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If you’re a fan of JRPGs or looking to dip your feet in, Xenoblade Chronicles X’s Definitive release on the Switch is an excellent start and comes back boasting new features, new content, and updated quality of life to truly make it worth your while. It is an absolute gem and is a game to keep on your radar, even if the story leaves a little to be desired.
It bills itself as a mash-up of Slay the Spire and Stacklands, but it doesn’t really add anything to either of those games beyond a tribal motif.
Everyone’s specific experiences with Peppered will differ, but taken as a whole, I have to imagine that anyone who like platformers will find themselves well-rewarded by this game.
Star Overdrive is another example of a game where a cool reveal didn’t live up to the end result. Whatever inspiration there was to be found in last year’s trailer didn’t make it to the finished product, and there’s little here to make the game worth recommending.
This entry in the Two Point series definitely represents a slight turn towards being (slightly) more serious and (slightly) more demanding – and while that may not be the worst thing in the world, it’s definitely not what I look to the series for, personally.
Breakout Beyond is a fantastic remake of a timeless classic.
Yu-Gi-Oh! Early Days Collections was a good attempt at preserving the past, but even with 14 games it’s filled with fluff and very little substance.
My overall impression of Cookie Cutter is that it’s an excellent Metroidvania and certainly one of the best to be released in recent years. The Overkill Edition on Nintendo Switch looks and runs great, and while I have little doubt that more powerful systems make Cookie Cutter even more visually appealing, the Switch is no slouch at maintaining the 60 FPS you want for this style of game, and in handheld mode you’ll be pretty impressed with how great the game looks. I’d highly suggest checking Cookie Cutter: Overkill Edition out whenever you have the chance, you won’t be disappointed.
Obviously, if Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered hits your nostalgia just right, none of that matters, and you’ll enjoy getting the chance to play some old favourites again on modern hardware. But without that sense of nostalgia, you’ll be left with a trio of games that weren’t all that good first time around, and it’s hard to imagine you’ll find them very worthwhile.
Wyrmhall is a rare bird: a cozy game that doesn’t try to hide how repetitive it is at its core, but finds a way to make that gameplay loop surprisingly addictive. If you’re looking for something to knock out in a sitting, it’s worth checking out.
WWE 2K25 builds on the greatness of 2K24 and elevates the series even higher.
It’s quite possible that Sony don’t think they need MLB The Show 25 to be a huge departure – after two years of adding in some cool new features, this may be the year they decided to coast a little. And, I mean, why not? Even a forgettable version of MLB The Show still delivers a best-in-class baseball experience. It makes it hard to recommend if you picked up the last few years’ editions, but if you’ve taken a year or two off, it might be time to jump back in.
If you want a traditional, linear experience with clear goals and objectives, Atomfall probably isn’t what you’re after. It’s very much a player-directed experience – for better and for worse, depending on your perspective. However, if you’re the type who wants a game to give you the freedom to play however you want, then you owe it to yourself to check out Atomfall.
I don’t think Assassin’s Creed Shadows is a bad game, but I don’t think it’s a great one either. With patches I think it could seriously become a great game, but as it stands with what I was playing, I’m not impressed with the systems/gameplay. I really, really want to like Shadows more because of how much the total package feels, but those few issues are enough to really hamper that.
No matter how fun the gameplay is, that doesn’t matter if the game doesn’t consistently work, and I don’t think anyone could realistically say that Rise of the Ronin works as it should on PC.
With a story that keeps you engaged and guessing to the end (whichever end you uncover), Expelled! is a worthy successor to inkle’s previous glories, and it’s the kind of game that every mystery fan needs to play.
Petit Island borrows a lot of well-established ideas without doing enough to make any of them feel like its own, and as a result, you’ll come away from the game wishing you could play some of those other games instead.
The Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster isn’t perfect though, and Konami should have made a few more quality of life improvements, specifically to the inventory system. The story to both games is there in all of its glory, the second game’s story especially. Overall, Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars is a solid update to some classically good JRPGs!
Regardless of whether you want to play with someone else in-person or online, Split Fiction is well worth your time. It’s an excellent co-op adventure, and it’s easy to imagine the game garnering the same kind of following – and accolades – as It Takes Two.
Rolando was a triumph of mobile gaming on its first release, and Rolando Deluxe shows that it’s every bit as great now.