The weird thing is, though, that somehow it all ends up working.
While the opening can be off-putting, Salt and Sacrifice is a huge game that picks up almost instantly once you're past the beginning, with multiple large areas that will each take a good amount of hours to explore and track down all the Mages that roam there.
Rogue Legacy 2 is an enormous beast of an adventure, packed with fast combat, great platforming and endless replayability.
The Cruel King and the Great Hero is a pure charmer of an RPG. The playful storybook art and lovely soundtrack strike an adventurous tone, and all the characters from Yuu and the Dragon King down to the random monsters are adorably designed.
Infernax by Berzerk Studios
Grapple Dog is a fantastic platformer that nails just about everything it tries to do.
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem is an excellent entry in the long-running series.
There's a lot to love about The Gunk even if the core gameplay rarely rises above being pretty OK. It's a good adventure through a unique and pretty alien world, filled with character and life.
While Asteroids: Recharged is a decent update of the classic game and is a welcome return for the series, it's also not as effective at tugging on the nostalgia strings as the previous Recharged games.
Archvale is a fantastic genre hybrid, easily merging the shooter and RPG elements together to create a ridiculously playable adventure.
Among Trees is a game that ends up being more pretty than good, but then again it's incredibly pretty so that's a high bar to clear.
While it would have been nice to see Centipeded: Recharged's leaderboard and score-reporting issues addressed in Black Widow: Recharged, the twin-stick shooting action provides a great quick-hit arcade rush.
While the start of Into the Pit is unquestionably rocky, the follow-through is a blast, with fast action and serious pyrokinetics as monsters turn into blood splats decorating the walls.
While the leaderboards are wonky the rest of Centipede: Recharged feels just about exactly like you'd want the original game to be when dragged into the current year.
Cave built up a strong fan-base over its years of development and Espgaluda II is a perfect example as to why.
Axiom Verge 2 is exactly what a sequel should be in that it's more of the same but different.
Grime is a brutal rocky beast of a Metroidvania, set in a strange and truly alien world of bizarre monsters and darkly-beautiful landscapes.
Star Wars Pinball VR is a strong collection of tables that all play differently from each other, whether it's the large dominating loops of Rogue One, the small spiral tower of Classic Collectibles or the dark and light holocrons of Masters of the Force. The tables revamped from standard-screen play were already a good pinball time and the two new ones complement them well, plus the move to VR makes any digital pinball better.
Game development is hard and things can get crazy, but usually it at least sticks to the realm of the physically possible.
Cozy Grove is a wonderful, loveable, colorful take and the life-sim genre, with a huge amount to discover spread out over a long period of play.