world.
This is a historic moment for Shovel Knight: half a decade later, I can recommend picking up anything and everything Shovel Knight related, which is easy to do with the Treasure Trove compilation. Yacht Club Games has a lot to be proud of and has accomplished a lot in their short run, and I can't wait to see what they come up with next.
I came into Darksiders Genesis expecting nothing and got a fun little co-op dungeon crawler in return. Although the concept of a "Diablo spinoff for the Darksiders series" had the potential to just be a big bowl of wrong, the mad men and women at Airship Syndicate pulled it off. Long live Darksiders.
Arise: A Simple Story is true to its name and offers both function and form, which is why I'm so anxious to see what Piccolo Studio has next in the pipeline. It's a pleasant surprise to help cap off a great year.
I was torn writing this review as I went back and forth multiple times on whether or not Shenmue III's adherence to the past was worth the squeeze. In spurts, it's not. But as I walked back to Shenhua's cottage to turn in for the night after a hard day's work, earning back the money I had gambled away, it hit me: people just aren't making many games like this anymore. We may never even get something like this again if Shenmue IV isn't greenlit, which would be a shame.
Pokémon has always literally been give and take since the second generation. Some give more than others, and Sword and Shield has taken away quite a bit. But in the end, I was smiling on most of my journey throughout the Galar region, and 21 years later, I still have a desire to catch them all. "All of the Galar region" will do nicely for the time being, even if it feels more fleeting than past generations.
Clocking in at roughly 40 minutes, Episode 3 is a crescendo blast, but still very low-key in the grand scheme of things.
You're going to occasionally roll your eyes at a cheesy moment or groan at a technical issue, but Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order stands alone as an action game devoid of its Star Wars influence. If you grin at the mere mention of the phrase "kyber crystals," you'll get even more out of it.
Indie atmospheric adventure games are like candy to me, and I suspect some people are going to get a lot more out of Gylt than others. It's very much in the same spirit as Concrete Genie in that it's a short but mostly engaging romp that's best enjoyed by the right kind of audience.
Disney Tsum Tsum Festival is packed with stuff to do, but most of it should be left to full family households with everyone on deck. It needs to focus more on depth rather than quantity, but the few games that are deep are fun enough to play with a crowd.