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Kill La Kill IF wants to show off all that was great about the 2013 anime, but between a muddled story mode, small character roster, and questionable mechanics, it doesn't quite stick the landing.
Fantasy Strike delivers on its promise to make a fighting game easy to pick up and play. It's simple to get the hang of, and characters actually have cool abilities. Still, it's lacking in content, lacking in a player base, and plagued with AI issues.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a marked improvement on its predecessor. Although the combat is still underwhelming, the rest of the package is sharp, charming, and loaded with stuff to build, crops to farm, and settlements to manage.
Nowhere Prophet is a unique and thoughtful single-player deckbuilding card game set in a fascinating Indofuturistic world. It features compelling convoy management with hints of The Oregon Trail, and a highly innovative 'living card' mechanic.
Etherborn has all the good ideas for a clever puzzle game. Then it ends after only four levels, never exploring its mechanics in a way that makes them stand out.
Night Call is a game filled with good ideas, but terrible execution. Great characters and exploration are let down by superfluous mechanics and a lack of meaningful choices.
Blazing Chrome is a true old-school throwback to the glory days of Metal Slug and Contra. It may pay a little too much homage to its forebears, but there's plenty of satisfying hardcore action on offer for the faithful.
Despite some shortcomings in the narrative, Sea of Solitude champions its storytelling. It lands solidly on its own two feet, for the most part, and presents a fairly cathartic look at loneliness and depression.
Super Mario Maker 2 is much more than an enhanced Switch port. Featuring a lengthy story mode, a myriad of smart additions, and more ways to create nightmarish abominations and call them Mario levels, this is some essential Mario that Switch owners won't want to miss.
Amid Evil is a superb first-person shooter crafted in the classic style, and a more than worthy spiritual successor to Heretic. But it's more than either of those things: it is its own masterpiece, an instant classic for all times.
If you've already played Heavy Rain on PS3, you won't miss anything. If you're totally new to it as a PC gamer, it might surprise you with its branching narrative and raw drama, even if the writing occasionally misses the mark.
Dollhouse has some honestly good mechanics and ideas, and can be fun to play in short bursts. It's just repetitive, and it's unique multiplayer modes have likely never been played.
Darkwood manages to pull off horror to a truley stunning degree. What minor gameplay annoyances that there are in the game are more than covered for by the exploration and atmosphere.
Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a fun and complex kart racer. Boasting mechanics that are now genre standards, CTR's return shows just how relevant it still is. With additional features to fit into modern times like difficulty settings and graphics, this is a must-have for fans of the original, and for anyone who enjoys kart racing with friends.
Cadence of Hyrule is a strange spin-off between The Legend of Zelda and Crypt of the Necrodancer, but it works so well as a mashup. It's a bit too short and the replay value isn't substantial, but the remixed songs and exhilarating gameplay are too good to pass up.
Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night is a comfortable return for Koji Igarashi. It doesn't push any boundaries, but it's a fluid, well-crafted labor of love with tons of content and a satisfying core gameplay loop.
Quick to learn yet hard to master, Lovely Planet 2: April Skies is a charming and fast-paced sequel that improves on the original formula while maintaining it's charming aesthetic.
The Sinking City has a fantastic story, atmosphere, and investigations, leading to something that feels genuinely unique. It's just a shame that it's brought down by an overabundance of crummy combat and glitches.
Outer Wilds is a triumphant first-person exploration adventure with innovative (quantum) physics puzzles. More than that, it's a microcosm in itself that pleads to be explored and untangled in its minutiae.
Tricky to learn and satisfying to master, Shadow Fencer Theatre features basic, but hilarious QWOP-style swordplay. It is an artistic treat, a brilliant merging of old-timie visuals and modernized music. What Shadow Fencer Theatre lacks in content, it makes up for in style.