Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time is amazing and well worth the wait, and Level-5 bringing it to multiple platforms to experience it in all its whimsy and wonder was an incredibly smart and measured decision. I’d struggle to find anyone who wouldn’t gel with how effortlessly endearing it is, with its vibrant world and charm, dopamine-providing levelling system, a bounty of activities and things to see and do. The side-games that feel like their own games, whether that’s exploring a Breath of the Wild-like open world or creating a cute and cozy village of locals à la Animal Crossing, are substantial and meaty, adding to the fun and delight that awaits around every corner. Even the most monotonous task of chopping down a tree is suddenly super exciting. The Fantasy Life series, and The Girl Who Steals Time, are just that magical and effective in doing so. This is a level up for Level-5. Job complete.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma perfectly blends the farming and combat experience with Japanese influences. The result is an immersive cultural experience that you don’t want to put down. You actually feel like you are rebuilding villages and restoring prosperity to the land instead of just being a landowner. While it isn’t perfect despite several improvements to the formula, it nevertheless delivers a fun experience that you won’t soon forget.

In its 10-15 hour runtime, Deliver At All Costs delivers (haha) a short and sweet package of iconic video game driving nonsense. The driving mechanics handle well enough to feel satisfying to play, while also being unwieldy enough to turn you into the worst road menace of the 1950s. Focused on feeding you laughs every chapter through its gameplay and juxtaposed seriously dramatic storyline, reckless endangerment has never been so much fun.

Elden Ring Nightreign is a faster, roguelike remix of the Souls formula that swaps deep exploration for co-op urgency. Combat is more agile, pacing is relentless, and boss fights thrive on teamwork. Still, not every change lands. FromSoftware’s familiar connection issues can spoil a good run, the storytelling lacks expected depth, and the Limveld map may be mastered very quickly. Overall, Nightreign delivers exciting high-speed battles and rewarding experimentation. It’s a bold spinoff that breaks the rules and mostly gets away with it.

While the core gameplay loop of Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo feels dated, there’s a lot to enjoy in the retro-inspired experience that Pocket Trap have crafted. The level design and puzzles, badge and upgrade system, and art design make it worth a look if you’re craving an old-school adventure. There’s a great game in here, but it’s sometimes held back from shining through.

A joyful, unapologetically silly celebration of being different, To a T offers up a chaotic series of adventures that the right player will find absolutely delightful. On top of this, it explores themes of disability inclusion, bullying, and loss in a positive and uniquely accessible way. Despite some moments of tedium and a little too much repetition, To a T is a jolly great time and a perfect treat for younger or cosy gamers.

CraftCraft: Fantasy Merchant Simulator has the bones of a really great game. The delightful, fully voiced characters and the charming, bold art style make the town of Windspell feel like a place you truly want to visit. It’s just unfortunate that the bones don’t have enough meat to carry them through, with messy mechanics and so many bugs that our store might need fumigation. It’s clear there’s a lot of heart and soul behind the world, and the characters are so easy to fall in love with, but it just feels like CraftCraft needed some more time in the forge.

Survive the Fall is a microcosm of the post-apocalypse genre in its most consistent form. All manner of wild and disparate societal annihilations lead invariably to the same familiar people and places. Where the genre offers the potential for the truly unique, absurd and unusual, Survive the Fall is predictable in its competent mechanics and portrayal, but fails to present itself as a stand-out in any field. It is what it is, and that is exactly fine.

PEPPERED: An Existential Platformer has created a world and characters that are so silly and weird that it’s a delight to explore. However, some players may find the replayability tedious and therefore won’t be encouraged to continue to explore once they have died. Clocking in at just a few hours, though, if you love your surreal humour and wacky worlds, I’d give PEPPERED a shot.

Blades of Fire offers some compelling and exciting ideas, particularly with its reverence for weaponcrafting and rewarding forge mechanics. But its love of steel and violence can only take it so far; its combat is enjoyable at first, but wears out its welcome across a lengthy campaign that is filled with too-chatty characters and a world that’s very frustrating to get lost in. Even with those caveats, its eye-catching fantasy world and weapons that pack a punch still have enough charm to see it through. Not every one of its big swings lands, but as they say, “you miss all the shots you don’t take”, and Blades of Fire at least gives the action RPG genre a solid crack with a unique point of view.

JDM: Japanese Drift Master shines in places like the graphics and the cars themselves. Gaming Factory has put a lot of love into this, and it shows. Especially using Polish musicians to fill up their radio stations. There are some issues, though; the story itself doesn’t leave an impact, the difficulty of the AI is inconsistent, and there are some bugs. But it’s all about the drifting, and that’s where it makes up for it. The driving is fluid, and the NPCs can be quite challenging. However, the cars sound amazing, it really sounds like you’re driving a Miata! Fans of Tokyo Drift, Initial D and general drift racing sim fans will have a ball with JDM.

Out of Sight is a short and simple experience that captures the horror of being a child in an unfamiliar and frightening situation. While its well-crafted audio design and second-person perspective distinguish it from other games of the genre, I was never excited by its flat and predictable story, nor its highly repetitive and bland gameplay.

Strange Scaffold have done it again and has made another wonderful romp that is well worth your time, this time adapting the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles name and world. Dispel any doubt: the indie studio’s writing chops and style transfer well to the universe of the team of amphibian martial artists, bringing over so much charm and pizazz from the IP in its first-ever turn-based affair. With plenty of visual and audio flourishes and delights, you’re transported to the franchise’s heyday and better yet, while you’re at it, you’re engaging in some good old-fashioned tactics fun, using the turtle brother’s skillsets to take down wave after wave of thugs. It might not be the most mechanically deep or hardest of the genre, but it’s all worth it to see those lovable crime-fighting teens back in action.

Monster Train 2 is a roguelike deckbuilder par excellence. Its design makes it clear that developer Shiny Shoe has a deep understanding and love of what is so enthralling about this particular subgenre and doubles down. It’s carriage after carriage of big numbers, satisfying combos, dizzying synergies and new tactical possibilities that have kept me tied to the tracks for dozens of hours already, and will likely haul away dozens more in my future.

It's honourable, in a way, to present the Onimusha 2: Samurai’s Destiny remaster mostly unchanged from its original 2002 PS2 version. The visuals have been given a freshen up, and some smart changes – like weapon switching on the fly, auto-save, and more – definitely make for a more playable experience. But the fixed camera angles and dated production values don’t necessarily show Onimusha in the best light, leaving this remaster as a clunky history lesson for newcomers, and a solid throwback for fans.

RoadCraft is a game that will require absolute patience if you want to get the job done, while adding some leeway to speed things up a bit. While game progression is slow, it is part of its charm as these are heavy work vehicles, and they’re not made for speed, thus fitting its theme. The world is very well-detailed and eases you into its mechanics throughout your gameplay. While sometimes repetitive, it compensates with different strategies to complete the task. The beautiful landscapes of your work areas make it forgiving when your vehicle travels through the rough terrain. It’s like you’re doing actual work as seen in real life, thus creating a great simulation game.

The key to any great roguelike is capturing that “just one more run” feeling, and Into the Restless Ruins nails it right on the head. A successful run feels great, and a failed run only pushes you to dive back in and do better. I’m almost glad there’s no mobile port, as my productivity would be in some serious danger. It’s a genuine indie gem that should be in the library of any avid roguelike fan.

A short-and-sweet cyberpunk-noir tale, Neon Hearts City tells its dystopian story simply and effectively. Featuring satisfying adventure gameplay and some excellent voice acting, it paints a pixel world that’s at once futuristic and nostalgic. Despite its short length taking the teeth out of its plot, this is a fun-sized experience that classic point-and-click fans will take delight in.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is still a good game, like the original was all those years ago. The excitement of wandering the open world of Cyrodil is still there, getting into shenanigans with goblins in caves, doing away with the undead coming through Oblivion Gates, and getting into thievery and tomfoolery across the great unknown. There are meaningful changes to how skills work and how to read the world, making it the cleanest and smoothest run through Bethesda’s great RPG yet. However, it is bogged down by the change in art style, where fidelity disappointingly removes any colour or substance that was once found. A blemish on one of the greats. Much like an old car that’s been plodding along a little too long, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered mostly still runs, and a new coat of paint helps some, but don’t be surprised by the sensation of feeling like things are going to fall apart at any moment.

The Precinct is a campy love letter to ’80s cop dramas, blending street-level patrols with high-speed chases in an open world. While it nails the tone with stylish set-pieces, exciting car chases, and a synthy soundtrack, the clunky implementation of mechanics and shallow upgrades hold back its more simulated gameplay. The Precinct may not always follow protocol, but it sure knows how to throw a siren-blaring good time.

The Midnight Walk is undeniably a big stab at both a moody experience and a satisfying puzzler. MoonHood’s debut stumbles a bit at the latter, running into some lacklustre puzzle design and monotony with how scarcely it mixes this up, but it makes up for it in setting. There are a lot of cool, eerie horrors that await on the mountain hike, depicted and animated to unbelievable detail, all the more striking than the last. Backed by enthralling 3D sound design that has you dreading every little footstep of those creepy crawlies, it’s a fairy tale horror adventure that is more than the sum of its parts.

DOOM: The Dark Ages swaps out space-age speed for steel-shod fury, and it works wonders. This isn’t just a prequel, but a ballad sung in blood and fire where every flail swing and shield parry feels like gospel. Sure, the dragon rides and giant Atlan mech missions are very weak, and you might need the horsepower of a car to run it at maximum settings on PC, but when most of the time you’re shredding armies of Hellspawn with a gun that grinds skulls for ammo, who cares? This is the Slayer in his knightly prime. Long live the king of ripping and tearing.

Revenge of the Savage Planet offers cooperative fun in an alien environment worth exploring. A varied gameplay experience propels you around a dynamic world of wonder, amplified by vibrant visuals and punchy audio. Let down somewhat by its comedic tone and unpolished approach, this title falls short of its full potential but still finds ways to surprise and delight along the way.

Empyreal has a great combat system with lots of opportunities to try something new. Hunting for better equipment is exciting, and developing your character is a rewarding feeling. But there’s not much else to do, and the shine wears off quickly. This is also a game that demands a good PC, or you might run into problems. It’s a great game for fans of varied combat and boss rushes, but not much else.

Spirit of the North 2 is a visually stunning open-world adventure that confidently stands apart from its predecessor, featuring an emotionally moving orchestral soundtrack that wraps around the vivid scenery like a loving embrace. Making progress and completing puzzles feels rewarding, and even just exploring the vast environments feels like a reward all the same. The story is engaging and emotional, and it’s easy to grow personally attached to the little fox as they learn just how big their world truly is.

Drop Duchy works exceptionally well as the smoothness of its core loop expertly slides you from one design quirk to the next, layering them until you’re left with a unique gem. With a delightful aesthetic and an expert understanding of how to meld genres and add twists on classic mechanics to create a compelling and original new game, Drop Duchy is a great purchase for fans of any of its many genres, and a must-have if you’re fond of them all.

While Captain Blood’s development is an engaging tale, the same cannot be said for any aspect of the final product. The game fails to capture what made other hack-and-slashers so fun, nor does it provide any notable innovations. Even as just nostalgia bait, Captain Blood always ends up undermining itself thanks to lacklustre combat, a lifeless world and general glitchiness that pollutes the whole experience.

Best Served Cold is a digestif. A perfect palate cleanser to play after a larger more involved experience. Some elements don’t quite compliment one another, and there is certainly work here to improve the recipe. But these characters and world are strong enough to carry those shortcomings. While it isn’t a perfect cocktail, the writing and world elevate a mechanically simple experience into something narratively fulfilling. If you enjoy murder mysteries, and 1920s vibes, pull up a stool at the Nightcap — stay a while, and soak in the ambiance.