USGamer

As fun in this beefed-up incarnation as in its original release...offers one of the best-designed and most original takes on the well-worn metroidvania phenomenon you'll ever find. The new material may not quite bring enough to the table to warrant a second purchase, and the game doesn't exactly push PS4 or Xbox One to the ragged edge of their capabilities, but once again excellent game design has less to do with technical specs and more to do with creativity and thoughtfulness: Features Guacamelee possesses in spades.

The single-player mode packs plenty of challenge, and if you enjoy online racing, GRID's comprehensive multiplayer mode will keep you busy for as long as you want. GRID Autosport combines interesting cars, entertaining tracks, excellent AI, and a quality handling engine to deliver a terrific racing experience. Unfortunately its career mode lacks depth and isn't particularly engaging.

Shovel Knight is a loving homage to an era we left behind long ago. The graphics, gameplay, and soundtrack are all pitch-perfect for an NES game... all you're missing is the original cartridge. Yacht Club Games has crafted an amazing experience from beginning to end.

Valiant Hearts works from a novel concept, and is loaded with brilliant ideas—hell, it's great just to see a war from the perspective of a country other than America—but Ubisoft's lack of self-control ultimately makes it less impactful than it should have been. It's still a worthwhile experience, though it could have been so much better if Valiant Hearts left us wanting more.

For Atelier veterans, Rorona Plus deftly addresses pretty much every criticism that could be levelled at the original Rorona while providing plenty of new content to enjoy. For Atelier newcomers, this is a solid, enjoyable and charming game that marks an ideal entry point into the broader series as a whole.

A genuinely disturbing and terrifying game that'll have you jumping out of your seat in fright. It's a little short at around six or so hours, but the experience Outlast delivers is well worth the price of admission.

Maybe retro-style indie games are getting a bit long in the tooth, but 1001 Spikes is an example of the format done right: It harnesses that old-school look for a reason and focuses in on a single design concept with obsessive clarity. Developer 8bit Fanatics really gets what made the best classic games great, and manages to make a hateful, hurtful game into addictive fun. And the multiplayer mode (on systems that support it) is surprisingly great, a mix of Contra and The Outfoxies. Maybe it's not a game for everyone, but 1001 Spikes knows what it's about... and does a bang-up job of achieving it.

A single playthrough of one goddess will take a single-digit number of hours... but if you get that far, you won't want to stop until you've seen everything, which will take a whole lot longer. While light on what we'd traditionally call "gameplay" and aimed at an even more specific audience than your typical modern Japanese games, Producing Perfection is a solid, character-driven experience that is a lot of fun.

I really wanted to like Murdered: Soul Suspect, but -- like L.A. Noire -- it's a detective game that manages to gets its most essential quality absolutely wrong. The backdrop of Salem lends a lot to its central mystery, but at no point will Soul Suspect ever put your deductive skills to work. That's fine if you're indulging in an episode of CSI, but I like my thinky games to require more than just passive interest.

A decent prospect for those wanting to practice their chess skills, but Pure Chess' lack of a competitive online mode curtails its appeal considerably. Pure Chess looks gorgeous, and offers an excellent single-player experience. But while playing the AI opponent is fun, the game's woefully underdeveloped online mode makes playing against humans decidedly not.