This Season Update experiment makes you wonder why this hasn’t been the norm for football games for years. If this is the future of the genre, sign me up. EA should be looking over their shoulder. PES has retaken the crown.

A dark premise that, like most uncomfortable experiences, deserves to be told. A few technical issues knocked my pacing back slightly, but didn’t stop me from seeing this through.

Journey of the Broken Circle is beautiful and written well with some delightful dialogue, hampered by the actual video game bit, which doesn’t really measure up to its presentation and story. It’s a shame, because otherwise it’s a pleasant enough journey with something important to say.

Retaining what made the first game unique, whilst making it a much more rounded experience that you’ll be more likely to revisit, Surgeon Simulator 2 is a good single-player experience that becomes pretty special in online co-op. Gather some mates and it’s one of the most fun multiplayer experiences of the year.

13 Sentinels is the deepest of narrative experiments, with none of the form of a normal RPG, and a visceral and addictive strategic mech battler. It channels everything good about Japanese mech anime and games from the last 40 years into something beautiful, timeless and incredibly niche. A real contender for RPG of the year.

A console version of a classic pub quiz machine game, Sabec’s Spot The Difference is fun to play as a group and intuitive enough for a toddler to pick up. Unfortunately, a lack of content means that within a few hours, the images have repeated so often that there’s no more differences to find. There’s much better versions of this concept elsewhere and for a much smaller entry price.

The bastard child of DOOM, Devil Daggers and Tetris Effect, BPM: Bullets Per Minute is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year and a game I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone with a hankering for something different in the FPS genre. Just don’t expect an easy ride. Even on Easy.

A shallow and featureless package, Air Hockey is a game that wrestles with its control method and loses. It lacks any personality and within a few seconds, you’ll have seen everything this game has to offer. Compared to many of the other Air Hockey games available today, or from history, Sabec’s effort is a spectacular own goal.

Peril on Gorgon plays it very safe, which may frustrate players who were looking for it to mix up the formula. For people like me though, who just wanted a reason to take control of the Unreliable once again and tear it across Halcion, this is exactly what you’re after.

An incredible simulation of the game of basketball, which might as well be a free-to-play mobile game with so many microtransactions at times. If you can resist the temptation to pour money in, it’s the best sports sim on the market by a fair distance. Unfortunately, this is the worst game in the franchise for attempting to exploit that temptation. Wait for a heavy discount to make any further outlay a more palatable decision.

One of the more disappointing games of the year, Tamarin is pretty to look at but dead behind the eyes, offering very little to win over fans of Rare’s golden age.

The nomadic lifestyle translates into an interesting take on the resource and management genre, that is more interesting for its ideas than its execution. However, those who fancy a more contemplative slow going game will find solid goal-oriented challenges in this journey back to the source.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is a love letter to the original games, keeping the core gameplay intact but tweaking it enough to feel fresh and current. If you were never interested in the original games, or care little for skateboarding and its culture, there is still plenty to enjoy here too. You would be a right nollie not to pick this up.

Bounty Battle might be the most ambitious cross-over event in indie gaming history. It unites 22 indie games under one banner and has their heroes duke it out in Smash Bros-esque fashion. This project might have been too ambitious though as the touted story mode is missing, the existing single player content is mundane, the AI needs work and the fight stages lack variety. Still, the game looks first-rate and with friends, all the mechanics are there for a good night of scrappy indie combat.

Whilst it initially looks like carnage, Police Stories offers a level of tactic and forethought to the top-down shooter genre. Get past that initial steepness and there’s a wealth of fun to be had in the methodical approach.

Described as a “sandbox hunting simulator”, Sabec’s Hunt is anything but. A poorly crafted open world, shallow shooting mechanics, bizarre AI reactions and very little incentive to play the game beyond a few runs, Hunt is the worst hunting game on PS4 by a country mile.

Looks like Warcraft, plays like Fable, Amalur brings nothing new to the table. An RPG-lite, if you will, there’s enough for casual players to have fun with, as well as hardcore players to sink time into.

HotShot Racing is a must buy if you are looking to rekindle your love affair with arcade racers. Just be prepared to battle the rubber banding for the finish line.

While it’s far clunkier than it’s PC counterpart, Niche on the Switch is still an interesting strategy game that uses population genetics as a core gameplay loop to both entertain and inform. It has its issues but it’s weapons grade cute and anyone who enjoyed Spore will get something out of this.

Spinch is a gorgeous psychedelic platformer that will both delight and infuriate you, aimed solely at an audience that eyes up the challenge and won’t relent until it’s conquered.

An atmospheric adventure, The Coma 2 has enough puzzles and personality to keep horror fans going until Halloween. While it succeeds in gameplay, it’s story is pretty simple, and it gets repetitive by the end of it’s six hour campaign.

Cave Digger loses a lot of immersion in the journey to flat screen TV’s but the game play loop of mining and then re-investing in making the digging faster and more efficient still works a treat. Coupled with the darkly funny DLC which is included in the non-VR version of the game, this is a game that’s still worth a look when played on a TV rather than a headset.

A cohesive and complementary blend of point-and-click adventure and 2D platformer, Lair of the Clockwork God is a real rib tickler that’s capable of delivering real emotion when it aims to. This is Ben & Dan’s magnum opus and one of the most essential games of 2020.

A bright and breezy game that unfortunately drags a little at points, Paradise Killer is nevertheless an enjoyable jaunt that does something a little different with a genre that has a reputation for being somewhat dour. Absolutely worth your time – just be prepared to dedicate a little more of it than you might expect in the early stages.

WRC 9 is a challenging rally game that celebrates the FIA World Rally Championship’s past and present. The driving mechanics themselves are very well implemented and there’s plenty of modes that’ll keep you busy – but there’s more than a few rough edges that prevent it from being a real champion.

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.

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.

A fun little take on an old concept, Witcheye’s tentative leap to bigger platforms is one to keep an eye out for.