If you plan to pick up Tchia‘s tale, I urge you to take it slow. Let yourself wander through every beautifully-crafted island. Make friends with the inhabitants, taking part in culturally rich musical experiences. Dive for pearls in the glittering waves. And take full advantage of the protagonist’s brilliant power to inhabit other creatures. These make up for the game’s more lacking mainline quest and less polished design elements.

It’s difficult to wrap my mind around The Wreck. Even after finishing it, my thoughts keep coming back to chord-striking moments. Absorbed in these tableaux, the game’s problems fall away. But it’s difficult to imagine recommending it to any but the most ardent adventure game fans or story-driven players.

Fans of the game or players looking for a new emotional experience should pick up Before Your Eyes on PSVR2 if they have the recently released platform. It’s difficult to urge anyone to go out and get the headset just for one game, but it is absolutely a must-buy for current owners looking to add to their VR collection.

The final message isn’t complicated. It’s important to take time to enjoy life and prioritize the people in it. But the metaphorical adventure in the mind is skillfully juxtaposed against reality, making for a melodic experience. Figment 2: Creed Valley‘s short story is wrapped in imagination. So, while some players may tune out over the dialogue or simplistic combat, the game has a lot to offer for those looking for an easy and artful journey.

All of this vampire flavoring is the icing on top of Dead Cells’ smooth-as-silk combat and absorbing gameplay loop. Besides a few moments of confusion on exactly where to go to get to the next section of the DLC (and Alucard with his gloriously flowing locks being absolutely useless, losing both his shield and sword which I find lying about random locations) Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is an enthralling experience so far. [Review in Progress]

There’s no fairy-tale ending waiting for our frostbitten heroes, but the conclusion is satisfying and stirring. Its gameplay may not always rival the exquisite visuals, but Blanc is a wonderful experience to share with a partner.

Some storylines are bittersweet triumphs, some are tragic ends, and others are just life moving forward. Every finale gets its own couple-paragraph epilogue in the narrative web, allowing me to see how the original game’s characters came to be. And while all are satisfying conclusions, it’s hard to resist starting over. The untrod paths reach out and beg me to uncover the details I missed.

The world outside is aesthetically irresistible. Chunky, nostalgic pixels make up the walkways, houses, and characters around the block. While swaying grass and flowing rivers take a strikingly contrasting 3D form. Everything is pulled together with a black and white color scheme, making it all feel like a memory rather than something happening here and now.

It’s a touching ending that deftly works with the whimsical parts of the game rather than against them. I roll credits thinking over how much play brings us together — a theme near and dear to anyone that writes about video games for a living — and I can’t wait to jump back into the world. Luckily, the developers give players new tools to make Lil Gator Game‘s post-game even more enjoyable, and I pick up my comical sword once more.

The culmination of the roughly hour-and-a-half-long game is a concert that plays on my heartstrings. The Forest Quartet is not an overly deep game to dive into, but its brief playtime explores heavy, and relatable, themes with grace.

The narrative isn’t heavy-handed and lends itself to interpretation, but — not spoiling anything — the conclusion is satisfying, even if it’s not explicit. It’s a busy time for players trying to figure out their “best of” lists, so I hope no one misses out on Melatonin.

Over the course of multiple, inventive chapters, I unravel why I’ve been gifted these weird abilities, how they came to be in the first place, and the conspiracy that connects everything together. While at times the more juvenile dialogue — and one, slightly frustrating, area — had me worried the game’s threads wouldn’t stitch together in a completely satisfying way, RE:CALL stuck the landing. In its customary fashion, the ending is dominated by a choice, which means different possible conclusions. But whichever way the player leans, this is a game well worth experiencing.

A puzzle-filled, big-hearted adventure tinged with cosmic horror, A Space for the Unbound ushers players through a magnificent journey. It’s hitting every major console on release, so don’t miss out.