So Absolum is ultimately a beat 'em up with a bit more depth and progression than we've seen before in this style of game that has been so resistant to change since it was born in the arcades. Absolum lacks the extensive variance of a true roguelike, but delivers enough intricacy to push the genre into a more interesting space than it's ever occupied.
The spirit of early-'90s fantasy games, cleverly revived in an original and digestible form.
A retro FPS built with love by true enthusiasts of the genre.
A strategically deep deckbuilder that, with any luck, has spawned a brilliant new subgenre.
A promising setting and clever systems are let down by simple enemies, simpler characters, and strange balancing.
PUBG takes the tradition of big-map survival games like DayZ and compresses it into digestible, 3-to-30-minute sprints that are reliably scary and low-key.
Nimble, graceful, and original, LawBreakers' movement sets it apart from other FPSes despite a few aesthetic weaknesses.
A refreshingly asymmetrical FPS with terrific competitive depth, but the thrill of the hunt eventually begins to wane.
A well-executed but thoroughly unambitious extension of Borderlands 2. Low-grav jumping adds a new dimension to combat.
A relatively tough but mechanically lean sci-fi strategy game.
Although familiar to BF3, but BF4 remains a visually and sonically satisfying, reliably intense FPS. Improved by Commander Mode and a terrific and diverse map set.
It retains CS' spirit as a competitive game driven by careful tactics, cooperation, and individual heroics alike. It's still a game about positioning, timing, and, say, thinking critically about how much footstep noise you're generating. GO preserves CS' purity in that regard--it remains one of the only modern shooters without unlockable content, ironsights, unlockables, or an emphasis on things like secondary firing modes.