Monster Hunter Rise is probably the best game in the series. It isn’t quite as accessible as World, but long term it offers much more varied combat and a richer experience. Its world and gameplay are insanely engaging and fun. Technically, the port to PC results in solid, smooth gameplay and marginally better visuals. If you have a choice, it’s definitely the way to play, the best and most complete version of one of 2021’s standout games.
Unfamiliar with the franchise, I was genuinely and pleasantly surprised by Sword and Fairy: Together Forever. Although its pacing may frustrate impatient gamers, its story is worth telling. With outstanding art direction, music, and combat mechanics, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever should appeal to fans of sprawling RPGs. While the player can sometimes feel like an observer rather than a participant, Sword and Fairy: Together Forever is welcoming to newcomers. It may still be a niche series, but Sword and Fairy Together Forever cements the franchise’s viability for a larger audience.
The Artful Escape is by turns psychedelic, moving, exultant, and lovely. The central metaphor of a young performer bringing fantastic new worlds into existence through the art of music is a powerful one, and while the theme of a struggling musician finding his authentic voice while paying homage to the past might not be a new one, it’s certainly new to videogames. The Artful Escape only missteps when it tries too hard to be a game, ironic given the story’s premise of search for authenticity. Aside from that, The Artful Escape is a surprising and joyous exploration of the power of collaboration, the struggle for identity, and the mind-blowing, life-altering sound of the very loud galactic symphony.
Warhammer 40K: Chaos Gate Daemonhunters is not only an engaging turn-based strategy game, but one of the best translations of the 40K universe to the PC. With a great story and wealth of options in combat, Daemonhunters also captures the visual aesthetics of the Space Marines and infectious Nurgle. While the interface and some systems could benefit from a bit more elegance and simplicity, Daemonhunters is dramatic, over-the-top, amusing and deeply satisfying. Learning its systems and sticking with the lengthy campaign is a commitment to be sure, but one that fans of 40K should be happy to make.
If you’re looking for a complex city builder where you need to stress over sewage systems and power grids, Two Point Campus isn’t it. However, if you want to spend some happy hours creatively building the college that you wish you had attended, mission accomplished. Two Point Campus is first and foremost a lot of fun. It doesn’t thumb its nose at higher education so much as use it as a jumping-off point for silliness and a relatively deep building sim. Two Point Campus is a warm-hearted and good-natured take on college life, an engaging sim that’s accessible and entertaining.
Graphically, Uncharted 4 and The Lost Legacy are showing their age just a bit. The new PC release pulls them from the past into something very close to present day standards, not that they ever looked bad. In terms of fun factor, writing and action, Uncharted 4 remains compelling. PC players, your long wait is over. The Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves collection is definitely worth your time and money. If you’ve already played it on PS5, the port isn’t going to be a revelation or substantially different.
While Age of Wonders 4 doesn’t shy away from depth and complexity, it rarely overwhelms the player. Starting with the faction creator, Age of Wonders 4 is dedicated to letting the player shape their experience as much as possible. No matter how you prefer to play, you’re in for hours of engaging strategy and tactics with an incredible array of mix-and-match fantasy elements.
Everspace 2 has a solid narrative, great arcade-style flight and combat mechanics, and an addictive explore, loot, and fight gameplay loop. That was true on the PC and it’s just as true on consoles. Everspace 2 is proof that an unexpected genre mashup like looter/shooter and space combat can play nicely together.
My actual car is covered in grime and road dirt, but I’m happy to ignore the laborious task of washing it in favor of doing the same task in virtual reality. PowerWash Simulator has always been an addictive, relaxing, and satisfying game. PowerWash Simulator VR feels like a game that has found its true home and the most convincing version of itself possible. It’s a great addition to the growing library for the Quest 3.
From character creation on, Dragon’s Dogma 2 asks to be approached with patience, understanding, and above all, ownership of choices. You get one save at a time.
Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights has been in early access on Steam for quite some time, where it has garnered significant praise, and rightly so. Now coming to consoles and in full release on PC, any fan of games like Hollow Knight, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night or the Dark Souls franchise will enjoy Ender Lilies for its incredible art, mysterious story and action combat. Although it can be a little frustrating, Ender Lilies combat-by-proxy is an interesting and generally successful twist on familiar action mechanics, and the game hits the sweet spot between challenge and accessibility most of the time.
What appeals to individual gamers is, of course, subjective but I’ve long felt that Elder Scrolls Online is the best MMORPG on consoles thanks to its world-building, lore, quests, story, and ability to reward both solo and group experiences equally. The recent introduction of companions made a solo-friendly game even more inviting. With the Enhanced Version, Elder Scrolls Online definitely steps up as the best looking and smoothest running MMORPG you can find on the PS5, and no longer feels in any way inferior to the PC version.
Although it doesn’t reinvent survival game mechanics, Grounded’s setting goes a long way towards making the familiar seem new. The world is great fun to explore. It’s easy to lose yourself for hours in the game’s satisfying loops and creative environments. The narrative does a good job of giving you direction but not a rigid path, so you’re always free to take your time and enjoy. Slightly tepid combat and a few minor technical issues aside, Grounded is one of the most engaging survival crafting games I’ve played in quite a while.
The ability to partner familiar Marvel superstars with a hero of your own creation is just part of Midnight Sun’s appeal. The card battle system perfectly balances easy-to-learn with tough-to-master. With a heavy emphasis on narrative and character, Marvel’s Midnight Suns is much more than an X-COM clone. The Marvel gang feels right at home in the tactical RPG genre thanks to the game’s smart mechanics. Fighting alongside iconic Marvel heroes never gets old.
The Warhammer 40,000 universe is a good match for a retro shooter and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is proof that the concept works. Not every Games Workshop licensed game is a winner, but Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun crosses the finish line in style. It’s not deep or complex. Most of its core mechanics are decades old. But I had more simple, addictive fun with Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun than with many, more sophisticated shooters of late.
Although it drove under the radar on PS4, Wreckfest deserves the attention of racing fans, especially those with a destructive streak and a love of vehicular mayhem. With its vastly improved framerates and bumped-up resolution, Wreckfest on PS5 is the definitive way to play the game, whether against humans or the game’s more-than-decent AI drivers. Wreckfest might not be the new console generation’s ultimate racing sim, but it has some depth, a unique set of chops, and is a lot of fun.
Although 2019 didn’t quite peg the games-quality meter as much as the prior year, it did have its share of standout titles, Metro: Exodus included. The game sold enough to spawn some excellent DLC as well. For anyone who missed Metro: Exodus in its original release and can scale the graphics card barrier to entry, the Enhanced Edition is definitely a must-buy. Thankfully players without the requisite gear can still enjoy the game’s other, less major, improvements and fixes too.
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is an exemplar of the CRPG genre, allowing the player to go on a very specific and incredibly rich fantasy journey, with mechanics and systems to add depth, variety and replayability at every turn. While it is much more welcoming to casual players than Kingmaker, there are still a great number of things to comprehend, manage and optimize in the course of play and the game is not without some jank and bugs. The new Mythic Path element is a literal game changer, the story and characters are engaging and although still just a bit intimidating, Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous improves on its predecessor in significant ways. There are a lot of excellent ARPGs on the market, and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous certainly deserves a place among them.
At its core, Far Cry 6 both shines and suffers from many of the same strengths and weaknesses that have characterized the last few entries in the franchise. On one hand, it has incredibly engaging action and an open world begging to be used creatively. On the other, it has repetitive and sometimes rote mission design, with disconcerting tonal shifts that seat inconceivable brutality and violence at the same table with silly, absurd humor that feels at best disrespectful, and at worst, wildly inappropriate. What finally elevates Far Cry 6 is a better-than-average cast, and a more comprehensible and grounded story that is set in one of the most lavish and beautiful environments ever created for a game. It’s fascinating, flawed, and full of contradictions. It’s a Far Cry game.
Not every task and mission is equally interesting and some of Tails’ movement mechanics feel slightly unresponsive, but those are small dings against an otherwise very enjoyable rat-centric game, and we don’t have nearly enough of those.