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Live A Live is a testament to creativity, perseverance and preservation. To see a giant company like Square-Enix spare the time for a game released nearly 30 years ago on one platform in one region? We need to shout from the rooftops about it. Seeing a team revisit such a hidden gem all these years later and knock it out of the park in nearly every way? We need to be celebrating. Live A Live is such a unique experience that even its era-specific missteps are worth forgiving. RPG fans of all levels, walks of life, and interests: Live A Live will transport you through time, in more ways than you'd expect.
Amarantus is special. It's a passion project in every way imaginable, a journey started by one person who gathered a ragtag team to help them reach that one clear endpoint: revolut- I mean... creating a piece of art so purely realized on all levels that it coalesces into something that pushes the genre forward.
Night Signal Entertainment packed this game with a genuine love for the craft. They hand-made props, recruited their acting friends from a past life, used old photos of themselves to craft monsters. This is horror straight from the heart. That makes Home Safety Hotline a special game — one of the better analog horror experiences we've played — and it certainly showcases the potential of what Night Signal Entertainment's mixed media efforts may achieve in the years to come. If you're up for the kind of horror that crawls under your skin and has you rethinking what the rustling in the corner of your room could be, this game is 100% for you.
Balatro is a simple and satisfying roguelike built on the familiarity of poker to make it one of the most addicting games I've played in a long time. The game's not content to just disrupt your daily routine, but also extends to the genre itself, setting a new standard for roguelike deckbuilders. By not trying to do too much, Balatro achieves gaming nirvana easily and produces an impossible-to-put-down experience that has me still hungry for more after 50 hours of playtime. For those who aren't familiar with poker or used to the cruel luck of the draw, Balatro can seem a bit brutal. But if you persevere, there's a special game waiting for you in Balatro.
Pepper Grinder is a platforming gem, a masterclass in taking one simple mechanic and stretching it as far as you possibly can in one tight package. Ahr Ech built this game to be as satisfying as possible. It appeals to platforming fans of all types equally (speedrunners and completionists together), and it stands as a testament to the value of not overcomplicating things. By evoking the simplicity and no frills approach of platforming greats, Pepper Grinder keeps the focus on its best bits and will undoubtedly drill down into your heart the minute you hop in.
Mythic Ocean, similar to Immortals Fenyx Rising before it, humanizes larger-than-life characters with grander destinies than we mere mortals could ever hope for. It tells a story of friendship and empathy (or at least my version of the story did) that showcases the power of positivity in the face of uncertainty. Even considering minor issues with the pacing of the late-game progression and with the overall discovery of unique scenes and endings in follow-up playthroughs, I loved my time with Mythic Ocean, and I think you will too if you're a fan of good stories and good vibes.
Death's Door is all around professional. It's incredibly polished, well crafted with sound mechanics, and for the most part, it's a blast to play. I just wish the game surprised me more often. I wish it had something new to say, something different to offer. Everything else is so damned good and I don't want to come off as negative at all. I just felt that this great game was a few pieces away from being an all-time classic. Either way, it's easy to recommend spending some time knocking on Death's Door.
In short: if you have 1 - 3 friends, love punny restaurant names and micromanagement, and are unafraid of failure, put PlateUp! on the menu. And for the love of all that is holy, please look out for those beige puddles the customers left on the floor. We really don’t know what’s in them, but judging by the sound effects, it can’t be anything good.
That all being said, Prodeus is everything classic shooter fans could ask for. It's gory, it's heavy (and I mean HEAVY) rock and roll, it's pure fun, and all wrapped up in a package with the best old-school aesthetics amplified by the power of modern technology. I don't regret a single minute spent strafing through Bounding Box's alien halls, and if you're looking for a vacation back to the '90s, Prodeus is calling. (It's on Game Pass too!)
This is what I wanted out of EggNut all along. On its own, it's a series of extremely effective short stories about the ways people's lives can change: how one conversation or decision can alter your life's course. How even when you know or can feel what's waiting for you on the other side of any single moment, sometimes there's nothing you can do to stop it. As part of the package that is Backbone, Tails makes everything better. The first game retroactively increases in quality thanks to this experience, and when taken as a bundle, the Backbone experience becomes a must-play. I can't say for sure, but I felt that if I had just let this run into the original, the whole collection may be one of my favorite things I've played in a while. At its price point, there's no doubt you should give both Tails and Backbone a try, because EggNut found its way to something real special in the end.
Strange Scaffold remains one of the most interesting teams in gaming today. Sunshine Shuffle's anything but light and breezy, despite its appearances, and its narrative poker experience is just another in a long list of games from their studio that tells powerful stories in the most interesting formats possible. By keeping the gameplay barriers as light as possible this time while still managing to do something that no one else is doing, the team lets what might be its best batch of writing yet soar here. And that's worth all the applause. Minor quibbles aside, Sunshine Shuffle accomplishes all it sets out to do and does so with a ska-driven flair that can't be denied.
The Tartarus Key is kind of like the gaming equivalent of the wave of stellar indie horror movies we've been treated to in recent years. In the ways it simultaneously pulls from, makes fun of, and honors its inspirations, and finds a new way forward to deliver its thrills, Vertical Reach's paranoia-driven indie horror is just end-to-end enjoyable for horror gaming fans of all walks. Those who love the constantly unnerving atmosphere of Silent Hill and the mansion-based aesthetic of Resident Evil, all combined with puzzles that are arguably better than the offerings from either series, will find lots to love here. Any game that can get your blood pumping without screaming in your face at every turn is worth its salt.
Final Fantasy 16 is as good as it is not because it strays from what has come before it, but because it embraces its roots. Everything the series has done, gameplay-wise, over the last few mainline releases, has all set up for what FF16 pulls off with its fantastic-feeling combat. For all the focus on its maturity and shocking narrative, the things that FF16 does with its impactful story have been present in games all throughout the series. And by letting a team like Creative Business Unit 3 take the reins, the best aspects of Final Fantasy 16 feel like pieces of one of the most beloved games in all of the franchise: Final Fantasy 14. I won't deny the series is heading in a new direction, but have no fear, the ways in which Final Fantasy 16 succeeds are deeply rooted in the series' greatest traditions.
Bilkins' Folly is a wholesome puzzle adventure that sticks to its strengths and mines so much cleverness out of a few basic puzzle concepts. It centers on the bond between a man and his dog and tells a story that's just as wholesome and lighthearted as you'd expect from something that calls Monkey Island and Zelda its inspirations. Some of the most difficult puzzles may baffle even the biggest puzzle fans, and people who are looking for a more adventure-focused Zelda-like may find the puzzles a bit much. But if a game that evokes the best parts of adventure games, 2D Zelda, and Layton-level puzzles sounds like it might appeal to you, don't skip Bilkins' Folly. Amid the absolute deluge of AAA and indie releases hitting this October, Bilkins' Folly stands there, a shiny and enticing treasure chest just waiting to be enjoyed.
Jackbox Party Pack 10 would have been worth a look simply for the celebration of a decade's worth of releases. It would have been worth checking out for the ways it celebrates the legacy of each game that came before it, like the return of Party Pack hosts of yore in Tee K.O. 2's character selection. But even removed from that milestone, Jackbox Party Pack 10 offers a package worth celebrating. The artists at Jackbox continue to deliver some of the best looking and sounding pack games yet, whether it's the stellar graphic design and typeface-focused art style found in FixyText or the epic renditions of songs like Pop Goes the Weasel in Dodo Re Mi. After nearly a decade of work, the Jackbox team shows no signs of stopping and the quality is still there 10 games later. Long live Jackbox Party Pack.
When the whole package comes together, Wishfully's debut release truly sings. A straightforward narrative and relatively simple gameplay loop simply feel bigger than they are, made even more engaging when accompanied by an audiovisual experience as strong as Planet of Lana's. Planet of Lana is the epitome of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Every piece taken separately may not seem like something extraordinary, but when Wishfully has each piece of its experience clicked together, it made for one of our favorite experiences of the year.
Lil' Guardsman speaks to all parts of me. The child in me who fell in love with adventure games, the 30-year-old who looks back on them longingly, and the jaded human living in 2024 who needed a laugh. It's so genuinely funny, so full of heart, and it's one game you should immediately allow entry to your gaming library in 2024.
Death Trick: Double Blind was a surprise in more ways than one. It tells a surprisingly warm murder mystery, is carried by some genuinely shocking twists, and successfully implements tension into a formula that games in the genre rarely manage to do in a satisfactory way.
It's incredibly hard to sleep on this one, as it literally comes free with every PS5, but I can recommend this as the first thing you play on the console without any hesitation. Make the time for it to see where this generation's headed. You won't regret it.
A few finnicky glitches here, a few difficulty problems there, and I'm still happy to call this game the best in the franchise since Black Flag in 2013 (ironically enough, the last title in the franchise to bridge the gap between generations). Assassin's Creed Valhalla proves that even the big big companies can find ways to bring tons of heart and charm to a cash cow franchise all while embracing its past and setting up for an exciting future.