Sleep Awake has an interesting premise, and makes nice use of full motion video to assist in blurring the lines between what's real and imaginary. It's just a shame that it's not as engaging to play as it should be. And it's not all that scary, either.

Now available on consoles, Go Home Annie: An SCP Game benefits from additional polish and a newly added content. Its stealth sequences are less than stellar thanks to its basic mechanics, however, and some puzzles can frustrate.

If you’re a fan of old-fashioned RPGs and aren’t turned off by the idea of grinding for hours on end in order to overcome the latest big bad, chances are you’ll quickly become besotted by Bravely Default II. And no one would blame you, as it really is a charming game with lots to offer. The grinding will be an issue for many though, occasionally bringing their adventure to a halt until they’ve gained more levels or totally retrained their characters in new jobs in order to be effective. The first couple of times it happens you’re likely to grit your teeth and work your way through it. But the sixth, eight, tenth? That’s when some players are likely to throw in the towel. And it’s a shame, because at its core, Bravely Default II has all the ingredients of a classic.

Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown isn’t quite as ultimate as the title suggests. It is, however, a solid fighting game that should keep players entertained for tens of hours – providing the online community remains buoyant and matches play out without any hitches. It’s just a shame that more offline, single-player offerings haven’t been provided to round out the package.

Despite its issues, Command & Conquer Remastered Collection provides an excellent trip down memory lane.

Beautiful and charming, Tiny Bookshop is a game for literature lovers, tasking you with selling and recommending books to the residents of the fictional town of Bookstonbury. Its charm wears thin rather quickly though, and a lack of variety and depth will likely see you getting bored in a matter of hours.

Dicealot is simple to get the hang of, but has a lot of depth for those who want to master it. This dice-based roguelike game will certainly have you coming back for a second or third game, but I'm just not sure if there's enough here to keep you hooked for weeks to come.

The Magnificent Trufflepigs is a beautiful escape to the countryside; its slow pace lends itself to being a relaxing and almost meditative experience. Top-class voice acting and excellent writing means you’ll quickly care for its characters and their stories; and regardless of how you feel about the ending, it’s hard to disagree that the journey was worthwhile.

Short but entertaining, jump into Zipp’s Café for the noir vibes and wonderful characters, but stay for the utterly enjoyable drink and food-making. It’s not going to be for everyone, but it’s a neat little twist on the café simulator genre, and it’s always a treat seeing an existing IP turned on its head in such an interesting way.

You’ll likely be done with Beasts of Maravilla Island in a couple of hours: it’s short and sweet. And while it might not be as good as the games we’ve compared it to, it’s still a pleasant and relaxing experience that we’ve enjoyed our time with. Some additional features – like photography grading – could have taken it to the next level, but as a budget release, we can’t complain too much.

Stick Serious Sam 4 in performance mode, then, and while your experience won’t be perfect on PS5, you’ll still have a bloody good time. It’s perhaps the humour and simple premise of the game that will be more divisive; some will love it for its daft one-liners and balls-to-the-wall action, others may find it too repetitive and macho. If you like the idea of butchering an entire army of monsters ranging from vampires to reptilian demons that throw green balls of energy at you, however, then be sure to give it a go.

Ultimately, we’re left a little conflicted with Bayonetta 3. This is the worst looking and performing Bayonetta yet, with a grander scale that both detracts and adds to the gameplay. We love the fact that we can finally take control of fearsome demons, for example, but we don’t like the fact that the camera struggles when fighting other gargantuan enemies. Add in some other frustrations, and you have a game that sometimes feel like the best the Bayonetta series has to offer, but other times the worst.

The pixel art is strong, wiry, and grainy. The FM Synth soundtrack creates an effect like watching an 80s action movie on a dusty VHS cassette. The cherry on top is fast-paced dodge-and-destroy gameplay against a rogues gallery of killer robots.

The Knight Witch is a game that has a lot to offer both fans of twin-stick shooters and Metroidvanias. Its moment-to-moment action is enjoyable and exciting as you avoid enemy bullets and try to counter them with your own attacks, and there’s a great sense of exploration. It’s a shame that some systems perhaps don’t quite hit the mark as they should, but anyone who can appreciate a game that takes some risks will very much enjoy this quirky adventure.

The game’s graphic design is again something to be admired. Its simple and stripped back approach fits perfectly with the Stone Age era using the aesthetic style of cave drawings that though lack vibrant colour, give the game much more character. It’s hard to imagine any other graphic style doing justice to Stone Tales, and anything else would otherwise feel very out of place with what the developers set out to achieve.

I praised The Isle Dragon Roars for its ingenuity and design, and while Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden is still a delight, a mere three months after playing the first game some of the charm has worn off. I’m glad Square Enix is continuing to invest in smaller, offbeat titles, but something to set it apart from The Isle Dragon Roars would have been nice. As it is, it’s entirely more of the same. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but if you’ve only just played the first, it may feel a little tiresome.

Fans of twin-stick shooters and action RPGs are likely to get a good amount of fun out of The Ascent, especially if they have the patience to work though some of its issues. The fact that it looks so pretty, at least on Xbox Series X, means that some may find more of a reason to persist with it, too. With its merely passable story and small assortment of gameplay frustrations, however, it’s not quite the game it could have been. It simply feels a bit rough around the edges, though perhaps a patch or two could smooth them off.

The Minims – A New Beginning is quirky, charming and whimsical enough to delight a lot of players and, while experienced puzzle-solvers probably won’t have any difficulty solving its riddles, it would make an excellent entry into the genre for anyone who’s never tried it before.

Ultimately though [Gear Gauntlet is] really challenging and it’s up to you to decide whether you enjoy this type of punishing, repetitive, retro gameplay experience.

If you love arcade-styled games that challenge your skills and draw you in time and time again in order to set a new high-score, Swordship is very much worth playing. It’s a simple concept but one that’s been executed rather well. And it is somewhat fun outwitting your enemies and making them destroy each other as you vie to collect valuable cargo.

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.

Ask yourself: have you long wondered what a competitive multiplayer Crash Bandicoot game would be like? If the answer is yes, then you should probably give Crash Team Rumble a try, especially given its budget price. Crash Bandicoot fans with open minds might also want to dip their toes in – there’s fun to be had, after all. But to really draw players in, we can’t help but feel that this would have been better off as a free-to-play title.

From its engaging narrative which finds a young woman desperately searching for her mother, to its stunning visuals that are a treat for the eyes, there's a lot to love about South of Midnight. It's just a shame that the combat is a bit repetitive and that the powers you acquire are uninspired.

Really sticks out as one of the best looking pixel art games I’ve played in a while.

Pacer is an accomplished anti-gravity racer, no doubt. But it falls short of being great due to its ho-hum campaign mode and the restrictive nature of some of its tracks. If you’re looking for a worthy Wipeout replacement on PC you’d be wise to give it a go; and while it pales in comparison to Wipeout Omega Collection on PS4, if you’ve played that title to death this will entertain you for decent amount of time. A Wipeout beater it is not, but it’s a fair contender.

It's always a treat to go hands-on with Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong, even if this isn't the most ambitious of HD remasters. Still, it's a solid platforming game, with over 80 levels to sink your teeth into — all with collectibles and extra challenges, too. It's just a shame the controls aren't quite as tight as they should be.

A brutal roguelike that sees you trying to escape a high-security prison, KIBORG keeps its players invested by providing numerous meaningful upgrades and some seriously cool augments. It's let down by mediocre visuals and voice acting, but if you're a fan of roguelikes, there's enough here to keep you invested.

It may not be as polished or entertaining as id Software’s recent masterpiece, but Flying Wild Hog’s Hard Reset Redux still has a lot to offer, especially to those that have finished with DOOM and seek more exhilarating balls-to-the-wall action.