Jonathan Bolding's Reviews
A rich, interesting, and honest experiment in history-as-game: If you're interested, play it.
This game preaches to the choir - the hunting faithful will love it, everyone else, maybe not.
It innovates from prior games in the series, and is undeniably fun, but Galactic Civilizations III isn't the clear leader in a packed genre.
Though it fails to innovate in an engaging way, the base on which Tropical Freeze is built is solid as a glacier.
If you're in the mood for some N64 era platforming held to modern standards, or have a bad-at-platformers partner to tag along, Woolly World is just what the doctor ordered.
What's here is undoubtedly high quality, but some may find themselves just wanting more of the game. It's a blessing and a curse.
The hand-drawn visuals, interesting combat, and epic story mean The Banner Saga is crafted from flawless pieces - even if the final product is a little rough.
A solid, accessible city builder, Tropico 5 gets out of the way and lets you have the fun you came for without pissing around in fiddly details.
Eastward is a post-apocalyptic picaresque as charming as it is pretty, with simple action combat and puzzles that are accessible to everyone.
Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector is a jolly, blood-spattered tactical romp through the grim, dark future.
Loop Hero's cleverly stripped-down RPG concept demands attention for as long as it takes you to work out the clear "best" way to guide each hero class, and its fantastically dark story setup stands out as one of the best in years.
If the RTS is dead, then Iron Harvest is some pretty slick necromancy. A classic single-player campaign with a strong story complements the absolute satisfaction of big, stompy mechs.
MechWarrior 5 is a showcase of nostalgic, joyful mech combat.
Novel tactical mechanics make this indie a contender for the best strategy RPG this year.
Victoria 3's attractive historical sandbox is filled with potential, but it's on you to unlock it.
Hard science, harder simulation, and narrative innovation make Per Aspera a real gem.
It's still one of the best dungeon crawlers ever made, but now it's on PC.
Majora's Mask holds up well, and even if it isn't as near-perfect as Ocarina, the comforting improvements make it more than worth your time.
An accessible ambassador for its genre, Xenoblade Chronicles X makes good choices building a world, but stumbles on writing you a guidebook to it.
The core gameplay of Arkham Knight is nearly flawless, and most players won't even notice my problems with story or dialogue.