Sonic Frontiers is a hugely ambitious new direction for the series that comes close to hitting on all cylinders.
Terror of Hemasaurus is an immensely entertaining monster-fest that, while never backs down from the carnage, makes the violence work with a layer of cheerful dark humor.
Once you get the hang of things Eyes in the Dark: The Curious Case of One Victoria Bloom clicks into place and becomes a great little action-platformer to blast through.
While a different game from its prequel, Mothergunship: Forge is a great arena shooter with a strong challenge level.
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.
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
Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem is an excellent entry in the long-running series.
Archvale is a fantastic genre hybrid, easily merging the shooter and RPG elements together to create a ridiculously playable adventure.
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.
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.
Super Meat Boy Forever is an incredibly polished and fully worthwhile sequel to the platforming classic.
Serious Sam 4 is easily the richest game in the series, expanding on the character and his world while not holding back on the action that's been the major draw from the earliest days.