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.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a game that really struggles to find the new voice that Resident Evil so needs as a franchise. It’s incredibly well designed and executed, and you’re not going to find a game that does VR better than this one. But it’s a confused game, sending out all kinds of mixed messages that suggest the development team - and especially the writers - have a better idea of what makes for horrific imagery than they do of horror as a storytelling genre. As a real fan of horror, and someone who has studied it for years, this is what doesn’t sit so well with me.

I alternated between enjoyment and stretches of indifference. I am genuinely glad, though, that we have this addition to our growing Western library of visual novel hybrids (!).

Even as a dedicated single player game, Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers is one of the best games available on the platform. It’s just so perfectly balanced, invigorating, intelligent, and rich.

Joe’s Diner could have been a good game. It has a lot of the pieces for a heart-attack inducing horror game, with its eerie setting and mechanics that force you to make your sense vulnerable. If it did something – anything – with its burial ground plot, it could have told a noteworthy story, or at least an interesting one. Instead, all it does is exploit stereotypes to deliver the weakest Twitch scares I’ve ever seen.

Ultimately, what makes Earthlock so essential is just how earnest it is in its love for classic JRPGs. It’s worth sitting through its more cumbersome features in order to appreciate the hard work that a team of people who clearly love the genre have sweated over to refine the game to the point where it’s not only a homage to the greats of old, but it adds just a little to what makes the genre so wonderful.

Why a small team thought it could make a grand open-world RPG is beyond me, but Skylight Freerange 2 demonstrates the horrible consequences of vastly overreaching what your resources and skill level allow. Full props to the developers for trying - the game is oddly fascinating in just how badly it has failed -, but make no bones about this, if the screenshots and video haven’t proven it to you: this game is an utter travesty.

Top that all off with vehicles that control like flies trapped in syrup, a gross lack of interesting weapons, and only a couple of different vehicle types. Once you’ve had your fill of laughing at Planet 2000’s low-budget oddities, you’re left with a mess of a game that’s just tedious to play.

This is the most disappointed that I’ve been with Square Enix for quite some time.

What stands out most about The Flame in the Flood is that its form of survival isn’t candied up, but sits severe and plain about what chance most of us would have. It’s second even to the slice of America it presents, a piece of a soul set upon a shelf, hoping to be called upon once more. If nothing else, The Flame in The Flood allows that piece to have its moment with sincerity.

Stars in Shadow is a really solid strategy title, and that it comes from a new indie team makes the title's accomplishments all the more impressive. However, this is a game built by a small team and there are some technical hurdles, a lack of multiplayer and a simple presentation that hold the game back slightly. The different parts of the game are well balanced against one another, with different types of victory and multiple ways to get there.

It’s been a while since I’ve played through a proper horror game and became so invested in the “villains” of the tale.

If Velvet’s party of anti-heroes were written by lesser writers, the thirst for revenge would have tired us out far too early; revenge is a state of mind of heightened emotion and impact, and over the course of a full-length JRPG the passion and anger would have boiled over far too soon. But, thanks to brilliant characterisation and the ability to throw some genuine humour and moments of softness into the mix, the team at Bandai Namco has been able to deliver one of the most refreshingly nuanced quests that we’ve seen in this series, and for the first time in a very long time, I haven’t been able to put a Tales game down.

Moekuri is a hardcore tactical RPG wrapped in ultra-cute packaging. It's a bit rough around the edges, and the difficulty curve will probably alienate a lot of folks, but if you can look past those things you’ll find a lot of depth and enjoyment.

For all its humour, its intelligent noirish thriller narrative, and the sheer amount of stuff to do, Yakuza’s real strength forever remains in the little details that it gets right about its representation of Japanese cities... Every Yakuza game to date has been a genuine classic, and Yakuza 0 continues the fine form for a series of JRPGs that is right up there with the best of the genre. It’s completely essential.

It’s more a concession to the fans who bought the first two on the Vita than anything else, I suspect, and I’d be surprised if Koei expected this to make any kind of money, but it is a good gesture by the company to allow us to finish our collection for Atelier games on the go.

It’s made me into a fan of Fate. If that’s not a sign of a quality game, then nothing is.

In the tradition of Worms Forts it’s an intriguing base-building strategy game, and the real-time nature of it solves one of the bigger issues of Worms Forts: that it could be bogged down to almost stalemate, making games drag on for ages. That being said, the game does need a lot more than what it’s offering, and as with all indie games, I wonder about the wisdom of making the game so heavily reliant on multiplayer. When players have to wait around for however long just to get a game going, they’re just as likely to go and play something else instead.

Many people may simply look at King’s Quest and think it’s cashing in on an old series and taking advantage of the revival of point and clickers. It is so much more. The Odd Gentlemen is such a small team, but Creative Director Matt Corba should be given some sort of award for his work with this game. He, and his team, handled the canon of the previous games beautifully, while managing to weave an entirely new and just as endearing storyline into it. The team might not have had an IP like The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones to work with, but King’s Quest does everything right.

Gravity Rush 2 deserves to be one of Sony’s biggest games of the year. Even if you weren’t able to get into the first, give this one a go. The story’s self-contained enough that you’ll still be able to follow along, and in the effort to make the game more accessible to a wider audience, the overall experience is also more refined and there’s clearly a meatier budget backing it.

Barring performance, predictable design and somewhat low production values, Bridge Constructor is still by all means a proficient puzzle game. Successfully latticing wood and metal and cabling to ferry lorries across a steep ravine feels great, and especially if you managed to cut costs and earn a high score. Furthermore, mechanics and optimisation which encourage player experimentation and reward creative thinking makes Bridge Constructor a satisfying journey for puzzle fans on the PS4.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone is the holy grail of an already illustrious franchise. For existing fans of the virtual idol, this isn’t just some greatest hits album. Plenty of formerly arcade-exclusive tracks are available on console for the first time. Newcomers, meanwhile, are positively spoiled for choice and couldn't ask for a better time to start the franchise.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Future Tone is the holy grail of an already illustrious franchise. For existing fans of the virtual idol, this isn’t just some greatest hits album. Plenty of formerly arcade-exclusive tracks are available on console for the first time. Newcomers, meanwhile, are positively spoiled for choice and couldn't ask for a better time to start the franchise.

I don’t think a couple more branching points would have gone amiss, but even as a strictly linear visual novel, LoveKami -Divinity Stage- is a great game. It touches on some serious themes around idol culture and sexuality, but mostly, it’s just a cute, sexy romantic comedy to get the heart pumping.

The best, most well-resourced developers in the world would struggle to make a quality simulation game with online sharing, VR support, and the ability to fully explore and interact with your creations. This is the work of a small indie developer that should have focused on getting a few things right, than throwing in everything and failing at it all.

Nubla is a work of art based on many other works of art. It is able to capture the feel of the very museum it is based on, it allows anyone to come along and pick it up. The ability to explore the game at their own pace without dragging out too long is appreciated. It is a beautiful, calming game that many should try out. Many will probably buy it for the quick Platinum trophy, but hopefully once they're in they discover something that makes them sit back and reflect too.

It’s difficult to shake the feeling that Atari’s management felt guilty for foisting the hellishly bad free-to-play Rollercoaster Tycoon 4 on fans, and RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic is its apology for doing so. This is an excessive game with almost too much content and replay value, and is devilishly difficult to put down once you start playing.

On the whole, Nitroplus Blasterz Heroines Infinite Duel is a quality 2D fighter, even if it lacks the narrative in needed and the characterisation that would have made it more effective as fanservice. All I can recommend is that you give the game a chance until you've managed to topple the boss, because from that point on you'll probably find yourself with a game that has a combat system you'll quite enjoy.