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The game not only gets you to behave like a rampaging gorilla, it forces you to adapt like one.
Fire Emblem attains an especially epic, moral grandeur with this game's focus on the interplay between education and religion.
As varied and intriguing as the game can get on a conceptual level, it outdoes itself in the minutiae of traversal and combat.
From the second you power on the game, its entire toy chest is open to you, no strings attached.
With its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink imagination, Control is as much a thrilling paean to human curiosity as it is a warning of its numerous casualties.
The game offers one of the most fascinating, unique, and fulfilling portrayals of the human mind.
The most powerful statement the game winds up making is that work is worthwhile, even at the bitter end.
The game fulfills a vision of steadfast humanity within the framework of a martial arts revenge tale.
Living in America as a kid with brown skin has never been harder, or more frightening, and Life Is Strange 2 is a harsh primer in that fact. Nevertheless, there’s light and beauty in this journey, as this is a game that values the boundless hope of the two young men at its center, and without invalidating America’s darkness.
The game displays a thorough, haunted understanding of what cruelty for cruelty's sake can do to the soul.
While a lot of care has gone into refining the game's combat, there's no shortage of things to do outside of battles.
Along with being one of the most gentle and soothing games of the year, Haven is also gaming at its most compassionate.
Bowser's Fury finds Nintendo again pushing the envelope of Super Mario Bros. in exciting directions.
Strikers is still a well-earned vacation for our heroes, an emphatic, energetic punctuation mark to a much larger experience.
It Takes Two uses a smorgasbord of gameplay techniques to set us adrift in the field of couples therapy.
The more you learn about Selene across the game’s gripping campaign, the easier it is to relate to or, at least, agree with her observation that “I deserve to be here.” That line is also more than a little apt, as it perfectly sums up just how simultaneously rewarding and punishing it is to live in the world of Returnal. Each time you make a perfect jump and air-dash to avoid a cluster of bullets, you earn your way forward, and each time you awkwardly fall off a cliff or gawk as an explosive squid flies at you, you earn the right to try it all over again. The terse thrill of all that fragility makes this a timeless adventure well worth returning to.
This set makes the galaxy that you'll gallivant across for 90-plus hours feel so much more immersive, beautiful, and tangible-seeming.
Only the human character models and their clunky facial animations suffer from a lack of realism compared to the stunningly detailed environments, and this remaster’s lack of ray tracing and HDR are odd for a game that boasts not only strong light effects but also makes both light and dark such an integral part of the gaming experience. Regardless, while Alan Wake Remastered doesn’t substantially alter the twisted tale of the writer and the dark forces that bind him, there’s enough here that connects to the events in Control and it’s Alan Wake-centered AWE DLC episode to makes the return trip to Bright Falls a worthwhile one.
Dying Light 2 is constantly introducing new abilities through its missions, and in such clever ways that that players become naturally acclimated to them. Consistently, the world here overwhelms us in lockstep with the dazzlingly dense gameplay. This is game about choice and consequences, and it rewards the player for exploring and engaging with the City’s environments. Unlike the derivative setting of last year’s Far Cry 6, the City is a character of its own, alive with lived-in detail and a refinement of the use of environmental storytelling. And it’s all the more incredible for making us feel as if we can change it for the better.
There are dozens of stories across Horizon Forbidden West that are every bit as cool, engaging, and thoughtful as that one. That makes it somewhat disappointing that the main story doesn’t quite hit the same heights in the end, as there’s a sagging middle that takes a little of the wind out of the finale. But it’s not something that’s worth sweating over, as the company that Aloy keeps consistently makes the trek work taking every step of the way.