One of the pinnacles of the tower defense genre. Plants vs. Zombies is engaging, hilarious, and an amazingly solid game that stands the test of time. The sequels and spinoffs can't begin to compare to this pristine classic.

The multitude of plants available to use allow you to defend against brain-eating zombies in numerous ways. Fun minigames and the Zen Garden are excellent breaks from the main gameplay loop. If your type is tall, dark, and dead, Plants vs. Zombies will be a green thumbs up.

100%: Growing the Wisdom Tree to 100 feet can take some time, but isn't hard. 20 flags in Survival Endless may seem daunting, but a thought-out strategy will take you far.

A really fun tower defense where you don't just sit around and wait for enemies to be killed by your towers. Functioning as an active component for your defense adds a lot of depth to your gameplay. The orcs are also hilariously stupid in a charming way.

Traps, trinkets, and weapons are all fun to use. Maps are varied and contain numerous avenues for skill expression. There are a few missteps, such as an overreliance on Barricades, but Orcs Must Die is overall a fantastic tower defense experience.

100%: Nightmare levels are challenging, but proper strategies make them manageable. Killing 30k orcs will most likely take the longest to complete.

A beautiful tapestry of adventure filled with engaging combat and a heartwrenching story. I never thought it would be possible to be so invested in the story of a wolf, but this game stands as one of my all-time favorites.

Combat and exploration are very Zelda-esque. Every character in the game has their own enticing story to discover. Okami is an experience that you won't want to miss.

100%: Completing the various compendiums will take some time, but aren't overly difficult. Some of the late-game battles can be challenging.

Muse Dash is a pretty fun anime rhythm game. It has a simple gameplay loop with a large selection of songs of varying difficulties. The game is, unsurprisingly, very anime and flexes its colorful presentation at every opportunity.

The different characters don't do a ton to change up gameplay unless you're shooting for leaderboard high scores. A fun experience overall that is still being updated with new songs regularly.

100%: A few hidden sheets take some figuring out how to unlock. There's also an achievement for playing the tutorial on a specific day.

The gateway to the Monster Hunter series for some, a phenomenal 5th gen outing for me. World revolutionizes the hunt, adding interactability with the environment at unprecedented levels. Add stunning graphics and an amazing soundtrack and you have an unforgettable Monster Hunter experience.

Iceborne takes the amazing base game and adds even more over-the-top spectacle and gameplay. Fatalis is one of the hardest fights in the entire series and I was genuinely elated to finally overcome the challenge. A few minor complaints, such as lackluster weapon designs and the annoying cutscene interactions with multiplayer, don't come close to detracting from this once-in-a-lifetime adventure.

100%: The crowns will, without a doubt, be the most time-consuming part of completion. You will lament seeing a silver crown for the 13th time.

Metal: Hellsinger is one hell of a rhythm shooter. The music is death-defyingly good and the weapons are a ton of fun to experiment with. The miniature challenges are also nice pace breakers, though the primary campaign isn't that long to begin with.

There are a few things holding this game back. The sigils are fun to experiment with, but ultimately don't impact gameplay that much. There were a few hiccups in terms of rhythm sync and the final boss is a sharp increase in difficulty compared to the gameplay before it. Still, Metal: Hellsinger is a great time and surely deserving of a sequel.

100%: Finishing a level without being off-beat once can be frustrating, though with some patience it is definitely doable.

The Messenger is a positively fantastic experience. It manages to evoke the feeling and style of retro platformers/metroidvanias while developing its own unique story and gameplay loop.

Each area in the game has an 8-bit version and a 16-bit version, each with its own colorful visuals and killer soundtrack. Swapping from a platformer to a metroidvania partway through the story is not something I thought a game could do, but The Messenger pulls it off effortlessly. Do yourself a favor and play this game.

100%: Making it through the Queen of Quills without dying can be challenging, but is completely possible with enough practice. Winning the DLC race with a perfect score can also prove tricky.

Lego Marvel Avengers is a decent entry in the Lego universe of games. The story comprises the first two Avengers movies; confusingly, the game starts with a level from Age of Ultron, then has you play through all of the first Avengers movie, then the rest of Age of Ultron.

The gameplay is about what you expect from a typical Lego game. Characters are mostly fun to use and cool to see. There were a few performance issues/bugs on the PC version, but overall the experience was mostly solid.

100%: Typical collectathon achievements will require you to get every character, minikit, and gold brick. The largest hurdle to overcome will be collecting everything in Manhattan.

This game is a hilariously chaotic experience from start to finish. Attempting to communicate effectively with your bomb-defusing partner while having limited information proves to be amazingly fun instead of overwhelmingly frustrating.

The amount of bombs to defuse is somewhat small, but the Steam Workshop provides plenty of custom-made puzzles for you to engage with. This is my go-to co-op game whenever I'm meeting someone new.

100%: Some bombs in the Exotic section can prove rather tricky depending on how comfortable you feel with their gimmicks.

A decently made action-adventure game. Journey to the Savage Planet is very upfront about its style of humor. If you don't enjoy immense amounts of satire or meta-humor, you'll probably be looking elsewhere.

Gameplay consists of traveling between various areas defeating enemies with all sorts of weird weapons and exploring a vivid world. Most systems in the game are on the shallower side, but if you can appreciate the game's light-hearted nature, you'll find a fairly fun experience to be had.

100%: Some Metroidvania-style achievements, such as eating every orange goo or finding all the Explorer Logs, will require some backtracking. You will need a friend to play with in order to get some achievements.

An incredibly fun puzzle-solving experience with a friend. Easy enough to pick up and play with anyone you can think of. Puzzles are creative and clever. The world itself is colorful and vibrant.

From military squirrels to giant plants to a talking book of romance, It Takes Two is a fantastic experience with your duo partner of choice.

100%: Nothing overly challenging. Finding all the minigames can be a bit hard since some of them are hidden well.

Immortal Redneck is not the flashiest roguelike, but it is a mostly solid experience. Movement feels fluid and weapon choices are varied enough to keep your runs fresh. The meta-progression system is helpful, though the amount of gold needed to unlock everything can feel a bit steep.

My experience with the game was dying repeatedly in runs until everything started to click. Not sure if it was a better understanding of the game itself or if I reached a critical threshold with upgrades, but deaths became extremely rare after that point. I wouldn't write home about Immortal Redneck, but I wouldn't write it off, either.

100%: Completing pyramids with no weapons or scrolls can prove difficult until you have enough upgrades from meta-progression. The Plague Medallion will take the most practice and attempts to overcome.

A Metroidvania masterpiece. Gameplay is sharp. Controls are crisp. The world-building is wonderful. Visuals are beautiful. The soundtrack is to die for.

Hollow Knight tells a compelling story without much dialogue. The world itself invites you to explore every nook and cranny, talk to every character so that you can piece together the story of this world. I only wish I could experience this game for the first time again.

The free DLCs are nothing short of amazing and further solidify Hollow Knight as not only one of the best indie games, but of the best video games ever made. I could blather on and on about how absolutely amazing this game is, but you should honestly just play it for yourself.

100%: In true Metroidvania fashion, you'll be spending a decent amount of time retreading old ground with new abilities to get upgrades and hidden items. The speedrun achievements are fun, and certainly doable once you have a path plotted out. Beating the game in Steel Soul mode is no joke - you're gonna need to practice for this one. The Pantheons can also be maddeningly difficult, but also extremely rewarding to finally conquer.