Retcon

This isn’t a perfect game, of course, because nothing’s perfect, and I’ll forever dread the moments I have to walk into a temple and solve a ridiculous sphere puzzle, but Final Fantasy X more than makes up for that with excellent writing and gameplay. 25 years on, Final Fantasy X still stands out as one of the darkest, yet most optimistic games in the series, and it continues to be a dream worth fighting for.

Shards of Order packs a lot into its short, approximately 10-hour experience, and it did more than enough to keep my attention throughout. Both gameplay and story were highlights in the early game. But it does feel like a bit too much story is trying to fit in too small a package by the late game, with major story beats flying by on the mad dash for the end goal...With that said, I’d do that dash again – and I will. The card battling remains consistently solid, and I’m already looking forward to playing a second time to try out different strategies and deck builds.

Veritas Tales: Witch of the Dark Castle is a fantastic RPG that calls back to the genre's roots of pen-and-paper, choose your adventure-style stories that gripped me as a child. While it can be a little rough around the edges in certain aspects, I admire the heart and passion that's gone into this project, and my only fear is that it'll become a forgotten cult classic that ends up flying under the radar for most genre fans.

While I have my gripes with some of the new content that's been introduced here, Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced is a stellar remake of one of the best games the long-running series has to offer. Ubisoft Singapore has brought the pirate dream back to life with Resynced, and I think longtime fans will be very pleased with their efforts here.

Endless Ragnarok is an unexpected, but extremely welcome expansion that builds upon the foundations of Granblue Fantasy: Relink with plenty of fun, meaty content for fans to sink their teeth into. Be warned that there is a rather steep difficulty curve to get to grips with, especially for returning players who haven't touched this game in ages. Once you get past that, however, Relink will have its hooks in you all over again before you even realize it's happening.

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is a very solid first effort at taking on the action RPG genre. While there are clear missteps and plenty of room for improvement, the game gets a lot right on its first try and serves as a solid foundation for whatever comes next.

007 First Light represents IOI at its peak. While there are still some clear areas for improvement, I’m happy to report that First Light takes all of the slick charm and espionage goodness we love about the Bond movies, and successfully adapts them for the video game format.

If you can look past its rough edges, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth ends up being an excellent open-world game that's very easy to enjoy on the go.

Mina the Hollower isn't just a nostalgic throwback to the 2D action games of the Game Boy era; it's an innovative, ambitious attempt at pushing the genre forward while also celebrating the magic of what made those games so special.

The success of a roguelike lives and dies by its replayability and enemy variety, not just the depth of its classes and items. I think genre fans will likely be pleased with what Rune Dice has to offer, but considering how crowded the genre itself is right now, it's hard to give this one a full-throated recommendation as it stands.