The Eternal Cylinder is quite sad yet somehow there is a delight in finding in the smaller moments: finding an egg and evolving are especially happy moments. It is complex yet simple, running from the big bad thing that constantly looms like the Sword of Damocles is easy enough, but exploring to find the way ahead isn't always completely straightforward. The opposite emotions make the game feel deeply fulfilling. It's not quite like anything else I've ever experienced, and I feel like it will haunt me (in the best way possible) for quite some time to come.

It isn’t what I was expecting, and initially it was confounding, but the more time I spent with it, the more I came to love it for its grungy underground spirit.

This is a profoundly effective game. Digimon has always pushed a little harder than Pokémon to actually spin a meaningful story around the property, and Digimon Survive is not the first time the series has flirted with darker material. Thanks to excellently-flawed characters, clean tactical combat, and an eclectic but interesting blend of genres, Digimon Survive stands out as one of the most different and creative JRPGs you’ll play this year.

Shining Resonance Refrain might not be a classic example of the genre, but it gets the most important components of the genre right – the characters and the storytelling – and backs it up with some gorgeous art and a perfectly competent combat system.

Bunhouse is meditative and sweet. It's the kind of game that you can boot up and play for a couple of minutes or hours, depending on how much you need to de-stress, and in so many ways it parallels the joy of having actual rabbits as pets. They might not be the loudest or most boisterous buddies, but their stoic warmth fills the home with wholesome goodness. Ultimately, rabbits are wonderful, and Bunhouse does them justice.

When we think about this Halloween season and all the horror games that celebrate it, we rarely think about a dungeon crawler. After all, the 'crawler doesn't feature visceral action or jump scares. It's all too turn-based for that. But, of course, horror can be much more than jump scares and visceral action, and Undernauts demonstrates that beautifully. Strong atmosphere, challenging combat and Experience Inc.'s mastery of the genre combine to create something that is nearly impossible to put down.

For a game so focused on the monstrous and the grotesque, Severed’s power lies in how it shines a critical and emotional light on an intrinsic part of what it means to be human.

What we have here is a darkly beautiful and emotionally-challenging experience, rather than a game, and completely and utterly essential from a transcendent games as art point of view.

It's quite impressive that SEGA has been able to take something so revered as Valkyria Chronicles, and do it justice with the fourth title in the series. It's even more impressive that it was willing to admit that Revolution's experimental structure wasn't what fans wanted, and to go back to that original formula. It's hard to do justice to something so beloved, but given that the only flaw that Valkyria Chronicles 4 has is that it's not quite Valkyria Chronicles, that's exactly what has been achieved here.

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.

This is the best game in the Assassin’s Creed series. That extra year of development time has really helped Ubisoft find its creative centre again, and craft something that feels both fresh and energised. I could take or leave the shifts in gameplay to make this more like the loot-grind RPG-likes that dominate blockbuster game development now, but when Ubisoft is playing so beautifully within a fascinating period of history, all I care about is how utterly engrossed I am with the storytelling.

There are things that you need to be critical of in Sword and Fairy: Together Forever. The game hasn’t been made to the same precision as the upper echelons of RPGs out of Japan and the West, and that is undeniable. But then Together Forever has the singular advantage of being one of the few Chinese RPGs that we get to play, and that makes it distinctive, different, and worthy on its own merits. Add in incredible art direction (oh how I love Yue), and a gorgeous combat system, and we’ve got perhaps the most interesting RPG of 2022 here. I really hope people don’t overlook it.

Ultimately the irreverence of Final Fantasy X-2 means that the quest isn't as memorable as its predecessor, and while it's good fun, it's also not something to play on rotation. But combined these two games are incredible value, and a great alternative to the XIII series on the PlayStation 3 for people that were put off by those more recent Square Enix games.

Ultimately, Path of Mystery might not have the impact that a Famicom Detective Club, Phoenix Wright, or Danganronpa might, but this visual novel has plenty going for it. A cast of characters with a brilliantly written and believable set of dynamics between them, a clever mystery, told well and surprising enough to keep its hooks into you, and truly gorgeous art and presentation. Aksys picked a good one to localise, and the game deserves more attention than it’s getting.

I'll be really disappointed if Nintendo really is shifting emphasis to turn Smash Bros. into a more "serious" fighting game. It says a lot about Super Smash Bros. Ultimate that the biggest criticism that I have with it is that the intent of this game seems at odds compared with the intent of Smash Bros. entries in the past. This won't work nearly as well as a party game as some in the Smash Bros. series have in the past, but nonetheless this is a genuinely impressive fighting game with a nearly overwhelming amount of content that's going to make the more serious Smash Bros. fans very, very happy.

There's a lot of room for Granblue Fantasy: Versus to grow from here. There are a lot more characters that can be brought into the game, and many more stories that can be told through that RPG mode. As it is, however, this is a remarkably beautiful and intelligently-structured fighting game, which does justice to the source material and offers a stunning foundation for what might come into the future. It also works as the perfect introduction to Granblue Fantasy for the west, and now Cygames should be left with no other choice than to release the mobile game worldwide.

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.

Fated: The Silent Oath is exactly the kind of game that VR was made for, and it’s nice to finally see the technology put to work on small, intimate, emotive character drama. The good news is that this is the first part of what’s planned to be a multi-episode game, and I’m really looking forward to spending more time in this world, with these people.

I hope Nexomon continues to perform well and grow from here. The developers really do have an opportunity to take what they've done across the first two titles and build it into "the alternative Pokémon", especially considering that both Yokai Watch and Dragon Quest Monsters seem to be on the wane. Nexomon isn't quite the game that its (console) predecessor is, but it's still a warm, comfortable, and amusing experience, and while it can be frustrating at times to try and catch all 300+ monsters on offer, they're so ultra-cute that you'll do it - and love it - anyway.

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.

Of course, Minos’ fans – and the game deserves to have a lot of them – will tell you the plot isn’t important. What is important is its creative sandbox and gleefully gory approach to what is essentially a tower defence game. And on that I would agree with them. Minos is really difficult to put down once you start finding yourself daydreaming about new ways to combine your trap arsenal together.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1’s degree of fan service means it probably won’t resonate with anyone unwilling to step outside their comfort zone, but beyond that entry barrier lies a laboriously crafted JRPG with tangible meaning behind its story and worthwhile commentary on the video game industry.

A truly beautiful game, and a confident, well-meaning and refreshingly positive use of the videogame medium by talented newcomers. The money might be in the AAA fetish shooters, but the heart, soul and future value of games is wrapped up in projects like this one.

It’s not a very long game at all; I’d clocked it in about seven hours, but those are the best, most entertaining seven hours I’ve had with the PlayStation 4 controller in my hands for a very long time.

The core fundamentals of Monster Rancher are delightful, and while this collection has its issues, there aren't all that many modern equivalents to what it offers, so they hold their value well. Whether this is some kind of elaborate market research with Koei canvassing interest for a potential new Monster Rancher, or a simple acknowledgement that the series still has fans and they'll buy anything Monster Rancher-related, I don't know. I almost hope they don't make a new Monster Rancher, because the appeal of these games is in their simple charm. Simplicity that modern game development can't get away with. In that context, I actually believe that Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX will be the best of this series. Putting aside the inability to summon monsters via CD, both games have aged like the finest of wines, and remain some of the best examples of design from their era.

It might be a flawed experience, but that’s almost irrelevant when you consider just how much of it there really is on offer. This is how you do an “HD remaster."

The Legend of Zelda series has become the incarnation of an adult, and for better or worse, Majora’s Mask is the coming of age story that made us all grow up.

Death Come True is, ultimately, a story of romanticism set against a pragmatic realism. This review will make a lot more sense after you've actually played the game, and I'm certainly hoping that there will be people that jump on here down the track to discuss their interpretation of events with me. If Danganronpa argued that Kodaka is one of the genuine thinkers around video game narrative, Death Come True has solidified it, and while this is a much more modest and experimental work in scope to that visual novel series, it's still inspired stuff and it does have a haunting quality that will remain with me for quite some time to come.