Crimson Desert's sandbox playground and beautifully crafted world do a lot of the heavy lifting to just about overshadow its confusing elements, generic story, and boring characters. What's here is an overwhelming amount of content and the bones of an amazing game that has to be respected for its ambitions.

The best way to sum up Resident Evil Requiem is to say it's a quintessential Resident Evil game. By the end of it, the apprehension around juggling survival horror and over-the-top action couldn't have been further from our minds. We couldn't care less about the semantics of genre labels when the game is this fun and seamlessly cohesive.

If you have the time to spare though, Eufloria is a beautiful and entrancing addition to the iOS library.

While there were a couple of things that didn't quite work for me, the stories that the machine holds, the strong writing, and the novelty of the game itself elevated TR-49 into something that really pulled me in. It's a fascinating puzzle game, and one that I hope doesn't go under the radar.

Those already addicted to Tiny Wings' charm will love the new levels, while those still on the fence couldn't have asked for a better invitation to join in.

Silksong won me over. As someone who didn't have strong feelings towards Hollow Knight, I'm glad I gave the sequel a chance. It's easy to label Silksong as brutal, but it's much more than that. Pharloom may be hostile, but fittingly so and makes for an incredibly rich and rewarding place to explore. Hornet is a delight to play as, and even though the game made me work hard, I never lost my motivation to progress.

Ghost of Yōtei doesn't distance itself from Ghost of Tsushima too much, but the satisfyingly blood-soaked combat, rewarding exploration and intuitive ways of immersing the player make for a highly-addictive follow-up that we couldn't put down.

Consume Me offers an inventive take on narrative design in gaming. In how it blends mechanics and story, it uses the power of the medium to create something that's uniquely engaging and empathetic, and leaves a lasting impact that helps to cement it as one of the year's best indies.

Cronos: The New Dawn feels like the first step into a universe we’d love to see expanded upon and is simply a must for any survival horror fan to try. It’s not perfect, but you’ll find plenty to challenge and keep you on edge from start to finish.

If you adore Snake Eater, Delta is a chance to fall in love with it all over again, and if you've never experienced it, this is a modernised classic that is a must-play.

Bananza is a lot of fun, but it's also a game that I wish I could have appreciated more. If its particular brand of sandbox gameplay had clicked with me, I might have considered calling it a Nintendo classic. Despite this, I still found the main campaign to be a wonderfully imaginative ride. DK and young Pauline's team-up is bright, colourful, and full of charm, and is a worthy addition to the Switch 2's early line-up of games.

Death Stranding 2 is a unique piece of art in the medium. It deals with the universal feeling of loss, our reactions to it and humanity's need - now more than ever - to connect. Death Stranding 2 doubles down on its core ideas to deliver something that's bigger and better than before and there’s just nothing else quite like it.

Taking into account everything the game does right, not least the top-tier racing and the Knockout Tour mode, World is arguably the most fun Mario Kart entry in a long time.

Expedition 33's story is a touching and highly emotional ride that, even as the stakes increase, always feels personal in the way that it thoughtfully depicts its themes. It's a stunning game, and stands alongside the best in the genre.

Doom: The Dark Ages is a hybrid onslaught of the brutal combat we know and love and all-new intuitive parry mechanics. We're unsure if the game's additions are enough to compensate for what's been lost from Doom Eternal, but the foundation of slaying hordes of demons in visceral and bloody battles remains as fun as ever.

Old Skies is an engaging point-and-click. It may not deviate heavily from the genre's formula, but the way the game bakes the time-travel aspects into some of the puzzle-solving provides a number of highs, and Fia's touching story and the twists along the way are worth experiencing.

Elevated by its stop-motion-inspired animation style, South of Midnight is an enthralling experience that avoids open-world bloat to tell a deeply touching tale.

Blue Prince is a special game full of mysteries, secrets and mind-blowing moments with an addictive gameplay loop. It's so good that labelling this as one of the best puzzle games of all time feels like a disservice. Instead, it's possibly the most memorable experience I've ever had playing a game and I can't stop thinking about it.

Atomfall is a distinctly British take on the sci-fi apocalypse, but it’s so much more than that. The different parts of the game work together to provide the player an open-ended experience that’s both thrilling and rewarding, in a harsh world that’s begging to be explored. It doesn’t matter if you’re a fan of Fallout or not – Rebellion has crafted something special. In fact, I’m already back exploring, cricket bat in hand.

Assassins Creed Shadows takes ideas from previous entries as well as some bold experimental swings to create a defining entry in the franchise – perhaps as series-defining as Black Flag. We personally think it’s the best the series has ever been, and despite some parts of the narrative not quite sticking the landing, we had an absolute blast with Ubisoft's latest.

Expelled! follows a similar blueprint to Overboard!, but ambition in its narrative design helps the game to feel rewarding in a different way. There's more to the story than trying to clear Verity's name. How Verity develops as a character across several playthroughs is the reason why Inkle's latest is able to stand out on its own.

The first half of Lost Records rewards you for your patience and delivers a pretty devastating cliffhanger ending. We can’t wait to see how Tape 2 plays out, and it’s hard not to urge anyone with an interest to give this one some time. You might just be surprised what you find.

While Split Fiction doesn't necessarily break new ground, it's an entertaining ride and delivers a polished co-operative experience with an infectious level of enthusiasm. As the end credits rolled, my colleague and I agreed that we wouldn't have minded at all if the game had been extended by several more hours. It's to the game's credit that it never threatened to outstay its welcome, and felt fresh throughout.

It brings together all of its systems to create narratives that unfold organically and that are easy to get lost in. You may encounter the same hitchhikers or the same quests across two different runs, but the stories won't be the same. It's about the journey, not the destination.

Avowed is full of consequential player choices, meaningful side content and rewarding exploration all backed up by slick movement and some of the best combat in a first-person action RPG. It might not reinvent the genre, but Obsidian has achieved everything they set out to by creating a super fun adventure worth your time.

Rift is another great entry in the NecroDancer series. It may be a more 'traditional' lane-scrolling rhythm title, but how the game incorporates Crypt's elements to create its own spin on the formula is noteworthy.

UFO 50 may be inspired by an era that's several generations ago, but an incredible amount of imagination and work went into making this collection of games more than just about evoking nostalgia. The collection also manages to feel fresh and innovative, delivering thrills and the feeling of discovery at nearly every turn. It's unlike anything I've played, and represents a passion and love for the medium in such a special way.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle isn’t just a masterful execution of a licensed game. It takes everything that MachineGames has learned from the Wolfenstein series and The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay to create a deeply fun cinematic experience that explores Indiana Jones as a character and will really have you hooked as you take up the call to adventure.