Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a joyous blast that is constantly fun to play. The shooting mechanics and spells are incredibly satisfying, with storytelling that is years ahead of whatever Borderlands 3 tried doing. Still, it does feel a bit too safe, lacks innovation, and my playthrough was littered with bugs, and not the kind that explode when you shoot them.
Road 96
Road 96 sees you in the roles of six missing teens, each heading north to a border that might end in their freedom, or hauled away to a labor camp. Along the journey, you’ll either get picked up by a deranged cab driver or a pair of bumbling criminals always talking about that next big score. Your choices will dictate the path around you as well as shape its world and the characters that you’ll come to rely on.
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Forgotten Land may not have the budget that Nintendo gives to their flagship titles such as Mario or The Legend of Zelda, but that doesn’t stop Kirby and the Forgotten Land from being one of Nintendo’s best in years. With the new Mouthful Mode, Kirby will take the forms of Cars, Pylons, Staircases, and more, all in an effort to say the Waddle Dee’s from the forces of evil.
Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin
As a partial retelling of the first Final Fantasy, you’ll join Jack on his quest to rid the world of Chaos. As you hack and slash through themed environments based on Final Fantasy games of the past, you’ll take part in combat via a series of over two dozen jobs, complete with a wide variety of weapons and gear. While combat satisfies greatly, the story, characters, and visuals sadly do not.
Weird West
Weird West, an occult flavored CRPG, is definitely worth playing, but it does suffer from some growing pains of creating a new property and controlling how much repetition there is in its environments and combat systems. That said, the story, characters, and world are all interesting, and often engaging and while the game could be a bit weirder, it still offers a fun time for about 20 hours.