Drew Meadows
Observer: System Redux is more of a definitive edition than a full remake. Despite some segments falling flat, it's a tightly-wound narrative that is one of Bloober Team's finest.
Spirit of the North Enhanced Edition takes cues from other adventure games like Journey, but it doesn’t offer the same level of replayability. However, it does have a super cute fox.
Bright Memory for Xbox Series X|S is an extremely unoptimized and poorly polished launch title. However, the future looks bright for the game. The foundation for something truly special is there.
Umihara Kawase Bazooka is a unique, weird little game that manages to overstay its welcome even with the light content included. How this game got priced at $30 is beyond me.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon is almost a soft reboot of an aging franchise. It takes the long-running series in a new direction that works really well as a first outing.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla builds upon what made Odyssey and Origins great, and it removes a good amount of terrible side quests.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a ton of fun if you’re willing to invest the time. There are certainly a number of caveats to that. You’ll have to be patient in finding the right settings for your rig. You’ll also have to be patient while Larian Studios irons out a lot of the technical issues and bugs, and you’ll have to be okay with losing your saves when it comes out of early access.
Watch Dogs: Legion isn’t a bad game; it’s just not a great one either. I’m still intending to go back through and finish sweeping up the tech points that I’ve missed so far and recruiting the most random NPCs I can find, but it definitely feels like a step backward from Watch Dogs 2.
Fight Crab is one of those games you have to see to believe. But after the charm wears off, you'll be wondering why you're still playing it.
Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning might be worth it for those that never got around to the original. It's hard to recommend to returning players as a bare-bones remaster.