I wasn’t really playing Hyakki Castle for the “gameplay” so much as the opportunity to run through a gauntlet of stunningly-rendered yokai, and the game really scratched that itch. This is the first game for Asakusa Studios, and with it, the team has announced itself as a real talent, and a group of artists and coders with a real understanding on how to meld Japanese tradition with very modern gameplay.

This is a game that offers such poignant and relevant social commentary, and after many years of being either PC-exclusive, or released in a very watered down fashion on game consoles, it’s great to see that this great experiment in giving us the tools to play around with humanity is finally on console in a full and unabridged way.

The Just Dance franchise hasn’t grown a lot since its heyday, but it doesn’t need to. Most of the songs included are a lot of fun to dance to, even if pop music isn’t your thing. The gashapon reward system offers an incentive to keep dancing without making it feel like rewards are constantly out of reach. Grab a friend and clear the lounge-room, because it’s time to get addicted to dancing all over again.

This Is The Police aims to be something of a higher production values take on Papers, Please. For the most part it succeeds, and certainly Lindsay loved in, as you can see from her perfectly fair take on the game. But truth be told the simulation/ strategy gameplay isn't that involved, so what I was left with was the narrative storytelling, and while every moral conundrum gave me real pause to think, too often I thought my emotions were being exploited and toyed with by a game that was going to play out the same way regardless. That in itself is worth talking about in the context of a conversation around determinism, but I was still left feeling a little cheated, truth be told.

The experience also naturally fits with the Nintendo Switch and handheld gaming.

It remains true that Cat Quest is a hugely reductive game that strips the RPG formula to its very roots, and that lack of depth becomes tiresome towards the end. I'm glad that this is not a game that outstays its welcome, but at the same time it's not a game I'll remember, beyond that adorable skipping run of my adorable little furrball.

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.

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.

Defiant Development has proven that Hand of Fate was neither a one-off hit, nor that it couldn’t be expanded on in a meaningful way. Hand of Fate 2 retains the aesthetics and soul of the original game, but builds on the world’s lore, its mechanics, and its art in such a way that the two games feel generations apart. As I said at the start, this is one of the best games Australia has ever produced. Now begins the agonising wait for the next stroke of genius from this talented team.

The story as a whole is predictable and underwhelming. It treads a lot of well-worn horror cliches without really doing anything to stand out, and it tries to take you on an emotional journey without giving you a reason to care.

Perhaps Etrian Odyssey V is the swansong of a franchise that has been one of the few to make meaningful use of an approach to technology and gameplay that has now been obsoleted as Nintendo has retired the dual screen idea. If that’s the case, I’m not going to lie; I’m sad for the end of the end of the franchise, but at least in Etrian Odyssey V it went out on a real high note.

Obviously the Switch loses the neat, but ultimately gimmicky PlayStation VR mode with Chess Ultra. What it replaces it with is a far superior featureset, though; cross platform play with anything but Sony’s console, as well as that really neat local multiplayer mode that turns the Switch into an impromptu board. That is so much more convenient than lugging a chess board down to your local café, park, or pub for a lazy afternoon of chess with friends.

The story, cute as it is, is a very familiar one full of archetypal anime characters. The writing is clunky at times, and the overall presentation lacks polish. Not every game needs to push the boundaries of innovation or style, though, and for what it is, How to Fool a Liar King is a cute, charming romance that's easy to just relax with and enjoy.

Demon Gaze II is only one or two tiny steps away from breaking away from its genre trappings to be a game that is so good that people who don’t usually like the dungeon crawlers should give it a play. The developer has done a great job in making the game more accessible (while still leaving plenty of ultra-difficult stuff there for the really committed), and the art direction for the characters and monsters is so vivid and vibrant that you can’t help but admire them.

Empyre: Lords of the Sea Gates has a lot of potential but unfortunately it's made so clumsily that it is just painful to actually play. I wanted to love it because of some of its unique ideas, especially in the premise, but I just couldn’t get past the mechanical issues. Being a PC game and all perhaps community feedback will lead to this game being revised. I hope so, so I can come back and give it another spin.

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.

Dungeons 3 looks and plays simply compared to some of the other strategy games out there, but there’s a definite depth of challenge to the game that, coupled with its sense of humour and excellent co-op mode, make for the perfect game to kick back with on a lazy weekend afternoon and some beers. It’s hard not to love it for that.

The game does not explain the events of the first game at all, and yet there is also some expected knowledge of the first game coming into this sequel to completely understand what’s going on. Do your research so you catch yourself up going in, though, and you're in for a really well-written and vibrant adventure game. One that's let down a little by obtuse puzzle design, but is otherwise highly engaging on every level.

There are games that deliver horror that’s confronting and often gory, but The Count Lucanor excelled at showing a different side of fear that other studios should take cues from.

Beyond those useless side quests, there’s almost nothing to actually do in Revenant Saga.

So, you need to be patient and committed to get much out of ELEX, but give it a chance, and there’s a soul in there that should grow on anyone who enjoys their RPGs. The distinctive setting, wonderful world and quest design, and scope of the narrative are all genuinely admirable, and play to Piranha Byte’s strengths as, along with Cyanide, the most prominent and creative B-grade RPG developer out there.

Get past the crashes and the tonal inconsistency, and Always Sometimes Monsters has a moving and thought-provoking story to tell. It’s rough and unpleasant, but empathetic and human at the same time. It’s a game about surviving under a capitalist system that doesn’t care about you, and about what happens when people fall through the cracks.

Numantia has really impressed me in the way that it has inspired me to learn more about the conflict it depicts, and it has done a really good job of accurately recreating the surprisingly varied range of battles, locations, and twists and turns that occurred through the war.

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

I’d usually count myself a completionist who’s only goal is to earn every single achievement possible, but Super Mario Odyssey showed me that there’s so much more to it than collecting things. Maybe I’ll revisit the wonder of the Cascade Kingdom and ride a Tyrannosaurus Rex. I could even play fetch with a shiba inu amongst the sand dunes, or bust out Mario’s infamous swimsuit and test my skills against an ornery octopus thirsty for revenge. The best part of getting to the game’s ending is the fact that it’s a journey of your own creation, and if you reflect on the game as a whole, it’s really a linear quest that somehow feels more freeing than the largest open-world game.

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.

Like a lot of of titles in this genre, Ark: Survival Evolved has a steep learning curve and requires quite the time - and possibly financial - investment. But once you get into the rhythm of it, the endless need to survive, set against the simple satisfaction of slowly building up your capacity to do so, makes this a game that could well turn into a hobby for you, all in itself.

Megaton Rainfall is more of an experience than a game and one I soon won't forget. It's short, and simple, but asks a good question of the player while also giving him or her plenty of action. It's better with VR, but worth a look in for just about everyone.