Controlling a group of mindless minions isn’t a new concept to videogames. Pikmin and Overlord are just a few examples of having hordes of small creatures do your bidding. Teratopia is the latest title to pull this off, a charming blend of creature beat’em up and platformer that has a very Conker’s Bad Fur Day look to its cast of characters, mixed with the parody aesthetic of a Rabbids game.

The Pillar: Puzzle Escape does have some good ideas, but many of them come too little too late. The world itself is set to be mysterious but lacks that sense of mystery to be so. While the game has several different puzzles, a single type simply dominates too much of the game, making for too much of a been there done that design.

Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story is a visually pleasing and mostly entertaining adventure-horror game, one that unfortunately doesn’t take advantage of its cyberpunk setting enough. While many of the stories that the game tells are enjoyable, the backtracking, convoluted item puzzle order, and combat, hold the game back from being something I can truly recommend diving into.

Godfall is exactly how I remember most launch games being for new hardware; an incredibly basic premise, visually striking, but dramatically shallow. That said, Godfall still does a lot right, offering a fairly enjoyable 10-15 hour experience while it lasts, but its story and world did absolutely nothing to keep me engaged on even a basic narrative level.

Cyberpunk 2077 is certainly not without its flaws. While the game is largely broken and unplayable on various platforms, my time with it on the Series X has been nothing short of well.. breathtaking. The long-awaited follow-up to CDPR’s Witcher 3 is here, and it’s a true cinematic masterpiece. Prepare to jack-in.

With Breath of the Wild 2 set to release some time next year, it wasn’t too much of a surprise that when Hyrule Warriors 2 was announced, that it would be connected to this newest storyline as a prequel, telling us of the events that transpired before we suited up as Link in 2017’s acclaimed Breath of the Wild.

Immortals: Fenyx Rising is a charming romp through Greek Mythology that is often more impressive than it isn’t. Exploring the world at your leisure is very satisfying, as are the puzzles you’ll encounter nearly everywhere. The combat is fast-paced and engaging, with a variety of weapons and abilities that you’ll work towards through a pretty in-depth progression system.

While Valhalla maintains many of the franchises most glaring issues in more ways than one, as well as some pretty severe technical problems at launch, I still found it to be a largely compelling entry in the series for its captivating gameplay, engaging characters, and a world that kept rewarding me around every corner.

To bridge the gap until Insomniac debuts a sequel to Peter Parker’s story from 2018’s Marvel’s Spider-Man, the developer has offered up a side-story, one centered on Miles Morales becoming his own version of Spider-Man. While the game can often look and play largely similar to what we’ve had before, Miles adds his own flair to combat, as well as a deeply personal story that dives into the heart of who Miles is, and will become.

While the game itself is charming enough, its presentation, level design, and overall feel certainly make it feel very different than that of what we’ve had in the past. While I still certainly prefer the original to this modern adaptation, I still feel it earns its place in the series as a decent enough to often enjoyable entry.

Watch Dogs: Legion is impressive. It doesn’t always hit the mark with variety to its missions, but the gameplay itself, combined with the ability to recruit literally anyone, makes for a very engaging and sometimes unique experience. London itself is a joy to explore, an ever-sprawling location that honestly doesn’t get enough love in video games.

Observer: System Redux is a very impressive remake that does much to make the original game even better. The story and characters have been expanded upon, and the new quests feel right at home and have some interesting twists that make the world here even more interesting.

Given that the horror landscape has changed and evolved so much over the years, with many often taking a page out of the original’s handbook, Rebirth simply doesn’t do enough to warrant the same level of impact, often feeling like just another entry in the series.

Left alone with your brother on your birthday, Clea ventures out into the dark hallways of her home, tasked with wondering what has happened to her parents, and her nanny, Florine. Clea is a paper-doll style horror game with stunning visuals, a decent enough story, but its gameplay is sadly not as good as it could be.

Maid of Sker is loosely based on actual events, a story made popular through author R.D. Blackmore’s 1872 novel of the same name. While the game has some fantastic audio and video work to create a moody and downright eerie atmosphere, the save system and lack of being able to hide when discovered does run counter to the pacing and feel of the game.

Cloudpunk is certainly a visually striking game, there is no doubt about that. Its colorful and neon-lit city, taking place during a dark and rainy evening, just pops out at you, begging for you to just ignore your quests and just explore. While the story and characters are more than capable of adding to this gorgeous release, there is a strong degree of repetition and poor design work that does hold the game back.

Trails of Cold Steel IV is the fourth and final entry in the Cold Steel arc, bringing together characters from the previous two sagas, in an effort to save the world. With much of Class VII separated from the group, and their teacher missing, New Class VII must band together, save their allies, and rely on new friends to stop the evil that has cursed this land.

Genshin Impact is fun, and well put together, and just because you recognize some of the many pieces it’s constructed from, doesn’t discount how engaging and great the game feels, and the vast world it offers to explore. For a free to play game. the content you’re given access to is massive, allowing you to push through everything it has to offer without spending a single cent.

Mafia: Definitive Edition is a remake that does a lot of things right, but stumbles when it comes to being a full-blown modernization. Its rebuilt visuals and overhaul of the script, all come together to offer up a truly engaging experience. But as good as the game looks, its dated gameplay drags down the experience with a bevy of instant fail mechanics, a clunky combat system, and a lack of variety or personality to its large rebuilt world.

Hades is a blast to play from minute one, an action packed Rogue-like that rewards you constantly, and it feels like it never lets up on what you’re able to dig into. Every run is a joy, every death means I get to see my friends back at home, and then I would head back out there to push through to the end, to allow Zagreus to, well, you’ll have to see it for yourself.