Welcome back to beautiful Hawaii: land of golden beaches, crystal-clear waters, and The Mad Dog of Shimano roving the seas as a swashbuckling pirate. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is exactly as it sounds, with Goro Majima returning as a fully fledged protagonist for the first time since 2015's Yakuza 0. Unlike that game--which saw Kiryu share the spotlight--the focus this time around is squarely on everyone's favorite eyepatched goofball: the perfect leading man for one of the series' more bizarre entries. No one commits to the bit quite like Majima, which is partly why Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii avoids the risk of diminishing returns, despite being the third Like a Dragon game in the past 15 months. This high-seas adventure doesn't stack up against the series' best, but the pirate theme does just enough to differentiate a jaunty return to the Hawaii.

Set six months after the events of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii opens with Majima waking up on a beach somewhere in the Pacific. He has no memory of how he got there, his name, or his storied past as a crime boss/cabaret manager/construction-company owner. All he knows is that a young boy named Noah saved his life, and for whatever reason, Hawaii and the surrounding islands are now full of cutlass-wielding pirates who look like they've been pulled out of Tortuga during the 1600s. What follows is the hunt for a long-lost legendary treasure that sees Majima reinvent himself as the pirate captain of his own ship, complete with an ever-expanding crew of new and familiar characters. Stuffing the coffers with booty might be the end goal, but this is also a tale about the friends we made along the way.

Like Infinite Wealth before it, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii focuses on a strong sense of friendship and camaraderie. It's frequently eccentric, but its outlandish nature is also mixed with an earnestness and sentimentality that reflects its endearing protagonist. Since Yakuza 0, Majima's Mad Dog persona has felt like a mask he puts on to cope with the trauma he endured early in life. He's always been a caring character, but the way he often shows this is through violence because he doesn't want to be hurt again. Amnesia is an overused trope, yet it's rare to see it affecting an established character we've known for 20 years, allowing for a personality reset of sorts. With no memories of his past, Majima subconsciously lets his guard down and shaves off the rougher edges that define the protective shield he puts up. He still throws himself into deadly situations with utmost glee, hinting that the Mad Dog persona and his masochistic side may have always been a part of him. But his interactions with the crew, and especially Noah, feel like Majima revealing his true self.

In a similar way to how Obsidian's The Outer Worlds played very closely to a space-faring Fallout, Avowed sticks closely to the sensibilities of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Its fantasy world isn't as expansive and seamlessly stitched together, but you'd be forgiven for confusing the two at a glance, especially when you're engaged in its first-person combat. Avowed lifts some of the best aspects of the seminal RPG and improves them, especially when it comes to its refined combat. These changes extend to a move away from traditional leveling in favor of a gear-focused approach, as well as the option to experiment with wild weapon combinations. But not all of Avowed's experiments are successes, leading to an uneven role-playing adventure that surprises as much as it frustrates.

Washing up on the shores of the Living Lands, you play as one the Godless: a select few kissed by the grace of a god at birth and left with some distinct (and sometimes frightening) facial features to show for it. On a mission from a distant monarch whose influence within the Living Lands has many of its inhabitants up in arms, your job is to track down the source of a plague that's turning the land's people into mindless, bloodthirsty creatures, before it manages to make it back home. Although it is set in the same universe as Pillars of Eternity, Avowed does a good job of immediately siloing you into an area that requires little knowledge of what is happening across the ocean, but does reference some historical events from time to time. A glossary of important names and places is available as they're brought up in conversation, providing a handy guide that contextualizes some attitudes characters have to certain factions and events around you.

Avowed makes a strong initial impression, quickly establishing your Godless status but with the odd quirk of being the first not to know which god chose you. This isn't the main purpose of your mission, but that changes after a surprising event in the early hours of the game that sets the stage for a more intriguing answer to the plague ravaging the Living Lands. This setup is ultimately squandered, however, with the two big narrative hooks coalescing with one another in routinely expected and uninteresting ways, making the broader strokes of the story largely forgettable. The conversational writing does have its moments of charm, with equally serious and snarky retorts letting you inject some levity into otherwise dire situations with great comedic effect. But the severity of the plague you're trying to stop and the personal journey of finding out why you're the only Godless without a god is not as captivating as it could be, taking steps along a narrative path that rarely deviates into surprising avenues.

There is no game series out there that means more to me than Virtua Fighter. I spent my weekly allowance to play VF and VF2 in arcades, cavorted cross-country in search of rare Virtua Fighter 3 cabinets, and eventually connected with overseas friends by playing VF4 Evolution and Final Tuned in Japan. So when I see a new--or new-ish, in this case--Virtua Fighter game get released, I want it to be the best it can possibly be. Not just for myself, but so others can pick it up and understand why we longtime Virtua Fighter players adore these games so much.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown--released a few years back on PS4--was a solid attempt at this, bringing the much-loved VF5 Final Showdown to PS4 with a fresh coat of paint. However, it fumbled in some key areas--particularly the netcode, which was a bizarre delay-based system in an era when fighting game developers were quickly and vocally embracing superior rollback systems. Now, with a new Virtua Fighter in active development and people talking about the series again, Sega has given us Virtua Fighter 5 REVO: another revision exclusively for PCs with the much-longed-for and player-demanded rollback netcode.

The rollback netcode is clearly the major selling point here, as much of the game is still built upon the foundation of VF5 Ultimate Showdown: The menu graphics, interface, and character models are largely the same, with a bit of extra polish and visual flair if you've got solid graphics hardware. But that's fine--those areas didn't need much improvement, so why fix what isn't broken?

There's a tavern in the town of Troskowitz where the barmaids must be sick at the sight of me. I've been there twice, and both times been involved in messy brawls despite not tasting a lick of alcohol. The second of these fisticuffs was against a small group of Cuman deserters. They seemed nice enough, but I was still wary considering the Cumans are who killed my parents a few months back. I wasn't the only one, and after failing to ease the growing tension, I decided to side with the local townspeople when push came to shove.

Needless to say, we didn't put up much of a fight. Once the Cumans left, one of the locals implored me to track them down and deal with them once and for all. After eventually tracking them down, the sole Czech-speaking Cuman was so welcoming that I ended up getting drunk with them. I got so inebriated, in fact, that my night revolved around almost drowning, playing matchmaker for one of the soldiers, and then having a conversation with a talking dog that definitely wasn't real. This night of revelry would've been fine on any other evening, but I promised two new acquaintances that I'd be up bright and early to join them on a critical mission. Even after sleeping for seven hours, I was still completely plastered when I arose from my stupor. And let me tell you, fighting bandits with blurred vision, a swaying body, and a soundtrack of frequent farting isn't ideal.

To some, this last part might sound utterly infuriating. To me, and others like me, this is part of what makes Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 utterly enticing. This is a game that sings when you're swept up in an entertaining series of events ignited by the consequences of your actions; where the game's quest design and emphasis on player choice wonderfully intertwine with its systems-driven sandbox to create a wholly immersive experience. While its 2018 predecessor was often disrupted by technical issues--which were further exacerbated by a frustrating save system--and clunky combat, Kingdom Come 2 refines and improves upon it in every respect. The obtuse nature of some of its RPG systems still won't click for everybody, but this is a confident sequel that builds on the foundations established by the original game, presenting a rich and sprawling adventure that effortlessly oscillates between medieval drama and slice-of-life hijinks in a world that feels distinctly alive.

Sid Meier's Civilization VII is the newest mainline entry in Firaxis' long-running 4X strategy series, which is built on exploring, expanding, exploiting, and exterminating across procedurally generated maps. Taken on its own, each campaign remains a superbly engaging escapade across eras that will keep you playing for "one more turn" until you realize you're late for your sister's birthday party. Civilization VII is not just a game that you play to pass the time during weekends--the experience is compelling enough that it is the weekend, and maybe several weekdays of your life, too.

For Civilization VII, Firaxis has made some sweeping changes, most notably with how you progress through each historical period. Several of these new features are welcome, given that they address concerns from previous titles while also making campaigns more dynamic. However, a few design decisions are bound to be contentious, especially for longtime fans, since these mechanics tend to impact the player's control over certain outcomes.

One of the biggest changes in Civilization VII is how you choose leaders and nations separately. Gone are the days when picking Augustus Caesar or Napoleon meant automatically playing as Rome or France, respectively. Instead, leaders have a unique trait that defines their playstyle, and you can select a country independently to complement that playstyle.

Eternal Strands weaves together a deeply intriguing scene from its earliest moments, stitching together a picture of a fantasy world built around the concept of magic emulating threads. It's a world I wanted to dive into from the jump, if only to uncover more of how it came to be and what the cultures of the different locations are like. And as much as the worldbuilding retains that wonder with incredible-looking environments that make for engaging play spaces for the physics-based magic system, the beat-for-beat details of Eternal Strands' story aren't nearly as rewarding to unravel.

Eternal Strands' story too often hits on familiar fantasy tropes, such as an inexplicable magical disaster that changed everything and a corrupting force that seemingly has no weakness and must be avoided at all costs. But the history that story is built on adds a semblance of life to the world, building memorable NPCs that you want to come back to again and again to talk about what in their life led them to where they are now, and painting a somber undertone to the world that begs to be uncovered through its detailed lore notes and optional collectibles.

I especially love how Eternal Strands packages aspects of its history so they're viewed through the art of weaving--not a typical choice for action-adventure games. Concepts like spells are recontextualized, transforming from arcane runes into fashion choices. You can largely avoid the historical exposition if you'd rather spend your time swinging a sword and spewing fire, but there's some great writing to uncover here for lore hounds.

Not every game needs to be more like IO Interactive's Hitman, but some games would benefit from adopting more of that incredible series' strong points. This is something Rebellion seemed to figure out around the time of Sniper Elite 3 back in 2014, when the series ditched linear levels set in tight, wartorn streets in favor of a much deeper, wider tour of duty, with each map allowing for player choice in how they navigate the world and complete missions. The series has even gone so far as to create some absurd, Agent 47-like situations in which you can assassinate Nazis. Sniper Elite: Resistance reintroduces that tried-and-true formula for the fourth time in 11 years, and though it's still enjoyable, I can't help but notice how this campaign through the French countryside elicits such a strong sense of deja vu.

Sniper Elite is a third-person shooter set during World War II, and like other games in the series, it can be played in first-person when you're aiming. The series has made a name for itself on a deep ballistic physics model that accounts for wind, bullet drop, and positioning, as well as its cherry on top: the X-ray killcam. This feature shows you, in slow-motion, how each bullet shreds Nazis in grotesque detail, inside and out. Like in other Sniper Elite games, a well-placed bullet can shoot their eyes out, explode their hearts, or even obliterate their testicles, among other special displays of sharpshooting.

Like its predecessors, the game is a fun and reliable shooter when it comes to sniping mechanics, though I've grown weary of the killcam. These days, I more often skip the killcam, or at least adjust my settings to see fewer headhunting highlight reels. I get it by now; it's neat tech, but they add up over the course of a mission, which already tend to take me about two hours each, because I'm much more interested in stealthily completing my missions than watching the highlight reels of long-range vivisections.

Marvel Rivals has come for the hero-shooter crown, and it's hard to argue that it doesn't have a legitimate claim to the throne. It has a big roster of heroes with a ton of variety across them, no role queue, and 6v6, all of which are important to a great hero shooter. Although it lifts more than a few of Overwatch's ideas, it is actively targeting and addressing some of the biggest complaints players have about Blizzard's shooter. Marvel Rivals expands on familiar ideas in smart ways and has a visually striking and distinct art style. Add in that it's a fun multiplayer experience and it makes it far more than just another also-ran hero shooter clone.

Opting for 6v6 and a third-person camera view, Marvel Rivals has a vast variety of playstyles across its launch roster. Offering everything from simple shooting-focused heroes like Punisher to complex melee heroes like Spider-Man, all the while making it feel cohesive. Although it will undoubtedly be chaotic for players trying a hero shooter like this for the first time, there are a variety of heroes that make picking up the game simple and an impressive roster of alternative picks that can gradually increase complexity.

It does have limited main game modes at launch, with only Domination, which involves fighting over a control point; Convoy, where a team escorts a payload; and Convergence, which is a combination of the two. These are split across a variety of maps taken from the Marvel multiverse, with locations like Tokyo 2099, Yggsgard, and the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda. These different locations provide a ton of environmental variety, with the pristine look of Asgard contrasted with the dense buildings of Tokyo 2099. While the visual styles don't change the flow of the game, the map layouts do. For example, both Tokyo 2099 and Klyntar have hybrid maps--where the attacking team must capture a control point, which unlocks a payload to push--but Tokyo 2099 has multiple buildings blocking the defenders' line of sight, while on Klyntar the area from spawn to the point is much more open, promoting more long-range hero options. It can become visually stale, but more importantly, having fewer modes means that your team's strategies don't shift as much from match to match, which can result in them blending together because each individual match doesn't feel unique, aside from the team compositions.

Donkey Kong has always been the more brutal, off-putting relative to the affable, approachable Mario brothers. Both Donkey Kong Country and the Super Marios are classic side-scrolling platformers at their core, but DKC has been known less for joyful leaping and more for clenching your jaw. Now as the Nintendo Switch approaches its eighth year and Nintendo is increasingly reaching into its back catalog for ports, DKC Returns is back with a package that combines all the features of the Wii and 3DS versions--including some assists and visual enhancements--but still feels tough-as-nails in a way that could push away more casual platformer fans.

DKC Returns HD does retain the tweaks made to the 2013 3DS port, including a Modern mode (originally called New mode in the 3DS version) with additional items in Cranky's shop and an extra pip of health. The items in Cranky's shop are especially tuned to let you selectively tweak the difficulty, since the banana coins currency are so plentiful that you'll almost always have enough to spare on an item or two. Those items range from help finding collectible puzzle pieces to temporary invincibility. You can always opt for the original mode to play with the original Wii difficulty, if that's more your flavor. And it does look nicely polished on Switch, especially on the OLED screen. That said, the character models look relatively simplistic compared to Tropical Freeze, a 2014 Wii U game that was already ported to Switch in 2018.

The Modern mode is meant to sand off the edges of the notoriously punishing game and make it more approachable, but make no mistake: This is still a brutally difficult game. Even with three hearts instead of the original two, it's very easy to lose multiple lives (or near the end, tens of lives) in a single stage as you learn its rhythms and assorted traps. And the difficulty in DKC Returns is true to its roots, which centers heavily on memorization. The game frequently introduces threats too quickly to react to the first time, and DK himself feels stiff and heavy compared to the acrobatic Mario. Trickier stages will even give the appearance of one type of obstacle and then frustratingly punish you for reacting to the fake-out.

When it comes down to it, the essence of Dynasty Warriors' longevity is simple: Cleaving through hundreds of enemies like a hot knife through butter feels really good. It's the ultimate power fantasy, with each swing of your weapon sending bodies careening through the air in every conceivable direction as the KO counter ticks up into the thousands. For almost 25 years, this basic formula has remained virtually unchanged, lending the series a fervent albeit niche following. Dynasty Warriors 9 attempted to evolve the formula, but the shift to a lifeless open world was a misstep that didn't mesh with the series' core appeal. Dynasty Warriors: Origins, as the name implies, sees Omega Force returning to its roots, emphasizing the large-scale, hack-and-slash action Dynasty Warriors is known for while implementing a number of clever new additions that achieve what Dynasty Warriors 9 failed to.

If you're unfamiliar with the long-running series, Dynasty Warriors is based on Luo Guanzhong's 14th-century novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms--and the ancient history it's based on--loosely adapting the classic Chinese novel by taking some absurd creative liberties along the way. While previous games in the series have typically covered the bulk of the Three Kingdoms period from 184 AD to 280 AD, Origins tightly focuses on the early parts of the story, beginning with the rise of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and culminating in the decisive Battle of Chibi. Unlike the rest of the series, the story is also told from the perspective of an amnesiac warrior who's meeting legendary figures like Guan Yu, Dong Zhuo, and the fearsome Lü Bu for the first time. This setup is clearly designed with newcomers in mind, making the series' enduring legacy and myriad beloved characters much more palatable for new players to dive into for the first time.

Still, that doesn't mean returning players will be left wanting. By focusing on the early events of the Three Kingdoms' tapestry, Omega Force has opted to delve into the time period in greater detail than before, with a renewed emphasis on storytelling and character development. Even minor figures are more fleshed out, while pivotal moments are given the gravitas they deserve. This is somewhat of a double-edged sword, however. The writing is generally solid, with defined, charming, and likable characters engaging in moral quandaries and battles of both wit and brawn, but the overabundance of cutscenes sometimes works to its detriment. Too many conversations simply feel derivative, either repeating plot points or adding little of substance to the narrative and your understanding of its ensemble cast of characters. This disrupts the game's pacing, leading to more than a few occasions where you're forced to wait impatiently for the next battle to arrive as you cycle through one superfluous conversation after another.