The Veilguard is a beautiful-looking and highly enjoyable game, and a nice return to a more focused feeling RPG that does justice to both Dragon Age as a series and also to Bioware. It's fun to play in the moment-to-moment, the big decisions feel impactful and worthwhile, and fans of the series will be happy to be running around chasing after that lamentable egg of an Elf once more. It's no Dragon's Dogma 2, though.
As a modern successor and sequel to the classic PS2 era Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a great time for Dragon Ball fans. You'll have to ease yourself into the controls, but once it clicks it's a lot of fun to explore the full roster and smash anime characters together.
Ravenswatch is an excellent roguelike, one that's filled with clever gameplay design, lovely art, and just a really cool core concept. Now that it's fully out in the wild, I'm happy to wholeheartedly recommend it to basically anyone who's even tangentially interested, and while I do sort of hope they keep releasing new characters, it already feels more than complete.
As with the original, Earth Defense Force: World Brothers 2 is a simplified and cutesy take on the whole EDF think. While it succeeds in that goal, it loses a lot of the allure as it does so.
Demon's Mirror is a wonderfully refreshing take on the whole deckbuilding genre, and well worth a look if you want something that genuinely feels new. If you've never played one of these before, however, then it's probably going to feel pretty tough to begin with, but it'll be worth it.
Ultimately, Jackbox Naughty Pack is the worst Party Pack to date, and while the bar is pretty high on the whole – tee hee – that doesn't change the fact that this just feels like a miss. It certainly doesn't help that there's only three games and two of them reskins, but maybe what's funny about being pure filth in normal Jackbox games is that you're doing it even if the game isn't winking and nudging you constantly. Maybe making our own fun and our own filth is the way forwards to a truly naughty experience.
Core Keeper is a clever, challenging, and immensely enjoyable sandbox mining game that's a blast to play. You can completely change how you play for a new experience, there are a lot of bosses and areas to explore, and the joy of finding a new item or new area is never lost. If you like games in this genre, then you'll love it, and even if you don't like games in this genre, this could be the one that converts you.,
Black Myth: Wukong is a stunning game to look at, but the exploration is lacking, and the fighting is just sort of fine for the most part. It's just a bit uninspiring, and isn't a game that I'm expecting to stick with me for any length of time now that I'm done with it.
I find myself wishing Shadow of the Erdtree had a continuation from one of the endings of Elden Ring, or ventured back to explore the Shattering itself. Instead, it feels like a filler episode in Naruto. Sure, the fights are cool, and there's a new progression system to work through, but what is the point if nobody is going to acknowledge it again for the rest of the series. But hey, at least the Convergence Mod team will have a field day with all of this new stuff to play with.
If you like the visual style and haven't played a roguelike deckbuilder in a while then you'll likely adore Zet Zillions, but for those who live and breathe the genre, it might feel a bit uninspired at times.
Another Crab's Treasure riffs off the Soulslike genre, but strikes a great balance between humour and homage. This is a great game with a good message, and above all else, it's just a lot of fun.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a triumph of a game that wants you to just take your time and see everything you possibly can. You'll be constantly pulled from your path by a new cave, a random quest, a chest one of your Pawns has found, random fights, and it's all part of the experience. I adore this game, and while it has some aspects I think some will find too clunky, it's a masterpiece.
Dicefolk is an intriguing take on the roguelike that gives you an unprecedented level of control over everything, and still makes you sweat in battle. It's cute, the replayability is very high, and it's got some fun progression unlocks as well. Definitely grab it if you're a turn-based roguelike person.
Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince isn't reinventing the wheel or changing the way we should view the monster-catching genre, but it is a huge amount of fun, and offers a lot of playtime for those who want to spend their time just seeing what kinds of weird and wonderful creatures they can end up playing with. The systems are clear and easy to grasp, the voice acting is great, the music is incredible, and it's just a very fun game.
Gangs of Sherwood is exactly what it needs to be: fun for everyone playing it. It's definitely a game you'll want to play with friends for the best possible experience though, so do keep that in mind if you're more of a single player kind of person. I've been having a blast with it though, and if I can convince some friends to join me, I'd imagine I'll be playing it for a fair bit of time to come.
With its enhancements over the original release, Risk of Rain Returns is an excellent game to spend some time with, whether that's on your own or playing with mates. It does make me want to go and play more Risk of Rain 2 though, as I do miss the extra dimension, but that could just be a me problem.
Backpack Hero is an excellent roguelike that should be on everyone's radar. Every moment of the game is fun to play, the story is solid, and the meta progression is deeply satisfying. It's everything a good roguelike should be, and I'm going to continue playing it as soon as I finish writing this paragraph.
Jackbox Party Pack 10 is one of the stronger entries in the Jackbox pantheon, and I'm a big fan of it as a whole. Each game has its own pacing, and while I do think everyone will find their favourites as always, the mix feels very good this time around, and even the trivia game is fun. This is a great party pack that'll be a good addition to any game night. Apart from Dodo Re Mi – I hope those digital birds stay eaten.
I desperately want to like Lords of the Fallen, but it's the first game all year that's actively annoyed me. I love the Soulslike genre more than any other, but this game took all of the lessons it could have learned since the original Lords of the Fallen and either forgot them entirely, or just misunderstood them so greviously that you'd assume it skipped a class.
The long-awaited return of FromSoftware's mech-filled series, Armored Core 6 delivers on a lot of what fans will have been hoping and dreaming of. Building and customising mechs is engaging, missions are action-packed and it looks gorgeous, but it's undercut by swings in difficulty for boss fights and an all-too-familiar story.