I’m playing a game. I know I should be having fun. I love first person shooters. I like fast first person shooters. Even the game thinks I should be having fun: the music is pumping, the bullets are flying. My guns are chugging away (plinking, really) – but I’m just not having any fun.

In a year teeming with hotly anticipated releases, like Wolverine and Grand Theft Auto 6, one of the games I was looking forward to the most was Big Walk by developer House House, the team behind Untitled Goose Game.

I spent many hours sitting on the couch playing the Dynasty Warriors series and other Warriors style Koei Tecmo games. Tears of Metal takes that “1 vs 1000” style and adds rogue-like elements and a few other twists to make an addictive action game that isn’t quite like anything I’ve played before.

The Skitarii enables some tricks that other classes don’t possess, like the ability to automate those pesky data interrogator sections. You can also have your servo skull help get up fallen comrades, or use it like a fire grenade to burn away the heretics. Then there’s my personal favorite: the arc grenade. It not only clears away groups of enemies, it can also potentially disarm ranged enemies–all while making an effect that reminds me of a haunted house electric chair pro

Sonic The Hedgehog is one of the most iconic video game characters ever, and he’s been the star of numerous TV shows, video games, and movie adaptations. Today is the speedy little hedgehog’s 35th birthday, and while he’s gone through many redesigns, his core philosophy of “gotta go fast” has been consistent.

Back when I originally played Mork Borg, I really liked the rules light approach and its extreme take on tabletop tropes that made them as satirical as they were intriguing to engage in. I almost completely missed the pirate themed Pirate Borg when it released back in 2023, so when there was a starter kit and the expansion, Down Among the Dead, released earlier this year, it was the perfect chance to get back into it.

I wanted to take my time and savor a game as lovingly put together as Whirllight. The art style and characters, while not always as funny, instantly reminded me of some of the best games in the golden era of point and click adventure, which started with the release of Day of the Tentacle.

Screenshot: Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time I’ve always been a fan of when YouTubers and streamers find old memory cards from retro consoles, and pick up saved games where the previous owner left off. It’s a fun bit of nostalgia to see both the previous player’s mindset and what they prioritized. A sort of digital time capsule that makes the past feel more present. Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time is based around the concept of coming into s

While I appreciated how much of the world Alt Shift got right, the experience never felt quite as harrowing as its premise promised. So much of the pressure and drama in Scattered Hopes comes from management systems that feel very sterile, while the combat is the only part that feels tense and decisive in a satisfying way.

A multiplayer game lives and dies by its population. I can jump into the server browser and see less than 100 players (right around 90) playing right now across the servers. It is Monday night, but even peak times on the weekend weren’t that populated–not to mention the wasteland of EU and Oceanic servers. I really hope this changes and Blue Dot Games can make ‘83 the game it has the potential to be.

There’s something nostalgic about Moomintroll, even if I don’t directly remember it before playing the demo for Winter’s Warmth at the Steam Next Fest. Created by Finnish-Swedish author Tove Jansson in 1945, the Moomin franchise has steadily evolved from beloved children's literature into a multi-generational global empire.

Games like Frostpunk turned resource management into life-and-death affairs—and I’m done with intense decisions that can lead to a cascade of death and failure. I’d rather have something a little more cozy. So I was excited when I heard about Above the Snow. It’s a resource management game that doesn’t make it feel like what you’re managing is going to fall apart at any moment.

There’s a part of me that associates video games with platformers and shooters, despite the fact that I spent a chunk of my childhood playing narrative-heavy games like OPUS: Prism Peak. Prism Peak, on the other hand, deals with a very human journey while incorporating spirits and Japanese folklore elements to tell its very earth-grounded story.

While MINOS isn’t exactly the "Balatroization" I was hoping for (that’s a real word, I swear), it is a competent tower defense game with roguelite elements and some synergistic fun.

I don’t want to be too hard on developer Calibus Creations. I’ll admit that I sometimes judge indie games on a bit of a curve. I’ll let things like production value go as long as the gameplay is good. Ember Island doesn't really have that going for it. There’s a lot of 'okay' there, but not much good, and nothing I could qualify as “great.” It doesn't just lack polish; it lacks a soul. It looks exactly like the uncanny video an LLM spits out when prompted to generate a "retro

Somewhere in my awareness, I knew the Telltale Sam & Max games had been remastered, but I didn’t expect Skunkape to bring Poker Night at the Inventory back into the hands of modern audiences. While their mainstream relevance might not be what it was in 2010, the crossover still works, and underneath the nostalgia is a surprisingly decent game of poker.

Screenshot: Aether & Iron As much as video games have tightened up as safe, corporate products over the years, it’s still awesome to see developers taking chances and swinging for the fences. Aether & Iron wouldn’t be possible if every release came from a rigid corporate structure. It’s an ambitious blend of RPG and visual novel that might occasionally betray its lower production values, but it more than makes up for it with great storytelling and stellar voice acting. There

To-Go Games obviously put a lot of work into crafting Faremont. There are loads of interesting trails, overlooks, and flora and fauna to take a look at—which you document with your camera to fill out your nature lexicon. But a big park means there is also a lot of park to maintain, and there always seems to be something to do.

I don’t know if it’s the sight of old Casper Van Dien really putting it out there as General Rico, or the general nostalgic vibe, but Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is fantastic. It’s been my favorite shooter of the year. Instead of putting more time into Marathon, I found myself sneaking away to stomp some bugs. I’m doing my part.

With all of the humans dead and our greatest works left to rust, Timberborn envisions a world inherited by beavers. Despite a premise that sounds like an internet meme, it is far from a simple gimmick. The adorable exterior hides a game that takes its survival mechanics seriously. Developer Mechanistry clearly knows what they’re doing, as Timberborn stands as one of the best examples of the genre released in recent memory.