I haven't played a Pokemon game properly since the Gold remake 10 years ago, and Shield didn't make me regret that. It was as devoid of innovation and change as I expected, perhaps even more so. But it's still Pokemon, for better or worse.

More puzzles and better set pieces. Spent a chunk of time yelling "How did you even get here?!" Do you ever think about how Arkham Asylum came out and everyone just copied the combat system and not any of the things that made it good?

I played a ton of this 19 years ago and it was a real challenge to get it working on Windows 10. Only played through 1 of the 4 campaigns but that's enough. In my recent return to RTSes, I find I'd like to lean heavier on city building than combat.

Previously on this list I played Doom 1993 for the first time and it's absurd that Doom 2016 broke any sort of mold by... using 23 year old game design, but better graphics. Which isn't a bad thing, but there being 12 years between entries probably helps. Wasn't a fan of every encounter being locked in so you have to kill everything first. That's not very Doom.

Polar opposite of Doom, Eliza is a visual novel about an AI therapist. The subjects covered in this game are a lot to digest so I would rather urge you to play it than try and discuss them in such a small space. P.S. There are real Eliza apps and that's horrifying

If you ever wanted Night in the Woods to be more like Animal Crossing... Well, this is it. Around 2 hours long and an overall wholesome experience. Certainly needed this right now.

A physics puzzler about learning to accept yourself and that being hard isn't going to make anyone fall in love with you. I'm deadly serious, there's a story mode. You get a pet swan and a promotion at work for sticking a faulty dildo in your rectum.

Honestly, the strangest aspect of this game is that you gain nothing from playing 2 and 3. None of the characters return and they don't add much to character arcs that are not flat out repeated and covered better in 4. Best puzzles, less gunning. Good stuff.

It's the best one. It's got the highest highs, a better(thankfully shorter) train sequence than 2 and Chloe and Nadine are a better duo than Nate and anyone. Nadine Especially. I love that hard ass animal loving mercenary.

Brief and weird. Ends like all 2000s animated movies, with a dance party. Whoops! Spoiler alert. It's minimalism and subsequent success makes me hope the sequel is so much more.

Prey alternated aggressively between impressive and disappointing, having a nice flow up until Crew Quarters when they threw too many side quests at you. You can't do everything, and it ain't worth it either. Honestly I'm baffled as to how I got the Good Ending.

Didn't stay around long enough to form any opinion than "Damn that art style" and "Dammit I'm crying", but I got it for like 2 Euro on Switch so consider this a glowing recommendation.

One of far too many games about plagues I've accidentally played in the middle of a quarantine. Good fun. Requires a lot of micro-managing to get a Good Boy Run but it's far from the difficulty of your average Soulslike. Steals liberally from VTM: Bloodlines, but I suppose if it ain't broke.

Later learned that I had a relatively bug free experience compared to others.

I've finished runs of this game on multiple platforms, but I've never pushed as deep as anyone else seems to. I don't replay games often so roguelikes are an anomaly to me. I'm saying I've finished a run, and I'm finished with Isaac.

A short horror game, framed as a TV show, but becomes something more. Each episode gets more complicated design-wise, starting as text adventure. Maybe copying codes down and puzzling strange machine instructions isn't good game design, but I had my fun.