A year ago on PlayStation 4 this was a surprise hit. The simple but thought-through concept still works, though and makes this exhilarating cocktail of dungeon crawler, dualstick-action and bullet hell blast.

I overlooked the franchise for too long, as I am glad that this year I ventured into the Major League ballparks. This is a mode-filled, very entertaining baseball experience that is not quite perfect yet, but nonetheless will eat your time away.

Good idea, tenacious execution. In theory the snaky movement concept with its fluid motions and climbing is a neat addition to platforming, but in the end everything is a tad too sluggish.

Classic Lego’ish action adventure in an open world with bucket loads of Zucker/Abrahams style of humour and the coop mode that was dearly missed in the Wii U original. Unfortunately the Switch version suffers from technical shortcomings like frame rate issues.

The sequel to the rather disappointing Toukiden at its core is a motivating demon hunt with an entertaining story and an open world, that shows a few visuals deficits.

While the user comfort within these exceptionally bizarre anime thrillers is reduced due to lack of touch functionality, technically you can expect faster loading times and crisp visuals.

About a year ago on PC this was one of the most ambitious time management games of the time – and it still is on console. With lots of humour, a fairly deep and tactical turn based fight management, a whodunit for good measure and an inspired 16-bit-retro-fell to it, Punch Club will draw you in. But within all the movie quotes and references you’ll also find a great amount of grind.

It sounds more promising than it really is. With all due respect to the solo development effort of Denis Galanin the picture puzzles become redundant after a while – especially since they are almost void of Kafka’esque elements.

The fight against the robots is not as intense as Superhot VR – but the highscore hunt is catered remarkably well to suit VR needs and a technical masterpiece with accurate roomscale tracking. Content is limited, though.

I like the theme. I like the narrative and I think it is an interesting approach to combine storytelling and management. It is in desperate need of variety, though.

With its focus on lackluster hack&slay fights and an interesting but totally underutilized narrative Gladiolus’ solo adventure doesn’t seem to fit into the big FF15 picture.

Clever puzzlemix based on a fictitious programming language.

This is a beautiful expansion, visually spectacular and challenging – on par with Bloodborne’s “The Old Hunters”.

Even with all the visual enhancements like 60 frames you can feel the age, although the timeless art design still works its magic. But that aside this is an impressive package of action roleplaying classics.

Colorful mix of turn based strategy and card organizing with a steep learning curve, a high challenge level and the typical rogue-like elements, that degrade the motivation over time.

This is like your first love rekindled – if you are fan of classic adventures. Filled to the rim with references to old masterpieces from LucasArts while sporting old-school qualities like beautifully written dialogue, quirky characters and bucket-loads of humour this is on par with the likes of Maniac Mansion, Zak McCracken etc.

This might not be the system seller that Oculus is hoping for, since music games still basically are a niche market. But nonetheless this is a perfect example how known concepts can be enhanced and become more immersive. This is Harmonix’ best rhythm extravaganza since Fantasia: Music Evolved.

This hack & slay doesn’t show any major flaws, but it also doesn’t excel at anything. Solid entertainment if you’re finished already with Van Helsing and need another helping of blood, guts and loot.

For the 20th anniversary of their role-playing saga, Atlus delivered a true masterpiece. All the elements, big or small or as trivial as they might seem sometimes, are well put together and interconnect in an almost unnoticeable manner. Plus: The presentation is plainly beautiful with a coherent colorful manga/anime art design that is a perfect fit for one of the best JRPGs out there.

It might have more options to adjust the visuals. But it still plays in the second league of open world games while the zombie outbreak lost its bite and Frank West lost his cynical touch, which was replaced by one-liners that would be too corny even for Evil Dead’s Ash Williams.

There are some problems with the procedural world generation. And the UI lacks a sorting function for objects, while the free building is a little awkward. But nonetheless this is a huge creative sandbox somewhere between No Man’s Sky and Minecraft.

Solid expansion that replaces the dynamic battles with tenacious fights in the trenches.

Flatout 4 is back on track. It takes a while to get into, but once you’re hooked to this arcade racer, you’ll look past its loose controls and the AI flaws.

The story premise is interesting, but basically everything else about this game isn’t. It could have been a decent coop action adventure, but it lacks finesse on absolutely every level.

Kona is an atmospheric, surprisingly varied modern adventure, mixing point&click tradition with survival suspense and the exploration aspect of recent game novels..

Shovel Knight is the love child of the challenge level of Mega Man and the mystic design of classics like Gargoyle`s Quest – a captivating retro platformer that will separate the men from the boys.

The creator of survival horror delivers a very unique blend of stealth-action and surreal adventure. It is not as groundbreaking as the original Alone in the Dark, but still deserves a look.

Gust opened the world, but it still lacks a more interesting story and better visuals.