Elex II ignores current game design ethos and rages to its own weird beat. Weird, fun, tough, and unpredictably funny, Elex II is feels like a DIY punk-rock open world game, janky and awesome all at the same time. Steer clear if you insist on perfection in your games, but if you are willing to go for the ride and appreciate the flaws instead of being bothered by them, you'll find a deep and fun adventure unlike anything else on the market.
The Driven to Glory campaign is the big push, but is actually only a thin layer of what this package offers overall. GRID Legends has a solid career mode, with a ton of cool activities and customization options. The content gating is a bit frustrating (be prepared to grind a bit), but overall there is a mountain of fun to be had with this rock-solid arcade racer.
Zorya: The Celestial Sisters is a sweet, relaxed puzzle game with very unique cooperative mechanics that suffers a bit from overly touchy controls and some strange camera issues. While I ultimately enjoyed the game, I would suggest trying the demo before investing.
While not every idea in Edge of Eternity fully gels, developer Midgar Studio gets enough right that the game feels familiar and welcoming – a fantastic classic RPG in modern clothing. With fun characters, a solid battle system, and just enough surprises to maintain the player's attention, Edge of Eternity announces the arrival of Midgar to the top echelon of JRPG developers.
With a beautiful open world, great narrative side missions, and enough tension to raise even the calmest player's blood pressure, Dying Light 2 wrings a mountain of slick fun out of the most dire of settings. Scary to play solo and a ton of fun in multiplayer, Dying Light 2 will keep you entertained for a long time with its fantastic mission structure and groundbreaking day/night mechanics. It took a while, but Dying Light 2 was worth the wait.
Wanderer combines delightful world design with insidious environmental puzzles, to create a top-notch VR experience that should not be missed. With incredible visuals, a mountain of surprises, and a fun AI buddy to tag along on your adventures, Wanderer is a delightful brain teaser of a game.
Rainbow Six Extraction offers players a surprisingly new experience, a more stealthy take on co-op shooters than is found in the competition. With blistering difficulty, tension to spare, and a delicious argument-inducing bug out mechanic, Extraction uses shooter mechanics in ways that feel utterly unique and original. Perhaps a bit light on content, but we all know that more will come in time. A stress-filled creepy good time, even for non-shooter fans.
With pleasant visuals, beautiful music, and gameplay that most gamers will be able to autopilot through, Wavetale offers a fun way to while away a quiet afternoon.
After the Fall works best when four players are working together against hordes of swarming baddies. The shrieks and gun shots are exactly where you want them to be. But the game is held back some by a limited number of levels and some fiddly UI design. Still absolutely worth a look, but with the understanding that some refinements and more content are still on the way.
Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition is a port of a 3DS game, and it feels like it. But don't let the primitive visuals stop you from digging into this very addictive little life sim. Tolerance for saccharine song and dance may vary, but almost any gamer will likely fall under the sway of this game's addictive hooks, at least for a while.
Chorus' controls and awesome powers make its space dogfighting some of the best, but the convoluted story and frustrating difficulty spikes hold it back from greatness. I would love to see a sequel with more interesting missions, where it just gets out of its own way and allows players to soar.
Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition is kinda rough and kinda janky, but it isn't quite the disaster that the dogpile claims it is. Sure, the character design looks rough in high resolution and there are a fair number of bugs, but the games largely function as they did three generations back when they released. It ain't great, but we've certainly seen worse.
Lucky's Tale looks great and plays even better in this well-deserved remaster. With updated, crisp visuals and remastered sound, this is a game that will appeal to young (and young at heart) gamers. Not the longest, not the deepest, but still worth a look for the groundbreaking way it brought platformers to the VR era.
Rather than continuing the story of guerillas in Yara, Far Cry 6 Vaas: Insanity offers a tight little roguelite centered on the villain of Far Cry 3. Stripping the franchise down to its core of exploration and shooting, this DLC could stand alone as its own small but satisfying game.
Forza Horizon 5 is built to deliver hour after hour of glossy, beautiful fun. Hit the race mechanics as deeply as you like. Zip around the amazingly beautiful map in a Corvette for no reason at all. Find secrets. Build out your car collection. Get rich. Have a good time the way you want. Go anywhere, do anything, just don't skip this stellar game.
Bloodshore continues Wales Interactive's streak of entertaining interactive genre films, this time in the exploitation late-night action arena. With a fun battle royale plot, a few twists and turns, and some gnarly violence, Bloodshore provides several runs worth of solid entertainment. Cleaner in editing than some recent efforts, Bloodshore is a step in the right direction for interactive films.
Riders Republic can be a ton of colorful fun, with go-anywhere do-anything extreme sports gameplay that is instantly accessible and appealing, all wrapped up in a tortilla of weird goofiness. Engage with the stuff you like, ignore the stuff you don't, and get penalized for absolutely nothing. Riders Republic is most concerned with letting the good times roll-and for the most part, it succeeds admirably.
Guardians of the Galaxy sets a new high bar for interactive storytelling and jaw-dropping visuals. With an unparalleled attention to detail, Guardians tells a rollicking sci-fi story rooted in true human emotion. But the gameplay sections of this narrative masterpiece sometimes bog down the proceedings with merely okay combat and exploration. Definitely play this game, but with the understanding that Peter Quill just isn't that exciting in a firefight.
Go into Inscryption as unspoiled as possible, and trust in the game. You will find a deeply enjoyable card game, wrapped in a series of dark mysteries, wrapped in…well…other stuff. Part CCG game, part escape room puzzle game, and part bonkers gonzo whirlybird lunacy, Inscryption is one of the best games of the year. They should charge more for a game this good.
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl offers surprisingly competent Smash-like brawler gameplay, but is severely lacking in the bells-and-whistles department. Brawling fans will likely have a great time with this one, but those looking to ease into the genre should look elsewhere.