Despite its satisfyingly open Infiltrations and the brisk bite of its scythes, The Siege of Paris doesn't feel like an essential addition when Valhalla already has Mjolonir's weight in nearly identical content.
That said, for the budget price, there could be room on your digital shelf for Blast Zone! Tournament. At its core, you can get mostly the same experience out of it. I don't know the reasons why you wouldn't just spring for the real thing, but I don't judge. So long as you are willing to get over the strange music and art choices, and can work around how they can adversely affect your play, you can absolutely get something from BZT.
Superbly written characters, the dark allure of its world, and an engrossing main story make up for Weird West's wonky action.
Solasta's tactical battles shine brightly, even in the shadow of a drab and by-the-numbers fantasy story.
That said, there's really something here to enjoy in They Are Billions. Taken as a whole, it is an entirely new and interesting take on genres that are as old as gaming. Billions has such great moments at times that it's rather surprising that these genres hadn't been smashed together already. Billions leaves plenty to be desired everywhere else though—in visual fidelity, art direction, sound design, and even game balance. Clearly, this is a first step on a new and mysterious frontier. Hopefully, not the last.
All in all, Phantom Doctrine is good tactical action game with a great spy culture motif. It's perfect for people who like their spy stories grounded in reality, but also appreciate the subtle approach to world dominating super criminals introduced by modern Bond films like Spectre. CreativeForge succeeds at taking lessons from its previous game, Hard West, and updating the formula. Even if that formula is ultimately a less elegant, less original version of the most popular game in the genre.
Pixeljunk Monsters 2 does the original great justice by lifting the core experience and spreading it across a big, bright, three-dimensional playing field. But if feels like a typical tower defense game from the 2007-08 boom.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau's action isn't groundbreaking within the genre, but its elevated by a truly moving tale about how to go on in this world when your loved ones have passed on to the next.
The Last Faith is not the pinnacle of 2D metroidvanias, but its collection of weapons is genuinely cool and busting the masters of its samey levels is satisfying.
The breath of Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons burns hot thanks to clever tag combat and a big roster of diverse characters, but it doesn’t burn very long as you hit some poorly executed platforming, uninspired roguelike elements, and a shallow end game.
The Last Hero of Nostalgaia is a competent RPG with a world that helps it stand out from the pack, even if it doesn't stand too far above it.
Fights in Tight Spaces recreates that action movie feeling of stylishly dismantling a room full of goons.
A strong Irish story and a few interesting battles amid a sea of run-of-the-mill recycled quests make Wrath of the Druids worth a return trip to Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
For a few brief moments Fuser reinvigorates the glory days of social music gaming and in the right hands can be effectively be an instrument of music creation, but outside of the campaign there's little for the rest of us to do.
The survival genre is so crowded that there's little ground left to break, but The Forest has done it. Leveraging complex enemy AI and subverting expectations of the sort of terrible things waiting for you in the wild, Endlight Games creates a new sort of thriller. With some more polish, and a better emphasis on making all of the systems more coherent and intuitive, The Forest could truly be a very huge deal. That said, there's a reason it's sold 5 million copies. It's laser focus on executing specific ideas well pays off. It's worth trying to work around its shortcomings for at least a few playthroughs.
This is a fun, fresh take on classic JRPG tropes and modern roguelike design, but it's in danger of running out of steam too quickly.
At a budget price and launching with a last minute ad bumrush, Remnant: From the Ashes is the kind of title you'd expect to come out and vanish quickly. But for fans of tough RPGs, action shooters, or post-apocalyptic fiction, passing up on Remnant would be a devastating mistake. It easily joins the ranks of games like Vampyr, that stubbornly outgrow their financial constraints to truly innovate and elevate a genre that has long since needed new ideas.
More of a redo than a sequel, Dragon's Dogma 2 is a strange and wonderful action-RPG that bolsters the original’s strengths without addressing its weaknesses.
While not drastically different, WWE 2K24 is better in almost every way, touting small but smart additions to well-tested systems and modes as opposed to taking bigger risks.
The Thaumaturge is a slow, text heavy caper that is often curious and sometimes captivating, weaving revolutionary labor politics and mysticism together to create a unique and charming piece of historical science fiction.