A beautifully dark throwback to the classics, Aeterna Noctis revels in its classic charm. The difficulty also apes that of its forebears, which for some they might enjoy, others it might be too much. For those impartial, it’s another in a massive catalogue of Metroidvania titles.

A reasonably interesting narrative and some complex puzzles aren’t enough to raise Ever Forward out of mediocrity. The PS5 version comes with some new glitches which further spoil an experience that was already short and underwhelming when it originally released on PC. This one is for puzzle fans that have little else to play.

For new players, Concept Destruction on PS5 will provide 2 hours of no frills car smashing before it gets dry. The structure of the game, emphasising survival rather than the cathartic crashing, feels at odds with the fun the game can deliver elsewhere. For PS4 players, the upgrade here can barely be described as such and beyond an easy Platinum Trophy, is hardly worth a download.

Come for the delightful artwork, stay for the level editor. You’ve seen everything else before.

A 2D slash-em-up that’s as instantly forgettable as a ninja flashing past in the night, Within the Blade succeeds at fast-paced kills and decent bosses, but fails to design for stealth or differentiate itself in a genre full of superior experiences.

The Dark Eye: Chains of Satinav has glimpses of ingenuity with its puzzle design, it looks great for its age and it has a satisfactory port of a point and click system on the PS4. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t pay off, often feeling disjointed along the way which isn’t helped by some uninspired vocal performances. Hopefully the sequel is better.

Bloodhound takes inspiration from the Doom’s and Quake’s of the video game pantheon but fails to deliver anything more than lukewarm decency. The fires of hell are muted, dimly lit and unfortunately repetitive, holding back what may have been a more thrilling boomer shooter entry. A cheap and underwhelming way to spend an afternoon, Bloodhound offers something for retro shooter fans, but won’t be achieving true satanic infamy anytime soon.

What starts off a fun runner, Aerial_Knight’s Never Yield quickly devolves into a bland and repetitive experience. Whilst the colours are bright and the music loud, the lack of replayability or extra modes doesn’t leave it a leg to stand on.

In My Shadow has all the fundamentals of a puzzle game, but feels lackluster when up against its rival puzzle platformers that have been released this year. Despite housing an engaging story, with a unique premise and lots of levels, it just feels mundane, tedious and repetitive to play, especially with its punishing difficulty curve.

DROS has honest goals to be a unique duo platforming adventure but adding too many elements has created something varied but not lasting. The world is interesting and the characters have cool designs but anything outside of its presentation is just fine.

A poor attempt at a Vanillaware style game, Ariana and the Elder Codex is not the dark academia tale I wanted. Instead its a sad and shallow mix of frustrating combat, dull narrative vignettes, and tiresome level design, that left me wishing I had borrowed it from the library and could take it back. Do not judge this book by its cover.

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.

Hello Neighbor 2 is a mixed bag when compared to the rest of the franchise. The AI still needs to show more intelligence and the performance isn’t spectacular – even on PS5. The story may put off newcomers but fans of the series will hopefully enjoy what it has to offer in its mystery. Puzzles have been greatly improved which makes a good chunk of your playtime more accessible and enjoyable, but the counterparts keep it down from being great.

Beautiful Desolation may have some gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds, but its impenetrable plot, two-dimensional characters, maddening indirect quests, and cryptic puzzles make it very hard to recommend to anyone but diehard fans of obtuse point-and-click adventures.

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 could have been an interesting premise about religion, murder and cults, soon devolves into a bland and uninspired point-and-click. Saint Kotar has some originality with its faith-testing plot, but ultimately will only really appeal to die-hard fans of the genre.

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.

Vlad Circus: The Curse of Asmodeus is the follow-up I wasn't expecting, and one I wish could have been better. The gameplay is lighter, the story less rich and the tone even more bleak than Descend Into Madness. If this wasn't attached to a good prequel, this would be overlooked.

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.

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.

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.

With a muddled story that leaves much unanswered, and a series of half-baked mechanics that feel a decade out of date, it’s hard to recommend Amnesia Rebirth as a way to satisfy your scares this Halloween. You’ll more than likely want to forget all about it.

An expansion that offers little of anything actually new, Tunnels of Terror adds only minor alterations to a formula that had already felt stale and repetitive in Back 4 Blood. The rogue-lite elements add another layer of mucus to blast off, but Back 4 Blood remains the same meagre husk it was at launch.

Unless you’re a lifelong fan, Transformers: Battlegrounds will offer little in the way of depth to the “casuals”. As a game, it feels like a badly ported mobile game barely fleshed out for the console players.

Whilst having well paced gameplay, cute cottagecore asthetic and whimsicle environments. Mail Time has been delivered with the video game version of annoying spam; signficant screen tear, unfixable features in game impacting the story and texture popping. A lovely game which can only be recommended once the spam is returned to sender.

A charming, if simple, Zelda-like full of pot throwing and weirdness, Lila’s Sky Ark will fill a few hours, but fails to really differentiate itself in a crowded modern market.

One Last Breath doesn’t wear its influences on it’s sleeves, but rather took the whole shirt as it doesn’t do enough to differentiate it from the games that came before. A short runtime and decent enough gameplay does make it pleasant enough but it ultimately doesn’t push for more.

Elex II is a prime example of great potential being suffocated by poor execution. A large world filled with quests, unique factions and interesting lore can only carry you so far when the combat is floaty, the progression is stifling, the graphics bland and its performance breaks so visibly, so often. Instead of slaying raptors with lasers, you’ll be waiting for the game to pop-in the fun while it chugs out another texture it missed.