Polygon

In the end, Yonder isn’t inventive, exactly, as the multitude of ideas and cross-media inspirations converge somehow into something infinitely familiar.

And I am going to keep doing things in The Zodiac Age. It's taken the game I already loved so much and given me more. The Zodiac Age doesn’t add things for the sake of adding them. I can see myself putting 300 more hours into this version of Final Fantasy 12, trying different combinations of job classes and testing out new tactics on the optional bosses I could never quite conquer in the original game. The Zodiac Age takes a game I could play in my sleep and makes me wake up and appreciate it again.

There’s a golden glow around memories that gets brighter with age, but it also tends to distract from old frustrations. If you’re ready for a quick trip — and I mean quick — down memory lane, Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy doesn’t disappoint. Vicarious Visions’ faithfulness to the series satisfies some nostalgic cravings, but once the novelty wears off, the cracks can’t help but show.

Yet with little actual challenge to speak of, Ever Oasis doesn't have much going for it. There aren't any tricky enemies to ward off, and the town-building simulation is shallow. It's the combination of several other genres whose best games are far, far, far more worth playing than this one. In its attempt to crib from the best, Ever Oasis never establishes its own identity.

The true misery of Valkyria Revolution is how much of the series’ roots show through, and how much Revolution itself doesn’t know what to do with them. The qualities that defined earlier Valkyria games are mostly vestigial, but Revolution doesn't present anything strong enough or distinct enough to replace them. What it does do often directly conflicts with those legacy bulletpoints, making a game that feels like a bland timesink at its best and a fractured mess at its worst.

Tekken 7 is a sweet reward for anyone who’s been following along for more than two decades, but it could do a lot more to onboard new fans — especially considering the uneven story and lack of a strong tutorial. Still, if you want to spend the time (and look for help on YouTube), Tekken 7’s unforgettable characters and fluid fights are worth the work.

I've never been more charmed by a racing video game and I could not recommend any other more than Dirt 4, to anyone of any ability. Dirt 4 is a joy. When Jen Horsey, one of two English-language co-drivers, cheerfully calls out "and left five over crest," it's a bugle call. I'm on the gas with supreme confidence, rocketing into a gold medallion sunset, holding tight to the moment in one of the great summertime video games of the past decade.

Monument Valley 2 successfully replicates the original's charm and vibrancy. Its sense of how a touch game can transport minds to unfamiliar terrains is uncanny. Certainly, it's one of the most accomplished low-intensity mobile puzzle games ever made. Frustratingly, it falls away just at the point when it might have scaled greater heights.

Arms exudes a level of creativity and mechanical sophistication that feels uniquely Nintendo. It evokes memories of classic Nintendo games like Punch-Out!!, while also feeling equally fashionable and modern — and set next to Splatoon, suggests the publisher is already charting a path toward the future. With a stylish, memorable cast of characters, inventive gameplay mechanics and smart use of the Switch hardware, Arms already feels like Nintendo's next great new franchise.

This is another way in which Conarium stays profoundly true to the works of Lovecraft, a writer whose best stories were rarely more than 15 or 20 pages long. It left me wanting more, for better and worse. It left my mind racing with the reality-shattering implications of this universe’s dark lore. But I finished Conarium wishing it would have pushed a little deeper, a little further and with a little more quality, even as the most solid attempt at bringing Lovecraft to video games done so far.