Back in the summer of 2013, Santa Monica Studios Creative Director, Cory Barlog, had the insurmountable task of starting work on the latest iteration of the beloved God of War series. This was a franchise that helped define the PlayStation 2, some 15 years ago.

I've played my fair share of bad games; mechanically broken ones, or those that are barely capable of keeping your attention. I've played numerous titles that have cumbersome controls, countless glitches, and stories and voice acting so bad you have to wonder what publisher would want it being associated with their brand.

The roguelike genre has never been something I've been drawn to. The prospect of losing ones progress upon death is generally a gameplay mechanic I tend to avoid. Difficulty, challenge, these are concepts that don't concern me when it comes to video games.

When Kirby Star Allies was announced for the Nintendo Switch, I expected a bit more than what we've seen on the 3DS handheld throughout the past few years. While my experience with the Kirby games is well under a decade, Star Allies in many ways feels like a full game built around the mini-game modes that have been tacked on to each subsequent handheld release.

When Ubisoft released Assassin's Creed: Origins, late last year, it was a title that broke free of a few Ubisoft gameplay traditions. It certainly made substantial strides in regards to refining its gameplay, but it still contained many elements that people have come to expect from a typical Ubisoft release.

We were on the Island when we first heard the volley of cannonballs soaring through the air, pelting our ship into the bottom of the deep blue. We were attempting to solve one of our treasure map riddles when one of my fellow pirate companions hit paydirt when we all heard that satisfying crunch when their shovel found the chest.

I'll most definitely be approaching this review with a very unpopular opinion; I didn't care for the original Shadow of the Colossus. For the efforts made by Team ICO, the title sharing their very namesake; ICO, was a vastly superior game, in my opinion.

When you mention that a game contains a feature-set of colorful characters and a selection of mini-games, one can't help but think of Mario Party, Nintendo's juggernaut party franchise. While Jack Box Party Games has been doing its own thing quite well for the past few years, you can't help but look to compare a game like Frantics to that of Mario Party.

Celeste is a game that has recently been the talk of the industry as well as a game so good that my co-workers can't stop talking about it. It's been thrown around as being one of the best games ever made to being that specific person's all-time favorite game.

SuperMassive Games was a studio that put themselves on the map with Until Dawn, a choose your own adventure title with a few celebrity-faced teens trapped on a mountain with a deranged killer. It was an extremely fun game that saw the studio create a few spin-offs and even another choice based adventure in Hidden Agenda.

The original Life is Strange is one of my favorite games of all time. It was an episodic game that I played non-stop and sat through both endings, one of which had me taking a 40-minute break from the game as I was beyond teary-eyed and wasn't in the headspace to press that button.

The original Bayonetta was a fast-paced action game built around outrageous angelic character designs, fluid combat, and its sexuality driven protagonist, the titular character herself, Bayonetta. While it followed in the footsteps of what made the Devil May Cry series so popular, the game found its own voice and rhythm.

Metal Gear Survive was never going to win over most gamers. From its announcement, the game was fighting a losing battle, one it had zero chance of winning. The damage done to Konami's image and legacy was tarnished with how it handled Metal Gear creator, Hideo Kojima's exit and departure from the studio.

Bayonetta and all her over-sexualized poses and winks to the camera have finally found their way to the Nintendo Switch. While the game originally released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 way back in 2009, and then again on the WiiU some five years later.

Being a console gamer, I missed the original release of Owlboy on PC, a game nearly a decade in development and receiving a ton of positive praise and industry recognition. The game has finally made its way to a home console with the Nintendo Switch and frankly, I don't see what all the fuss was about.

I've only ever been a casual fan of the Dragon Ball anime and never once read any of the manga pertaining to the long-running series. It's never been a franchise that sparked my interest to any large degree yet I've almost always checked out the story-based games like the Xenoverse series and even as far back as Dragon Ball Z: Sagas.

There are few gaming franchises that remain strong over the course of a decade, let alone that of fourteen years. Since 2004, Capcom has created a series that has built up a passionate fan base over the course of over a dozen titles, spanning multiple consoles, handhelds, and iOS ports.

If there is one gaming franchise that keeps showing up to the party with the same ol' tricks, it is most definitely that of the licensed LEGO games. We've seen the brand tackle the Pirates of Caribbean, Batman, Jurassic Park, The Lord of the Rings, and many more lucrative properties through its LEGO Dimensions toys-to-life title.

While you wouldn't know it by its title, The Inpatient serves as a VR prequel to 2015's Until Dawn. While your enjoyment of the title isn't fully dependent on having played the original, the backstory and lore built around the game is marginally enhanced if you have.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Nintendo Switch is an extremely fun and enjoyable multiplayer experience. It's a game that you can jump into and almost immediately understand how to play. The pickup and portable nature of the Switch make it an obvious choice when you want to entertain a small group of friends or family.