Black Myth: Wukong surprised me. Going in, I knew not to expect a souls-like, despite it seemingly sharing many of the genre's hallmarks. The game's Chinese developer, Game Science, has been adamant that it's not a souls-like, preferring to define it more generically as an action-RPG. This is at least partially accurate, as Black Myth: Wukong is definitely not a souls-like. What I wasn't expecting was for it to be essentially a lengthy boss rush. It's not uncommon to go from one boss fight into another and then another, and it's in these elaborate battles where Black Myth: Wukong shines. The moments in between, however, aren't quite as strong, sometimes devolving into aimless tedium. But its satisfying combat and unique variety of boss fights mostly manages to overcome these flaws.

Black Myth: Wukong's story is based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West. Originally published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty, the epic saga has proven to be incredibly long-lasting and influential since its release, inspiring everything from Ninja Theory's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West to Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball manga. Black Myth: Wukong's take on the enduring tale is set sometime after the original story while still retaining many of its characters. Names like Zhu Bajie, Kang Jinlong, and the Bull Demon King will be instantly recognizable to anyone familiar with Journey to the West, even if certain characters' allegiances sometimes differ from the source material.

You play as a mute monkey, known as the Destined One, who shares more than a few similarities with the titular Sun Wukong--a legendary simian commonly known as the Monkey King. Sun Wukong is a prominent character in Journey to the West, so your unexpected presence is one of the game's central mysteries. Are you the Monkey King reincarnated, or perhaps one of his clones breaking off on your own quest? The answer isn't the most surprising, but it makes for a thrilling conclusion to the adventure.

Dustborn is written as though its creators heard complaints like "Keep politics out of games" and defiantly went in the opposite direction. It is one of the most overtly political and, more specifically, unapologetically leftist games I've ever played, and that uncommonly brazen setup makes its early hours very interesting, but it falls apart in the second half due to monotonous combat and a final few chapters that undo the stronger first half.

A near-future dystopian and plainly fascistic America, fractured into territories following a second civil war, plays the sea-to-shining-sea enemy of a group of bleeding hearts on an undercover road trip to fuel a better tomorrow. With a punk-rock cover story aiding its diverse collection of cast-offs from the new America, and gameplay mechanics akin to a Telltale game, Dustborn checks so many of the boxes of a game I'd normally adore. So it was surprising to me, though ultimately not difficult to explain, when the game left me feeling empty and wanting.

Dustborn's cel-shaded comic-book art direction is captivating right away, and like the broken world it colors in, it immediately caught my eye. I didn't mind, at first, when the opening scene featured the four main heroes being rather annoying. I figured this would be their arc, from awkward pals barely dodging the game's federal force of corrupt cops to defiant leaders toppling tyranny nationwide. I was in for the ride… until I wasn't.

As the name implies, Farewell North is a game about saying goodbye--to a place, to people, and to the lifestyle that those things represent. Though the narrative adventure is short, it packs a lot of characterization and resonance into that time, with only occasional stumbling blocks to blunt the impact of the experience.

You play as Chesley, or Ches for short: a sweet-natured border collie who had once worked as a sheepdog on a farm in the Scottish highlands. Your human companion, a young woman named Cailey, ventured off her family farm and into the city but was summoned back when her rural mother became ill. Cailey helped with the farm for a while, relying on Ches' herding skills, and then when her mother passed away, they moved back to the city together, where Ches became a homebound pet rather than a working dog. This game captures what seems to be Cailey's first time coming back to the area since then.

On one level, this is a game about loss, and how it manifests in different ways. Cailey lost her mother, and as you explore the Scottish highlands with her, you get bittersweet reflections about her farm life and how it felt to slowly lose her mother to a terminal illness. Though it's less pointed, you also get the sense that Ches lost her home when she became a city dog, so this return to the highlands is a reunion of sorts.

SteamWorld Heist 2 marks the seventh game in the SteamWorld franchise, which has built itself more as an anthology than a series. The name is a playground for different ideas, loosely connected around a cartoon-robot aesthetic, rather than a connected universe of familiar gameplay structures and stories. Heist 2 marks only the second direct sequel, after SteamWorld Dig 2. Since Dig was SteamWorld's breakthrough, it seems significant that the second true sequel is going to the more-modest cult-hit SteamWorld Heist. But the proof is in the pudding, as SteamWorld Heist 2 is a massive leap over the first game, expanding on virtually all of its systems without overcomplicating them or compromising its charm.

Like the first game, SteamWorld Heist 2 defies easy categorization, as it really only plays like itself. You and your band of Steambots go on missions to tightly enclosed indoor spaces, and take part in turn-based tactical combat. While there is cover and abilities with cooldowns like you might find in a typical XCOM-like, the 2D perspective shifts more than just your point-of-view--in comparison to its genre contemporaries, Heist 2 plays extremely differently. Rather than flanking around enemies, there's a huge emphasis on verticality, as well as lining up trick-shots using laser sight-like aimlines to bounce your projectiles off the walls or objects to hit an enemy ducking behind cover. And like the first game, you can pick up bags of optional loot, typically including one especially well-hidden or well-guarded piece of epic loot, and then head for the evacuation point to end the mission. How long you stay to grab every last piece of loot is often pressed by an escalating alarm system, creating a nice tension between risk and reward.

Where SteamWorld Heist 2 builds on the first game's structure is through a variety of new systems, each of which feels full-fledged in itself and complements the existing loop. Primary among these is a new job-class system, which is defined by your weaponry. Any Steambot can equip any job by simply switching their primary weapon during the mission loadout, and the requisite experience points they earn in that mission will go toward the equipped job. Each job has five levels to unlock, with a sequence of powerful abilities becoming available throughout.