A coming-of-(m)age story with optional romance and multiple endings, Spellbound: The Magic Within is a diverse and inclusive visual novel that’s engaging from start to finish. It’s lacking some quality of life tools which can make replaying it tedious but it’s still an entertaining alternative to the big wizarding worlds and a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

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.

The TMNT: The Cowabunga Collection is exactly what it says it is. It’s thirteen classic Turtles adventures, with some modern quality of life improvements to tip the scales on occasion. For those expecting more in terms of remake, remaster or more content, it won’t be found here. Just pure nostalgia.

An incredibly accessible game, ‘Please, Touch The Artwork’ is a masterful interpretation and adaptation of modern art into well designed story and puzzles. There’s a few foibles to work around but otherwise, this is a unique experience that comes with a strong recommendation.

Over its five-or-so hours, Lost in Play barely puts a foot wrong, delivering cerebral gaming and effervescent entertainment. In doing so, it makes many of the genre’s design challenges look easy. Here’s hoping it inspires and influences future graphic adventures – or at least gets a sequel.

Crypto’s second return in Destroy All Humans! 2 Reprobed is another successful remake from Black Forest Games. A few technical issues and poorly aged mission designs aside, this irreverent, smartass alien still has plenty to offer the modern world with hilarious quips and hugely entertaining gameplay. Fire up your death rays, crack a joke at 1960s society, bust down that fourth wall – Cryptosperidium is back and he’s standing tall. Arkvoodle be praised!

Rough, goofy and deeply perplexing, “I’m in Love With Your Dead Grandmother” is among the worst FMV games on consoles. Its only saving grace is how obvious it is that the creators are having a good time making it, giving it a charming sincerity.

Tinykin’s 3D Puzzle/Platforming and Collectathon experience is one really worth having in your collection. The cutesy and nostalgic presentation offers unique charm in a space that has felt saturated. It’s clearly a game that has been made with love throughout. A few bugs notwithstanding, this is one that should be on your radar.

Dividing its time beautifully between rouge-like dungeon crawler and cult management simulator, Cult of the lamb is everything you would want and need from the mix of genres. A fantastic soundtrack and incredibly moreish gameplay, this is a big recommendation for anyone who is in awe of the vibrantly cute aesthetic it presents. While it’s currently harrowed by some glitches preventing certain aspects of gameplay from shining, once these are ironed out this could easily be ‘Game of the Year’ material.

It is a little rough around the edges, which is to be expected from a small team and backed by an indie publisher. Stick with Thymesia however and you’ll make some good memories with it, hopefully with some care down the line to refine the experience.

A tremendously fun FPS with a quirky and creative presentation, Fashion Squad Police is packed with fast-paced and surprisingly deep non-violent action. A couple of difficulty spikes and occasionally frustrating encounters smudge a slight stain on its beaming overalls, but they’re more a water mark than a red wine stain. Grab your dapper sneakers, suit up your most glamourous get-up and start slapping the dull outta the unfashionable lot.

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? is a fine albeit one note quiz show game that won’t necessarily please the fans of the franchise. That said, it may be welcomed by casual players that want to play a party game with friends/family.

Cursed to Golf is a fun arcade sports game, but its roguelike elements don’t stack up well with other entries in the genre. Its long run times hurt the experience, making failure often more annoying than something to learn from. Its cute art, simple but fun mechanics, and challenge kept me enjoying Cursed to Golf to its end, but it’s lacking that addictive element that keep roguelike players coming back for more.

The Saints have come marching in once again and while Santo Ileso offers a fun playground for these reborn renegades, it’s somewhat marred by a wealth of graphical issues, some underwhelming gunplay and a predictable narrative. Having said all that, you can customise your character into an orange, hurl yourself into traffic to make money and throw a self-propelled football at enemies to send them into space. It’s Saints Row as you remember, for better or worse, with a new coat of paint and refurbished for modern times.

Wonder Boy collection isn’t a bad collection of games. It’s just a simple no-frills homage to a bygone era. It could have done with a few more games, modes or even a few extra celebrations for this once-great franchise. Still, this is a pleasant run and jump down memory lane.

Voyage is a wonderful piece of art that will wow you visually and sonically at every turn. It’s the gameplay that sadly holds it back from greatness. An awesome debut, Venturous are a developer to watch.

Two point Campus is an easy recommendation for anyone a fan of the management sim genre. Exceptional level of detail to design and a wonderous explosion of creativity within University Life. Like its predecessor Two Point Hospital, challenges will still be present throughout each individual campus, but these challenges are worth your time. Pick up your pencil case and your red plastic cups and enroll.

Mechanic Battle has an internal battle of wanting to be a halfway average game or a terrible excuse for a cash grab. Either way I hope the lessons learned from the making of this game is that you get as much love as you put in, and this one is still waiting for their parents to come back with the milk.

Mr. Prepper fulfils the bunker survival simulator competently. The personal Cold War I was having with the way it controls and the treaties I wanted to break for it being so pedantic – even on the Switch – left a lot to be desired however. If this genre is of interest and you own a Switch you may be able to enjoy what it has to offer, warts and all.

To summarise, there’s not a lot to Black Death: A Tragic Dirge and what is here falls between poor or simply adequate. Trophy hunters will be happy with an easy to unlock Platinum but anyone else will find a visually pleasing but thematically bland and uninspired virtual diorama to explore that lacks direction or purpose.

The potential behind Way of the Hunter is there to give the likes of the Cabela series a run for its money. It’s just marred with a few too many technical issues that prevent it from being a fun and immersive experience overall. Stuff it and move on to the next quarry instead.

Arcade Paradise is a cracking laundry / arcade simulator that rewards you for your patience and dedication to the cause. Once the arcade opens up you’ll have an absolute blast finding your new favourite game in a huge selection of unique takes on old school classics. There’s a road to get there, but this one is all about the destination. A hugely rewarding, feel-good experience you have to play.

Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town continues the same charming cutesy aesthetic as its predecessors, although at times feels discombobulated in organisation. A decent enough farming management addition to the genre, the game features a depth of gameplay but is light on narrative. Prepare and expect to be in it for the long haul if you want to see any real results from your hard work.

Before We Leave is a comforting and accessible city building simulator that will entice and equally challenge you. The momentum occasionally stutters and micro-managing your ever-expanding cities can be a pain at times, but your Peeps will never cease to entice you back in. Helping this fledging society of tiny cute figures colonise islands and planets from neanderthal to fully-developed modern society is a fundamentally lovely experience. Saving them from space whales is certainly tough, but it’s also a wholesome, worthwhile endeavour.

Digimon Survive is a solid blend of Visual Novel and Tactics RPG. It has great moments, but Survive’s combat encounters lack any real depth or challenge to keep them engaging over its runtime. Its story, however, remains interesting enough to push it along, even if it hits its peaks early on. A little more variety could’ve pushed Digimon Survive from good to great.

By design, Postal: Brain Damaged is a relic of an era that passed about 20 years ago. It captures some of the best of the 2000s through lightning quick, buttery smooth and challenging gameplay, but also soils itself by relying on tired old tropes for comic relief and some rough edges with balancing. Postal Dude has a penchant for pissing himself and this Postal entry unfortunately can’t escape the dregs of his urine, but when did a little pee stop him causing havoc?

Yet more PlayStation Trophy bait that deserves to be buried in a land fill, Round Invader Rush is barely more than a tech demo. There’s about 30 seconds of content to be found here and even that is uninspired. This game is just a Platinum trophy with a price tag with no redeeming features.

A genuine diamond in the rough kind of game. Sword and Fairy: Together Forever constantly had my attention with varied gameplay, diverse and gorgeous locations, fantastic pacing and some genuinely touching character moments. If not for a handful of technical issues and a wonky but still understandable translation: Sword and Fairy: Together Forever would’ve scored higher. I loved it, regardless.