Backyard Baseball

Play it on: Steam, October 10
Current goal: Win without using the aluminum bat

The game that single-handedly kept me and my sister from losing our minds in childhood returns. Backyard Baseball ‘97 is releasing on Steam on October 10, but I’ve got an advanced copy, and boy, oh boy, am I just marinating in nostalgia. Sure, the ceaselessly repeated lines from the cast of kids playing pickup baseball get old real fast, and there are some interesting characterizations that are a clear reminder of how things were in the late ‘90s, but it’s an absolute blast playing BB ‘97 again.

The satisfying smack of the bat when you successfully hit one of the zany special pitches (like an actually wet spitball, a wild zig-zagging hurl, or a slow ball that temporarily freezes into an ice cube over the plate), the chaos that ensues when the fielders smack into each other when trying to make a play, the legend that is Pablo Sanchez—Backyard Baseball is still a total delight. — Alyssa Mercante