Hardcore Gamer

After a period of expansions that were often average at best, World of Warcraft: Midnight delivers what now feels like a consistent quality following The War Within. It's not perfect, but it's a solid expansion that continues to show that World of Warcraft is heading in the right direction and understands what its current playerbase wants to see. World of Warcraft is in a good spot, and that's only being improved with the addition of features like Prey that keep players wanting to log on regularly, even if they don't have the time available. It's now accessible for players who want a more intense experience, as well as those who play casually, and that shift is what WoW needed.

MotoGP 26 is the technical racing king in the current market space. The amount of details that have gone into the physics model cannot be overlooked, but it has gone back to having a steep learning curve to get good. The AI is inconsistent, which actually makes it feel brutal because you will feel like you're making ground. You can turn off Dynamic AI as this may be the culprit as it pushes the difficulty to the extreme every other lap. The Arcade Mode is back for those looking for something not as challenging. The updates to Career Mode are more than just subtle changes. These are solid enough to modify the experience, including the new Rider Ratings. The introduction of Production Bikes is a nice addition to go along with the already established other Rideoff bikes to try. There remains a lot to be played in MotoGP 26, it is just going to take some dedication to get good.

What we played wasn't perfect. Bond's movements can feel weighty, the dash button magnetically putting you into cover can be annoying (and gets you killed), and the first level in Iceland is overly long with little to do, but these are all small nitpicks in what was an exciting romp through Kensington. Hopefully, the rest of the game can match that level of clever level design, pacing and action. [Hands-On Impressions]

Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth is an interesting way to dive into the world of Moomin, offering a simple but fairly competent adventure that doubles down as something akin to a coming of age story. Unfortunately, what could have been a fantastic adventure is dragged down slightly by the way quests are presented as repetitive chores. Nonetheless, it’s still a curious adventure, especially for fans of the original universe or those curious about its rendition of a world reminiscent of a fairy tail.

Shapez 2 is an automation game with just about all the rough edges sanded off, built to make creating what look like incredibly complicated layouts as simple as possible. It may take a little effort to sort out the best way to, for example, create a platform that maximizes stacking two items, completely handling two sets of four belts with no backing up, but then you save it as a blueprint and the tangle of conveyors and stackers is now another tool in the menu that can be laid down with a mouse click. White paint needs three different paints mixed together, two at a time, but create a single paint-mixing platform handling two fluids running at top speed, copy it to let the output of the first combine with the third color, then copy both platforms together and stack them three high, save as blueprint, and done! Handy as that is, though, the randomness of the shape deposits means you'll probably need to poke around hand-crafting solutions every bit as often as relying on your blueprints, and there's always a new challenge that requires retooling what you know. And then building bigger, as the little factory clustered around the entrance to the void grows to meet its ever-escalating needs.

Opus: Prism Peak is an impressive adventure game that manages to provide an emotional experience that feels deeply relatable and well-executed. Its beautiful art style is accompanied by an involved gameplay with photography mechanics and a world that grows if the player decides to explore it as much as possible. It’s an inspired testament to the powerful experiences the genre has to offer and one of 2026’s must-play games.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is an enjoyable simulator of managing society from the advantage of an overlord who can play with the characters as if they were dolls, but never fully control the unhinged nature of human interaction. The dialogue and events are full of silly whims and this funny mood gives form to its comfortable experience. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that much of what it offers depends on how much the player dedicates to it and the repetition may boggle it down.

After over a decade, Ys Memoire: Revelations in Celceta proves itself just as good as it once was under the moniker of Memories of Celceta. Its only major caveat is that it really doesn’t bring much to the table as a new edition. On the other hand, for anyone who hasn’t given it a try, it’s pretty much a must-play.

Life is Strange: Reunion manages to succeed despite being given the near-impossible task of closing up a branching story told across several development teams. The plot can be a bit convoluted with the different timelines and mergers, but at its core, Reunion delivers a compelling story across the board, and it's hard to ask for much more of a narrative-centric game. Longtime fans will find an enjoyable experience, while lapsed fans or newcomers can be caught up to speed quickly.

Gecko Gods is a bold puzzle experience that knows what it’s striving for: a pilgrimage that truly encourages players to explore. In this awe-inspiring world, attention to detail is key to progressing and puzzles are a rewarding challenge. It’s one of those journeys worth immersing yourself into for a long time and just seeing where your curiosity leads you.