Expanded mission choice, more cohesive movement options, a wide variety of customisation options all set in an immersive world combine to promote the exploration every player possibility. And not to say it’s without its faults, as noted with some minor, yet impactful, movement snags and a dated combat system.

The game looks great and plays extremely intuitively, whether you stay with the buttons or go to the new right stick mechanics.

Bowser's Fury has the effect of pushing the pretty good time that is Super Mario 3D World into the background - it's that good. So much so that a better title for this release would have been Bowser’s Fury + Super Mario 3D World.

As a newly unique offering from Ubisoft, Immortals Fenyx Rising is something to savour. Yeah, it’s the publisher's third massive open-world release in the space of three months but what you get here is charming and refreshing to a fault. A wonderfully realised journey into myth and legend where everything fits as neatly as a chest-plate forged in the fires of Hephaistos’s Great Forge. The story, the combat, the puzzles, the exploration, the challenge, the Creed, the Zelda. The Fenyx.

When it comes to Civilization, there’s so much going on and so many variables in play that it could never be perfect. Instead, what you can hope for is a complex but easy to follow game of Civ that you’d gladly playthrough again. One that doesn’t feel broken or at odds with what it’s trying to do. Civilization VI: Rise and Fall hits that sweet spot, with deep and rewarding new features that provide a more cohesive and memorable experience than the base game. Where no path feels too detrimental, whilst highlighting self-evident things like the power of religion and a well-stocked army. From the new Golden Ages through to the Governors and expanded Districts, if you’ve ever been a fan of the series – now’s the time to jump back in.

The Siege of Paris is better than Wrath of the Druids, but fails to wholly expand upon the base game. It’s introduced elements feel like feelers, rather than complete implementation of new systems, and it actually could have been longer. Moreover, neither of the game’s key expansions feel like they impact Ravensthorpe or indeed, even England, enough given how much effort and investment is involved in them. It might be wishful think, but in all we’re looking at a series that still relies too heavily on repetitive gameplay loops and lacks dynamism and game-world feedback on your conquest of it. Still, after having spoken to the team at Ubisoft Montreal in-depth about all things Valhalla, we’re optimistic about the extended future of Valhalla and potential new content, and if not here, then what everything will mean in Infinity.

As a remake, I think Resident Evil 4 Remake kind of falls flat. As a game with shiny new visuals, a more cohesive on-brand story and a darker tone, that also doesn’t change much of what made it brilliant in the first place… well that’s the thing, it’s awesome. How you take that will fall directly into the columns of whether you wanted fundamental change, a basic Remaster (which is what I think this ultimately is), or something entirely new. For the newcomers, you’ll love this and it is an absolute buy. BUT. If you’re into the root of all things; how things started; what came before; genesis and that type of thing, I honestly think I’d recommend giving one of any number of the original re-releases or remasters a go. And if you don't first, and I get that because ‘next-gen’ and all, do yourself a favour and go and play the OG immediately after.

Crysis 3 comes so close to greatness that it’s a tragedy that it didn’t make it. If the next game focuses a little more on mood-setting moments where the player – gasp – has no way to kill anything at all, then it’ll be the perfect sci-fi shooter.

Ambiguity is not for everyone, nor is the simple pleasure of walking through a gorgeous sci-fi vista. Replace a few words here and there and that statement that could apply to just about any genre, or style of game. Planet Alpha may not quite have the mechanics to match the sheer variety and wonder of its beauty, but close-enough means that it’s one of the most surprising and wonderful slices of sci-fi we’ve seen this year.

Fury Unleashed is a fantastic distraction title that may have released in the right real-world window while we all struggle with the staying at home setup of 2020. It’s also an easy game to just pick up and play with mechanics easy enough to master, but packed with a layer of challenge that is subtle and rewarding. Especially on the Hard difficulty level. Rogues aren’t usually my bag, and I’ve never been a massive fan of procedurally-generated worlds, but the “Lite” side of those things in Fury Unleashed make it a gem of a game to sink your teeth into.

Spot rusting aside, Chivalry II's got heart, humour and has polished those combat fundamentals to a high sheen. Providing the devs can hammer out some of the launch day dents quickly, this knight's tale could become the surprise hit of 2021. Give it a shot. Because it's the attacks you don't see coming that'll bowl you over the hardest.

Even though there’s not much going on mechanically that we haven’t seen before, one look or glance at GRIS and you'll feel the opposite – it is something you haven’t seen before. Like a beautiful and minimal watercolour painting or an evocative piece of album art come to life - GRIS is short, sweet, and often inspiring.

The Jersey Shore of videogames: fake, stupid, garish and endlessly amusing in a terrible and compulsive way. You'll hate yourself for loving it, but it won't stop you from coming back for more.

The core experience you're getting here is a great adaptation of Minecraft for the console market, one that plays to the strengths of the format it finds itself on. After five days of play, it's safe to say that this is the version I'll be sticking with for now.

It’s a testament to the game’s quality that a second play-through less than a year after the original release still felt fun, fresh, and exciting. Even without the DLC packs, it’s great that we get to play Wolfenstein II on the Switch - and just like with DOOM this is a wonderful addition to the Switch family.

There's a lot more to Old World than the glib description of "Civ meets Crusader Kings" can convey. Yet it succeeds because it feels like a genuine meeting between the two, a deeply considered merger that applies the strengths of both games to cover their weaknesses. It doesn't feel like you're playing Civ, but with some Crusader Kings characters butting in every now and again with some silly tale or grievance. It feels like you're playing Civ, but with some Crusader Kings characters who grow alongside you, whose relationships to you and each other actually matter, and who prove that the great stories of empires aren't about production rates per turn--they're about the people who lived through them. And their pet monkeys.

I am thoroughly enjoying this new expansion for World of Warcraft. From the new additions to the enemy tagging system, to the way the new zones dynamically adapt to the player's level, and the way that the dungeon instancing system can now select players anywhere from Level 98 to 110 to fill a group, makes this new expansion one of the most player friendly experiences in WoW yet.

Pokémon Conquest is the best Pokémon spin-off I've played since the heady days of Pokémon Snap and Pinball, and it's deeper than either of those games by a wide margin.

In the end, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is a confident and very welcome step forward for the Borderlands series. It embraces its action-RPG roots in ways that feel fresh and familiar, and does so without being a detriment to the core concept of being an experience with a bazillion crazy guns to equip and have fun with. But in keeping a lot of the core of the series, in terms of mechanics and UI, and even the number of gun types (sniper-rifles could have been removed entirely), there’s just enough holding it back in a place where it, well, borders on brilliance.

Super Mario 3D Land isn't quite on par with many of the forefathers it tries to emulate. It lacks Galaxy's endless wow-factor, 64's commitment to being grand and impressive, and the general near-perfection of Super Mario Bros 3's gameplay philosophy. But it's still a damn fine bit of jumping action, and one of the 3DS' very best games.

Massive, meandering and full of menace, Dragon's Dogma ambushes you from the darkness and attempts to remove your still-beating heart. Are you going to let it?

Slightly Mad Studios has created easily the best console simulation racer of all time here, a testament to their love for cars and a beautiful reminder of why racing games appeal to people.

Shadow Warrior 3 left me wanting more on the account of the relatively short campaign being the entirety of the experience. But there’s something to be said about that. A repetitive shooter that structurally doesn’t change over the course of several hours yet doesn’t grow old or feel tired. A gem of a first-person shooter, an interactive rollercoaster, and one hell of a good time. So much so it’ll have you lining up to go again.

FIFA 21 is great. The small refinements make the biggest impressions this year, and I’m excited to see how the next-gen versions pan out. It’s finally good to be a Career Mode player again, and I just hope that over the coming years we see a bigger focus on Volta and less on pushing players into paying for FUT coins.

What makes this so immersive is the extraordinary animation and artwork. Everything feels alive, from the pulsating creatures that line the walls, to the slick and swift movement of the boss creatures.

Portable Skyrim, the reason some us bought into the whole Switch concept to begin with. And with so much content, I’d forgotten just how rich and detailed the world of Skyrim could be. Perfect for making even a long commute feel like a breeze.

A richly detailed world that has been unmistakably crafted with love and is well worth its 1200 MP price tag. It exudes all the addictive familiarity of an every-man action-RPG, but it's presented in such a clever, charming and original way as to raise it to must-play material.

This year’s FIFA sees a variety of notable changes to the formula, and makes for one of the better iterations of the series in quite some time. While most changes aren’t necessarily game changing, the introduction of the UEFA Champions League and Europa League licences are most certainly going to change the landscape of the series for some time to come. And while The Journey is fairly disappointing and FUT continues to dominate micro-transaction discussions, FIFA 19 is still an excellent package for football fans, and is well worth giving a crack.