Card Shark is unlike any game you've played before. As a card game where you don't actually play cards, learning and executing various methods of cheating is a ton of fun. The historical setting contributes to the conspiracy central to the story, while adding its own colorful cast of enjoyable characters in the gorgeous setting of 18th century France.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong is a fantastic, yet very messy game. It lacks some desperately needed polish and refining, but the core is so fun and engaging you can put the problems to the side for a time. They'll rear their head pretty frequently, but pushing past them is well worth the rewards.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising packs a ton of fun into a small package. The combat has surprising depth, even if the game starts out unbearably slow, and the few areas you explore are fun to revisit and discover all the nooks and crannies. The town building aspect fits perfectly into the gameplay loop, and makes for an addicting experience.
Syberia - The World Before is a captivating story of turmoil in the face of fashism. With compelling characters and fascinating logic puzzles, newcomers and returning players alike will have a blast with this adventure.
Nintendo Switch Sports has moments of fun, but they're buried under forced, inaccurate motion controls and lacking minigames. Only 2 and a half of the six sports on offer here are really fun or engaging, character customization is shockingly sparse, and the novelty wears off in minutes. This feels more like a cheap imitation of Wii Sports, which was free, than anything close to worth the price of entry.
Bugsnax's The Isle of BIGsnax is a great reason to revisit Snacktooth. Whether you're a seasoned journalist or catching your first Strabby on a new platform, you really can't go wrong with this delightful adventure.
Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines - Heartless Lullaby feels less like a full game and more like a short proof of concept. It'll be interesting to see what this free game evolves into, if anything, but if you're into the World of Darkness it's worth taking a look.
Anuchard presents some interesting concepts, but is executed sloppily. While combat is extremely simple, level design is lackluster, and most puzzles are too easy, the final hour or so holds a lot of promise.
Road 96 is a politically charged piece of interactive art. Its themes of opposing fascism are depressingly relevant and conveyed through charming and funny characters. While the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired, this is a trip well worth taking over and over.
ANNO: Mutationem had a lot of promise, but ended up spread far too thin. Both the exploration and combat lack any sort of depth, the story is nonsensical, and the sprite work looks ugly in motion.
Moss Book II is a game very deserving of your attention. Its novel use of VR as a medium is fascinating and helps to tell a heartfelt story with you and the adorable Quill at its center. It's bigger and better than the first in many ways, but is greatly held back by small yet consistent and progress blocking bugs.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land is an excellent first foray into 3D for the pink puffball. There's so much to see and do on this adorable adventure it's hard to focus on just one thing for long, and it'll keep fans new and old entertained for some time.
Stranger of Paradise is a good game, but it had the potential to be a great game. Its self seriousness backfires to a genuinely endearing degree, but also leaves the story poorly fleshed out and possibly hard to follow. The combat may be fun, fluid, and visceral, but issues with the PC version should make players look to other platforms.
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands presents a fresh take on Borderlands, retaining the core of the series while adding some fun new twists both in its setting and gameplay.
Atelier Sophie 2: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Dream presents an immediately engaging gameplay hook. The story is interesting and can get new players caught up fairly quickly, though the character designs can leave a lot to be desired. Battles and alchemy are a ton of fun, but the game does have trouble explaining all of its systems effectively.
Paradise Killer is now the perfect murder mystery. With some visual and performance issues taken care of and the addition of new secrets to uncover as well as some gorgeous Ray Tracing, there's never been a better time to breathe life back into paradise.
Triangle Strategy boasts a deep story with an involved battle system that remains fun throughout and approachable to those who might not have a strategic head. The cutscenes can be overly long and choices don't have as big of an impact as they should, but it's still a great strategy game that you can really sink your teeth into.
While it stumbles greatly in execution, Assassin's Creed Valhalla - Dawn of Ragnarök reignites the magic of the main game with a vast realm to explore and myriad secrets to discover using the new Hugr powers. It's still a ton of fun, just don't expect the story to be all that coherent.
While it can be complete chaos most of the time, Chocobo GP is still a fun and charming kart racer at its heart. There's enough charm here to combat the frustration and bland tracks, and the multiple modes will keep you interested.
Gran Turismo 7 is an excellent racing simulator for those looking for a more realistic experience or to learn more about cars. There's a ton of things to do, cars to collect, and tracks to master with the game's great driving model. While you can feel the sheer passion the developers have for the subject, it does come with some flaws like very slow and tedious progression gates and persistent microtransaction prompts.