It’s a shame that Biomutant isn’t a better put-together piece of software. Its world feels unique, the way it blends different combat styles is fun and it’s a visual treat to look at on a big 4K TV. But countless bugs, performance issues, overly talkative NPCs, boring quest design, and a sense of overall jank makes it hard to excitedly share this game with people.
Village may not live up to the potential of its immediate predecessor, but it’s a safe new entry in the series that induces the same entertaining anxiety as my favorite Resident Evil games and provides a few interesting wrinkles for where the franchise might go next.
Returnal feels like a next-gen game.
New Pokémon Snap is pretty magical as well. It takes the unique formula of the 1999 original and expands on it just enough to feel like a completely new adventure, without diluting the simple joy of riding and snapping photos of impossible creatures.
I’m happy that Outriders tries to be something different and more self-contained. It might limit its longevity, but it was nice to play something that was an adventure and not a treadmill covered in bad loot and battle passes.
This year is only barely two months old, but I can confidently say Persona 5 Strikers will be on my game of the year list. I didn’t expect a musou spin-off to be a competent sequel to one of my favorite games of the last five years. It’s almost unfair to call Strikers a musou game, as it doesn’t feel like a Dynasty Warriors game at all. For as much as I love Koei Tecmo’s tentpole action series, Strikers’ combat is too slick and too varied, and too stylistically Persona to be called a typical musou. And I think it’s that combat that saves an otherwise sparsely appointed game.
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury is essentially the same game on Switch that some of you may have experienced on Wii U. While there’s no denying that the new hardware can’t keep up with the game’s ambitions at times, this bundle is at its core another fantastic Mario experience.
In a different reality, I could see this game being something special. And it might, like so many other horror games and movies, go on to become a cult classic. But in this realm, for me, it just doesn’t come together.
Narratively and structurally, Hitman 3 strips its own make believe away, leaving the series’ core darkness on display.
My favorite ending in Cyberpunk is the one a lot of players call the “bad” ending. I wouldn’t have been satisfied if it were my only choice, but its sad but uncompromising tone felt right for my playthrough. In every ending, characters you forged relationships with message you during the credits. In this ending, they have different opinions on your choice, and some wish things came out differently. This ending felt most like my time inside Cyberpunk and in the discussion around it: a lot of conflicting emotions and no definitive answer.