Neva cements Nomada Studio as a master of color and art design, with phenomenal visuals and animations that make the powerful, emotional narrative even more impactful. Neva also dramatically improves gameplay versus GRIS with satisfying combat and platforming. My only major grip is that the journey is simply over too soon.
Slay the Princess is a critically acclaimed visual novel that has enjoyed a ton of positive reception, and now it's on consoles with all-new paths, endings, dialogue, and art. It's an excellent expansion of an already-great game that reminds me of The Stanley Parable in the best, most terrifying way possible. However, the user interface and menus still lack refinement and I encountered several technical issues — I have to review the game as it is now, and it's a little rough around the edges.
With the credits rolling as I write this verdict, Metaphor: ReFantazio has cemented itself as the best game I've played this year so far. While the long periods of time with no gameplay and the divisive art style may not be to everyone's taste, Metaphor: ReFantazio makes a compelling argument for the "game of the year" title with its evocative and passionately crafted narrative, loveable and believable characters, incredible RPG, combat, and social simulation elements, and an art design that truly brings to life this unique world.
Ara: History Untold is challenging the heavy hitters in a very competitive genre, but stands out thanks to its unique approach to 4X grand strategy and innovative mechanics. It's a gorgeous and polished turn-based strategy game that hooks you with "one more turn" and keeps you hooked with its flexible and varied strategy gameplay.
Capcom's new franchise takes another stab at combining action and strategy game genres, and it does so with great success. This tower-defense-like pits you against varied hordes of enemies across diverse challenge stages dripping with style, and it's a lot of fun to conquer. It can sometimes be frustrating more than invigorating, though.
A game like Senua's Saga: Hellblade II can only be the result of years of passion and talent, captivating you with its unbelievable visuals, impeccable audio design, and powerful thought-provoking narrative. It's a veritable masterpiece, but it's just shy of perfection thanks to an average PC port and some minor criticisms.
Botany Manor is a lovely little puzzle game that's relaxing, engaging, beautiful, and approachable. It's a great first game from Balloon Studios with a lot of charm, but it's not perfect, and it's even shorter than I expected. Being a day-one addition to Xbox Game Pass, though, makes it stupendously easy to recommend Botany Manor for an afternoon of fun.
Apart from brief moments of frustration, Jusant is a beautiful and relaxing puzzle-adventure game.
Wizard with a Gun from Devolver Digital and Galvanic Games successfully builds an enthralling apocalyptic world with unique time and magic-based mechanics to power its addictive, roguelite gameplay loop. Some rough performance and visual edges detract from the magic, though.
COCOON captured my interest from its first reveal trailer, and now it's one of my favorite games of the year. This unique, beautiful, mysterious puzzle-adventure game enraptures you from the first few seconds of gameplay, and keeps you entranced for its short runtime with fascinating world design, genuinely clever and engaging puzzles, and some of best visuals in gaming this year.
Forza Motorsport (2023) isn't just a new beginning for the legendary simulation racing franchise, it also represents a previously unreached peak for the series. Turn 10 Studios have done an incredible job delivering one of the best core driving experiences of any game, but not everything has been properly rebuilt from the ground up.
After Us features a sprawling, desolate world painstakingly crafted to show the destruction wrought by human greed, but its camera controls and level design make the platforming awkward and often frustrating.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie immediately won me over with its beautiful art design, skillful writing, and high-quality voice acting. While the finished product doesn't quite reach the same level of magic, this is still an incredible choice-based, narrative game of hope, loss, love, and humanity.
Layers of Fear (2023) makes full use of Unreal Engine 5 to elevate its visuals, lighting, and environments to all-new heights, reimagines the original Layers of Fear, and features brand-new DLC content to tie the entire story together. Layers of Fear 2 still struggles to compare, however, and scares often fail to land.
Minecraft Legends is a wonderful addition to the expanding Minecraft universe, perfectly encapsulating its character while exploring a new, unique action-strategy genre. Its two halves aren't always perfectly balanced, though, and there are certainly ways the game can improve.
Atomic Heart nails the art design and core gameplay loops but loses focus due to its vast array of game mechanics and untailored open-world segments. Inconsistent writing quality and inaccessible game design will likely frustrate many players, but Atomic Heart can still manage to be an incredibly fun adventure.
From beginning to end, Hi-Fi RUSH is a rhythmic thrill ride replete with stunning art design, fantastically fun gameplay, and a surprisingly evocative narrative of friendship and determination.
Pentiment's gameplay — or lack thereof — may deter some would-be players, but those who become invested in its lovingly crafted world set in distant past, emotional and human narrative, and gripping murder conspiracy are guaranteed to fall in love.
The morbid, danger-laden adventure of siblings Amicia and Hugo continues with A Plague Tale: Requiem, a dark, beautiful sequel resplendent with expanded gameplay and swarms of deadly plague-riddled rats.
Grounded concluded its early access tenure with one final update to pull everything together and add hours of fresh new content, resulting in one of the best games of 2022. Grounded is bound to inspire other titles in the survival genre for years to come.