While it is an open world game and therefore part of a tired and tiring genre, Rise of the Ronin makes it worth sticking with, thanks to incredibly strong historical fiction storytelling. With any luck, it will inspire some people to learn the more factual side of the era and, hopefully from there, come to a better understanding about where modern Japan came from. Despite being relatively recent, the Boshin War is a relatively under-utilised period of Japanese history, and Rise of the Ronin acts as a good introduction to it. Like with any historical fiction, the emphasis is firmly on the “fiction” side of things, but Koei has done a superb job of depicting the dynamics, tensions, conflicts and personalities of the era, making it as good an introduction to the era as any.

Banner Saga 3 is the appropriate swan song of the trilogy; hopeful, mournful, and utterly breathtaking.

I was concerned that D3 Publisher and the development teams behind EDF were losing sight of the purity of vision behind what they were doing. Iron Rain painted a bleak vision of the future of the series. Thankfully, the developers themselves seem to have realised what a misstep Iron Rain was, and the team at Yukes has pivoted a full 180 degrees with World Brothers. This game is just such great fun.

We could argue back-and forth about whether Nintendo should have simply released the original Super Mario RPG on the SNES app that online subscribers already have access to. The visual update is delightful, but outside of that Nintendo has changed so little that you could play the two games side-by-side and barely notice the difference in the experience. And yet, it’s also one of the all-time great games from the SNES era, and so whimsical and playful that, ultimately, Super Mario RPG is a worthwhile for no other reason than it’s an excuse to play it again.

By building upon universal human experiences, Team Gotham have created a poignant game which distills romance without being sappy, compassion without ulterior motive and self-reflection without the fear of others’ expectations. Perhaps it’s not the most exciting or enjoyable of games, but I’m sure Solo will find a core audience which will appreciate it for what it does best.

This is a game that is most interested in telling a story, and, just as with Nier before it, Drakengard 3 has a plot that is nothing short of a masterpiece. It's the kind of game that is going to inevitably be under-appreciated by people who can't be bothered trying to understand it. Judging from some of the other critical responses to the game that have already been published, we're already seeing that happen.

There are still some problems, as the platforming can feel awkwardly stiff at times and the game isn’t the prettiest of titles, but it’s a resounding triumph in teaching an important lesson. Those that finish Path of Motus will find themselves better for the journey and motivated to follow their dreams. That type of reward far surpasses the amount of fun a game can bring.

The point here is that Death End re;Quest is an excellent game, with a narrative with a depth that might surprise some players who go in assuming that fan service is the limit of it. And, sure, the Switch port is not the perfect version of the game and struggles to run smoothly at times, but that doesn't stop it from being highly playable, and for Idea Factory, putting this on a handheld platform is a worthwhile endeavour.

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey transcends the standard dungeon crawler. Posing innumerable questions about reality while using the dungeons themselves to full effect, it will keep players thinking even when slaying demons. Redux is not some grandiose HD reimagining with a bloated budget but an insightful expansion to a masterpiece’s original vision.

Was Bustafellows season2 strictly necessary? Probably not. The original was so beautifully constructed and went out with a bang. By exploring events past that bang, we do get a chance to get to know the characters even more deeply, and the story is every bit as well-written and engaging. So while it’s not strictly necessary, I am not by any means complaining about having the opportunity to dip back into this world again, either.

I can see now why Crisis Core is considered one of the best PSP titles and one of the finest Final Fantasy games ever made. It has been “blown up” and remastered for the PlayStation 5 to the point that it looks and feels like a native title, and has a rich and emotionally impactful narrative that, being entirely honest here, was well beyond what I was expecting. This is another feather in the cap for Square Enix, which has had one of its finest years ever.

It's not exactly the first science fiction game to bring up the humanity of AI, but its exploration of that is more thoughtful than most. At the same time, it's an edge-of-your-seat thriller full of charming characters, brought to life with gorgeous portraits and artwork. So long as you've played Steins;Gate before it, Steins;Gate 0 is a game you don't want to miss.

Credit must go to Nintendo for supporting this project, though. Yes, it might be the “safest” game that Goichi Suda has produced in quite some time, and the energy is just not the same when he’s retreading old ideas rather than creating something new. But then Goichi Suda on a flat day is still more creative than 99 per cent of the auteurs out there, and No More Heroes III is still big, colourful, bold and filled with surrealistic humour. With the energy dialled right up to the maximum, it’s hard not to love something this brash.

Root Letter is still a gorgeous story, told beautifully. I highly recommend players turn the photo-realism mode off and enjoy every second of the vibrant anime vision. Finally, while I might have my issues with this realism art, one thing can't be denied; it is so great to have this to play on the Nintendo Switch.

Between The Rebel Collection and the Assassin's Creed 3 + Liberation packs, the Nintendo Switch has the pinnacle of the series available for it now, as far as I'm concerned. Having these games available for on-the-go play makes the mild concessions made more than a fair tradeoff, and it speaks to the quality of Rogue in particular that I was more than happy to play it through yet again. It's a rare game indeed that ropes me in for a third replay.

Stella Glow is influenced by traditional tactics games through and through, but Imageepoch’s distinctive contributions to the genre and glossy finish prove that it’s stellar on its own terms. It’s as if the company wrapped up its love for the industry in its masterwork and issued an open challenge to top it.

Republique is also utterly beautiful, and coming to the PlayStation 4 as a complete package, rather than the chapter structure it adopted for the iPad release, is greatly welcome. This way, it is a complete package, this game is a chunky, lengthy experience that will last you for quite some time to come.

It's a surprisingly decent narrative, mind you. BlazBlue has all the typical tropes of youth action anime, with its focus on moving up and down power rankings something overly familiar to anyone who's watched even a few anime titles in the past. But, again, BlazBlue does it convincingly enough that you feel like you're getting a full anime season as part of the game's entry price. Throw in the quality competitive seen, umpteen different alternative gameplay modes, and the sheer size of the roster, all available from the outset, and BlazBlue is going to be hard to put down for a long period of time.

Nippon Ichi has provided yet another reason to keep the PlayStation 3 active under the television.

Tamsoft went into this one with a clear brief to do something heavily fanservicey, and even by comparison to its work on Action Unleashed, MegaTagmension certainly achieves that.

That little technical niggle aside, Virginia is a fantastic piece of interactive fiction, and a fantastic videogame. It’s rare to see a game that truly innovates on the way a story can be told through this medium, and to have something that doesn’t only push those boundaries but does so this effectively is a real treat.

Castlevania does seem to be a fading name in video games. Prior to Haunted Castle Revisited the last new Castlevania game was more than a decade ago now, and it was the dismal work that MercurySteam did on the series with Lord of Shadows. Castlevania Dominus Collection may well represent the last hurrah for a once powerful name in video games, but at least it reminds us of just how good this series could be.

At about 15 hours in length Beasts of Burden respects your time and moves beautifully from plot highlight to highlight. It’s the perfect “Sunday morning gaming” game to unwind with while enjoying a coffee and there’s a humble warmth and love for the genre that makes it difficult to criticise those small things that don’t quite work in its favour. Thanks to the monster collecting, this is the finest in the Voice of Cards series so far, but you really should play them all.

As a 15th anniversary celebration of an incredibly marginal series here in the west, but a far more popular one in Japan, the Touch Detective 3 + The Complete Case Files collection is just blindingly good value. Each game combines classically entertaining and surrealistically funny point-and-click mechanics with memorable characters and some delightfully eccentric moments. This is in so many ways a perfect example of the heart and soul of Japanese game development.

The platforming is rock solid, and as I noted, I love the theme with a passion. I would like to see WayForward do something more narrative-heavy with Shantae, as I think she would be a spectacular lead in a RPG or similar, but as it stands this is my favourite 2D platformer series of all, and I'm glad to see that it's now on PlayStation too.

It is a fun, balanced and accessible fighter by a veteran development team that knows how to make an excellent arcade fighting game. However, it still finds a way to be true to the source material, despite the game being of a very different genre.

Whether it’s called Clap Hanz Golf or Easy Come, Easy Golf, it’s one of the finest efforts from this highly specialised, legendary development team. The Switch lets you enjoy the game without the subscription model attached (which is an inherent plus), and the price is more than reasonable for something that is this big. Grindy, yes, but once you fall in the habit of playing once or twice per week to check in, unlock a few things, and participate in a tournament or two, you’ll realise that you just never stop playing it. Over a year later, you’ll realise that you’ve chalked up dozens of hours and that this is one of the most fundamentally enjoyable sports games you’ve ever played.

By giving us a rare – albeit fantastic – look into an almost completely ignored period of Japanese history Otomate has given us a gift. Winter’s Wish is beautiful and written with a deft touch. We’ve got a great cast of characters, a meaty narrative to work through, and some notes to start learning more about a fascinating chapter of history. It’s a win all around.