A fun puzzler wrapped in music culture and its own well-observed lore, where repetition creeps in, but strong writing, wonderful art, and a curated atmosphere keep Wax Heads spinning.

A game that weaves in Yoko Taro and Fumito Ueda influences, and still feels unique, only the occasional camera friction can dampen Motorslice's brilliance.

A little more forgiving but still just as hostile and relentless, Saros is a worthy companion piece to Returnal and another terrific first-party showcase for PS5. It successfully builds on Housemarque's unique talent for beautiful bullet patterns, creepy tentacles and pulse-pounding action that makes you feel in danger while being the danger at the same time.

An ambitious, visually striking cosmic detective adventure that blends smart scanning mechanics with rewarding puzzles. While it rarely threatens, Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is soaked in immersive detail that even rises above its bugs.

Crimson Desert can feel messy and overstuffed, but it’s also a fascinating, visually impressive, sprawling, and often brilliant sandbox that rewards patience and curiosity in equal measure.

A racing reboot dripping in anime style, with unrelenting (but adjustable) speed and an exhilarating system between speed and combat on the race track. Even with an unevenly paced campaign, Screamer nonetheless succeeds in reigniting action-packed racers I thought had burnt out decades ago.

While it's flawed and limited, Project Songbird is also a personal, distinctive, and engaging horror game that bends familiar ideas to its tune.

A colourful, accessible spin-off that distils the heart of Monster Hunter into a breezy JRPG. Beneath the anime charm lies surprising depth, even if repetition and grind occasionally dull the hunt.

A hand-painted, emotionally rich puzzle-platformer blending cinematic storytelling, inventive puzzles, and a meaningful companion dynamic, Planet of Lana 2 expands on everything loved about the original but no more.

Blending brutal third-person action with intimate first-person horror, resetting the series with stunning visuals, smarter enemies, and bold narrative ambition, Resident Evil Requiem may be familiar, but it's executed with confidence, polish, and genuine dread.

A stylish, tightly focused horror game with bold ideas and striking art direction, Crisol: Theater of Idols may not push every theme far enough, but its cohesion, world design, and confidence impress.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 is the best remake so far in Sega's crime epic. As the entry that excelled at showing a different side to Kiryu, it's been greatly expanded with new, meaningful actions and activities. Even if some of it is familiar and repackaged, it's still full of heart.

Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is a high bar not just for remaking but for reimagining a beloved gaming classic. It feels just as great to play on Switch 2 without compromises, even if this port doesn't fix some of its existing flaws.

This beautifully realised adventure earns every step you take through its hand-drawn world, and makes Metroidvania feel accessible.

Big Hops is one of the most original non-Nintendo 3D platformers you'll play that makes the most of its tongue and veggie-based mechanics, leaping just short of greatness to the genre's highest bar.

A clever retro-inspired adventure with deep, endlessly absorbing combat and a superb story. Octopath Traveler 0's music and charm shine through, even if some poor side-missions and a basic village builder hold it back.

A confident sequel that finally gives the series its own identity, but The Outer Worlds 2 feels like an evolution of ideas rather than something new.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is beautifully made, blisteringly fast and defiantly old-school in its approach to combat and design. No rules are broken or rewritten, but fans and newcomers will find joy in the game's aggressive, approachable gameplay.

Not just Lizardcube's most visually accomplished game to date but a fantastic revival of another long dormant Sega franchise that doesn't stand to toe-to-toe with this summer's other major 2D ninja platformer but even tops it with its stylish and satisfying combo-based combat, killer finishes and Metroidvania-lite upgrades. Shinobi is truly back with a vengeance and it's never looked better.

If you want to drop into the arcades of the 1980s on your Switch, Operation Night Strikers is a collection that demands attention. More than simply letting you replay the games as you remember them, it revitalises that love for snappy, uncomplicated arcade shooters.

The best 2D Ninja Gaiden game that pays homage before surpassing the original as a thoroughly modern pixel art action game, from its gorgeous and gory visuals to a delicious suite of cool mechanics with room for changing up your playstyle, with plenty to keep you coming back. The next 3D title in the franchise this autumn, as well as Sega's own Shinobi, has got its work cut out because the bar has just gotten higher.

A surprisingly fast and aggressive Soulslike with enough creativity to excite, but fundamentally, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers doesn't subvert the genre or offer enough to break free of its inspirations.

With layers upon layers of delightfully executed ideas that also pay tribute to the classics, this isn't just by far the best Switch 2 exclusive but probably the best game you'll play this year. Move over Astro Bot, the top banana is here.

Tracks new and old look gorgeous, items boast high visual impact, and I'm not yet bored of scooping up costumes, but the top level gameplay changes are not easy to ignore. Perhaps my biggest gripes will be addressed in a patch down the track, but for now I'm not sure World is yet ready to replace my party game mainstay or its predecessor, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

If you want to showcase what Switch 2 can do, plug in Fast Fusion and let rip – beautiful, fast and innovative. The only drawback is a lack of online multiplayer.

It’s ambitious, can be occasionally ambiguous, but Blades of Fire is relentlessly original and delivers a fantasy world unlike anything else you've experienced. Blades of Fire is a glorious oddity.

This retro game collection features some all time greats and offers a lesson in bold design. The great – SF Alpha 3, Capcom Vs SNK, Project Justice, Power Stone – remain great, but a couple of filler entries hold back Capcom Fighting Collection 2.

Brilliantly rethinks run-and-gun gameplay for the 2020s, enabled by thoroughly modern visuals. Doom: The Dark Ages is an object lesson into how to modernise an old classic.

VR headset or not, The Midnight Walk is an exquisite debut from MoonHood with fantastic hand-sculpted designs, with room (or a house rather) to let you gently admire that handiwork, and a story that warms the soul.

With its stunning visuals, it’s hard to believe Clair Obscur was made by such a relatively tiny team. But the game is more than just eye candy, offering an intriguing plot and some top-notch acting, as well as a solid and exciting combat system that rewards the effort it takes to learn.

After a long time away, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves shows the series is still fighting fit. While its package isn't without some blemishes, this is no throwback but takes its rightful place in this modern era of excellent fighting games.

As enchanting as it is dark, South of Midnight elevates an otherwise conventional action-adventure game with a tightly woven and empathetic 10-12 hour story that does justice to its Southern Gothic influences and Black characters and striking art direction.

Classic text adventure meets clever puzzler, Your House is a celebration and deconstruction of familiar ideas, wrapped in beautiful illustrations and graphic design, where the act of reading is now a puzzle to solve.

Clever, organically evolving game design mixes with retro period detail, along with a nod to Stalker, to create one of the year's more rewarding open worlds.

Every time I feel frustrated by the combat, Sorry We're Closed will pop up with a beautiful character design, drop a great puzzle, squeeze out some catchy, snarky dialogue and then push me into a dungeon that recalls the heyday of survival horror. So, can I overlook it's one misstep, of course I can – particularly as this console release has made moves to smooth out this issue. Sorry We're Closed is an adventure worth opening.

More friction free than ever, Monster Hunter Wilds welcomes new players, but also offers the series’ most exciting endgame thanks to its open-world structure, topped off with some brilliant new additions to the monster roster…The most accessible Monster Hunter game to date.

Avowed may not reinvent the RPG wheel or be the next game that takes over your life but it still does a good job of giving the Pillars of Eternity universe the AAA treatment. With flexible action-packed combat, vibrant world and characters, and engaging moral dilemmas, it's a blast while it lasts.

Keep Driving knows it’s all about the journey rather than the destination, and it perfectly captures the feeling of being young and free and foolish. The learning curve is initially steep, and the encounters can eventually get repetitive, but it offers a beautifully drawn and wonderfully charismatic adventure that you won’t forget in a hurry.

Insightful writing and tightly controlled tabletop RPG pacing makes this new expanded sequel worth your time, even if you're new to the Citizen Sleeper universe.

A visual upgrade on Sniper Elite 5, a new game mode that offers immediate fun and an engaging new campaign, Sniper Elite: Resistance is always fun but rarely reinvents the gameplay set by the series.

A pitch-perfect recreation of the Aliens universe that balances a claustrophobic atmosphere with tense combat and authentic, analogue design. This is the kind of game you bought PSVR 2 to play.

Beautifully simple by design and executed just as deftly, The Cabin Factory is a genuinely creepy, occasionally terrifying, play on space, design and things that go bump in the night (and in weird factories). Chilling.

This is no lazy homage. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle delivers one the finest cinematic gaming experiences you'll ever play. A proper new Indiana Jones film that is actually a video game, in which you control Indy, with all his signature moves and quirks: the stuff of fans’ dreams, in other words.