Tom Marks
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IGNLatest Reviews
Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.
Video games have made me a god, a superhero, and a savior of planets, but rarely have I felt more powerful than in Untitled Goose Game. Being given control of this feathered menace and armed with a checklist of hilarious, dickish tasks to complete is some of the most fun I’ve had with a game all year. My only real complaint is its fairly short runtime – I would have gladly spent hours longer goosing around. But even still, the charming design of its world and the clever challenges within it had me laughing, smiling, and eagerly honking the whole way through.
A true beast of an expansion, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne adds a boatload of impressive new and returning monsters and improvements to an already incredible game. It’s almost big enough to be a sequel in terms of the sheer amount of content it adds – even if it leans a little bit too heavily on Subspecies and Variants of familiar monsters at times (though that’s an issue veteran fans may not be bothered by as much). Iceborne is exciting and creative throughout, reiterating Monster Hunter: World’s place as one of the very best games of this generation.
Wargroove is the Advance Wars successor its long-neglected fans have been waiting for. It faithfully revives the tactics I loved that series for while putting plenty of its own spins on the concept. Campaign levels do have a tendency to go on longer than they should considering its lack of mid-match saving outside of being able to quit and pick back up where you were later. But when you add in its extra modes, loads of unlockables, and amazing level editor and it’s a game I’m excited to keep playing far past its campaign.
Slay the Spire takes some of the best parts of deckbuilding games, roguelikes, and dungeon crawlers and mixes them into a wholly new and extremely satisfying package. It encourages experimentation, gives you time to make mistakes, and will challenge you immensely as you navigate your way through floor after floor of entertaining, puzzle-like fights. It’s an idea so good that it’s inspired a dozen games like it before it even left early access, but is executed so well that none of them even come close to matching it.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lives up to its name, offering the most comprehensive game in the series to date. It has an absurd amount to play, fight, and unlock – though that can be to its detriment at times. While the World of Light adventure mode isn’t reason alone to get Smash Bros., it’s still a consistently amusing and shockingly large campaign, and a worthy compliment to Ultimate’s incredible multiplayer core. The Smash Bros. series has always maintained a wonderful balance of chaotic beat-em-up fun and tense fighting game action, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate refines and improves on both sides of itself without abandoning either one.
Warframe isn’t an easily approachable game, but it’s one that’s worth getting comfortable with. It’s a game that never stops growing from a developer who is passionate about working with its community. It also just feels amazing to play, with a satisfying kill-collect-craft loop that’s supported by a mountain of player choice and some wonderfully responsive movement mechanics. Some of its systems are needlessly complex and improperly explained, making it easy to get overwhelmed or burnt out, but there’s just so much to do here that Warframe always excitingly pulls me back with its next update.
Return of the Obra Dinn stands as something wholly unique. An investigative puzzle game with clear goals but completely open ended paths to completing them, it’s a challenging exercise in piecing together a mystery without being spoon fed what to pay attention to. It’s got some small quality of life issues here and there, but the “moment of death” clue-hunting mechanic at its core is an absolute triumph. Return of the Obra Dinn is one of the best detective games I’ve ever played, and now I want so much more of it.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 is the sequel I’ve been waiting for, returning to the roots of what made the first game so special. It adds a handful of new and interesting mechanics to its tactical battles, nearly all of which improve the formula in tangible ways, but otherwise plays it fairly safe. The story can feel a little bit impersonal and disconnected from the rest of the series, but the way it makes even the smallest characters important and alive is remarkable. It’s great to see the Valkyria Chronicles series back on track, as it’s still one-of-a-kind.
Hollow Knight is a Metroidvania with a well of content to discover that’s as deep as its labyrinthine caves. The world of Hallownest is compelling and rich, full of story that’s left for you to discover on your own, and built with branching paths that offer an absurd amount of choice in how you go about discovering it. With such a high density of secrets to find and fun, challenging enemies to face, it’s worth spending every moment you can in Hollow Knight.