Played on a busy PvP server, while Exiles often comes across like the Ark/Rust clone it so clearly is, it has the setting and combat mechanisms to set it apart. Play it as a single-player experience and it will evoke memories of Minecraft, while as a co-op game, with its respawning mobs, thinly spread content and raid-like endgame, you might just catch the glimmer of an old school MMORPG, reminding you, just a little, of when the genre was a metaverse of uncharted promise. [Recommended]

Whether or not these are the end times for survival gaming or the onset of a necessary period of hibernation, despite the dead weight of dozens of unfinished games and the fact that there's not a great deal left to pick from now that Conan has taken his leave, perhaps it's just as well that the genre has saved one of its best till last. If there's half the life left in it that other survival games have enjoyed, it'll be a life worth living. [Recommended]

If Ark and Rust are the flaccid alpha males of survival gaming, Conan is the cocksure challenger angling for an advantage. [Recommended]

Here, simple things work together to conjure up surprising consequences - and, more often than not, thrilling ones too. It's rare to play something so pure, a multiplayer game with modern sensibilities and yet one that feels like it was forged in the fire of older arcade classics. If there's any justice, Laser League is a game that'll find its place among those greats. [Essential]

A sharply designed, smartly executed future sports game that matches simplicity with serious depth. [Essential]

Total War goes back to the past, but this spin-off invites uneasy comparisons to the superior recent Warhammer games.

Deftly written and designed, Forgotton Anne is proof that seemingly small, simple things are well worth treasuring. [Recommended]

It's a pity that the energy that Trailblazers displays - and its upbeat spirit can prove infectious - isn't met with a little more meticulous thought and care placed elsewhere. The unfortunate thing when invoking such classics as F-Zero and Splatoon is you invoke their brilliance, and while Trailblazers has happily taken the grand ideas it's skimped out on the detail - and so this colourful mash-up ends up feeling plain sloppy.

A colourful cartoon racer that lifts some of Nintendo's big ideas, but not its attention to detail.

By building something you also invest in it and care about it, and in turn it makes you more likely to go on and decorate and experiment with it, which is clever. And when you do eventually discard it, you can simply take it apart and recycle it - no plastic guitar in a landfill here. It's as though Nintendo thought of everything (although I don't know if the cardboard came from recycled sources to begin with).

No one else could pull this off, no one else would even dare try. It is a brilliant, wholesome and memorable way to spend your time, and while it might borrow from Lego and origami, and probably a million other places, it is unique. [Essential]

Retro Studios displays mastery of the 2D platformer in this exquisite sequel. [Recommended]

A thrilling but thin survival twist on the city builder genre, oozing dark charisma and political dilemmas. [Recommended]

A beautiful turn-based RPG whose brutality can sometimes get the better of it.

A compelling fusion of tabletop manoeuvring and characterful campaign progression. [Recommended]

A smart and charming puzzle game that has respect for your time and money. [Recommended]

Despite eye-catching changes, the heart of this series remains gloriously unaltered. [Recommended]

Despite the monochrome palette and simple, wholesome story, Minit's world is stuffed with charm and character that belies its lo-fi presentation - and it's a lovely way to while away a few spare minutes of your own. [Recommended]

A joyous, deep and rewarding tactical shooter.

Fresh presentation and admirable dedication to its big idea can't save this two-player adventure from mediocrity.

I've been walking around all week thinking about east and west and how to tell the difference between the two when I haven't got a compass to hand. I have been thinking about reckoning. This allows the game's fiction to create compelling moments - I have been genuinely lost in Sea of Thieves at times. But it also allows it to do what every game like this truly hopes to do - to cross over, to seep into your everyday life.

A limited and simplistic pirate adventure, but one with an abundance of character and a thrilling conviction in its own ideas. [Recommended]

Sadly, the game which unfolds around these interludes isn't half as enjoyable. The first instalment to be set in North America, Far Cry 5 is Far Cry at its least engrossing, clumsiest and most basic, though there's still just enough going on here to keep a returning fan involved.

An entertaining slice of Pokémon sleuthing set within a vibrant version of the series' world. [Recommended]

Not the charmer its predecessor was, but a jolly 40 hour epic with dashing combat and an engrossing empire-building subgame. [Recommended]

This is a game that manages to remain optimistic about human can-do while never forgetting that Mars looks like a bit of a dive and it's going to be properly awful trying to live there. Awful, but interesting. We will go to Mars to find out who we actually are. [Recommended]

Weather its bugs and lacklustre stealth, and Ghost of a Tale is a quietly ravishing potted epic with a serious subtext. [Recommended]

Perhaps not the greatest Yakuza game, but Kazuma Kiryu's farewell certainly makes for the most human. [Recommended]