With hyper-mobile combat and traversal, and a varied arsenal of 17th-century firepower, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn stands apart from its peers in more ways than one.
XDefiant is unoriginal, and its disparate styles don't quite fit together, but solid gunplay and excellent map design elevate Ubisoft's free-to-play shooter.
F1 24 is too familiar in many areas, but an overhauled Driver Career mode and emphasis on aggressive racing ensure that Codemasters' latest is still an engaging motorsports experience.
Crow Country pays loving homage to a golden age of survival horror while distinguishing itself with an enthralling story, excellent world design, and creative puzzles.
Animal Well delights with its non-traditional approach to Metroidvanias, combining unique items with a reactive and surreal world that's full of surprises.
Sand Land's fantastic vehicular combat and adherence to the source material are let down by bland and repetitive stealth, melee combat, and mission design.
Children of the Sun's gritty and surreal world is home to an innovative puzzle game that mixes long-range sniping with macabre brain teasers, culminating in your enemy's brains painting the walls.
MLB The Show 24 delights with another season of Storylines: The Negro Leagues and continued on-field excellence, but some modes are still in desperate need of an overhaul.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is an excellent sequel that builds upon the first game's core concepts to create a thrilling open-world adventure.
Skull and Bones strips away everything great about Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, resulting in a dull live-service game that's often a chore.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a love story about loss and sacrifice, propelling its choice-driven narrative forward amidst middling combat.
The Finals mixes solid shooting with dynamic destruction and game-show-infused presentation to create a thrillingly chaotic concoction
RoboCop: Rogue City is a methodical shooter that makes you feel like Old Detroit's greatest crime fighter, but it errs when its devotion to authenticity wanes.
Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 bundles some of the most influential video games of all time in one comprehensive package, providing an extensive history of stealth-action.
Hellboy's Right Hand of Doom is the star of Hellboy: Web of Wyrd, but this melee-focused roguelite lacks substance outside of pummeling mythical creatures to dust.
With a rebrand and the FIFA license out of the picture, EA Sports FC 24 signals a new era for the long-running series, but it's mostly business as usual.
For the most part, however, Lies of P is content to adorn existing mechanics and ideas with its own story and aesthetic. This may be a derivative approach, but it nails the core Souls-like experience, with each of its various mechanics seamlessly coalescing to create a thrilling action game that's challenging, varied, and dripping with atmosphere. It's easy to be reductive when a game wears its influences on its sleeve as boldly as Lies of P does, but plenty of other games have tried and failed to recreate the same magic. It's not an easy endeavor, and while it doesn't shake up the formula or reinvent the wheel, Lies of P is still one of the genre's most accomplished and enjoyable entries--and that's the truth.
Armored Core VI sees From Software return to and refine its roots with a game of thrilling mech combat built on aggression, agility, and customization.
With robust combat, improved traversal, and a return to the series' surreal art style and fascinating world-building, Blasphemous 2 is a triumphant sequel.
Remnant 2 builds on its predecessor to create a rewarding and unpredictable experience that's difficult to put down.