ZTGD

Lara is growing as a character and as a game, with everything being either improved upon or expanded on. If puzzles, adventure, mystery, exploration, a race against time with an evil rival company sound exciting, and your PC can handle it, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a can’t miss experience.

Gravity Rush is truly a unique experience. The colorful visuals paint a world that is unlike anything else. The large black outlines accent the characters, and the story is whimsical and powerful at the same time. Kat is a great character, and the core mechanics make for a truly interesting experience. Playing with gravity creates both unique combat and world traversal.

Characters come off looking goofy the way they move, and I found myself laughing out loud when I shouldn’t have. That aside, if more hidden objects games are like Clockwork Tales of Glass and Ink, I’d be more inclined to give them a try.

Even with those technical flaws, Atelier Escha & Logy Plus is still an RPG well worth experiencing for those who have not had the chance to check out the original. It’s debatable which of the two versions should be considered the “definitive experience”, so I would simply say that you can’t really go wrong with either.

The Deadly Tower of Monsters is unlike anything else in its genre. The theme and presentation carries it for the entire ride, and even though the combat can be mundane at times, the set pieces and commentary more than make up for it. Fans of classic B-movies would be remiss to pass on this quirky action title. Its personality and charm make it worth playing through on their own.

All in all, Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam is still a fun RPG that fans of the previous game will enjoy. The mini games regarding the Paper Toads are really annoying and monotonous after a while, but the core game play is solid and works really well. Top that off with a great art style and some pretty funny humor, and there’s still a lot of enjoyment to be had with Paper Jam. I still highly suggest it.

Players that love a good story, some nice reveals, and lots of character driven dialog will eat up Oxenfree. It personally reminded me at times of Goonies, Donnie Darko, and X-files, all thrown in a blender together and spat out. It’s a game with a great amount of heart, and one scene in particular, while it didn’t have me in tears, I couldn’t help feel touched by that moment.

This War of Mine: the Little Ones is pretty fully featured. While not for everyone, it offers a decent experience of survival, base building, and time/resource management. The combat can be weak, and the story or at least the one it’s trying to convey is weak. Still, for the fans of survival games like Don’t Starve, there’s something to be had here.

Being a fan of puzzles games I can handle all the issues at play here, and it makes for an interesting adventure at the least. If the genre never did anything for you personally or you have a passing mild interest, this won’t be the game to convert folks or even give players their money’s worth.

There is nothing quite like Dragon’s Dogma, even four years later revisiting it, I feel it made strides other games have still yet to imitate. For those that already made the journey though, this PC port feels more like a gesture of good faith, than a reason to return to Gransys. Still for those that have forgotten the glory, or never gave it a chance, this is the version to own.