The Anniversary Edition is a much better looking version of the original Edna and Harvey – The Breakout. Despite updated visuals though, there’s still some wrinkles that haven’t been ironed out, notably with sound effects and animations. The move to controller support on consoles has been a little rough on the playability too. The core concept, narrative and personality of the game is quite ingenious but the backtracking, inconsistent lunacy and uniquity of some of the puzzles mean it’s sometimes tough to get through. You don’t have to be mad to play The Breakout, but it’d help.

Dust & Neon may be a diamond in the rough for those looking for a unique sci-fi western cover-shooter. However, the roguelite systems do a disservice to the twin-stick shooting gameplay, making it far from the most wanted.

So I’m a little disappointed, but there’s definitely something that perhaps could evolve into an adventure that’s tighter and faster. Summer in Mara feels loose and slow. There’s rightly no urgency in the world of Mara nor they should be, the zen of it all is what appeals but, could there have been just a little more tempo? Koa and the charming world of Mara is enough to keep an eye on this one, but it’s too big with not enough depth and that makes Summer in Mara far from essential.

In a sea full of roguelikes/lites, Dust & Neon floats on by like an innocuous limpet attached to bigger players. It’s not terrible, nor is it bringing anything new to the table. The future-retro style is attractive to look at, which otherwise holds up this rather shallow experience.

With a vast interconnected cave system to explore, and all the genre trappings and pitfalls, Outbuddies has the elements most will be looking for in a new digital spelunking fix, just without the flair to find its way back to the surface.

A missed opportunity to build and improve upon the legacy of Virtua Racing, Formula Retro Racing instead opts to replicate large portions of Sega’s 90’s racer. Sure, there’s more tracks and a larger number of cars to race against but a lack of modes and modern features means that this retro inspired title doesn’t do enough to take a victory lap. Fans of Virtua Racing without a Nintendo Switch will get a kick out of the nostalgia Formula Retro Racing induces. For everyone else, there are better examples of modern takes on retro inspired racers.

A vertical sci-fi shoot-em-up with sublime atmospheric graphics and some incredible encounters, Cygni is ultimately let down by its lack of identity and a sharp difficulty spike straight from the launch pad. Shunting power between shields and weapons makes for a fun mechanic, but unless you’re a shmup aficionado, it’s a hard package to recommend.

Whilst the core gameplay loop of riding, swerving and tricking across different parts of an elaborately designed city is fun, the gameplay variety falls short very early on. If you're set on just getting packages from point A to B in sick and quick succession then Parcel Corps may just be the package for you, but those looking for more bite to their bike may choose a different delivery service.

As a beat ’em up, Fatal Fury First Contact is a cracking little game that shows off the power the Neo Geo Pocket could achieve. But as a port, it’s just too niche when there are far better alternatives from the same catalogue available.

As of version 1.0.7 of the game, there’s a number of mildly frustrating bugs and issues which take the shine off of To The Rescue! Hopefully, Little Rock Games has the opportunity to patch these as beneath its hiccups, it feels like there’s a good game here. The concept is cute and original, the art style is clean and the game play loop can be quite moreish, so long as you can push though its core annoyances.

Sonic Colours Ultimate is a solid if unremarkable retread through perhaps the only 3D Sonic game worth remastering. The visuals are just shiny enough to warrant a remaster, with a pumping soundtrack and inventive mechanics through the Wisps. Newcomers will find far more exciting and original games elsewhere, so the term ‘for the fans’ has never rung quite so true.

Sonic returns in an inescapable mishmash of strong mechanics and ideas alongside poor execution and empty lifeless ‘open-zones’ that offers little to tie it together. Whilst this could be the start of a brand new revolution for modern Sonic games, Frontiers still feels like a beta test, and one that fans shouldn’t have to playtest for Sonic Team to work out what to do next.

Ten games for £35 can’t be sniffed at, especially during times of budgetary constraints, but Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 2 represents a disappointing step down from the first volume. A series of curiosities, average ports and games where the language barrier is an unfortunate turn-off make for a collection that will likely hold appeal for fans of the platform, but which I can’t heartily recommend to the masses.

Lacking the intensity of a full orchestra, Disaster Band delivers an altogether brief and mildly entertaining rhythm game. Slapstick presentation, horrifically amusing instruments and ample fart noise for failure will provide a good laugh with friends or family, but there’s little to keep this musical party jamming for a very long.

Offering up something more lighthearted than a Milestone sim, MX vs ATV Legends does racing competently, be it bike or quad. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for the UTV’s, or the game’s complete lack of anything outside out of its racing career modes. It’s certainly one for MX fans, but not for those looking for more content and fun in a mud-racer.

If you like your action games to be fast and furious, Shady Knight presents a series of brutal and bombastic challenge boxes to overcome and look awesome doing it. It's unlikely to click with everyone, especially when it's prone to frustrating platforming moments and overwhelming mobs that diminish the engaging sandbox. Shady Knight struggles to let go of all of its demons, but there's plenty of hope the shadows won't keep it down for good.

Aquarist is a fine addition to the career simulator genre, although there are some optimisation issues on the Switch with some ill-fitted control problems and and fiddly mechanics. Behind these flaws though there is a casual, fun game that has a lot to offer.

It’s by no means a bad game, but Yurukill just never manages to hit the same heights as its contemporaries. There’s solid groundwork here for a sequel, it has its unique selling point in the shmup sections, and the puzzles are mostly fun. I wanted to love it, but its story didn’t come together in a satisfying way and too many mechanics felt half-baked or redundant.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery is how the old saying goes. Humankind is content to imitate the giants of the 4X strategy genre without offering a whole lot to distinguish itself from the crowd. While there’s some decent fun to be had, almost every element has some kind of flaw that undermines humanity’s evolution. Occasionally, you’ll conquer the world. More often, you’ll be sifting through bureaucratic mediocrity.

By turning Resident Evil 4’s inventory system into a puzzle experience all of its own, Save Room combines the familiar with the inventive. Its journey from PC to PS5 has left it with a few issues, but for its 2 hour runtime, this game will provide decent headscratchers in the vibe of a Resident Evil safe room.

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.

Harvest Hunt sows some excellent horror rogue-lite seeds with an interesting folklore background, brilliant card modifiers and a suffocating atmosphere. The growth is unfortunately stunted through lack of variety and some cheaper horror tactics, but with perseverance and post-launch support, I have confidence the devs can harvest a true indie horror classic, once the blood moon reaches its peak.

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 visually stunning and atmospheric stop-motion samurai adventure, thoroughly retro in its design, is ultimately betrayed by glitches, janky combat and punishingly unforgiving platforming.

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.

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.

It’s beautiful to look at and has an engaging turn based combat system but Echo Generation has a few core issues that undermine its best qualities. An unfocused narrative leads to confused and unclear quest lines which, combined with some curious design choices, means the game doesn’t manage to fulfil its obvious potential.

Re:Turn – One Way Trip isn’t going to keep you up at night and the small game world undermines the game’s better ideas because of the amount of backtracking and filler. That being said, the story has an interesting arc (despite it being overtly foreshadowed) which will keep you entertained for an evening with creepy but not quite scary content.

With better game design choices and no hard crashes – Moonscars would be a great addition to the 2D Soulstroidvania genre. It’s hard to enjoy the bleak aesthetics and the rich lore of the world when the game doesn’t let you finish it however. The combat is fresh yet familiar but every mechanic outside of that isn’t really needed. But this may be one to perserve with, if you need that Souls itch scratched.

As a cyberpunk adventure Anno: Mutationem lacks much coherent or satisfying plot but its responsive combat will stand out and entertain through its short playtime. It’s just a shame the overall package doesn’t live up to the promise of those stylish trailers.

Too much is left to chance and not enough to player skill. I guess you could call it the pure definition of insanity. But those gamers who like a cruel, twisted challenge to keep them awake at night whispering just one more jump over and over again will find a decent game and one almighty almost insurmountable challenge here.

Channelling your inner desire to become just like Spiderman, Windlands 2 has some epic moments that are buried under tedious combat design, poor story structure and inconsistent grappling that is hindered by the current PSVR tech. When the harmony of swinging works, it encapsulates the best of what only immersive VR can do, if only the game itself could provide the platform to let it spread its wings and soar.

There’s a bit of a learning curve with House of Golf 2 which takes away some of the ‘pick up and play’ elements of other titles in the genre, but there’s some good course design and it’s fun to find the shortcuts hidden around them. There’s nothing here that will challenge the golf titans in gaming, but there’s plenty to discover if you’re willing to give it the time.

Undetected is unapologetic in being a love-letter to the original Metal Gear Solid. It’s fan service in a fresh coat of paint and will bring up those fond memories from 24 years ago for those who enjoyed Kojima’s original PS1 vision. Simplistic gameplay and AI make this a lesser experience for those who aren’t fans, but for those who adore the series, it’ll remind you of just how good MGS1 truly was.

When Potata: Fairy Flower is doing what it does best – tense platforming among open, branching levels loaded with danger – it’s excellent. Sure, it can be punishing at times but it has been quite some time since a game made my palms as sweaty as this game did at times. For that, it has to be commended. It’s a shame these moments are offset by meandering, sometimes nonsensical quests coupled with reams of text to read, some of which are confusing, and puzzles which grind the game to a halt.

There’s much to love in 9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil but it requires such an investment and patience from the player in order to pay off that many won’t push through to see the game’s best moments. The plot could have been tightened up, the presentation will be divisive and the combat lacks meaningful depth but the game world and activities it contains will have you busy for many, many hours if 9th Dawn III gets its hooks into you.

The Land Beneath Us has a lot of ideas thrown into the roguelite dungeon crawler that with a bit more fine-tuning could be great. However, for now, it’s just okay. Whether it’s the weapon/perk bloat or lack of executable builds that’ll help you beat the game, it just doesn’t feel fun when mechanics aren’t going your way.

Despite its obvious and numerous drawbacks, Broken Mind is an oddly compelling story driven first person shooter cum adventure puzzler. It’s not going to be challenging those titles at the apex of the genre but its a perfectly fine game to spend an evening with.

The story A Fold Apart tells is a powerful one, unfortunately undercut by the way it is delivered at times but a beautiful piano soundtrack and art style that’s deeper than it first appears helps it stick the landing.

With a different gameplay focus, bright and breezy presentation, a simple yet effective match engine and a long overdue women’s football management mode, We Are Football does a pretty decent job of setting itself apart from Football Manager. However, a cluttered and messy UI, when combined with a frankly overwhelming amount of information to process, served to be pretty off-putting and left me pining for the relative simplicity of FM Touch. If you want to dig into some boardroom minutiae, this might just be the game for you. As it is, there was just a little too much white noise around the good stuff to make this a unanimous recommendation.

Beyond the Dawn was never going to be an epic on the scale of a full Tales release, but it’s sad that this is the last taste of Arise’s world that I’ll remember. A poor story with little reason to be told and virtually no new features at all make this hard to recommend. It may look the same as the main game on the surface, but the soul just isn’t there.

Clocking in at just under 3 hours for a single play through, Gunman Clive HD Collection is a short yet charming experience on PS4. For the first game, the length isn’t so much a detriment because the game flows very quickly and is constantly fresh and fun. The remastered sequel is a far less enjoyable experience, doubling its length but containing some truly irritating or confusing sections. The unique art style is as much an annoyance as it is pleasing on the eye when used incorrectly but at least the soundtrack remains consistently pleasant.

Ad Infinitum initially intrigues with a haunting and visceral sense of atmosphere and nightmare vision. The stealth gameplay unfortunately feels disjointed and the story ends up predictable despite the mysterious first impression. Yet, despite having as many bugs as a WW1 mud-swamped trench, Ad Infinitum has the heart of a soldier desperate to make it through one more nightmarish day.

While its evocative graphics will attract players on this beautiful journey, the simple traversal puzzles and lack of emotional weight mean Planet of Lana is just not very memorable.

Positively drowning the player in guilt-ridden moral choices and gameplay-orientated dilemmas, War Hospital is an immersive and intense management title. Its limbs are battered and bruised, owing to significant technical issues and more minor glitches, making it more unstable than the soldiers you desperately try to save. War is hell, and you’ll be lamenting both your choices when losing each soldier and your mind when you lose hours of your time.

This kart racer is for the Nickelodeon fans and families alike. It’s an approachable entry for newcomers as it has a lot of reimagined content from the first two games. It’s also accessible, with a low skill barrier for entry that admittedly can go surprisingly high for experienced players. There’s a lot of content to get through but you’ll have seen the best of it after a hours and it doesn’t stand out amongst its peers, outside of featuring a load of Nickelodeon IPs.

Even with its issues though, Gravity Chase has enough content and verve about it to keep fans of Ballistics, WipEout or Radial-G entertained for a few evenings. For a budget title, it’s an admirable attempt to capture the spirit of the zero-g racing greats that came before it. In the long run though, it just can’t keep pace with the luminaries of the genre.

Knight vs Giant: The Broken Excalibur is a fun action rogue-like that wears the armour of Hades proudly. Unfortunately, that armour is weighed down thanks to tedious progression and upgrades systems, a less interesting story and some minor gameplay issues. Despite the problems, there is a visual flourish and the odd run that comes together into something altogether enjoyable, in spite of the flaws.

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.

Often as generic as its name, Battle Hunters needed a far more nuanced plot to really make use of its bloated 28 strong cast of heroes. That being said, the game world and it’s combat (despite not working as it should) are entertaining enough to fill it’s 15 hour length.

CRSED: FOAD probably won’t ever see major numbers like at the very height of PUBG and its revamp may have just come a little too late for the masses to really be all that bothered, but it’s a fun quirky indie distraction from the mainstream support acts that looks better than ever before.

The Hittites are an excellent addition which add extra hours of playtime and additional playstyles to be enjoyed, and are the highlight of the DLC. Unlike Alexander’s attempts to conquer Psersia, however, the scenarios are a bit of a miss. An experienced player who knows the game very well may well be able to emulate Alexander himself, but for a new player they very well may end up on the wrong side of history.

Fury Unleashed is also exceptionally hard.

Mutropolis evokes the same feelings its older and most revered predecessors do. However, the technical problems and clunky sometimes nonsensical puzzles holds the title back from being a point and click that stands out of the ever-growing crowd.

Rooftops & Alleys has a great foundation of parkour gameplay. But with a handful of levels and no great variety of missions that'll have you tripping over your feet, this won't keep players around for long; unless they're hardcore into parkour.

Spirit of the North remains a beautiful but hollow experience on PS5. The 4K 60 frames upgrade is glorious to behold, but the lack of DualSense integration in a game that’s crying out for it and hangups from the last-gen version makes it difficult to recommend.

To some, a short relaxing spiritual adventure through some lush environments will really appeal. For me, I wanted more than what was delivered. I wanted to be a fox, I wanted that feeling like when I was a wolf in Okami, but clearly there was a lot more to that game than I appreciated. Sadly the lonely experience of Spirit of the North is only a transparent, albeit beautiful, imitation.

Supermassive Games’ The Devil in Me lays some new ideas for the Dark Pictures franchise’s future. While well-intentioned, the implementation of these new gameplay ideas isn’t quite there yet. Lacklustre new mechanics and a bloated runtime do more harm than good. The Devil in Me would’ve been better off as a shorter, more refined experience. Great visuals, a solid cast, and a fun slasher premise can only take it so far.

Whilst Highwater starts with some rather lovely visuals and whimsical charm, it soon devolves into a tedious, languid affair that failed to launch. If you can endure the droning voices and hackneyed lyrics in here, you may enjoy this turn-based nautically-induced apocalypse adventure.

Fossil Corner was released during the Wholesome Direct showcase and it certainly epitomises that type of game. Built around a gratifying puzzle and a moreish game play loop, it’s a chilled experience that ticks a lot of those dopamine releasing boxes – it’s short lived however. The narrative fades away and repetition sets in. It’ll fill a few nights but past that, it’ll start to grate.

A cosy, relaxed afternoon kind of game, Time Loader is a short, unchallenging but easy going little game. The soundtrack is lush and the gameplay, graphics and story are all decent enough to keep you engaged. While not memorable or worth screwing up the space-time continuum for, Time Loader is a dependable little earth JCB.

Let’s Sing 2025 doesn’t necessarily do anything wrong (except for online multiplayer stuck behind another paywall, I suppose), but it’s just a bit samey at this point, and the playlist isn’t full of enough pure karaoke bangers to really recommend upgrading if you’ve already picked up Let’s Sing 2024.

Whilst the tropes, atmosphere and Xenomorph fear factor are intact, I'm not bursting from my chest with excitement for Alien: Rogue Incursion. The gameplay is cumbersome and inaccurate, the Xenomorphs' presence becomes a hindrance when you're backtracking and outside of a few great story moments it's quite slow. If you're fan of the Alien franchise, you'll love that it'll transport you into that world but you may have wished you hadn't stayed.

Calling Front Mission 1st Remake a remake is stretching the term, when this is more of a like-for-like remaster of the original game, with new graphics and sparse quality-of-life updates. A diluted script, and no embellishment or modernising of the original whatsoever left me feeling disappointed when I had such high hopes for what a modern remake of a Front Mission game could have been.

SoulVars is a great console port of a mobile game, but it doesn’t quite do a good enough job of keeping you hooked whilst playing. The combat system is exceptional by being and rewarding albeit a little grind. Unfortunately, the story and influence are left as set dressing.

With a bit more time and budget, King’s Bounty II could have been one of the pinnacles of the fantasy medieval genre. The turn-based combat is deep, rewarding and challenging (though sometimes unfairly balanced), while the world of Nostria is artistically interesting and well-realised. If only the developers had been afforded the time and money to actually get the title running properly to overcome all the technical problems. The story is lacklustre with shamefully bad dialogue and voice acting, with everything other than the core combat system feeling under-developed and lacking the quality of life elements that have become the norm. King’s Bounty II ends up a decent prize, but a rather hollow haul of treasure that had so much more potential – a bounty more fit for a nobleman than a king.

It fails to deliver a compelling group of characters or a plot with any interesting hook, and doesn’t live up to the games that it’s clearly inspired by. It is a lot like The World Ends with You, which I also felt failed to give its characters any real depth, but it is not Persona 3, for example, that delves deep into its characters and their motivations to the point you feel you know them. All I knew, even after many hours with Demonschool’s cast, was that they were snarky and annoying, and they couldn’t accept plainly obvious things for hours on end.

I’d still love to know what conversations took place that led to “hey, we should remaster Zool”, but Zool Redimensioned does a pretty decent job of applying a fresh coat of paint, but in a way that remains very reverent to the source material. An excellent achievement from a group that only started programming 12 months ago. Unfortunately, the source material itself is the ultimate problem here – Zool was an average game back in 1992 and it’s little more than average here in 2021. A pleasant nostalgia trip, yes, but sadly it’s offers nothing to compete with the best modern platformers.

A decent enough romp, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is let down by a few technical issues and some extremely dated graphics. Switch Lite users won’t get the full experience, but still enough to go on. Console limitations aside, it is fun to hoof Rebels about and use them like levitating pin cushions from time to time.

Afterlove EP is a poignant and heartfelt visual novel that explores some intense stuff about grief, wrapped up in the conceit of still talking to those who have passed on. However the lack of control, choice and gameplay options left me wanting to process my grief elsewhere.

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 fun and simple affair, Aluna hearkens back to classics like Gauntlet and Diablo, but in a much brighter setting. However, any fun in this action RPG is stifled by technical issues on the Switch and just some simply terrible voice acting outside of the main cast.

LEGO 2K Drive is a terrific addition to the LEGO video game universe, with a bright and breezy atmosphere, super fun races and a fantastic creator mode with classic LEGO jokes aplenty for all ages, sadly tainted by egregious and forced microtransactions which are all too easy to consider thanks to the slow progress of earning in-game currency. For a game at full AAA price of £70, it’s difficult to justify why they were included at all and ultimately brings down the entire experience.

Little Nightmares III still looks incredible, but clunky controls, an awkward camera, and a watered-down sense of dread stop it from fully reaching its potential. Co-op brings a fun new twist to this entry, but some of the fear and magic that made the series special seems to have slipped through the cracks.

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.

Back 4 Blood’s second expansion Children of the Worm delivers some urgently needed fresh content with a new campaign, character and weapons. It relies on the stale objective design and flawed gameplay of its base, but it also offers some fun missions and new enemy types to overcome. It’s a step in the right direction for Turtle Rock Studios and Back 4 Blood, most importantly leaving me optimistic for the planned third expansion, instead of with an intrepid fear of mediocrity that followed Tunnels of Terror.

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.

Decarnation flirts the line of pretension but ultimately handles the subject matter decently. The gameplay is too on the light side, and sometimes frustrating when it doesn’t work how it should. However, the audio/visuals are stellar making it a decent psychological horror that should please fans of the genre.

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.

Once the initial shock factor dies down, Martha Is Dead is little more than a walking simulator with a Fatal Frame-esque photography gimmick. It has too many ideas and threads going for it, whereas a focused main plot would have made it much more engaging. A few technical issues marred the immersion, and some of the worst English dubbing since Resident Evil. As long as you aren’t expecting Italian P.T., horror fans may still enjoy this psychological shocker.

Rich gothic atmosphere and solid roguelike, inventory management puzzling give Fortune Seller a promising sales pitch. The ever-increasing payments and frustratingly imbalanced economy demands, however, mean its a hard sell thanks to overzealous haggling. Once this promising antique is better tuned and polished, it'll be ready for more bartering.

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos 2025 is a genuinely good remaster of a video game that's nowhere near as good as you remember it being. Still, the nostalgia hits are all there in the right places and if you need a break from the real world, you could do much worse.

There's not a huge amount to get excited about with Sporting Goods Shop, but what it does it does well enough to justify its existence. If you're new to the genre, you could do a lot worse. A veteran simulator player? Move along, you've seen it all before.

Overall, Visions of Four Heroes is a good quality expansion to Dynasty Warriors: Origins, but may feel too pricey for the lack of fresh material. The two new weapons and early prototype for strategy battles are interesting, while the core gameplay remains excellent. However, the storytelling continues to tread water and the expansion doesn't take much of a risk with its ideas, which may leave some feeling short-changed by its asking price.

Solitaire meets boxing with a cheap, cheerful and limited punch-up. Deck ‘Em is an hour of straightforward fun despite it’s lack of depth or content, but the low entry cost means it’s a decent way to spend the price of a high-street coffee for a bit.

A lack of the promised single-player story mode, middling graphics and relatively shallow combat systems threaten to consume Dune: Spice Wars in the maws of a Sandworm. Thankfully, it’s somewhat rescued by an authentic recreation of the Dune universe and the scope of available ways to play. It won’t be usurping the Imperial council, but the launch of Arrakis’ mining wars is a solid, if unspectacular one.

The Switch version is undoubtedly the worst way to play Layers of Fear 2 – but it’s still worth a look for horror fans who only have the Nintendo hybrid console available to them. The game itself carries an engrossing narrative set in a game world that’s constantly trying to surprise the player through a 5-7 hour adventure. While the puzzles are middling and the visuals less impressive than the other versions of this game, there’s plenty of scares and a thick atmosphere without a massive amount of gore.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl ventures into the uncharted territory of the PS5 in a much better technical state, though the odd bug is still common. Boasting a huge apocalyptic landscape to explore, impressively long main story and some great gunplay, its destructive charm is easily noticeable. Sadly, it feels caught between two parallel genres and is unable to commit to either, suffering from tedious survival mechanics and superfluous decision making. The mysteries of the Zone pale in comparison to the mystery of what could have been if it had had a unified vision.

LiftOff: Drone Racing is made for the fans and that’s a solid enough reason for me to recommend it. If you were waiting on this one, you won’t be disappointed.

In a post Elden Ring world, Dolmen feels dated and too formulaic. It also lacks the personality, character and soul of the genre’s luminaries. If you’re looking for a new Soulslike game to scratch the itch however, Dolmen will certainly do that, despite its lack of mechanical innovation and uneven difficulty.

While not bound for the embrace of death owing to its unique party system and visual flair, Deathbound struggles to stave off the reaper’s scythe thanks to technical issues, poorly told stories and unbalanced though otherwise competent gameplay. It may scratch the Soulslike itch for some, but whether you’d reanimate the souls of the damned for a longer crusade, only the Lady of Death knows.

Project Starship X is a well put together retro shmup with tons of style. It’s simple and hones its small selection of moves into well-handled and white knuckle sections of gameplay. However it’s also relatively short, and lacks any real depth unless you’re a score-chaser.

Curved Space is a decent twin stick shooter which has a variety of weapons, striking level backdrops, satisfying upgrade systems and a cool leash mechanic. Sadly, it’s significantly let down by repetitive objectives, technical issues and level design which is aesthetically, but not practically, interesting. While not a bad game by any means, Curved Space sadly fails to capitalise on its promise despite its solid offering of modes.

Unlike the French Revolution, you’re most probably going to fail at subduing this rebellious town a number of times. Deep and challenging gameplay systems are unfortunately undermined by an authoritarian difficulty curve, lack of variety in presentation and a bland story. For would-be dictators however, there’s a city worth pulling up kicking and screaming from the dirt.

Grab a partner or rope in a friend to laugh and cry your way through In Sink's series of carefully crafted puzzle rooms. While the repeated use of certain mechanics takes a toll on the fun, the more creative challenges are full of flair and are a joy to overcome. The highs just about outweigh the lows, leaving In Sink swirling the basin without ever really rising above it.

Eastward Octopia is a lovely addition to Eastward if you just want to bask in that world again and you are satisfied doing a few farming tasks. At only £4.99 it’s kind of insanely cheap. But if you are coming into this new, Octopia is too sedate for its own good and doesn’t give a good idea of the main game. Play Eastward first, and if you love it, only then consider coming back for a second course.

On the surface Poison Control looks to be cut from the same cloth as Persona, brimming with cute characters, witty script and changing hearts. But under the poison mires you need to clear and the poor shooting, the gameplay lacks polish and chokes on repetition, and the story often descends into caricature and mishandles a sexual assault. Its style is really only skin deep.

Hampered by control and interface issues, Planet Zoo is a neutered and dishevelled version of the graceful beast it is on PC. It has an abundance of content, a wonderfully educational attitude to conservation and the presentation value is top-notch. If it wasn’t for the crippling issues I faced running my zoos, this would be the definitive virtual safari management title.