Hacknet is a beautiful example of compelling non-linear storytelling. While it is still a game about hacking, it is far more about solving the mystery around Bit's death using the tools he (she?) has given you. Combining an enthralling story with a truly impressive learning curve and a stellar soundtrack, Hacknet is definitely something special.

Play length is not, and should never be seen as a value indicator in games, but for whatever it’s worth, I made my way to the game’s conclusion in around 16 hours of real-world gameplay time. However, it’s a title I absolutely will return to, because it’s entirely feasible to create a very different cult with different choices, and that’s one I do want to try out for myself. Massive Monster has also made noises – but no concrete promises as yet – around post-game DLC and possibly even multi-player modes, which could lead to some fascinating post-game scenarios, depending on whether they went for competing or cooperative cult activity.

And that's the problem with reviewing 3D All-Stars. All three of the games have historical worth, remain highly playable today, and are ported competently enough that they work. You're not going to suddenly find Bowser unbeatable because bugs have trashed what was once a great game. However, this is Nintendo's most valuable property and mascot, and it's amazing that the company didn't do more with this package than they have here.

Shooters do not offer the type of storyline depth, character customisation or lengthy gameplay we have become accustomed to in today's video games, but R-Type Dimensions proves that there is still a place for the genre if it is handled the right way. R-Type Dimensions has been handled in just that fashion, providing fun bursts of action with enough modes and variety to make the entire package worthwhile.

If you're new to Zen Pinball 2, then this DLC pack won't be the most appealing, as it is more likely that the Star Wars and Marvel themed tables will be more attractive. But, once you've got all of those, these two tables do add even more value to the package.

Hitman 2 is suave, amusing, and delightfully silly. It has all the blockbuster sensibilities and refinements, but a willingness to be different and, critically, laugh at itself. And, like I said at the start of this review, it doesn't treat its players like idiots. There's no forced path or endless pile of hints to the point that the game almost plays itself. Hitman 2 lets you play your own way, and it's all the more rewarding as a result.

With such a convoluted, complex narrative going for it, Robotics;Notes is the kind of game that you'll end up musing over for quite some time. It's a little more grounded in the human experience than Steins;Gate, but the eclectic mix of genres, themes and motifs that the narrative scattershots its way through means that it needed to have that groundedness to keep players connected to it. So successful is it in its writing and presentation that Robotics;Notes will be remembered as one of the truly great visual novels. It's perhaps not as philosophical or dense as Steins;Gate, but it is more emotive and evocative.

I’m definitely returning for Ghostpia season 2. It’s not just that this game looks quirky. Quirky aesthetics are plentiful. It’s that Ghostpia does something purposeful with the quirkiness, and uses it to enhance a pretty affecting and soulful narrative. I checked in with limited expectations and was thoroughly impressed. PQube picked a real winner here (at least in the artistic sense, who knows how many copies it’s going to sell).

All in all, the original Duck Detective was a wholesome, entertaining, totally charming bit of brilliance, and this stand-alone sequel does it justice.

There are times when complexity can be a good thing, if it’s done well. Against the Storm gets that much right, giving us a challenging and also rewarding city builder with a compelling replay loop that will have you playing right through the night for weeks at a time.

All of this might sound critical of Iwakura Aria, and I guess in one way I am disappointed in this, but only because it could have very easily been another House in Fata Morgana. The intensity of the themes are there. The art is right up there with the best VN art I’ve ever had the pleasure to see. The writing is beautifully eloquent, and this is a rare visual novel that I would happily pick up as a proper novel, where it would stand strong on any bookshop’s shelves against any of the literature on there. Even as it is, Iwakura Aria is better than 99% of the other visual novels out there. It’s essential as-is, and right on the cusp of being a masterpiece, and that’s ultimately why I’m disappointed that it doesn’t quite get there.

Death Stranding does belong in an art gallery more than it does sitting on consoles next to more traditional "games". As I sit here to write this, I am fully convinced that there are going to be plenty of reviews from my peers that veer to the other extreme as far as their scores go. And fair enough, because as a “game” Death Stranding doesn’t do much. But as a work of art, Death Stranding is something mesmerising, intelligent, and powerful, and we never see this kind of work within the big budget, blockbuster space. This was a rare treat to play, and I rather like this new-look, independent Kojima.

Salt and Sanctuary is a solid homage to its blatant source of inspiration. It doesn't supplant its predecessors, but it does an admirable job nonetheless, and offers players a moody, intricate, and fundamentally enjoyable dark fantasy experience.

That aside, Asmodee continues to demonstrate why it is the best digital board game developer going around. Gloomhaven itself is a little insular compared to the likes of Game of Thrones, Arkham Horror, Ticket to Ride, Pathfinder and Lord of the Rings, so I suspect it will appeal to a narrower band of players than some of Asmodee's other adaptations, but the faithful quality of that adaptation and the stellar production values make it an easy sell to existing Gloomhaven fans, and the ideal way to those that were intimidated by the size (and cost) of the box when they've seen it in their local game store to give it a go in the first place.

Vectronom is well made and attractive. It's got a strong sense of minimalist style, and as difficult as it is, it's also entirely fair, and once you've learned its rules and behaviour, it becomes comfortable, albeit difficult, to play. At the same time, this game crystalises some issues with how rhythm games as a whole handle music, and while its various stages are well designed enough, there's nothing truly memorable in there. It's an indie game that wears its heart on its sleeve, but unfortunately also struggles to stand out as anything but a textbook example of an indie title.

Although Spyro the Dragon and its subsequent two sequels haven’t aged as well as one would hope, Toys for Bob has done a good effort to put out a remaster that does the nostalgia justice. Control and design issues were part and parcel to 3D platformers from the era, but while can't be celebrated except when viewed through an incredibly thick pair of rose-tinted glasses, the overall series remains charming, delightful, and well worth checking out for interest's sake, if nothing else.

The team is pacing Loathing releases out nicely, too. Four years between Loathing games is a good rate, to ensure that the jokes don’t become stale to the player. See, more than anything else, playing Shadows Over Loathing has reminded me, yet again, just how much I enjoy the zany antics of these silly stick figures, and apparently this humour remains relevant no matter how old and jaded you become. The video game industry is better for having developers like Asymmetric in it.

If a polar opposite of the cynical “conveyor belt” approach to game design exists, it’s in the form of Super Hydorah and its slew of dextrously designed levels. Though it can be challenging in the wrong ways at times, it serves up a solid challenge for shoot ‘em up aficionados. On the whole, it’s a game that embraces the teachings of the genre behemoths while offering its own thoughtful tweaks.

For the most part, Control is a resounding success. It carves out a unique identity in its gameplay, and its interconnected story receives the torch passed from previous titles by its studio. It wears its influences on its sleeve, and is all the better for it. Even if the run time is a little shorter than other big budget games, there is a density and richness to Control’s design which is easy to appreciate, and the game tends to linger in your mind for much longer than any other Triple-A game of recent memory. Even if it has its flaws, and even if it left me wanting more, I put down my controller as the credits rolled feeling deeply satisfied: and that’s something we should cherish if we ever want the gaming medium to move forward.

So there are some very clear positives and very clear negatives to Little Nightmares II. The narrative is quite good, solid with lots of meaning flowing beneath the surface. The gameplay is mostly simple enough, the settings are ugly-pretty, the music enhances everything. Basically, it does wrap into a neat little package that can be unwrapped in layers. I can't ignore the issues, though, mainly with the lack of options and repetitiveness that can happen with failure. Still, Little Nightmares II does in fact feel like a conclusion to the first game in the series, yet still manages to turn it into a never-ending story so that someone else would be able to continue with the world. In that sense, it's actually quite clever.

Mario Party has been a multiplayer mainstay for me since right back with the original on N64. To this day the first three are on high rotation thanks to the N64 Online app. It’s really lovely to see Nintendo find creative form with Super Mario Party Jamboree by producing something that largely focuses on the basics. The new maps are excellent, the range of minigames is a delight, the bonus modes are fun, and the energy is playful and joyous. I went into this thinking it would be Nintendo’s equivalent to filler leading into the Christmas season. Turns out it was much more than that and this is a major project that everyone that enjoys multiplayer should pick up.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure is one of those games that could only come from Japanese culture. There aren’t many other cultures that see an inherent spirit and soul in a mascot, and to most of the rest of us, mascots are tools to use for branding and marketing, or otherwise become famous because of their association with a product like a film or a game (hello Mario and Mickey Mouse). It’s rare that a mascot IS the product. But that’s what has happened with Hello Kitty. Before today, most Kitty games came across as a cheap effort to extract more cash from that lucrative product, but Hello Kitty Island Adventure is different. This is a genuinely worthwhile use of your time, and the fact that it’s “free” but also free of microtransactions, thanks to being an Apple Arcade title, makes it all the sweeter.

Laden with meaning (and in future articles on Digitally Downloaded I'll be writing plenty more about that meaning in the weeks, if not years to come, I suspect), this game uses poetry as its basis and executes on that vision so well that it is, effectively, interactive poetry.

Because I was so emotionally invested in the game, I started to lose time while I was playing it. I don’t think it’s an overly long game, but I do think that its length will be wholly dependent on how good you are at understanding its logic and puzzles. It wouldn’t matter if it was over in an hour, though. The game is deep, meaningful, and powerful. It’s reflective, different, and beautiful. It may well end up being more divisive than Ueda’s previous masterpieces, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a masterpiece, from one of the industry’s true auteurs. Play this game. Even if you hate it, it’s going to broaden your horizons around what games are truly capable of.

There’s so much to like about Ninja Pizza Girl. We so rarely get to see glimpses into the team behind a game nowadays, but Ninja Pizza Girl just exudes vibrancy from all its edges that it’s impossible not to be charmed by the wonderful people at Disparity Games.

This was a really nice treat for Koei Tecmo to drop onto Steam out of nowhere. It’s a well-optimised port, and it plays as well as it did a decade ago. With Koei Tecmo revisiting its backlog like this, I hold out hope of being able to play Samurai Warriors 3 again at some point.

Essentially, Trails of Cold Steel III is just more Trails of Cold Steel, but with a bunch of new characters, some new ideas for the narrative to explore, and some welcome design tweaks. I mean that as an absolute compliment, though—Cold Steel and Cold Steel II are two of the best JRPGs in recent memory, so having more of the same is hardly an issue. I'm still not entirely sold on the idea of the original Class VII being pushed to the background for much of this game, but the new Class VII are fantastic additions to the roster who bring a lot of new ideas with them.

Seeing as the game is free to play however, if you have any interest in the genre at all, there is no reason not to give Duelyst a try and see if its distinctive stylings suit you or not.

Fundamentally, though, MLB the Show 23 is a good game. MLB the Show 22 was a good game. Adding the Negro Leagues mode was noble from Sony (and no doubt the kind of goodwill-generating progressive addition that will keep the licensor happy with how Sony is treating the IP). However, the misstep with the World Baseball League and a complete unwillingness to build on any mode but the awful Diamond Dynasty also make this year’s The Show unacceptable. If you missed last year’s iteration, then you can add a couple of stars to this score, because for you, it won’t be one of the most cynical annual iterations that we’ve seen in sports games for quite some time. For the rest of us, though. No. Not good enough.

The Golden Realms Expansion does not reinvent the Age of Wonders III wheel, but it does an excellent job of adding content to an already fun title that already had lots of replay value. With that being said, it would have been nice to see the expansion address one of the real issues I had with the first game - the limited combat variety for a feature that is meant to be the game's real point of differentiation.

The story is fun, the graphics are out-of-this-world impressively retro, and the controls have been updated for modern computers and controllers (or keyboards, if you so chose). I found myself completely immersed in the castle’s world — except when the audio cut out — and plan on going back again soon.

I don’t think we need the Suikoden series to “continue” any more than we need someone to go out and write a Water Margin 2. I have no idea if Konami is using this release to gauge interest in a proper “reboot” or new sequel, and being honest, I don’t think we need that. Frankly, I’m not even sure we need the rest of the series to be re-released from here (though I also wouldn’t say no to that). We should just appreciate that Suikoden and Suikoden 2 are remarkable achievements, both as literary adaptations and entertaining video games to play, and that quality and worth has not diluted one bit in the years since. Play these, love them, and then do yourself a favour and go and read Water Margin too.

Gorgeous art, an excellent soundtrack, a massive epic narrative that actually feels earned thanks to the strength of the writing and characterisation, and an exciting, tactical combat system. Yeah, it is, quite genuinely, an 80+ hour game, but that’s what the Christmas break is for, right?

Vermintide II feels like a predictable step in a fantastic direction.

Nintendo first released a Clubhouse Games way back on the Nintendo DS, about 15 years ago now. It was a brilliant example of the company's ability to appeal to a broad audience then and now, a decade and a half later, the company has backed it up resoundingly. Putting aside the presence of Ludo - which will forever be the worst board game ever made - 51 Worldwide Games is a pristine package of some of the most valuable cultural properties we have, and it is truly masterful at explaining even the most complex of them to a completely new audience. This is a rare opportunity to learn something about artefacts as wide-ranging as Chess, Mahjong, Hanafuda, and Mancala. That's not something you should miss out on.

Gnosia might not be a new concept – there are so many video games out there that feature death games with deception at the core of them. Last year’s Quantum Suicide even set the scene in space and had a less-than-benevolent AI pulling many of the strings, just like Gnosia does. But Gnosia is something rare: it is really, truly different. The developers wanted to take this common-enough concept and craft something that was truly their own, and not only have you got here a game that you won’t forget in a hurry, it’s also going to have you actively thinking about just how smart it is for some time to come.

The puzzles are a fun twist on the pre-existing formula, the temple backdrop is an interesting setting and the new monsters are a welcome challenge.

The world class presentation, excellent execution of modes and gameplay mechanics really do make NBA 2K19 the best sports game around.

Disgaea 4: A Promise Revisited is the kind of game that can ruin sleep patterns and kill productivity. But it's all worth it because it'll keep you chuckling right up to when that favourite Prinny hits level 9999, dood.

It's that sense of humour that helps Victor Vran to step out of the shadow of its genre namesake. It's a fully feature-rich example of the Diablo clone, is well balanced so that it never becomes tiresome to play, and offers plenty of shiny loot. The gameplay itself might not be breaking down any boundaries, but between this and Titan Quest, the Nintendo Switch is not lacking for quality horde slaughtering action.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is an objectively well-made product that is perfectly playable and it’s both empowering and entertaining. But it’s also nothing more than a product, finely tuned for passive consumption, right off the content mill.

For all the effort at making Tekken more accessible, Tekken 7 remains, ultimately, a fight club for the most serious of players only.

So there are some neat little features to the newest Mega Man. However, while it's the kind of game that series fans should enjoy, there just isn’t enough to bring it to a new audience.

I have not minded the opportunity to step back into Oblivion at all. It’s a big, beautiful adventure with some truly exceptional, memorable moments. The world of Oblivion alone is a perfect recreation of the Dungeons & Dragons descents into hell from my tabletop days, and I had such a rush of nostalgia playing that through again. It has made me feel old to reflect on the fact that it’s a 20-year-old game and I swear I remember playing it new like it was yesterday, and nostalgia always comes with some rose-tinted glasses, but yes, I haven’t minded having the opportunity and excuse to play this again at all.

While not the most innovative title in terms of modes and menus, FIFA 15 delivers where it counts - on the field of play.

It’s fun, mostly fluid and packed with content… as long as you ignore the money-making My Faction mode entirely.

Severed is a great game with a lot of depth that will have you thinking about it for a long time to come.

People looking to play something immersive on their PCs should look elsewhere.

On the one hand, A Plague Tale: Innocent tells an intense, and highly interesting story of one of the darkest moments of European history, and the impact that it had on its youngest people. It's evocative, interesting, and benefits from the highest calibre in production standards. On the other hand, it's so committed to a stock standard, safe approach to gameplay that so much of the great work done in the narrative is undermined. A Plague Tale comes so achingly close to the brilliance of a Hellblade, but sadly where Ninja Theory's "blockbuster indie" project is a masterpiece, Armicia's story is "just" a page-turner.

An odd package. It has got the finest game of all in the series in it, but that's backed up with reminders for why I'm fallen out of love with the franchise with the way it has progressed.

As great as it is as a single player outing, Kalimba really shines when you can bring a partner along for the ride.

More than anything else, though, what I love about Miss Fisher is the way that the game really represents a very Australian sense of storytelling and aesthetics. As long-time readers know, I often talk about how I’d like for Australia (and other markets around the world) to develop a unique identity in game production, distinct from the US, much like Japan has. This game is an example of that. It’s got that droll sense of humour that we do so well, and the art captures old Melbourne perfectly. If this game helps people discover the Miss Fisher novels and TV series, then so much the better, because they are a bit of a cultural icon that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.

Cytus Alpha is one of the finest playing rhythm games you'll ever come across. It's abstract, minimalist and focused, but it delivers such vibrant rhythm game action that it's impossible not to love.

My expectations have never been so thoroughly exceeded. As I said, I have a great deal of difficulty putting in words just how much I love Hellblade. It’s just that powerful.

The main point here is that Nippon Ichi has done a spot-on job with Disgaea 5 in porting it to the Nintendo Switch. This is one of the best tactics JRPGs you can play. It’ll last you a long time, become more rewarding the more time that you put into it, and runs just perfectly on the Switch’s hardware. You could not ask for a better portable game than this.

Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony takes things to another level entirely.

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.

This is a quirky and fundamentally experimental JRPG that in many ways remains out there on its own. The chapter-based approach to simple (but enjoyable) narratives that take place across time and space allows for an experience that is both varied and flexible. Throw in the most excellent application of HD-2D art for the remake, and the fact that this is the first time this game has had a formal release in the west, and Live A Live is an essential experimental title for the curious and those that enjoy playing things that are genuinely different.

Superstar Saga is still a great adventure on the 3DS. It’s not in the range of Metroid: Samus Returns in terms of recreating a classic from the ground up, but it may be enough to satisfy fans of the series that may have been turned off by recent, weaker efforts such as Dream Team and Paper Jam.

For a new IP, Nintendo has done everything right in Splatoon. It has forged a game that has an identity that is uniquely its own in a market and genre that is absolutely saturated in me-too nonsense, and has shown us all that there's no reason that a shooter should stick to template: it's okay to be different.

It's a succinct and heartfelt game with a gorgeous aesthetic and an evocative narrative. The Kids We Were seems destined to be a thing that people will overlook, but I really hope that they don't. The way it taps into both a sense of nostalgia for youth and the Japanese nostalgia for the golden 80's might not be the most original narrative angle ever, but it's a story told so well that you won't be able to put it down.

On the hardest levels of difficulty, I win more than 90 per cent of my games in titles like NHL, Madden, FIFA and NBA, but there I have the ability to more directly influence how the games play out. Here, it is about strategy, development and then learning the complexities of the game. This can make it difficult to find success, but I have found that it can be attained if you are patient and willing enough to stick with it.

Trackmania: Turbo is a beautiful game that tries to set itself apart from the pack. It's definitely better than most, and it’s clear that Nadeo have become rather accustomed to making these games. As the first TrackMania to make its way onto the PlayStation 4, I do recommend it if it is your genre of choice. But note that, thanks to the uninteresting campaign track designs, how long the game can hold your attention for is definitely proportionate to how much time you might be willing to pour into the track editor.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III manages to miss the mark with the narrative in the campaign, despite what looks to be genuinely good intentions, but the tight gunplay mixed with cooperative options and customisations still made the experience fun, if somewhat shallow despite the solid campaign length.

It's a brilliant concept, well told, and backed by Atlus' skill with turn-based combat at its peak.

It’s a delightful experience that shows the value of proper narrative scripting in games, building on the Moomin world rather than just using it as a prop for yet another tired tie-in genre game.

The Lion’s Song is a touching game that highlights individual’s creative struggles and how they overcome these hurdles in their lives. The struggles of the 20th century can still be seen in today’s society, so it is inspiring to see them discover themselves and overcome these hurdles.

Whereas any other series would be derided for a sequel that was merely more of the same, Overcooked 2 demonstrates the series’ strong core mechanics and delivers another stellar experience to be had with friends. There is a very clear vision here, and it works on every front.

This seems like the type of title that would have been a potentially risky endeavour when it was first brought over to North America, but now Phoenix Wright is one of the most recognised DS properties out there. It would be great to see more like it.

Hunt could have been so much more. As a hypothetical single player game, in which you carefully research a mark as you make your way through a deep south Gothic nightmare towards the final, hellish, confrontation, Hunt could have been something truly special. But commercial reality won't allow for that. Multiplayer shooters and content-driven live services are where the money's at, and in chasing the money Crytek has produced something that's a whole lot of fun to play, but ultimately shallow, vapid, and a complete waste of all the effort that went into the theme and design of the thing.

It is hard to shake the feeling that Monster Hunter Stories 3 is going to slip under the radar, and that would be a real shame. This is not merely a charming sidestep for Monster Hunter fans. It is a confident, ambitious JRPG in its own right, with strong storytelling, smart systems, and a clear identity. For the first time, the spinoff feels every bit as essential as the main series.

The most impressive thing to me about Guitar Hero Live is the way the developers have breathed new life into a series that became notorious for doing the same thing over and over again.

Cities Skylines is a ridiculously clever and enjoyable game, and one that I expect I will spend a lot of time playing down the track. EA looks like it will not be revitalising Sim City as a franchise anytime soon, so I’m so glad that another developer has stepped up to the plate and created the game that the last Sim City should have been… and I am so glad it’s finally on PlayStation 4.

It’s simple enough to pick up and play while waiting for the bus, yet also deep enough to put in marathon sessions when you should be asleep.

A simply beautiful example of minimalistic elegance and functionality, refined to a near perfect degree.

Untitled Goose Game is the most charmingly misanthropic game that has ever been created - and that's something I didn't even think was possible.

If anything, the release of Captain Toad goes to show just how confident Nintendo is, and more so with how much it understands its audience. In a blockbuster season filled with plenty of firearms and fistfights, Captain Toad shows us more creativity and style than many new IPs out there.

Distant Worlds: Universe is a corker. But make no mistake: while it’s not as forbidding as some Grand Strategy games, patience and a degree of head-scratching will be required. But it’s worth the effort. It’s enormous, complex and – above all – fun.

Fire Emblem Echoes offers some really neat ideas for how the series could progress onto the Nintendo Switch now. Free roaming dungeons just has to become a thing. But the series has moved on from the kind of narratives that it used to tell, and just like Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon on the Nintendo DS was quickly forgotten within the context of the series, I don’t think people, a decade from now, will still be talking about Fire Emblem Echoes. It’s a game for the here-and-now, made to give the 3DS one of its last hoorahs with a major franchise before all of Nintendo’s developers move fully to the Switch.

Trails Through Daybreak is a new starting point for a new, epic arc (with the second chapter already out in Japan). By the end of it, I was not only invested in the new characters and contribution to the Legend Of Heroes history that was being created through their actions, but I wanted to go back and replay all the rest of the games in this series all over again. More than a single game, The Legend of Heroes is an expansive project, and it’s inspiring every time I get to play one.

Temirana might not be up with my very favourite visual novels, but it is entertaining, with good and warm energy behind it. It’s not the ideal entry point to otome as it doesn’t really have a hook beyond “exactly the kind of game otome fans like to see,” but if you are a convert, you’ll find yourself chuckling along with the way it plays within the genre traditions right throughout.

Helldivers offers plenty of challenges and a great excuse to play with others, and that is when the game is at its best. There is a nice campaign built around the carnage that offers a sense of accomplishment, too, that makes the difficulty worthwhile.

Once you wrap your mind around this added layer of complexity, it makes the Ardennes Assault experience both fun and challenging.

Rune Factory 4 is a delight. It's one of those heartfelt, earnest, and wholesome games that remind you that not everything needs to be dour, competitive, excessively violent, or deep. It's a game in which a blatant clone of Hatsune Miku (or a male character, I guess) grows turnips, bops monsters on the head (and then makes friends with them), and eventually gets married. It's sweet, I love it, and bring on Rune Factory 5.

Sunset Overdrive is just what the Xbox One needed - a distinctive exclusive to set the thing apart from the PlayStation 4. Titanfall was adequate and the Forza games are great for racing fans, but Sunset Overdrive is a glorious breath of fresh air.

This game’s obvious new feature is its HD art, and, more than just being beautiful, the ability of this art to enhance the characters and world makes Shantae: Half-Genie Hero the most impressive take on the whole fantasy Middle East setting since the utterly brilliant Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Whether it released in 2017 or 1989, Warlock’s Tower would be a timeless classic. It explores rudimentary puzzle elements everyone should be familiar with and, armed with a deep understanding of why they work, introduces a meaningful wrinkle. In a game industry that often relies on deceptively shallow open worlds and filler for the sake of content to market, sometimes we need to take a step back and recognise that one grainy little monochrome screen can hold volumes.

Torchlight II is a cleverly designed game which is decidedly good at what it does – even if it is following a fundamentally flawed design philosophy. Its gameplay is compulsive and honestly a little bit vapid: the incessant grind and push forward is neither intellectually stimulating nor conducive to big, memorable moments. My time through Torchlight II is really just a blur of primary colours and explosions of gibs. If that’s what you need, and you’re able to look past the very deliberate shortcomings, then this will be a game that you will find hard to put down.

Thanks to its laid-back, low-pressure vibe, aesthetic warmth and overall wholesomeness, Guardians of Azuma captures the comfort food quality of the entire Rune Factory series. Meanwhile, thanks to a vastly improved visual engine, accessible interesting combat, and an exceptional setting, it also takes a strong step forward from its predecessors. This is the strongest entry in a beloved series, and made all the more special because, after the original developer of the series closed shop, it looked like the entire series was dead for several years. This is a pretty good statement that there’s still so much more that it can offer yet.

The characters are relatable, the issues are widespread, and the story is riveting. Don't miss out.

I hope the next Ace Attorney game has more structure in its overarching narrative and the developers actually have the cases flow naturally from one to the next. Even with its flaws, Spirit of Justice is good fun, through, and another quality example of a narrative from the ever-growing stable of visual novels we are now getting translated into English.

Dungeon Encounters is deceptive engaging. What seems at first to be a no-frills dungeon crawler, sliced back to its very minimum eventually reveals itself to be quite the clever little project. It provides the very basic foundation needed for a JRPG, and then gets out of the way, letting the player write their own story and fill in the metaphoric (and literal) blanks in their own way. That makes it an oddly cathartic experience.

Fate/Samurai Remnant doesn’t require you to know the Fate series to play, but it will convert you to a fan by the end of it. It’s written well, gives you an interesting world to explore, and has a clean combat system that never wears out its welcome. Given that this does take place in an entirely new chapter for Fate, Type-Moon now has a bunch more characters to spin into mechanise for this money-spinning behemoth and, as much as I hate admitting this to myself, I’d be all in for all of that. Fate/Samurai Remnant has reinvigorated my love for the property all over again.

Platformer purists are going to love Berserk Boy. As a blended homage to just about everything they have ever loved about the genre, the effort that has gone into meticulously recreating the best qualities of the genre is truly impressive. It’s just disappointing that the game, while drawn nicely and supported by an excellent soundtrack, ends up ringing hollow because the developers forgot to give it an identity that extends beyond the franchises that it celebrates.

If Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is really the last big 3DS release, it's one smashing swan song. The game is more straightforward than its predecessor, but this change plays to the strengths of Persona’s multitudinous characters. All up, it’s an exemplary crossover game worth investing hundreds of hours before you even start playing in just to appreciate its nuance.

Catherine is a rare game - it's one that handles sex themes with maturity and nuance, and then folds gameplay elements into the narrative themes that are enhance the core narrative. There's nothing superficial about anything in Catherine, and while I can't compare to the original release on PlayStation 3, I can say that, for anyone who cares about games as an artistic medium, it doesn't get much better than this.

This simply isn't true. The thematic depth and cultural context of the game make for a wonderful, complex, and meaningful narrative, and FFXV is every bit as worthy as a narrative work as Stand By Me, from which it draws so much inspiration. Couple this with the fact that it's a surprisingly traditional Final Fantasy game in the ways that count, and I've got to say I haven’t loved a Final Fantasy game with such raw passion in many years.

Dragon’s Dogma Dark Arisen is just as solid of an entry from Capcom as it was back upon the PS3 and the Xbox 360. With lots of landscapes to explore, character classes to try out, and help to summon, there’s no shortage of adventuring to be done, and once you're hooked on simply existing in the world, this is one that will last you for many dozens of hours.