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Frostpunk 2 scales up the drama with a bigger, more strategic sequel that's easy to get lost in.
UFO 50 will remind you why you fell in love with video games in the first place.
I hope that Yars Rising serves as a blueprint for Atari moving forward. Heck, I hope any publisher struggling to keep a series as old as Yars fresh is paying attention. Yars Rising is a loving ode to the past that reveres its source material enough to confidently expand on it rather than give it an easy refresh. It takes the original franchise’s worldbuilding seriously and finds a way to twist every morsel of it into a larger adventure that’s worthy of the Yars name. Sometimes the best way to keep the past alive is to let it evolve into something new. Precious nostalgia is an anchor, and Yars Rising flies free without that tying it down.
Even with some needed tweaking, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 still presents an unrivaled experience; it’s easy enough to consider it as one of the best Warhammer games around. From cinematic backdrops of an onrushing tide of death and jaw-dropping sequences that left me in awe, to the brutal carnage and “we few against all odds” mantra that befits the setting, it’s an exciting shooter that any fan of Games Workshop’s universe would be a heretic not to try. We just need to see a few tweaks for Operations and Eternal War so that this bad boy can finally cross the Rubicon to go from a great game to a Primaris masterpiece that’s worthy of the Emperor’s grace.
The expertly designed PS5 exclusive plays like an intervention with its own publisher. It brings the PlayStation platform on an intergalactic journey through its history to rediscover its long lost sense of wonder. It’s not just a very effective ad for Sony; it’s an exuberant adventure that remembers that there’s power in play.
The Casting of Frank Stone works when Supermassive Games is focused on crafting an original horror story built from the same bones as Until Dawn. Its multigenerational slasher premise gets complicated by its duties as a spinoff, throwing its titular killer and grander themes to the wayside to retroactively build lore for a separate multiplayer game. It makes for a disjointed tale that only claws at a larger point about the intersection of horror and the media about it.
Despite thin detective gameplay that may be light on actual deduction, Emio — The Smiling Man makes up for that with a slow-burn visual novel story that goes in completely unexpected directions. Its grisly tone and M-rating may feel surprising for a Nintendo game, but Emio meets young players at a level Nintendo is uniquely positioned to reach them at.
Visions of Mana is like a snack that you eat in between your big meals. There’s enough here to satiate your hunger, like the fun combat and entertaining cast of characters, if you’re looking for another RPG to play in the meantime. It feels safe and familiar, so don’t come in expecting a novel experience.
I could see a great Star Wars game in the stellar world design and emergent moments that truly put me in the shoes of a smuggler. Anytime Star Wars Outlaws allowed me to live that fantasy, I was happy to be in its orbit. But so often, it left me hanging in the airlock.
Concord isn’t a poor multiplayer offering by any means. It has fun hero-shooter bones, an eclectic cast of characters with distinct strategies, and rich world-building that’s set to dribble out consistently over time. It’s just that Firewalk Studios’ debut lacks original ideas that elevate that promising foundation. The result is a perfectly fine, though imbalanced, live service shooter that doesn’t feel long for this universe.
Black Myth: Wukong is only a Soulslike in the way Stellar Blade is, and that’s to its credit. It lightly borrows elements from the subgenre but carves out a niche for itself by focusing on its key differences. Despite some performance issues and frustrating difficulty spikes, Black Myth: Wukong’s frenetic combat and emphasis on fluid movement make it feel unlike any of its other contemporaries.
As is the case with an actual reality show, I’m left grappling with conflicting feelings when I roll credits on The Crush House. It’s a sharp social satire wrapped up in one of the funniest puzzle games I’ve ever played, but the mechanical simulation leaves me wanting more. As I sit down to map out my criticisms, that’s when it hits me: I’m an emoji in my own audience segment. Maybe The Crush House would playfully nickname me a “snob,” one who keeps saying the term “high-concept” in the chat at random intervals. Maybe the things I’d want to see would clash with an audience hungry for this sleeker design that’s still perfectly functional and creative. The Crush House serves as a reminder that you can’t please everybody, or else you’ll end up in the backyard filming lawn gnomes.
Cat Quest 3 is a light but charming pirate adventure that'll make you feel like a kid again.
I still haven’t accessed its true ending yet because you can only use one continue before your opportunity to get it goes away, but I might just keep playing Volgarr the Viking 2 until I do. Whether you’re a fan of difficult old-school 2D platformers or not, this is a modern take on a classic formula that anyone can get into with enough time and effort.
World of Goo 2 is the legacy-appraising send-off that the series deserves. Its inventive puzzling serves as a friendly reminder that the 2008 classic deserves its place in gaming history, even as a decade and a half of shiny new games pass it by. It’s still that foundational goo ball in an industry that keeps building higher and higher, even as the structure starts to sway. Without it, everything would fall apart.
Just as one bad move in a battle can nearly cost players an entire mission, a few tactical missteps put a dent in Steamworld Heist 2’s armor. But those flaws don’t take away from another impressive feat from one of gaming’s most consistent studios. Steamworld Heist 2 goes above and beyond as a follow-up, adding new gameplay layers that deepen the core hook. That’s the kind of tactical juggling act that only a master strategist like Image & Form can handle.
Dungeons of Hinterberg is a razor-sharp debut from developer Microbird that tackles the complexities of the tourism industry from every angle. From its impact on politics to how it backs local businesses into a corner, the action-adventure game delivers a nuanced dissection of a quiet town turned global attraction. And like any good tourist trap, it hooks players in with wondrous entertainment, from ingeniously designed dungeon puzzles to magical powers that turn its natural landscapes into amusement parks. It may not be the slickest action game, but it contains one of 2024’s most vital stories.
After 40 or so hours, Zenless Zone Zero stands out as a visually distinct, streamlined mobile game that also plays well on PC and console. It has a lot going for it stylistically, but its combat lacks depth compared to competitors and feels like a chore after long stretches of time. I still see it succeeding with regular updates, its character-driven story, and intuitive gameplay, but I wish HoYoverse spent more time pushing the game in a direction with higher stakes and complexity rather than convenience.
While I’ll surely continue to chip away at my best times, Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition feels more like practice than the big game itself. It’s a great way to learn the basics of speedrunning, but the outlet for those acquired skills is in another castle. Maybe it’s all building toward the return of the real Nintendo World Championships. If that’s the case, cue the ’80s training montage music. I’m going big time.
After a thorough 25 hours with Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, I’m left torn on what winds up landing as a run-of-the-mill Soulslike. Ideas like its combo system make for a fresh spin on a well-trodden genre, showing a spark of creativity in design. Those are just held back by other underdeveloped ideas that don’t necessarily excel in a particular facet. An added layer of jank certainly doesn’t help matters either. Whether you think of Flintlock as a true Soulslike or a Soulslite, as its developer calls it, it’s still lacking in both departments.