Right now, the game is sorely lacking in content, but if they expand the number of playable monsters (its Pokédex), introduce more mechanics such as Terastallising, Gigantamax, or even the long-forgotten Z-Moves, it could offer greater variety. The question is how much of the (surely massive) player base will remain by then. Right now, it's all about the novelty and the fact it's free, but once everyone's had a go, will there be more than just the hardcore fanbase left? We'll see. For now, Pokémon Champions is a good introduction for new players, but the seasoned veterans will surely feel that something is missing.

Vampire Crawlers is nothing short of outstanding and its possibilities are dizzying. Play at your own risk, for this is, if possible, even better and more polished than its predecessor.

It's beautifully designed and takes you through some impressive and mind-boggling worlds, but I'd say you need to be a real fan of these detective games for Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss to be worth your while. As mentioned earlier, there are elements that make the whole thing a bit too convoluted and slow the game down even further than it already is. There are also a number of technical issues that are hard to overlook.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is cosy and full of creative joy for anyone willing to take the time to build a Mii community with personality. I would argue that it requires a fair bit of imagination on your part as a player to get the full value out of the experience. By that, I don't just mean a desire to create visually, but also an overarching concept of who your characters are and what their relationships with the other residents should look like. Essentially, build your own story and see what happens. For me, Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is primarily a great tool for creative thinking, whilst it's then up to us as players to decide what we want to create.

There is so much charisma exuding from this game it's almost hard to dislike it and the pacing and gunplay is strong enough to keep you entertained when you aren't dazzled by the incredible art and animation.

Replaced is, after all, about emotion, which it has in abundance, with a story that resonates deeply, feels refreshing without reinventing the wheel, and, moreover, doesn't feel the need to provide all the answers.

All of the features that Outerloop has incorporated work as intended, and while there is a bit of jank in the movement and exploration, it is a generally well put together game. But it also feels like there could have been much more here, or rather, a grander focus on a few design features and an elimination of others to make for a more refined creative vision. As it is, Dosa Divas is a perfectly acceptable game, but it had the potential to be much more.

Pragmata simply works too well not to recommend it, and the magic lost in the empty spaces may not be as obvious to you as it is to me. That's why I'm giving in and recommending Pragmata on the strength of its strong gameplay profile and well-constructed loops and structures, even though part of me would have liked there to be a bit of edge beneath the cool exterior alongside all the great design.

There's quality and genuine brilliance in this game, but at the same time I can't help but feel as though it'd benefit from either having more interactivity and player-geared gameplay or rather a complete focus on narrative and letting a hand-crafted and highly refined story flow of its own accord. Perhaps we'll see a change in the future of the series, but whatever ends up happening, one thing is clear and that is Reunion once again nails the core elements of what makes a Life is Strange game special, so credit to Deck Nine on that front once more.

If you're not exactly a die-hard RPG fan, People of Note can be a nice, accessible and cosy little RPG that tries to do things a bit differently by adding musical abilities to a traditional RPG, and if you buy into the slightly simple premise, it actually works.

At its core, this is a very ambitious and impressive video game that's a massive improvement on much of what the mobile platform offers, but it's weighed down and held back by the inclusion of the intrusive and demoralising mobile elements that continue to give the platform a bad rap. Does it work as a game to log into for 20 minutes a time while commuting to work? Without question. But could you sit down and play The Division Resurgence for hours, eventually clocking hundreds of hours into the gameplay as is easily the case with its console and PC counterpart projects? No, it does not have the structure or legs to be such a title.

If you choose to take on Elemental: Reforged, you'll get a competent 4X game with slightly dated graphics and not the most knowledgeable of AI opponents. Thanks to the fact that you do so much else during the course of the game, it rarely gets boring. Although this title is the best in its series, I think certain competitors like Age of Wonders 4 offer sharper experiences today.

Darwin's Paradox! may be here for a good time, not a long time, but what a good time it is. Bringing classic platformers up to more modern standards, it proves a short, sweet, mechanically sound experience that I'll gladly take more of if ZDT Studio wants to bring this plucky octopus back to our screens.

So long story short, Super Meat Boy 3D comes across as a game that doesn't evolve the series but rather takes it down a different path it doesn't need to explore. The theme, the tone, the style, it all still comes across as authentically Super Meat Boy, but the gameplay has a slightly uncomfortable edge where it doesn't quite feel right for one reason or another. Super Meat Boy may be back but this isn't the character in top form.

If you like Star Trek, it's hard not to recommend this to you. It's a sharp game with issues that can often be attributed to the title's budget. It can become somewhat repetitive because the strategy aspect doesn't really offer much variety in its setup. What you do in the first solar system, you do - with few exceptions - in the later star systems as well. Despite this, I still think it's a competent product and perhaps one of the best games in the Star Trek universe I've had the pleasure of testing.

These are games that stand the test of time, which wouldn't have benefited from more polygons, and which have been well revamped with higher resolution where appropriate (such as in battles and on the maps). If you're looking for classic Mega Man action, this is definitely not for you, but if you want a typically cosy Japanese "happy-go-lucky" adventure with a deep gameplay system, then it's really easy to recommend this lovely collection.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is still one of the finest 2D platformers in recent memory, so there's still that going for this upgrade and pack, but at the same time, if you can save yourself close to £20 and simply buy the base game and leave it at that, I wouldn't discourage doing so, as Meetup in Bellabel Park and the Nintendo Switch 2 Upgrade is simply not must-have content.

If you're playing with a controller and have a reasonably good PC, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is the ultimate version right now. If you want to experience this classic and have the opportunity, this is definitely the version I'd recommend. Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is a masterpiece and as close to art as a game can get.

It's a slightly odd mix of fast-paced arcade racing, an unbalanced game, a story that takes up too much space, almost too many systems, and controls that demand a lot from the player. Screamer isn't a bad game, but it tries to do almost too much. I would have liked it to be more straightforward. More like Ridge Racer could have been in 2026.

Crimson Desert can be a place where you can lose yourself for months as a player, but don't expect all those hours to be spent on an enriching adventure in a world that, I repeat, is wonderful. I can overlook certain technical issues given the scale of the project and because they may be fixed with a patch, but there are simply too many design conflicts across all the systems operating simultaneously for me to call it a 'masterpiece'. If you can simply live with that and enjoy the journey, even without necessarily understanding where it leads, then this open world is worth a try.

The Ghost of Glamping is brilliant through and through—fun without being superficial, lighthearted without feeling silly, and with a narrative thread and coherence that many other games can only dream of. Quack-tacularly entertaining.

Marathon’s foundations are solid, strong, and well-functioning, and although the game might lack a hook, or simply maps that build on this solid foundation, I feel confident enough, even without Cryo Archive, to recommend Marathon solely on the basis of this rather fantastic loop. That doesn’t mean Marathon is a fantastic game in itself, but it could very well turn out to be one, and that’s more positive than for a great many other live-service games.

Docked may essentially be all about moving heavy things, but it does so brilliantly, and sitting behind a joystick on any of the machines is, as we know from an old internet legend, what gives you power. So, I find it difficult to see how this type of simulator could be made in a more entertaining way than Docked actually manages to do.

It's a shame, really, because the period is interesting, and the idea of following a female knight through plague-ridden Italy could easily have been the starting point for something really exciting. But in its current form, 1348: Ex Voto is difficult to recommend. Perhaps some patches could improve the experience in the long run, but as the game stands right now, I simply didn't have much fun with it.

The original review was scored a seven, and I give the remaster the same. Ultimately, it is simply a good Japanese role-playing game without belonging to the greats of either the genre or the series.

It's yet another shooter in an already overcrowded genre and despite Carpenter's name and the (at times) beautiful aesthetics, there's nothing here that stands out or makes you react. Fun in small doses? Absolutely. But something you'll be talking about in a year's time? Hardly.

There is a saying that "it's the journey and not the destination that counts," and those are words I have always lived by. But what do you do when the journey is sadly boring and all you want is to reach the destination? I'm not really sure which target audience will appreciate this game. It's for ages three and up, and maybe a very small child would enjoy flying a parrot on an uneventful adventure with no point whatsoever, but what do I know? But I need something more and, above all, something meaningful.

Fatal Frame II: The Crimson Butterfly Remake certainly has its flaws, but it also manages to show an uninitiated player like myself why the series has earned its place in horror history, even if it can't quite measure up to the latest offerings from its famous relatives.