Hardcore Gamer

Increasing the technical efficacy for UFC 6 was the next progression for the franchise as it utilizes the tools that EA has been implementing in recent times. Fight Week will keep players engaged along with The Gym, but this feels more geared towards the hardcore UFC fan. There's a lot here for newcomers to start with, but the accessibility features can at least get them engaged initially. The Legacy narrative prologue to Career Mode is narrow, and most of the time in the mode, ends up involving sparring to try to increase traits and fitness prior to a fight. There's much more here that can be added. The game looks and sounds great and the combat remains core. Flow State is a welcome addition, however, if going towards being a fighting game. The menu performance is abysmal and hopefully can be improved as it detracts from doing certain things. The Hall of Legends is a wonderful experience that needs to be implemented into other sports games. Everyone loves a good documentary. UFC 6 improves on the UFC experience over its predecessor and boasts everything that the fanbase could ask for.

Crushed in Time is a clever adventure game that manages to provide a compelling meta narrative and use it well. The vibrant world of Holmes and Watson is constantly changing around in a way that pays homage to game development itself as well as the genre’s different possibilities without breaking from its physics-inspired “point-and-pinch” format. While the narrative loses itself in a poorly handled drama in the end and the hint system feels lacking at specific moments, the full result is an impressive experience worth exploring.

NBA THE RUN accomplishes Play by Play Studios' goal of providing NBA Street to modern gamers. This is accomplished by setting the game up as a battle royale while keeping the gameplay completely similar to its predecessors. Taking this style of game online with real NBA players may actually bring players over from 2K who are looking for something different. What really helps is that it's only $30, and while most battle royales are free, every cosmetic is paywalled. Nothing is paywalled here, but it does require time investment. That time will go by quickly, though. The game plays and looks great, but just has a few quirks that could use some adjustment, such as game speed and dunk distance. While more content will come, much like a battle royale starting out, there's really only one thing to do. If 2K is too much for you and you just want to play some basketball, this is it.

If you're a fan of F1 and stick with it through and through, then the 2026 Edition DLC is a must for only $30. There's a solid amount of extras that come with this, and it's not just simply getting the cars to use in time trials or custom race. You can actually engage with My Team and Career with this DLC. As long as you manually engage these changes on the car, you'll be satisfied with your purchase unless you only care about a roster update and the MADRING. Setting the deployments to automatic would be selling yourself short of the experience and actually understanding the way the drivers race in 2026. Mimicking the driving experience each season for these drivers is what Codemasters and EA have always done best. This may change your mind on the actual regulation changes.

While more enemy variety and better playspaces for stealth would have been nice, what's given works well enough, especially when paired with all the characters. Finally, the game is wrapped in a beautiful presentation that serves as a love letter to Batman. LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight does Batman proud and is a rare case where the Dark Knight deserves to step out of the shadows.

007 First Light is a fantastic action game that’s not without its share of faults. It has epic, high-octane action sequences, the gunplay is some of the best in the genre, and the hand-to-hand combat and stealth mechanics are fluid. With that said, the puzzle-solving sections of the story do feel either basic or overly linear and having characters tag along sometimes ruins the fun. That’s on top of Bond’s younger character being less likable. Despite our complaints, 007 First Light remains a massive accomplishment and one of the best 007 games to be released, featuring a solid cast of characters and highly engaging scenarios.

Mina the Hollower is an incredible action adventure game that manages to offer a lot to explore and significant depth in its combat and exploration mechanics. Every single time you try to see just a little more, and you can open up many new possibilities with new items and game-changing features. The end result is a fantastically crafted experience that should be on the top of the lists of new indie titles to give a try in 2026.

Schrödinger’s Call is an impressive adventure game that offers an emotional dive into various tragedies, using empathy as a guiding force. Just as Mary works her way through people’s stories trying to find hope along with the truth, this is an experience that can resonate with people beyond the screen. It’s one of those games that is so fascinating to see in motion because it has something to say and a strong vision of how to present it in terms of atmosphere and style.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a charming adventure that’s unfortunately weighed down by its disjointed mechanics. Each level feels unique thanks to the drastically different play styles of each creature encountered, but they're mostly limited to their singular, short stage. Not only that, but some of the better creatures get far less time in the sun to truly appreciate them while others linger for far too long. With that said, there's some fun to be had as there are levels that do a good job of creating unique situations for Yoshi to solve. Even though most of the experience is straightforward, it’s the thoughtful encounters that require puzzle solving. At the end of the day, there’s a certain whimsy to Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, but it fails to truly be anything remarkable.

Despite this, from a gameplay perspective, Luna Abyss is a gorgeous, excellently paced FPS that mixes up the platforming and shooting in a way that makes it easy to keep on playing without feeling like either is getting repetitious. The story does come together eventually but by the time that happens, it's easy to have written it off, despite a few fun side-characters hanging around the abyss. The setting picks up the slack for the plot, though, and the levels are designed to make full use of every single one of Fawkes' abilities. Luna Abyss is a gorgeously atmospheric FPS that expertly mixes in its platforming elements, creating a dark and moody adventure where the response to each challenge is to look forward to what the next area has to offer as soon as its beaten.