A Plague Tale: Requiem

The sequel to Innocence expands on the original in wonderful ways. As Amicia, a teenage girl in 1340s France, you guide your gifted younger brother Hugo through unspeakable horrors. Hugo’s ability to control rats, the game takes place in the time of the plague, combined with Amicia’s expanded combat abilities provide a lot of fun encounters against evil humans and rat hordes. A mix of stealth and combat, the game gives players different routes and playstyle options along the way. The great gameplay is rounded off with a memorable story and strong graphics.

Avowed

This game is far from perfect, but I had a lot of fun exploring the world in Obsidian’s latest first person RPG. I wrote up my full thoughts here for more details. The game sends you to an unfamiliar land to help the king put out a few fires. Nothing here is revolutionary, but the customization you are allowed with two two-handed combat setups lets you play the game however you want. There are a wide range of side quests and impactful decisions to be made, with everything wrapped up in a pretty solid story. Full review here.

Celeste

A brutal 2D platforming game about perseverance. You must climb the mountain, both literally and figuratively. Each room is a new platforming puzzle to solve, with a satisfying difficulty curve. Simply getting to the end is difficult but far from impossible. However, collecting all of the optional items and tackling the extra areas crosses into the territory of true pain. The best part of this game is that a death will instantly transport you back to the beginning of the room to try again. You will die hundreds of times in this game, and the instant retry ensures you can do so seamlessly.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

One of my favorite new games of recent memory. Expedition 33 is a turn based RPG which adds dodge/parry and attack-boost elements. This is a Super Mario RPG for a mature, modern audience. The story is top notch, as are the visuals and sound, but the combat is what hooked me from the start and kept me glued to my controller the whole way. Full review here.

Cocoon

I love the idea of puzzle games but I’m mostly pretty awful at them. Cocoon pulls off the impossible by being challenging and fun while also simple enough to let me figure out everything on my own. Trust me when I say this is a difficult needle to thread.

Control

A 3D Metroidvania from the Alan Wake team? Yes, please! This game gets expectedly weird, which is a massive positive. Combat and movement are fun and fluid. The game features a massive amount of optional content, much of which are some of the best parts of the game. Dive into Control and explore everything.

Deathloop

A remarkable time-loop game from the team behind Dishonored. Combine first person shooting with supernatural powers and slowly uncover a mystery to learn how to escape the loop. A mix of action, stealth and puzzle solving, the game balances things well while providing a good amount of player agency for deciding exactly how you want to tackle the challenge.

Dishonored 1 & 2

Speaking of which, these are great first person stealth games which provide a good amount of player agency for deciding exactly how you want to tackle each level. 

Doom: The Dark Ages

Full review here. A shooter with an emphasis on parrying, it will keep you moving forward from the start. Good, dumb, bloody fun. Exactly what you want from a Doom game, The Dark Ages delivers.

Hades

An action roguelike which has you fighting your way out of hell, literally. The game has great progression and interesting in-run choices to be made, two issues that can often keep me from engaging in games in the genre. The unique art style, memorable characters, and epic boss fights round things out to produce one of the best indie games ever.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle

A fairly dumb name, but this is a wonderful game that does an amazing job of capturing the essence of the Indiana Jones movies. Travel the world as Indy with this stealth, combat, platforming mix and unravel an interesting story along the way. The game is played in a few different open-area settings which strike the right balance of allowing exploration without being overwhelmingly huge. They got just about everything right here.

Metaphor ReFantazio

An epic JRPG from Atlus. Full review here. This adds a fantasy leg to the Atlus JRPG portfolio and borrows well from their existing Persona and SMT series. The story is great and relevant, but the combat takes center stage as being some of the smoothest turn based action I’ve ever seen. Customer your squad through a strong Architype system and enjoy the ride.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

This was my first Metroidvania and still stands among my favorites. The game expertly blends combat and platforming into a wonderful blend that stays engaging throughout. Everything is tied together with great visuals with a distinct, memorable art style.

Sifu

This game has one of the coolest hooks I’ve ever seen. You start the game as an early 20s man, and each time you die you age and restart at the spot you died. Beat a level and you get a save point at whatever age you were when you beat the level. Age too much and you are unable to continue. This not only incentivizes you to beat levels, but to master them so you are as young as possible heading into the next. Hook aside, this is a wonderful 3D beat-em-up with some of the most satisfying melee combat I’ve ever experienced.

South of Midnight

Full review here. A wonderful story set in the United States’ south without turning it into a joke. A good mix of platforming and combat, the gameplay is strong but definitely takes a backseat to the wonderful visuals, music, and storytelling the game features. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge

A modern throwback to the ‘90s era side-scrolling beat-em-up games. The additions here are incredibly smart to inject modern convenience into the genre. The game is a blast and can be beaten in just a few hours, but there is a substantial amount to do beyond that for those that really want to dive in.

The Gunk

This is, objectively, probably the worst game on this list, but I wanted to include it because it’s a weird little 3D action platformer that has more character than the vast majority of games today. The gameplay is okay, but the characters are a lot of fun. I’m putting this on this list to remind everybody to take a chance on a weird little game every now and then, it might turn out to be a favorite!

Tunic

A wild take on a Zelda-clone, Tunic goes places you don’t expect. A pretty basic isometric action-adventure game takes some unique twists with how the game reveals its mechanics. It’s a brilliant throwback to gaming in the ‘90s in more ways than one. Be warned, as this one gets pretty difficult at times. Full review.

Unpacking

Ever seen a TV show that doesn’t show any of the characters? That’s what Unpacking does, instead telling the story of the protagonist’s life through a series of moves. From a childhood home, college, a boyfriend who is clearly wrong for her, to a more happy relationship. Everything is told simply by unpacking all of your belongings and fitting them into your new space. It only takes a few hours and is a truly unique experience, even if it is extremely light on gameplay.