Grounded is an impressive entry in the survival game genre and one where the setting of being tiny in a suburban backyard amplifies its strengths as well as the stuff that we’ve all seen before in other titles. There’s just something fulfilling about hacking away at a thistle stem and using the falling debris to craft arrows - and then using said arrows to take out fireflies at night and then using those materials to create a makeshift mining helmet equipped with a torch. Even though the default settings feel overly punishing, and grind-y in terms of crafting, Obsidian does let you make your own rules - which for any time spent playing games in a backyard setting, is a definite plus.

Make no mistake Dirt Rally 2.0 is a hardcore rally simulator, and as such, may not appeal to all racing fans. Most racing games I usually drive without any assists (well, not the original Project Cars), but for some of the cars (looking at you Porsche) throughout their Rally events, I found it necessary to dial the stability and traction control to max in order to simply finish, never mind placing first. Thankfully the Rallycross events, while fairly long due to the extensive qualifying rounds, offer an almost separate game to those of us who prefer to fling their rally-spec cars around a tight track, lap after lap after lap.

When the last punch gets thrown, Street Fighter V Champion Edition isn't a perfect KO. What's here really should have been the baseline launch quality way back in 2016. That said, if you've been standing back on the sidelines of this fight up until now (possibly as you awkwardly punch the air in a looped animation), know that you can confidently leap in and experience a damned good street fight.

Expanded and refined, the addition of real-time ray-tracing adds a warmth and life to the experience in ways that only light can. And sure it’s making the little bits of plastic in the little plastic world look real, but it’s doing so much more. Like sunlight pouring through a window onto countless pieces of Lego on a floor, it gives vision to a world of endless creativity. At its best LEGO Builder’s Journey is very much that, all wrapped up in a short, sweet, and charming tale befitting of the source material.

What you get in the end with Sparks of Hope is a lengthy Switch outing full of challenge and the ability to craft a game style that suits you. There’s lots of room to experiment with all of the micro on offer, but it’s conversely not a requirement you do. It does take itself a bit too seriously (to wit: Edge, the emo Rabbid once bad now turned good), but you can skip a lot of this and just get on with business, which is fun, engaging, modular and deep when you want it to be, and stunningly presented. If you’re a Nintendo Switch owner, this is a no-brainer and will hold you in good stead for the rest of the year, and then some. For everyone else, this isn’t quite go out and grab a Switch for, though if you were to package it up with the first two games, the recommendation quickly switches. Either way this is a fun romp in the Mario universe with Rabbids again, I just wish they never learned to talk.

When Sony released the PSVR with the PlayStation Worlds teaser experience, every gamer worth their salt gravitated to the London Heist mini-game. Blood & Truth takes that short yet fantastic proof of concept and fleshes it right out into a showcase that's well worth a buy for any PSVR adopter. While I don't think this dethrones Resident Evil VII as the king of PSVR experiences, Blood & Truth is very much like one of my loved ones when I have the headset on – within striking distance.

The world is full of activities and things to do, but they’re super-checklist heavy, and don’t flesh the world out enough. You can knock the experience over in about half the time of the original and while you unlock requisite NG+s and the like, you’re kind of left hanging. Upside down. Like a spider, man.

An experience filled with interesting characters, great writing, and genuine love for the source material and themes.

Dying Light 2 Stay Human’s greatest achievement is its freedom of movement, and the playground Techland has designed for you to best leverage that is a triumph of what feels like infinite proportions. At its most fundamental core, at the headiest tine of it all, the game’s promise of an open-world with zombies and near limitless freerunning opportunities is delivered to the letter. Unfortunately there’s much around those three pillars that simply isn’t delivered to the degree it’s obvious the studio would have liked. Whether it’s in performance, pacing or overall balance, across every system Dying Light 2 has cracks in its seams.

Outside of the story, exploration, and puzzles, combat can play an equally big part in the overall story. But underneath the shiny new visuals, Outcast remains pretty much the same. Which means controls and combat that was fine if a little clumsy in 1999 is even more so today. But just like then, it’s quickly overlooked for what is an adventure quite unlike any other. An impressively realised world filled with character, moments of sheer triumph, and charm. Outcast: Second Contact is well worth a look for both fans and newcomers alike.

This is a solid game built off an old experience that brings videogame horror to the visual contemporary. It can be frustrating and grinding at times, but this is how games were designed and played back in the day. We just may have come too far for a presentation of this calibre to be tied to game-design so long lost. Plenty of value if you’re a survival-horror/horror fan, or just a Resident Evil fan, but for mine -- a brand new experience would have been more welcome.

As with any good tactical game, the system takes a few turns to get the hang of, with new strategic moves being learnt even after your umpteenth battle.

There’s a touching, melancholy, and ultimately heart-warming story at the heart of Stray, one that plays into the immediately lovable (and somewhat timeless) nature of cats.

Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate throws story out the window and trades it for a huge amount of monsters and content. In a way it feels like a send off, of the old Monster Hunter before we get a true version built for the Switch - from the ground up.

With a shift away from clear-cut good and bad, Spec Ops challenges the sympathetic grey-matter with highlighted gaps between 'killing machine' and morality lessened as you tread "the line".

Ratchet and Clank Q-Force proves that after ten years, there is still life in the old Lombax yet that is worthy of consideration – if only there were more mission objectives and levels to enjoy.

The Unfinished Swan is entirely satisfied with being extremely interesting and lovely, rather than being the sort of larger, more crucial experience it occasionally seems like it might turn into. Its greatest ambitions are met with just enough enthusiasm and creativity to assure a fantastic experience, though, one worth pondering on just as much as it's worth playing.

The forgettable story is forgiven when the package of fast, furious and fun driving is brought back to save the series from obscurity. Reflections, you are given a pass for Driv3r, this one's a keeper.

Bloodborne is, overall, one of the best games I've ever played. There's no small amount of genius involved in taking a winning formula and skewing it into something which is similar but distinct in a way which forces players to relearn a game system they already fundamentally understand.

This blueprint is still fun, don’t get me wrong, but if anything New Dawn represents more of a sunset on an old design sheet. Might be time to drop a figurative nuclear bomb on Far Cry as we know it right now, in an effort to rebuild, from the ground up; something new and contemporary for the brave new world ahead of us. Fuel, after all, will be a thing of the past soon enough.

Even though there are several weapons to unlock and find along the way, a lot of them feel undercooked. Plus, some of the boss mechanics lean a little too heavily on the side of increasingly more difficult patterns to learn. That being said, it’s still worth checking out. Immortal Redneck is the sort of game that seemingly comes out of nowhere, where initial curiosity leads to hours of fun. For fans of old school shooters and the rouge-lite setup of games like Rogue Legacy then it’s well worth equipping Grandpa’s Blunderbuss and venturing into a pyramid filled with adorable but dangerous snakes and flying skulls.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is ultimately a visual showcase for the PlayStation 5, a thrilling dimension-hopping adventure, and a next-gen experience that feels like it could only exist - in this form - right now. In an age where realistic visuals, that is real-world settings and characters with proportional features to our own, are often the barometer for fidelity, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart reminds us that a heightened animated or cartoon-like look can offer a greater sense of immersion and believability than just about anything else.

When things go right and you’re walking out the vault with half a million in unmarked currency, not a cop in sight, Payday 2 is one of the most satisfying co-op games of all time. Yet even when your plans explode in a mess of buckshot and tear gas, it delivers a level of co-op excitement that is hard to find.

It’s not all seamless, exactly how it’s blend of home-base to expedition works takes a while to become apparent – leading to some confusion. The combat too and dashing about is a little imprecise (even when using a d-pad) which can lead to some frustrating boss encounters. In the end, through brevity, variety, and focus, Olija is a rewarding slice of action, contemplative fiction, with great action-adventure design.

The Enemy Within lets you shape and navigate your way through not only an entire relationship, that being the one with John Doe, but also in the direction and creation of The Joker. When you factor in that the Joker is perhaps almost as iconic as Batman, that Telltale was able to execute this progression at all, let alone imbue it with emotional weight – makes The Enemy Within essential for fans of the caped crusader.

We can hope that next season, EA Canada continues to iterate, and strikes a balance between footballing glamour and realizing the beauty and passion of mid-table obscurity, because all football fans deserve the chance to experience a real simulation of the game we love.

Shortcomings found in the sometimes-clunky writing and overly scripted emotional moments can feel unearned or sloppy. But the spirit and charm found in the surprise-hit Life is Strange is certainly here in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

As an entire experience there is a lot on offer, and the game encourages multiple playthroughs with a number of difficulty settings, Mercenaries, Treasures and more to find and unlock. I wasn’t wholly sold on werewolves and vampires and fairytale zombies initially, but as I progressed through the game, my inner cryptozoologist emerged and I just left all scepticism at the gate and enjoyed the game for what it is: more outlandish and out there, is more better.