While it is a short and hilarious retelling of Aloy’s adventures, the overall gameplay is repetitive in its level structure but still is very much a LEGO adventure at its core. A younger gaming audience might appreciate this more than an older one.
The release improves and tweaks elements of gameplay while maintaining the core structure that made the original release great. Add in a creative visual comprise between old and new school with a gorgeous soundtrack underneath, and you have yourself one of the better remakes in 2024.
Ultimately, it’s a stupid fun action game driven by gore, a well-acted story, and a thick amount of creativity that looks better and acts better than it did back in 2011.
Shin Chan: Shiro and the Coal Town is a great mixture of adventure, multi-quest challenges, and somewhat open-world exploration. The game is a great primer for the young gamer in your household and will put their mental fortitude to the test while not pushing them too hard with impossible content.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered from developers Guerilla Games and Nixxes is a worthy update from the 2017 game. The update brings many visual enhancements, improves environments, and creates better character interactions. It brings a great game up to PlayStation 5 standards and helps bridge the gap between the original and the sequel.
Fear the Spotlight from developer Cozy Game Pals and publisher Blumhouse Games is a frightfully fun romp that balances out puzzles and stealth inside of a horror experience. While it won’t redefine the horror genre in gaming with its narrative, it still delivers enough to be entertaining and scary.
RetroRealms – Halloween and Ash vs. Evil Dead from developer WayForward does enough to create a proper 16-bit era, 2D side-scrolling driven by popular licensed horror characters Michael Myers and Ash. Will it set new standards and win awards for innovation? Nah, but it will bring a rich and repetitive 16-bit era experience that is a come-and-go-as-you-please gaming environment.
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is an amazing remake from developer and publisher Square Enix. It takes an already beautiful classic and properly retools it with a modern look and gameplay backbone. While not everything is perfect, it still maintains its charm and the structure that made it memorable back in the day.
ven with combat that falls short of expectations and little presence from its biggest star, Kong: Survivor Instinct manages to capture the concepts of the so-called Monsterverse well and offer a good human journey in the face of the destruction caused by these great titans, taking advantage of a universal quest narrative and typical exploration and puzzle-solving mechanics.
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Unknown 9: Awakening from developer Reflector Entertainment and publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment is a game more about what could have been rather than what turned out to be. With a better story that builds out the world, its characters, and more interesting enemies, the game would have been more of what it intended. It had the makings of a good fantasy/sci-fi action adventure but just didn’t make it there.
New World: Aeternum from developer Amazon Games Orange County is a wonderfully rich MMORPG experience with a solid hack-and-slash backbone driven by a good story, a bevy of main and side quests, and a fun leveling and upgrade system. While it may not satisfy the most hardcore MMORPG fans, it should entertain a more general RPG audience needing a fun fix.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero from developer Spike Chunsoft and publisher Bandai Namco is a wonderful fighting experience. It has all the bells and whistles, including a massive number of characters from the series and different ways you can customize and shape them. The imbalanced fighting might be tough for some players to overcome to enjoy the experience.
Until Dawn from developer Ballistic Moon is still a fun horror game to experience. It has a solid horror story, some great actors to bring that story to life, and enough gameplay that works properly within that horror story scheme. The technical issues and price point of the game are the only two issues holding up a fun experience.
While not all the games featured in Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster are gold, what you do get is some love and care shown to some classic titles, a completely retooled UI and soundtrack, and all while leaving the core gameplay untouched.
Throne and Liberty from developer NCSOFT and publisher Amazon Games is starting on the right note. The game offers a bevy of content, a fun and complicated backend, and enough motivation to keep exploring and grinding its lands. It does need better direction and connection with quests, as well as balanced PvP. As it stands, the start is good, and the future looks like it could be better.
Atari 50 – The Wider World of Atari from developer Digital Eclipse adds to the overall Atari 50 historical package but doesn’t bring the strongest line-up of history or games seen in the original release.
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred from Blizzard is a worthy expansion that adds more than it subtracts. It continues a great story with compelling characters, introduces a new class, returns mercenaries, and provides additional content, making it more than just a simple DLC release.
Final Fantasy XVI from Square Enix is a marvelous experience that brings strong characters, a passionate and fiery revenge-driven story, and simplistic action that is just as easy to pick up and go. It’s one of the best Final Fantasy games in the series, and certainly a solid option for PC gamers.
God of War: Ragnarök from Santa Monica Studio and Sony Interactive Entertainment is a beast on the PC. It brings the same big adventure while sporting some of the most gorgeous graphics the game has shown to date.
Marvel versus Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is a superb release from Capcom. It has all the 90s Marvel/Capcom arcade classics, a decent Punisher game, and some goodies that were only featured in Japan (mainly Norimaro). The collection will please any gamer who enjoys classic fighters. The younger crowd may not love it, as fighting games have become more complicated and competitive, something not as prevalent in these, but it’s a great way to revisit some classics for those who enjoy doing so.