Amplitude hits both highs and lows, but is the kind of score-hunting, high difficulty challenge that rhythm fans will love if they're looking for something fresh. A solid revival for a pillar of the genre.
Hatoful Boyfriend: Holiday Star succeeds at providing base-level fan-service, but in a way that doesn't feel as particularly compelling or essential as the original. If you want more pigeons in your life, it's pocket change for a few laughs – just don't expect more out of it.
Rainbow Six: Siege is one of the better tactical FPS experiences of the year, even with a smaller content offering than most. Microtransactions and limited custom options can muddy it up, but if you enjoy the core gameplay loop, there's a lot to enjoy here for the multiplayer-minded player.
Star Wars Battlefront nails bringing home the original trilogy in a new and interesting way, but fails to substantiate the splendor in a meaningful way. A fun nostalgia trip that might barely tide you over until the new film, but not much longer.
Typoman is a brilliant proof of concept muddied by messy mechanics, unclear prompts and a lack of meaningful motivation. While the wordplay is superb, the focus is never on that strength as often as I wish it was.
Yo-Kai Watch is an endearing, charming title with some minor missteps, but it overcomes those with the pure joy of discovery and intrigue that can only come from a well-crafted collection-RPG, reminiscent of my youth spent behind a dim GameBoy light.
Rise of the Tomb Raider continues Crystal Dynamic's standard of excellence, and creates an introspective and engrossing journey that combines a compelling narrative with fluid, exciting gameplay. Lara Croft is back, better than ever, and this series definitely proves to be the best Tomb Raider experience around.
Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below is an excellent musou game and a blast to play. It retains its Dragon Quest heritage beautifully, while still creating an experience fun for any fan of musou gameplay.
Rebel Galaxy simplifies the formula in an approachable and exciting way, but the 2D space combat, lack of direction and loneliness of single-player space-faring hold it back from reaching the epic scale of other space sims. A fun solo venture, but it won't suck out thousands of your hours.
Life is Strange is in its own category as a fiercely unique and moving series. Despite stumbles, it is poignant and moving, crafting excellent framing for some of the most difficult decisions and developing a memorable relationship between its protagonists. One of the best efforts of the year, unafraid and willing to take chances, and well-deserving of your time.
Lego Dimensions is a great blend of toys-to-life and charming Lego gameplay, but falters under the monetary weight required to get the same breadth of play that previous games did. Some of the best content in the game is locked behind figures, but if you like building with Lego bricks and playing Lego games, this a no-brainer.
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water finds a wildly effective new way to utilize the GamePad as the Camera Obscura, and builds some great story and atmosphere. Barring an odd control scheme and some tedious missions, this is a stellar horror title for any Wii U owner.
Read Only Memories manages to frame current issues in a neo-noir light, and excels in many ways at that. I'm still thinking about Turing's notion of the social contract, and how that relates to the way we interact with others.
Undertale is one of the most unique efforts seen in indie gaming. Combining a love for the old with a willingness to innovate and utilize game mechanics to express ideas, rather than a binary input-output, this game should be on any and every one's radar.
If you enjoy grinding numbers, goofy anime antics, and over-the-top style, Disgaea 5: Alliance of Vengeance will give you hundreds of hours of replayability. If you don't like the idea of spending hours and hours replaying levels and building up characters, then you might want to look somewhere else.
Until Dawn is the proper slasher game fans have always wanted, and succeeds at creating a wildly unique and enjoyable narrative experience. Beautiful graphics and sound, amazing performances and engaging stories make this a must-play for any horror fan.
Hatoful Boyfriend tells an endearingly crazy story that will have you smiling, laughing, crying and feverishly turning the virtual page. It takes some buy-in, but pays off if you're looking for something way off the beaten path.
A unique concept, brilliant execution and excellent mechanics make Galak-Z: The Dimensional a stellar title. Perfectly capturing the Gundam pilot inside all of us, this is must-have material for anyone who's always wanted to fly away in a mech and take down some imperial scum.
Submerged is a short but impactful experience, crafting sound and sight together to create something unique and different from the mold. It won't keep you coming back for days and weeks, but in its runtime it stands out as one of the most intimate and interesting interactive set pieces I've played this year.
Godzilla faithful will be once again disappointed by this lackluster offering. Unintuitive controls, poor responsiveness, broken combat, repetitive missions… Not even Jet Jaguar can save this game from itself.