Mitchell Saltzman

“Nioh 3 delivers best-in-class combat that revitalizes the established formula with a fantastic split between Samurai and Ninja styles, as well as a triumphant move to an open-world structure.”

“Forestrike's tactical martial arts inspired action does a wonderful job of combining combat and puzzle solving to make for a clever roguelite that will test your wits and reflexes in equal measure.”

“Despite its disappointing story and bland level design, Ninja Gaiden 4's excellent combat still make it one of the best 3D action games in recent memory.”

“Wuchang: Fallen Feathers is yet another great soulslike to add to the ever-increasing pile, featuring excellent combat, wonderful level design, an incredible skill tree, and fearsome bosses. Just watch out for some steep difficulty dips and spikes, and a reliance on cheap-feeling "gotcha!" ambushes.”

“When Elden Ring Nightreign is played exactly as it was designed to be played, it’s one of the finest examples of a three-player co-op game around – but that's harder to do than it should be, and playing solo is poorly balanced.”

“Full of ambition and packed with great boss battles, Eternal Strands doesn't land every shot it takes, but it lands enough to make it an impressive action RPG.”

“Despite some frustrating technical issues, Black Myth: Wukong is a great action game with fantastic combat, exciting bosses, tantalizing secrets, and a beautiful world.”

“A disappointing sequel that falls short of the great heights of the original, Volgarr the Viking 2 frustrates far more than it delights.”

“Like the base game did before it, Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for single-player DLC expansions. It takes everything that made the base game such a landmark RPG, condenses it into a relatively compact 20-25 hour campaign, and provides fantastic new challenges for heavily invested fans to chew on.”

“Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its RPG mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre.”

“Granblue Fantasy Versus Rising fully realizes the potential that the vanilla game showed back in 2020. This is a feature rich and absolutely gorgeous 2D anime fighter with a deep roster of 28 fantastic characters, great netcode, and well implemented gameplay tweaks that reinvigorate the already exciting fighting system.”

“Ghostrunner 2 is a sequel that builds upon everything that made the first game great, leading to 10-12 hours of absolutely action packed, high speed, cyberninja excellence, along with a great, replayable, roguelike mode as well.”

“Mortal Kombat 1 proves to be too much for the Switch's dated hardware. The load times are egregious, there are numerous bugs plaguing both graphics and gameplay, making for a poor quality port of a great game that's all around aggravating to play.”

“So far, the Kameo system and smart changes to the fighting make MK1 feel fresh and exciting, the story mode is predictably great, even if Invasions seems like more of a grind than I'm willing to put myself through to unlock the best cosmetic items.”

“Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon’s stellar customization options feed into its excellent mecha combat, and the result is challenging combat puzzles that kept my attention all the way through its 15-hour campaign and beyond. It’s let down by a dull story, but lands direct hits where it counts.”

“Exoprimal's unique take on the hero shooter genre is a bold one – with its best modes and surprises hidden deep within its goofy sci-fi story – but a variety of fun exosuits, the simple appeal of tearing through thousands of dinos, and great multiplayer design make that grind an easy one to recommend sticking with.”

“Featuring fast, reflex driven, action heavy combat, Final Fantasy 16 is certainly a departure from what fans may expect out of a Final Fantasy game, but its excellent story, characters, and world building are right up there with the best the series has to offer, and the innovative Active Time Lore feature should set a new standard for how lengthy, story-heavy games keep players invested in its world.”

“Street Fighter 6 is the most feature-rich a Street Fighter has ever been at launch, but even beyond that, it's roster of 18 characters is excellent, the new mechanics revitalize the one-on-one fighting formula, and it absolutely nails all of the little things that make for a stellar fighting game.”

“Pizza Tower is a blisteringly fast 2D platformer with an unmistakable art style and unforgettable soundtrack that transcends its Wario Land inspirations and finds its own identity as one of the most energetic, fun, and creative 2D platformers in recent memory.”

“Familiar issues with storytelling and loot aside, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is another great entry in Team Ninja's growing collection of action RPGs that features some of the best combat in the soulslike genre, even though those battles start to lose their tension due to a distinct lack of enemy variety to fill out the 20+ hour runtime.”