THE BEST Games

This indie title from Hello Games (No Man’s Sky) follows the story of lost ember who finds itself lost in a mysterious place. It’s up to players to guide the poor little guy through a series of challenging puzzles on its quest for home. Due Summer 2020 on multiple platforms.

The next-gen console wars are about to begin, and Microsoft is touting the hardware capabilities of the Xbox Series X. The company allowed a handful of folks to go hands-on with the machine, including tech vlogger Austin Evans, who gives us our best look yet at the internals and tech powering the new game system.

After pushing his CPU and RAM to the limit with a mega-fireworks display in the physics-based sim game Planet Coaster, Let’s Game It Out decided he was going to build himself a terrifying virtual theme park, designed exclusively to torture its oblivious visitors in hilarious ways.

This physics-based moving sim game asks players to move furniture around the town of Packmore, as you live your life as a newly-certified Furniture Arrangement & Relocation Technician. It’s packed with hilarious and tricky levels, and looks even more fun in co-op mode. Drops 4/28/2020 on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.

Nintendo celebrates the launch of its relaxing new puzzle game for the Switch, in which you must carefully follow a series of recipes to create a perfectly presented bento box meal for a family of cats. It’s just the sort of game we need to take our minds off the craziness around us in the world these days.

Musician Sam Griffin performs an acoustic classical guitar cover of the tricky Overworld theme from Super Mario Bros. 2, and says its “basically the hardest thing” he’s ever played. If you play guitar and think you’re up to the challenge, you can grab the tabs as a Patreon supporter.

“Think ‘the floor is lava,’ just with shadows that absorb organic material.” The first-person puzzle game Lightmatter certainly owes a debt to games like Portal, but it’s also unique in its gameplay. The main idea? You must always remain in the light, as the shadows will instantly destroy you. Save 20% in The Awesomer Shop.

River Horse and writer Ben “Questing Beast” Milton present an adventure game inspired by Jim Henson’s classic fantasy movie, Labyrinth. The game book plays out over 100+ scenes, and includes both a basic rule set for beginners, or can be played with your favorite RPG rules. Ben has an in-depth look at the game here.

’90s kids might remember a little video game called Full Throttle. Directors Rick & Mario and animation studio Red Knuckles created this awesome re-imagining of Tim Schafer’s classic point-and-click adventure – or at least a very small piece of it. This makes us crave a movie version of Ben and Maureen’s wild motorcycle journey.

The Arcade Guys build reasonably-priced video game machines with a small footprint. They come with Sanwa arcade controls, a Raspberry PI B Plus computer, 32″ display, LED lights, stereo speakers and amplifier, and pre-loaded with thousands of classic games from arcade and home systems. Also available in a 4-player model.

The 8-Bit Big Band takes on a track from the 16-bit era, with an appropriately New Jack Swing interpretation of the music from Sonic the Hedgehog’s notoriously tricky Spring Yard Zone level. The only thing it’s missing are the sounds of the bouncy bumpers and gold rings being collected.

“I can hear my GPU screaming in front of this.” That’s what one commenter had to say about this 4K demo footage from Mundfish’s long-awaited action RPG/FPS, Atomic Heart. We couldn’t help but think of classics like Half-Life 2 and BioShock when we watched this, and we’re hoping the actual game lives up to those benchmarks.

With games like Mortal Kombat, NBA JAM, NARC, and Smash TV to their credit, Chicago’s Midway Games was the bad boy of 1990s arcade gaming. The documentary Insert Coin delves into the story of this incredible game factory, and the creative designers and programmers behind the scenes.

YouTuber Swarki takes us on a trip back through the history of console gaming with a compilation of startup screens and sounds from video game systems from the last 40+ years. Along the way you’ll be treated to classics like the original PlayStation and Xbox, along with rarities like the Halcyon and the Video Challenger.

(PG-13: Language) The Sony PS4 game Dreams lets players create their own games from scratch. But the latest from the creator of LittleBigPlanet might not have enough guard rails to keep people from designing complete garbage. At least that’s what Dunkey shows us in his demo of some user-submitted content.

(PG-13: Language) From primitive games like Pong to today’s biggest shooters and RPGs, there’s a point at which game designers decide how their worlds will be structured. Videogamedunkey explores how gameplay dynamics and rules are born, and are ultimately refined.

ETA Prime shows off an upcoming tabletop gaming system that plays digital pinball games like Zen Pinball and Pinball Arcade. It runs on Android, and has a 24″ full HD display that’s angled properly for gameplay. The machine will come in two versions with different levels of processing capability, and can also connect to a PC. Drops 3/2020.

An impressive looking follow-up to the off-roading simulation game MudRunner. In SnowRunner, you’ll hit the most extreme terrain in varying weather conditions, through massive, open environments. You can drive solo, or play with up to four vehicles in co-op multiplayer. The game hits PS4, Xbox One, and PC on 4/28/2020.

New Wave Toys‘ Replicade sixth-scale arcade machine is a playable miniature replica of the original Street Fighter II: Champion Edition cabinet. It’s got a 3.5″ color screen and working arcade controls. You also get a matching miniature USB fight stick. Save an extra 10% with code LOVE10 (expires 2/14/20).

Prop builder Odin Makes shows off one of his coolest and complex projects yet, a replica of the famed gravity gun from Half-Life 2. He based his design on a 3D digital model, then printed templates to create plastic and foam parts. More than 15 years after the game’s release, it’s still one of our favorite weapons ever.

By applying a tilt-shift photographic effect to scenes from the game, the guys from Red Dead Online Guides transformed the various environments of Red Dead Redemption 2 into miniature versions of themselves. We love how the illusion makes everything from trains to horses look so adorable. More here.

Electronic musician Maro Maro lets his hands fly with an impressive medley of video game music performed on pair of stylophones. He had to tune the rudimentary analog synthesizers to different ranges in order to produce a wider range of notes.

This iOS game asks you to play not one, but four retro 8-bit games simultaneously on screen. There are 30 virtual game cartridges to play (with more to come), and you can earn power-ups to slow down games or earn bonus points. Drops 2/20/20 on the App Store.

Retro gaming fans, 1up your caffeine levels with this fun ceramic mug from Paladone. It features a level from the classic Super Mario Bros., and its handle looks just like the controller from the original Nintendo Entertainment System. Now someone needs to make a playable version.

This quirky platform puzzle game has two interesting constructs: 1) you can only jump twice in each level; and 2) you break one leg each time you jump. Azaan Lambkin’s submission to itch.io’s Finally Finish Something 2020 contest ironically has a bug that keeps some players from seeing the game’s ending.

Writer/Director Zane O’Gwin and Cinematographer Devin Supertramp created a truly impressive fan film from the Zelda universe. As the story unfolds, a battle lures our heroes into a tragic scenario, and Link must carry on into old age alone. Behind the scenes footage here.