Mario Golf: Super Rush features elegant golf systems, but is devoid of content that makes good use of it.
Resident Evil Village is an uneven anthology of horror movie send-ups. Sometimes it offers a truly exciting vision of the series’ future with imaginative world-building and rewarding exploration. Other times, it’s a fairly run-of-the-mill shooter that struggles to provide any real stakes or tension. Those two tones are often at odds with one another, highlighting all of the franchise’s best and worst instincts in one eclectic package. Chalk it up to a quarter-life crisis.
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game — Complete Edition is a much-needed re-release that faithfully preserves the long lost original. The outdated beat-’em-up combat and light features may not live up to fans’ almost mythological memory, but just being able to find that out is a victory in its own right.
Iron Man VR is an enjoyable superhero adventure that doesn't quite reach summer blockbuster heights.
Chex Quest HD is a short, but pleasant hit of 90's nostalgia.
Warcraft III: Reforged is a much-needed remaster that's not quite complete.
While its romantic sob story feels a bit boilerplate and it doesn’t fully commit to some of its most intriguing gameplay ideas, Maquette is a short, sincere game that captures the puzzling road to closure in the wake of a messy break-up.
Tales of Kenzera: Zau tells an emotionally impactful story reinforced by creative design decisions that put a physical feeling to abstract emotions. Its struggles lie in its approach to the Metroidvania genre, as its surprisingly straightforward structure sometimes undercuts the winding tale of acceptance. It’s an imperfect debut, but that’s fitting for a game about something as messy as grief.
Children of the Sun stumbles on story, but its unnerving hyper violence hits its mark.
Alone in the Dark is the confidently silly horror remake the 1992 classic deserves.
Islands of Insight is the modern reinvention the puzzle genre needs.
Lysfanga: The Time Shift Warrior's time-bending combat hook is so smart, you'll want to show it to everyone you know.
Super Mario RPG isn't necessarily an improvement over the 1996 version, but it's at least a more approachable experience for kids.
Like its hero, Thirsty Suitors is a charmingly messy game that juggles a little more than it can handle. Its multipronged gameplay loop wobbles between inventive and repetitive over the course of its eight-hour story. What it lacks in polish, though, it makes up for with a nuanced narrative about how the past isn’t always a haunting specter to hide from.
WarioWare: Move It! is a much-needed reset for a series that’s long struggled to hit the creative heights of its Nintendo Wii entry. A return to the physical fun of WarioWare: Smooth Moves is just what the doctor ordered, making for one last must-own Switch party game that’s not afraid to cut loose. Though it takes two steps forward, it's a step back from Get It Together’s most ingenious modes, leaving more space for Nintendo to perfect its wackiest series.
Saltsea Chronicles is a poignant nautical adventure about the distances between us and what we gain from crossing them.
Payday 3 doesn't shake up its predecessor's formula much, but a strong batch of initial heists sets the live service shooter up for success.
Starfield isn’t the generation-defining video game that overeager fans might be expecting; it’s a fairly typical, though impressively constructed Bethesda RPG where depth and stability often come at the expense of scope. The surprisingly limited base adventure isn’t so much the draw here, though. The enormous intergalactic playground feels custom-made for modders who want to explore the infinite possibilities of space just as much as Constellation and Bethesda itself.
Blasphemous 2 doesn’t break any new ground for the Metroidvania genre, but it delivers a holy trinity of important genre staples: rewarding exploration, top-notch boss design, and deep secrets. Those strengths are balanced out by a slew of sins, as tedious backtracking and some eye-rolling sacrilege make for a tough trial that’ll sift out the non-believers from the devotees.
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is another narrative hit for Night School, delivering a slow-burn story that expertly weaves together supernatural horror with an introspective story of self-discovery. The sequel does find itself struggling with its own identity crisis though, as tedious interactivity leaves me wondering if the studio’s heart is more in movies or TV than video games.