DeVuego

I wasn’t expecting to walk away as impressed as I am by this game, but it really is something special. It’s easy to scoff at it due to how it wears its primary structural influence on its sleeve, but really, it mostly uses the basics to forge its own path, making for a unique, captivating experience with wonderful movement and sharp world design. If you love exploration and filling in the blanks of a world piecemeal, there’s absolutely no reason not to pick up Treasures of the Aegean.

Narita Boy is among the best Metroidvanias in recent years. Its beautiful world, surprisingly emotional story, and diverse enemy pool will leave you wanting more from its short run time.

Blasphemous might be derivative, but it's one of the best, if not the best Metroid-like I've played this year. Not only is it downright gorgeous, but the gameplay is uniformly excellent and hunting for its many secrets make it a puzzle well worth exploring.

Gris is a beautiful experience that will be well-regarded for it's visuals, themes, and game design for years to come.

Simply put, Relicta is in a class of its own. Its design is often head and shoulders above many of its contemporaries, the writing is of the highest quality, and the game looks far better than it honestly needs to. Absolutely anyone who considers themselves a fan of the genre owes it to themselves to play this game. It'll take you to the moon.

If you've been praying for a good Metroidvania, then Blasphemous 2 has come to offer you salvation. Strange cutscenes aside, this is an exceptional game full of tight combat, satisfying secrets, and incredible bosses.

Despite that, I did enjoy the rest of the game. The visuals are quite nice, with wide expanses and some lovely use of color, plus the controls do their job well. Everything is plenty responsive. All of the game’s elements culminate in a slight, but sweet indie game about the nature of freedom that has plenty of relaxing moments alongside plenty of strong design choices. If these kinds of games are something you enjoy, Scarf is another one to add to the list. As long as you can stand that awful, time-wasting, hide-and-seek section. I may still be just a teensy bit mad about that. Teensy.

Although Arise: A Simple Story has its share of flaws, the experience is well worth the time. The graphics are beautiful, the levels are incredibly creative, and the musical score is deeply moving. Taken together, Arise is an excellent first effort from a new game development studio. If this is Piccolo’s first go at making a video game, I can’t wait to see what they do next.

While it's easy to call a game, "too hard," Godstrike goes above and beyond to savage you. Unless you're willing to put in the time and pain, this will not be an enjoyable experience. However, if you can ride the crest of the difficulty curve, this bullet hell bonanza will keep you coming back for even more brutality.

Yuppie Psycho offers up a unique, amusing, and genuinely creepy take on survival horror, with some very clever puzzles and a lovely retro aesthetic. Join Sintracorp. KILL THE WITCH.

Call of the Sea might have an overly familiar premise and some less-than-stellar puzzles, but it's a gorgeous, enjoyable game boosted by strong production values and involved world design.

Epic Chef got under my skin a fair amount, but it's so insanely funny that I can't help but forgive its shortcomings. I wish it was less grindy and had some of the tedium lessened, but this is an entertaining, lengthy game with a ton of personality. You hear me?!

An entertaining comedy adventure, but too many of the puzzles in Randal's Monday are too far from even its own internal comic logic to really make sense. It's a fun ride, but it's also liable to frustrate if you refuse to use any outside help to solve this time-travelling puzzler.

Song of Horror's scariest aspect is its permadeath feature - not because it's spooky, but because slogging through levels is an absolute chore. Worse yet, Song of Horror punishes the player for exploring its admittedly beautiful environment. Neat technical features and meticulously crafted lore do somewhat make up for its faults. But ultimately, none but the most hardcore horror fans will give this game the time of day (or night).

Mutropolis is a charming throwback to old school point-and-click adventure games. While it doesn't do anything wrong, it doesn't stand out either. I would have loved to see more of the world and the characters and less backtracking and obtuse puzzles.

Aragami 2 is too generic to impress and has too many problems. The missions are as boring as they are repetitive, the game’s mechanics are rigid and unreliable, and the enemies are a bit of a joke. I put 17 hours into this game, and I honestly kind of want them back. It certainly isn’t the worst stealth game I’ve ever played, but it’s so mediocre that I’d be remiss to recommend it to anyone.

Though it has all of the hallmarks of a solid remake, Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX likely sticks a bit too close to the subject matter to resonate with a modern audience. Don't let the lush visuals fool you. It's unapologetically brutal design, combined with control issues and unexplained mechanics galore, all make for an uneven and unrecommendable experience.

A testament to mediocrity, but not awful. It can be acceptable if you just want to zone out for a while, but the constant stream of tedium and pointless running back and forth will try the patience of most.

Tape: Unveil the Memories has compelling elements, but they're overshadowed by some truly bad mechanics and dull monster encounters.

I could keep going on about the things that make Tower Princess such an awful experience (such as how you have to figure out which gift a princess likes by trial and error, as a gift is gone once you give it, or how you’re able to move during the black screen part of entering an area, which causes you to take damage before the image shows up). But I don’t want to ever think about this game again, so I’ll refrain. If you like rogue-lites, you probably shouldn’t play this game. I thought I’d get a cute 3D platformer rogue-lite, only to find a very poor attempt that fails to understand pretty much everything that makes the genre so great. Don’t walk. Run.

No aspect of 1971 Project Helios can make it a worthwhile gaming experience. It's not too ugly and it doesn't crash too often, but if those are the only compliments a title can get, you're in deep trouble.