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This caps a full decade of me reviewing the NHL games, and while I believe the gameplay is better in NHL 27 than NHL 26, my position hasn’t changed. Harsh as it may sound, this is an update, not a new game.
Orbitals pulls a lot of interesting and familiar elements into a tidy package with a charming pair of heroes and a lengthy array of challenges to put their friendship to the test.
The Blood of Dawnwalker is an ambitious project that occasionally wears both the best and worst aspects of its inspirations on its sleeve. Where it shines is in allowing players to make their own choices and learn from their own mistakes. It’s incredible fun to play in a world where the clock is ever-ticking, and the results of our actions and words have real consequences not just for us but for those around us.
I keep going back and forth with how I feel about Blood Dungeon in its entirety. It’s fun to play, has a cool aesthetic, and its emphasis on score-chasing feels distinct in this genre. But its lack of interest in expression and build-crafting really hurts that momentum, and makes playing long-term feel more and more like a chore.
Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a fun time. Its simple combat system makes the game approachable for a variety of players, even if it may get a little repetitive toward the end.
Star Wars Zero Company is kind of a bummer, because there’s a fun tactical RPG here that manages to run a gamut from hardcore to friendly, thanks to an array of settings and well-designed mechanics that work in either direction. But man is it ever bogged down in some of the most uninspired Star Wars-themed storytelling and character work I’ve ever dealt with.
Mortal Shell 2 is one of the best follow-up sequels to a game in a long time. It expands upon every single aspect of the first game, twists deeper into its metal roots, and hammers out the dents of the original title while retaining the same brutal, unforgiving gameplay Soulslike fanatics have come to masochistically enjoy. Mortal Shell 2 slays.
Mostly, it’s a solid evolution for Frogwares, and it makes me very curious about their next game. I hope it’s a survival horror, and they find the opportunity and inspiration to really push at the boundaries of the genre, as all the signs point to them having a lot more to offer here.
Madden NFL 27 is a good football game. Coming off of Madden NFL 26, the series is trending in a positive direction. Still, some glaring issues bog down the experience, and it would likely take a significant philosophy change to address them. I’ve been able to find the fun, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that this momentum carries into next year.
If you’re a longtime fan of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series and desperately want a new game, and don’t care for what Activision is doing with it, you could certainly choose to play Skatesterre.
This is not how any of us expected Marvel fighting games to come back, but I sure am glad it happened this way.
Wild Blue Skies showed a lot of promise, and I was super excited to get my hands on it, especially with all the recent fervor over Star Fox. Rail shooters are a great time, and this particular brand of rail shooter really lends itself well to having fun at different levels of play, across many runs. But after one run, I was ready to be done with this game forever.
Agent 64: Spies Never Die is a fun shooter that goes above and beyond to act as an accurate facsimile of Nintendo 64 shooters, particularly Goldeneye.
D-Topia paints an enticing portrait of what daily life looks like when AI-driven machines do all of life's heavy lifting.
As far as punching trees goes, Chop Chop Inc. does a commendable job making the impossible possible: making just that part by itself a fun time.
Beast of Reincarnation is a fun action-adventure game, primarily thanks to a robust combat system that kept me experimenting throughout my playthrough. I was also quite charmed by Koo and his relationship with Emma; it’s an area where you can really see Game Freak’s Pokemon DNA shining through. The exploration elements don’t come together, but I plan on coming back to Beast of Reincarnation when I want to slash my way through robots and monsters.
Blue Reflection Quartet is an attempt to bring this whole series together, across previously disparate formats. It’s not entirely successful, as you’re better off just watching the anime instead of trudging through this version of Ray’s weird recap slideshow gimmick.
Truck-kun is Supporting Me From Another World?! does not keep its cards hidden; this is exactly the game it presents itself as, and nothing more, and nothing less.
Without the technical issues, Lunarium is a solid ARPG that deserves your attention.
Halo: Campaign Evolved is surface-level impressive. The visuals are gorgeous, even if they muddy readability and necessitate a cluttered HUD, and the mission changes are actually interesting. Halo Studios has made bold moves here, some of them pay off, others don’t.