Dominic Tarason

Infernal A high-powered mutant freak of an FPS that defies all reason.

Sonorous Songs of Silence trades some 4X grit for auto-battling, comprehensible cards and impeccable style.

Return of the king The early access build promises spectacular boss battles and a massive endgame.

Occupied A fistful of mods for Half-Life 2’s 20th anniversary, for Free Men and Women of all stripes.

Action replay Put lives on the (time)line.

Top 100 Some games contain multitudes (of mods) that elevate them from great to timeless.

Dream Big Time for some sky-surfing.

The Descent Lorn’s Lure is a surprisingly scary and brutally tough cyber-dungeon mountaineering trip.

Doot 3 Looking back at the unloved Doom 3 with decades of hindsight.

Big Chillin The road-trip adventure makes its negative space the star of the show.

HANDS-ON The studio behind Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt is making an accessible extraction shooter, and the first gameplay is here.

Stainless Legacy of Rust, included in the new Doom + Doom 2 bundle, is just as good as MachineGames' modern Quake expansions.

Meat Locker Horror and flesh await, along with hundreds of secrets and 5,200 enemies.

Hot ticket So many incredible under-the-radar indies have come out this year, from roguelikes to experimental horror to "UI strategy hell," we had trouble keeping the list to just 20.