There's an argument to be made that Judgment does at points let the familiar get the best of itself — confusing the mere sake of additional features and mechanics for those that genuinely feel like fresh changes.
For those looking for an extra bit of challenge — not to mention one heck of a sequel-bait left to linger right at the very end — The Messenger: Picnic Panic fits the bill of tasking players to prove their worth with every and all skills they've accumulated from the base game.
It would be misleading to ignore the many borrowed ideas and means to appease long-time fans of past WRPGs and current action RPGs alike.
While it's a slight shame that the series this year doesn't quite come out unscathed, WRC 8 is nonetheless a fun and well-crafted entrant in the World Rally Championship series.
Delightful a package this ends up being — with a surprising glee to be had when it comes to fiddling about with the many game-altering tonics on show — it's by no means an argument for Playtonic to ditch altogether the idea of revisiting traditional 3D for a hypothetical "Twooka-Laylee" follow-up.
Even with these unfortunate and evident shortcomings on the technical side, The Outer Worlds is a rewarding and ultimately intriguing adventure to partake in.
Even with its unfortunate dip in visual quality from time to time, that aside, a lot of the points held against Skookum Arts can be admittedly put down to personal aspirations not met, rather than some fundamental flaw the game is undeniably guilty of.
Admittedly this is a game that requires players, from the word go, to get onboard with the idea that pace isn't paramount and that its complicated controls also serve the greater aesthetic on show.
It's unfortunate that such a shortfall with its story, its delivery of such and the utter lack of reason to care about what's going on, is so evident.
The addition of new bosses and items to acquire will naturally feel tempting — with some sufficient improvements to note on how said encounters have been designed — and providing you can tolerate the need to re-roll, Swamps of Corsus offers plenty for players to jump back into.
More than four years on, SUPERHOT remains as instantly recognizable and immensely appealing a gameplay concept as it ever was on day one.
While it's a shame that Gunfire Games haven't worked out the best method in presenting a character-led story in this formula of game, it doesn't tarnish too much how enjoyable and tempting Remnant is to go again at its campaign efforts over and over.
For those who can forgive the confusing online component, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 stands as another well-crafted and well-realized remake of an old favorite.
Though the story elements won't be to everyone's taste - and as such, the efforts the game makes to inject a sense of drama and interpretation stakes can fall flat and veer into being completely off-putting - the sheer breadth and scale that Genshin Impact offers means that the brief lows in no way impact on the many lofty highs offered up.
Like any roguelike, Noita's - as much as the player's own - fortunes can falter in that they're heavily-reliant on the luck of the draw.
Though it may feel like a case of "more of the same" as opposed to some grand, fourth-and-final leap forward, Trails of Cold Steel IV just about manages to achieve success in maintaining that kind of familiar yet high standard the saga has satisfied long-time fans with.
Despite its narrative leading to little in the way of a noteworthy tale, TOHU manages to gracefully side-step such an omission through wise understanding of its scale.
That same distortion and monstrous-like exaggeration of previous may be out in full force once again, but Little Nightmares II succeeds on its bolder and more refined continuation from the 2017 original.
But even with these brief spots of imbalance - when the Lemming-like behaviour of minions can feel a little too brain-dead or uncontrollable - Evil Genius 2: World Domination is still an impressive revival of a decades-old philosophy on strategy games.
The bloodshot, eye-widening surprise may not be as extreme here, but Pac-Man 99 is just as tense a competitive prospect its Tetris counterpart was in 2019.