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.

I didn't expect I'd review two games about pied-pipering friendly and fantastical animals around a beautiful world in the span of just a few weeks, but following the recent release of Flock, a somewhat similar game has arrived. Creatures of Ava, however, is a much bigger and more ambitious game, and usually reaches the surprisingly high benchmarks it sets for itself. From a pair of relatively unknown studios, this open-world creature-saving game is touching, gorgeous, and ultimately serves as one of the best family games of the year.

Creatures of Ava stars Vic, a researcher who arrives on the planet Ava to help complete an ark project that intends to rescue the world's animals from the withering, a planet-wide infection that is slowly corrupting life itself. Even before I knew what kind of game Creatures of Ava would be, I was taken aback by how pretty it is. It's one of the best-looking games I've played in 2024, with a vibrant color palette of bright oranges, pinks, blues, and more that is immediately striking.

Additionally, the game's way of carrying players through a story that involves four distinct open-world sections, each with its own biomes and aesthetics, means new surprises and sights are regularly debuting. I was genuinely excited to conclude each chapter just so I could see what remarkable vistas the game would unveil next.

Your first task in Thank Goodness You're Here! is to answer the question, "A'tha from Tarn?" Depending on your response, the game's menus and subtitles will either display in English or the local dialect, changing words like "Options" to "Faff" and "Continue game" to "Keep gu'in." If this rather odd choice hasn't already given it away, Thank Goodness You're Here! is possibly the most quintessentially British game ever made--specifically, northern England and the town of Barnsworth, a fictional town right near the very real town of Barnsley. Developed by Coal Supper--a two-person team who grew up in the post-industrial town--this absurdist comedy "slapformer" is a genuinely hilarious romp. It won't appeal to everyone and can be finished over a few cups of tea, but there aren't many games that have managed to plaster such a huge smile on my face.

The game's mouthful of a title is uttered by a few of the game's characters, including a young fan of Barnsworth's local football club. "Thank Goodness You're Here!" he exclaims as you leap through an open window and into a kitchen adorned with red and white scarves and framed pictures of the team's players. Sitting at the dining table with a cup of dark tea, he pleads with you to procure him some milk. He'd go himself, but he's terribly "milk shy." So off you pop to the local farm, where Bessie the cow requires a bag of chips--wrapped in newspaper, of course--to perk her up before she can produce any milky goodness. The local chip shop, Marge's Chippo, is the place to go, but after recently fixing the deep fat fryer, the queue is far too long and you don't have time to wait. This leads to another trek across town, with more whimsical hijinks abound before you eventually get your hands on that precious, precious milk.

This is the general gist of Thank Goodness You're Here! If it sounds like you're simply running around performing a series of fetch quests, it's actually much more involved than that. You play as a tiny traveling salesman who's arrived in town for a meeting with the mayor. Instead of sitting in the waiting room until they're ready to see you, you decide to venture out into town where the locals are all too eager to give you a series of increasingly odd jobs. As you explore the streets of Barnsworth and help out its wacky denizens, your antics leave an indelible mark on the place, opening up new areas to probe as you're given more and more zany tasks to complete.