If you have an abundance of patience, a high degree of skill and the tenacity to not be defeated, then Slain: Back from Hell is likely to give you hours of fun. For most though, it’s just going to be the cause of extreme levels of anger and frustration.

If you’ve got some mates, hopping into local multiplayer will ensure Axe, Bow & Staff is at its most rewarding and enjoyable.

Chase has a great story, but the lack of presentation and short length mean it’s not a title I can particularly recommend right now.

Ashes of Ariandel offers more Dark Souls III, which can only ever be a good thing in my book. It offers anywhere from five to eight hours of content depending on how thorough and skilled you are, an interesting new world to explore, wonderful new enemies to fight, new loot to plunder and use and two new bosses to fell.

The art style [of Dead Synchronicity is] simply amazing; it conveys the tone of ‘The New World’ perfectly and gives a distinctive charm to every scene.

The real saving grace, however, is the developer commentary and the new maps, which despite some inconsistent design bring some rather well designed levels in to the mix, and the new lick of paint doesn’t hurt either. It reminds me of the recent new maps by John Romero and how old veterans coming back to their work is a good thing. Despite some minor issues, and some rather low blows by Gearbox, I’d say this is a fine new outing for old man Duke.

The biggest problem with Last Will is the amount of technical issues that plague it; it barely touches the line of what is acceptable in a game’s technical performance.

Sociological questions about mental illness and crime, unethical romantic relationships, and mysterious world building all combine into a game that demands you to think in ways many others do not.

You can expect well made puzzles, gorgeous graphics, as well as a really interesting story line that will have you on the edge of your seat.

If you’re looking to buy only one multiplayer FPS this year, Battlefield 1 is more than worthy of your hard-earned cash – I honestly can’t envisage anything being better.

Space Hulk Ascension is a love letter to the source material. Not a single pixel does not show the passion and respect that the makers must have for the original board game.

The story really is great, the shooting feels good, and getting more and more powerful is rewarding. Unfortunately though, Mafia III is plagued with head-scratching design decisions.

RIGS showcases the grandiose nature of VR, and the insane worlds it can create. I for one have been sold on the future possibilities, based on what I’ve seen here.

Ultimately, 100ft Robot Golf provides some solid fun, but it lacks the content necessary to keep golfers on its courses for the long run. [Tested without VR]

I’ll be honest; by the time Here They Lie’s credits rolled, I still didn’t really have a firm grasp of what it was all about… All I know is that it kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish.

Those who have previously played Driveclub will no doubt get a kick out of trying Driveclub VR with its host of new tracks, but it’s unlikely to wow them as it feels just too familiar and too visually inferior to impress.

The ability to dash around each enemy individually and slice them to pieces using the wonderfully hilarious procedural gore system is endlessly satisfying.

Despite having its roots firmly set in survival horror, Yomawari: Night Alone is really not all that scary. It’s creepy for sure, but in terms of pure jumps or shivers, these reactions were a no go.

Playable with or without PSVR, Rez Infinite is a fantastic game that deserves a spot in your PS4 game collection regardless of whether or not you’ve played a previous version of it.

Often [A Bastard’s Tale] ends up feeling like less of a game based on skill and timing and more on just blind luck.

Shu is the ultimate example of how a game should take its desired platform and then shape it into the most perfect game that platform has seen.

No matter whether you’re a football fan or not, Headmaster‘s original gameplay is simple yet utterly addictive, and no minor frustrations can do much to take the shine off of it.

While Ride 2 has some problems, such as questionable balancing of difficulty and credit-earning, the wealth of customisation options available and the pure gratification and thrill of competing makes it rather unlike any other experience currently available.

Harmonix Music VR might just be my new favourite application for VR.

A gem. A look back into what Nintendo can do, and a shining example of why they should never be counted out. It’ll keep you laughing, engaged, and having a blast. It truly took my breath away at times, and looks and plays with staggering beauty.

The movement is incredibly fun to navigate with, and provides an additional layer of challenge that will surprise and go against expectations.

It’s got to be said that an immersive ‘light gun’ experience is perhaps the perfect use of VR, and Rush of Blood is a brilliant showcase of how well the technology works.

Whether you want WRC 6 to be a breezy arcade-like experience or a gruelling hardcore racer is up to you, and it’s all the better for it.

Put simply, Farabel is tough. To some, it may seem unfairly so, although the strategy and tactics required to actually make your way through the game are enticing.

I’m sure that The Hive is a game that many experienced RTS lovers will enjoy due to its compelling story and fantasy world, but it simply isn’t a game that’s suitable for newcomers to RTS games – and that’s where it falters.

Whilst Toy Odyssey eventually may feel a little repetitive… the layouts, enemies and tasks at hand change enough that replayability does genuinely feel unlimited.

It’s strenuous trying to enjoy a game that has four difficulty settings that can all be worked around in the same fashion.

Manual Samuel asks you do the mundane, but in doing so it makes it funny, challenging and engaging.

Gears of War 4 is a triumphant return to form for the series. What’s more, it proves that the franchise is more than safe in the hands of The Coalition. A visual spectacle that dials back some of the macho ridiculousness of the original trilogy whilst refining and expanding the gameplay, it’s genuinely a game to own an Xbox One for.

Once you’re over the initial shock of visual differences you’ll come to find Exist Archive is essentially a third Valkyrie Profile game in almost every possible way.

Handling can make or break a racing game, and thankfully the VooFoo development team have got the balance just right, with controls feeling responsive and vehicles behaving just as you’d expect them to.

Working out the real from the fake, the safe from the damaging is all just part of the game’s mystique, and [hackmud] is almost entirely player driven; nearly everything has been built by other players.

I would compare Clustertruck to a good Monty Python sketch: incredibly silly, beautifully charming and wonderfully crafted.

Azure Striker Gunvolt 2 is a short, but well crafted experience that plays it safe.

Rogue Wizards is inherently difficult, but for the most part, it’s a rewarding, challenging difficulty that keeps the player engaged.

If you’ve stared at music visualisation algorithms for hours on end wishing they could have depth and place you squarely in their 3D space in some kind of magical VR land, then Dimensional Intersection is exactly what you’re looking for.

With perfect controls, a unique and totally enthralling gameplay system and a gorgeous visual style absolutely dripping with charm, Shu is undoubtedly the best platform game of recent years – AAA or otherwise.

The low-res sprites of the original are gone, replaced with wonderfully drawn characters that are much more visually appealing.

The game begins hard and ends even harder… To be rather blunt and self-deprecating, it made me feel like a moron.

FIFA 17, to me, is one of the stronger entries in the last few years from the EA Sports guys and it’s a pretty great game if you’re relatively new to proceedings.

Despite having so many great things going for it, Lichtspeer‘s one major downfall is its repetitiveness.

Rise of Iron is nothing but a stop-gap between Destiny as it is and the inevitable sequel that will hopefully overhaul the whole thing.

Dragon Quest Builders is both a fantastic game and a testament to the incredible versatility of the Dragon Quest series. It is a culmination of everything that the series is known and loved for, combined with the strongest elements of Minecraft. With solid gameplay, a gorgeous world, and genuinely funny writing, even those unfamiliar with the franchise can easily find something here to enjoy.

With its elegant design, solid gameplay and a narrative that keeps you engaged, Aragami is a wonderful return – and tribute – to the old formula of classic stealth.

Despite the glaring issues with Zenith, what kept me playing was the parody of other fantasy games, the really thinly veiled references to Final Fantasy and the dialogue dripping with sarcasm.

Whilst VR is mentioned on the store page as an optional experience, I’d say it’s the core experience.

The highlight of Scarlet Curiosity is easily the boss fights… A love letter to their bullet hell inspiration, the screen quickly overflows with colorful shapes of all sizes.

One mark of a great game, for me, is how well it can pull you back after a crushing defeat, and this one’s got quite the lure.

Playing Tetraminos with a couple of friends is without a doubt some of the most enjoyable split-screen action that I have experienced in a number of years.

The puzzles on offer are the usual fare of untangling, turning, finding, matching or clicking; there’s nothing that’s going to melt your brain but they’re engaging enough to give you some satisfaction.

It’s surprising to see such little care done [in the console release], thanks to the age of the original PC version.

Despite a long list of small gripes, it’s hard not to see the majesty in [Dragon Quest VII].

The story is human, relatable, enabling you to build an empathetic bond with Anne with ease. And even when events go all mind-bendingly crazy as you reach the final stretch, you still care.

PC just isn’t the right platform for a title like Guards.

Like a cryptic film, you’ll probably find yourself finishing a playthrough and heading to Google to search ‘Dear Esther meaning'.

Despite its technical issues though, Bioshock: The Collection brings together two of the best games of last gen with one really good, though ultimately inferior sequel.

One of the biggest frustrations with Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters [is] its combat is almost completely based on chance.

For all the 3DS owners out there who, like me, are sick of seeing the deluge of kiddie-focused games appearing in the Nintendo eShop, Steel Empire is a very welcome respite. Outside of the Sega 3D Classics, range this is the best thing to appear on the 3DS in recent memory and is a must-have purchase for any 3DS owner.

I, Zombie [feels] almost like a flash game, nothing more than a momentary distraction.

Avadon 3 proves that the classic RPG isn’t, and nor should it ever be, dead; as long as we have people like Jeff Vogel creating these involved and terrific worlds full of choice and enjoyment the genre will never leave us. Some people may scoff at the visuals or at the lack of a soundtrack; others may be put off by the sometimes poor UI or the intrinsic slowness of it all, but even those things add charm to something like this.

Bears Can’t Drift!? is gorgeously designed with multiple brightly coloured levels and smooth character animations.

Rive is responsive enough that nothing feels like a particular chore. I always felt that I could calculate instantly how far a jump will go and the twin stick shooting does not leave anything to desire.

Pizza Express is one of the most intense, complicated, and truly fun management simulators I’ve ever played and truly came out of nowhere! I love its art style (apart from some hard to read pixel text) and retro feel, along with its loveable characters and overall entertaining story and gameplay.

The Bunker isn’t a game to rush through but rather savour every moment spent in its incredibly well-crafted setting.

Considering just the gameplay alone, it’s incredibly fulfilling – and at times, quite tricky.

The dark, foreboding, post-apocalyptic worlds are beautifully drawn with some amazing attention to detail.

It’s a typical bullet hell game that doesn’t do much more than the bare minimum. It’s got a beautiful aesthetic, great sound, and a fantastically appropriate soundtrack. A solid upgrade system and ship selection will keep you going for a while, but that flame will burn out.

Without a doubt the highlight of Jotun is also its raison d’etre: spectacularly epic boss fights against gargantuan Gods.

The difficulty [of Shiny Gauntlet] is often too much to bear and rarely encourages you to come back and try again.

It’s probably as close to perfection as an arcade racer could possibly be. The visuals are simply phenomenal, the sound effects and soundtrack bring aural pleasure to your ears, and the gameplay is infectiously addictive.

The sense of being constantly on the edge is what makes every lap of every race exhilarating and great to play.

A great addition to a series that is turning out to be one of Telltale’s best. The combat continues to improve, the story is fantastically written, the choices are tough in the best way, and everything really feels like a cohesive package.

There are plenty of moments in Legion that make you smile, and playing with friends has been the engaging social experience that WoW has missed for a long time.

Sky Force Anniversary is a great modern shmup that unfortunately pads its content by pushing players to the max. Not only that, but there are implementations, such as the specialties, that feel arbitrary. Detractions aside, I liked the game quite a bit and the addition of co-op and Remote Play was a godsend. Sky Force Anniversary didn’t evolve the genre, but it created something moderately pleasant in our modern architecture.

For £7, you have one of the finest examples of not just a shoot’em up, but of any small-scale arcade-style experience game out there.

Whilst the art style here verges on the cartoonish, the gorgeous sense of colour and texture really brings the world alive.

This is the beautiful game in its greatest digital form, oozing gameplay from every sweaty pore. If someone wants to pass on the experience because the names aren’t right, more fool them, I say.

There is no doubt that Hack, Slash & Backstab contains all the ingredients to make a very fine solo experience, but it’s just far too tough to do anything other than frustrate you.

The physics-based play of the game makes for some astounding puzzles that bend your mind and stretch your problem-solving skills to the limit.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II is exactly how a sequel should be: it respects its prequel’s strengths, brings them to new heights, and also strives to remediate its flaws.

It’s a completely fine and competent game that may satisfying someone who is less discerning or has some time to kill with it. However, if you’re a fan of Zelda or action RPGs in general, you can do much better than Oceanhorn: Monster of Uncharted Seas.

Your enjoyment of Filthy Lucre will entirely depend on how much you enjoy pure stealth – sneaking around half an hour into a mission as the music ramps up due to increased heat can be incredibly tense – but some people may just dislike having to start all over if you die. The shooting is bad, the AI isn’t great – and why, oh why can’t I move dead bodies? – but Filthy Lucre still succeeds in being a tense, and most importantly, fun stealth game.

Pure Chess: Grandmaster Edition is the definitive chess-playing experience. It’s a must for any fan of the classic game; the choice of beautifully rendered locations and board types even makes this a preferable option over a real board. It’s a shame that the online multiplayer isn’t a little busier as playing against a real opponent is always more enjoyable than an AI counterpart, but the option to play locally is a nice touch.

Claire: Extended Cut is a title that fails to live up to the greatness that obviously inspired it.

The idea behind Event[0] is a wonderful one and I would love to see the technology behind Kaizen refined and used in future projects.

A colourful, digital puzzle book if you like, Nightmares from the Deep 2 stuffs in puzzle after puzzle, with plenty of variety and type on offer.

Repetitiveness is undoubtedly God Eater 2: Rage Burst’s biggest issue. The mission structure is repetitive, the basic combat system is repetitive, and even your actions within the hub are repetitive.

Psycho-Pass: Mandatory Happiness somehow manages to be an easy and hard recommendation at the same time. The story, characters and theme that worked so well in the first season of the anime return and are in top form. The antagonist might very well be the best in the entire franchise. Any fan of the series will find a lot to love here. Unfortunately, as a video game, or as a visual novel, it fails to really impress. If you’re unfamiliar with the anime, I doubt there’s much here worth investing in.

If you feel that static/simplified tower defence games are a bore… then maybe Infinium Strike is what you’ve been looking for.

Strike Vector EX pulled on a lot of nostalgic heartstrings for me, and it was a refreshing experience.

As slick as Solar Shifter is when it comes to its style it just can’t be recommended when it comes to the gameplay. It’s a shame as the Xbox One could really do with some solid shoot ’em ups to help fill up the online store.

Textures looks incredibly stretched and muddy even on the highest setting and animations are clunky and stiff.

Unlike other famous entries into the genre, with unique and conflicting level designs to offer a break from the monotony, 140 lives on that repetition.