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Madden NFL 24 is a step up from Madden NFL 23 in some ways, but not enough to make it feel like a huge improvement. Animations and AI have never been better, but the stale vibes past Madden games have suffered remain the same in the latest entry in this long-running franchise.
Immortals of Aveum provides a great deal of first-person spell-slinging fun, but writing and balance issues keep this new adventure down from what it could have been.
Remnant 2 delivers a well-deserved sequel that delivers on making every aspect of the original game all the better. While the story is serviceable at best, and performance issues hold it back from being truly legendary, it's an absolute must for fans of the genre.
FromSoftware has finally returned to its classic mecha action franchise after a decade with the arrival of Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, and what a glorious return it is. Whether you're an Armored Core veteran or a fan of the developer's Souls games looking to see what else the studio is capable of, you'll absolutely fall in love with Armored Core 6's immensely satisfying gameplay, fascinating story, and immaculate presentation.
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre presents a distinctive virtual house of nightmares unlike any of its asymmetrical contemporaries. Every match feels like a bite-sized, three-act horror flick packed with gripping tension, genuine scares, and gratuitous murder. Technical problems and limited content variety put a damper on the overall package, but there’s ample twisted fun to have with friends and foes in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
F1 Manager 23 is another great F1 experience and does so many things right, but its lack of multiplayer causes it to fall short of being one of the greats.
Atlas Fallen is an above-average action RPG with plenty of positive qualities. It’s fun to explore the gigantic open-world desert, the Wraiths are formidable and entertaining enemies to fight and the combat system is satisfying thanks to the risk-vs-reward Momentum Gauge mechanic. While the story is formulaic and some gameplay mechanics could use some ironing out, they don’t bog down the overall experience.
After Us features a sprawling, desolate world painstakingly crafted to show the destruction wrought by human greed, but its camera controls and level design make the platforming awkward and often frustrating.
As a longtime fan of beat ‘em ups, I absolutely adored Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons. The combat system is extremely in-depth and addictive, the huge roster of characters is fun to play with and the roguelike elements massively improve the replay value. I highly recommend this game if you’re a fan of Double Dragon or beat ‘em ups in general as this is one of the best examples of the genre.
Exoprimal is a somewhat fun action shooter that can’t decide what it wants to be. What potential fun there is to be had in its awesome PvE boss fights and horde-mode missions are bogged down by tacked-on and unfun PvP-elements and locking gameplay content behind hours of story progression without informing the player beforehand. If it had launched with the PvE-only Savage Gauntlet mode and removed all PvP elements from Dino Survival, Exoprimal would’ve been a better and more focused game.
F1 23 falls short in the same areas as its predecessors have over many years. There's a great single player experience let down by a completely neglected multiplayer, which brings the games longevity into question. Those who love the F1 games regardless will find this iteration to at least be better in some ways.
A great new storyline and a stellar new class mean Necrom is a fantastic addition to the long-running saga of The Elder Scrolls Online.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie immediately won me over with its beautiful art design, skillful writing, and high-quality voice acting. While the finished product doesn't quite reach the same level of magic, this is still an incredible choice-based, narrative game of hope, loss, love, and humanity.
Layers of Fear (2023) makes full use of Unreal Engine 5 to elevate its visuals, lighting, and environments to all-new heights, reimagines the original Layers of Fear, and features brand-new DLC content to tie the entire story together. Layers of Fear 2 still struggles to compare, however, and scares often fail to land.
A vibrant and saccharine sweet world of possibilities awaits where you can manage every minute detail of your theme park to your liking without being burdened by everyday problems like gravity and public safety. Limbic Entertainment and Bandai Namco presents a world where you can create the theme park of your dreams—or nightmares—via the power of impossification.
Simply put, Diablo 4 may be Blizzard's best-ever game, and that's a really tough legacy to live up to. Immaculate storytelling meets stunning art, polished, bug-free gameplay, atop endlessly customizable combat with the promise of dozens, maybe hundreds of hours of content — Diablo 4 might be Blizzard's most important, pivotal game since World of Warcraft. Do yourself a favor and go in completely blind. Even if you're not a typical fan of isometric action RPGs, I'm confident that you won't be disappointed.
Street Fighter 6 is an exceptional entry in the franchise that reminds me why I love fighting games. Freshly introduced mechanics shake up the familiar dance of previous titles and notably improve the moment-to-moment gameplay. Capcom continues to demonstrate precisely how a team can triumphantly transform established IP. The blood, sweat, and style pouring from nearly every moment in Street Fighter 6 will delight newcomers and veterans alike.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a fun and nostalgic gore-fest that will satisfy fans of the tabletop classic and retro first-person shooters. The fast-paced gunplay combat is challenging and enjoyable, with plenty of entertaining weapons for blowing enemies up. Its 2.5D pixel-art graphics are particularly gorgeous, oozing charm and adoration for the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Redfall is a serviceable first-person open-world shooter with perhaps the most needless "RPG layer" in the history of always-online games. Tools that might make the sandbox more fun are arbitrarily spread across four separate playable class characters. Weapons you enjoy using will lose effectiveness as you "level up" with the game's pointless progression system, which only hinders the otherwise interesting campaign. There are far too many similar shooters out there that simply do almost everything Redfall is trying to do, only far better. Redfall struggles to grasp an identity of its own in a very noisy market. While embers of fun do exist in Redfall, it's maddening that this is the product of the legendary studio that gave us Prey. Arkane is very clearly out of its depth with Redfall.
Age of Wonders 4 is the first entry in the mainline series I've ever played, and I had little to no idea what to expect. Age of Wonders 4's stunning high-fantasy tapestry immediately captured my imagination, and it wasn't long before I was creating my own personal undead army and marching across the land, leaving chaos and decay in my wake. Despite the game's complexity and depth, the biggest hurdle for me was its performance on Xbox Series X. However, it's by no means unplayable, and I suspect I'll find myself playing it for many dozens more hours before I get tired. This is a stunning 4X game that Civilization fans will most likely adore.