Ubisoft has made safe choices in its overall design, yet on the strength of its world design and exploration mechanics, Frontiers is able to shine as a sweeping, standalone adventure. For anyone longing to return to the world of Pandora, this adaptation is a wonderful salve to those clinically-recognised feelings.

This is the Warhammer 40,000 experience that I’ve wanted from a video game for two decades. A game that gleefully wallows in the medieval futurism of its setting. A game that isn’t about winning wars on the battlefield, but focuses on all of the grim-dark insanity that goes on behind it all.

If ever there was a compelling reason to invest in the new generation of VR hardware, Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR is it.

I remember my grandpa telling stories about his beloved motorbike that he got as a teenager – the freedom he felt to explore the countryside, to map out the land he loved, knowing, perhaps, that one day he’d have to leave it. Decades later, he still remembered how the Abergavenny of his childhood looked, how it sounded, how it fit together. A Highland Song might not be Inkle’s best game, but it’s the studio’s most evocative work – it’s a reminder that wherever we are, we are surrounded by stories.

Seeing Jusant to the end felt like returning from a brisk walk in the woods, your lungs full of fresh air, and your mind alert from a cool breeze – which is an astute achievement for a game with such deep connections to the natural environment, and the act of physical human movement. You come away feeling sated, satisfied, and refreshed, the sense of achievement and clarity of thought it offers clearing your headspace for whatever challenge comes next.

Despite some initial misgivings and a few frustrations, there’s a lot to latch onto and love here. Though the battle system is in need of some heavy tuning, frustrations can mostly be mitigated with accessibility options, and the game that ultimately comes together is more than the sum of its parts. It might buckle under its own weight at times, but Knuckle Sandwich is an endearing and wild ride worth going on.

For the grown-up Bluey fans in our household – one who has spent their entire career covering video games, and one who has barely touched a game from the last thirty years – there are as many obvious shortcomings in Bluey: The Videogame as there are charming callbacks. But to the six- and four-year-old, even though there were frustrations, none of that really seemed to matter in the end. Sometimes the bugs and glitches even served as a spark to imagine some logical in-world reason for the mishaps. Is it magic? Is it actually a hidden secret?

In Stars and Time is the type of game that is excellent to discuss theories and nitty gritty details with a friend, an element which adds to an already thought provoking experience. With a cast of exceptionally loveable characters to tether you to its remarkable world, it will stick in your mind long after you’ve put it down.

While dated design means other parts of the tale don’t hold up quite as well as its biting comedy, Super Mario RPG remains a strong adventure with challenging combat, and plenty of unique quirks. By maintaining its spirit beneath a fresh lick of paint, Nintendo has created a welcome opportunity to experience or re-experience one of the most important games in Super Mario history.

Throwing the cast of Persona 5 into a world of turn-based tactics works incredibly well, and the mechanical twists made to support it pay off in a very gratifying way. Outside of that, there are very few risks taken in the narrative – it’s a low-stakes plot that bubbles along, gives the game a stop-start feel, and ultimately feels like the peripheral side-story that it is. But when your favourite characters are tearing up the battlefield and wiping out whole armies of enemies in a big All-out Attack, Persona 5 Tactica feels like the best interpretation of the Phantom Thieves spirit.

Regardless of your relationship to Call of Duty, your feelings about military shooters, your investment in the rebooted Modern Warfare saga, or how much or little you like to play the new Call of Duty online multiplayer every year, the Modern Warfare III campaign feels more like an indicator of a series in decline than a misstep. Microsoft, which recently completed a purchase of Activision, is banking heavily on the future of Call of Duty, and the annual release schedule is unlikely to slow down any time soon. As a long-time player, though, I find myself thinking that it might finally be time to step away. [Campaign Review Score = 40]

These small issues add up to sour the experience – especially given the lengths the game goes to presenting itself as the definitive rally package. They feel like a further indictment on the numerous crude contexts that surround the centre of EA Sports WRC’s fantastic rally experience. It’s a shame, because when you’re behind the wheel, absolutely sending it at 150km/h on the narrowest road you’ve ever seen in your life, it feels like nothing else matters.

As always, it’s those intimate and emotional human elements that make Like A Dragon Gaiden so gratifying. Whether or not we needed to see Kiryu be pulled back so heavily into the underworld against his will is another question entirely, but if we believe at this point that the end is truly nigh for Kiryu in Infinite Wealth, this one last go-around to spend a few more deeply personal moments with him is something to be cherished – as a bittersweet way to get ready to say goodbye (for whenever that time actually comes around). Take care of yourself, Kiryu.

You can easily blast through the game’s story mode in around 2 hours, and leave plenty of undiscovered goodness behind, but take the time to embrace its strangeness, and you’ll find mounds of surprising, technical depth in your journey. Strange, ridiculous, and occasionally very ugly, WarioWare: Move It! is exactly the kind of weird game it needs to be – and then some...Long live WarioWare, in all its compelling absurdity.

My experience with Saltsea Chronicles was a very conflicted one. It’s unlike anything I’ve played before and I appreciated its genuine uniqueness. It boasts an intricately crafted world with an intriguing investigative system, colourful characters and seemingly endless choices. But as much as I liked the narrative conceit, the way it unfolded felt long-winded in a way that struggled to keep a firm hold of my attention.

Alan Wake 2 almost feels mad in its approach, with an overwhelming array of threads in the tale that threaten to collapse under pressure at any moment. Yet with clear and incisive logic, matched with a devotion to delightful absurdity, the team at Remedy has managed to craft a breathtaking story – one that plays out in clever, fascinating, and horrifying ways.

Eternights deftly captures the essence of growing up, as told through the motions of an action-packed JRPG. Through its storyline and dialogue, the game manages to weave life into this classic genre with the aid of modern-day meme jokes and ‘anime humour’. Its simple but effective combat system, and a smattering of puzzles and mini-games, are entertaining enough to keep you hooked as you watch the plot unfold. Eternights showcases a level of complexity and refinement that is impressive, especially for Studio Sai’s debut title.

Reviewing a game from a solo developer, especially one with so much obvious love and care poured into it can be difficult. As a calling card for Koźmiński, World of Horror is astonishing – a stunning achievement, an incredible piece of work. As a game? It’s not bad. World of Horror will impress you more than it scares you, but it really is very impressive, at least. For all its faults, fans of Junji Ito would be hard pressed to find a more loving homage.

In riffing on this classic game’s core mechanics, its clever design choices, its lively graphics, and its sense of pure fun, Sonic Superstars has done justice to the franchise’s legacy. Taking a step forwards can also mean taking a step back – and in this approach, Sonic Superstars leaves a lasting mark.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is pure joy, through and through. From its expressive aesthetic to its whimsical stage designs, it delights you at virtually every step.

As a sequel to one of the most impressive games of its era, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was weighed down by expectations. But Insomniac Games has turned these expectations on their head, spinning a Spider-story that brims with confidence, style, and most importantly – an essential human touch.

While overtly silly and over-the-top at times, Detective Pikachu Returns effectively balances its light with its extreme darks, wielding its cuteness as a tool to tell an impactful and fairly relevant tale about corruption, felt throughout various cases.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a great stealth fantasy game, with a fantastic setting you want to just simmer in, and a pace that gently but consistently pulls you through interesting missions you find yourself eager to tackle. Its focused scope gives you the breathing room to invest more interest and care in the makeup and history of the world, along with the plights of its characters, and leaves you feeling content with the time you spent in it. This is how all Assassin’s Creed games should be.

Mineko’s Night Market is a carefully considered, cosy life sim, with an intriguing, low-stakes narrative and plenty of familiar activities to keep you busy. It might not sound groundbreaking on paper, but it delivers on everything it promises, offering a felicitous, feline-filled escape from your troubles.

The Crew Motorfest is a strong, kitchen-sink arcade racer that executes evocative racing and car culture experiences without actually requiring the level of pressure, know-how, or commitment to fully enjoy them. The feeling of being able to quickly and easily jump in and enjoy the sights, sounds, and different flavours of vehicular action is a boon all on its own.

Mortal Kombat 1 has proven itself to be continually compelling throughout its early access and launch period, a remarkably refined and confident instalment of a series that had already secured its strong identity long ago. The story campaign is an entertaining rollercoaster ride, its foundational fighting mechanics remain strong, and the game’s focus on wide-ranging approachability and accessibility in service of broadening the fighting game community must be applauded.

In a time when absolutely massive blockbuster RPGs are sucking up all the oxygen in the room, Wandering Sword stands out as an amazing independent RPG that crushes every goal it sets out to achieve. Small issues aside, its easy to become besotted with its all-encompassing world; a huge recurring cast of fantastic characters blossom amongst a beautifully woven tale of loss, growth, strength, history and consequence. Wrap that up in moreish combat and wonderfully interlocking RPG systems, and it feels like a modern classic.

While it leans heavily on spy genre tropes, and appears to be determined to separate itself from the wilder, futuristic ideas of its base game counterpart by focussing on more familiar, socially relevant political themes, Phantom Liberty is a compelling, cinematic story that expands the world of Cyberpunk 2077.

Lies of P is a sublime Souls-like experience that has studied every lesson taught by the genre, and then iterated on them all. It’s an earnest, existential, but optimistic take on an old classic fairy tale, in a nightmarish world that’s a dream to play in.

While the whole affair is over in a blink, the moreish adventure of this DLC, the first part of a larger story titled The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero, pushes you along with confidence. Short, sharp, and energetic, this is a DLC chapter with high stakes, and equally high reward.

Between its major beats, and the classical adventure of the protagonist, brought to life in such beautiful noir shades, Gunbrella is an adventure with a real sense of vigour. Its narrative remains gripping, even in its weaker beats, and paints an evocative picture of a dark world that isn’t so different from our own.

While it’s content to build on the past, rather than completely innovate the cosy sim genre, Fae Farm establishes firm foundations, and presents a neat twist on familiar gameplay.

It's the static and mechanical elements of Starfield that shine the brightest – the art, the environments, the combat systems. They make up the strong foundations of a playset with a very intriguing scenario. But you need to mentally meet Starfield partway to complete its vision of a vast, living universe. You need to stretch out the expanse and envision the journey. You need to look past the menus and form the fantasy. You need to help breathe life into its paper dolls. You need to add your own dash of wonder, and imagine your own unknowns. Truly, Starfield is a role-playing game, through and through.

It’s everything something like this should be: A painstaking historical record of inspired creation that is engrossing in its sheer detail, and arranged in such a way that it tells a fascinating, approachable story that inspires you to know more, and do more.

Getting into the groove and feeling the rhythm with your whole body is brain-tickling. It’s an absolute joy. With my arms burning, Break Free complete, I felt like I’d accomplished something. While the other game modes in Samba de Amigo: Party Central are slightly less compelling, in that many are routine and eventually devolve to repetition, on the strength of StreamiGo!, this spin-off is a strong entry in the rhythm game genre.

Armored Core 6 is an unsympathetic and cold-blooded game. It's a cup of bitter, black coffee – and thankfully, that suits my palate perfectly. It's full of moments that make you feel very powerful – in both effortless and hard-fought ways – and moments that make you very, very small. In the face of it all, you're pushed to overcome the impossible. And you'll come out on the other end wearing an exhausted, wry smile.

That an expensive-looking crowd-pleaser tries several new things feels like a small, welcome miracle, but maybe that’s overthinking it. What you want out of a blockbuster is a chance to go with the flow, let yourself get pushed to the edge of your seat for a few hours, and walk out with your blood pressure up a notch and a smile on your face. Immortals of Aveum does all that very well.

En Garde! is a perfect little capsule of engaging action, a well-refined aesthetic, and appealing characters. Like an expert duelist, it doesn’t waste a single strike.

Baldur's Gate 3 is a glorious, shape-shifting RPG epic boasting compelling plots, and a gorgeous world.

The first time you’re given the chance to surf down a sand-covered mountain in Atlas Fallen, it’s invigorating. You immediately want to do it again, and you can. Anywhere there is sand, you can surf, and slide, and leap great distances while admiring the stunning horizon. A moment like that doesn’t exist for the game’s combat. And when lacklustre combat makes up the bulk of Atlas Fallen’s loop, it makes it that much harder to work up the motivation to continue exploring everything else the world has to offer.

Stray Gods might not have told me how to get over a quarter-life crisis – unless I can turn into a God sometime soon – but it was an enchanting, emotionally affecting journey nonetheless. Diving into the lore, grappling with complicated decisions and then finally seeing the mysteries of modernised mythology unravel before me was a welcome distraction from my usual pattern of pondering my existence. What’s more, the surprising use of contemporary music genres led me to reconsider my reluctance towards musicals entirely. Perhaps there’s more about my mindset to reconsider, given how my time here is much shorter than that of the Idols.

Venba’s portrayal of the complex diasporic family dynamic is spot-on. It’s a perfect portrait of the challenges and wistfulness that come with trying to live a life while being torn between two completely different cultures. I’d like to think that Venba is ultimately a hopeful narrative in the end, an emotional, cathartic celebration of it all. But whatever the interpretation, Venba is an essential depiction of the immigrant experience.

Hello Kitty Island Adventure presents strong reasons to return daily, with story hooks, moreish quests, and fun bite-sized puzzles to romp through. It struggles to retain the excitement of its opening pace in later-stage gameplay, where quests become more reliant on higher, more difficult-to-obtain friendship levels – but beyond this foible, it maintains a warm and wholesome charm that should keep fans of cosy adventure games enthralled.

Disney Illusion Island is a sleek platformer aided by loveable characters, and a pristine animated world.

It’s a great escape to the ‘wild west’ countryside, but one without significant bells and whistles.

Pikmin 4 exhibits the most demanding and multifaceted use of the series mechanics yet, with several situations and game modes that push your ability to strategically think and plan ahead under pressure. Pikmin 4 deftly accomplishes several things: staying true to the challenge and identity of the Pikmin series while expanding its ideas, making its concepts and obstacles more approachable, and simply being a beautiful and charming realisation of the Pikmin world.

There’s a kind of scrappy, desperate feeling to a firefight in Jagged Alliance 3. Hits to the arms reduce accuracy, and damage to the legs impedes movement. Cover can be destroyed. Losing line-of-sight allows your merc to re-enter Sneak Mode and return to surprise the enemy. Saving a couple of AP to drop into a prone position at the end of a turn can be the difference between seeing the next turn or bleeding out. Yet, despite all this tactical granularity, the successful play is often a matter of running around the cover the enemy is hiding behind and shooting them in the back. Assuming you don’t miss, of course.

Viewfinder is a short and sharp exploration of a strong concept that builds an unimposing space to play with those ideas, and fosters a mild, continual hum of gratification as you go on that journey. A pleasant exercise in gently massaging your brain synapses, it’s like a brisk refreshment that leaves you feeling slightly more satisfied when you’re done.

In terms of the game however, C-Smash VRS deserves to sit with pride among the essential VR titles. Especially if you have room to move.

Oxenfree 2 is an easy recommendation if you loved the first game as much as I did. While the original is definitely my preference between the two, the sequel expands the series’ lore and is packed full of callbacks, while also featuring a lot of the quirks that made the first so interesting. Oxenfree 2 is, fundamentally, more of a good thing.

Some people feel that we live on through what they leave behind; coming back to Ghost Trick on Switch and seeing Missile again makes me feel like, at the very least, a temporary resurrection is possible if the thing we leave behind is special enough. Rest in peace, little buddy.

Rain Code unsurprisingly excels where Danganronpa always has: it’s a masterclass of storytelling and building anticipation. I laughed, cried and felt betrayed, both in my role as Yuma Kokohead and as a fan of Danganronpa. The story of Rain Code is the video game equivalent of an earworm. It will always be on the periphery of your thoughts, reminding you that the quest for truth is often convoluted and ugly. And that’s all the more reason that it should prevail.

This is not the WWE 2K rival many assumed it would be. Instead, like its real-life counterpart, AEW: Fight Forever aims for something different. At times, it feels wild and cheesy, and strange art choices make it an uncanny experience. But equally, it embraces this cheese, elevating its action and storytelling with a welcome silliness. Confidence is key – and AEW: Fight Forever just about gets away with being the quirky, odd duck in the world of serious wrestling games.

The goofy animations also add to the feeling that I’m playing dolls with a particularly silly friend. This story may be her favourite to enact, over and over, but I have no idea what crazy twist she’ll introduce next time, just that she’ll properly let me make decisions, too.

Final Fantasy 16 largely shines as an epic-length action game, though the places where it attempts to find a comfortable compromise between action game and RPG feel largely unambitious, and certainly fade into the background against aspects that are approached with gusto. But it’s difficult not to get swept up by the earnest saga that Final Fantasy 16 eagerly lays out for you, and the egregious heights of spectacle it displays.

While it is a simple farming simulator at its core, it’s also profound in its design, leaning heavily into a quiet philosophy that lends the action a sense of meaning and purpose. It’s a wonderful exploration of living, and while silly and simple at times, it understands exactly why the smaller moments are so precious.

As much as it inspires fun, the larger your theme park ambitions grow, the more Park Beyond throws extreme roadblocks in your way. There is still hope it finds a more wholesome balance in the future, but for now, the quest for the perfect park feels unfairly locked away.

Iko must ultimately say goodbye to Coco and his new friends, perhaps before he’s really ready to – and that’s okay, because he can always look back on the memories he made with them if he ever feels hopeless or lonely. While it seems like the game is geared more towards younger players making their first foray into some difficult topics, it’s still an overall enjoyable venture into a world that feels like a warm hug of reassurance.

It helps that the source material was ahead of its time. By paying the 1994 original the utmost respect–retaining core systems, quirks and all, while changing on peripheral aspects entirely for the better–Nightdive Studios has rebuilt a classic game into something significantly better.

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie near-expertly combines rich storytelling and detailed decision making to create an epic tale of worlds colliding. Behind the beautiful exterior, there’s a fully actualised universe with exciting mechanics, compelling story arcs and characters truly worthy of your emotional investment. If you put in the work, it’s an experience unlike any other.

As I look at my (now slightly disappointing) real-life dog, I know I’d do anything to save him from being abducted by robots or eaten by a giant slug. I also know that, faced with such a precarious situation, he’d screw it up, immediately. Thank goodness Mui is more competent.

Killer Frequency is an absolutely marvellous meeting of vision and execution that is engrossing from start to finish. It deftly manages to balance tense thrills with self-aware campiness, echoing the best traits from 1980s slasher movies. Problems unique to the Switch version aside, the fresh and unique qualities of the Killer Frequency experience still come through loud and clear.

Diablo 4 is a behemoth of a game, boasting a gothic world that goes beyond the engaging hack-and-slash gameplay loop, and brings Sanctuary well and truly to life.

Street Fighter 6 is an exceedingly good fighting game. But more than that, it’s an excellent training tool. It’s a fulfilling adventure. It’s a lively community gathering place. It’s an endearingly idealistic and inspiring world of appreciation for martial arts and friendly competition, exceptionally executed in every respect.

In the end, the combat designers of Miasma Chronicles may well have let loose the frogs of war. It’s just a shame the writers croaked it.

Humanity is an incredibly alluring piece of work. It’s a puzzle game of strong design and concept, evident in how it stretches and bends your method of mental approach in a variety of different ways – sometimes to the point of frustration, often to the point of elation. Visually striking and aurally satisfying, at times it felt like I could watch the endless bodies flow through its levels forever.

At times, the game devolves into weirdness, but that’s part of its charm. As a colourful and creative entry in the racing game genre, it’s bursting with fresh ideas that keep its engine humming with every boost-powered turn.

Breath of the Wild reinvented The Legend of Zelda. Tears of the Kingdom reimagines it once more, as a somehow more ambitious, freeform and creative game, with even greater highs – literally and figuratively. It’s a staggeringly eye-opening game that expertly cultivates the joy of exploration, discovery and believing in your own abilities.

Honkai: Star Rail is just that – a beautiful and highly appealing game to be played while waiting in line or while commuting. And there’s certainly something romantic about escaping your own boring train ride in exchange for the Astral Express, voyaging through the stars, planets and the great unknown.

There is a sense of more hiding beneath the surface of Redfall; and an urge to find it is what pushes you onward through endless vampire skirmishes. But while pieces of promised treasure are sprinkled throughout, Redfall never shines quite as brightly as it should.

Minimalism breeds great impact in this adventure, with a sparse narrative approach allowing the game’s inner mystery to grow deeply as the corners of its story darken. Its lack of interactivity renders players largely as passive observers of an unfolding tale, but this powerlessness arguably strengthens Varney Lake. As summer dies, you can only watch in horror as each story beat unfurls.

While the action remains reliant on puzzle mechanics that occasionally bog down the main story, improvements across the board – including stunningly deft writing, and a sharp narrative – contribute to a more confident, and wildly more engaging sequel.

A few rough edges don’t prevent Shadows of Doubt from being incredibly unique, interesting, and utterly enthralling. It’s a game that manages to pull off a level of depth and complexity of simulation in the service of generative gameplay and storytelling that few other games have even attempted, and without any smoke and mirrors, too – it simply does the thing at an incredible scale. When the inevitable conversations about the most innovative games of 2023 begin to happen, Shadows of Doubt will be the first words out of my mouth. [Early Access Score = 80]

Where Horizon Forbidden West leant heavily into alienating futurism, Burning Shores successfully grounds its stranger elements within a story that remains defiantly human throughout. By its closing curtain, Burning Shores proves definitively that even despotic future warlords are no match for the strength of human bonds.

By the end, it leaves you teetering on that precipice between wanting a little more and feeling satisfied enough. And that's a good place to be.

Whether it’s using a power pole as a slingshot, launching unwilling citizens into space, or just messing around with rocket physics, Tentacular stretches your mind as much as it stretches the capabilities of VR. It is not necessarily the most novel experience in the now-mature genre of VR games, but it does an effective job of weaving together a cohesive, coherent, and transformative experience for players, pairing a solid yet minimalist narrative together with satisfying and balanced logic puzzles.

As a feat of technical artistry, it’s impressive, sleek, and often breathtaking. But as you’re dangling off a cliff edge, taking a breather from endless, repetitive mountain climbing, you’ll find yourself wondering whether novelty is really enough to justify such a loosely-tied journey. While the experience is impressive in fits and starts, Horizon Call of the Mountain ultimately feels like a puzzle with several pieces missing.

Lunark wears its inspirations on its sleeve. It is littered with subtle and blatant nods to Flashback, in particular. In an under-populated genre, the heavy weight of those influences are conspicuous. Yet, at the same time, it’s just pleasing to encounter another cinematic platformer that understands the appeal of the genre, and doesn’t try to fix what ain’t broke. Sometimes, slowing down is precisely what you need.

Even though it’s described as a reverse city-builder, I’m inclined to describe it as the anti-city builder, too. By its very nature, Terra Nil shows that games in the genre don’t need to be focused on rampant urban expansion to be engaging.

Dredge is a masterclass in atmosphere, worldbuilding, tactile mechanics, and game flow. Like all good sinister stories, by the time you get to the end of the line you might wish you had never kept going. But in Dredge, it’s impossible not to.

In pushing forward into the realm of narrative storytelling, WWE 2K23 makes a memorable, well-earned mark. It’s loaded with polish and personality, and should rightfully be considered one of the best wrestling video games of the modern era.

Taken as a leisurely journey where the goal isn’t the be-all and end-all, Tchia can be a very pleasant getaway into a playground of delightful sights, sounds, and toys to play with. As a series of quests, it can feel ordinary. But as an escape to another place, it can be wondrous.

The Resident Evil 4 remake features several smart choices that help it feel true to the original, but also shapes the adventure into something that overall feels more cohesive, modern, and thrilling than ever. It’s a stellar example of how to revitalise a classic.

While this expansion pack does present a whole new array of challenges – from diaper blowouts to random morning temper tantrums – it adds a much-needed sense of wholesomeness and realism to The Sims 4. It enhances the quirks of Sim relationships, provides goalposts for every Sim to strive towards, and provides a narrative-less game with a real sense of shape. With plenty of new achievements to nab and activities to enjoy, Growing Together breathes new life and vigour into The Sims 4.

Return to Dream Land‘s lack of difficulty does dampen some of its more creative ideas, but it remains a colourful, sleek adventure – and one that’s been perfectly adapted, remastered, and expanded for Deluxe. Kirby, as always, deserves more time in the sun – and this collection is a wonderful ode to my favourite pink blob.

Perhaps most of all, it succeeds in realising the ideology at its core, through gameplay. Adaptation and growth is the cycle at the heart of Wild Hearts. As your Hunter places each Karakuri, they embody the innovation of humanity adapting to the natural world. In every clash with the Kemono, humanity meets the ferocity of nature head-on, to survive and prosper... Wild Hearts has undeniably proven its right to survive, and carved out a place in the high echelons of the monster-hunting genre.

The Settlers: New Allies feels confused by its own identity. Is it a live service game? Is it a homage to the great RTS games of the past? Is it The Settlers, or a lesser Age of Empires? The answers seem to dance away the longer you play, and the further your settlements grow. While it houses a gorgeous world that actively encourages you to keep exploring, placing roads, and looking after your flock, a lack of depth and identity makes New Allies feel like a muddled experiment.

For all the game’s foibles – that largely stem from a slightly dated version of the series recipe, as well as some ideas that perhaps never really quite worked – Like A Dragon: Ishin! Is still an enjoyable Yakuza game brimming with stories and activities, and it still has a firm grip on the sense of drama and comedy that fuel its enduring soul. That soul is unique, charming, and special, and transcends setting, time, and rough edges alike.

These small efforts to make the experience enjoyable mean the mechanics of the game receded as I played, allowing me to immerse myself in Exocolonist’s narrative and philosophical reflections. I Was a Teenage Exocolonist is a beautiful game, a synth-laden ode to growing up and allowing yourself to fall, fail, succeed and explore in a posthuman world that asks thoughtful questions about what it means to exist alongside the natural environment.

Overall, Valiant Hearts: Coming Home doesn’t have quite the same devastating impact as The Great War first did. Maybe that’s down to the effects of a sequel. Or maybe it’s due to the smaller, bite-sized format it’s seemingly designed around. But who says emotional narrative games can’t be short-burst experiences? The heart of Valiant Hearts is still here, and I’m glad these characters and this style of historical storytelling live on to fight another day. Just don’t ask me to fetch another potato, or dodge another artillery shell.

Snappy dialogue brings the occasional laugh, and the experience remains pleasant enough throughout its entire runtime – but a devotion to the past, and a seeming lack of interesting ideas means The Cosmic Shake simply slides off the brain, like a passing thought.

Rough and ready, just like Frey, Forspoken is a tale worth stomping through one high-stakes, magic-infused battle at a time.

A half-dozen hours with Hi-Fi Rush so far, and I can’t stop smiling...It’s a game that’s easy to love, difficult to put down, and just an utter delight to spend time with. What a great way to start 2023. [Review in Progress]

It can’t be overstated just how much a Dead Space remake always seemed like a sure thing, and after my time with it, that perspective hasn’t changed. It’s easily one of the best modern horror games, and the fresh lick of paint to really bring its grimy, snarling interpretation of sci-fi horror into sharp new relief is very welcome, especially when it maintains such faith in the source material.

A Space for the Unbound only looks pixels deep, but it is a masterpiece for its breadth of storytelling, its authenticity, and how it tackles difficult topics, from cultural expectations, to mental health. As the game ended, it left me with a beautiful feeling of closure, accompanied by a hankering for cherry-chocolate-flavoured cake and Indonesian food.

Perhaps Colossal Cave is best left buried, remembered only by those for whom it opened eyes to a new medium. And another thing: instant vending machine hot chocolate really is quite disgusting.

Fire Emblem Engage is focused on making the series’ enduring turn-based tactics more compelling, more exciting, more stunning – and the game does an excellent job at that. Smart new mechanics add much to the feel of battle, and once your army begins rolling through enemy forces across the continent, it’s hard to stop.

While Crisis Core‘s shorter length is surprising, given the depth of the story it tells, the hooks it digs in are well worth unearthing. The trio tale of Angeal, Sephiroth, and Genesis is a relatively hidden side chapter of the FF7 Compilation, but it provides a deep, emotional core that will likely resonate in Rebirth and beyond.