I’m sure others will (and already have) find meaning in Inside. There’ll be fascinating, insightful deconstructions and I look forward to reading them. There’s a wealth of praise for the game already. It’s clearly spoken to a lot of people, but it didn’t speak to me – except, perhaps, to berate me for not being smart enough to understand what it’s trying to say.

I am torn on it because I absolutely loved some of the things that were done, but also came away with the distinct impression that there simply should have been more. More conversation, more depth to the existing mechanics or additional systems that come into play over time, more variety in puzzles and more game in general. I generally enjoyed my time with Armikrog, but came away with the unshakeable feeling that it also missed several opportunities to be a better, more memorable game.

MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death is a serviceable dungeon crawler that newcomers to the dungeon crawler craze can pour dozens of hours into. The appeal to genre veterans is going to be far lower due to the lack of a substantial plot and the underutilised battle system, but the game functions wonderfully as addictive comfort food.

Unrelentingly simple and yet uncontrollably addictive, Absolute Drift is a comfort game in every sense of the term.

There’s a clever mix of addictiveness with basic gameplay to keep players going without getting them too irritated about the more difficult levels. Ultimately the experience of playing this mirror's Shiba Kari himself - the game will never be as notable as the heroes that exist in its world, but humble as it is, there is a real sense of satisfaction in clearing that field of long grass.

There’s never been a better time in history for those upset with conservative shooters to set aside all preconceived notions and just experiment. Touhou deserves to be praised equally as a bullet hell and a fighter, performing like almost nothing else on the market. This, ladies and gentlemen, is bullet heaven.

As a fan of board games I do like video games takes on them, as there's no cleanup, no cheating, and no people flipping the table in a tantrum. It's also nice to play against the AI when friends aren't around. This applies to Ubisoft's take on Battleship as well, and the new rules really add to the overall experience.

Madden NFL 17 is not a perfect game. You still have a handful of oddball AI and animation moments, but they are far fewer between than in years past and this year's iteration delivers a much more authentic experience than any football game has to date. Is Madden NFL 17 worth upgrading to if you already own last year's version? I believe so as it is a step forward in just about every area and there were no discernible steps backwards.

While I’d find this game hard to recommend to a casual racing fan, those looking for a challenge will certainly find it in Codemasters’ latest foray into the racing genre. The meticulously researched and replicated F1 scene will be a delight to gamers searching for a realistic experience, and who don’t mind a little research before they get ready to leave their opponents in the dust.

No, the mundanity is kept to a thematic level, and that’s what makes Alone With You as a whole so impactful. It’s a game about loneliness, love, and what it means to be human, and that’s a beautiful thing.

Solar Shifter EX doesn’t add anything special to its genre, but it is certainly a solid entry worth a play or two if you dare.

While Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X isn’t as brilliant as Future Tone, nothing is, and the core rhythm game action is faultless. An inspiring, entertaining soundtrack, coupled with stunning characters, costumes, and choreography makes this essential.

Given that this is the first attempt at a very different kind of game for Koei Tecmo, I’d say that Attack on Titan franchise is in good hands going forward.

The tracks themselves are spot on, and playing through the cockpit view, it’s easy to get an appreciation on how challenging some of them really are.

W.M.D is a fun game, loaded with tons of content that should keep Worm fans and newcomers alike very busy. The series still has that sense of humour that it is so well known, while constantly adding in new features to deepen the gameplay experience. This one, in particular, is a really well formed game, and deserves to be on high multiplayer rotation for a long time to come.

As with many classic board and card games, Uno isn’t perfect. It’s driven by luck, games tend to go overlong, and Ubisoft’s no-frills approach is workable, but workmanlike. Despite that, I do really enjoy the core game of Uno in short bursts, and for people who regularly play online with family and friends (and can thus do away with the occasionally irritating random players), this is a great, low-cost way to spend a Saturday evening together when separated by distance.

It’s a game for people to play and give themselves heart attack after heart attack, to the amusement of whoever is watching. There’s value in that, and this game does that better than most, but it doesn’t get its claws into you – it doesn’t really even try to. When playing with Emily gets too scary, all you have to do is stop.

The game simply struggles too hard to make you care about the characters or their situation, and an RPG without a compelling narrative is one that will always feel like it’s missing substance.

The King of Fighter XIV channels the spirit of the 90s whilst very subtly evolving to attract more casual players.

AdVenture Capitalist absolutely achieves what it sets out to achieve, and in principle, I actually think that people should play it, because the messaging that it’s putting forth is important, both as a reflection of the video game industry, and capitalism as a whole. But on the other hand we had everything that we needed from this genre with the original Cow Clicker, and I sincerely do not understand where the value is in having this on console.

Ant Queen isn't a perfect game but it is fun to play for a few hours now and again. The developers also seem very eager to make this game better and are always listening to what fans request. It's perhaps not the spiritual sequel to SimAnt that I was quite hoping for, but as a casual strategy game it's a solid, charming, time-waster.

As hack ‘n’ slash titles, the Ultimate Alliance games were, and still are, rather basic and bare bones.

Is the new release Director’s Cut of game worth a purchase if you have the original? Probably not. But if you haven’t played this yet – and there are a lot of you out there – then do yourself a favour and check this one out. It’s right up there.

The low percentage chances of getting the really good slimes are where the microtransactions might have come in handy for the less patient, but with a bit of patience you’ll end up with the powerful team that you’re looking for, and there are certainly enough levels on offer to keep you playing for quite some time.

Combat and other exploration elements play a bit like Pikmin – you’ll be able to pull a small group of followers around with you, and when you direct them they’ll charge straight forward to attack, dig, chop or similar. The puzzle elements aren’t quite as strong as they are in Nintendo’s franchise, but as basically the only alternative to this kind of game out there, the different tone and sheer creativity on display make it well worth a look.

As a spin on air hockey’s basic premise, Power Disc is decent, but it’s also frustrating, and that’s even if you can figure out how to perform necessary advanced techniques.

Unfortunately, too-simple presentation, an absence of personality, and just seven events also means there’s next to no long-term value to this. You’ll be done with it in about the time it takes for an Olympic event to finish, so it’s up to you whether you consider that’s worth a couple of dollars or not.

It’s a hugely entertaining, visually striking experience, and has instantly become my favourite multiplayer title on the PlayStation 4.

Obliteracers introduces some interesting ideas, but between dead lobbies and limited local options, its multiplayer core falls a bit flat on PS4. With nothing else to pick up this slack, it ends up being a game that quickly loses steam.

I have zero doubt that, given extra time and material to work with, the developers could have produced one of the best anime-inspired video games this decade. What’s here is still modestly enjoyable, though, and this title is worth supporting just to champion the notion that anime games besides the Narutos and Dragon Balls of the world deserve localisations.

Bound isn’t going to be an eSport, and doesn’t really care about that. Nor is Bound for people looking to unwind after a hard day’s work with passive entertainment. There’s nothing wrong with games being either of those things, but Bound is for a third audience; it’s for the people that want something thoughtful, meaningful, and intelligent.

For newcomers to the RTS genre, Cannon Brawl is a great introduction which really shows off the strengths of the genre. It really doesn’t take a lot of learning for a novice player to start making strategic decisions, and to understand basic concepts crucial to the genre such as efficiency, macromanagement and aggressive/defensive styles of play. While the strategic depth isn’t as much as other titles, the simplification results in Cannon Brawl being wickedly accessible and a blast to play for all ages.

No game, film, book or otherwise has been more effectively in capturing what the experience of exploring the universe must be. Lonely, hostile and unforgiving, Hello Game’s effort works so hard to reject the convention on how games are made that it’s easy to understand why people expecting something more traditional might come away disappointed.

Severed is the kind of game that I hope ends up on school and university “reading list.” Not because a particularly well made game (though it assuredly is), but also because it’s a masterpiece of theming and ambient storytelling. Games this evocative are rare and special indeed.

Nightmare from the Deep is like a Romance paperback at a newsagency – a cheap title that will keep you entertained for an afternoon without trying to be more than it really is.

Reigns is definitely meant for a touch screen, but the PC version plays okay. Press the left/right arrow once to view the selection and again to confirm your choice. But choose wisely, as the game reflects real life in at least one way by not providing an undo button.

Most damning, however, is that there’s nothing that actually saves Orc Slayer. There’s no real attempt to even do something interesting, different, or creative. This is a game that actively sets out to be a generic FPS with a medieval humans-vs-orcs theme. It doesn’t even try to be a good one. The developers know, surely, that the game isn’t remotely competitive with the better examples of the genre – even in the indie FPS space. That they clearly didn’t care enough about the player to try and do something even slightly different is an absolute insult, and the fact it can’t even get the basics of the genre down means that it deserves no respect from anyone.

Ultimately, it’s a little difficult to really understand what the developer was aiming for here. It seems more like it was a project from someone who was simply inspired by the entertainment value of stuff like Octodad than a game that is really looking to break out with its own identity. The potential’s there, but it’s all a little to raw for its own good.

The game itself is a quality take on the board game. It’s just unfortunate that there is such structural issues with Risk itself that it’s rapidly losing relevance, even in the board game scene.

The genre has been able to tap into this to make it the core feature, and while we’ve seen better and more creative applications of that feature in the past, Adventure Bar Labyrinth is a solid, vanilla, example of that appeal.

Overcooked does feel like a glorified mobile game, of that there’s no doubt. Short, sharp levels, a sharp challenge in trying to get perfect scores on each level, and highly sanitized, cheerful, graphics that are as inoffensive as they are carefully constructed, all ensure that the first thing you’ll think when playing is that you might as well be playing it on iPad. But the production values, coupled with the genuinely entertaining multiplayer, help to make this one of the better “casual” games you’ll play this year.

A wonderful combination of good game design and enchanting aesthetic direction.

Kerbal Space Program is a fantastic game but one that you should play on PC. I can forgive some of the control issues because of the limitations of the platform but we’ve seen other developers do intuitive controls for games designed initially for PC like Divinity: Original Sin and even Blizzard’s Diablo III. Imagine buying a great physics text book but only being able to read it while using oven mitts to turn the pages. That is Kerbal Space Program on PlayStation 4.

It really captures the majesty of ocean—the beauty of it, but also the power of it. In that sense, maybe “diving simulator” is accurate, because as stylized and fantastical as it is, it expertly captures what it is that makes diving such a rewarding activity: exploring the wonders of the sea.

This is absolutely the kind of thing that should be supported and encouraged. I would just love to see what Roach Interactive could do given the budget and time to really do justice to such an important message.

It's a short game and doesn't get everything perfect, but it's also quite unique and has a strong narrative to it. And I do love a game with a strong female lead. This is also a game that feels that it has been released a little early, and by that I mean Adr1ft badly needs to be a strong VR experience when PlayStation VR lands. Then it will truly will be a game that will stick with me for a long time to come.

God Eater: Resurrection is a very fun hunting game, though it's not perfect. It's great that there is another alternative to the Monster Hunter formula available to us, though. Between this, and Koei Tecmo's rising Toukiden franchise, it's proving to be a really good period for this little genre.

Of course, Disney Art Academy is not an adequate substitution for actual art courses, and the software is not an adequate alternative to graphics tablets and professional art solutions on PCs or Macs. But what it’s remarkably good at doing is making you feel good about your artistic talents, no matter how limited those might be, and then encouraging you to continue learning a hobby that you may just discover that you enjoy without ever considering it previously.

It combines the nostalgia of Record Keeper with a typical storyline and free-to-play features that makes it irresistible despite a lack je-ne-sais-quoi/oomph.

Although the satire doesn’t localise as well as I might have liked, the game’s not as straightforward in its perversions that a surface level analysis makes it seem, and I’ll be disappointed if there aren’t at least some people that recognise this.

Not as many people will play Shiren the Wanderer as should play it. It’s a niche franchise that is presented in such a way that will only ever appeal to a niche… and for whatever reason it’s exclusive to the PlayStation Vita, which is an intensely niche console in its own right these days. But it is also a fundamentally worthy game that boils the roguelike genre down to its most appealing gameplay loops, and is a good, pure, no frills take on an enormously addictive formula.

It’s a good game if you’re fully caught up with Gundam lore, but even casual fans might struggle to get along with this one.

10 Second Ninja X is fun, but I definitely had to limit it to smaller sized doses.

As with mobile games there are a number of optional objectives to each level that can be completed to earn stars, and those stars give completionists a reason to come back and replay levels. Unfortunately the game really lacks for personality and character, and there’s really nothing that helps this game stand out from the pack.

It’s clean and works, but it’s a game that is difficult to see people getting long-term value out of it.

There’s a reasonably robust toolset that allows people to create their own adventures, and this helps extend the long-term value of the game if you can get a group of friends together for some play sessions. But, unfortunately, there’s just not enough to Sword Coast Legends to make it the truly classic game that I wish it could be.

I think this game would have been better on Wii U, because I don’t think people pick up a handheld console for eSports, but as a free-to-play game, this is one of the better that the console enjoys.

There’s not a moment of Daydreamer that I don’t vividly remember, and in breaking down what makes a game so completely, the developer has created a conversation in how games are constructed, and why they are in the way that they are.

The presentation is enjoyable and the puzzles and discovery of new powers are genuinely exciting. If you can look past repetitive combat and backtracking and are willing to live with a few technical hiccups along the way, Song of the Deep is enjoyable but flawed, with some unrealised potential around the narrative meaning it was a missed opportunity.

Still, Ninja Pizza Girl is a fine little 2D platformer with a personality all of its own, a good sense of humour, and a strong message to share.

What really impressed me about I Am Setsuna is the way that the various systems layered on top of one another to reinforce and complement the intense, powerful themes that sit at the core of the game.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eyes of Heaven isn’t going to send a ripple through the video game community, but it was never intended to. As a simple little love letter to fans, it succeeds despite taking its faults and the lofty requisites to truly treasure it.

There’s one area where Hunter’s Legacy does really shine, though, and that’s in its presentation. The environments and enemies are all pretty simple and straightforward, but the sprite art gives everything a sense of life and vibrancy. Instead of taking the severely well-trodden path of “retro” pixel graphics, Hunter’s Legacy simply takes the beauty of 2D game art and runs with it. It’s admittedly rough around the edges; it’s an indie game that doesn’t have the pristine finish of better-funded 2D games, but that just adds to its charm, in my view.

The Slaughter - Act One successfully leaves me yearning for Act Two. The characters are dark yet witty, the locale gritty and unwelcoming. The time and place is one that I am fond of despite the crime and violence, and I do believe it was a faithfully reproduced as possible in the game.

I ended up having a lot of fun with Dex, though playing it through at the same time that I was reviewing The Technomancer was a bit unfortunate for it. In belonging to the same narrative genre as a game that will be right up there with my favourites this year, Dex’s pulpy and limited narrative was disappointing. Thankfully, as an RPG/platformer, it still largely works, and will certainly help you kill off a rainy weekend or two.

Despite its lack of content, SpiritSphere is still a blast for the first few rounds of play. If you’ve got friends who don’t have much time for a long haul multiplayer game, but still want some fast paced action, SpiritSphere has you covered. It’s an interesting look at how nostalgic and culturally significant footnotes in gaming can be remixed and re-appropriated into completely new experiences.

The team writes intelligent, worthy scenarios and narratives, and then they do the best they can to build gameplay to support that concept.

Monster Hunter Generations might not be a true sequel due to its similarities to Monster Hunter 4 and the many call backs to earlier games in the series. That being said, Generations does make some excellent design choices as it highlights everything that has made the series great, added some new mechanics to help keep things fresh and provides the biggest and best Monster Hunter experience yet.

Full Mojo Rampage isn’t exactly a genuine look at the mythology and aesthetic of voodoo, but the name drop of Baron Samedi and the other Loa lords is a nice touch. Still, it’s hard to imagine you’ll get much from this. Not when there are so many other great roguelikes out there.

It’s addictive, it’s charming in its retro design, and it absolutely has the “just one more go” thing about it that can turn a short play session into a marathon.

It remains utterly soulless, and a completely useless product.

Neither side of the game will exactly challenge your mastery over their respective genres, but the cutesy aesthetic, light sense of humour, and general balance of the game is spot on. This is something that’s easy to play in the background while watching television or a movie, and sometimes that’s all you’ll need or want.

Once I’m actually playing, I have a ball with this, because it is, in a very real sense, a cultural phenomenon. Never has a game managed to get people to flock over to specific areas of town like birds to seed. People point to it being too simple as a game, but really the game bit is barely relevant. What is relevant is that this game has people out and about, socialising and exploring. There’s a group experience event going on with Pokemon Go, and it’s addictive to simply be part of the collective.

Not a perfect game, but it is a very, very good one that does something the series has needed to do for quite some time: innovate.

Yes, it’s ironic that the game doesn’t feature any actual military conflict in being a wargame, but there is no game out there that better simulates the tone and structure of a conflict as this one has done with the Cold War… which just happens to be one of the most interesting periods in the history of political strategy.

Even with some of the issues that mean it might only be for JRPG fans – especially the dungeon crawling monotony, this is, nonetheless, yet another feather for the JRPG cap for the Nintendo 3DS, and represents yet another reason to settle in with your 3DS for dozens of hours of fantasy fun.

The game can be fun to play for a few hours here and there but repetitiveness filters through to the presentation, too, with reused music and visuals that become draining after a while.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness will probably not be remembered as one of the PlayStation 4’s finest. It’s greatly let down by technical issues with a camera that actively works against the game’s strengths: the epic sense of scale and the beautiful presentation. Dig beneath that, however, and you arrive at a game with an enjoyable narrative, fun characters, and a solid action JRPG combat system – all the stuff that’s actually important, in other words.

It was certainly compelling enough for me to want to finish the game. There are also plenty of challenges to help hone platforming skills which ultimately do help in finishing the regular levels. As a game that is clearly supposed to appease Mega Man fans who will likely never get a new game in the series ever again, it falls spectacularly short of their expectations, particularly those that assisted in the crowdfunding campaign.

Ultimately what sets Battle Cats apart from the many (many) similar games of similar depth and strategy is that hugely creative edge. This game gets to be the distinctive and memorable example of the genre because the artists had the sense to do something that makes no sense, but we end up looking forward to each new level just to see the insanity that it brings.

That being said though, this is not a fantastic game by any account and while there’s a little fun to be had in a frantic online match, there are much better ways to get your competitive shooter fix.

With a comprehensive tutorial system, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the best fit game for people new to the genre to wrap their minds around it. Equally, for more experienced strategy fans, the superb balance that made the historical events the game is based on so fascinating also make for the near-perfect strategy game.

As a story-focused first-person adventure game, NERO is quite remarkable. It’s surreal, heartfelt, bittersweet, and thought-provoking, and that should have been more than enough to carry it without the need for shoehorned-in “gameplay”. As it is, it’s a very good game, but it would have been so much better if it hadn’t tried so hard to avoid the “walking simulator” criticism and just ran with its strengths.

Zero Escape: Zero Time Dilemma is a game everyone absolutely must play. If you haven’t played the previous games in the series, drop everything and experience them.

I love the way Mario & Sonic at the Rio Olympic Games is presented. It’s a truly gorgeous game and matches with every expectation that I have for the atmosphere and aesthetics of the Rio Games. But this is an Olympics cash-in game, which means most events boil down to minigames, rather than fully-fleshed out games dedicated to a particular sport. A good half the events in here are games I would buy if they were built further into stand-alone takes on the sport, but in a package like this I’m basically done with them after playing them a couple of times each.

To call Asemblence an unorthodox game would be an understatement; it’s a game that throws convention off a cliff. I doubt many would find it fun, or even satisfying in a traditional sense, but it's a game that pushes the boundaries of what a game can be – that questions our most basic assumptions of the medium, and that is something we desperately need.

It's not the longest game, and doesn't offer anything that will be remembered as a classic game by any means, but the tense atmosphere, striking art style, and challenge, will surely help this game find itself a niche.

Effortlessly, it’s the best game that has been released on the Wii U, and, given the games to come, discounting Zelda as an NX launch title, it will be the best game that will ever be released on the Wii U.

There is a solid core game here in Trials of the Blood Dragon, the problem is when the team extends away from that core to do other things. Not all of the motorbike tracks are great, but that is true of the Trials games as well. The platforming segments are terrible, however, some of the more bombastic and colourful stages are an absolute joy to play, and the neon visuals and pounding soundtrack do an excellent job of selling the action.

On a whole, while Senran Kagura Shinovi Versus offers more than a dozen hours of content, it doesn’t offer much variety in terms of gameplay. That being said, the visual novel-like storytelling does add enough of an interesting plot and characters that, assuming you're okay with seeing them in underwear most of the time, makes this game worth playing through.

Guilty Gear Xrd Revelator is a fantastic fighting package offering lots to love for both series fans and newcomers alike. This is a flashy, modern fighter which boasts both gameplay depth and an anachronistic punk aesthetic.

I came away from There Came An Echo quite sold on its unique approach to inputs, and that is both surprising, and really quite inspiring. Because it plays so differently, the game requires that you take a very different approach to playing it, and while I don’t think this is an innovation that’s going mainstream any time soon, having a voice controlled game on the PlayStation 4 makes for a unique, interesting, diversion. Throw in production values well beyond what most indies can achieve, and a plot that will get you thinking across its last few hours, and you’ve got a genuinely worthwhile little experiment here.

Either way, underneath that surface of naked or nearly naked anime girls is a quality dungeon crawler, and one that deserves notice.

Here’s hoping Wales Interactive are able to keep working on Soul Axiom, because these game-breaking bugs are holding back a game that’s otherwise creative, intriguing, and utterly gorgeous.

For the patient, though, Grand Kingdom is very worthwhile stuff. As a debut, it proves that Monochrome Corporation is a talented development outfit, and this is one of the more original takes on the tactics genre that we’ve seen in recent years.

The Last Days of Old Earth is one of those lighter weight strategy games that can scratch a quick itch to unwind after a long day (beer and all), but is not the sort of game you will sit down with for an entire afternoon.

Despite its flaws, Catalyst is a worthy concept of the game, and the improvement from the last one to this shows that it can mature into a quality game franchise, beyond its concept. The sense of scale and the way the world has been designed for travel makes for a fantastic experience.

It’s a great game for the young ones, and still enough there for older players, but if you’re looking for a challenge, there are some stronger contenders on the 3DS.