By and large Avernum 2: Crystal Souls is an excellent title that really serves to remind RPG fans what matters most. This is a throwback title with visuals that likely will not appeal to everyone, but if you have never had a chance to journey through Crystal Souls, this is the perfect opportunity to do so.

Compared to Camelot's previous 3DS effort with the tennis game, this is a massive step up.

If loads of jump scares or action are your thing, SOMA might disappoint. It takes its time, is even a little self indulgent, but more than anything it wants you to actually think about what's going on. If you are going to come for this one come for the excellent writing, voice acting and atmosphere.

We may well never see simulators made in the mould of RollerCoaster Tycoon anymore. To an extent that is understandable – spending hours carefully building a park only to run out of money and see it fall into ruin might be authentic, but it’s not exactly “respecting the player’s time” and providing the dopamine hit that game developers talk about at their conferences these days. For my mind, though, aside from difficulties in trying to make a mouse-only interface from yesteryear work with a modern controller layout, this is the finest simulator available on the Nintendo Switch.

This might mean that VR games never fit in with the current expectations of non-VR games, but when they’re stuff like Dexed, I don’t mind in the slightest. This is a game that focuses on immersion, and immersive it is. Simple gameplay loops give players a reason to keep coming back and playing more, but what will stay with you for far longer is just how beautiful it all is.

Played in short bursts, Legend of Legacy is a stunning-looking JRPG for the genre’s nostalgic. The clean, functional turn-based combat, combined with straightforward objectives and smooth flow through the adventure make this one best played in short bursts so the lack of narrative can’t drag on the all the other positives in the experience. Play it on those terms, however, and its charms will never fade.

It’s maddeningly difficult and lots of fun, and there's not much else I can say about it.

It’s always great to see a developer grow in confidence, embrace new ideas, and find new ways to embrace their creativity. Submansion is a lot of things – quirky, surreal, whimsical and dark. It’s also the kind of game that could only come from a single developer exploring their personal creativity.

While this game might have the look and feel of a "family friendly" shooter, the reality is that the people playing it are of a standard to make it one for the shooter veterans who want a change of scenery from the brown wasteland battlegrounds.

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.

There is still room for improvement, but now the title is more than a foundation - it is a full game with a great deal for hockey fans to appreciate.

It’s the humour and presentation that makes No More Heroes VR worthwhile in the end.

Stealth Inc 2 was not only something different, but it was something different that worked. It isn’t easy to merge several styles, but Curve Studios went for it and it more than paid off.

This game is a kinetic novel – it has no choices or branching paths, and instead is more about telling a story through its visuals and sound, in addition to written text. At the moment, Jiangshi x Daoshi is divided up into a prologue and two full-length volumes. I think of these as something like an “arc” – the game even divides them into chapters about the same length as a chapter in a manga. Just like with the “Big Three” heroes’ quests to become Hokage, King of the Pirates, and whatever Bleach's Ichigo’s character arc was, there’s an overarching theme narrative in Jiangshi x Daoshi’s volumes which run beneath the surface level antics. That being said, it’s a satisfying ride no matter how long the reader stays for. Fruitbat Factory have released the first two volumes on Steam already with the third arriving as DLC. From a production value standpoint, these are fantastic stories, but looking at the narrative, it’s deeply flawed. Nonetheless, it’s the kind of story with so much heart and energy that it’s impossible to not enjoy.

Otoko Cross is horny, lewd, and excellent. Whether it works as a turn-on or not depends on your taste for incredibly pretty boys, but even if that’s not your thing, it is easy to appreciate the effort that went into the art, and the clean, vanilla nature of the arcade puzzle action. I don’t mean that as a criticism, either. Sometimes “vanilla” is exactly the flavour you want and vanilla Mahjong Solitaire is timeless good fun. More than anything else, though, in the endless tsunami of massive boobs and thunder thighs that makes up fan service orientated video games, I’ve genuinely enjoyed the opportunity to play something that is different. It’s not innovative, but it’s different, and, like I said earlier on in the review, my taste in art appreciates the different a great deal.

XCOM has once again proven that it is a powerhouse when it comes to tactical gameplay.

Happy Home Designer isn't going to dethrone Animal Crossing: New Leaf as the number one game in your 3DS' play log – not by a long shot. In taking away the scant few of the franchise’s stressors, however, it becomes a profoundly therapeutic life simulator that respects and rewards every millilitre of creative juice you pour into it. It’s a stop-gap on the road to Wii U/NX but a detour that won't soon be surpassed.

Although there is definitely room to grow in terms of story and how its presented, as well as a few minor flaws here and there, Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble provides a huge amount of enjoyment from start to finish with some incredibly tense fights.

Supermassive Game's high concept - an anthology of horror stories - is off to a great start with Man of Medan. We don't get nearly enough horror that aims to be thoughtful like this. The challenge will be to make sure that each game in the series is different enough to reflect a different approach to horror, but things are off to a good start.

It’s about enjoying the moment, even if it might not lead to a happily ever after, and at least giving love a chance to blossom.

Death end re;Quest: Code Z ends up being something of an archetypical JRPG for Idea Factory in one way, while the opposite of what we expect in the other. It’s far sharper and smarter than the over-the-top fan service suggests it will be. That’s the archetypical half. Meanwhile, the JRPG mechanics are competent and enjoyable, but very standard with little experimentation. That’s categorically not what we expect from Idea Factory. It’s usually a company that experiments with combat systems to its detriment. That being said, I’m not disappointed by this at all. We haven’t had a proper “Chocobo Dungeon” style roguelike in a long time. This scratches the itch and then, thanks to the exquisite horror art and theme, leaves a bloody scar behind.

While the Nintendo Switch version of the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy may not look quite as dazzling as its counterparts, there’s no denying that it’s bolstered by being available on a portable system.

Single-player isn't what Kirby Fighters 2 is about. Nor is it about the relatively serious tone of online multiplayer. Kirby Fighters 2 is a rare gem in that it's a local multiplayer-orientated game that, in 2020, was not developed by a small studio working on a micro-budget. This game, to me, is a reminder of the dozens upon dozens of hours I would play Super Smash Bros. on the Nintendo 64 with family and friends, at a time before anyone cared about a "meta-game" or the tiered rankings of dozens upon dozens of characters. Kirby Fighters 2 gets the party fighting game genre right back to the most simple of basics, and it's adorable in the process. That's a win-win.

Tempered at the edges as it might be, Onee Chanbara Origin is still crass and skimpy, and an explicit work of nostalgic grindhouse for anyone that remembers that genre. Additionally, short as it may be, it's genuinely well-made for what it wants to be: a mindless action game. It's just that the tempering at the edges means that it's not as pure as something like School Girl/Zombie Hunter, and therefore won't replace it as the best trash grindhouse this generation has given us. What it is, though is more than enough to remind us that we may well get very little of that in the next generation, and to make no bones about it, that's very disappointing to me.

These gripes aside – and I realise that I’ve griped a lot in this review – Pokémon Pearl remains an excellent game, and the remake is of a very high quality. I’ve been able to reunite with Piplup, relive a very fondly-remembered adventure, and while there have been some tweaks that I’ve been less than amused by, on balance the developers have retained the qualities that made that game such a fondly remembered one.

Fans of the original Gears of War will enjoy visiting Sera one more time to play out humanity's last hope against the Locust.

Space Hulk: Tactics is the most impressive Warhammer 40K effort I've played in recent memory.

I found Dead Rising 4: Frank’s Big Package better put together than the original release. This time around you don't need to worry about the real conclusion being behind a paywall, and there are two new modes to enjoy. Especially for those who didn't previously own an Xbox One and thus missed out of the original, the result of this package is that you've got something genuinely good fun to play this holiday season.