Despite the slightly confusing name, "Layers of Fear" is a beautiful remake that can be enjoyed by horror fans and series newcomers alike.
"Pokémon Stadium" still holds up on Nintendo Switch, and is still well worth checking out for fans of the series and newcomers alike.
Octopath Traveler 2's changes manage to uphold what made the first game enjoyable, while adding some new bells and whistles to make it feel like a step forward.
With Dead Island 2’s development history, it is a pleasant surprise to see the game release in as complete and stable of a state as it is. It ran flawlessly on Xbox Series X and looked beautiful to boot, especially its incredible new gore system. While it may not deliver the interesting stories or new concepts of its genre contemporaries, its sharp humor and satisfying combat help make up for it.
Blood Bowl 3 is undoubtedly the best new way to experience Blood Bowl. It is filled with character, brimming with options, and has plenty of depth for players to explore and toy around with. However, it is unfortunate that it doesn’t give new players the proper tools to break through its outer crust. For those that are hungry for more brutal sports action, however, you’d be hard pressed to find anything better.
Roadwarden is a fascinating take on the RPG genre that has a lot to love. Its setting is deep and well fleshed out, and the interactions players have with it are impactful and fun to navigate. The stories it tells are often somber but handled in an undeniably human and engaging way. While anyone who doesn’t like reading will want to skip it, I cannot recommend it enough to players intrigued by the possibilities of a detailed, text-based RPG.
Kaiju Wars is a very fun spin on the turn-based strategy genre that brings a lot of style along with it. Its gameplay stands up to its striking visuals, and the few weaker points of its design do very little to detract from the overall experience.
Wonderlands manages to instead fix many of those issues while injecting new ideas to make it a special entry in the franchise thanks to more than just its setting. Hopefully, the game’s season pass will only continue to polish it even more, and the developers at Gearbox will take the lessons from Wonderlands into the series’ future.
Nioh 2: Complete Edition offers an absurd amount of content. With dozens of hours of story-driven content, a solid three-player multiplayer mode, and multiple new difficulties for new game+ playthroughs, there’s a lot of great content to play through, even if you do not want to touch the grindy end game known as the underworld. The story can be largely ignored, but the core gameplay and the complexity of the mechanics are satisfying to master make Nioh 2: Complete Edition a great option for any fan of the genre.
Cat Quest 3 pulls off a balancing act that few games manage to. It is accessible enough for nearly anyone to jump in while being fun and engaging enough for players who prefer more mechanically dense RPGs to still have a ton of fun. It is oversaturated with personality and charm, making every minute of playing it filled with something funny, interesting, or unique.
Whether playing alone or with friends, 'Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy' keeps the series alive while sprinkling in gorgeous visuals and some fun additions.
"Aliens: Dark Descent" packs a powerful punch that gives fans and newcomers something to love with this latest entry into the "Alien" catalog of video games.
Rather than greatly expanding the scope of the original, "Episode 2" refines its visuals and gives fans more of what they loved about the original game.
"Resident Evil 4 Remake" is the strongest of the modern remakes in the franchise, staying pure to the heart of the game while modernizing it for 2023.
Some fans will surely miss the roguelike structure of the original, but for fans looking to further explore its world or to spend more time in the game’s splendid combat, Everspace 2 delivers in spades.
It is no exaggeration to say that Company of Heroes 3 is a triumph of the RTS genre…It offers an amazingly deep strategic experience, fantastic onboarding for newcomers, and plenty of content to keep fans playing for dozens of hours.
It makes numerous improvements in how it onboards new players, adds layers to its core combat loop that are difficult to imagine going without now, and does so while staying true to what makes the series so special.
It is hard to translate just how satisfying it feels to tear through a horde of heathens in Darktide as its thunderous soundtrack plays to words. The best way to do so seems to be simply saying that it is spot-on enough to surely please any fan of Warhammer or horde shooters. Darktide is a Primarch amongst Warhammer games, and it serves the corpse emperor admirably.
It is very difficult to imagine a player that wouldn’t enjoy Cult of the Lamb. Its visuals are so beautiful and full of character. Its writing is witty and charming. Its action is simple, but fun and thoroughly engaging. While its weapon selection and combat mechanics may not be as varied or dense as its peers, its unique aspects more than make up for the deficit.
For fans of turn-based strategy games, the paranormal, or even just Westerns, I have a hard time imagining a reason to not pick up Hard West II. Nearly everything that Hard West II attempts to do is accomplished very well. It offers fantastic and challenging combat, fun characters, an amazing setting, and some truly jaw-dropping moments.