The gameplay is immensely fun, and gives you that evil satisfaction with each denied resume, until your heartstrings are pulled by someone telling you they need this job or they'll be a disappointment to everyone they've ever known. It's a Papers, Please like with a lot of its own unique charm, and a game that feels well worth the few hours you'll likely put in.

Heavy Metal Death Can won't appeal to everyone, and the game is deliberately old-fashioned. Often to such an extent that it negatively affects the experience. But if you're one of those who genuinely yearn for something that feels 30 years old, and who fully embrace the genre as it was back then in the late 90s, then Heavy Metal Death Can could very well be the perfect game for you.

It’s clear that Claytechworks understands what the key ingredients of a good Zelda-like are, but they haven’t quite managed to strike the right balance between them in this first attempt. They should have sprinkled a little more puzzle-solving into the mix and a little less combat. However, that’s a minor issue compared to the paper-thin story and the bizarre decision to copy-paste the same map four times. It reeks of too much ambition and too few resources, and if that’s the case, it can be forgiven because the combat system and the obligatory dungeons and bosses are truly rock-solid here. If Elliot sets off on new adventures in the future, I’d gladly join him again. As long as Faie and Philabieldia are left at home.

So Pictonico! is a perfectly decent little mobile game, but it's also very clear what it is: a fun idea, a quick laugh, a moment of image-based light-hearted entertainment, and then not much else. It's Nintendo at its weirdest, which I basically love, but it's not Nintendo at its most brilliant.

While The Gang Studio has fundamentally put together a rudimentary, functional, and often entertaining game in Sitting Ducks, like all friendslop titles, this is a project that's entirely dependent on the company you keep and what you as a group can get out of the wider experience.

It is very faithful to the original, for better or worse, and the surface is still rough, prickly and full of Euro-jank. But if you scratch beneath it long enough, a rather fine gem emerges. A slightly grubby and uneven gem, to be sure, but still a gem.

Even if Easy Trigger hasn't quite hit the mark here as they did with the first Huntdown, there's still plenty to love for those who, like yours truly, harbour an almost unhealthy fondness for the 80s and side-scrolling pixel action. Huntdown is rougher around the edges, slightly less polished and, at present, a bit unnecessarily challenging. But it's also delightfully addictive, outrageously beautiful and delivers some seriously intense action, a great soundtrack and loads of attitude.

Although I'm not quite as keen on this setup as the one we saw in Deadlock, it's still a title worth checking out if it sounds appealing. There aren't many games that manage to draw inspiration from FTL and still be worthy titles in this genre, and if you're keen on decent alternatives within roguelites, have a soft spot for Battlestar Galactica, and want to experience the nightmare the crew in the TV series had to endure, I think you should check out this game.

Psyvariar 3 is a niche game within an already niche genre. This is a title that knows exactly which audience it's aimed at: the kind of shoot 'em up enthusiasts who fell in love with the old Psyvariar games released around the turn of the millennium, and who have been waiting for a new shoot 'em up with the same super-aggressive gameplay ever since. If you belong to this narrow target group, Psyvariar 3 is Christmas, Eid and Hanukkah all rolled into one. For everyone else, it might just seem like a sack of potatoes.

It's fun, easy to enjoy, and it's got a nice approach to it in terms of value. And I love the menu music reminding me of the ISS/PES era, and the cute icons in Nintendo's own fashion. So, if Konami manages to upgrade the graphics to more modern standards, and if the World Tour leans closer to the ML in the future, this could be more than a summer love or a travel buddy. For now, it's okay if just like that.

World of Tanks: Heat fundamentally works, but it doesn't leave much of an impression, has a limited array of content currently, and is weighed down by the typical live-service design choices that have made this section of the game industry the most tiresome and indefensible of them all. But hey, it's free-to-play so give it a go and see what you think at the end of the day.

Yerba Buena is a decent little puzzle game with a good basic concept, which unfortunately doesn't quite take off, and it all ends up feeling more like hard work than entertainment and that's a shame. And the reasonable price tag of just under £21 can't change that.

Despite complaints about the structure, I like the game even if it isn't perfect. The developers are trying to experiment and improve on their core design from the first game. Looking back, it turns out they haven't quite succeeded fully. However, I would argue that it succeeds well enough to give it a go if you enjoyed the predecessor. Although the Necron campaign could have had slightly more interesting upgrade trees, the battles are a bit too frequent and the missions are on rails, the package as a whole is more than passable.

There are a few bright spots without question, and the visuals are clearly one of them. I also fundamentally love the type of combat the game features, as I simply find it fun to fight using cards. But even though these two factors shine, Echo Generation 2 will unfortunately go down as one of the bigger disappointments of the year for me.

There are moments that feel very cinematic, where the atmosphere is thick and the journey truly feels entertaining, but there are a few too many things that get in the way of its lofty ambitions. As mentioned earlier, it also feels a bit too often like an at times flashy tech demo, but on the other hand, that can also be quite a significant advantage in a linear experience like this.

There are parts of Thick as Thieves I enjoyed. The world has a strong stylistic core and some of the background elements in the story piqued my interest, too. It's also quite hard to bomb on a game that does just cost £5. However, it is a drastically disappointing project, too. When we're a decade removed from Dishonored 2 this year, I would have loved for a game, any game, to try and take its place. Good level design is appreciated in Thick as Thieves, but it's hard to really praise when you've only got two levels. But hey, I could just be a grump about this, and for the price Thick as Thieves is at, it may be worth trying, just to see if you enjoy it more.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book isn't really my sort of game, but I can see - and appreciate - what Nintendo is trying to do here: namely, to create a game for younger players in which virtually all barriers have been removed. The gameplay has its ups and downs; it's a game that encourages play and exploration, but the non-existent difficulty level will likely divide opinion.

Horizon 6 disappointed me. Me, who has played all six instalments in the series. I feel some of the progress Horizon 5 introduced is missing; I don't think Playground are willing enough to experiment with everything from progression to UI design; and I don't think Japan comes across well as a setting here. But conversely, this, along with the last handful of Horizon games, is one of the best arcade racers you can find, based on everything this game predictably executes so masterfully. I therefore take the liberty of recommending Horizon 6 solely on the basis that it works as well as it does, although I must once again recommend that Playground Games really take their time to be more ambitious in the future.

For once the smoke has cleared and the blocks have fallen into place, Drop Duchy offers a charming adventure where cute graphics blend with interesting and engaging gameplay. It may not be a ground-breaking take on the puzzle genre as a whole, but it is nonetheless an exciting concept with a great many clever touches. If you enjoy tactical thinking and relaxing puzzle-solving, this is an obvious purchase, and if you're willing to get to grips with all the complex choices on offer, you'll also find a game that you can spend countless hours playing over the coming summer months.

The story's closure and major points leave me cold, but I look back on the bulk of it and I'm still left marvelled by the awe-inspiring sights, the creative puzzles that soar in quality at their best, the moments of personal banter between Harry and Elizabeth that made me smile. For every step back it takes, there are two steps forward, and even if some don't cover that much distance, it leaves at a spot that seems worthy of its status.

It's as if Limited Run Games had plucked them from a bargain bin, where Sega's Marvel titles, Capcom's X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse and The Punisher, among others, had already been snapped up. As mentioned, the aforementioned X-Men stands out with its fury, gorgeous pixels and genuine entertainment value, but otherwise it's too little, too late.

If you are a newcomer to gaming and open-world games, then Outbound is a reasonable first recommendation for you to play. It's simplistic, low-stakes, cosy camping fun with accessible puzzles and foraging elements that are even better experienced as a multiplayer game.

Everything from the graphics, music and sound to the tank simulation and much more has been improved. At the same time, there are still areas for development, such as the AI, more maps, the user interface, the visibility of your troops, and a more content-rich multiplayer mode. There are also certain aspects of the balance between the troop types that need reviewing. For these reasons, my rating lands a little lower than what I would give the fourth instalment today, with all content included. When it works, it's good, but at present there is room to improve even further.

Wax Heads is a cosy, relaxing little game and especially if you're a music fanatic, it's lovely to potter about running the little record shop. The simple gameplay is perhaps a bit too simple, and the challenge lies in the vague clues the customers give, so it can all get a bit monotonous. However, I think Patattie Games deserves credit for trying something new, and it's actually a great idea they've come up with here and the fact that it's all been created by just two people with help from only a handful of external contributors is even more impressive. If you enjoy good music and are looking for a relaxing and cosy game that's particularly well-suited to your Switch or Steam Deck, then Wax Heads could be a really good choice, and you can try a demo on Steam if you'd like to check it out before you buy.

It's packed with profanity that rains down alongside the sarcasm we recognise from the series, featuring a colourful cast of characters that does justice to the Invincible universe in a fighting game that anyone can play regardless of prior experience, and have a right good laugh in the process.

MotoGP 26 remains a very strong game in a series that does justice to the real-life MotoGP, and gameplay-wise it's entertaining, but unfortunately it feels as though the series is starting to slow down a bit too much. There simply isn't enough new content, nor does it feel sufficiently different from last year's title.

What we ultimately have here, what you're being asked to invest in, is the cover band version of Ad Astra. It's a gaming experience that feels as though it's been held together with duct tape, and only in fleeting moments does the narrative emerge that made me forget these otherwise obvious shortcomings. It's a shame, and I take no pleasure in sending a talented studio back to the drawing board, but I cannot recommend Aphelion, not even to those who pick it up "for free" via Game Pass. It simply isn't worth your time.

Ultimately, Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth delivers more of what we saw in Snufkin: Melody of Moominvalley. It's an accessible adventure for a younger audience where the charm of Tove Jansson's stories meets simple gameplay mechanics, and it's easy to recommend this if you enjoyed its predecessor. Admittedly, the adventure on offer this time around may not be quite as grand in scale, and much of it can feel a little too familiar and repetitive at times, but a quiet, atmospheric winter's day can, as we know, be just as inviting as a warm and lively afternoon in the sun. Hyper Games continues its tradition of respecting the source material in the very best way, and if you like Finnish little trolls, these digital fairy tales are the very best on the market right now.