( $59.99 for standard edition, $6.99 for individual DLC characters Steam, PlayStation 4&5) Hitman 3 You’ll never understand a single thing about Guilty Gear, but you’ll enjoy going head-to-head against friends and online strangers in Strive. Every head-to-head match is an explosive visual spectacle, set to a driving metal soundtrack from one of the best composers in the business today. It’s the rare video game where I don’t recommend you touch the story mode, as you’ll just end up with more questions than answers.įortunately, the gameplay is there, and Strive is one of the most accessible games in the series. Guilty Gear is a delirious album cover of a franchise, where every character is made up of a random assortment of deep-cut rock and heavy metal references that were reworked into sensibility years later, if at all. The Japanese developer Arc System Works is well-known for making graphically amazing fighting games ( DragonBall FighterZ, Granblue Fantasy Versus) with storylines that baffle even the most devoted fans. However, physical Switch games ship on SD cards that are about the size of a quarter (below). When in doubt, get something with Mario on the cover and you’ll probably be okay. To parents with a Switch in the house, or anyone who’s buying Switch games for kids: there are a lot of great kid-friendly releases for the system.

Here’s some of what I feel comfortable endorsing, if you’re looking to put some software under the tree. Even the games I liked in 2021 felt a little rushed I don’t think I’ve ever qualified as many recommendations as I have this year. That doesn’t mean it was a bad year, but it’s one with fewer obvious peaks and valleys. Many major projects got delayed repeatedly, pulled for a rework, or canceled entirely others managed to get to release, but had obvious content cuts or didn’t quite feel complete. Because games usually take at least a couple of years to make, the various workflow disruptions from 2020’s pandemic lockdowns only began to have a significant impact this year.

Northwest Women VC & Angel Investor ListĢ021 has been a weird time for the video game industry.

Geeks Gift Guide 2021 – sponsored by Seattle Bank.

2025 Podcast – sponsored by Northern Trust.

Geek Real Estate by Realogics Sotheby’s.

Junior Geek of the Month presented by Northern Trust.

Health Tech Podcast presented by Premera.

Geek Life presented by First Tech Federal Credit Union.

Startups presented by Madrona Venture Group.

Man of the house game guide