From the modular ship constructor system and the impressive (if automatic) fleet battles, to the ethical tensions between interstellar neighbours reminiscent of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, to the endless moddability that'll allow, no doubt, classic sci-fi reskins (the likes of Dune spring to mind), I can't wait for Stellaris to be the game it is so obviously going to be. For now, though, it's still struggling with escape velocity on its mission to the stars.

Overall Observer is good at what it does, but it’s not the sort of place I overly enjoyed being in. Rather than pelting headlong down the horror route, it straddles an awkward thriller line that didn’t overly entice me. At no point was I desperate to boot it up and find out what happened next, no doubt partly due to the busy, often dizzying art style that made me feel like I was sat in the back of a hot car on a long journey. For those after a narrative driven, cyberpunk fix Observer certainly fills a hole though, provided you can deal with yet another take on technologies potential impact on humanity.

Hardcore fans of turn-based tactics may be slightly put off by Mutant Year Zero’s obvious missteps but that aside, The Bearded Ladies have cooked up a special game here that’s got great potential for the future. Road to Eden isn’t perfect but it’s definitely stood out from the crowd for me in what’s been an excellent year.

A nostalgic blast from the past, anyone who ever used to love Where’s Wally and any books of that type will be thrilled by giving Hidden Folks a go. There are no pressures and no limit to speak of, so it really is one of the more relaxing titles around. The sort of game you just want to sit down and play for a couple of chin stroking hours with a piping hot cup of tea.

All in all, Dirt 4 is an undeniably fantastic racing experience wrapped up in a dull procession of events known as a career mode. At its absolute best it can be a white-knuckle thrill ride that hardcore racing fans would do well to give a try, but those after a more consistently adrenaline-filled arcade experience may want to look elsewhere.

Despite all of this griping, and all of these complaints, Tropico 6 is still sort of fun. Partly it's just watching the numbers going up. When the freighter arrives in port and your first shipment of electronics goes to market, netting you enough money to build a new stadium, it's like a little pat on the head that can be weirdly addictive. There are certainly some bugs that probably shouldn't exist on the fourth (fifth? sixth?) iteration of essentially the same game, but the special sauce that has allowed them to actually get away with making six Tropico games is still there.

If you've had long enough since FC4 or Primal to hunger for more, or you just really hate religious cults, there are many hours of mindless, gun-nut paradise to enjoy here. But it has to be said that if you've played one, you've kinda played them all.

By and large, Battle: Fleet Gothic Armada is a great game, and another one of the nice surprises that can occasionally emerge from Games Workshop's plan for world domination.

If you’re looking for the authentic Resident Evil experience, this is definitely not it. But if you have a Resident Evil itch that you just need to scratch, this could provide lots of hours of entertainment for you, even without the Resident Evil Resistance standalone experience. But at the end of the day, I’d rather just play the excellent Resident Evil 2 Remake, or even the original Resident Evil 3 on my old PS2 instead.

It looks relatively nice - some maps have that unmistakable 40K feel, although the limited paths through each level are a little tired in terms of map design. Much of the voice acting is exemplary - the orks and gretchin in particular have plenty of charm and personality although some of the jokes fall a little flat sometimes. Really, though, with the world awash in new Warhammer games, there's nothing about this latest iteration of what was once the Warhammer 40,000 flagship videogame franchise that we will remember next year.

Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode 1 is brimming with action and it shouldn't be a surprise considering the Caped Crusader has to resort to his knuckles most of the time to teach the Gotham underbelly a lesson. The combat sequences are rather easy to get through, although it may just be me getting a hang of Telltale's games for once. I've played far too many of late. To pull off moves you just need to hit different combinations of keys on the keyboard, but the timings are perhaps just a little too lenient.

There is very little wrong with this episode but for someone who critically analyzes the storyline and how the events unfold, I would have preferred a little insight into how AJ's personality was shaped from past events. This scenario could probably become an episode itself. That being said, this episode is a fitting but perhaps a little bland start to the final season of The Walking Dead.

While I’ve greatly enjoyed my time with Kingdom Come: Deliverance though, I have ultimately bounced off for now due to crippling performance issues that I’m suffering. If there’s the slightest doubt that your PC is going to struggle to run Kingdom Come: Deliverance at playable frame rates then I have to recommend you take a wait and see approach in order to see how it’s patched over the coming months.

If you’ve got the DOOM reboot then I heartily recommend you just go and play its Arcade Mode instead. This was added as a free update back in October last year, and it’s everything you want from a score-attack shooter and then some. Failing that, and if you’ve never played Bulletstorm before, then it’s worth a play-through should you spot it at a deep discount further down the line. $5-$10 should do the trick in the current market.

What’s here I wholeheartedly admit is fantastic, but we find ourselves in a Street Fighter V-esque situation where we’re waiting for the full package. The budget pricing for American Truck Simulator goes a long way to assuaging these fears, and there’s still potential for dozens of hours of gameplaying for aspiring truckers.

Honestly, I feel like maybe we've seen all of the colours of Total War that we're really going to. It's time to switch up the tried-and-true formula for something else. It has been a lot of fun, and in its day Total War really set the bar. But now it's yesterday's news.

With a fantastically sombre and sinister art style, impeccable sound design and an innovative idea, if I were to have to describe this game on the fly I would say it’s a title somewhere between Papers, Please and The Sims, two games I have thoroughly enjoyed in the past.

Providing thrilling gameplay, a flowing combat system, pleasing Tolkien landscape, challenging charismatic bosses, deeper story and a bigger end game mechanic to keep the player entertained for many many hours, today Middle Earth Shadow of War is one of the best games available in the third-person RPG-action genre.

No tutorial I could find. Graphics reminded me of World of Warcraft, or Far Cry. The first Far Cry. All of the equipment power-ups are just +1 to this, +1 to that. It's like WoW with all the fun taken out. As for the fighting, it seems to be just furiously clicking and a bit of dodging. They've been making great martial arts games for years. Why change the process to something weird and less enjoyable? I did like how you learn new attacks by beating enemies who use them. But that was the only real positive for me.

Silence is a breathtakingly beautiful game. There are so many moments where I just stopped and stared at what was going on around me.

There are not all that many games around like it. As an overall strategy-come-management-sim, it's fair, but with a few annoying and perhaps unforgivable flaws. As a chance to stomp around in an underground base built into a volcano, shouting at people and firing giant superlasers at Australia just for the sheer fun of it, it's pretty much your best option.

The big question mark left dangling over Hitman is whether it deserves its episodic nature then. Put bluntly, it does. The additional time with each map gives everyone room to understand and digest the finer intricacies, while the special challenges keeps things entertaining and fresh. Elusive Targets meanwhile offer unique bonuses for killing them, but you only get one shot. These are neat additions, but there is an unshakeable feeling they have been included purely to justify Hitman being episodic. The fact the Elusive Targets can disappear after a matter of days makes it feels as if gamers are being punished if they don’t get in the door early.

The core of Sundered is fundamentally flawed from the outset, and randomly generated levels are often a bugbear of mine. But layered on top of this is a fantastic, gorgeous action game with heaps to do. All told you’re looking at a good 15-hour run through, and those whose thirst is still not quenched as the credits will no doubt be pleased that each playthrough is different. If the thought of eating a beautiful crunchy red apple appeals to you, and you don’t mind the worms wriggling inside, Sundered might be worth a shot.

The core of the game is sound, it just needs to be more upfront with the player about what it’s doing. It’s really frustrating for me because I keep booting it up and I keep playing it, but eventually tangled web of systems gets the better of me and I’ve got to close it in a rage. It pains me because with the easily identified issues to the interface this is a game which would comfortably clamber up to 8.5, perhaps even 9 out of 10. Who knows, a few patches down the line, maybe Railway Empire will get there. After all, no train arrives quite on time.

A New Frontier tells two tales, one of a battle-hardened teenager and the other of a brother who is trying to keep his family together while struggling with his emotions. It's powerful and steps away from the aesthetics of a melodrama but my dear reader, A New Frontier sets the bar high for its excellent narrative, storytelling and politics of society. You will drown in the world of New Richmond only to be awakened by a Walker nearby.

For me, it was the prod I needed to get back into the world of Fallout 4, and wonder why I'd ever really left.

The infinite replayability of procedurally-generated maps and adventures is limited by the encounters available, and you'll have seen them all in a couple of playthroughs. Still, in that time it's a pretty good laugh, and The Curious Expedition bestows a real sense of adventure and exploration.

If you’re looking for a game to unwind, then there’s no better place to look. But if you’re looking for something unique, something that will stick with you for years to come, you’re better off looking somewhere else.