The Forgotten City is a fantastic entry in the oft-forgotten mystery-adventure genre, but a handful of flaws slightly detract from the experience.
From its distinctive art style to its decently fleshed-out world, Kitaria Fables is as cute as they come and filled with its own personal brand of charm. However, surprisingly engrossing combat and a stable experience don't cover the myriad of strange game design decisions that cause Kitaria Fables to move at glacial pace.
If you've ever desired to roleplay as a variety of avian creatures with a tendency to pull off sick tricks on four-wheeled boards, then SkateBIRD is basically your only option. This cute indie game successfully delivers a goofy skateboarding experience most of the time, but annoying and plain inconsistent movement as well as some boring level design prevent SkateBIRD from being great.
Forza Horizon 5 is the culmination of all of Playground Games' efforts to perfect its craft, and the result is the best open-world racing game you can play. It combines the most beloved parts of Forza Horizon 3 and 4 into one ultimate racer.
Hints of a solid, finished shooter shine in CrossfireX at times, but at the end of the day, all you're getting is a short, average campaign and a multiplayer experience that lacks content and feels torn between two worlds.
Shredders is a fun, straightforward dive into the world of snowboarding, with mostly great controls and movements, and plenty of real-world influences. Some rough edges and often poor performance are all that hold this title back.
Weird West's astounding world-building and intriguing singleplayer campaign are worth the cost of entry on their own, but the game's lackluster technical performance and polish are huge negatives that prevent it from achieving greatness.
The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe expertly expands the original critically acclaimed narrative adventure with hours of brilliantly written new content and a lot more of Kevan Brighting's incredible narration. Even if you played the original, you shouldn't miss this updated version.
Cult of the Lamb isn't always perfectly balanced, but it does expertly blend two opposing game genres into a unique, action-packed occult adventure oozing with personality. This is another shining example of unparalleled indie developer creativity.
Saints Row (2022) succeeds at returning to the roots of its predecessors by paring back the outlandish absurdity without losing an ounce of chaos, but sometimes feels as if it's holding on too tightly to a past best left forgotten. Plus, it has a distinct lack of polish.
Metal: Hellsinger delivers engrossing rhythm-based shooting fun alongside a genuinely fantastic metal soundtrack. The game is short and lacks environmental variety, but the allure of a bigger high score should keep players returning for more.
Grounded concluded its early access tenure with one final update to pull everything together and add hours of fresh new content, resulting in one of the best games of 2022. Grounded is bound to inspire other titles in the survival genre for years to come.
The morbid, danger-laden adventure of siblings Amicia and Hugo continues with A Plague Tale: Requiem, a dark, beautiful sequel resplendent with expanded gameplay and swarms of deadly plague-riddled rats.
Pentiment's gameplay — or lack thereof — may deter some would-be players, but those who become invested in its lovingly crafted world set in distant past, emotional and human narrative, and gripping murder conspiracy are guaranteed to fall in love.
From beginning to end, Hi-Fi RUSH is a rhythmic thrill ride replete with stunning art design, fantastically fun gameplay, and a surprisingly evocative narrative of friendship and determination.
Atomic Heart nails the art design and core gameplay loops but loses focus due to its vast array of game mechanics and untailored open-world segments. Inconsistent writing quality and inaccessible game design will likely frustrate many players, but Atomic Heart can still manage to be an incredibly fun adventure.
Minecraft Legends is a wonderful addition to the expanding Minecraft universe, perfectly encapsulating its character while exploring a new, unique action-strategy genre. Its two halves aren't always perfectly balanced, though, and there are certainly ways the game can improve.
Layers of Fear (2023) makes full use of Unreal Engine 5 to elevate its visuals, lighting, and environments to all-new heights, reimagines the original Layers of Fear, and features brand-new DLC content to tie the entire story together. Layers of Fear 2 still struggles to compare, however, and scares often fail to land.
Harmony: The Fall of Reverie immediately won me over with its beautiful art design, skillful writing, and high-quality voice acting. While the finished product doesn't quite reach the same level of magic, this is still an incredible choice-based, narrative game of hope, loss, love, and humanity.
After Us features a sprawling, desolate world painstakingly crafted to show the destruction wrought by human greed, but its camera controls and level design make the platforming awkward and often frustrating.