Overall The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is an excellent addition to the series. There is definitely more good than bad in this edition and fans will be pleased. The only real missing piece is a strong drawing game; there is a round of drawing in Nonsensory, but it's not the focus and definitely doesn't hold a candle to past games like Tee K.O. or Jackbox 8's Drawful: Animate.
Overall, Floodland is an absolute must-play for fans of the survival simulator genre. The game runs smoothly, controls well, and has enough depth in it to keep players coming back for more. The bleak world of this post-climate change disaster is immersive and beautiful looking, and Floodland is also a great beginner-sim for players who may be new to the genre, with its classic research trees, simple mechanics, and well-crafted tutorial are easily understood at any skill level.
Hogwarts Legacy is a wonderful game filled to the brim with adventures to be had, activities to engage in, and secrets to be found. The school and the surrounding areas have been recreated beautifully, and players will easily lose hours lost in the whimsical splendor of this wizarding world.
There is a lot to enjoy in this year's WWE2K23, and the amount of new content should please those who've already put so many hours into the last installment. There are still some bugs within the actual gameplay elements that have plagued the series for years, but with much fewer mistakes than WWE 2K22. The increased Creation options, the addicting blind packs and new online multiplayer of MyFACTION, and even the separate storylines added into MyRISE for women and men wrestlers. There is a lot going on this year and WWE2K23 is a great version for veterans and new players alike.
Wrestlequest is a lot of fun, and there is clearly a strong nostalgia for wrestling here, as well as the old-school style of roleplaying games. This is both a blessing and a curse. Wrestlequest does its best to keep the player engaged, and the story is a delight even if you aren't a wrestling fan, but the slow pace of old-school RPGs can quickly wear on modern players. However, if someone is yearning for the old 16-bit Final Fantasy style of gameplay, Wrestlequest will absolutely scratch that itch: ooooh Yeah!
Overall The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a fun multiplayer game. There is a lot to love here and with it being brand new the additional possibilities of DLC are exciting to think about (House of 1000 Corpses anyone?). There were some framerate issues in the pre-release PC build, especially when a Victim was being killed, but these have been noted by the designers and should be ironed out shortly after release. As a fan of asymmetrical horror games, and looking for something new to scratch that itch, this is absolutely a must-play, though it comes with a fair number of issues that might turn off people from returning over and over the way some other online multiplayer experiences actively encourage.
This is one of the most enjoyable simulator games available and cannot be recommended enough for fans of the series. And if the DLC packs for the original House Flipper are any indication, there will be plenty more content to come in the future. Anyone who played the original game will absolutely love this, and for those new to the genre House Flipper 2 is the perfect way to see how creative, and addicting, simulator games can be.