The Outerhaven Productions
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The Village in the Shade is a unique take on a farming simulator. It combines a cozy gameplay loop with the eerie art and supernatural style of Yomawari. It has some issues with progression and a save system that does not work in its favor, but the addictive gameplay will make you continue to return to Kagatsu Village.
Warrior Cats: Clans of the Forest surprised me. It has a competent and easy-to-understand combat system. It has a foundation of moving your cat up the ranks of the clan and improving relations within your chosen clan. If it had a bit more substance to its campaign, it would be a standout game on its own right.
STEINS;GATE RE:BOOT tells the same story as the original game, with enhanced visuals, better audio quality, better assets, and more CG scenes. With a story as great as the original, there is little to complain about here.
9 R.I.P. Sequel is a good sequel and epilogue to the original game. It adds more details to the characters and their relationships. It also has a good chunk of content for an epilogue game.
Final Fantasy Resonance may not reinvent the airship, but it incorporates every mainline Final Fantasy title—directly, as classic characters appear as Visions, or indirectly, through a story that draws from every installment. It’s a splendid celebration of the series ahead of its 40th anniversary.
Planet Zoo 2 feels like a sequel with excellent ideas, but not always backed by equally effective execution.
Harvest Moon: Echoes of Teradea doesn’t break new ground in the genre, but it is still a cozy experience. There is some actual urgency in the game, but it does not run well on the Nintendo Switch 2.
Forever Ago delivers a deeply moving narrative about aging, grief, and human connection, anchored by soulful voice performances and thoughtful presentation. Its pacing is deliberate, but as one of the most empathetic games of the year, it’s worth hitting the road for this scenic indie title.
Dragon’s Dogma II: Dark Arisen does what the original expansion had accomplished and set the bar with 20 hours more.
KINGDOM HEARTS Collection (I-III) gives owners of the Nintendo Switch 2 a fantastic collection of games that all run superbly on the hardware. It is finally here!
STAR WARS: Galactic Racer is a great game that has a lot of content. Racing feels amazing, and the enemies are ruthless.
Gears of War: E-Day is everything I wanted from a prequel and more. It finally delivers the Emergence Day story fans have waited two decades to experience, while deepening the relationship between Marcus and Dom and returning the series to the darker, horror-inspired tone of the original trilogy. With the best gameplay the franchise has ever had, incredible visuals, excellent pacing and memorable characters, E-Day isn’t just the best Gears game yet; it’s one of Xbox’s strongest exclusives in years.
Ghost of Yotei Complete Edition builds on an already fantastic game with the Echoes of Sekigahara expansion and the replayable Most Wanted mode. The new story may be brief, but the additional activities, progression, and roguelite gameplay give returning players plenty of reasons to head back to Ezo.
End of Abyss delivers striking visuals, unsettling enemy designs, and an enjoyable scanner mechanic. Its twin-stick controls are a novel idea, but they reinforce the action while the survival horror takes a back seat. Combined with progress-halting bugs and repeated backtracking, it left me wanting to finish rather than keep exploring.
DYNASTY WARRIORS 3: Complete Edition Remastered builds on the foundation of the original DYNASTY WARRIORS 3, and that foundation is as solid today as it was in 2002. It’s an amazingly good time, and once I turn the game on, I can’t stop playing.
Minecraft Dungeons II is at its best with a friend. Its item system makes experimenting with gear rewarding, while fluid, straightforward combat keeps the action moving. Late-game freezes on Xbox Series X are frustrating, but they did not spoil an enjoyable co-op adventure.
I waited years for Ace Combat to come back, and Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve reminded me exactly why I missed it. One minute I’m admiring my plane, and the next I’m dodging a damn railgun while my squad is yelling over the comms and the soundtrack has me ready to take on everything in the sky. The targeting did get on my nerves during a few crucial moments, and some aircraft take longer to unlock than I would have liked, but those complaints barely put a dent in the fun. Between the combat, story, soundtrack, and sheer spectacle of it all, Ace Combat 8 delivers exactly the kind of experience I had been waiting years for. It’s easily one of the best games in the series, and I loved damn near every moment of it.
DRAGON QUEST XI S: Echoes of an Elusive Age – Definitive Edition is still a solid game. This is a version of the game that runs well and can look great in the graphics mode.
Graveyard Keeper 2 is larger, funnier, deeper, and more confident than its predecessor. It transforms a cult management game into one of the most distinctive and absorbing simulations available. Whether you are restoring the cemetery, exploiting your undead workforce, or marching a zombie army into battle, every part of the experience delivers something memorable.
Silent Hill: Townfall delivers an intriguing and ultimately moving story that dovetails with thematically relevant puzzles. It’s just a shame its combat gets swallowed up in a fog of subpar stealth mechanics.