If you’re looking for your very first visual novel, then you’ll be making a mistake if you pass this up. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds is a romp through time that both feels great and plays great, and at the end of the day, how many people can say that they’ve romanced someone who played a decisive part in Japanese history?

It saddens me to say that League of Evil is just a simple platformer game and not much more. On a platform which doesn’t have a port of Super Meat Boy, League of Evil fills its niche serviceably – but it’s not a glowing example of its genre and it’s not something I can recommend easily unless you absolutely must have a platformer on your system. And even then you've got Shantae and Shovel Knight sitting there waiting to be played instead.

A highly-polished title that shows that the ageing 3DS somehow still has legs in it. Aside from the Pokémon Sun and Moon sequels, Samus Returns could very well be one of the last big 3DS titles, but with games like this, I’m just not ready to let go of my 3DS just yet.

Whether you enjoy raising monsters, slaying them, or adventuring across vast lands with your pals, you’ll find something to hold your attention in this game, and who knows? You may even come to find yourself loving every little bit of this adventure.

Mary Skelter is sublime. By turns darkly sensual and horrific, it's also beautiful, ravishing, and backed by truly expert level design and a clean, clever combat system. This game is too different to effectively compare to other dungeon crawlers, but I must say, of all the many games in this genre that I've played, this one will sit with me for a very long time into the future.

Everybody’s Golf sticks firmly to the fairway, though it swings a little too wildly too often and dumps itself in the bunker at times too. The grind is real, and though it's enjoyable enough, it's also a game that's quickly going to become hostile to newbies, and that's a problem when so much of the experience relies on the online play.

Taken exclusively as a rhythm game, there is so much to appreciate about Metronomicon. It does bring some new tricks to a genre that often feels quite stale for ideas, and has a truly killer soundtrack. But, this was meant to be a mix of RPG and rhythm games, and Metronomicon did let me down with the former.

There’s this inescapable rhetoric that latches onto the mere whisper of the name “Sonic the hedgehog”, claiming the blue blur hasn’t had a great game in decades. While I disagree, Sonic Mania is a liberating experience that needs no asterisks to qualify it. Sonic sequels have so often been rushed or subjected to gimmicks that compromise what works, but Mania finally stops to acknowledge past successes, adds logical improvements, and enhances it all tenfold with personality. It even proves that Sonic can be more nuanced than the cursed phrase “gotta go fast” implies.

I really wanted to love SwapQuest but it's neither memorable nor essential in any sense of the word. That's not to say it's a bad game, because it's not. It's still fun to play, but as an experiment in mixing a puzzle genre with the RPG, it's proof that this particular genre isn't necessarily easy to smash together.

Ys Seven was already a solid experience and the upgrades that it has received for the PC make it even better. Like the Ark of Napishtim, bringing Seven over was a great idea as it continues Adol’s adventure for all those that never did either move to a console market or have the chance to pick it up back in the day.

It’s certainly a more thoughtful, methodical game than something like Monaco, but with patience, Mouldy Toof and Team17 will have you feeling like a real master of escape.

Rabi Ribi has so much more going on under its hood than mere screenshots can contain. What some will invariably dismiss as a cash-in on cute anime girl aesthetics is actually designed with greater foresight and craft than many AAA titles. Thoughtful world design meets bullet-hell mechanics in this endlessly endearing hotchpotch of ideas from all across the spectrum. Not everyone will appreciate Rabi Ribi’s more hardcore tendencies, but those who do may will be swayed into making this game their life.

If you are the type that engages in video games for the quick thrill, then Pillars will probably drive you crazy and you should stir away. However, if you are fine with the other extreme, do not mind lack of arcade style challenges and are willing to take your time, then Pillars offers the depth and the learning experience that mere mortal books cannot deliver. Speaking for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience Pillars had provided me with for that very reason.

I do think that Ironcast has found itself the right home on the Nintendo Switch. In the way it plays, Ironcast benefits from spontaneous game play sessions which the Switch can provide due to its tablet mode.

Mario + Rabbids could have been so much worse than this, but somehow Ubisoft’s really done something special with it. And, as one of the rare cases where Nintendo has loaned its most precious property out to a third party, Ubisoft has done something that, I hope, Nintendo itself will be proud of.

Graceful Explosion Machine is simple, pure arcade fun, with a level of polish and attention to detail in the design that’s rarely seen. It’s the sort of game that you can pick up for a quick 5 minute session, and then find yourself still playing hours later.

For a game so focused on the monstrous and the grotesque, Severed’s power lies in how it shines a critical and emotional light on an intrinsic part of what it means to be human.

Warriors All-Stars is a delight. It’s explicitly a love letter to the Koei Tecmo faithful, and it doesn’t pretend to be otherwise.

The Last Birdling is a game worth playing, especially if you enjoy a story of tragic love and friendship. It takes a timeless premise and puts just enough of a unique spin on it to make it feel fresh.

I love ACE Team, and I love what the team suggests about the future of South American game development as it continues to grow. Quirky and creative, and so very funny, Rock of Ages 2 is unlike many “comedy” games in that it backs the humour up with quality gameplay, very worthy of respect.

Some of the one-liners make me snicker, and the gameplay is decent despite the fact it relies on throwing overwhelming amounts of items at the player to slow them down. But Demetrios is nothing that great. Or special. The crudeness is unnecessary. The amount of things to sift through is unnecessary. And unfortunately, nothing entirely makes up for these downfalls.

If you are holding out hope for wholesale changes and improvements, I think that is probably a little unrealistic based on the annual release cycle and you will come away disappointed. Personally I look forward to the fresh roster updates, appreciate subtle tweaks to a series that I have been playing yearly for more than twenty years and thoroughly enjoyed the two major modes additions.

Whereas the original Nidhogg was a wickedly fast and immediately loveable party game, Nidhogg 2 pushes the boundaries and arrives with mixed results. Its design choices inject some more strategy to the run-and-stab gameplay, but the increased complexity and love-it-or-hate-it art style makes it a harder game to recommend for casual players.

Sundered proves that procedural generation and smart, hand-crafted level design are far from mutually exclusive. The combination of the two, and the way the play off each others’ strengths makes this one of the most engrossing Metroidvanias I’ve played in a while. The random approach to regular combat leaves something to be desired, but epic boss fights more than make up for it. If you have even the slightest interest in Metroidvanias, this is a game you need to play.

Cities Skylines is a ridiculously clever and enjoyable game, and one that I expect I will spend a lot of time playing down the track. EA looks like it will not be revitalising Sim City as a franchise anytime soon, so I’m so glad that another developer has stepped up to the plate and created the game that the last Sim City should have been… and I am so glad it’s finally on PlayStation 4.

I would define this game as a nice game that was very well cooked and served. No, it wasn’t one of those rare breed that practically forced me to sit and play. Mystralia's is a more down to earth experience, gaining most of its credit through its adorably vivid presentation. It also does very well in the puzzle department.

Yes, White Day is an older game, but as far as the horror genre goes, and how it's evolved into something I place little value in, that’s actually a benefit. Given how few people have even known what this game is to date, the extra exposure that it will get from a re-release will mean that, hopefully, a new legion of fans will discover it, because it does deserve that. It’s a masterpiece in building tension and in the way that it plays within the classical approach to horror, without relying on jump scares and endless bloodshed.

As it turns out, Yakuza Kiwami feels every bit as current as Yakuza 0 from earlier this year, or Yakuza 5 on the PlayStation 3 before it. It’s a magnificent game, in other words.