Whilst the constant cheese puns and fourth wall trope-busting may grate after a fashion, there's a lot to enjoy in Mouse: P.I. For Hire. The old school shooting, with even older visual style, brings back nostalgia and challenge in one hit. Whilst more shooter than detective caper, it's still a gouda time.

If you happen to have a pre-school fan of Pocoyo in your home, this is one party you might want to RSVP too. Pocoyo Party expertly encapsulates the thematic feeling of the show to feel like a natural extension of it. It doesn’t contain a massive amount of content and a few of the mini-games aren’t as well thought out as the others but what is here is accessible and designed specifically for the fun of players aged 3-5.

The PS5 version of Warp Drive is much better than the original version of this game that launched back in 2020 – but it’s still lacking in places. While it comes in second place to the games it’s inspired by, Warp Drive can fill that WipEout shaped hole in your heart, if only for a few hours. There’s certainly potential for more from this concept, should the developers want to make a sequel.

Wednesdays is an earnest attempt to move the medium forward when it comes to exploring sensitive and taboo life experiences. Where it reflects on some of the lesser spoken about aspects of abuse, it succeeds. While it has a positive and optimistic view of healing from said abuse, it can occasionally veer into overly hopeful, which may be uncomfortable for some. Unafraid to tackle difficult subject matter, Wednesdays demonstrates how video games can be a vessel for important messages.

Spirit City: Lofi Sessions is a pleasant companion tool for increasing your productivity and fostering a more mindful space to focus. It’s not really a video game in the traditional sense, thanks to the lack of interactivity and gameplay. However, it has a wonderful set of relaxing tracks and a charming aesthetic that makes it a welcoming, peaceful addition to your day-to-day routine, even if it’s not a gaming essential.

Pocky and Rocky Reshrined is a gorgeous run-and-gun shooter, lovingly and faithfully reimagined. It’s just as much fun as it was back in the nineties, but little in the way of extra content and decidedly old-school controls hold it back from greatness.

Where The Heart Leads is an acquired taste. For those who demand action from their games, or life and death decision making in your narrative titles, this one won’t be for you. The stakes in this game are family sized, the decisions made at a workaday level and the cast almost ordinary. Even with a few niggles though, some smart writing and plenty of charm create a series of characters you can care for. It’s easy to get invested in their fate and to find the decisions directing their lives challenging to make.

Road 96 is an atmospheric experiment in procedural storytelling that is successful more often than not. A dynamite retrowave soundtrack and some interesting characters don’t quite excuse a story that lacks a cohesive framework and too many minigames.

A vibrant and violent affair, Warhammer 40,000: Shootas, Blood & Teef is a slice of arcade fun. It’s not aimed at Warhammer veterans, and rightfully so, more for those who like their run-and-gun to be over-the-top. A bit lacking in extra content and polish, but still enjoyable nonetheless. Highly recommend it with friends though.

A.I.L.A is a game of two halves. The first promises an intriguing and mind-bending narrative with gameplay experiences pulling from various inspirations for an exciting, evolving horror experience. The second unfortunately drops much of what makes the game feel unique and special, with a dampened finale and some overly drawn out, familiar experiences. Despite this, it still shines with the glow of an enigmatic A.I machine ready to take the world by storm, even with some technical hiccups.

Whilst it is nice to at least try something different, Immortals of Aveum falls back on way too many cliches to make it stick. Terrible dialogue, formulaic shooting and linear progression are too overbearing in an otherwise colourful shooter.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skate 3 + 4 uses the same gameplay formula as its predecessor, making it almost as fun. 4's redesign feels intuitive, the soundtrack befits the new coat of paint and the core gameplay is heaps of fun. With that said, character creation and career progression is hollow and unfulfilling, with nothing "new" to get stuck into outside of its 19 levels.

Let’s Sing ABBA is a very typical Let’s Sing title with precisely zero innovation or new features. Thankfully, it’s a game based on ABBA’s music, so the set list is to die for. If you’re so inclined, it’s an absolute must for your karaoke evenings.

Even though Democracy 4: Console Edition is an Excel spreadsheet morphed into a colourful set of menus, it’s tantalisingly engaging. Whether falling foul of commuters for refusing to ban petrol car sales or being ousted from Canadian leadership for attempting to wire-tap homes, democracy is an entertaining beast to tame. The real question is whether outlasting a lettuce as a government is that easy after all.

Even though A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead struggles to build and maintain any momentum by design, it's the perfect Quiet Place game. Sound, and it's absence, are the core of this game, for better and for worse. While some may drown in the quiet from the tedious pace, others will adore the serenity of its methodical nature and immense respect for the source material. Personally, I've never felt more on edge opening a door like I have playing this, and that's my screaming whisper of a compliment for it.

There is a lot to love in this indie RPG, with a wonderful level of detail. It’s just a shame that it has only the bare bones of a plot, and some MMO tropes that should have been cut.

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.

This is one of the most accessible Metroidvanias to embark on. Pronty’s underwater excavation in a city, crawling with well-designed bosses is one for both newcomers and seasoned players of the genre. Combat is lacklustre and it doesn’t reinvent in any game-changing capacity, but it sure is a world worth diving deep in.

Moving Out 2 plays it safe with more of the same fun from the original. Whilst the game is more cohesive and streamlined with its levels, it loses some of the random craziness that you weren’t expecting from the first. New modes are decent and the addition to online co-op is great but don’t go into the game expecting it to reinvent the wheel.

A twin-stick shooter with simplistic and accessible design, there’s a certain catharsis to blasting your way through various locations as tiny soldiers. It’s hampered by repetitious gameplay and a couple of frustrating issues, but if you’d like an afternoon of running-and-gunning through comically undersized enemies, this might just be the immature cartoon game for you.

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.

Anoxia Station struggles to maintain the tense base-building and resource management gameplay it initially compels with. Even so, the looming sense of dread is ever-present thanks to its maddening atmosphere and exceptional use of audio. How far you're willing to dig will depend on your sanity, but there are enough diamonds in the rough to make it worth trudging through the alien sludge.

While it might lose its lustre towards the end, Another Tomorrow is an otherwise well crafted and challenging first person point and click adventure that’ll appeal to long time fans of the genre. A great hint system helps avoid any frustrating hold ups while still allowing you to discover those important ‘eureka’ moments on your own.

Being a step beyond inspiration and dated in its mechanics, Airoheart is an obtuse yet magical game to delve into. Pixel Heart Studio’s debut is great but often hindered by its imitation. Though the unique aspects are what kept me playing, I just wish there was more originality.

It won’t be winning any Game of the Year awards but Chasing Static is a compact narrative thriller worth an evening of your time. Its story isn’t as engrossing as those of its peers and it can be a touch confusing at times, but a mix of crunchy, nostalgia fuelled visuals, high quality audio and a great script make for an interesting combination.

Super Animal Royale treads on the Royale genre with a twist on the formula, a top-down twin stick shooter with cute animals shooting the heck outta each other. Go in gently and with patience as it’s brutal for beginners, but those brave enough to stick it out will find an awful lot to enjoy. And we ain’t lion.

Curious Expedition 2 is more of an interactive board game of level one D&D. A game that balances roguelike tactics, RPG, and procedural storytelling well. A delightful top down surprise with a great depth to explore, do and encounter, that’s if RNG is on your side! If not, it’s into the lion’s den you go. Although slightly repetitive visually, you will likely not get the same story twice.

R-Type Delta HD Boosted offers tight gameplay and nostalgic strategy, but muddy visuals and collision bugs hold it back from greatness.