Bear and Breakfast is an incredibly delightful sim management game. With an engaging story, a wonderful hand-drawn art style and multiple mechanics at play all at once, you’re never overwhelmed but rather in the honey for a great time. There’s no Bear minimum in any aspect for Bear and Breakfast as it’s an easy recommendation for those who love the management genre or are looking for a cosy, witty and enjoyable time – just don’t ask me to cook you anything.

Failing to trigger even a basic form of tension, Anthology of Fear neglects to live up to its name. The exploitative use of mental health themes, boring gameplay and technical frustrations culminate in a case simply not worth wasting your time solving. Exorcise your demons by playing one of the many better predecessors that this title rips so egregiously from.

House Flipper 2 showed me the joy of cleaning, throwing out the trash and donning my paint roller. I thoroughly hate cleaning and interior decor discussions in real life, but there’s an innate satisfaction that comes with doing it virtually the real world just can’t replicate. It has some issues and it might be too chilled for its own good in places, but House Flipper 2 is a DIY project worth taking on.

Born of Bread would grab your attention if it was in the shop window of a bakery. It has all the hallmark elements for a warm and inviting paperlike RPG, though its contents are lacklustre with a basic story, systems that punish your exploration and a combat system that needs a little tinkering. However, the heart of the game and all-around pleasantries do make it at least half a baker’s dozen.

More Shadow Gambit is more than enough reason to dive back in, but Zagan’s Ritual expands the base game’s story with a substantial seven+ hours of extra content and answers a number of questions from the original game. And of course, playing as one of the bad guys makes it a lot of fun.

More Shadow Gambit is more than enough reason to dive back in, but with a substantial seven+ hours of content and a story that brings back a beloved character from Mimimi’s first Shadow game, now cursed with a black pearl, it was a delight from start to finish.

If you’re a fan of AVICII, then this game is a no-brainer. For the rest of us, this AVICII Invector: Encore Edition is still worth strapping your Quest on for and losing yourself in the bass thumping neon.

Let’s Sing 2024 brings new modes and a killer setlist to the stage which gives it wings for another year. This one feels like an evolution of the series, even if the presentation is lacking and the songs are once again a little too easy to cheat your way through. Still, if you want to feel like a rockstar there isn’t much competition out there, so grab the mic, put on the wig and have an absolute blast.

CSI meets a walking simulator in Forest Grove, proving to be a compelling – if flawed – detective puzzler. The futuristic setting and web of personal intrigue make cracking the case a fun and engaging exercise, even if the process of gathering the evidence fails to ignite your detective excitement. The Kunstimatigaard holds an intriguing mystery to solve, should you decide to jump into the future.

Lake: Seasons Greetings is a wonderful return to the popular and well-loved community of Providence Oaks. Seasons Greetings offers more of everything loved with the base game. Whilst perhaps not having the same emotion attached or doing nothing ‘new’. Seasons Greetings serves well as a short reunion back to the charm of P.O.

Riding that 2D renaissance wave, SANABI is another neon-soaked platformer that deserves a look at. Gorgeous pixel visuals, fast-paced gameplay and a cracking soundtrack, there’s something for old-school fans and newcomers alike.

Gangs of Sherwood is a fun combat-focused action game that can be enjoyed with your own gang. That is if you don’t mind basic-level design, enemy AI that doesn’t present a challenge and sometimes stiff gameplay that can be frustrating. Robin hasn’t quite stolen from the rich and given the goods to the player, but they won’t be robbed blind either.

Dreamworks All-Star Kart Racing is really trying to play with the bigguns but just isn’t doing enough differently to justify why anyone should care, especially if you’re a Switch owner. Name recognition can only get you so far and not even everyone’s favourite giant green ogre can save this one.

A title that succeeds in blending its story with the in-game narratives the player creates is a rarity and Last Train Home achieves it with aplomb. Some minor gameplay and visual stutters aside, this is a steamtrain built to withstand any hardship. Challenging combat missions, deep management gameplay and a phenomenal recreation of 1910s desolate Russia make this train worth boarding.

In Stars and Time will keep you captivated in its loop for the majority of the run time. However, if you’re not completely sold on the brilliant cast of characters, the simple yet effective combat or the unwavering plot, you may struggle to want to finish it. It’s a bold choice to make your player suffer the same fate as the protagonist through gameplay, but one that pays off in spades if you give it the time of day. Uniquely emotional, ambitiously honest and a wonderful yet flawed game by Insertdisc5.

For Bluey fans it’s a no-brainer, and my kid enjoyed it immensely. It never does anything particularly memorable or of the same quality as the show and it is very short, but it’s a great sandbox for kids to explore and replay, and it achieves something wonderful in capturing the ‘feel’ of the show.

Albeit criminally short, maybe because I can’t get enough of Dredge; The Pale Reach DLC is a wonderful expansion to dive into during the Winter season. A decent helping of new fish to discover and a terrifying mystery to uncover make for a great return to one of the best games of the year.

Pursuing shock value is always a gamble and The Kindeman Remedy sadly throws all of its livers into this one basket unsuccessfully. While the management systems can infrequently be enjoyable, it’s as hollow an experience as the mutilated corpses you’re experimenting on. There’s some wicked value in its bleak atmosphere, but it’s a blunted instrument of primal carnage, failing to incite even the most barbarous of hearts.

The best frag grenades are cooked and as such, Modern Warfare 3 needed a lot more time in the oven to create something explosive. This is the series at its lowest point with uninspired missions on repurposed maps and a story that feels moot after the conclusion. Not to mention an online mode that feels closer to a DLC pack and a Zombies mode that whilst in theory was promising, overall feels incohesive and lacking a stable direction. There’s no bad luck, only bad plans and this one was operating without a blueprint.

Built on aged but sturdy foundations, Stronghold: Definitive Edition honours the roots of the franchise with wonderfully remastered visuals, challenging new content campaigns and a level of love many other, more money-hungry remasters fail to receive. A veritable banquet of siege warfare awaits, including actual multiplayer support and a smashing higher fidelity soundtrack. “To the walls!” as the archers would say.

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.

Despite a lack of substantial upgrades, Dungeons 4 maintains the core of its predecessors while upping the ante with bigger, larger and more bombastic battles. The Absolute Evil has become a familiar and well-worn arbiter of wickedness at this point, but even if the story is still silly and the gameplay is largely the same, building an army of minions still never fails to entertain. Slay the unicorns, it’s too bright up in that overground.

Super Crazy Rhythm Castle is a mixtape of differing qualities. There are a couple of bangers in the form of its rhythm gameplay and cartoonish style. There are some flops in its messy difficulty curve and obstructive puzzle mechanics. The music is the perfect blend of childishly amusing yet annoying in equal measure, leaving a tracklist that’ll have highs and lows for all the family, but you’ll be mostly smiling throughout.

Whilst adding a new style and shock to Dead Island 2, Haus offers a paltry run time and not much else. It’s a perfect morsel if players own the deluxe version, but some might feel robbed with such a short DLC.

Whilst simplistic in its controls and combat, Wildmenders’ harsh environment makes the story, gameplay and environment uninteresting to explore. A sandbox experience that feels too ambitious at once, whereas other games have been more accomplished in what Wildmender was attempting to achieve.

Sonic Superstars is a perfectly serviceable Sonic game with beautiful visuals and nailed-on movement of the main characters. The number of collectables and confusing level layouts holds it back from true greatness, but there’s just enough here to keep the fanboys at bay until Sonic and friends return once again.

RoboCop: Rogue City is an absolute blast of 80’s goodness from beginning to end. From the gorgeous visuals built in UE5 to the nailed-on Robo atmosphere, Teyon has poured a whole lotta love into this one and it’s paid off in spades. You’ll buy this one for a dollar. But please buy it for more than that if you can.

World of Horror is an unrelenting but unforgettable graphic adventure that anyone even vaguely into horror needs to play. The diverse and almost unlimited playability of the game makes for a consistently terrifying experience, whilst the eerie MS Paint visuals and pitch-black writing make it feel like a phenomenon of its own.