Joel Couture
Almost a decade later, Super Meat Boy still offers an excellent difficulty curve, sharp level design, and heartless, brutal platforming.
Okami HD is a good action game, but it is a better game about how a dog can make a life better.
Hyakki Castle is a solid dungeon crawler with some fun classes, mechanics, and amazing monsters to keep drawing players into the labyrinth.
Jettomero: Hero of the Universe arrests with its vision of the beauty of stars and planets, as well as the sheer heart of the blank-faced machine you share your journey with.
Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen gives players a realm of exciting grand battles against challenging enemies, but offers little narrative reason to make it appealing.
The Evil Within 2 is horrifying delight, using a feeling of vulnerability to make players appreciate every moment they're still alive.
Fight'N Rage easily deserves a spot alongside Streets of Rage, Double Dragon, and Final Fight, offering extremely satisfying action, sharp foes, deep movesets, solid music, and delightful punches.
Ruiner is a dizzying affair in combat, offering tons of things for players to consider as music pounds their senses. However, a lack of weapon impact, fights that often feel too similar, and a lifeless world takes away from its appeal.
Whether quietly or in a shower of blood, Death of the Outsider offers a satisfying romp through a complex, living, deep world.
Tokyo Dark offers a powerful player experience, having them solve the crime on their own terms, whatever those may be, and deal with the consequences in immediate, unsettling ways.
Interesting friendships between varied characters from multiple games, a fun combat system with some welcome additions, and that same soldier stomping fun make Warriors All Stars a solid Musou game.
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle is a gorgeous adventure and an engrossing tactical romp, offering a solid challenge and some unique combat quirks that will please tactical fans.
White Day: A Labyrinth Named School offers some chilling ghostly encounters, provides seemingly endless terrors and new ways to be frightened.
Observer takes place and memories and turns them into frightening things, dragging the player into realms of terrifying visions that stir up a nameless fear.
Alwa's Awakening takes its players to pretty pixelated places filled with NES challenge, but mars the whole experience with a clumsy magic system that makes the game's difficult platforming segments needlessly frustrating.
Plague Road's visuals may tell an intriguing story, but the rest of the game has very little to say.
A decent action game, but one weighed down by its terrible plot, crummy characters, and off-putting attempts to be racy.
Mages of Mystralia mixes clever spellcasting and magical customization in a fun fantasy realm that players won't want to leave.
When players learn it all, Ruin of the Reckless makes for some frantic roguelike fun.
Slippery movement and some unreliable mechanics make Super Rude Bear Resurrection a bit harder than it ought to be for new players, but overall offers good challenge and creative level design.