Pentiment is a clever Medieval detective story with a gorgeously-realized world that I can hardly recommend highly enough.
With crunchy, tactical RPG combat, a memorable story with complex characters, highly polished cinematic presentation, and a world that always rewards exploration and creativity, Baldur's Gate 3 is the new high-water mark for CRPGs.
A third-person horror game that's elevated by some of the sharpest writing and acting in the genre.
A brilliant tale of terror, even if the ride is a little old and clunky.
Subnautica: Below Zero is a leaner, meaner standalone expansion to Subnautica that improves on the story and mechanics, but doesn't give us as much room to explore.
An axe-cellent compromise between hack-and-slash fun and skill-based medieval melee makes Chivalry 2's 64-player medieval brawls a ton of fun.
Valheim is already a paragon of the survival crafting genre, with excellent art and music highlighting a world that generates endless exciting stories from only a few simple ingredients.
Aiko's Choice is a polished, challenging, and welcome – though a bit short – standalone expansion to the exceptional Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun.
Crusader Kings 3: Royal Court is the best kind of strategy expansion, weaving in new features that make running a kingdom a more complete and cohesive experience.
A fitting capstone to the trilogy, the story-heavy campaign and an armload of exciting new factions lead Total War: Warhammer 3 to victory.
While its time-consuming crafting aspects can take the bite out of the vampire fantasy, V Rising really does rise to the occasion with its excellent boss design and respectable ARPG combat.
Jagged Alliance 3 is a flexible, challenging, approachable throwback turn-based tactics game in which the only thing that feels truly dated is the humor.
Dune: Spice Wars is a clever, multilayered, challenging RTS that skillfully translates so much of what is cool about Frank Herbert's universe in its interesting mechanics.
The War Within is the best World of Warcraft has been on all fronts in many years, making this two-decade-old MMO feel fresh and thrilling again.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard refreshes and reinvigorates a storied series that stumbled through its middle years, and leaves no doubt that it deserves its place in the RPG pantheon. The next Mass Effect is going to have a very tough act to follow, which is not something I ever imagined I'd be saying before I got swept away on this adventure.
Armed with excellent melee combat and an exceptional story, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is one part sequel and one part coronation, bringing a lot of the original's ideas to fruition.
Two Point Museum is a rewarding, deep, challenging, and highly entertaining tycoon game with lots of variety and an excellent interface.
Shadowlands offers some great new characters and stories, alongside the most compelling max level experience WoW has had in many years.
Factorio is dauntingly complex, but offers almost endlessly enjoyable depth for optimizers and survival fans if you take the time to learn its systems.
Age of Empires 4 is an enjoyable RTS throwback that often plays it too safe, but excels when it doesn't.