The mechanical structure is quite repetitive, but this ghost hunting adventure in a haunted mansion looks and sounds just great. A decent experience throughout, but no stroke of genius like Super Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild.

The motion recognition works well, the choreographies are as varied as they are challenging, plus you can import the predecessors' tracks (for a small fee). And even this year Harmonix moved forward in terms of party-play there is still lots of room for improvement in this area. Four players simultaneously anyone?

The launcher aside A Realm Reborn is a technically sound port that is not plagued by the PlaySation 3’s initial problems.

This is an excellent action adventure game design. At its best, it is full of surprises, dynamic battles and logic puzzles. Once you enter the haunted house you don’t want to check out until the last ghost is caught.

Strengthening boss battles, endless customization options and excellent gameplay make Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon a successful overall package for mech fans.

JRPG veterans will enjoy the updated and enhanced, yet still deeply in old-school-virtues rooted presentation and mechanics. This is a labor of love - and it shows.

There are many rogue-likes out there. Returnal is one of the best - and the first on a AAA-level. Have fun and don’t quit – it is worth it!

While Injustice 2 and Tekken 7 challenge each other for the title of modern beat-em-up king, Arc System Works focuses on what they can do best: Deliver a retro-infused slugfest with top notch balancing and one of the most intriguing audiovisual designs in a fighting game yet.

Charming twinstick-action with precise controls and a plethora of interesting ideas.

The driving physics still are a dream and there is plenty of content, while the visuals are top notch. But the inclusion of price boxes, the weak AI and the missing penalty system for road rowdies are unforgivable.

While the netcode needs to be improved, offline kombatants will find plenty to do and can enjoy one of the best story modes in beat-em-up history. Dear or Alive? Tekken? Street Fighter? Finish Them!

Finally: A season, where Sports Interactive invested more time in revamping whole systems instead of just finetuning. The result is the best franchise entry in years. If you are a soccer fanatic urging to find out what it is like to coach a team, this is your dream come true.

Tricky Lemmings-style puzzle mix with lots of cool game and design ideas.

Call me an adventure romantic, call me crazy, but I love Day of the Tentacle and still think it is one of the best adventures ever made. Modernized in exactly the right spots and with an added developer commentary and alternative controls this is a masterpiece with beautifully crafted puzzles.

Welcome to the club of exceptional world designers, CD Projekt RED! Night City is the visually most impressive city you’ll find in a game. But most importantly, story, characters and even the side missions rock hard until deep in the night. Dive in. Enjoy.

There it is, the first game that runs exclusively on Nintendo's improved 3D hardware. And five years after the original release this is still a grand epic roleplaying experience. But the fascination that the original could spark for its premiere is not there – also thanks to technical shortcomings that I didn’t expect on the new system.

For years, offroad fans are screaming for a return from Codemasters to classic rally – as well as for a modern successor to Richard Burns Rally. And this delivers on both ends. The career could be more polished and less grind, though.

It’s nice to see Sonic back on track: Mania manages to capture the franchise core better than Segas last tries like Sonic Boom. There are some shortcomings here but if you can look past them, you will get a decent comeback from the speedy hedgehog.

Twilight Princess is a timeless gem proving that intelligent design beats polygon power any day. This was and still is one of the best action-adventures out there.

A clever puzzler that sort of plays like the swinging counterpart to TIS-100.

F1 2021 captures the fascination ‘motorsport’ brilliantly and offers a lot with the story-mode, co-op career and revamped driving physics. But the brash Podium Pass as prime example for annoying in-app-purchases steadily continues to hamper the motivation.

This is a stunner. The merger of Crypt of the NecroDancer and Legend of Zelda is a blast to play (as was to be expected) and looks like it jumped straight from the SNES into this era.

I still think that Monster Hunter belongs on a big screen. Having said that, even without a lot of innovation and relying on well-known mechanics this hunt still manages to entertain.

Top optics, the cutest animations that exist and largely well thought-out gameplay make the turn-based strategy game a treat - for young and old players alike.

This might be the surprise hit of the year. Combining intriguing puzzles and an interesting story you’ll find that your brain will be as challenged as your skills.

This is what modern city building should look like. There are small annoying flaws in terms of traffic infrastructure (roundabouts, pathfinding) and also the difficulty level is very forgiving. But none of it is critical and will keep you from playing. Where SimCity and Cities XXL failed, Cities Skylines passes with flying colours.

With its gorgeous track design, the fantastic driving mechanics and the uncompromising gameplay this is the place to go for all rally enthusiasts.

Even though you can’t import your own music or create your own levels like on the PC this mix of dungeon crawler and rhythm game still is an extraordinary experience.