The all-star fighter returns via the arcade for a deep, characterful game that struggles to endear itself to fans and newcomers alike.

A melancholy masterpiece is reborn in this faithful and breathtakingly beautiful remake.

A delightful co-op action RPG that's sadly stymied by its insistence on making it hard to play together.

A platformer aimed at speedrunners is also an adventure for the rest of us to savour. [Recommended]

Monster Hunter opens up for the most accessible, most detailed and most magnificent entry yet. [Essential]

An oppressively beautiful portrayal of an undersea environment, and a well-wrought survival game with a vaguely eco-friendly message. [Recommended]

Dragon Ball FighterZ feels like playing a Dragon Ball game built by the anime's biggest fan. For me, Dragon Ball FighterZ is the best tag-based fighting game since Marvel vs. Capcom 2. I can't think of higher praise. [Essential]

Arcade Edition is a breath of fresh air for Street Fighter 5, which is finally the game it should have been at launch. [Essential]

Intelligent and enriching, this is a preview worth playing. [Recommended]

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is ground zero for battle royale games in the way that World of Warcraft was ground zero for MMOs or League of Legends was for MOBAs - not the first, but the one that made it. [Recommended]

Gang Beasts is far from perfect, then; it's all a little too messy for its own good, and it's still a super slight package despite its extended stay in Early Access. That spark is still there, though, and this remains a uniquely boisterous party game that's well worth having on tap. It's earned its place - just - with those other modern multiplayer classics, even if it doesn't quite have their class.

Incredibly sweet and beautifully written, this is a meow-nificent choice for cat lovers, as long as you don't mind a bit of repetition. [Recommended]

I'd even go so far as to say that SpellForce 3 is the best Baldur's Gate meets Age of Mythology ever. [Recommended]

Inspired and transporting, this is a game unlike any other.

An ambitious and mysterious puzzler that's ultimately as frustrating as it is fascinating.

Blending solitaire with role-playing, combat and a racy, buccaneering plot, Shadowhand is a delight - and a true British eccentric. [Recommended]

Music and movement combine in a game that mints joy from wonderful organic weirdness. [Recommended]

The true sequel to the best-loved contemporary JRPG is unrestrained in its ambition, and the result is a chaotic kind of brilliance. [Recommended]

Animal Crossing has previously shined as a portable game, but this stripped-back mobile spin-off provides none of the same charm.

The apes are charismatic and the storyline is passable, but this interactive drama tie-in forgets to find a role to cast the player in.

Supermassive's dour whodunnit is a poor vehicle for PlayLink's experiment in multiplayer narrative - a woeful mismatch of genre and form.

Pokémon returns for a 3DS victory lap in this generous, definitive retelling of the Alolan story. [Recommended]

Pokémon returns for a 3DS victory lap in this generous, definitive retelling of the Alolan story. [Recommended]

Although its augmentations are selective and skin deep, Outcast remains a generous and uniquely captivating game. [Recommended]

The latest Lego game is a typically crammed tribute to Marvel comic lore that buffs the well-worn formula up to a shine.

DICE goes big in a Call of Duty-baiting package that's as maddening, uneven and spectacular as the Star Wars films themselves.

Innovations in the right places keep an old veteran match fit. [Recommended]

Generous and inventive, this 3D platformer is filled with charm. [Recommended]

Though not without its moments, Forces is a depressing return to form for Sonic the Hedgehog after the joys of Mania.

Need for Speed returns in this, a grossly unremarkable open world racer that marks another step back for the series.

Sledgehammer takes Call of Duty back to its roots, refining rather than redefining the series for the best entry in years. [Recommended]

Frozen Wilds' wintry wasteland looks awe-inspiring, but its story breeds the same disappointment as a melted snowman on Christmas morning.

Bubsy's return is more than a little underwhelming.

The New Colossus is a game that straddles moods and periods, caricature and biting insight, cartoon villainy and insidious real-world malevolence. It is a well-wrought FPS caught on the rocks of some marvelous, horrendous discussions about race, gender, discrimination and complicity. It is frequently crude and half-baked, mixing fart jokes with oafish interpretations of trauma. But it is also both strikingly ambitious and a lot more intelligent than it often seems. What it needs now, I think, is a new lead and possibly even, whisper it, a change of genre. There is more to be said about a character like BJ Blazkowicz, but there is also more to be said about this universe - and our own - than is possible with BJ at the helm. [Recommended]

One of the most daring and influential game designs of all time makes a long overdue comeback in Mario's most madcap adventure yet. [Essential]

Assassin's Creed returns and its vast and evocative Egypt inspires wonder - even if much in the game remains familiar. [Recommended]

This is a beautiful game. It scared me. It moved me. Most of all, it made me stop what I was doing and think. [Recommended]

A harmonious meeting of two traditions, Fire Emblem Warriors explores a different, yet no less beguiling, type of battlefield strategy. [Recommended]

Hokey, uneven and janky, Elex is nonetheless a compelling throwback to a time before open worlds became choose your own to-do lists.

A wonky blaster retains its charm, but Rogue Trooper still deserves better.

This is possibly the most focused, directly enjoyable game Polyphony Digital has put out since the heady days of Gran Turismo 3. Racing improves the breed, industrialist Soichiro Honda once said, and Gran Turismo Sport is proof positive of that. [Recommended]

South Park: The Fractured But Whole is an RPG with tangible qualities and enjoyable passages, but without the bite or imagination you'd expect of the name.

Resident Evil 4 meets the Truman Show in an entertaining but unremarkable follow-up, held back by tepid stealth and warmed-over scares.

A brave VR murder mystery experiment inspired by immersive theatre, but the asking price is too high.

A modern indie classic on PC finds in Nintendo's Switch the perfect platform. [Essential]

An adorable platforming adventure that steadily finds it own voice. [Recommended]

A greatly expanded and improved action game let down by a dreadful story.

A scrappy tribute to the long-lost Road Rash series whose raw spirit just about overcomes its shortcomings.

Another handsome, well built and entertaining Forza rolls off the production line - though there are controversial changes under the hood. [Recommended]

A brutal game that's equal parts frustrating and exhilarating, delivered in the mesmerising style of a prohibition-era cartoon.

Mario Golf and Earthbound combine for one of the most delightful games you'll find on Nintendo's Switch. [Recommended]

Intricate and ingenious, Hob is a true spiritual successor to A Link to the Past. [Recommended]

A powerfully grim, fleet-footed cyberpunk action odyssey that is caught in the spell of its own nihilism.

High-scoring fun from EA Sports, but FIFA 18 is an unspectacular upgrade. [Recommended]

No matter how good a Total War game is, the follow-up campaign is always better. Warhammer 2's is no exception. [Recommended]

A CRPG of unparalleled breadth and dynamism, Original Sin 2 is Larian's masterpiece. [Essential]

Heat Signature is, in theory, another empire-building game like Far Cry or Assassin's Creed, in which you prise away nodes of geographical control, amassing plunder if not XP or character levels. It never feels like that, though. It cultivates an air of supreme disposability instead, its ships thrown together only to be picked apart as you'd pull the legs off a spider, its adventurers little more than loadouts with funky labels and an optional bespoke final mission. Inevitably, this framework rings a bit hollow after a few hours of continuous play (you could spend upwards of 20, I think, reeling in every last space station and beating every last Defector quest) - these systems remain charming to the finish, but there's a sense that Heat Signature is reliant on players being heartily sick of games that invest such acts of open-ended vandalism with broader significance. Forgive it that, however, and this is a piratical delight.

The people behind Grow Home return with an ingenious multiplayer battler. [Recommended]

A 3DS classic gets a follow-up that doubles down on the charm. [Recommended]

Great fighting, but a drab art style and disappointing roster of characters let the side down.

A morbid, potent epilogue for Dishonored 2 equipped with new powers, some great locations and some overdue tweaks. [Recommended]

Project Cars 2 improves upon its predecessor for a racing game of unprecedented scope - unfortunately hampered by a series of small issues.

A timely overhaul that should take a great game to new heights - though it's not quite on peak form this year. [Recommended]

Bigger and better - but there's not enough genuinely new for Destiny 2 to achieve greatness. [Recommended]

Tooth and Tail is a deft and minimalist RTS that's slick as a knife through the ribs. [Recommended]

It all adds up to an underwhelming return. MercurySteam now has the curious distinction of being the one developer to have worked on both Metroid and Castlevania on the 3DS and fallen wide of the mark on both. This isn't quite the disappointment that was Mirrors of Fate, and there's a hard-edged gem to be found in what was always going to be a troubled exercise. Samus Returns is ultimately a noble remake that fixes so many of the original's problems, but it doesn't do so without introducing a handful of its own.

Please Knock on My Door effectively encompasses the isolation and strain those who experience depression go through on a day-to-day basis. [Recommended]

Improvements abound, but Knack's adventures still suffer from a lack of charm.

This ambitious survival game emerges from Early Access fully featured but just as in danger of toppling in on itself as ever before.

The only thing that's missing here? That Data East logo in all of its desert chrome glory, something that's been unceremoniously cut from the title screen. It's an excision I can live with, I think, in what's otherwise a gloriously handled port of a 90s arcade masterpiece that's every bit as dazzling today as it was back then. It's been polished up, but at its heart this remains a slightly scratchy, bluntly simplistic sports game that still exudes a magic of its own.

Last Day of June is a touching story of love and loss, its emotional weight cemented by eerie visuals and a spine-tingling soundtrack.

Myst's spiritual successor offers a lot of the same delights as its 1993 forbear, but is hampered by litany of technical issues.

A vibrant interpretation of golf that expands on the series' distinguished lineage without compromising, or distracting from, its strengths. [Recommended]

A one-of-a-kind blend of blood-thumping martial arts, combo curation and grindy multiplayer set in a ravishing wasteland. [Recommended]

An entertaining but slightly unbalanced remake whose biggest draw is a regular distraction from one of the series' best stories.

This wonky crossover is the unlikely source of a superbly designed tactical combat challenge as well as a charmingly silly adventure. [Recommended]

Codemasters delivers a detailed, deep and passionate take on motorsport's top tier that might be even more enjoyable than the real thing. [Recommended]

War of the Chosen is a generous expansion that's bustling with brilliant new systems that's a must for anyone who's completed XCOM 2. [Recommended]

A splendid hybrid of CSI, cyberpunk and Silent Hill woven around a potent central performance, spoiled a bit by unconvincing scare tactics. [Recommended]

On Sony's Vita (it's worth noting that it's also available on PlayStation 4, with cross-buy part of the package), it nestles alongside contemporary classics such as Spelunky, TxK, Hotline Miami and Proteus and cements the cult status of this much-loved, ill-starred handheld. Heck, it may well be the best of the lot. [Recommended]

A bizarrely hollow yet mechanically competent open world action RPG that struggles to justify its own existence.

A brisk running time and lower stakes do the Uncharted formula no harm at all - even if this spin-off sticks a bit too close to the script. [Recommended]

Housemarque widens its lens with a take on 90s run and gunners, resulting in an enjoyably chaotic if overly slight adventure.

An already sterling fighter gets a new coat of paint and a few new tricks. It's not revolutionary, but it's the best Nidhogg has ever been. [Recommended]

What's old has become new, and Sonic is once again the star he was supposed to be. [Essential]

LawBreakers is an inventive, electric and expertly engineered classic competitive shooter that deserves your time. [Recommended]

A sublime blend of Metroidvania and Lovecraft with beautiful hand-drawn art, tarnished a little by the element of repetition. [Recommended]

A winning premise of cleverly combined genres let down by a series of irritating design issues.

Ninja Theory crafts a highly competent action game and a nuanced, powerful exploration of mental health. [Essential]

A winningly nasty turn-based cult sim with beautiful monochrome art and surgical orchestral audio. [Recommended]

A short, sweet translation of Gone Home's cosy environmental storytelling into the realm of speculative fiction. [Recommended]

This basic puzzle-platformer captures none of the depth and panic of Miyamoto's surreal strategy games, but a good deal of the charm.

Clickers meet twin-sticks in a game that will eat your time like no other. [Recommended]

Dazzling and mysterious, this ambitious party-based RPG is a masterpiece. [Essential]

A worthwhile, if familiar, successor to Super Meat Boy. [Recommended]

This puzzle-platformer lives in the shadow of Playdead's Inside, but its rage against Romanian Communism is authentic and raw.

An open world adventure that does away with combat, Yonder's beauty is ultimately undone by its mundanity.

An improvement in nearly every way on one of Nintendo's finest games in years, Splatoon 2 is only let down by a lack of big new ideas. [Recommended]