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.

It’s in these ideas that Nikoderiko: The Magical World shines brightest. While it’s clear the game would not exist without the likes of Crash Bandicoot or Donkey Kong, this is nostalgia done right. There are familiar ideas in the adventure, but each is transformed in a way that makes the journey of Niko and Luna feel so wonderfully creative, bright, and consistently brilliant along the way.

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.

Regardless of my particular talent, I’m having a blast with Planet Coaster 2. It’s certainly on track to eclipse its predecessor, and will no doubt build on lessons learned to become a better-rounded and more feature-rich game in future. While there will inevitably be a deluge of DLC to boost the game’s ride options and customisation, they will simply be decorations on an already-sweet cake.

But even as omnipresent as Darktide‘s technical woes are, it’s the exhilarating thrill of a mission run that shines most brightly in my mind when I think about my experience with it. Even on low graphics settings, shining your rifle’s underslung torch down a dark corridor, only to see a horde of Poxwalkers glaring back at you before your whole squad unloads on them, provides an utterly giddying rush.

Despite this path being surprisingly linear, with many of the game’s main questlines being simple, and playing out in long, dialogue-heavy segments, Harold Halibut maintains a deep sense of intrigue, and a richness of character growth. It’s an excellent, layered exploration of purpose, and where we fit into the fabric of the universe – one that is much bigger than we may ever comprehend.

There is such a richness in these games, and I’m so glad their re-release in remastered form allowed me to finally experience them. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1&2 Remastered is a brilliant collection for those who love Soul Reaver, and the perfect introduction for new, curious players.

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.

Even after dozens of hours, the dance of movement and gunplay still feels wonderful to perform. It’s not a revolutionary redo of Halo’s principles, but rather, a refreshing revival that’s come at the perfect time.

Though the combat and puzzles didn’t feel new enough to really lift to the next level, and devotees of the original might feel a bit let down by the lack of a real leap forward when it comes to those elements, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II dazzles in the mere existence of a full, well-rounded world – a world where reality and fantasy collide just as often outside Senua’s mind as it does inside.

Exo One does have a narrative of its own, one which you can take or leave, but the emotional gravity it manages to imbue into each and every movement of your ship, especially in the closing level of the game, leaves you with the feeling that even in this massive, lifeless expanse, your pilot has only one place they truly want to be.

Pepper Grinder is a great game, I just deeply hated the experience of playing it on Xbox. On PC, it felt great. I’ve heard very good things about it on Switch. Your experience might vary, you might like the extra grinding frustration of the Xbox experience. Whether you play it or not, though, you should seek out the soundtrack and listen to it, and then look at all of the art, because it is an experience to be savoured.

As a smorgasbord of new content, headlined by new, handy small business features that open up the possibilities for making money and monetising your Sims’ favourite activities, The Sims 4 Businesses & Hobbies still feels rich with potential. It won’t completely overhaul your gameplay experience, but it adds in a bunch of neat touches to make the experience of running a business fresh and exciting all over again.

The fate of the world depends on your grace. So pick up your tiny pink blobs, listen out for that tempting beat, and put your best foot forward. With the music flowing, and the world on your back, Tempopo is a charming little experience.

It’s in these interactions that Lovestruck makes the most difference. As mentioned, it’s not a particularly robust expansion pack, and it doesn’t introduce mechanics that should be considered outright “new.” Rather, it expands on existing features and provides new possibilities, allowing you to live out dramatic new tales, complete with racy, steamy, complex romances.

Visions of Mana isn’t necessarily breaking the mold, but it’s a good time if you’re keen to rollick around an assortment of biomes, smashing monsters with big ol’ swords and delving deep into the class system. While I don’t necessarily see myself undertaking another playthrough of the game, I do think that fans of the series will enjoy what’s in store. Just brace yourself for the inevitable “grizzly” cry to get stuck in your head.

For Bleach fans, Rebirth of Souls is a fun little treat – and while it’s not the most polished experience, there’s still a lot to love about how it shoots for the moon.

It simultaneously tries to be as ‘mature’ as possible through constant depictions of excessive brutality while also being stubbornly unwilling to engage with its source material beyond the aspects most problematically aimed at 12 year olds. It is in the most basic of senses very fun, and I will be coming back to it again when new Operations missions drop for free over the next year. Its combat loop is exhilarating and its visual splendor immaculate. Its entire package just sits in such tonal disharmony within itself and worse so still when compared to other recent 40k video games...Perhaps ironically that makes Space Marine 2 the truest and most immersive satire of fascism in gaming yet though. Just a whole lot of hollow sound and fury.

In its approach to campaign integration, Sparking! Zero is much weaker. While it presents strong ideas in having branching story pathways, the narrative’s varying quality and beige storytelling is a letdown. The flash and style of individual battles may be enough to dazzle you, but those looking for anything deeper will need to dive further back into Dragon Ball‘s video game past to find it.

While it remains a fun game, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond works better as a reminder of how far Pokemon games have come.

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.

Stranger of Paradise is a game where you revel in the ridiculousness of watching a grown man look character development in the face, call ‘bullshit’, and walk away with his airpods in. But you can also revel in the mindless enjoyment of hacking waves of classic Final Fantasy monsters apart and watching loot roll in, as well as the bittersweet content of acknowledging its flaws, and taking the end result for what it is.

The visual spectacle, creative setting and mechanical intrigue of Steelrising are never quite able to justify its shortcomings in challenge and consistency. It’s an inspiring experience that I had a good time with more often than not, but it certainly pales if you’re already familiar with the paragons of the genre. That said, rubbing elbows with French revolutionaries made for an entertaining interlude between bouts of robot vs. robot combat, and I can’t deny how glad I was to experience that.

Overwatch 2 delivers high-octane multiplayer gameplay and a wholly improved version of the much-loved hero shooter. Now that the dust has settled, it’s becoming clear that despite a number of teething issues, the game manages to do what many sequels struggle to; build upon a successful game, and make it even better.

I truly loved the first two-thirds of Tales of Kenzera: ZAU and it saddens me that I felt the opposite for the remainder of it.

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?

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.

Perhaps there’s some sort of allegorical tale that evaded my attention. There are hints at some deeper mysteries in the progress through different environments, the area you return to between levels, and the recurring motifs, the various symbols that greet your successes. But if Silt has anything to say beyond ‘You might dig this moody atmosphere’ then it was lost on me. Some of its scenes, however, will stay with me for a long time to come.