Showgunners is a violent delight that leans into its setting and premise to great effect. It may not be the deepest tactical RPG out there, which, in turn, removes a lot of the replayability that the genre is known for, but as a 12-15 hour experience that puts spectacle and accessible systems first, it’s a hell of a good time.

If you like poker or visual novels that don’t give you much choice in how the story plays out, then this would be a great game for you to pick up for $9.99. If you want to take the plunge, you can find it on Steam, Itch.io, and soon on Switch. For me, however, I’m going to fold on this game.

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story’s narrative intrigued players last year when it launched on PC, PlayStation, and Switch; now, a year later, it entices mobile players to its tantalizing tale. While I stand by my PC review’s sentiments regarding the sheer amount of information presented without knowing what to do with every last tidbit, it doesn’t change the fact that this is a solid title that shines on mobile platforms. If you’re looking for a high quality murder mystery that you can play on your phone, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story invites you to investigate its strange, sad tale a century in the making.

Utterly shambolic in almost every way, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an abject failure as a stealth and traversal game, continuously tripping over itself with technical incompetence to such an extent it’s virtually impossible to recommend. Featuring monotonous climbing and sneaking mechanics, cheap deaths from heights akin to a paddling pool, a boring structure, plain and uninteresting characters, a host of technical blemishes, mostly-poor visuals, a woodpecker-quality soundtrack, and an overall dismal and trying experience, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is absolutely atrocious. Much like its protagonist, it’s a cursed product that should be cast into the smoldering fires of Mount Doom.

Capcom may have made significant mistakes in the development of Street Fighter V, but it’s clear they were determined not to repeat them with Street Fighter 6. I can’t remember the last time a fighting game offered such a complete package, with something for every type of player. Combine that with best-in-class mechanics and a visual identity that truly sets it apart, and Street Fighter 6 is everything fighting game fans have been dreaming of. There’s no need to put your quarter on the machine to save your spot anymore. With Street Fighter 6, we can all have next.

As it stands, The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle Earth is a frustrating experience of a mobile game, marred by a clunky overemphasis on resource collection, and has a long way to go if it ever wants to live up to Tolkien’s Legacy. I’m not saying that there’s absolutely no hope, because there were a few genuinely good points, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

For what it offers, Fitness Circuit is a nice entry to the list of games on Nintendo Switch featuring an exercise niche. Workouts are as relaxed or as energetic as you want them to be, and the sessions are ideal for short daily bursts of play, intended for those who find themselves incurred with busy schedules. Unfortunately, there isn’t much here to keep you invested in the long run, the lack of incentives to actively engage you are threadbare, and there isn’t the substance necessary to keep you hooked for long. You might like Fitness Circuit as a reliable exercise companion for a little while, but before long, it’ll run out of steam, and you’ll revert to a more substantial package.

Honestly, I had no idea what to expect from Pulling No Punches. I’ve played a lot of beat ’em ups, and in recent years very few have made an impression. But this one absolutely did. While the game’s themes and the narrative’s brash nature may offend some, I find the game a breath of fresh air. It combines a unique visual style with dynamic combat, amazing bosses, and plenty of reasons to keep playing, especially with a group of friends. If this is the first project from BrainDead Broccoli, I’m eager to see what their encore presentation might be.

Overall, Ash of Gods: The Way is an extremely enjoyable entry into an extremely crowded field, and that holds true whether you view it more as a deckbuilder or as a tactical/strategy game. Gameplay, on the whole, is engaging, challenging, and addicting, the story is fairly deep and does a good job of driving gameplay forward, and the promise of multiple endings is a strong draw for repeated playthroughs.

Given that the bizarre, dreamlike world of Ghostpia Season 1 already took me to the halfway point, I’ll admit that I’m morbidly curious to see how things end. However, given how quickly things went from sweet to sour, I don’t think that I’d be too upset if that didn’t happen, either. Ghostpia Season 1 undeniably has some of the best visuals of any visual novel that I’ve seen in years, and its dreamy soundtrack compliments it wonderfully. Unfortunately, its strange choice of protagonists, tendency to focus on (seemingly) unimportant details, and habit of changing tone too quickly make it hard to digest all that easily.

Supraland: Six Inches Under skillfully dodges the “more of the same” problem, introducing a generous amount of fan-favorite tools and mechanisms while also offering a couple more additions that spice up the deep, cavernous dives you’ll be working your way through. The biomes are still as colorful and varied as the base game, and if you’re eager for more of Supraland’s toy-sized world, you’ll get that and then some, all wrapped up in about 8 to 12 hours of solid, fun gameplay that plays exactly like it’s advertised. Goes to show you don’t have to reinvent the wheel; just find new places where that wheel rolls. Just keep an eye out if the save system seems like it’s on the fritz, and do mind the cursor-based menu navigation. After all, it wouldn’t be a proper spelunking journey without a few hang-ups.

Homestead Arcana is a welcome addition to the cozy gaming space. A complete lack of combat, interesting magical farming techniques, and rewarding yet tense exploration that focuses on using spells to outwit your opponents rather than destroy, all contribute to an experience that manages to elevate itself and stand out. It may lack the engaging side content that ultimately keeps many around games such as this once the critical path is completed, not every game needs to be a time-devouring behemoth, and some may actually appreciate the breezier experience that Homestead Arcana presents. If you’re looking for a distraction from the genre’s heavy hitters, then the adventures of Billie and Huckleberry are well worth experiencing.

With its unique twist on combat and a great sense of style, I went into Strayed Lights with high hopes. However, while its presentation and challenging parry-centric boss battles certainly shine brightly, its largely nonexistent story, a lack of enemy variety, and frequent crashes caused that light to fade well before the conclusion of its four-hour runtime. If you’re simply looking for a novel take on the action-adventure genre, maybe pick this one up once it goes on sale. For anyone else, Strayed Lights is tough to recommend.

If you had told me one of my favorite retro adventures in a long time would be sports-themed, I would have called you a filthy liar. But it’s true that Bat Boy is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time. Though the adventure is relatively short, with only one ending, and can feel occasionally overwhelming, it’s also well-crafted and fun. I spent a good 7 hours with the game, though you can probably beat it in less if you don’t replay stages or go for completion. It’s not a perfect experience, but it’s a worthy one, and I hope this isn’t the last adventure for Ryosuke and his merry band of athletes.

It may have taken more than three decades for Cannon Dancer to make its way to our living rooms, but it was totally worth the wait. If you’re a fan of Capcom’s Strider or classic 90s arcade games in general – especially ones with a meaty challenge – then you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Volcano Princess is definitely one of the more addictingly fun games I’ve played in recent memory. It has that same “one more turn” kind of feel that got me hooked on the likes of Civilization and other strategy games of its caliber. Although I wish there had been more effort put into the English localization because the story deserves to shine as much as the rest of the game, the clunky translation didn’t stop me from pouring 40+ hours into it. If you’re looking for a very sweet but surprisingly deep (and absolutely addicting) experience, Volcano Princess could use your careful guidance to reach its full potential.

Put simply, Cyber Citizen Shockman is a peculiarity of a retro game. Though I appreciate it being brought to new audiences some 30 years later, I can’t say it holds up very well. My hope is that the series grew over time and got much improved, since I know Ratalaika is bringing other games from the franchise to the West. But if you’re looking for an amazing retro experience, you’ll probably be disappointed with it.

So once again, I’ve tried another deckbuilder, only to come out disappointed. Three Kingdom: The Journey isn’t a terrible game, and there’s kernels of greatness that could grow into something much better. That will just depend on Senmu Studio putting in the time to fix the translation and tweak the game balance. Until that happens, this is just one of many frustrating deckbuilder experiences.

Golden Idol Mysteries: The Spider of Lanka isn’t easy to return to if you haven’t played The Case of the Golden Idol for some time, but once you get into it, it offers some of the best content in the entire game. Providing an interesting set-up for the main story and some of the best logic puzzles the developers have derived yet, those who loved the original game last year should absolutely consider checking this out. Those who can, however, should try to play these soon after completing the main game.

Sometimes, as a gamer, you long for a game that you can just let your hair down with. That inner child wants to get some fresh air from time to time, and LEGO 2K Drive is there for just that. Not everyone will be here for the numerous puns and hammy dialogue, but I think anyone picking this up won’t be disappointed in the classic fun of screwing around with a vat of LEGOs. While the vehicle editor has a bit of a spazzy camera and seems to be missing a couple of parts, it’s still so robust when it comes to bringing those childhood fantasies of racing your custom LEGO car to life that it can be easily forgiven. It’s just a shame the same can’t be said about the egregious microtransactions that are about as painful as stepping on a LEGO. Still, if you have a taste for arcade racers and a love for LEGO, or are maybe looking for a good first racing game for the kids, you can’t do any wrong taking a pit stop at LEGO 2K Drive.

While it’s true that Bend the Roo’les is a pretty affordable experience and one that’s easier to recommend, it still has its share of problems, both in terms of glitches and bugs, but also in terms of unbalanced game design. But if you still want to take your chances and spend more time in the Kao the Kangaroo universe, you might still find some limited enjoyment here.

The Path of Destiny mode may not have been much of a hit for me, but everything else available here is more than enough for a Magical Droppin’ good time – keeping this franchise within my pantheon of favorite puzzlers. If the price seems too steep at the offset, then there’s no shame in waiting for a sale or until more of the free DLC drops to see if it adds value to the purchase for you. But if money is no object, then get on this bad boy and start having some fun! Just get some backup controllers on standby because these bad boys are going to take a serious pounding.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again—unorthodox though it may be, Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a very welcome addition to the Ys series and a game that I highly recommend. If you’ve already played the game on PS4, I get why you might not want to pick this version up (although I wouldn’t blame you if you did). Amazing as it is, it’s basically the same game, except it works slightly better, and you get some free DLC costumes. If you haven’t played the game, yet, you literally don’t have any excuse to not play Monstrum Nox at this point.

For new players, the more logical difficulty curve that Sunbreak presents, with a meaningful endgame challenge now correct and present, means there has never been a better time to jump into Monster Hunter Rise. Similarly, for lapsed players who were eventually put off by how trivial things had become, Sunbreak provides the perfect excuse to jump back in. Whatever angle you’re approaching Sunbreak from, sharpen those blades – you’re going to need them.

That’s actually a frequent issue with Darkest Dungeon II. I admire that the team at Red Hook Studios took a real swing here, trying new paths forward for the series instead of just tinkering around the edges and making an iterative sequel. The issue is that most of the game’s strengths are still the parts that came from the first game, with most of what’s new feeling fine but also like downgrades to what they’ve replaced. It leaves Darkest Dungeon II in a strange place where, on its own merits, it’s an interesting and well-made game that doesn’t quite live up to the example set by its predecessor.

Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores may be more Horizon, but if that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ll be very happy with this new content. With an excellent story, interesting new characters, awesome new weapons, and enemies, as well as some of the most exciting sequences in the entire game, Burning Shores makes Forbidden West an even stronger experience than it already was.

If you’ve been salivating for a new old-school RPG on modern consoles, Live A Live is a proper treat. The selection of stories you play are lovely and varied, the beautifully upscaled look of the game brings details to vibrant new life, and there is a lot of retro arcadey goodness in here to bask in. Furthermore, the shortness of each individual story makes each of them easy to play without feeling overloaded or that you’re missing something. Live A Live can get tricky, its grid-based battle system is a little passe, and it isn’t the most awe-inspiring remake you ever saw, but it’s a lovingly crafted revitalization that will please anybody with a fondness for old-school JRPGs.

Even though the game’s balancing and AI issues try their best to spoil the fun, ArcRunner still manages to deliver a satisfying cyberpunk roguelike experience. Despite its shortcomings—and they are plentiful— it can feel great to give into the temptation to jam to some synthwave and gun down some nameless bots for a few hours. It’s just a shame that, apart from the killer aesthetics, there isn’t much to compel players to return to its neon-saturated streets once they’ve finished their initial playthrough.