Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name may not be the best game in the series, but it is still a fantastic introduction to a series that it may be difficult to understand how to get started on.

Ghostrunner 2 is an exciting action game, and you immediately notice that the developers have had higher ambitions for this sequel. This manifests itself in the form of a larger universe with more variety, and it is exciting to explore the many unique cyberpunk aspects both inside and outside Dharma Tower.

The formula for a game like this is well established, and while Return to Moria doesn't add anything new to the genre, it works just fine. It may seem strange, but it's boring in a somewhat safe and relaxing way – when the technical aspects works.

The best thing about Star Ocean: The Second Story R, ​​however, is how much fun it is. It is hair-raisingly easy to just play a little more, which in this game means at least an hour. It's a fast-paced game that was created for the player who fantasizes about just getting bigger and stronger, and that in a nostalgic fantasy world full of adventure.

It's refreshing to play a sequel that takes such dramatic steps with both storytelling and level design. Remedy has chosen to kick open the doors and let in all sorts of strange ideas, and it generally works incredibly well.

Quotation forthcoming.

Cities: Skylines 2 is not a huge revolution for the genre, but it represents a step forward that I think the vast majority of fans of both the original game and the genre in general will enjoy.

Marvel's Spider-Man 2 delivers some of the most fun and exhilarating traversal mechanics in any game ever. This makes it a blast to explore its colorful open world, filled with engaging combat, fun collectables and great one-offs. The game does however falter somewhat in the story department, especially in an overly messy third act that's nowhere near reaching the consistently emotional peaks of its predecessor.

Lords of the Fallen is a really good action RPG. The combat system is good, the music and visual style are good, and the world we find ourselves in is both interesting and tempting to explore. Without the technical problems, this would have been another notch up on the points scale.

Assassin's Creed Mirage is a solid adventure with an entertaining story and many engaging challenges. Sneaking in the shadows and picking off one guard after another is and will be great entertainment, and that's one reason why there are still new chapters in the series.

I'm absolutely sure that with a few extra doses of content, this could be a dream game for racing fans. As it stands, I'm sadly just missing a bit more gameplay here to hold it all together.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

It's a solid football game, but all the microtransactions leave a sour taste. However, if you just want to play digital football, there's probably no better place to do it right now than in EA Sports FC 24.

The Crew Motorfest is flashy, beautiful and varied in its many unique racing disciplines, but the condensed map and lack of player interaction leaves a lot to be desired.

Payday 3 at launch is a usable starting point, while we wait for Starbreeze to bring in more content in the months and years to come.

Party Animals is easily the most fun you'll ever have in a video game. The mix of adorable characters, brutal fighting, and comical physics makes for a hilarious experience if you're playing with friends. Sadly it doesn't have the legs to go on forever – or even more than a handful of hours.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is fresh, funky and full of incredible, yet slightly frustrating nostalgia.

A gorgeous game that lacks a truly engaging story, and that falters in the later stages.

Perhaps Bethesda will manage to make the Starfield experience better in the future through various updates and expansions. But all in all, it seems like Starfield would have done much better as a universe with a sea of depth and seamlessness spread over 10 planets, rather than what we got spread over 1000.

Fires of Rubicon is big, bombastic fun, with a core gameplay loop that's a blast to play most of the time. The game does however falter in quite a few places, including its bland story, lacking visual variety, and an ever-present feeling of frustration when banging your head against some of the more bullet hell-like encounters.

The story that is presented is perfectly fine, it offers some interesting characters, events and scenarios, but it means very little. It does not evoke any emotions, and it is not memorable in any way, which makes it quite a failure as a musical. What you come to think of instead is a game with bad music and a control system that can't do a single thing right.

Sometimes uncomplicated, silly action and fun is just what you need. And there Immortals of Aveum delivers in buckets and buckets.

Mimimi Games works wonders to make supernatural abilities a balanced, visually striking, and unexpectedly cool part of this real-time tactics game. Sadly, Shadow Gambit loses its way as you’re forced to revisit the same handful of islands again and again in service of a story that lacks cohesion.

A brilliant and impressive journey that adapts to your every move.

Disney Illusion Island is easy to play for both young and old gamers alike, making for a fun, colorful and slightly meandering platformer.

Atlas Fallen manages to offer a fairly fun and exciting foundation, but otherwise comes across as a tame experience that you've experienced in better games before.

Pikmin 4 is downright charming and playful from start to finish. The simple elements of strategy mean that even the most inexperienced tactician can delegate responsibility, collect treasure and send creatures into war with a smile on their face.

Exoprimal is at its best an extremely engaging and fun game that offers intense and exciting battles against both soldiers and dinosaurs.

It is one of these games that is the full package. It has engaging mechanics that really make you want to play, it has a visual style that really highlights everything the game is trying to do, and it has some of the best and most varied music I've heard in a while.

Viewfinder is both clever and fun throughout, delivering some of the best and most unique puzzles this side of The Witness. The story could be more engaging, and more content wouldn't hurt, but that doesn't stop Viewfinder from being one of the most ingenious games in quite a while.

It's a thought-provoking and complex coda to the game that impressed us so much in 2016. But it also has something important of its own to say. And I've never heard anything like it in a computer game before.

While the game feels both unbalanced and frustrating at times, the core gameplay experience is chaotic, exhilarating and fun throughout. With more modes and maps, this could end up as a sleeper hit, although having to pay for entry might hurt the game's chances of finding a big enough player base.

Beautiful and streamlined puzzle, but the story drags.

Final Fantasy XVI tells a fantastic and entertaining story, but many of the gameplay systems are quite frankly very dull.

Not only does the game capture the essence of Amnesia in a good way, but it also develops the series further with new, exciting ideas.

The Lord of the Rings: Gollum has a bunch of disjointed game mechanics, and none of them are well executed. The performance is also unacceptably poor.

Hi-Fi Rush offers a colorful and unique gaming experience that constantly engages.

Street Fighter 6 is a triumphant return to form, sporting some of the most engaging new mechanics, character designs and onboarding tools in the series to date.

A stylish, well-made game held back by some technical challenges that are particularly evident on the Switch's old hardware.

It's not revolutionary by any means, but what's there is solid, well thought out and works well.

Tears of the Kingdom is Nintendo's full realization of the vision Breath of the Wild started, trumping it in every area.

A strong beginning, but the fun fades when Humanity moves away from the puzzles in favor of action.

An engaging and challenging, but still unfinished game.

As a game, Redfall simply doesn't measure up. The familiar Arkane magic that has always lurked in the developer's previous games is completely absent. Instead, we get an experience that is just as limp and uninventive as it looks.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is almost the perfect sequel. Sadly, improvements in gameplay, story, visuals and more is mired in an undercooked package, with horrible performance and fatal crashes plaguing, at the very least, the game's launch week.

With Everspace 2, Rockfish takes the leap from roguelike to a full-fledged space adventure in a giant galaxy. Here there are endless things to explore, but a lack of variety means that the experience quickly loses its zest.

The Mountain King weaves a powerful and at times disturbing tale, but falls a bit short on its gameplay.

The Mageseeker is a game with genuinely entertaining combat system and an interesting story that suffers from painfully repetitive level design.

Despite flimsy physics and a hard-to-grasp story, Teslagrad 2 is a fast-paced, fun and atmospheric Metroidvania.

A fairly successful meeting between two worlds, but not without problems.

Two fantastic tactics games that will provide hours of entertainment for both experienced tacticians and newcomers alike.

A beautiful and relaxing game that is over too soon, and is too bare bones to encourage replaying.

Dead Island 2 is a lot of occasional fun when played together with a friend, but the game suffers from a distinct lack of meaningful story development and gameplay which feels quite samey from time to time.

Dredge is a simple, yet incredibly atmospheric game, whose fluid gameplay, hand drawn art style and meaningful musical interludes makes for a very compelling experience.

Bayonetta Origins is a charming and colorful journey that replaces intense action with puzzles and wonder.

Tchia could have benefited from a bit more polish, better flow, more animals and a bit more to do out in the countryside, but it's still a game anyone who enjoys the open world genre should check out.

The best version of one of the greatest games of all time, and one of the best Resident Evil games ever.

Despite being both fussy and clumsy throughout parts of the barely 15 hours the game lasts, Atomic Heart has just enough character and cool sequences to make this a game that might be well worth a closer look.

Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe offers a lot of fun for both young and old, and exploring the many nooks and crannies is consistently rewarding.

The Light Brigade is a great PlayStation VR2 game. Excellent shooting mechanics and roguelike elements make the game highly replayable, and unlocking new classes is always a thrill. The PS VR2 version does suffer from the occasional frame drop, but overall it's a smooth and well-crafted experience.

The Settlers: New Allies is a frustrating experience that lacks much of the series' fundamentals. This is a streamlined The Settlers game that has been simplified as much as possible, but if the goal was to create a big multiplayer hit by making it easier to get into, it misses the mark.

There was already a lot to appreciate about Metroid Prime on the GameCube, and on Nintendo Switch it works better than ever before. It feels much better to be able to play with regular joysticks, and the graphical upgrade makes the game one of the most impressive Switch launches yet.

Company of Heroes 3 represents a great evolution of the franchise despite being less than ambitious when it comes to the battlefield. The inclusion of a campaign map is however the best choice the series has ever made, even though it's a shame it's not available in the multiplayer mode.

The absolute biggest draw is definitely the story, where the developers once again deliver drama and mystery that you can't wait to enjoy more of. There are few game stories that interest me to such an extent that I'm disappointed when the cutscenes are over, but the Like a Dragon series makes it happen. Like a Dragon: Ishin is by no means an exception.

Horizon Call of the Mountain is a gorgeous game that makes a good showcase for PS VR2, only hampered slightly by its predefined limited systems for exploration and combat.

Thanks to its sprawling world and plethora of engaging ways to play, Hogwarts Legacy manages to set itself apart as the best Harry Potter related game of all time.

Fire Emblem Engage drowns a solid and entertaining tactics game under layer upon layer of boring filler nonsense that does a very good job of ruining the experience.

A gorgeous and atmospheric remake that improves on the original in almost every way.

Forspoken is so uninspired and mired in cliches that its fantastic voice acting cast can only do so much to keep the game afloat. And while the movement and combat systems are interesting, they're often on the cusp of greatness without ever really realizing their full potential.

One Piece Odyssey takes the Straw Hat Crew on a fun journey, revisiting stories fans would already know from the TV show and also getting to know some brand new and exciting characters and worlds. However, the game is let down by its far too easy combat and some frustrating design choices, making the overall experience a bland one.

An insanely absurd, silly, and fascinating game that deserves to be played.

World of Warcraft: Dragonflight invites players to a breathtaking new world, teeming with excitement. However, despite some enjoyable new features, such as Dragonriding, the experience quickly boils down to more of the same stuff players have seen and done before.

Front Mission 1st is a solid and entertaining tactics game that deserved a bit more attention than it got.

Hugely engaging monster hunting, but not without major problems.

Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion is without a doubt the best version of the game, and it's nice to have the game on new platforms. It's almost comical that the game is out on Xbox and Switch all the while Square Enix seems to be ignoring those platforms for the Final Fantasy VII game people really want to play.

The Callisto Project is a game with a well thought out and balanced tempo that in many ways reminds us of the best from the Resident Evil series.

One of the year's most shocking surprises gives us both an entertaining story and incredibly fun and constantly evolving gameplay.

This is a game that constantly surprises and tries new things, and it's simply shocking that the many different components work as well as they do.

Marvel SNAP does a terrific job of introducing players to its unique design. Here you gradually get more and more cards to play with, and it never gets boring to see which heroes and villains are waiting around the next corner.

A nice, but by no means particularly memorable experience.

One of the most well written video game stories ever told. It transports you to a different time and place, and leaves you longing for more.

This fantastic game just got even better, and there are enough changes and new touches to make it worthwhile for newcomers and veterans alike.

An entertaining action orgy that doesn't quite live up to its predecessors.

Despite a somewhat flawed presentation, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope captures what made its predecessor special, and improves on the series’ solid tactical RPG-premise.

Despite its shortcomings and eagerness to wrap things up, God of War Ragnarök feels like a better game than its predecessor in almost every aspect.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 leaves much to be desired in its lacklustre campaign, but the multiplayer is where the game truly shines. Awesome weapons, fast-paced gameplay and the overall sense of polish might make this the best Call of Duty online experience at the moment.

Victoria 3 is amazing from the get-go, with so many systems that it's going to take dozens – if not hundreds – of hours to get completely comfortable with everything there is.

Scorn is a powerful and unique experience of the like we rarely get to see.

Gotham Knights ends up being a pretty mediocre experience. The combat is decent, but not varied or tight enough. The story has its ups and downs, with a couple of very strange choices. The visuals are good, but the performance is not up to par, with severe frame drops happening too often.

Despite its somewhat outdated sneaking and combat systems, A Plague Tale: Requiem is without a doubt one of the storytelling highlights of the year, combining incredible voice acting, visuals and mystery with horror and historical fantasy.

Valkyrie Elysium is a fun and entertaining action game that feels like it should have been a full blown RPG.

Shovel Knight Dig features some of the best pixel art in the business and is a fun romp throughout, but lacks the depth of its peers and ends way, way too soon.

FIFA 23 had been a much better game if you could leave out everything outside of the matches. Ultimate Team has become too much of a focus, while the minute to minute gameplay still works.

The Diofield Chronicle is an interesting take on the tactics formula, filled with political intrigues and beautiful music.

Splatoon 3 is just as colorful and charming as ever, but the lack of new meaningful content makes for a harder sell than its immediate predecessor.

Little Orpheus delivers a charming, colorful and varied adventure, but is both too slow and too repetitive for the fun to last.