Not a bad expansion by any means. It’s just that fundamentally its current balancing of monster hitzones, impediment of clutch claw mechanics, and process of endgame grinding/gearing elongate an already long process into a longer one than necessary.

As a fighting game fan, having new systems to learn has been great fun and the design of the characters and the world is instantly enjoyable if you like Japanese fighting games and/or anime. With the detailed tutorial and introduction of the Stylish control mode, it’s far more approachable for new players, but the complexity of the story and how little it does to help people jump on quickly may rub people the wrong way.

Dishonored 2 is a substantial improvement over its predecessor and is an expertly crafted continuation from the first. With a plethora of choices and wonderful architectural puzzle design, Dishonored 2 is truly an immersive experience. It's just a shame it's held back by terrible and unfortunate PC performance.

An enjoyable game, with an interesting premise which is bogged down and held back by an underwhelming PC port. The gameplay does feel great, so if the technical faults are ironed out, Nioh 2: Complete Edition is certainly a title to keep an eye out for.

Ender Lilies features some truly captivating pieces. With its excellent soundtrack and captivating art style. However, the game falls flat in its execution. Making it a game that at times feels excellent and at others feels mundane.

Starfield shines through some glaring issues that definitely dampen the experience but don’t ruin it altogether. With plenty to see and do, sheer immersion will be enough to carry you through to the end of Bethesda’s latest offering.

PES 2017’s biggest sin is that it takes the beautiful game that I love so much, sucks all and any excitement, fun and enjoyment from it, leaving a dry, dull husk.

The gameplay loop of Warframe remains the same, but the smooth frame rate and great loading times will be a great benefit to long term console players as they move to the PlayStation 5. If you’re a Warframe fan, you can look forward to a much sharper experience.

An absolutely enjoyable experience gameplay-wise, but a definitely skippable story; you're better off playing Death Stranding like a walking simulator and completing each area as you're introduced to it, rather than rushing to an unfulfilling story conclusion.

Scoring any lower would be a bit far for what the game offers and does. It’s like baked beans on toasts: nice and filling, but you wouldn’t call it a proper meal. If you’re into your Rogue type games, looking for something short, snappy and quick. This is a game for you. Personally, this just isn’t my cup of tea with what it does.

With an intense and intriguing narrative, Steins;Gate 0 is a joy to play through though too many times the story slows down for sometime much more mundane. Without knowledge of the characters or larger plot of previous games, you may struggle to get the full experience.

Black Mesa remains true to the original Half-Life with updated graphics, improved sounds and redesigned levels. However, the graphics still look old for a “modern” game and loading screens are still a pain as it freezes the game for a few seconds.

While the plot and characters in Mediterranea Inferno are interesting, the lack of any real gameplay makes this a difficult game to recommend. If you want an interesting journey but don’t want much involvement, then this could be one for you.

Astalon: Tears of the Earth is a great looking rogue-like Metroidvania game with a good story. It is incredibly challenging and can get very frustrating with the amount of backtracking, collision detection issues and lack of direction of what you need to do to progress.

FIFA 18 is certainly an upgrade on FIFA 17 and undoubtedly the franchise is going in the right direction, but with the same flaws still remaining it is hard to solely focus on the positives. The game needs balancing out as far too much of the game is focused on attacking, rather than the grittier and more tactical side of football. FIFA 18 is superb to look at with the slick menus, pre-match changes, vast licences, wonderfully represented stadiums, and player images, but changes to its gameplay are a necessity for me. Having played PES 2018 and FIFA 18 this year, I can comfortably say PES takes the award for being the best football game, but FIFA still has the greater depth to it, and is the more sociable game of the two.

Quilts and Cats of Calico is a fun console version of the board game, but the music is like a lullaby and don’t expect much for online play.

An easy 8, maybe even 9/10 for long time fans, but for most people points will be lost in the story department. It's never too late to catch up, but DO NOT start here!

Pokémon Legends: Arceus is close to being the Pokémon game I’ve always wanted, but falls short of perfection in ways that other games in the franchise have gotten right in the past. The sequel could very well be the best Pokémon game released so far.

With how disappointed I am in the final product, it’s still hard to call One Step From Eden a bad game. The boss fights are memorable, it has an appropriately fast-paced soundtrack, and for brief moments it can feel like a complete, cohesive experience. However, the roguelite elements are just not implemented well enough to make each run feel fresh, and actively work against the decent core battle system.

With a less than impressive story, poor design choices, and technical problems aplenty. Metro Exodus ends up being a disappointing end to what is otherwise a brilliant series.

Whilst these are great games, this isn’t a great collection. With almost no extras, very little tweaking of the games for the Switch and no Super Mario Galaxy 2 this just isn’t quite what I’d hoped for. I’m still enjoying the games, but for many people this won’t represent particularly great value. If you don’t already have the games then get it. If you do, you might want to give it some thought first.

Apopia: Sugar Coated Tale is a nice experience with a hefty number of minor bugs, but a story that more than makes up for it. The title is unique, funny, and sometimes dark and mysterious, so I recommend it for people who put story first when playing games.

If you are already into the series then it is likely you will already know whether or not you’re getting this game. If you are not, I wouldn’t recommend you start here unless you like hours of frustrating dialogue with no pay off.

Although currently HoPiKo's controls are not perfect, the combination of electric visuals, music and pace achieves both the best and the worst of drinking too much coffee, but in videogame format.

Gears 5 feels like a desperate attempt by The Coalition at trying to carve out a new identity for the series, but the execution feels half-hearted. The pseudo open-world skiff exploration is enjoyable early on, but the uninspired objectives end up making it feel dull after a while.

She Remembered Caterpillars is a good puzzle game with the right amount of complexity and difficulty, but it is dragged down by it's undeserved grief and emotionally shallow overtones.

Severed is a story about love. A girl’s love of her family and Drinkbox’s love for Vita. Repetitive combat and a tough difficulty spike limit the enjoyment, but there’s no reason every Vita owner shouldn’t at least give it a go.

Jurassic World Evolution 3 offers more of the same, for good or ill, but it needed just a little more to entice long-time fans.

Fly TOGETHER! Is a great casual party game that features a ton of cool aircraft to pilot. With accurate and responsive motion controls it’s a fun break from your usual party games since you don’t get a chance to create the flight path for airplanes and UFOs.

A love letter to the series, Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth is a challenging but rewarding dungeon crawling experience even if a little rough around the edges.

Jagged Alliance 3 is a bold attempt at blending the best of multiple genres. Despite success in several areas, its overbearing systems often sideline the enjoyment of an otherwise well-made game.

Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters made me wish I was a veteran of the genre to appreciate it the way it deserved to. Ultimately, it left me yearning for the game it could have been.

I can confidently recommend SIGNALIS for its puzzle element, but its combat, inventory, and sound design manage to bog it down to a merely okay title.

A good first attempt by a studio that has only worked on animation, but not enough substance in the gameplay to keep you hooked to the very end.

Fitting my thoughts on Amnesia: Rebirth in a single paragraph feels like an impossible task. It’s an effective character-driven narrative with forgettable characters; a tense horror game with a distinct lack of horror. Rebirth is exactly what the developers set out to create, which was not the Dark Descent clone that some people were hoping for.

REANIMAL continues everything great that we expect from the developer, but the short length and irritatingly small details hold it back a bit.

A few changes here and there improve Football Manager 2023 much more than I’d anticipated. It’s still the same deeply engrossing sim that you know and love, but with a few extra bells and whistles to keep the fans happy.

Hitman GO: Definitive Edition is a neat little puzzling package that thoroughly entertains. Despite taking a different approach to gameplay, it very much remains a Hitman game.

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is a very fun game but the puzzles and combat can be very simple and straightforward. However, this is made up for with amazing graphics and music as well as fun voice acting.

Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy is bittersweet. Having the unmissable marsupial back is a great throwback the 3D platformers of the late 90s, but for all of the nostalgia, the trilogy highlights some of the genre's weakest elements. A must play for original fans, and one new players should take with a pinch of salt.

The Royal Writ is a good roguelike that emphasises planning ahead, taking calculated risks, and rolling with the punches. However, at times, it can unfairly kill your run before you can even react to it.

There’s little doubt about it, Rogue Aces is a very enjoyable game, and one of the best and most entertaining Switch games within its price range. Controls are hard to master to begin with, and impatient gamers will need to be more lenient with this game and give it time. If you do allow it time, then Rogue Aces rewards you with high-octane thrills and spills from start to finish.

World War Z Aftermath is a solid expansion to the game. While the new chapters felt disjointed between sections, the new chapter mechanics brought in a challenging element to our zombie slaying fun.

Ghost 1.0 is a great game with a great visual style and interesting story and characters, that has moments of huge frustration because of the insane difficulty increases.

On the right map with the right team, you’ll encounter some fantastic PVP moments. Though tonally it’s more miss than hit, Knockout City is at least worth trying out; but without much variety of content as of review, I'd wait until the game reaches its potential.

Stronghold Crusader: Definitive Edition adds some new features and lords, but it can be hard for new players to get into.

While Virgo Versus The Zodiac does have its moments, it loses steam the longer you play. The inconsistent tone gets in the way of any serious storytelling, and an initially engaging combat system ends up being underutilised. It’s still something worth checking out if you’re looking for a shorter RPG with some unique ideas, as long as you can put up with its shortcomings.

If you’re a fan of the series then you can’t go wrong, but it’s not the strongest game in the franchise with its plain bad battle system, regardless of how charming and beautiful it is.

Though I genuinely loved my time with Venba, I could not swallow the steep asking price for the short, one-hour experience that you will have. It's a great, tear-jerking story that immigrants will resonate with, but there isn't enough here to justify the entry fee.

Although its mechanics are not upbeat enough to have you engaged for hours at a time, the story is interesting enough to say something, however niche this message is.

There's enough on display here that, if you were a big fan of Kirby's Epic Yarn, you could get at least get a couple more hours of entertainment out of it. However, assuming you’re not a big fan, than I would suggest waiting for something with a bit more substance to come out, which should be around Metroid Prime 4’s release.

The Knight Witch is a nice-looking game with hand-drawn visuals, charming characters, and an interesting story. The game combines twin-stick shooting, deck building, and Metroidvanias in a unique way I have never played before!

While the single-player offering is a little muddled and often confused regarding what exactly it wants to portray; the multiplayer is otherwise a straightforward and enjoyable experience, even if it's currently riddled with minor connectivity issues.

A middle of the road performance for New Pokémon Snap. It will certainly find its niche, and anyone who considers themselves a big Pokémon fan will come away from this game grinning about some really beautiful moments. The biggest issue with New Pokémon Snap is that there is no reason to stick around after the first couple of hours.

Afterimage is an action RPG with a massive world with tons of areas and hidden areas to explore. The story is very confusing, but the huge variety of enemies, weapons, and attacks make the game enjoyable to play.

Despite spending most of my play time watching characters talk or travel from one side of the screen to the other, The Banner Saga includes an enthralling narrative and makes use of some inventive combat mechanics.

Bethesda Pinball offers an enjoyable amount of content for lovers of the studio's franchises and fans of the classic arcade game.

A standard Ubisoft AAA game that may not live as long as intended.

Having 150 players slows down the game too much for my liking, but additions like the Gulag and the new game mode Plunder are great ways to keep the experience fresh instead of copying old trends.

Faultlessly stylish but also frustrating in its execution, River City Girls is nonetheless a refreshingly vibrant brawler but best played with a friend.

There are levels where everything works together to create some interesting challenges, though these are not frequent enough to make Wildfire stand out from the crowd.

Fun and entertaining with its eclectic mix of indies (never heard any of them if I’m honest), give a miss if you’re searching something that’ll give you a proper run for your money song choice with high BPM songs - since some stretch to a slightly unbearable 70 BPM.

A jovial jaunt through a reskinned Borderlands experience. The humour and references are on point, but the short length left me disappointed…

It’s hard to truly dislike a game that tries to meld pre-existing ideas into something new, and this is true with Indivisible. However, it’s also hard to truly enjoy a game that doesn’t fully succeed in any of its key areas, and unfortunately this also applies to Indivisible.

Insurgency: Sandstorm needs a bit more polish to be the outstanding sequel it should be but if you overlook the issues you'll find a fairly enjoyable multiplayer title.

My Friend Pedro can be an absurdly stylish action game when everything aligns but you’ll just as likely find yourself slipping over its unwieldy controls.

Under Night In-Birth EXE: Late (ST) is a deep and complex fighting game which gives players the tools to learn and master its systems and mechanics. The game however, is showing its age with ugly level design and boring menus. Whilst gameplay should come first, there are other fighters out there that are more of a complete package.

Lovely Planet Arcade is what happens when you create something in a genre you’ve not understood, which is strange considering the team got it so right only two years ago. I found it too frustrating and really haven’t enjoyed my time with it, which is a shame because it could have been so much better.

Mediocre, yet imaginative, Crashlands is a game for those with a strong stomach for repetitive gameplay and oddball humor.

The hit drumming series’ arrival on Xbox and PC is with several caveats, as without the famous Taiko drum controller, it’s thoroughly restricted. Thanks to a fantastic tracklist, however, the numbed sensation manages to provide infectious gameplay.

Masochistic newcomers and experienced point-and-clickers will undoubtedly enjoy the return of Simon the Sorcerer Origins and Simon’s banter, but those without experience will suffer without hints and a multitude of detailed notes.

A great point and click game on a console, only mildly let down by it’s slightly frustrating control scheme. Full of charm, wit and plenty of humour along the way; The Inner World delivers a fun and interesting story to keep you going.

It's a very short and simple experience, as the Steam page suggests, but it's definitely worth the time if you like the idea of cleaning an alien ocean to help the fishies out.

The Necromancer’s Tale is a promising, well-written RPG with a fleshed-out trust system and rich characters, but simplistic, clunky combat hinders the game a bit.

SOLASTA: Crown of the Magister has its faults, but still manages to be an enjoyable RPG experience. if you just want a D&D-eqsue dungeon crawler to play through, there are certainly worse options to choose from.

The Lonesome Guild takes you into a wondrous world and unpacks relatable themes through its narrative, but while the combat, storytelling, and environments are serviceable, they don’t reach their full potential.

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes is an interesting concept, but it falls short of finding the sweet spot between challenge and choice.

Age of Charlemagne is a great way to improve on a Total War engine that sorely needed extra testing and bug-cleaning. Tight, attractive and challenging, it's the perfect way to prepare for the upcoming Total War: Warhammer but also a good DLC in its own right.

As a budget title, this is a very pretty pool game and the addition of a snooker mode helps as well. But annoying music, iffy controls and an uneven difficulty curve make it difficult to wholeheartedly recommend.

As a whole package, all the praise should be going toward the single player experience, and I'd never thought I'd say that about a Call of Duty game in a long time. But in all honestly, it’s true. As for the multiplayer, it makes for an incredibly mundane and subpar experience that almost parodies itself. Completely making it very difficult to recommend the game as a whole.

Big Helmet Heroes is simple and does what it sets out to do. It’s a fun time, but it struggles with any gameplay depth, leading to a lack of longevity; I did enjoy my time here, especially with the presentation.

Though Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord provides a fun outlet with its battles and the strategies you can employ within them, everything else is lacking in comparison. You might get a solid 5-10 hours of enjoyment out of the campaign before you it dawns on you that there’s not much else to discover but a disappointing realisation.

Avowed is decent fun and has a beautiful world, but its story, progression and characters leave a lot to be desired.

I really enjoyed what the game had to show me in the end, and I’d highly recommend it if you can get past the slightly odd writing style and enjoy the medium. There is a lot of content for what you pay, and it’s worth it as a stand-alone episode.

Contraband Police is an enjoyable experience, but it has some annoying bits to deal with and there are definitely better alternatives with similar premises and gameplay.

A collection of fantastic ideas and art direction, held together by some very unfortunate execution.

A fairly solid attempt, the changes to multiplayer bring out a large mix of good and bad responses from me. In the end I believe that they have pushed away from the original DoWs a bit too much. They still need to return to their roots! I am sure they will do it eventually.

Trifox is an interesting mix of a 3D platformer and twin-stick shooters with a unique skill tree system that allows you to make your own loadouts. The pacing felt slow, and there isn't much of a story here.

Sovereign Syndicate is an enjoyable tale of three people, murder, revenge, and redemption. Though the lack of voice acting and minor bugs may keep some away, if you’re in the market for a good story and an interesting mystery, I recommend giving it a try!

Wales Interactive deliver a game that excels in taking the player into a mysterious and unsettling place rife with oddball characters, creepy radio stations and untimely death. However, it is not without issue and at times feels a little disjointed in delivery.

A fun and challenging puzzle game that is best played co-op. If you are on your own, racing against the timer and trying to move heavy blocks around can become quite hard and get frustrating.

A good game that suffers from a few balancing issues in places and some frustration bugs. Nonetheless, still a solid and fun co-op experience.

Definitely a Marmite game, you’ll either love it or hate it. Unfortunately, even looking at it objectively, it’s difficult for me to recommend.

Going Medieval is a fun game, but over time, it starts to lose the charm and allure that you feel when you first start.

Those who are looking to add some pointy-ears to their game will find a faction with a high skill ceiling and impressive design. At £14 for just one faction, however, you might want to wait until it’s on sale.

Super Meat Boy 3D is the punishing and challenging game you expect, but it lacks the personality of the original and odd camera angles make it tricky.

A competent entry to the WRC series by Kylotonn Games, and the handling model has improved a lot since their previous outing, however, the title is let down by some oddities and bugs that can sometimes make gameplay more effort than it needs be. Choose this if you want a decent rally experience, without the harrowing difficulty that DiRT Rally will put your way.

An engrossing combat system and numerous novel gameplay mechanics save what would have otherwise been merely a passable Dark Souls tribute from total mediocrity. Sadly, there’s still too much harming the experience to justify a wholehearted recommendation. It ain’t Souls and it certainly ain’t polished, but it's not terrible either.