Joshua Duckworth
Despite a few shortcomings, Assassin's Creed Mirage completes its mission of being a love letter to the earliest days of the franchise.
Despite a few shortcomings and inconsistencies, The Dark Pictures: Devil in Me brings the anthology's first season to a powerful end.
Roll7's OlliOlli World provides a unique skateboarding game experience, filled with relaxing environments and tense challenges.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy features an emotional yet hilarious story, immersive if insane decisions, and exciting if bloated combat.
Outriders is the type of game where players get what they put in. For those who want a pick-up and put-down RPG with an emphasis on story, Outriders has that covered. For those who want hundreds of hours of gameplay in tense and adrenaline-pumping combat with powerful builds, Outriders has that covered too. Ultimately, the strength of Outriders is how it connects to its players and what they want out of the game, meaning everyone walks away feeling different about it, and that can only be a good thing.
Immortals Fenyx Rising is a satirical take on Greek mythology that features a gripping story mixed with familiar gameplay features.
Nioh 2 takes everything Team Ninja had to offer in the first game and expands it, and while this mostly hits the mark, there are a few hiccups.
Aside from a few minor shortcomings, the Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection delivers a truly fun and nostalgic gaming experience.
Despite a few shortcomings in mechanics and story, Pokemon Sword and Shield delivers an experience that is undeniably Pokemon.
From developer Bloober Team and publisher Gun Media, Layers of Fear 2 is a truly terrifying game and a significant improvement over the original in many ways.
Although it lacks the polish of the previous episode, The Walking Dead Final Season Episode 4 brings Clementine's story to an end with a strong sense of closure.
DiRT Rally 2.0 builds upon the original and adds new content to improve the rally simulation experience, but it also continues to repeat the sins of the past.
The Walking Dead Final Season episode two creates a unique entry in the longrunning series, effectively combining tradition and innovation into a cohesive story.
Despite having a few drawbacks in terms of gameplay, story direction, and in-game frustration, Wailing Heights manages to provide players with a uniquely fun experience.
Although Piranha Bytes' Elex 2 is not without its minor shortcomings, it is the definition of what all open-world RPGs should be.
Overall, Mass Effect: Legendary Edition advertised itself as taking the already-popular trilogy, bringing it to modern consoles, and giving it smart improvements. There's a lot that it does to improve the games without detracting from the core experience, and that says something. The first game is 13 years old and the third game is 9 years old at the time of this writing, and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition makes them feel much more current and recent. It's hard to imagine making the original trilogy any better, but these remasters definitely make them much more current.
Many fans have been waiting for a Pokemon Snap sequel since their childhood, and while it may not exactly be what they imagined, it's a solid experience and highlights what has been sorely been missed in the franchise. New Pokemon Snap is a worthwhile sequel, a relaxing journey through the Pokemon world, and fun to play in the comfort of one's home or on the go.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla is a love letter to fans of the classic action-adventure titles as well as the newer role-playing mechanics.
Wasteland 3 is an easy recommendation for RPG fans. It's a wild ride from start to finish - one that is well worth every hour and playthrough spent on it.
For newcomers and veterans alike, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX offers a near-perfect overhaul of the classic dungeon crawling experience.