Without a trace of restraint, Detention is viewed through an overtly political lens, one that displays the horrors of Taiwan's past with such historical viscera and unfiltered terror.

Approachable mechanics, plenty of secrets, and an undeniably strong sense of atmosphere make the original Donkey Kong Country a great opening statement for this new era of gaming's iconic gorilla.

Dredge's gameplay loop gets repetitive over time, and while its horror conjures plenty of uneasiness early on, it loses a lot of its bite by the time the finale rolls around.

In a time when so many want to have absolute control over their gaming experience, the companion of The Last Guardian is an anomaly, one whose strange, almost autonomous behavior makes the entire journey seem all the more real.

Sonic Generations succeeds both as a fantastic celebration of Sonic's history and as a wildly replay-able platformer that's a blast to experience.

It wouldn't be surprising at all to think that Katamari Damacy would be the inspirational spark for thousands of up-and-coming game developers, a success story that shows that even the oddest, most avant-garde ideas still deserve a chance to exist.

D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die could've been one of its generation's most legendary head-trips had it gotten a proper completion, but as it stands right now, Season 1 is a weird little experiment whose core mechanics are just a bit too under-developed.

Instead of attempting to evolve Metroidvania design beyond the well-established template, Hollow Knight doubles down on its oppressive atmosphere and deep world-building, and it's all the better for it.

Gravity Rush 2 masterfully embodies the special feeling that is "the joy of motion," letting its movement mechanics speak with, but never in place of its beautifully realized world.

Every transition to a new generation of developers comes with skepticism, but Sonic Mania Plus is so well-researched a project that you'd be forgiven for thinking that you hopped in a time machine and were witnessing the old guard during their absolute prime.

Resident Evil 4 Remake will hopefully be remembered for being a tense and exciting action-horror game on its own merits, because as a remake of one of the greatest games of all time, its changes are either strange or needlessly contemporary.

Doki Doki Literature Club, even in its moments of predictability, is still a clever title that does some pretty interesting things with its genre's well-established tropes.

The endlessly charming and memorable moments of Pokemon Snap are successfully preserved in this "new" entry, though there's a lot of excess here that absolutely should've been trimmed.

What it lacks in mechanical depth, it makes up for with style, creativity, and heart, and that's a triple threat that most games would never come close to achieving.

MGR: Revengeance has an undying commitment to its over-the-top vibe, even more so than what we've come to expect from PlatinumGames, proudly announcing that its blood-drenched, chrome-polished soul can't be cut.