TheGamer

Flying to the people is the core of the series’ message. When your comrades sacrifice themselves, when you see them shot down, when your compatriots lose their minds because their friend is gone in a flash, it makes you feel everything. Fighting through it and finding hope is rewarded. Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve is both one of the strongest entry points for newcomers, and still a treat for longtime fans.

I am well aware that we are right in the middle of one of the busiest periods in video game history, but I can’t recommend Woodo enough. It’s a short, beautiful game, both visually and narratively, filled with adorable characters and stunning dioramas that are incredibly satisfying to piece back together. It’s a terrific first game from Tiny Monks Tales, and if the plan is to develop more games with similar vibes to Woodo, then I will be there day one for whatever comes next.

Escape From Monday clearly does enough right, as I went right back to find every lasagne, complete every time trial, and go for 100 percent. The underlying issues may prevent Garfield from having his first truly great game, but Escape From Monday still stands as one of the year’s biggest surprises for me. That’s in part due to my expectations being so low, but the satisfying platforming mechanics and near-perfect encapsulation of the Garfield vibes (barring his voice) make this a nice treat for 3D platforming fans. Give it a go, and I’m sure you’ll feel bad about pitchforking me for the Astro Bot comments.

It doesn’t quite reach the level of enjoyment I got out of Silent Hill f last year; however, there are a lot of elements that work incredibly well here, making this another strong entry in the franchise that I’d absolutely love to see inspire future games in the series.

It’s an incredibly artistic world dripping with style and that classic Remedy aesthetic, and the more linear sections are the studio at its absolute best. While there are some open world fumbles that kind of drag the overall quality down, the rest of Control Resonant is so spectacular that they’re worth putting up with. It’s another great entry in the Remedyverse, and I’m all in on what the studio wants to do next.

Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave is excessive in almost every conceivable direction. It has more story than it strictly needs, more characters than most players will fully explore, systems that disappear for dozens of hours before returning in wonderfully ridiculous combinations, and a campaign long enough that reaching its ending felt like completing an actual journey. Yet almost none of that excess feels careless. After 121 hours, I was exhausted, but I wouldn't wish away any meaningful portion of that time. Fortune's Weave takes the foundations of modern Fire Emblem, stretches them further than I could have ever expected, and somehow makes that enormous ambition feel justified. I wanted it to be the absurdly comprehensive Fire Emblem game its premise promised me. Somehow, it was.

Marvel’s Wolverine gets its claws in deep with a memorable, emotional, and high-stakes story, wonderful interpretations of Logan, Jean, and the rest of the cast, and brutally satisfying combat that distills the core of the character down to every snikt and claw pop. In many ways, it feels like the first step in a wider X-Men universe, and one I am desperate to see evolve.

After more than 300 hours, I know Valheim well. Though somehow, it can still surprise me. That is why I suspect I will keep playing it for years. Version 1.0 may mark the end of its journey into Early Access, but for me, it doesn’t feel like an ending. Valheim has given me hundreds of hours of stories and discoveries, and, after all this time, I’m still not ready to leave.

It is absolutely about violence, but it is equally about anticipation. Halloween: The Game may not be the cleanest asymmetrical horror game I've played, but it is one of the more atmospheric. Its Haddonfield is gorgeous, and its multiplayer creates plenty of unpredictable encounters. Stepping into Michael Myers' boots is exactly the kind of absurd fun a Halloween game should offer.

The creativity and visuals are stunning, the characters have a ton of heart, the soundtrack is an absolute banger, and the atmosphere immediately transported me to the cozy feel of an ’80s–’90s anime. If this is only the beginning for Shapefarm, the future of co-op games is bright.