More than a "yoyovania," Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo is a great tribute to all great Game Boy Advance games, understanding the appeal of both their minimalism and their maximalism.
A beautiful portrait of a 2001 neighborhood in Quito, Ecuador, taking advantage of the deep personal connections the gaming medium is best for, despelote seamlessly imprints itself on the player's mind.
Captain Blood's fascinating history makes its faults as endearing as they are annoying, but the act of playing it is surprisingly dull. Still, it is worth checking out for any game history enthusiast.
Never reaching its true potential, Soulslinger: Envoy of Death muddles its strengths with technical issues. Lacking balance, its power fantasy quickly makes way for tedium and annoyance.
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves enters the fray with an old-school mentality and youthful energy that can provide the kind of fighting game experience many people are looking for on the current scene.
Combine a bizarre hidden gem from Atari's arcade days with all the wonderful signature elements of Llamasoft and you have yourself a truly elevated gem of a puzzle shooter.
Breakout Beyond is a minimalistic, vibey light show rendition of a classic casual game that proves there is plenty of artful spirit in Atari's blocky classics, even though it could do with more unique levels.
The Stone of Madness innovates on tactical stealth and charms with the detailed art, but its survival mechanics bring too little to the table to sell me on this new formula.
All the AI-generated content in the world cannot save the one cool visual idea that Mekkablood has, but it's not like it tried that hard to begin with.
ANTONBLAST is a new benchmark title for all Wario Land-inspired games thanks to its unbelievably exciting levels and bosses that can rival any classic 2D platformer
Though Veilguard plays it too safe too often, this update on a Bioware structure is addictive. It takes a while to get used to its presentation, but once it starts dishing out punches there is no going back.
The lackluster lineup of titles in Tetris Forever only adds salt to the wound of having to follow up one of this year's best titles, but the greatness of the story and Tetris itself still comes through.
More of a sidegrade than an upgrade to its predecessor, the inherent appeal of Shin-chan, Japanese countrysides and summertime lollygagging come through enough to keep me captivated by the series.
Consistently and positively urprising with its level of quality and innovative ways of using the property, The Smurfs – Dreams is an unexpected treat for all platformer enthusiasts.
Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a surprisingly stellar release thanks to its great theming, tight levels and just the right amount of friction in the controls. One of my favorite experiences this year.
A remake of an overlooked NES action side-scroller, Shadow of the Ninja - Reborn wants its players to focus on its least exciting exploration elements instead of mastering its levels naturally
BAKERU is a slow-paced education-action-exploration mishmash that does not quite reached the heights I wanted it to, but its lively levels are a breath of fresh air I would love to see more of.
A tiny piece of top-down Zelda meant to be mastered, Castaway is not perfect, but possesses all the tools to awaken the casual perfectionist in any player.
With a varied selection of movement systems between each character, rich audiovisuals and deceptively impressive levels, Fallen Leaf excels at combining the many ideas of NES classics.
A messy release, and not just due to the blood. The bugs and combat issues drag down an otherwise stellar debut title. Hopefully only the beginning for a studio that understands what makes video games fun.