Never 7: The End of Infinity and Ever 17: The Out of Infinity are both very different experiences, but both are worth picking up because they give you an insight into one of the auteurs of our industry. Kotaro Uchikoshi has a rare talent for bringing a literary quality to his projects, and with these two we get to see what he was like at the beginning of his career. That’s a treat that you shouldn’t miss.

For all its wealth of content, Puyo Puyo Tetris does rely on developing and then maintaining a strong online community for truly long-term value. As a local multiplayer game, you’ll be glad to have it around for the parties, and it’ll help plane trips and other long travels fly by in a snap. Get hooked into the game’s steep learning curve online, however, and you’ll have a game that you’ll be playing for months, if not years, and not once, for even the briefest second, will the game lose its charm.

Musings over fan service aside, Samurai Maiden is wildly entertaining B-grade fun. Like many of D3 Publisher’s other most notable titles, it rolls with its trashiness and embraces B-grade aesthetics and tone in totality. It doesn’t take itself seriously (at all), and doesn’t aspire to be anything more than a genre piece, made for people that probably already knew if this was for them from the first batch of screenshots. The fact it actually plays nicely to go with its fun theme is the icing on the cake. These kinds of games are becoming less and less common, for reasons that are best left to opinion pieces elsewhere. The point is, we need to enjoy stuff like Samurai Maiden when we get the opportunity to, because when they’re done as well as this, they’re a riot, and it would be tragic to see these kinds of games disappear.

The visuals, while still appealing, act a bit unsteady at times and the episode could have been longer. Telltale is asking for a fair chunk of cash for an episode that is measurable more in minutes than hours. But the art style, excellent voice acting and interesting story do more than enough to make up for those other deficiencies as Telltale Games turns in its finest release yet.

Sayonara Umihara Kawase+’s mental gymnastics are every bit as sadistically soul crushing as they are cunningly compelling and this two-spirited nature poses a serious entry barrier.

It one of the most immediately playable games at release I’ve ever encountered, with very few bugs or design flaws. You, dear reader, now have the power to become an all-powerful Overseer yourself. It would be a mistake not to.

Doraemon Story of Seasons brings the best of the long running Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons formula together with a true cultural icon of Japan. It's rare that the Doraemon video games make their way out west, but this one works so well as a Story of Seasons title that if it is your introduction to Doraemon, you're in for a treat. Even if it means you'll then have around 1,700 episodes of the anime to catch up on (and no, that's not an exaggeration).

So that’s In Other Waters – a play-it-on-its-own-terms sci-fi adventure that’s enormously niche, but excels at what it sets out to do. For those who like to see hard-sci-fi, and a plausible representation of what life on other planets could be like, this is sure to be a fascinating game which will have you dreaming up theories for weeks. But be warned as well though, this is a game which demands effort from the player and isn’t afraid of standing out from genre fare. So if you’re ready to take the plunge with an open mind, the waters of Gliese 667Cc are calling, with a voice unlike any you’ve heard before.

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.

Nippon Ichi continues to be one of the more experimental developers within traditional JRPG genres. Disgaea has always offered a fundamentally different approach to tactics JRPGs, and the two Witch and the Hundred Knight titles did interesting things with the action JRPG. Being different means they're not for everyone, but Labyrinth of Refrain is perhaps the developer's most mature, nuanced, and interesting effort yet.

I can't think of a single thing that truly disappointed me about Transport Fever 2. It's elegantly presented and understands that some efficiencies are required for the sake of playability.

To be very clear here: This version of Rogue is a faithful port of a game that is around 40 years old at this point. That was three years before the original NES version of Final Fantasy (not the remakes), and even then this version is a graphical overlay over a game first released even earler, back in 1980. Rogue is very (very) close to the very first RPG ever made, and there is no way that this port is for anyone but the (very) nostalgic. At the same time, Rogue is such an influential game that the basic idea of it continues to power a significant chunk of modern releases. If you can find a way to enjoy how primitive it looks and the relative simplicity of its systems by modern standards, Rogue holds up almost shockingly well.

Call of Cthulhu is the Cthulhu RPG I never realized I needed in my life. From the moment the atmosphere shifted upon entry to Darkwater, I was hooked. The Cthulhu mythology is presented with obvious appreciation for the source material, crafting a story of cosmic horror and the cults being crazy enough to worship those beings. Aside from some difficulty with sneaking, the game makes the descent into madness... fun? Can one have fun when descending into madness?

There’s this inescapable rhetoric that latches onto the mere whisper of the name “Sonic the hedgehog”, claiming the blue blur hasn’t had a great game in decades. While I disagree, Sonic Mania is a liberating experience that needs no asterisks to qualify it. Sonic sequels have so often been rushed or subjected to gimmicks that compromise what works, but Mania finally stops to acknowledge past successes, adds logical improvements, and enhances it all tenfold with personality. It even proves that Sonic can be more nuanced than the cursed phrase “gotta go fast” implies.

This is now the fifth time I have played Xenoblade Chronicles, and I've enjoyed it every time in the same way that I enjoy re-reading a good book. The game's themes, storytelling standards, and tone are all spot on. This is an interesting and fundamentally deep game that highlights the best of what is possible within the JRPG structure. It's a little disappointing that the developers didn't take this opportunity to tackle some of the superfluous stuff that is at odds with the better elements, and I've yet to be won over by the new narrative arc and whether it does anything to actually build on what was already a perfectly dense work. However, the core of the game is that powerful that the main reason to buy into this - that visual re-work - is more than enough to be worthwhile in itself.

This here is a masterpiece of narrative storytelling, one of the strongest examples of game-as-art that we’ve had in years, and a remarkable, cinematic, triumph that has the rare distinction of also being a major studio project that is both creative and original.

What I have to emphasise here is that the base puzzle game of Puzzle & Dragons is so, so addictive. Backed with a simple, pleasant aesthetic and speedy mechanics that mobile games specialise in, it's easy to watch the hours fly by without really realising you've been playing for so long.

In most other regards Arslan is a fairly standard Warriors experience, but between the strong, epic, narrative, gorgeous setting, and the varied bunch of really enjoyable characters there is more than enough here to justify its place among Koei Tecmo’s growing stable of licensed work.

Vampyr is the vampire story that I’ve waited for many, many years for. As a fan of Anne Rice and the deeper tales around vampires – and as a fan of stories that are focused on moral conflict and consequence, Dontnod have crafted something that feels custom-designed for me.

It's pure fun, and with Warriors Orochi 4, Koei Tecmo has done such a lovely job that I suspect I'll be coming back to it frequently for many years into the future.

With the superb Final Fantasy heritage to support it and even compensate for the lack of narrative context, as well as some truly exciting multiplayer questing, this is a game I have a lot of time for, and will do so for a long time to come.

Battlefield Waltz is one of Otomate’s stronger efforts. It takes a strong setting, a strong narrative, and strong characters, and makes the most of them. It’s a “safe” game that takes few risks and doesn’t really push boundaries, but it’s an enormously enjoyable and moreish page-turner. The digital equivalent of picking up a good paperback.

Without involving the micromanagement of something like Transport Giant, it’s also a game that offers just enough complexity to offer players a management challenge, and a sense of rewarding satisfaction when they’ve built up a sustainable, large, city. The story mode itself is quite poor, but as with any good city builder, all the fun’s in the sandbox mode anyway, and unleashing both your inner creative and inner city planner at once.

A Wonderful Life on the GameCube was perhaps the most perfect execution of the Harvest Moon (now Story of Seasons) ethos out of all in the long-running series. As such, it’s the one that also generates the strongest pathos. Heart-meltingly warm good-naturedness, mixed with a perfectly adequate remake make this wholesome masterpiece relevant all over again. With the state of the world being this lousy, these little escapes are more valuable than ever.

The Vita has no shortage of quality JRPGs on it, but Final Fantasy X HD Remaster should certainly be in the running for being the finest. With a rich narrative, quality gameplay, and a now in portable form, it's one of the finest games in the entire franchise.

Crymachina asks probing questions about the nature of humanity through the lens of machines, and its conclusions are evocative, emotive and ultimately quite uplifting. It does sit in the shadow of a giant of a game that already canvassed exactly the same subject through exactly the same lens. However, there’s a greater warmth to Crymachina that makes it more relatable than the relatively academic NieR: Automata. Throw in some vividly memorable art direction and what we have here is a JRPG that might surprise people with just how memorable it proves to be.

On the other hand, Matrix Games revived a niche and nearly forgotten 22-year-old game to deliver Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia. This may well be just a foundation to build on, assuming there's an audience for it. I certainly hope there is, because this series could go very, very far yet.

The main thing is the developers haven’t messed with the content. Because almost no one bought the Wii U, few people had the chance to play Bayonetta 2. With Bayonetta 3 on the horizon, giving people a chance to catch up is a really good idea on Nintendo’s part. That’s why these ports have been released, and they’re that good that, even if you were one of the few with a Wii U, you may as well buy them again.