The Falconeer may not nail the “perch” as well as one may hope but this unique air combat game offers enough unique combat and flying mechanics to make it worthwhile despite its story and mission variety issues.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla offers perhaps the biggest most content filled world to explore yet in a lore filled land where combat is king while stealth still takes a step back compared to previous entries.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope is a noticeable improvement as it spins a mysteriously horrifying tale that still ends up lacking in some areas.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon takes big risks and becomes a slightly flawed but highly enjoyable RPG that takes the over-the-top nature of the Yakuza series and turns it up a notch.
Undead Darlings ~ no cure for love ~’s story outshines its dungeon crawling but this unpolished gem of a visual novel RPG proves to be well worth delving into.
Watch Dogs: Legion tries something new and it serves as both the game’s biggest strength and a small weakness as the amount of variety at every turn makes this a game players will constantly want to sink time into.
Nexomon: Extinction features a great story and some unique changes to a familiar formula that both help and hinder the experience, making it something great for fans of the genre but not quite up to the level of a certain series.
Tell Me Why features a compelling mystery that loses its depth the longer the story progresses but its strong characters and solid puzzles prove that Dontnod hasn’t missed a step.
Giraffe and Annika may be a bit too simple for its own good but its childlike charm makes for a light and delightful adventure game.
Serious Sam 4 may not differ too much from its norm but it brings the high-paced frantic FPS action that fans love to an entirely new level.
While still a solid basketball game, NBA 2K21 doesn’t bring enough new to the table this year and instead focuses more on constant grind for VC.
Although Pathfinder: Kingmaker Definitive Edition delivers an incredibly lengthy story and great combat, far too many bugs and troublesome kingdom mechanics can suck some of the fun from this table top RPG brought to console.
Kandagawa Jet Girls is a solid but too easy arcade racer that doesn’t quite deliver on fan-service but still manages to offer a great collection of characters.
Destroy All Humans! is a fun and modernized action game that is held back by its 2005 design structure.
Despite its short length and occasionally odd use of levels Battletoads succeeds in becoming a toadally worthwhile reboot.
Fairy Tail’s magical combat is a delight while some of its story handling and repetitive requests can be a bit of a grind even on longtime fans of the franchise.
Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen finally brings the original game to the West with an amazing storyline hampered by simple tactical combat.
Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town oozes with charm and great gameplay mechanics that allow for an enjoyable farming simulator that remains a bit too simple at times.
The Last of Us Part II has the great combat and stealth that fans have come to love but also a one-note storyline more obsessed with being dark than telling a well-written tale.
Time hasn’t been kind to some aspects of Ys: Memories of Celceta but a great combat system, now free of technical issues, combined with an amazing soundtrack brings this action RPG together into a great package once again all these years later.