Starfield: Shattered Space has some excellent side quests and interesting new places to explore. Unfortunately, it's all tied together by a largely boring main quest, and leaves what could have been its standout character as completely optional and in the background.
So where does that leave us? God of War: Ragnarök's PC port is certainly packed with features, and while most players won't encounter some of the issues outlined above, the button prompts problem can remain an annoyance for those who like the Classic control scheme. It's also possible some of the bugs we ran into were just strange accidents, as we cannot replicate them again aside from Atreus' green hair on Deck. With that in mind, while PS5 may still be the ideal way to play, the PC version will allow players to experience the game at the absolute best visual quality it can hit.
While a gorgeous remake with great quality of life features, Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed still suffers by being itself. Outside of the aesthetic and choices, Epic Mickey was a fairly rote platformer with uninteresting challenges and objectives. Rebrushed adds a wonderful new coat of paint, but it's still the same game at its core.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is what every retro game collection should strive to be. It presents the games within as close to their original forms as possible, while still offering players a wealth of options to customize their experience.
The Plucky Squire is an adorable adventure for everyone to enjoy. It has some issues, like glitches and a less than stellar story, but plucky really is the right word to describe the game. It's technically ambitious and impressively varied, making it easy to forgive its shortcomings.
I wasn't expecting much going into this port, but was pleasantly surprised with it. On PS5 at least, the loading screens aren't unbearable, it looks and runs great, and while annoying. the compressed audio isn't the worst thing in the world. If you're looking to play this on an actual PS4 or PS4 Pro, however, steer clear as it is significantly more compromised with lengthy load times and an inability to reach the 60 fps target.
The Ace Attorney Investigations Collection finally lets fans have every mainline Ace Attorney game on one platform and in a variety of languages. While AAI1 is one of the franchise's weaker titles, AAI2 is one of its best with a new, excellent translation to English. The new art style may not appeal to everyone, but thankfully you can go back to the original pixel art. With a gallery containing a ton of art and music, this is yet another badge on Capcom's lapel.
The Castlevania Dominus Collection is another fantastic effort from M2, though it doesn't quite reach their lofty standard. The games themselves are a ton of fun, looking and playing great with some amazing convenience features. However, some of these features come up a bit short, specifically controller binding and display configurations. Even so, a full reimagining of an arcade game makes up for those shortcomings for the most part.
The Crimson Diamond is a fantastic mystery that's incredibly enjoyable to solve. The characters are delightful, the visuals are stunning, the music is catchy and era appropriate, and there's quite a lot to discover. This is a must play for any adventure game fan.
Dustborn has noble intentions, but intentions don't matter as much as execution and it executes just about everything poorly. There are too many characters and gameplay styles to make any one of them shine, let alone enjoyable.
Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse remastered adds a much needed, fresh coat of paint to a fantastic adventure game. This is quite possibly the best the Freelance Police have to offer, and it's better than ever. The Switch version suffers from some framerate drops and loading issues, but even there it's a great time with your little buddy.
Creatures of Ava is what you get when you simply dump a bunch of ideas into a bucket. The mechanics feel disconnected, the story is rote and uninteresting, and the world, while very pretty, looks generic for sci-fi. It's all been done before and better elsewhere, and sadly the game doesn't take the chance to connect anything together or really explore anything in depth.
World of Goo 2 takes everything you loved about the original and turns it up to 11. The levels are more complex and inventive, there's more types of goo, and the humor is even more out there. Unfortunately, there are some features that feel like they're missing and a section of the game that completely goes against the rest of the story's themes. While it's somewhat of a mixed bag, there's far more good than bad here.
Tomba! Special Edition perfectly preserves the 1997 classic. The game is just as good as it was back then, and perhaps even better now with tons of quality of life features and extras. This is an incredibly special game, and I hope it finally gets the recognition it deserves.
One Piece Odyssey Deluxe Edition is a solid port of a good game. It looks great and runs fairly well in both docked and portable modes, though sitting through loading times for every single battle can get very tedious.
Earth Defense Force 6 is a pretty basic game, but what it lacks in complexity, it makes up for in silly fun. Blowing up hordes and buildings with your buddy, using these wildly unbalanced weapons, all while losing our minds anytime the game tries to do cool things in the story, it all makes for an excellent experience in co-op. So really we feel we can only recommend this if you have someone to play with. You're going to be buying a game that is extremely unpolished but will give you literal hours of laughing together with a friend and that's worth every penny to be honest. Try EDF6 with a friend if you think this would be appealing to you. Just maybe try playing on PlayStation 4 or 5 instead for the smoother experience.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail is very messy, but still greatly enjoyable. Wuk Lamat is a lovable character who I hope sticks around, with a satisfying character arc tying in with the expansion's themes. Viper is a blast to play, and every dungeon or trial holds something new and unique. While the expansion isn't the best FFXIv has to offer, it has so much heart you can't help but smile.
Beyond Good & Evil is an absolute classic, and the 20th Anniversary Edition makes it easier than ever to appreciate why. The characters are endearing, the visuals are mostly amazing, the music is incredible, and the gameplay is a ton of fun on top of all that. If this is your first time stepping into Jade's sneakers or your 20th, now has never been a better time to explore the beauty of Hillys.
The Kingdom Hearts series is at its best on Steam. With Deck support and (mostly) improved textures, each game looks and plays amazingly. There are still a few hitches, namely in frame pacing on Deck, the 30fps cutscene cap in ReMIX, and some mistakes in upscaled textures, but it's still a great way to experience the story up until Melody of Memory.
Monster Hunter Stories may be the lesser game compared to its sequel, but that doesn't mean it's not worth playing. It's a fun, lighthearted take on the monster collecting genre with a deep battle system and tons of Monsties to befriend. This version is better than ever, with gorgeous visuals and hammy voice acting, and is worth a try for any RPG fan.