In Tyd wag vir Niemand, abstract yet repetitive puzzles make way for frustrating challenges that manage to make time manipulation boring and irritating, something I thought impossible. It can be easy on the eyes at times but that’s little consolation for a game that actively encourages the player to give up through overtly aggressive and clumsy game design.

A deep cyber detective tale, with a unique take on the tools of the trade, Lucifer Within Us is special for its use of intuitive timelines and mechanics to control and manipulate every part of the mystery. Add an engrossing narrative and interesting characters, and you have a recipe for a short, but very cerebral experience.

As resurrections of near-20-year-old franchises go, Aquanox Deep Descent is a very solid effort that, with a few tweaks and a bit more polish, could potentially be special. Here’s hoping that THQ Nordic gives Digital Arrow the opportunity to make another one.

Well crafted and responsive, Terror Squid is an addictive one-stick dodger through a bullet hell of your own creation. It does it’s one thing really well, but with just a single mode and a single gimmick, there’s not really enough to justify the price tag. This is one for the score-chasers.

A visual novel that stands shoulder to shoulder with the giants of the genre, Along The Edge is a fantastic and fantastical story that’s delivered eloquently and masterfully. It’s missing some modern quality of life innovations but that doesn’t spoil what it one of the most majestic hidden gems I’ve ever had the pleasure to review.

The race feel takes a little getting used to, it’s sorely missing any licensed legends and it has some technical/design issues but in the game modes where Monster Truck Championship revels in the magnificence of these vehicles and what they’re capable of, this game is capable of raising a smile.

Space Crew shares the DNA of its predecessor Bomber Crew and utilises its strengths in interesting and engaging ways, and is a worthy follow up, though the fiddly controller mapping means you really should be playing this on a PC.

Whilst it has a plot about as generic as it is boring, MindSeize makes up for it with some cracking Metroidvania-like gameplay. It will test you at times, but the sense of accomplishment outweighs the frustration. Just ignore the story.

Ben 10: Power Trip delivers an adult sized game with a child friendly veneer. The co-op might be partially hamstrung with technical issues and a large chunk of the game might feel mundane but this is the best Ben 10 game to date with an open world that kids love to play around in.

A series as imaginative and as entertaining as Trollhunters deserved a better tie-in video game. Defenders of Arcadia has a few enjoyable moments and it certainly looks the part but uninspired combat, tired level design and a story which feels more like a TV clip show than a cohesive narrative means it falls well short of fan expectations.

Star Wars Squadrons is a terrific dogfighter, reminding you beyond anything else that Star Wars, when done properly, is supposed to be really, really fun.

Rip Them Off is a niche game made by a small team. The 1970’s thematic elements and corporate jargon carries a solid core concept for a time but it needed to be more accommodating to the player during its more challenging moments as the game can degenerate into tedious trial and error very quickly.

If you’ve never played a solitaire video game, The Solitaire Conspiracy is the perfect gateway into them. Bithell Games have created an accessible yet deeply strategic twist on the classic card game that includes an espionage narrative delivered via FMV’s featuring famous faces. There’s some ludonarrative dissonance between the drama of story told and the relative calmness of the game play but it does little to spoil one of the best this genre has to offer.

Let’s Sing Queen offers a wonderful playlist with the series flourishes we’ve come to expect. It’s hardly a game-changer, but you can’t argue with the quality of the songs included. If you ever get the inclination to feel like a rocket ship on its way to Mars, you can’t go wrong here. Go make the rockin’ world go round.

Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time is the perfect distillation of classic gameplay, and modern gaming demands. It is full to bursting with content, things to earn and masses of replayability. Though its difficulty may be too high for some, it’s definitely the best Crash Bandicoot has ever been and deserves its place alongside the original trilogy. A classic modernised and a modern classic.

A perfectly serviceable remaster, Panzer Dragoon: Remake still feels like a missed opportunity to reinvigorate a franchise that deserves it. Would love to see what MegaPixel Studio could do with one of the sequels and a little more creative freedom, but this feels a little too difficult to recommend at the price.

A natural evolution of Absolute Drift, art of rally is a terrific passion project that serves as the perfect love letter to rally driving. Designed to be accessible to anyone, regardless of skill level, and with a huge amount of content, it’s a game that you could easily be playing a year from now and still finding new ways to approach it. As such, it’s an incredible value proposition and one of the best racing games in recent memory.

Probably the quickest and most pleasant platinum trophy on the Playstation 4, Feather gives you the chance to soar like a bird. It’s a shame that it is held back by an empty world, a lack of interesting things to do beyond flight, and control glitches.

A unique narrative framing and art style give Stilstand the tools to tell the story of one woman’s summer long existential crisis in a compelling and original way. It’s a short experience but one that’ll be deeply relatable and darkly funny to those who know the sting of anxiety and depression. This is one of 2020’s hidden gems.

Whilst there’s barely been any kind of update to the visuals and the complication of moving PC controls to a controller is present and correct, RollerCoaster Tycoon 3: Complete Edition is a delight, purely because it’s always been a damn fun video game and in that regard, like everything else about this game, nothing has changed.

What could have served as a reminder to how good it once was, Crysis Remastered is instead a broken mess that needed a lot longer in the oven. Terrible AI and awful graphical glitches just suck any semblance of fun out of this.

Whether you know the stories of Arthur & the fall of Camelot or not, this game allows you to build your own Arthurian legends step by step. Pendragon is a near-seamless blend of procedurally generated narrative and a strategy game that could have carried itself alone. Combined, they make one of the most unique games of 2020 and while it’s not without its flaws, it’s a game I highly recommend you try.

A fun premise, solid mechanics and excellent presentation mean that Bartlow’s Dread Machine might be my favourite twin-stick shooter since Geometry Wars. Hopefully, it doesn’t get lost in the madness that is the end-year shuffle, as it more than holds its own and deserves an audience.

The saying “you get what you pay for” certainly applies to Road Bustle. An unsightly runner that’ll keep you entertained for mere seconds, this game is little more than a Platinum trophy with a price tag.

Whilst reminiscent of classic, isometric battlers, Dog Duty doesn’t make it easy to get into. There’s fun when it’s in full swing, but the wind up to it just won’t be worth it for casual players.

Erratic physics, sluggish controls and a lack of any meaningful game modes means that while Sabec’s Table Tennis might look like the great sport of ping pong, it doesn’t play anything like it.

Average in every respect, and with little to reward or keep you playing, Immortal Realms Vampire Wars is a dull strategy sim, concealed behind an acceptable veneer. When the night is over and sunlight reveals its true form, it’s your will to play that’ll have dried to a husk.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps improves upon its predecessor in every way, and is perhaps the most accomplished Switch port so far. Completely and utterly essential.

While not without its flaws, Raji: An Ancient Epic is a competent and enjoyable debut from Nodding Head Games that leans on some video game classics for its mechanics and combat but blends them with Hindu iconography and Balinese mythology to give it oodles of character.

As it stands Tennis World Tour 2 has a chance to wear you out more than an actual game of tennis.

This Season Update experiment makes you wonder why this hasn’t been the norm for football games for years. If this is the future of the genre, sign me up. EA should be looking over their shoulder. PES has retaken the crown.

A dark premise that, like most uncomfortable experiences, deserves to be told. A few technical issues knocked my pacing back slightly, but didn’t stop me from seeing this through.

Journey of the Broken Circle is beautiful and written well with some delightful dialogue, hampered by the actual video game bit, which doesn’t really measure up to its presentation and story. It’s a shame, because otherwise it’s a pleasant enough journey with something important to say.

Retaining what made the first game unique, whilst making it a much more rounded experience that you’ll be more likely to revisit, Surgeon Simulator 2 is a good single-player experience that becomes pretty special in online co-op. Gather some mates and it’s one of the most fun multiplayer experiences of the year.

13 Sentinels is the deepest of narrative experiments, with none of the form of a normal RPG, and a visceral and addictive strategic mech battler. It channels everything good about Japanese mech anime and games from the last 40 years into something beautiful, timeless and incredibly niche. A real contender for RPG of the year.

A console version of a classic pub quiz machine game, Sabec’s Spot The Difference is fun to play as a group and intuitive enough for a toddler to pick up. Unfortunately, a lack of content means that within a few hours, the images have repeated so often that there’s no more differences to find. There’s much better versions of this concept elsewhere and for a much smaller entry price.

The bastard child of DOOM, Devil Daggers and Tetris Effect, BPM: Bullets Per Minute is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year and a game I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone with a hankering for something different in the FPS genre. Just don’t expect an easy ride. Even on Easy.

A shallow and featureless package, Air Hockey is a game that wrestles with its control method and loses. It lacks any personality and within a few seconds, you’ll have seen everything this game has to offer. Compared to many of the other Air Hockey games available today, or from history, Sabec’s effort is a spectacular own goal.

Peril on Gorgon plays it very safe, which may frustrate players who were looking for it to mix up the formula. For people like me though, who just wanted a reason to take control of the Unreliable once again and tear it across Halcion, this is exactly what you’re after.

An incredible simulation of the game of basketball, which might as well be a free-to-play mobile game with so many microtransactions at times. If you can resist the temptation to pour money in, it’s the best sports sim on the market by a fair distance. Unfortunately, this is the worst game in the franchise for attempting to exploit that temptation. Wait for a heavy discount to make any further outlay a more palatable decision.

One of the more disappointing games of the year, Tamarin is pretty to look at but dead behind the eyes, offering very little to win over fans of Rare’s golden age.

The nomadic lifestyle translates into an interesting take on the resource and management genre, that is more interesting for its ideas than its execution. However, those who fancy a more contemplative slow going game will find solid goal-oriented challenges in this journey back to the source.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is a love letter to the original games, keeping the core gameplay intact but tweaking it enough to feel fresh and current. If you were never interested in the original games, or care little for skateboarding and its culture, there is still plenty to enjoy here too. You would be a right nollie not to pick this up.

Bounty Battle might be the most ambitious cross-over event in indie gaming history. It unites 22 indie games under one banner and has their heroes duke it out in Smash Bros-esque fashion. This project might have been too ambitious though as the touted story mode is missing, the existing single player content is mundane, the AI needs work and the fight stages lack variety. Still, the game looks first-rate and with friends, all the mechanics are there for a good night of scrappy indie combat.

Whilst it initially looks like carnage, Police Stories offers a level of tactic and forethought to the top-down shooter genre. Get past that initial steepness and there’s a wealth of fun to be had in the methodical approach.

Described as a “sandbox hunting simulator”, Sabec’s Hunt is anything but. A poorly crafted open world, shallow shooting mechanics, bizarre AI reactions and very little incentive to play the game beyond a few runs, Hunt is the worst hunting game on PS4 by a country mile.

Looks like Warcraft, plays like Fable, Amalur brings nothing new to the table. An RPG-lite, if you will, there’s enough for casual players to have fun with, as well as hardcore players to sink time into.

HotShot Racing is a must buy if you are looking to rekindle your love affair with arcade racers. Just be prepared to battle the rubber banding for the finish line.

While it’s far clunkier than it’s PC counterpart, Niche on the Switch is still an interesting strategy game that uses population genetics as a core gameplay loop to both entertain and inform. It has its issues but it’s weapons grade cute and anyone who enjoyed Spore will get something out of this.

Spinch is a gorgeous psychedelic platformer that will both delight and infuriate you, aimed solely at an audience that eyes up the challenge and won’t relent until it’s conquered.

An atmospheric adventure, The Coma 2 has enough puzzles and personality to keep horror fans going until Halloween. While it succeeds in gameplay, it’s story is pretty simple, and it gets repetitive by the end of it’s six hour campaign.

Cave Digger loses a lot of immersion in the journey to flat screen TV’s but the game play loop of mining and then re-investing in making the digging faster and more efficient still works a treat. Coupled with the darkly funny DLC which is included in the non-VR version of the game, this is a game that’s still worth a look when played on a TV rather than a headset.

A cohesive and complementary blend of point-and-click adventure and 2D platformer, Lair of the Clockwork God is a real rib tickler that’s capable of delivering real emotion when it aims to. This is Ben & Dan’s magnum opus and one of the most essential games of 2020.

A bright and breezy game that unfortunately drags a little at points, Paradise Killer is nevertheless an enjoyable jaunt that does something a little different with a genre that has a reputation for being somewhat dour. Absolutely worth your time – just be prepared to dedicate a little more of it than you might expect in the early stages.

WRC 9 is a challenging rally game that celebrates the FIA World Rally Championship’s past and present. The driving mechanics themselves are very well implemented and there’s plenty of modes that’ll keep you busy – but there’s more than a few rough edges that prevent it from being a real champion.

Ary and the Secret of Seasons is a basic my-first-adventure, that rarely lifts itself above mediocrity. Turns out having the power of seasons can’t stop the game being a disappointing rainy day in summer when you’d planned to go to the beach.

Kandagawa Jet Girls is exactly what you expect and still offers a fun time for those invested in the genre. For everyone else, there’s absolutely nothing to see here.

A fun little take on an old concept, Witcheye’s tentative leap to bigger platforms is one to keep an eye out for.

A massive and detailed tactical RPG, Wasteland 3 offers so much to do. A few technical and visual issues occur, but nothing that will ruin the experience.

Soulless and boring, Street Power Football offers nothing back for its ridiculous asking price. Vote with your wallet and leave this one on the shelf.

Manifold Garden is the best first person puzzle game since Portal 2. Unique spatial mechanics, a world that brings to life M.C. Escher’s work, a winsome art style and masterfully designed puzzles make this one of the easiest recommendations of 2020 so far.

Odd design choices and an unsatisfying yet incredibly demanding gameplay loop mar a game that boasts the cutest plant people in video games. A crafting and survival sim with added base-building, Drake Hollow is not compelling enough to justify the demands it makes on the player or the lack of reward even when you manage to do what it asks.

Windbound is a fun sailing game set in a world that’s different every time you play, but it’s a frustrating and punishing survival game at the same time. It’s highly likely to not be the game players expect it to be. Without any story or narrative to anchor it, the player is left adrift at sea without a raft.

Pixels shouldn’t be this scary. Inmost is a short but very memorable metroidvania horror, full of cinematic lighting and intricate diorama-like levels. The visual storytelling is masterful, and it’s without doubt the most atmospheric 2D game since Hollow Knight. Grab some noise-cancelling headphones and turn off the lights, you’re in for a fright.

The Darkest of Times stark and sobering reminder of how lucky we are, and what sacrifices were made for the greater good. As basic as you can get for a strategy game but it’s all the better for it.

Bringing nothing new to the table, suffering with some frustrating sections and with an art style that’s nice to look but can make the game hard to read, The Explorer of Night is a retro inspired platformer that’ll scratch that twitchy platformer itch for a day or so – but no longer.

It’s not perfect then, but I highly recommend you play No Straight Roads on the biggest, loudest TV you can find and get completely lost in a staggeringly good, unstoppable psychedelic rock n roll extravaganza.

Sheepo has a nice concept; steal eggs for science, shapeshift into creatures and solve puzzles in a metroidvania world. It’s notable for its combat-free gameplay in a genre that often sticks a blaster in your hand. However, it never really rises above the formulaic to fulfil its potential, and it lacks content past the five hour initial run.

A perfectly serviceable game that would be more fitting on last generation’s consoles, the only real investment in this will only come from being a fan of the source material.

A game of two halves, there’s just about enough in one half to make up for the frustrations of the other. Easily an afternoon’s enjoyment in there.

A cracking roguelike with a welcome progression system, Collapsed is only let down by its dated Flash-like graphics. See past that, and there’s a cracking adventure to keep coming back to.

Descenders is a game that once you get to grips with can be a lot of fun, unfortunately, it probably has one too many flaws for it to be considered great.

New Super Lucky’s Tale on PS4 is a charming, fun and technically solid port that looks gorgeous and plays well, even if there’s nothing particularly new to see here. Money burning a hole in your pocket? Get Lucky.

A few issues aside, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is a celebration of the TV sensation that translates much of what is loved about the show into tangible game play systems. The last third of this game is a brilliant showcase of the time manipulation mechanics and puzzle depth that can really push the player and offers oodles of tension. It’s simply a shame that it takes two thirds the game for that to be realised and for it to end so soon after it begins.

It’s almost impossible to recommend Sabec’s Golf, a game with a single course, frustrating physics, a low-poly environment that’s difficult to read and a distinct lack of personality. This game is a hole in 1/10.

Solving puzzles while a disgruntled goblin is getting irate that you’re cheating because you’re taking off body parts, can be fun. Helheim Hassle certainly made me laugh quite a few times. But a repetitive gameplay loop, a tiresome numbers of puzzles, some frustrating controls, and a world that I felt no compulsion to explore or continue in, left me wanting a lot more than just a few lols.

It may seem daunting and punishing, and it is. But its visual beauty and aesthetic has me compelled to explore more of this world and the Shells that inhabit it.

A lot of Kafka’s spirit shines through in this game with the illogical mixed with the depressingly truthful and real. It’s such a shame then that the Xbox One version is beset with so many technical hiccups that threaten to spoil the narrative. Like so much of Kafka’s work, Metamorphosis feels like it has been left unfinished and in need of a few more weeks of polishing.

A sound puzzle platforming concept that leverages character cooperation is ruined by technical flaws and a show stopping bug. There’s mushroom for improvement here.

Simplistic but fun mini-games can’t quite match the quality of the music they’re accompanying in Teenage Blob, a unique split EP music/game that’s over before it really hits its stride.

Double Kick Heroes is exactly what we need right now, especially in the absence of gigs. It’s unabashedly funny, has some of the finest rhythm gaming going… and that soundtrack is heavy metal heaven.

As an experience, Milky Way Prince is experimental, entirely unique and one that I’m glad exists. I imagine it’ll hang in the subconscious of most people who give it the time of day, but the subject matter will be too much for some to bear.

Darkestville Castle feels at home on the Switch, and with a strong narrative and clever puzzles cements itself as a decent point-and-click adventure, despite some niggles.

With one foot in the classics, and one foot in the modern era, and a plethora of fun and witty puzzles, Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is worth your time. It’s just a shame it’s such a short amount of time.

So there’s really not an awful lot to recommend, despite Snakeybus doing what it does fairly well. In this climate there are so many better games at the £10 price range you can get stuck into that it’s not even worth the minimal RRP. It’s doing solid numbers on Steam which is great, you can’t begrudge a game that definitely has its fans. It’s just really not for me. This bus journey offers little thrills and a whole lot of frustration. Much like a normal bus journey then, I suppose.

This is a simple game with a simple mission with only the bare minimum of content to keep you playing. Usually, even the simplest games are at least polished in one particular way or another with either beautiful graphics, or some interesting gameplay gimmick to keep you coming back. Galactic Warfighter has no unique selling point. It is as generic as its name suggests.

Null Drifter is a fun game for a short burst of chaos and has plenty of good points with the dash mechanic and the various power-ups. However, give the game thirty minutes or so and you’ve pretty much seen all it has to offer. If your eyes can somehow translate the flurry of pixels on the screen, you’ll have fun unlocking the trophies, something you seem to win after every bullet fired. Null Drifter is a simple, fun, but ultimately shallow shooter, which is fine if you want a quick blast.

There’s certainly fun to be had with a mate/partner/postman in Biped, but there’s very little here to have you playing for any more than a weekend. Once the levels are complete there’s the odd unlock that doesn’t justify prioritising Biped over the likes of Jackbox or Overcooked. If you’re on your own you’ll find little joy in ploughing your way through the adjusted solo campaign, which is more infuriating than infatuating.

Those with the patience to can forgive its foibles and push through the issues that Construction Sim 3 has though will be rewarded with that strangely therapeutic and relaxing game play loop. It’s surprisingly rewarding to stand back and survey your virtual creations when they’re finished but there’s plenty of room for improvement with the inevitable next instalment in the Construction Simulator series.

As a single-player experience, there is little to keep you playing past the first few rounds, but as a party game with some mates, there’s fun to be had. It’s not the epic that Rocket League is, it’s not the clever and skilled party game that Over-Cooked is, nor is it as memorable as many classic party games, like the Crash Bash, Mario Parties and Pokemon Stadium mini-games of old. But it does what it sets out to do, just with absolutely no embellishments or flair. There’s just very little to it and that lack of content is the main story here.

What matters is still intact, and that’s the heart and soul of one of the greatest stories in video game history. It’s a return to form that has felt a long time in coming, and what’s even better is that there’s still at least two more games of this quality to come...They can’t mess this up, can they?

It really is a beautiful game. As I’ve said, Arc System Works have only continued to hone their craft and have offered this stunning, smooth and fast-paced fighter as a testament to that. I don’t think it’ll have as big an audience as other genre mainstays, but if you’re a fan of Guilty Gear or Dragonball FighterZ, this is well worth checking out.

MotoGP 20 is a game developed for its existing fans and the lack of any kind of tutorial is testament to that. This game isn’t trying to win over anyone new (or, if it is, isn’t going to do a good job with it). Instead, this is a cracking racing sim that’s a celebration of the MotoGP heroes through the Historic Mode and a gaze into a bizzaro alternative universe where the GP’s actually went ahead this year. It looks great, handles even better and once you’ve got used to its particular idiosyncrasies, it’s a whole lot of fun to play...Those first few hours are a doozy though.

Ancient Enemy is a chilled out take on Solitaire underneath a RPG card battler. It’s not the longest of games, the narrative is a little rote and if you really dig into the mechanics early on, you can find combinations of attacks and special abilities that make the game a touch too early. That being said, it looks fantastic, sets a brooding tone through its music and writing and, as card battlers go, is really quite enjoyable to play. This game won’t be for anyone but if you’re into the niche, or you’ve enjoyed Grey Aliens other games like Shadowhand, this is certainly worth a look.

Super Toy Cars 2 is one of the worst examples of this genre I’ve played in the past few years (surprisingly not the worst). The visuals, much improved over its predecessor and a decent soundtrack are its only saving graces.

WarriOrb is a painful experience, and your enjoyment levels will depend on how masochistic you are. I found no impetus, no driving force to get the wisecracking Orb from A to B through any more sorry-looking levels. Very quickly I had had enough of retrying broken platforming sections two or three dozen times, for what is essentially no reward, except more of the same relentless, slow, monotonic boredom.

There’s a ton to love about Moving Out and it comes recommended as a new title to place in your party playlists next to Jackbox and Overcooked. It’s just a shame you don’t have the option to also move out that enormous online shaped elephant in the room.

It’s not an easy game, per se, but then it never claimed to be. Once you get your head around the time and patience aspect, SnowRunner is going to engross you. It won’t win any Game of the Year awards for being niche, but then neither does Train Simulator. If you can convince some friends to join you, then even better. But even as a solo experience, there’s some absolute joy to be had when you get stuck into it.