Without a set of mock instruments, rhythm games don’t always capture the feel of musical performance. Spin Rhythm XD resists that trends with an innovative control scheme that might have your sliding mice or flicking the analog stick - providing a physicality that cadenced button tapping can lack. A 60-song EDM track list is a pleasant surprise given the asking price.

With an adorable cast and near-perfect performance, Alice Gear Aegis CS Concerto of Simulatrix makes a stunning visual showing on the Switch. But the graphical beauty isn’t tantalizing enough to disguise the game’s gacha roots. Mechanized maiden battles aren’t well balanced, resulting in little more than a grind for cute costumes.

Caverns of Mars: Recharged lingers on the low-end of Atari revivals. SneakyBox adds in elements like different types of weaponry and the ability to slow your descent, but none of these profoundly expand on a rather basic formula.

Catan- Console Edition does a decent job at adapting the game into a digital format, offering a high-definition sheen to the tabletop classic. Expect a serviceable base game that’s elevated when facing off again humans. Given the lack of any campaign or unlockables, playing against CPU-controlled opponents might give you a case of island fever.

From capturing monsters on the battlefield to producing heirs back at home, Record of Agarest War is an eccentric epic. Five generations of characters will do the fighting while your dialog responses help determine the qualities of your offspring, offer some novelty to an unevenly paced 140 to 160-hour campaign.

Some might take issue with Tiny Troopers: Global Ops’ vague stereotypes or its glorification of war. The real problem is the simplicity of the game, where you’ll face eight hours of near-continuous circle strafing. It’s incentivized by a multitude of upgrades, which not be enough of an incentive for enlistment.

Trails to Azure offers both closure to the Crossbell arc and an introduction to some of Cold Steel’s characters. But the game functions as more than just connective tissue for Nihon Falcom’s prolific property. Spending time with Lloyd and the rest of the Special Support Section exemplifies role-playing at its best, courtesy of compelling combat, a delightful cast of characters, and more geopolitical intrigue than a stack of history books.

Armed with a quartet of spells, Nobeta is one-witch-army, prepped to take down a castleful of antagonists. The presence of stamina and mana gauges means that the game draws from Souls-like formula. But this little enchantress offers more than your usual swing- and slugfest, extending the energy of a solid third-person shooter.

Meg’s Monster’s succinctness might put off traditionalists accustomed to role-playing epics. But give the game a shot, and you’ll likely find more laughter, tension, and sentiment than in most forty-hour journeys.

This Gal Gun spin-off threatens to outshine the series that inspired it thanks to taut, timeless, two-dimension action. Soloists can trade off between the gun-toting Shinobu and her melee-combo-using sister, Maya. However, having a partner for local co-op play makes Grim Guardians: Demon Purge truly shine.

If you’re not a fan of combat focused on the precisely-timed parry, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty isn’t going to change your mind. But masochists who are mesmerized by methodically studying enemy tells should find quite a bit of enjoyment in the game’s fantastical adaptation of Warring State peril.

A bit too often, Mystery Dungeon-style games lack a compelling impetus. void tRrLM(); //Void Terrarium 2 provides one but requires a bit of persistence from players.

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe delivers a feast for the retinas, where even the transitions convey vibrant exuberance. Play is just as adept as the visuals, with a multitude of modes prepared to swallow your recreational hours, whether you’re playing solo or with a group of friends.

Ryu Ga Gotoku’s games have often surveyed the stringent ethical code of its yakuza, where street violence and charitability go hand-in-hand. With Like a Dragon: Ishin!, the studio reflects on their organization’s chivalrous roots, where 19th-century samurai faced a period of political turbulence. Like the franchise’s best efforts, it’s wonderfully capricious, shifting from melodramatic to whimsical with the speed and precision of a master swordsman drawing his sword from its sheath.

Fans of Jeff Minter’s digital psychedelia will undoubtedly appreciate Akka Arrh once they learn to make sense of the on-screen bedlam. Fortunately, the steep learning curve is balanced by long-term appeal, positioning the game just south of classics such as Revenge of the Mutant Camels, Polybius, and Tempest 4000.

Jaleco’s diminutive ninja become a star across Japan in the 1980s. Ninja JaJaMaru: The Great Yokai Battle +Hell helps to explain this accomplishment, offering a commendable update of the Famicom classic, with the deluxe version of the game bundling an 8- and 16-bit era anthology.

Dust & Neon provides some engaging twin-stick firefights across its fifteen-minute missions. Between the taut pace and tight play, this is an above-average action-roguelike mainly undermined by above-average pricing.

Like A-Train 3D: City Simulator, I am an Air Traffic Controller - AIRPORT HERO HANEDA is another thorny transit sim set in the land of the Raising Sun. It’s not for everyone, but if you appreciate semi-realistic assessments where hundreds of lives depend on your decision-making skills, then you'll want to book some time Haneda.

Even if you adore C-tier action titles like Wet, Total Overdose: A Gunslinger's Tale in Mexico, and Stranglehold, Wanted: Dead will disappoint. The cutscenes are torturously bad and the derivative action is monotonous. Not even a collection of quirky mini-games can help save this ill-fated hack-and-slash/shooter hybrid.

Typically, you’ll see almost everything a dungeon crawler has to offer in the first twenty hours. But Labyrinth of Galleria: The Moon Society shatters that standard, betraying your expectations at multiple intervals. The result is an experience that disrupts genre traditions as often as it obeys them.

If you’re craving some flashy, simple button-mashing action, Helvetii just might be worth a look. But a noticeable lack of balance and depth mar the attractive combat. You’re better off seeking out one of the dozens of better roguelikes out there.

Look past Alice Escaped’s adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s nonsensical dialog, and you’ll find an expedition that’s worth taking, even in a crowded genre. A pair of tag-team characters and the freedom of being able to select your own new abilities endow the trek with distinction. But it’s the visual beauty that truly elevates illuCalab’s latest effort. This is one of the most magnificent depictions of Wonderland.

Peer past some forgivable anachronisms and Critical Games manages to capture the sanguine charms of early console role-playing games. Occasionally, attempts to capture retro appeal lack authenticity, becoming the equivalent of a mediocre ‘80s cover band. But here, Joshua Hallaran and the team hit almost all the right notes.

Boasting two additional stages that weren’t present in the arcade version, a trio of playable ships, and a gratifying alternative soundtrack, Raiden IV x MIKADO remix is a winner that should satisfy STG fans, especially if you don’t own the previous release.

There’s a plethora of proficient first-person shooters on Steam. Dread Templar offers an engrossing ten to fifteen-hour campaign with few blemishes. Sure, the experience might lack distinction, but it’s an efficient performer on most mid-to-low-end systems, making it ideal for Steam Deck owners seeking a fast and fluid firefight on the go.

If you’re able to look past a slightly stereotypical use of Japanese mythos and the lack of long-term enjoyment, Mahokenshi perennial deckbuilding provides enjoyment. Save for a few minor frustrations, this is one of the more accessible entries into the genre.

Instead of a confident stride forward, Neptunia: Sisters vs Sisters demonstrates Idea Factory’s franchise taking another peculiar sidestep. The result is an experience that delivers amusing writing, but combat is clumsy and bolstered by overbloated systems. While the spin-off is one of the property’s better digressions, it’s hard to yearn for the proficiency Neptunia’s mainline entries typically deliver.

The concept of survival horror in a corporate setting is well-done. But too often, Psycho Yuppie mirrors the mistakes of a corporate giant by not providing enough guidance and limiting the use of the materials used to save your progress. Unless you’re a hardened adventure game aficionado, prepare to feel under-qualified.