RPG Games

For years, fans have been looking forward to more Battle Chasers stories. Last year, we got our first look at Aiship Syndicate's role-playing game version of the Joe Madureira comic, Battle Chasers: Nightwar. At that time, there was little to do but wander a randomly generated dungeon and complete a few small battles. Twelve months later, Nightwar still has that same delicious style and core battle mechanics, but Airship's been hard at work building on that template to craft a robust and deep RPG that will more than satisfy fans from both worlds.

We didn't realize how badly we wanted a massive hammer that doubled as a shotgun until we equipped one in Dauntless. At that point, we'd already been playing Phoenix Labs' upcoming multiplayer action role-playing game for a hunt or two, but wanted to change things up to see what the different weapon loadouts offered. After using the hammer to hunt down massive frost-powered owl creature, we became enamored with it. Not just with the hammer gun mind you, but with the co-op action at the core of Dauntless.

In the darkness below the surface, two lone treasure hunters have come together to explore a dungeon in search secrets from a world lost long ago. An ocean of black envelops them both, the only salvation in the depths provided by lone lanterns each wanderer carries. A somber melody plays somewhere, echoing from deep within the tunnels running though the heart of this cavern. Distracted, the hunters miss something flash before the lantern light. Whatever is lurking has its eyes on our adventurers. This is the world of Ashen, and it will test your spine and ability to cooperate like few other games.

We've all heard the stories about the amnesiac hero who washed up on the shore of a dangerous island only to become its savior. Or perhaps the version you heard told of a teen with extraordinary courage, who stepped up in a time of need to make the lands he lived in safe again. Whatever deviations you may have heard, the stories all share a familiar core. The Swords of Ditto follows that same narrative thread, only this time it gives it an explanation. It also does it with one of the more delightful and humorous presentations we've seen.

What if I told you there was a whole new continent out there filled with monsters of every shape and size, and they were all wild game there for the taking? Of course, these great beasts aren't exactly going to go down easy as another trophy for your wall, and they're going to fight back as hard as they can. Only the best and most courageous hunters will have what it takes to survive this dangerous ecosystem, and they'll be legends among the rest of Monster Hunter World.

It’s not a huge departure from the themes and gameplay of the last two Persona games, but there are enough successful tweaks to the formula that Persona 5 feels both familiar and wonderfully new.

It's refreshing to make it to the smaller booths and see what developers outside of the US think of PAX East, and how their backgrounds affect the ways they approach game design.

Bioware brought a lot more planets, combat, exploration and mechanics to the table this time around, but more isn't always better. There may be no stronger case for keeping things simple than Mass Effect Andromeda.

Loot Rascals, the new turn-based rogue-like from Hollow Ponds, walks that wonderful line between evoking what you love and know while also forging a path all its own.

Nier: Automata is a kickin' rad action game that's also a twin-stick shoot-’em-up and a 2.5D platformer and role-playing game, and anything else it might need to be at any given moment.