The Old Hunters is another shot in the arm of the same serum that coursed through Bloodborne's veins. Though diehards may pillage its secrets quickly, my approximate 15 hours spent delving its depths and gleefully employing each new destructive tool felt satisfyingly dense. The Old Hunters is an impressive return to From Software's oppressive and rewarding universe, and while it retreads much of the same path, it's very much a path worth taking.
At the end of my journey through Jotun, I was left wanting more of the excellent mythological world to explore and experience. Despite very minor frame rate dips and the occasional glitchy element, the beauty and wonder of Jotun unfolds like a storybook and deserves attention.
Mad Max is an engaging rampage through a brutal world of depravity and loss that urges you to probe every ugly corner.
Titan Souls' creative fights and fluid controls make for intensely satisfying and rewarding one-hit-kill combat.
Bloodborne delivers an exhausting and exhilarating journey into the depths of madness.
Though a stylish adventure, The Order: 1886 emphasizes its cinematic polish at the crippling cost of gameplay freedom.
Grow Home's charming personality, feel-good physics, and satisfying controls make for a beautiful climbing adventure.
Raven's Cry would be a bad pirate game even if it weren't in such a buggy, unfinished (and unfinishable) state.
Scrolls is a tactician's card game, with smart play supporting the need for new scrolls with generous winnings.
Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms has fresh ideas, but needs more time to develop everything else.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is a fantastic compendium of the high-points in recent shooter history. With four complete multiplayer suites and over 100 maps, it's more than a bargain, it's a steal. The groundwork 343 has laid in this colossal experience, the scope of what it might still be, is truly something to admire. If the driving minds behind the collection can dedicate the kind of care and customer attentiveness that's always been associated with the Halo brand, and pull off the original vision, Halo: The Master Chief Collection multiplayer will easily be deserving of high praise equal to its campaign.
Gabriel Knight returns with a modern twist, bringing with him the good and the bad.
Legend of Grimrock II is another fantastic trip to the grid.
TRI: Of Friendship and Madness redefines the first-person puzzler through creative simplicity.
Endless Legend adds fantastic twists to familiar strategy.
WildStar's success is built on the shoulders of MMORPG giants, but its colorful personality sets it apart.
Though the new-generation moniker may be cliché, it rings true in the dense and beautiful presentation of Watch Dogs. Most of the many, many systems on display have been sharpened to a fine point despite a few that fail to reach their full potential. While minor bugs, inconsistencies, and a lackluster story restrain Watch Dogs, its impressive environments, fluid interconnected mechanics and welcome multiplayer components set the bar for future open-world experiences, and help it to stand as a sign of things to come.