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Like a recently resurrected corpse, parts to ROMEO IS A DEAD MAN’s gameplay and story are cold to the touch, as it occasionally stumbles trying to grasp all of its ambitions. Yet there are just as many moments of genuine warmth, exuding confidence when expressing its boundless imagination. For my first foray into the unhinged mind of Suda51, the consistently bonkers creativity is the beating heart that gives this title strength. Creativity doesn’t automatically make for the smoothest experience. Nonetheless, this is a DeadMan I’ll look back on with both affectionate fondness, and conflicted frustration.
Relooted makes you feel like you're a mastermind, and escaping is thrilling, but there are just enough problems that drag the experience down to the point you can't ignore them.
Pathologic 3 takes the series in a brand new, totally unique direction fitting for the Bachelor. While the game lacks the boots-on-the-ground trials and tribulations of 2, focusing on the bigger picture, it depicts the fate of the Town on Ghorkon in a fascinating fashion. You'll have a fun time fighting the plague here, and will be thinking about this game for years to come.
Dragon Quest VII Reimagined wants to have its cake and eat it too, but ends up feeling incredibly bland in most aspects. It's still a Dragon Quest game and is fun to a point, but in sanding off the edges of the original game it loses the charm of a time traveling adventure and becomes a rote, forgettable RPG checklist of a game.
Don't Stop, GirlyPop! has a fun premise and charm with great feeling movement and guns that are fun to shoot, but it's ultimately inept and even its best parts are clumsy.
Escape from Ever After is a simple, enticing turn-based RPG with a great sense of humor. It features storybook worlds many of us are familiar with and bends them in a way that keeps the characters new and fresh. If you’re a fan of comedy, Paper Mario, or RPGs in general, you should give this a go. Whether you’re 7 or 70, there’s a good time to be had here.
Octopath Traveler 0 is much, much more than a simple remake of a mobile game. It uses that as a base, but still feels like a full fledged RPG in its own right. It’s a different take on a lot of Octopath’s usual systems and tropes, and feels incredibly refreshing in that respect. Its plot can flounder at the start and middle chapters, but can be enthralling once it finally gets going. The battle system is just as fun as ever, being bigger and yet more restrictive in a very interesting way. Whether you’re after revenge or restoration, there’s fun to be had in either path.
Skate Story is the perfect skateboarding game for your friend who always says they’re working on a screenplay but never actually gets around to finishing it. Or maybe that’s you. Or maybe that’s me. Or maybe it’s just perfect for everyone. You’ll be moved, you’ll bump to the incredible music, and most importantly: you’ll shred.
Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow fully embraces the power of virtual reality while staying true to the core elements that made the original series so beloved in the first place. Immersive in a way only VR can bring, this game is a must-play for stealth fans and a magical love letter for returning fans. The original may have defined a genre, but Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow raises it to a whole new level.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion packs all the punch you’d expect from a comic book splash page. It’s clearly made with the kind of love for the source material that I’m looking for, and it improves on Shredder’s Revenge in every way that matters to me.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide is a blast to play. Fans of the show will find that there is no end to the references packed within this entry. The combat feels fantastic, especially when controlling Patrick, and the platforming elements feel smoother than they have ever been. Sadly, the story pacing and cutscenes make the game drag.
Dispatch is a very uneven experience. It has polish in some places but severely lacks it in others. It has great characters but you don’t get to spend much time with the good ones. The dispatching segments can be fun but feel somewhat shallow. The game has sparks of absolute brilliance, though can use those sparks to start a dumpster fire. It’s worth playing and enjoyable for any fans of narrative focused games or superheroes, but might be memorable for the wrong reasons.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is an incredible feat by all teams involved. There has not been a Call of Duty game yet that has the scope of Black Ops 7, or the interconnected social experience it provides. Every facet of the game, whether Zombies, Multiplayer, Endgame, Dead Ops Arcade 4, or campaign, feels like it was crafted passionately. Outstanding gameplay and progression systems back up a packed title; I’ll be playing BO7 for a very long time. Black Ops 7 is the pinnacle of modern Call of Duty, blending the past with the present in a way that’s worthy of the grind you’ll be putting into it.
Forestrike is an action rogue-like where players can practice every battle before it occurs by using the Foresight. This system in and of itself is fun, but the game can’t get out of its own way with unfair balancing that punishes the player regardless of performance. Even so, when the gameplay works, it works wonderfully, with an excellent sense of aesthetics and a strong story and characters to back it up.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II’s last hurrah is a stellar one. Mysteria Ecclesiae is a detective-like tale featuring a lot of great dialogue and even more stealth. While it may be more fun to fans of that character build, the story is worth taking another trip to 1400s Bohemia.
Consume Me is a pure delight to indulge in with a style that makes the mundane life of a teenager look exciting and like something straight out of a manga, but with messaging that hits home and touches on very real topics that harm a lot of teenage girls.
Bounty Star is a title of interesting ideas that never fully realizes any of them. The narrative foundation is strong, the setting is unique, and the ambition to blend mech warfare with homestead management deserves praise. But the execution fumbles with its overly repetitive design and shallow systems.
Pokémon Legends Z-A gives us an amazing, fresh take on Pokémon battles, but that’s about all it does. Difficult fights are a highlight, but they can feel few and far between in a game that really overstays its welcome. When it works, it’s an absolute blast, but since there’s nothing else to do it’s a very one note game.
If you craved a sprawling space opera with weighty choices and layered systems, The Outer Worlds 2 achieves that vision. Obsidian succeeds in expanding the scope, immaculate vibes, and mechanical depth of the first game whilst keeping the sharp writing and player choice they’re known for.
Jurassic World Evolution 3 is a triumph for the Jurassic World Evolution series of games. Every inch of this game is oozing with quality-of-life improvements. I am seriously chomping at the bit to get my hands on free updates and further DLC.