While WILL: Follow the Light can very much look the part, it simply didn’t hold up for me when it came to the actual gameplay and narrative. The story felt fragmented and poorly delivered, even though a late game twist and a heartfelt message about the time we have and the choices we make felt genuine. While narrative ‘walking-sim’ fans may find some enjoyment and a few bright ideas, it’s not quite enough to make this sailing trip truly worth the journey.

Mixtape is a coming of age story about friendship, change and growing-up that – depending on your age and the expectations you come in with – may be just be your favourite game of the year. As an old grey-beard that grew up in the nineties, and was similarly…rebellious, it certainly hit all the right notes with me.

When the timing is right, Dead as Disco can be a joy to play, with an accessible and addictive combat system, a bright and imaginative art-style and perhaps more importantly, the music chops to match that artistic vision. There’s still a lot of work to be done of course, but with the add-your-own-music feature bringing potentially limitless content to enjoy, Brain Jar Games are potentially on their way to a number one smash hit. [Early Access Score = 70]

If you are a fan of narrative games, then I think you will like Wax Heads. There is nothing out of the ordinary here – but the story is engaging, and the art style is fantastic. Unfortunately for me, I did find some of the gameplay tedious, and there is a lot you need to remember and take in to fulfil your role as a star employee. I appreciate the hard work that has gone into making the game, and what the creative team have tried to achieve here, but for me it just didn’t hit all of the right notes.

All in all, TerraTech Legion is definitely one of the most addictive and original bullet heaven/survivors-like games out there, and an excellent title for handhelds as well. A fun driving model, a deep and incredibly rewarding vehicle-building system, with plenty of challenging content to play for dozens of hours. It has a few balance issues, and it may lack the ludicrous depths of some of the best bullet-hell games, but its unique gameplay loop and deep build variety make TerraTech Legion pretty much a must-play for fans of the genre.

Bus Bound, to me, is the kind of game that proves that a bus driving simulation game can be fun, rewarding and enjoyable, even if the act of slowly manouvering such a vehicle is not something that excites you in the slightest. But a satisfying yet relaxing driving model, precise yet somewhat forgiving rules of the road, and a very lively and great looking town to explore and evolve to your liking turn the game into a very enjoyable experience. Not a massive amount of content as of today, but with a lot of player agency and even a 4-player online co-op mode, it’s definitely one of the finest vehicle simulation games I’ve ever played. Bus Bound is the bus simulation for bus enthusiasts and newcomers alike, and thus far my surprise hit of the year 2026.

Saros is a ton of fun to play, especially if you prefer a character leveling system to a ‘git gud learning patterns’ one. It is stunning to look at and has an excellent soundtrack. An emphasis on its weak story wastes some solid acting performances and an incredible art style. By the end of my 14 hours, I felt a tinge of disappointment at how close Saros was to being incredible.

As someone who mostly cares about the core mechanics above all else, I’m pleased to report that Invincible VS lives up to my lofty and possibly unreasonable expectations. The combination of IP authenticity and gory combo focused combat is a mix that for me doesn’t really get old and is incredibly fun. Fans of the show will absolutely want to get their hands on this, if for no other reason than to further immerse themselves in the universe.

The Last Gas Station is a solid game that pushes the grind a bit too hard in the latter half. Hopefully, a post-launch patch helps, as this is an enjoyable experience otherwise.

While not as groundbreaking of an evolution as last year’s game, MotoGP 26 pretty much does everything right. It tweaks both the simulation and arcade riding styles, it adds more options to career and multiplayer modes alike, and offers plenty of content and customization options. It has a few technical issues that are atypical for this series, and it may still lack the incredible depth and variety of the licensed F1 games. Yet, MotoGP 26 is a fine step forward for an already excellent racer, even if its iterative nature makes it a less essential upgrade than last year’s game.

Aphelion is a thoroughly enjoyable sci-fi adventure of loss, desperation, survival, and importantly, hope. Despite a few very late-game wobbles, this is one mission for humanity you should undertake.

There is so much content in this game, and if it’s your jam, you could easily spend hundreds of hours breeding, training, racing and amassing huge piles of gold. If you like checking tasks off endless lists, then maybe it’s the game for you too. I can see why it has been popular on mobile, and even desktop – and I’m sure the VR version would be great fun to try, but I ended up pretty bored and going through the motions just to get through the story. Rival Star Horse Racing is a very nice looking, non-challenging way to spend a few hours, but I think I’ll release my (hilariously named) horses into the wild and go back to the city where I belong.

I very much enjoyed my time with Moomintroll: Winter’s Warmth, and for those looking for an adorable and charming way to spend a few hours, I would heartily recommend it. It is visually stunning, enjoyable to navigate and play and made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. If you are into cosy, story-driven puzzlers, then I would definitely encourage you to check it out.

At its best, Kiln’s robust pot creation and genuinely raucous multiplayer are a great base for a game that needs more content and polish in both performance and gameplay to truly live up to its potential. Despite this, every multiplayer match I played managed at least one moment that made me smile or laugh. The pot creation made me both proud of my pathetic creations and jealous of everyone else’s talent, and the general vibe just made me want to stick around. This is one work of art I hope gets finished and not merely abandoned, but it does need a little more time in the oven.

SIGONO’s newest adventure tells the story of environmental struggles that naturally become personal. After what seems a long life yet lived and having nothing to show for it, you’re invited to look back again and understand. Sometimes they’re happy thoughts. Sometimes, it hurts so much you’ll want to crawl up in a hole and die. Sometimes, retrospection gets all too real. OPUS: Prism Peak’s answer to this middle-aged conundrum is to look back, walk straight forward, and be nicer to yourself. It couldn’t have worded it in a nicer, more beautiful message.

If you’re looking for a story-driven title in an interesting world, then Tides of Tomorrow is probably going to be for you. Just don’t expect too much challenge along the way. When it comes to saving a dying world, what choices would you make?

A tremendously well-crafted gameplay loop, great art-style, a splendid soundtrack, and plenty of content to lose dozens of hours in – with more promised to come in future updates. I would have liked a bit more original art and mechanics, instead of mostly re-treading designs from Vampire Survivors, and a few balance changes and late game choices hamper the long-term playability a little. Still, Vampire Crawlers is one of the best roguelike deck-builders on the market right now. It’s fast, charming, addictive and tremendously well-crafted. Poncle has done it again.

A significant upgrade to the first game in almost every single way, Hades II takes the already really high bar and brings it even further up. Fifty hours in and I still can’t seem to put the game down. Hades II is an absolute must-play for pretty much everyone, fans of the genre or not.

MOUSE: P.I. For Hire was worth the wait. The team at Fumi Games has matched their fantastic artwork with solid gameplay, great writing, and fantastic audio. Shooter fans are eating Gouda with this one… Ah, hell, I already used that one.

With weighty platforming and crunchy, satisfying combat, this is a world full of heart and incredible detail presented with an eye-catching art style. It’s backed up by a punchy soundtrack that elevates every pixel on display. REPLACED oozes style and imagination, and it’s almost everything I wanted it to be.

PRAGMATA is a fantastic video game. Solid gunplay, excellent variety in its hacking, incredible visuals, and an enjoyable story work together to create what I hope is a new IP that we’ll see a lot more of in the future.

Regardless of those minor quibbles, everything I’ve seen and played in Forza Horizon 6 has been absolutely top notch. Japan is one of the best open worlds we’ve had in ages, and I spent a lot of time in this preview period just exploring and taking in the sights, from the long winding roads in beautiful mountain areas to the twists and turns of the fantastic streets of Tokyo. The latter is going to be something that many aging PGR fans are going to love. Everything oozes quality – the lighting, surface materials, sounds and the way the cars feel to drive are all superb, and loading times seem vastly improved too. It all combines to make Japan, a long requested locale for the Horizon Festival for many years – to have been absolutely worth the wait. [Hands-On Impressions]

People of Note tries to do a lot – a video game-musical, with turn based combat, a world of musical references and plenty of dungeons and puzzles. Some of that is pretty great. Alas, the gameplay felt to me like a track stuck on repeat, and the story didn’t quite have enough going for it to be truly worth the journey. This is one album I won’t be playing again any time soon.

Grime II is a phenomenal video game. Every aspect of it is a huge improvement over the original. If you have some patience and love a good Metroidvania, Grime II is the best one I have played since the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. I cannot recommend it enough.

Make no mistake, Super Meat Boy 3D is as pure a punishing speedrunning platformer as you’ll get, just like its predecessors. It’s fast, tight, infuriating, hilarious, bloody and just outright white-knuckle fun. But yeah, f**k this game right off as well.

Full of charm and humour, Darwin’s Paradox plays out somewhat like an interactive Pixar film. It certainly looks the part, thanks to some gorgeous artwork and animation that adds a layer of polish and charm to the game that just about camouflages some of the its weaker design elements. Fans of the genre will want to get ‘kraken’ with this one.

The golden era of track-based arcade racers may be behind us, but that didn’t stop Milestone from developing a marvellous one in this day and age. This reboot of Screamer has all the core elements of a modern classic: a meaty single player campaign with a rich story, a fantastic sense of style, a snappy arcade-style driving model with a high skill ceiling, and plenty of content to enjoy in both local and online play. Screamer is bold, exciting, but most importantly, incredibly fun, and it may just be one of the finest arcade racers in years. If you miss the good old days of fantastic arcade racers with personality, do yourself a favour and buy Screamer.

It lacks the depth and variety of some of the genre’s greatests, and the painfully slow unlock of new content is a huge problem, but I still had a good time putting in run after run, tweaking my weapons, creating increadingly broken builds with infinitely stacking effects. Feels like a game that, with a handful of tweaks and some new content added, could turn into one of the genre’s bests.

Crimson Desert is an amazing game full of wonder and frustration. I spent 110 hours completing its story and did not see half of the map, including the titular sandy-red expanse. It is an incredible achievement, living up to the promises and hype, while still needing a lot of love to get it into tip-top shape.

Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun’s Nintendo Switch 2 port is an excellent (if expensive) way to experience this wonderful title. Mimimi Games was one of the best, and Shadow Tactics was where they started to shine. At $40 MSRP for the base game and $20 for Aiko’s Choice, it isn’t cheap, but it is fantastic.

As of today, Marathon is a bit too light on depth, content and variety to be warranting an unconditional recommendation, with too many design flaws that could alienate newcomers. Now, the ball is in Bungie‘s court. Can they turn Marathon into a truly unmissable multiplayer experience? Currently, they are only halfway there.

Despite my irks with the game, I couldn’t help but feel entranced by its atmosphere. It won’t take long for you to figure out what’s gone horrible wrong in Minakami, but the side stories you catch glimpses of as you saunter through run down homes and village walks paint a picture of terror, violence, and sometimes regret. You’ll encounter some messed up events as you get to one of the game’s many endings and, despite my issues with Mio, she handles these encounters with far more grace than my scaredy bones could ever. Repetition is in FATAL FRAME II’s nature and though I find more comfort from the horrors of Minakami Village behind the camera lens, it’s hard to deny that the game would be complete without its gorgeous setting and haunting narrative. Take a snapshot and hope you don’t miss.

Toxic Commando feels like a game that knows exactly what it is, and makes no apologies for the classic titles it riffs on. It’s a bit of a blast-from-the-past, that smartly imbues plenty of modern design ideas and gameplay components resulting in a relatively satisfying mix of systems and replayability. The plot? Beyond stupid. The writing? Dated and painful. The fun? Thankfully, the developers have got that part nailed. John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando is really, really dumb, but I can’t deny that I had a pretty good time playing it – and that’s got to count for something.

Twisted Reflection is one-of-a-kind. I found myself enjoying the world-building of a Monster Hunter game for the first time, thanks to a strong cast of characters backed up by an interesting premise and stellar visuals. The combat is fun, and the world mechanics all work together to keep you busy, whether it’s completing quests or taking on challenges with your best Monsties. I wholly recommend Monster Hunter Stories 3 to anyone who loves the idea of an animated-like adventure, complete with a modest amount of mechanics that do not burden the player.

Vampire Therapist is a chilled experience to play through, and one that I enjoyed from start to finish. It was educational but not preachy, and the humour, voice acting and storyline kept me entertained. I had a couple of gripes, but overall – you could say I’m definitely in the ‘fang-club’.

WWE 2K26 does exactly what a yearly sports game should do. It fixes some minor issues from the previous title. The Island mode is more enjoyable, going full in on the wacky version of what wrestling games can be...It’s expensive as heck if you want the top tier edition, coming in at an eye watering $150 MSRP in the US. If you’re happy with 2K25 there may not be enough here to warrant a full purchase, otherwise it’s an easy recommendation for fans of the industry.

The world of Novo is as captivating as ever. The puzzles on offer, enhanced with deeper mechanics are well thought out, and the expanded narrative provides some answers and takes some risks with its story telling. Planet of Lana 2 can’t quite escape feeling a little familiar, but who’s going to complain about more of such a good thing?

Tribute has done great work here. Where scrolling beat ’em ups like this can often get really repetitive and stale, Scott Pilgrim EX really has a nice blend of customisation, character variety and replayability to give it some legs. Sadly it doesn’t have as many modes and extras as Tributes other work or the original 2010 game, but what’s here on offer is still really really good.