Not only does GTA V on PS4 and Xbox One set a new benchmark for HD remakes, it's also a challenge to the games originally made for this new generation.

Larian promised a game experience like at the role-playing table that would not be inferior to the old classics. Surprisingly, the only promise they didn't keep is a release on Stadia. Well, we'll get over it.

It doesn't quite deliver the punch of its predecessor, and right now I'm having a hard time imagining that there's anything more to come out of *this* Hyrule than we got with Tears of the Kingdom. With any luck, we'll find out later this decade. Until then - see those mountains over there? It's never been easier or more fun to try to reach them.

As I was still far from finished with Tears of the Kingdom, I was delighted to be able to do so with improved technology. If you feel the same way, or if you haven't played the title yet, you should definitely go for the Switch 2 version. As with BotW, it's a bit of a shame that the Zelda Notes features are only accessible via an app.

Sure, Shadow of the Erdtree doesn't turn Elden Ring into a new game, and if you were expecting big new impulses in terms gameplay, you were mistaken. From Software has been improving their thing for 20 years, and they did so in leaps and bounds. But it's not like they're straying from their path. Just as well, if you love their concept for what it is: the best game in the world.

Cutting your teeth on astonishingly good-looking and immaculately presented fluff pieces and then going ahead to produce arguably the darkest game of this generation – that's the sort of trick only the real heavyweights can pull off. Naughty Dog's game ain't begging for sympathy, it doesn't care if you like it or not. As such, it's a wake-up call for the medium, determined that the line isn't drawn between good and evil or right and wrong, but between you and the others.

The heart-rending story isn`t romanticizing nor does it drift into the pathos other, less subtle games so often lean towards. That's the line where good craftsmanship becomes art, and an excellent game.

A nice technical upgrade of the modern classic, but nothing more. The Zelda Notes functions should have been in the game rather than on smartphones.

Especially if you have children with whom you can pass the controller back and forth, Astro Bot is one of the feel-good games of the year. And if you don't have any offspring, this will let out your inner child with ease. Astro Bot, then: a game that was well worth sending a chrome Sackboy back through time for.

Hades 2 elevates what Hades began: It's a beautiful and incredibly engaging sequel with mightily satisfying combat.

Minor quibbles aside ... just like the ruins you sift through, Metroid Prime is a monument - it was just a bit overgrown and blended into the scenery of collective gaming conscience. Now it's back in the limelight. Pristine, demossed and its fissures glued, fresh and relevant again for a gaming world that was on the verge of forgetting about it.

This is the sort experience you don't get every day: an easy-to-like spectacle for the masses with enormous production values, but a story right out of the art-house cinema. Granted, the gameplay side doesn't do as much for this experiment as the story and world design do. But this is a balancing act the fewest of teams could pull off. And even if you have the chops, in this risk-averse day and age you still have to have a healthy dose of irrationality to go through with a game as clever as this one. No wonder Levine's team had exactly what it takes.

Super Mario 3D World is not only a fantastic game in and of itself, it's a mandatory buy for any Wii U owner.

Games like Skyrim or GTA love talk about open worlds, but it seems, that so far only Minecraft has truly embraced this principle. (…) This here is your story, that you simultaneously write and experience. All at your own pace.

It never ceases to amaze how Atlus manages to make Japanese games that lose none of their appeal in their translation to the West. Even though this is totally banking on it's Nippon slice of life approach, its no less compatible with western audiences than any other RPG. This is an approachable and sympathetic cast of characters going through relatable hardships – you don't need to be an anime fan to get that. In light of the Vita's situation you might not want a reason to get one of Sony's struggling portables. Now you have one nevertheless.

With Mass Effect, Bioware created something really unique. A fascinating universe, that not only rivals Star Wars and Star Trek, but – at least for me – exceeds those. Mass Effect 3 is the crowning achievement for this trilogy. A true masterpiece.

Sektori is a direct continuation of what Geometry Wars did so well: easy to learn, hard to master – all the while including a double shot of Housemarque for good measure.

Rebirth is a successful remake between nostalgic memory and sequel with a strong combat system. An extensive adventure with small flaws, but also many lovely little things.

The name is a good fit in more than one way. For one thing, because it seeks a justified closeness to Super Mario World, which the game itself has long since found. For another, because you're constantly 'wondering if...', filled with wonder and marvelling at wonderful effects is the predominant emotion while playing.

Three of the best Castlevania games in a lovingly prepared collection with lots of great extras, all for 25 euros. Sometimes, life's good after all.

Do yourselves a favor and buy this one. And if you don't have a 3DS, get one in a bundle. Then show it all your friends and colleagues so that they proceed to do the same as you. This way, and no disrespect to Fire Emblem, maybe Intelligent Systems can procure the resources to produce a Game of Thrones spin-off I keep dreaming about.

Chic, sleek, addictive, Thronefall is an artful gift to anyone who has been wanting to play a strategy game again for a long time, but who has struggled to integrate this often over-complex genre into their everyday lives. That's what makes it precious.

It's downright glorious in its focus on local multiplayer. Cramming your room with seven friends and playing this until dawn like it was the mid-2000's is just the best reminder of why I love video games.

Journey is not the kind of game that you finish once and then shelve it forever. Here you play for the enjoyment of playing itself, not to reach a certain goal.

Strong fantasy 'persona' with a clever combat and class system and an immediately gripping story. Technology and parts of the progression seem a bit dated.

The Wii U version reaches hitherto unknown heights which I would never have expected from a direct sequel, let alone in this genre. Which is why I might as well just say it: Rayman Legends is the best 2D platformer of all time. Take that and stick it on the wall Ubisoft Montpellier, you earned it.

When the prospect of the adventure eventually ending causes you nothing but grief, there's only one score to give.

This balance and rock-solid confidence in the basic architecture of its Action-RPG existence is something the series has worked hard to achieve over decades, and so it's not only understandable, it's the only correct thing to do, for Diablo 4 to build on exactly that. The series brought innovation and upheaval when that was needed at the time. Since then, it is what it is. Diablo. The only true devil in Action-RPG hell.