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.