For multiple console life cycles, PlayStation has fostered a brand built on gritty anti-heroes, fantastical worlds at conflict with themselves, and a trope colloquially referred to as "sad dads." I like most of those games and find the praise they receive in many cases to be well-earned, but Astro Bot is a reminder of another side to the PlayStation DNA. Not only does it feel like a revitalization of an important part of the brand, but it also feels like a spotlight shifting to a character who has been lurking in the background, previously unable to see over the hulking Kratos, the war-ready Aloy, or the tortured Joel. Team Asobi's Astro Bot quickly, consistently, and joyously launches its titular hero into the pantheon of all-time greats, both in its first-party family and genre, with a platformer whose incredible ambition is matched by its brilliant execution.

Stranded in space following an attack from a googly-eyed alien, Astro's mission is to repair their ship and rescue all 300 pals scattered across five main clusters of planets, each composed of individual levels. Naturally, the story is not the focus here, and yet I was so immersed in the 15-hour game that I beat it in two long sittings. It may be 2024's most immersive game, and it achieves that without a line of dialogue. Instead, each level tells a story, clear as day, about where you ought to go next and what you should do there.

There is both depth and breadth to most levels, and frequent checkpoints mean you'll rarely be punished for exploration or missing a jump. Levels take only five to 10 minutes in most cases, but are overflowing with personality. Robot animals climb trees along the periphery or jump out of the ocean far beneath the levitating worlds you explore. Everything constantly moves around you, imbuing every level with life beyond the scraps you'll engage in with the game's enemies. Each level's theme is brought to life with aesthetic assets and design ideas that strengthen their themes. During a Japan-themed level in which Astro can soak up water to become something like a giant squishy kaiju, you'll simply plow over enemies the robot would otherwise need to be wary of, topple bamboo walls as the ground shakes around you, and soak in hot springs, all while string music evokes the country's signature sounds.

As I thrust my Chainsword into the chest of a Tyranid Warrior and split the vile Xenos in half, I can't help but be reminded of 2016's Doom. From a gameplay perspective, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is nothing like id Software's demon-infested reboot--at best, any similarities between the two are merely superficial. But Space Marine 2 manages to capture a kindred vibe that prodded the part of my brain reserved for all things Doom: one that relishes in gory, balls-to-the-wall action and an unapologetic, almost old-school approach to game design that puts unadulterated fun above all else. It's a game that clearly understands how absurd, horrific, and over-the-top the whole franchise is. There are flaws, but Space Marine 2 improves upon its 13-year-old predecessor in every conceivable way, making you embody an Ultramarine as you stomp your way through a fully realized recreation of Warhammer 40,000's grimdark universe.

Set roughly 200 years after the events of the first game, Space Marine 2 straps you back into the gaudy power armor of protagonist Demetrian Titus. The erstwhile Captain has spent the past century as a Blackshield in an act of self-imposed penance, fighting among the ranks of the Deathwatch under the belief that he has disgraced his former chapter. When an Archmagos of the Adeptus Mechanicus calls for aid in defending the jungle planet of Kadaku from a Tyranid invasion, Titus is sent to the planet's defense, only to be mortally wounded by a ferocious Carnifex. After being rescued by the Ultramarines, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar has Titus undergo the Rubicon Primaris to save his life, making him faster, stronger, and smarter in the process. Once he emerges from his slumber, Titus intends to return to the Deathwatch but is convinced otherwise; if he truly yearns for redemption, he must rejoin the 2nd Company and help the Avengers of Ultramar repel the assailing Tyranids.

The setup propels Space Marine 2's action-packed story into motion as you plunge headfirst into the Fourth Tyrannic War. Titus' past immediately adds tension to the proceedings, with his new captain and squadmates wary of his reinstatement due to a checkered service record. This leads to some decent character-building and uneasy infighting, especially with the threat of Chaos lingering in the air. It's not long before the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines rear their ugly heads to throw a spanner in the works, but for the most part, Space Marine 2 tells a fairly standard war story amidst the backdrop of Warhammer 40,000's unmistakable world. It's cliched at times but remains engaging throughout. There's rarely a dull moment as you uncover long-dormant secrets and attempt to crush the Imperium's enemies beneath your hefty boots.

World of Warcraft: The War Within makes a hell of a first impression. Within the expansion's first 10 minutes, one of the Warcraft universe's greatest heroes, the archmage Khadgar, is seemingly vaporized. Moments later, one of WoW's most iconic cities, Dalaran, is obliterated. You wake up amidst the wreckage, search for survivors, fend off attacks from the spider-like Nerubians, and then set out on a journey deeper and deeper into Azeroth's depths to find the one responsible for the carnage--WoW's new big bad, Xal'atath.

It's a bold opening for the 10th expansion in WoW's two-decade history--one that almost reads as a signal to past and present WoW players that Blizzard is looking to up the narrative stakes as it moves forward. The War Within kicks off what is billed as the first part of a three-expansion storyline called the Worldsoul Saga, which will look to bring together many of the game's core plotlines from over the years, as the MMO nears its 20th anniversary.

It's only fitting then that The War Within builds brilliantly on what came before, not only from a story perspective but also in continuing many of the trends and design philosophies that helped make the game's previous expansion, Dragonflight, the course-correction WoW desperately needed. The War Within realizes many of those ideas to something close to their full potential, giving the expansion a "been there, done that" feel at first that quickly subsides once it becomes clear just how dramatically those ideas, whether it's account-wide progression or the ability to do endgame content entirely solo, change the way Blizzard's MMORPG is played. While not every new feature is a home run, namely Hero Talents, The War Within is otherwise laser-focused in its execution of letting players play WoW the way they want to, and in that it overwhelmingly succeeds.

On Akiva, Kay and Nix dig into a fruit that, when the chef cuts into it, bursts open with dozens of flies that had been growing inside it. What's unnerving to me happens to be a delicacy for Star Wars, as Kay lets Nix happily lap up the fluttering bugs while she leans in to begin nibbling the fruit. It's a very different scene from the food stand on Toshara, where I watched Kay and Nix gobble down roasted street corn. Both moments, however, are full of love, and looking back on them and the other food vendors in Star Wars Outlaws, I appreciate how they briefly delve into an aspect of Star Wars we've really never seen before: the street food scene. This is Outlaws' strength: the moments that give you a glimpse into what it's like to live in the Star Wars universe for those who aren't fighting a galactic civil war or training to become a space wizard. But they are so few and far between--for as much as Outlaws is a decent action game, it regularly delivers unsatisfying narrative payoffs and misses the mark when it comes to rewarding gameplay choices.

In Outlaws, you play as Kay Vess, an up-and-coming mercenary who finds herself becoming an outlaw after a job goes poorly and a high-stakes bounty called a death mark is placed on her. To escape the bounty, Kay finds herself thrust into the position of putting together a crew to break into the near-impenetrable vault of the man who wants her dead--without any money, he won't be able to pay for the bounty hunters on her tail. Her attempts to put together the perfect team take her across the Outer Rim of the galaxy, always accompanied by the latest in Star Wars' long procession of Weird Little Guys, the adorably axolotl-like Nix. In her adventures, Kay regularly comes into contact or conflict with four criminal organizations--the Pyke Syndicate, Crimson Dawn, the Hutt Cartel, and the Ashiga Clan--as well as the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire, the latter of which is hunting down the former following the events of The Empire Strikes Back.

Even ignoring the obvious shortcoming--Kay is yet another human protagonist in a sea of Star Wars games, movies, and TV shows that also feature a human protagonist--Kay is just not that interesting. A common narrative throughline for Outlaws is that Kay is aimless and doesn't know what she wants for her future, not even having any plans for how to spend the millions she'll have once her crew has stolen from the man who wants her dead. The other characters like to remind Kay about this a lot, which in turn acts as a frequent prompt to the player that you're embodying someone with no apparent aspirations or goals. That's a character who's hard to relate to and even harder to write for, as is evident by the lack of any clear arc to Kay's story. There are moments where the game seems to posit that the story has changed Kay, but there's no build-up to any of them and so they ultimately feel narratively confusing or sudden and unfulfilling. When the credits rolled, I wasn't convinced that Kay had actually undergone any sort of personal growth. The Kay at the end of the game largely talks and acts like the one at the beginning, save for an appreciation for her new teammates (and I'm still unclear as to why she likes them). And if the main character hasn't grown at all, then what were the past 30 hours of story for?

The Mana series has a long and admittedly inconsistent history. There have been ups and downs, but games like Trials of Mana hold a special place in my heart. Decades on from that game's original release and a few years from its remake, the Mana series has another swing at a full-fledged title with Visions of Mana. As the first original mainline game since 2006's Dawn of Mana, does Visions still have the juice for something revelatory? Unfortunately, no. Visions of Mana is not a worthy successor to the series’ best nor worth the time it takes to excavate its few virtues to find that out.

Like many of the games in the Mana series, Visions takes place in a new world with similar touchstones to previous titles: There is a Mana tree, monster-like elementals governing the natural forces of the world, animal demi-humans, and the like. In Visions' world, however, these forces are constantly waning and require the sacrifice of seven souls every four years to the Mana tree. It is considered an honor to be chosen to die for the Mana tree and the vast majority of characters treat it as such, including the entire main cast, who make a point to never think too hard about it.

Visions of Mana is about going on a journey with some of the least introspective characters that have ever been written into a story. The cast never thinks long term about their own fates or the men, women, and children that have been sacrificed before them or will be sacrificed after. A traditional story about breaking the cycle and pondering their destinies just never comes, leaving the main cast feel like poorly-written caricatures that are barely involved in their own narrative.