Obviously, the match-3 genre isn’t known for producing a lot of innovation – unless you count finding new ways to get people addicted innovative. But Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 3 is a clear exception to that rule. It’s addictive, sure, but it’s also interesting, and fleshed-out, and funny. Whether you’re a fan of the genre or someone who usually can’t stand it, you owe it to yourself to check this game out.
It’s a cozy, wholesome game about running a café and collecting weird creatures, and it’s got to be the most chill game imaginable. There are no real timers, no pressing objectives, nothing that could cause you stress in any way. It’s wonderful.
Even if there’s some good there (specifically, the artwork), that’s balanced out by design decisions that make the game a lot more annoying than it should be.
It bills itself as a mash-up of Slay the Spire and Stacklands, but it doesn’t really add anything to either of those games beyond a tribal motif.
Everyone’s specific experiences with Peppered will differ, but taken as a whole, I have to imagine that anyone who like platformers will find themselves well-rewarded by this game.
Star Overdrive is another example of a game where a cool reveal didn’t live up to the end result. Whatever inspiration there was to be found in last year’s trailer didn’t make it to the finished product, and there’s little here to make the game worth recommending.
This entry in the Two Point series definitely represents a slight turn towards being (slightly) more serious and (slightly) more demanding – and while that may not be the worst thing in the world, it’s definitely not what I look to the series for, personally.
Obviously, if Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered hits your nostalgia just right, none of that matters, and you’ll enjoy getting the chance to play some old favourites again on modern hardware. But without that sense of nostalgia, you’ll be left with a trio of games that weren’t all that good first time around, and it’s hard to imagine you’ll find them very worthwhile.
Wyrmhall is a rare bird: a cozy game that doesn’t try to hide how repetitive it is at its core, but finds a way to make that gameplay loop surprisingly addictive. If you’re looking for something to knock out in a sitting, it’s worth checking out.
It’s quite possible that Sony don’t think they need MLB The Show 25 to be a huge departure – after two years of adding in some cool new features, this may be the year they decided to coast a little. And, I mean, why not? Even a forgettable version of MLB The Show still delivers a best-in-class baseball experience. It makes it hard to recommend if you picked up the last few years’ editions, but if you’ve taken a year or two off, it might be time to jump back in.
If you want a traditional, linear experience with clear goals and objectives, Atomfall probably isn’t what you’re after. It’s very much a player-directed experience – for better and for worse, depending on your perspective. However, if you’re the type who wants a game to give you the freedom to play however you want, then you owe it to yourself to check out Atomfall.
No matter how fun the gameplay is, that doesn’t matter if the game doesn’t consistently work, and I don’t think anyone could realistically say that Rise of the Ronin works as it should on PC.
With a story that keeps you engaged and guessing to the end (whichever end you uncover), Expelled! is a worthy successor to inkle’s previous glories, and it’s the kind of game that every mystery fan needs to play.
Petit Island borrows a lot of well-established ideas without doing enough to make any of them feel like its own, and as a result, you’ll come away from the game wishing you could play some of those other games instead.
Regardless of whether you want to play with someone else in-person or online, Split Fiction is well worth your time. It’s an excellent co-op adventure, and it’s easy to imagine the game garnering the same kind of following – and accolades – as It Takes Two.
Rolando was a triumph of mobile gaming on its first release, and Rolando Deluxe shows that it’s every bit as great now.
If you’re a fan of old-school shooters – or even if you just like games where you don’t have to think much and you can fire away at everything that moves – you should definitely check out Forgive Me Father 2. It doesn’t break new ground, but with weapons and action this fun, it doesn’t need to.
I’m not sure that Avowed needs to feel weighty and meaningful to be fun. In fact, I’d say that it’s better because it’s not trying to make itself into a grand statement. Avowed is, as I noted above, exactly what you’d imagine a fantasy epic to be – and it’s all the better for it.
Ys X: Nordics is a fine return to form for the series. Time will tell whether the already-announced sequel (expanded version?) is a worthwhile upgrade, but why wait until then? We know this version is good as it stands, and that’s more than enough to make it worth your time.
It’s undeniably a great game when it works, and everything that made it our GOTY a few years ago still stands. I’m sure the PC version will get there eventually, and when that happens it’ll be a must-play for anyone who loves big, open-world superhero games…but for now, you’re better off holding off, and giving the game a little more time to iron out the kinks.