MLB The Show 24 continues to push the genre forward – not every choice is a homerun, but it has enough hits for another all-star appearance.
Nightingale has a cool setting and some fun ideas at its Early Access launch, but right now its compelling survival-crafting progression is bogged down by frustrating pacing and an underserved story.
The Finals is a fresh and exciting take on team based PVP shooters, featuring some of the best environmental destruction in any FPS.
RoboCop: Rogue City is a pitch-perfect throwback to the action movies of the ‘80s. It’s over-the-top violence with charm, largely well put together but rough on the edges. Most importantly, it's a fun way to spend time in a beloved fictional universe that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Blasting at goons as an unstoppable walking machine remains as extremely entertaining as it seemed on the big screen, thanks in part to an impressive commitment to capturing the look and feel of the original film. Mixing in elements like routine police work and side quests does a great job changing the pace, too. Even if it’s not the best example of visual fidelity, and prone to some bugs along the way, that love of RoboCop shines through. This is a solid B movie of a video game, which is exactly what the source material demands.
Endless Dungeon is simultaneously a great roguelite, a great twin-stick shooter, and a great tower defense game.
The improvements to the fundamental gameplay in Madden 24 continue to pay dividends with some of the most authentic football the series has ever seen. But, like an ill-timed penalty, the dreadfully slow menus and funneling toward tedious minigames wipe out any forward progress and move the series backward overall.
Park Beyond brings a delightful sense of whimsy to park sims, but gets derailed by frequent bugs, poor staff control, and bad economics.
The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is filled with dull stealth, bad platforming, and a pointless story, and does little to justify why anyone should take the time to play it.
Minecraft Legends is an engaging strategy game that capably combines the established Minecraft world with a streamlined RTS structure.
MLB The Show 23 is a great step forward for the series, thanks in large part to its brilliant new Negro Leagues mode.
Horizon Call of the Mountain is Sony's flagship game for PSVR 2. It's an impressive technical showcase, but is it the game that makes VR a must-have?
Atomic heart does a lot right, but some decisions just don't sit right.
God of War: Ragnarok is a strong follow-up to a modern masterpiece, but does it sacrifice depth for breadth?
NieR: Automata The End of YoRHa Edition is a great port, bringing a complete version of NieR: Automata to the Nintendo Switch. Its story is as engaging as ever, and the diverse gameplay continues to wow audiences. This is an excellent way to experience a classic game.
Gotham Knights takes up the mantle of the Batman series and ably carves out an identity of its own, rather than recreating that of its predecessors.
Digimon Survive is a good — and surprisingly dark — visual novel, with a mediocre turn-based battle system.
TLoU Part 1 is for super fans of the series or those who missed the first two versions, especially for accessibility reasons. For everyone else, it's hard to recommend spending the 15 or so hours it takes to play through The Last of Us yet again.
The Madden NFL series has long had a solid gameplay foundation, maintained by small improvements year over year. Madden NFL 23 is the first iteration in a long time that rebuilds that foundation, and that’s where this year's greatest success lies. Some slippery collisions aside, the more physics-based action is a good change, and the control over ball placement from Skill-Based passing is a welcome addition. This comes at the cost of only minor updates to the core gameplay modes, but it was ultimately the right call to make, and Madden is a better game for it.
Loopmancer is like a great cover of a classic song, in 2D action-platformer roguelite form. It may not be very creative, but it's excellent and highly replayable nonetheless.
Combining the shooting action of Sniper Elite with the replayability of Hitman sounds like a winning idea. But is it?