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Fae Farm throws a ton of great ideas into its melting pot of cosy life simming and tense adventuring, and while its various ingredients don't always mix together as well as they should it's got enough unique hooks and wholesome vibes to make it worth a look in for genre fans.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a landmark achievement for CRPGs and gaming at large. The only thing more staggering than its immense scope and density of systems is the quality in which it's all presented. Its unwavering flexibility and accommodation for player choice is intoxicating, and the replay value on offer here will no doubt cement Baldur's Gate 3 as a timeless and regularly revisited masterpiece. For a game as rich and complex as this, it also works surprisingly well on console.
Toss! is a pretty basic, sometimes frustrating arcade-like VR experience, but when it works it's quite exhilarating and immensely satisfying. In case my debilitatingly-sore arms weren't already an indication – this is the closest I'll ever come to being a high-flying gymnast and I'm perfectly happy with that. If you want a VR workout that's got old-school arcade charm and a great view, look no further.
A Fisherman's Tale is still great four years later, but if you've played it before there's not much reason to pick up this barebones port to the PS VR2. It would've been cool to see InnerspaceVR take the opportunity to flesh out its recursive puzzle concept even more, but hopefully there's more still to come from this franchise.
If what you're hoping for is The Elder Scrolls or Fallout in space, then Starfield is that. Not only does it have countless stories begging to be sought out against a vast and beckoning star chart, it's also the most polished Bethesda Game Studios title we've ever had.
Sea of Stars is simultaneously a love letter and modernisation of the legendary turn-based RPGs of old. It retains everything that made them such a core part of the industry so many years ago, while poking fun at tropes and conventions in an entertainingly self-aware manner. Much like The Messenger, Sea of Stars is another smash hit from Sabotage Studio, and is undoubtedly one of the best games of this year.
Samba de Amigo is a hoot with friends, sure to generate laughs and memorable moments. Just don't expect an engrossing single-player rhythm game experience.
Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon manages to succesfully bring back and cultivate an experience reminiscent of the old games for newer audiences without losing sight of what made the previous games so good. While it's still relentlessly challenging and the story can be a bit drab, Fires of Rubicon is yet another success for FromSoftware with it's satisfying and fast paced combat.
Fort Solis takes about an hour's worth of ideas and attempts to stretch them out to a four-hour walk through a lifeless Mars facility with little to offer outside of a top-notch presentation. With a distinct lack of thrills, this sci-fi thriller falls disappointingly flat.
Immortals of Aveum is a steadfast debut that will assuredly put its creators on the map. It combines strong combat mechanics with an engaging story set in an even more engrossing world to offer up a satisfying and complete experience. While the gear system and some console resolution issues might be off-putting for some, Immortals of Aveum is one of the most pleasant surprises in an already burgeoning year and a spellbinding adventure that's well worth your time.
With mildly eldritch themes, eccentric characters and tongue-in-cheek humour reminiscent of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew has a little something for every type of player. It's not perfect, but Shadow Gambit is just plain fun, and if it can convince a gung-ho, guns blazing player like me to give patience a stealth a go, I think a lot of other gamers out there would do well to dip their toes into these waters.
In a market with so many deck-building games, leave it to Deconstructeam to turn the paradigm upright and create a card-builder, a brilliant outlet for player expression. The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood is a stimulating crash course in coven politics of all kinds: identity, community, and straight up politics-politics.
The Switch port of Red Dead Redemption is a faithful way to get into the world of Red Dead. It looks good as long as you adjust expectations and consider the game's age, and performs consistently well in both handheld and docked modes. While many aspects will feel dated, I still had a fun time exploring the old west with John during the last gasps of the American frontier.
Moving Out 2 is an accomplished sequel, building on what made the first game great and really honing in on its presentation and content offering. It's not a radical departure, and not all of its levels are designed equally, but overall this is another feather in SMG Studio's cap.
Stray Gods might be a well-written, narrative-driven murder mystery that drags us to Olympus and back again, but it fails to deliver anything remotely close to an earworm after hours of forgettable melodies. Though Bailey and Baker do enough to earn their flowers, the production itself does little to land Stray Gods a place among the musical pantheon.
Atlas Fallen layers interesting and engaging combat systems onto a lacklustre world and frustrating camera controls making for an uneven and forgettable fantasy action outing. Deck13 continues its work of innovating the genre in interesting ways but there's just a little too much going on for Atlas Fallen to ever find solid ground.
Venba is a sweet, short-lived episode that presents the place held by food and cooking within our lives and cultures as near-on divine. It explores familiar relationships, as well as the ones we keep, for better or worse, with food itself, and left me with plenty to ponder as the credits rolled.
Disney Illusion Island is a competent and approachable metroidvania-style platformer that does a great job at accommodating players of all skill levels and offers up a great take on Mickey and Friends, but a relatively short runtime combined with overly simple mechanics and some disappointing presentational choices means that it falls just short of true magic.
Pikmin 4 brings together engaging cave exploration and a charming world to explore to offer up the most complete Pikmin experience so far. While the multiplayer offerings feel like a step back from Pikmin 3 and the game is too easy to begin with, Pikmin 4 more than makes up for these shortcomings with its adorable canine companion, vast sandboxes and gripping strategic combat.
A picture might be worth a thousand words, but stepping inside a picture is worth so much more. In what is the best game of the last decade, Viewfinder places theatricality, in the form of its mystifying world and its inventive systems, at the forefront of the experience.