Amidst the sea of rogues and Survivors, Devil Jam rocks up with its effort. With solid gameplay, colourful visuals and a neat beat mechanic, it can be fun. But it doesn't offer much in terms of substance, and is subsequently more for the hardcore genre fans only.

Two Point Museum's Switch 2 port retains the games gloriously entertaining mechanics, hilarious dialogue and addictive gameplay loop. It stutters in the visuals when the crowds pile up though, and the lack of mouse controls is a strange thing to miss for such a big port. As such, there are far better places to experience this terrific game.

UNBEATABLE is the quintessential breakout punk band that delivers a brilliant debut album, albeit flawed and lacking some polish. The rhythm gameplay is endlessly satisfying and replayable, the soundtrack is fantastic and the final third of the story strikes a serious emotional chord. There are plenty of bumps along the way, but this band goes much further than you'd initially expect.

Skate Story is a bold and convention breaking skating game that wears its love for the sport on its sleeve. With a satisfying control scheme to master, psychedelic environments to trick through and incredible music to bop your head to, Skate Story is an audio/visual sensation that's only mired by it's confusing gameplay turns near the end. It's a real one of a kind for a genre that's almost as old as the medium itself.

HORSES isn't a game for the faint of heart, nor those who struggle to be confronted with intensive imagery. It's a rudimentary video game that uses the medium as a vehicle for exploration of intensive themes, which creates an incredibly unsettling and disturbing atmosphere. There may be other horror games that you'd prefer to play, but very few will evoke the kind of disgust and repulsion that HORSES achieves, and evoking emotion is what art is all about.

Lara's 2013 adventure returns and remains a terrific action-adventure thrill ride, and runs fairly well on Nintendo Switch 2. The new additions don't really add anything to an already great game, so if you can ignore the dated visuals and the shoddy gyro/mouse controls, Lara's first journey into hell remains an essential experience.

An atmospheric detective mystery, The Last Case of John Morley is a compact tale with surprisingly high production values for a game of this size. Unfortunately, it undermines itself by telegraphing its twisting narrative and lacks those 'eureka' moments you'd find in other, similar titles. Still, if you're in the mood for a one-and-done 'whodunnit' that you can start and finish in a single sitting, this is still worth your attention.

If you’re a fan of Final Fight and its ilk, there’s enough here to entice you. Doubly so if you’re a Marvel fan, but as somewhat of an outlier, I still got most of it and it doesn’t belittle you for not knowing them all. Partner up, and tear up, heroes.

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.

A whimsical, irreverent and eccentric adventure game centred on musical theatre and improvisation, Once Upon A Jester is a pleasurable game that doesn't outstay its welcome. It might be a bit too simplistic for some, but the light-hearted, fun loving vibe of the game is a refreshing change of pace in a market over-populated by grimdark soulslikes.

Mysteria Ecclesiae features a new stunningly rendered location for Henry to uncover, with a compelling mystery that relies more on wits and stealth than combat. While some are likely to lament the restrictions on freedom KC:D 2 most excels at, Mysteria Ecclesiae offers some heartwarming nods to Henry's previous adventures, and provides a gentle wave of a send off ahead of the next installment.

Another one for the homage pile, Neon Inferno fits neatly into the retro-inspired category with aplomb. Offering challenge to those that want it, as well as a story-focus for those that don't, there's enough here for both the old and new school. In a time of over-complication, this is a reminder of the inherent fun in the simple. With lovely visuals and a banging soundtrack too.

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

Sprinkling tower defence strategising on top of an addicting roguelike bullet-hell proves a stroke of genius for Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road. Fantastic persistent and in-game upgrades that keep the gameplay fresh, a vibrant and playful art style and excellent bullet hell mechanics make this an absolute blast, especially on Steam Deck. While it does struggle with some repetition in environments and a grinding bottleneck, it'll be hard not to spot this entertaining monster coming over the hill.

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.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide is a fun, familiar dip back into the world of Bikini Bottom packed with charm, ghostly goings on but a fair bit of repetition. It’s comfort food for the nostalgic, but if you’re looking for something fresh beneath the waves, you might not find much treasure here.

News Tower reaches the heady stressful heights of the Tycoon genre, challenging you to keep a newspaper in print and filled with stories every week, to manage a tower of reporters, cleaners, and typesetters, and to satisfy a town of opposing factions, all wrapped up with a lovingly vibrant 1930s golden age string ready to be hawked on a street corner.

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.

Setting a new high bar for interactive storytelling games, Dispatch takes the Telltale formula, refines and matures it into an essential experience. With world class voice acting bringing a top quality script to life, this game is a surprise GOTY contender.

Winter Burrow is a charming, storybook survival adventure that swaps stress for serenity, wrapping its cozy world in warmth and heart. It’s a delight to explore, but without a map or fast travel, that long trudge home can start to feel frostier than it should.

With slick gun play, considered movement, an addictive risk vs reward game play loop and oodles of style, this is a high quality extraction shooter. It isn't perfect, but with a few patches and a heavily populated roadmap of future content, Arc Raiders has the potential to be the pinnacle of the genre.

With a brand new but convoluted UI, slowdown and framerate drops during match highlights and a severe lack of polish overall, Football Manager takes a huge swing and unfortunately doesn't hit the mark this year. The fundamentals of what makes this series great are present, but buried under the weight of everything that needs to be fixed.

LEGO Party proves that brick-based chaos can rival even Mario’s finest. A big personality has entered the room and while it's not wholly original, it's funny, and full of charm. This is a party game worth its weight in studs.

Whilst it's clear to see what games have inspired Wreckreation, the game itself pales in comparison to its forebears. A hollow attempt at both arcade fun and badly shoehorned in "live service", Wreckreation is a game as shallow as its unnecessarily large map.

Tattoo Tycoon is a tycoon game where you can run a tattoo shop and it's fine. Amongst what's currently being released there's every chance it will get a little lost in the shuffle and unfortunately, it's not doing an awful lot to make itself stand out from the crowd. Try it on PC where it's meant to be played.

Boasting an impressive commitment to a versatile sandbox of hack-and-slash and retro FPS action, Rebel Engine has the fundamentals for a fast-paced and exhilarating time with vibrant visuals. It breaks at the seams thanks to cumbersome controls, a flat story and lack of punch in feedback to the action, but stylish hunting thrill seekers should find something worth blasting through.

Plants Vs Zombies: Replanted is a remastered return to the garden, sharpening up the visuals and adding co-op and bonus modes, without losing any of the original charm. It’s faithful, nostalgic revival that balances fresh additions and original roots for the game that started it all.

Taking everything that made the first one enjoyable but clanky, Tormented Souls 2 is a refinement in every sense. A more cohesive narrative (when it gets rolling), better combat and a much nicer presentation, it's a great continuation for the retro-inspired series. A bit obtuse in places, it nonetheless will scratch that itch for the older Resident Evil and Silent Hill fans.