Whether this release is testing the water for a return to the series, or it's just a dip into the library to throw out a release in January, Onimusha is one of Capcom's finest and least appreciated. Hopefully with this new version, creaky as it can be at times, the game (and franchise) finds some new fans. It would be great to have Onimusha and Nioh competing side by side to have the premier Japanese dark fantasy crown.

Neither side of the game will exactly challenge your mastery over their respective genres, but the cutesy aesthetic, light sense of humour, and general balance of the game is spot on. This is something that’s easy to play in the background while watching television or a movie, and sometimes that’s all you’ll need or want.

This has been a blast from the past I’ve been truly happy to leap back into. Shadowgate and its brethren remain as confoundingly beautiful as ever, and there’s such a charm to how these games delight in confusing the hell out of you that most modern games, in their desperation to have people roll through them, just aren’t brave enough to do. This release is perhaps an anthology that could never hope to appeal to any but the nostalgic, but I have to hope that one or two people out there might be twisted just enough to enjoy the way that these games seem to enjoy messing with their heads.

This is a game designed to make you smile the whole way through. It doesn’t need to challenge you, or to make you prove your expertise – it’s there to remind you of idyllic childhoods, exploring forests and caves and give you that sense of wonder that you once experienced through the old-school top-down adventure game genre. We rarely celebrate games because they are simply, unapologetically joyful, but Reverie is a great place to start, if you’re looking for joy.

Ultimately the success of Samurai Warriors 4 Empires rests on how well it has been able to merge action and strategy together, and while I feel this veers strongly on the side of action, compared with even the Dynasty Warriors Empires series, there’s still enough thinky stuff to do between battles to add nuance to the overall experience.

In the off chance that you're interested in seeing what the most serious of strategy games look like, then here's a perfect exhibit A for you.

This game is excellent. It plays nicely, has solid cultural resonance, and actually respects the player's time, as it's only around 20 hours or so in length (while not compromising on the narrative quality). This is easily one of my favourite games of the year, which is why I wanted to do something a little special in reviewing it.

Lost Dimension was a commercial failure in Japan, and I can't see it finding a massive audience in the west. But it's worth a look as a solid, enjoyable tactics RPG, backed by some solid, albeit occasionally laboured storytelling. As a weekend buster, I can't really ask for more than that in a game.

Fans of Descent from way back when should have a pretty good idea of what to expect here, as it is very much a modern take on the genre - to the point where it could be argued as a spiritual successor. It plays well and does its job, but it's also a thin package that doesn't offer a great deal of substance beyond the endless loot grind.

Starpoint Gemini 2 is difficult to get into, and I wish the narrative had been more interesting as well. However, the ability to play the game several different ways while reaching out and exploring a beautiful, expansive space helps to make the investment of time worth it. It is great to see a game like this coming to console, as the genre is far better represented on PC.

Many of my complaints from the previous two collections apply here. I would have liked to have seen more effort go into the game’s history – give us scanned copies of the manuals or digital art books or something to make it feel more than a launcher for two games picked at random out of the back catalogue. Nonetheless, these are two deeply nostalgic and important artefacts from a genre, and La Pucelle, in particular, is a pioneering title that every genre fan should play.

That’s a shame, because there’s a lot of potential in the Psychonauts universe for a fantastic VR game – this much is apparent even to me, despite having never played the original game. The quirky characters and outlandish locations are just begging to be explored with the kind of immersiveness that VR offers, but Rhombus of Ruin isn’t that game. If anything, it’s a game that makes me want to finally check out Psychonauts itself, but that’s due as much to what this game fails to deliver as to what it succeeds in.

Once you push through the initial slog, Metal Max Xeno Reborn is a truly entertaining take on the apocalypse. The mixture of tank modifications and turn-based combat using those vehicles is something different for JRPGs, and it’s nice to have a game that acts as a foil to the aggressively dark apocalypses that plague this industry.

No game, film, book or otherwise has been more effectively in capturing what the experience of exploring the universe must be. Lonely, hostile and unforgiving, Hello Game’s effort works so hard to reject the convention on how games are made that it’s easy to understand why people expecting something more traditional might come away disappointed.

Megadimension Neptunia VIIR is an odd duck, being sold heavily on the VR features, even though they are so overtly tacked-on, but whatever the development story behind that, Compile Heart has gone back and substantially improved the gameplay engine, to the point that this is genuinely one of the better JRPGs out there. Making it all the more pity that a lot of people won’t see past the low budget these games are made on, and their love of underwear.

ADIOS is a game I think many people can enjoy. I also think each individual will get something different out of it, as long as they stick with it and get a feel for the inner workings of the game.

If you happened to play Sniper Elite V2, you already have a good idea of how Sniper Elite III plays - but this latest iteration does everything a bit better. With less than a dozen maps, relatively lacklustre story and questionable enemy AI, Sniper Elite III is a flawed but enjoyable game nonetheless.

Far too shallow to stand up to the crop of other tactics JRPGs released this year, in what has been a really good year for the genre.

I'm actually disappointed that I didn't like Golf With Your Friends more. I enjoy party games, I enjoy minigolf, and I do think that the fundamentals of good minigolf are in there. However, it's worth remembering that right back at the start with the Nintendo Switch Zen Studios released Infinite Minigolf - a minigolf game with character avatars, personality AND the ability to create and share courses, giving it much greater value as a single-player experience. It doesn't have the ability to provide the kind of wildly entertaining large party experience of Golf With Your Friends, though, so I guess the question then becomes which of the two scenarios will more likely describe how you're playing games most of the time?

Twelve Minutes is slow-burning, despite being about such a short time loop, but it will seep into your mind and refuse to leave. I actually dreamed in a time loop last night, which has literally never happened to me before. The concept is solid enough to stand on its own among dozens of other popular time loop media (television, film, games... it is everywhere). The intrigue and deeply flawed characters are enough to keep one invested for hours, and even worth putting up with irritating console controls.

You're not going to forget your time with Detective Pikachu in a hurry, and those memories are going to be all very positive.

Given that this is a port to a console, and the Switch has consistent hardware specs across the board, it’s clear the game’s stability wasn’t re-examined prior to its Switch debut. No cheeky philosophical quip is going to make that look anything short of lazy.

Once again, this is a game for the fans, and only the fans, but I think that there has been a genuine job here to do right by the fans. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle is not a classic game by any means, but it's leagues ahead of most other anime or manga fighting games.

It might not be as completely over the top as some of Compile Heart’s other work, but it’s a load of fun for the studio’s fans nonetheless, and its relative subtlety might just help get it over the line for people who find the Hyperdimension games just too silly for their palettes.

Knowledge is Power is an entertaining quiz game, and based on my multiple playthroughs I’m yet to hit a question for the second time. It's Mario Kart-style item system ensures that most games are close, no matter the quiz knowledge. At the same time, the questions themselves are entertaining and varied enough that this one comes highly recommended for trivia heads.

Miitopia is the right kind of silly nonsense. It's oddball, but never random for the sake of randomness. There's method to the madness, and in giving players such control over the experience, Miitopia ends up becoming something resonant on a personal level. Part of the reason I had so much fun with this game was because I had a direct hand in crafting what I experienced. I rarely laugh out loud as much as I have had with this one, and that is more impressive of a feat than Nintendo will get credit for. It's hard to get humour right over something as extended in length as a JRPG, and Nintendo nailed it.

The level design is generally good, albeit quite generic. It’s not like Butcher has many surprises for the players, but the action flows nicely and the game knows how to be punishing without feeling unfair. All in all, it's a generally smooth game let down by its idea of scale.

I love the classic Dragon Quest titles with a passion, but there is nothing that redeems these poor ports. They fail as an archive of classics, since the redesign fundamentally changes them. They fail as pieces of entertainment, because they're so ugly and poorly made. Finally, they fail as Dragon Quest, because Dragon Quest fans will be insulted by this trash being passed off as their memories.