Dead Island 2 isn't ground-breaking, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. With its vibrant yet bloody take on the undead streets of LA, its brutal and enjoyable combat, and its gleeful excess of gore, it delivers a solid experience that's well worth your time.
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened blends Cthulhu and Holmes very well, but the strengths of its story and premise are let down by the weaknesses of its meandering and opaque gameplay.
Forza Horizon 5: Rally Adventure might not feel as different in its offerings from the base experience as last year's Hot Wheels expansion did, but it proves to be yet another chance for Playground Games to showcase how fundamentally fun the Forza Horizon formula is.
Resident Evil 4 perfectly captures the tone and strengths of the original game, while also managing to improve upon it in truly meaningful ways. In doing so, it once again becomes a standard-bearer for the survival horror genre, while also setting a new bar for Capcom as a developer, for video game remakes, and for the Resident Evil franchise as a whole.
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is worth looking into for fans of the series and the genre, especially since this is its first official release in the West, but be warned that it's a game that's held back by several significant issues.
Gamedec has plenty of rough edges, but thanks to its emphasis on choice and consequence mechanics and its unique premise, it's still very much worth a look.
Everyone will have to make their own choice on whether or not to engage with Hogwarts Legacy, but if you do choose to play it, you'll find it to be a well-made and densely packed open world action RPG that adapts the Wizarding World universe in excellent ways.
Deliver Us Mars is an easy game to recommend to those looking for a captivating and well-told story, but at the same time it's weighed down by significant gameplay and technical issues.
Dead Space is one of the best survival horror games ever made, and one of the greatest remakes of all time. It takes a masterpiece of the genre and allows its biggest strengths to shine brighter than they ever have, while also improving upon it in meaningful ways with smart changes and additions. Motive Studio has delivered an instant classic and a true giant of the genre.
Children of Silentown isn't exceptional by any means, but thanks to its intriguing story, fun and simplistic gameplay, and excellent art design, it's still worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of point-and-click adventure games.
The Witcher 3 was a masterpiece then, and it's a masterpiece now. The only difference is that it looks and runs better than it ever has on a console.
The Callisto Protocol looks stunning and can offer small doses of fun, but from misguided gameplay choices and hyper-linear design to ineffectual attempts at horror and a bland story, it stumbles and disappoints in too many ways to be labelled as anything but a disappointment.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 Reunion is an impressive visual upgrade that, above all else, proves the quality of the original game yet again. Much of it can feel dated at times, but thanks primarily to its enjoyable combat system, it remains an easy game to recommend.
Gungrave G.O.R.E's fleeting moments of fun and carnage are buried beneath a mountain of issues, including a bland story, repetitive and overly simplistic gameplay, cumbersome and clunky movement and controls, and more. This isn't an old school game- it's just old.
Tactics Ogre is back, and time hasn't dulled its razor-sharp edge. Square Enix's turn-based strategy RPG is still a dense, meaty, and thoroughly engaging game.
Somerville is a flawed game and doesn't execute all of its ideas perfectly, but from its captivating story to some of its striking imagery, there's plenty still to like in this brief adventure.
Harvestella is rough around the edges, and it's not particularly accomplished at anything it sets out to do, but it's a fun, engaging farming sim at its core, and certainly worth a look for fans of the genre.
Football Manager 2023 might be a small improvement over its immediate predecessor, but it's still an incredibly accomplished management sim that you can easily sink hundreds of hours into.
God of War Ragnarok surpasses its predecessor in every way. From its captivating story to its thrilling combat to the endlessly explorable and wonderfully designed Nine Realms of Norse mythology, it's an unequivocal triumph from top to bottom.
Resident Evil Village: Winters' Expansion never feels like an essential, must-play addition to the RE universe, but those who enjoyed the base game will still find plenty to like here.