Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a light fare that provides hours of fun, a palate cleanser to more arduous experiences that is much deeper than it may at first appear.

Etherborn becomes a very tricky game but the brain-teasing only lasts a couple of hours. The final riddle, however, feels surprisingly tame and not the big final exam it should be, resulting in a relatively anti-climatic finish.

A decent follow-up to a bygone genre. Its pixel art and animation will satisfy retro-enthusiasts looking out for this lesser-served type of experience, and there’s minimal investment required to jump right in and experience some accessible arcade action. What’s troubling is that it pales in comparison to decades-old titles, and it’s frustrating that areas where it might have excelled, given the potential lessons learned — aspects like weapon selection, characters, gameplay, and combat variety — it simply results in passing marks instead of straight As.

Shadowbringers is the best MMORPG expansion in recent memory - perhaps of all-time. Its exceptionally few warts are the kind that will be removed with a few patches of tweaking, and what's left is skin so unblemished it rivals the sheen of a crystal.

Sea of Solitude offers a short and deeply personal journey for those who are willing to sail over some incredibly dark waters. Sea of Solitude definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea, but those who enjoy video games for their artistic value and their story will find a lot to love in this game.

Assetto Corsa Competizione has the skeleton of an exceptional racing simulation, but Kunos' efforts to flesh out the breathtaking engine and tight mechanics are ultimately paper-thin.

More than any other Monster Jam title, Monster Jam Steel Titans does the best job yet of delivering an authentic monster truck experience to gaming audiences, but the game trips over itself at nearly every turn with poor choices and clunky mistakes.

Outer Wilds is a revolutionary gaming experience. It is boundless in creativity and imagination, with a knowledge-gathering system that permeates throughout the whole experience and serves to create a title that is easily one of the most immersive games in recent memory.

Super Mario Maker 2 offers an incredible amount of content and is one of the highlights of the Nintendo Switch's 2019 lineup. The omissions from the first game and the poor quality of the online modes are the only things holding it back from greatness.

They Are Billions is a fun enough game for those looking for a nice hybrid of the survival and base-building strategy games even if neither aspect feels as fleshed out as it could. While the steampunk setting and addition of zombies adds a fresh layer of paint to things, it's not nearly enough to sustain the game for too long, especially when the controls are often so frustrating that some players will find themselves pausing or turning the game off entirely to take a break because of it. Regardless, there's still a really fun game underneath all of the flaws, and a level of suspense that almost makes it worth ignoring them.

Scrap offers a respectable but forgettable platforming adventure. The exceptional foundation is held back from a short length and a lack of bells and whistles around the edges. What is there, though, can be fun for what it is and has potential to grow into something special with future updates. You can do worse but there are also better alternatives for auto-running goodness.

F1 2019 is extremely impressive, and may be the racing sim on the market with the best balance between sheer enjoyment and a dedication to realism. The added features to this year's entry make it worth picking up even for those who purchased its predecessor, and it's effectively a must-have for fans of the sport in general. Be prepared to sink hour after hour into this one.

Judgment jettisons the entire cast and story of the old games in favor of a fresh start in Kamurocho, making for an excellent entryway for newcomers, as well as an exciting stand-alone story for Yakuza veterans.

It's fun, but it clearly could have been more - and that's becoming a familiar rhetoric when it comes to Conan games.

Crash Team Racing Nitro Fueled is going to bring a lot of joy to its players. Those after a concentrated dose of nostalgia will do no wrong here, and the majority of the game works incredibly well in the modern day – particularly when played with friends. It’s been a long time coming, but this generation finally has a suitable alternative to Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, even if it doesn’t quite reach those heights.

The bugs are the worst of what you’ll find here, and fail to get in the way of one of the finest metroidvanias currently available for purchase. Longtime fans have decades of games to compare this to, but they’ll probably still be bowled over by the myriad of secrets, set pieces, and combat approaches available to them in Bloodstained, a metroidvania that feels eminently modern but also notably graceful and considerate to its history. This is a must-play game that — with a few more bug-fixes and substantive DLC — will likely end up on most best-of lists by the end of 2019.

Golem Gates feels like the type of game that would have been better served staying at home on the PC platform. On Nintendo Switch, an already dicey conceit gets exposed even further by poor controls, leaving a game that only the most die-hard RTS or card-battling fans should attempt to play.

Like an experimental art house film re-shot to more fully realize its original creative vision using modern technology and techniques, Pathologic 2 brings the tense, enigmatic streets of Town-on-Gorkhon to life like the original never quite could. It iterates and adds on top of what once was to great effect in nearly all but one particularly baffling area, and any gamer with a penchant for single-player games with a strong narrative focus should play through Pathologic 2 at least once for the one-of-a-kind experience that only it provides.

My Friend Pedro's story is banal and cliche; the developers at DeadToast know this doesn't matter. You'll keep playing because it's fun.

Besides the aforementioned quibbles with its design or concept, it’s perplexing that this game was ever packaged as a VR title to begin with, and it probably should have been developed as a sharp smartphone app to first test its raw gameplay basics in the wild.

Cadence of Hyrule might be short, but every second of the game is jam-packed with exciting gameplay and there is never a dull moment to be had in the musical episode of Hyrule. Cadence of Hyrule is worthy of being considered a true entry in The Legend of Zelda series and longtime fans of the series will love every moment of this new incarnation of Hyrule, for as long as the journey lasts.

Limited but fun while it lasts. Slicing, blending, and frying is a lot of fun, although not quite as much as causing enough trouble to make Gordon Ramsey wince. Great to pick up and play to let off some steam, but don't expect that appetite to last.

If you absolutely feel the need to relive Desmond’s disappointing conclusion, do so on other platforms. At least the letdown looks a bit nicer there.

Warhammer: Chaosbane might be of interest to those who are fans of the franchise, or to those who are looking for a simpler version of Diablo, but there just isn't enough interesting content in Warhammer: Chaosbane to recommend it to anyone else.

For those who played the first, Trails of Cold Steel II is unlikely to disappoint. It takes no prisoners with its game systems or its story, but those who like a thoughtful, classic JRPG will find something to enjoy here. At times it may feel a little slow, but with a world this compelling it's easy to forgive.

Hellmut: The Badass from Hell is tense-filled roguelike experience with an intuitive generated map system that not only guarantees a surprise each time its campaign is played through, but an excuse to come back to the game again and again.

Despite the fact that many will be scared off by its long list of mechanics and a well-settled community that's already miles ahead of newcomers, Mordhau is an excellent online experience with hours and hours of enjoyment resting just beyond some initial frustrations.

Dungeon of the Dragon Knight is bare bones.