Certainly, I have no hesitation in recommending Original Sin to RPG fans old and new, provided that you're up for a challenge from very early on and don't expect to romp through, Diablo-style.

Viewed on its underlying merit, this is a weaker game than its years-old inspirations - both Radiant Silvergun and Einhander best it in terms of interesting systems and set-pieces - but Astebreed is, nevertheless, a strong and idiosyncratic proposition.

Exploring the ruins of ancient civilizations under the watchful eyes of a race of paleo-people isn't just surreal; it's also unnerving to see how little power you really have here. Without air, without any technology to speak of, without your friends or family, you're truly lost.

Xenonauts knows exactly who its audience is, exactly what it's aiming for and, while it may never achieve a wider appeal, it will capture that audience in a very familiar act of alien abduction.

More will follow, but despite what its name might suggest, Infinity is extremely limited, both in terms of what little content it offers and your ability to access it.

Chibi-Robo simply isn't much fun.

It is, at best, a functional shooter that asks little of the player and offers the bare minimum in return.

While Distant Worlds may be a paragon of its style, I can only recommend it to a select few: those with beefy computers and plenty of time to really dig into the meat of this stunningly elegant and impressively wide-ranging bit of software.

The meagre number of maps means repetition soon kicks in, but the gorgeous visuals, frenetic carnage and demanding teamwork make for the tightest Horde variant since Mass Effect 3's. A surprisingly good time for all.

The package as a whole is still very much a rough diamond, but it's a definite improvement over its predecessor.

There is gold in these old genres, and Shovel Knight is a successful dig.

While Valiant Hearts struggles to make sense of itself as a game, in its odd, playful innocence and in its focus on four friends (and a dog) it at least offers a fleeting human perspective on a new kind of war that turned out to be far, far worse in its mechanised violence than anybody was quite expecting.

The fact that this is a standalone expansion really sweetens the deal. If you'd like to pick up just one of the new factions, that'll only run you £10, and with that you can start playing one of the best World War 2 strategy games ever made... alongside its near-perfect predecessor, of course.

Grid Autosport is a fine racing game, though it's never a thoroughbred one. It's the muscle car that was Grid 2 stripped out and retooled for the track, but too often you can see the solder-work at the seams. In 2008, Race Driver: Grid was a partial reinvention of the racing genre, equipped with a handful of fresh ideas. Six years on, Grid Autosport - while a definite return to form for Codemasters - is simply a rediscovery of it.

Add the graphical overhaul, refined handling and experimental modes together and you end up with a racer that feels much more competitive that its immediate predecessors.

For now, enjoy what is still one of the best and most undervalued puzzle games around.

Enemy Front is a bad game on almost every level, but it gives me no pleasure to report that. It's not a lazy game, as you can see the developer trying as hard as it can to mimic the juggernauts that dominate the genre, but nor does it show enough personality or ambition to break out of the tired old paradigms.

EA Sports UFC is a game capable of brilliance. It's let down by some curious design decisions, signs of a team perhaps too interested in capturing non-essential moves seen on YouTube rather than nailing the essence of the sport. But when it flows against human competition, it offers beautiful destruction and glorious drama. Landing a picture-perfect head kick in the final minute of the fifth round of a title fight? Well, it doesn't get much better.

While it's a fine tribute to Panzer General's mechanics, it actually ends up feeling a little dumber and more obtuse than the venerable vintage it pays respect to. It sings its tune well and it will entertain fans of the original but, unlike the generals whose battles it represents, it fails to either innovate or inspire.

It's a game that strains for profundity and meaning - that's particularly evident in its Trophy titles - but finds them ever beyond its grasp. Some will be soothed by its contemplative mood, others will relish the challenge of mastering those devious patterns, but to me the two felt like an awkward mismatch.

In many ways, it's a spiritual sibling to Far Cry 3's Blood Dragon expansion. Both are fuelled by a heady brew of nostalgia and adrenalin, and both have tongue so firmly implanted in cheek that it bursts out the other side. Where Blood Dragon built to a manic crescendo, however, after the first few hours SUDR3ARHEEXPA too easily turns into a fun but flawed grind for all but the most dedicated Capcom aficionado.

It's a hard game to sum up. The flashes of genius in Concursion's construction are some of the freshest and most engaging gameplay I've seen from the indie scene in years. I want to be able to recommend it for that reason alone. But there's a lot of game surrounding those moments, and a lot of that game isn't particularly good. It's fiddly and annoying in a way that the best hardcore retro games - the Mega Mans and R-Types - never were.

The abundance of surreal moments make for game that's fun to tell others about, but dull to play.

That's what's most disappointing; there's absolutely the spark of a really cool whatever-this-genre-is game in Among the Sleep, and for a while it looks like it's going to get there. Too bad it ends barely a quarter of the way in, passing the baton to something both much less interesting and perpetually trapped in its shadow.

State of Decay's imagination and ambition do not excuse the presentational shortcomings, but it's easier to celebrate an interesting yet crude game than one that's beautiful and dull.

I can't pretend that Soul Suspect is a particularly great game, but I do know that it's the sort of game I'll still remember - and remember fondly - in five years' time, which is more than can be said for most of its glossier rivals.

It offers highly refined gameplay married with a rich art style, and by acknowledging fan feedback in an effort to make a well-rounded game even more polished, Ultra feels like the work of a developer that's content to please its core audience rather than trying to grab everyone else's attention. That's rare, especially from a studio that was responsible for Resident Evil 6.

While research shows that the majority of games remain unfinished by their players, Kero Blaster draws you steadily through to its conclusion, a three-hour trip that demands to be finished. Amaya's singular vision is beguiling and, while this game is a more straightforward proposition than the enchanting crisscross complexity of Cave Story, it's no less delightful.