With its comic book visual style, isometric viewpoint and focus on crafting, I Hate This Place is a unique entry in the survival horror genre. It's just a shame that it's let down by gameplay that feels rough around the edges and a lacklustre story.

InnerSpace is, without a doubt, an interesting experience. Despite its annoying inconveniences, it is a relaxing experience from start to finish. Its visuals are mesmerising, and its worlds are beautiful, but it’s difficult to accept it for what it is without comparing it to other, more successful games in the genre.

Ciel Fledge: A Daughter Raising Simulator has some great ideas. But the moment-to-moment gameplay is, for the most part, dull and not all that engaging.

Initially, I was really taken with Redeemer. The violent action, slick controls and impressive visuals made a great first impression. After three hours of play, however, it became a slog to work through.

If you’re looking for a high-intensity VR experience, or something with a little variety and excitement, Windlands may not be for you. Otherwise, if you want something a little different to put your new headset to good use, then this might be just the ticket.

Maybe one day an anime brawler with drop-dead gorgeous visuals and solid fighting mechanics will materialise, but until then, only the most dedicated and patient One Piece fans will find any long-term fun with One Piece: Burning Blood.

With a patch or two, Chorus could easily be turned around. When you’re engaging your enemies in the middle of deep space, boosting then drifting to rotate your ship around and snipe three or more enemies with your laser rifle before warping behind another and switching to your missiles to unleash a mighty payload, there’s nothing else quite like it. It’s just a shame that there are moments in between where you might consider just giving up your adventure, either thanks to a bug or a poorly-designed section that causes undue frustration.

While Bon Apetit! feels more like a fan-service spin off than a real game at times, it’s actually a lot of fun… It’s light-hearted and witty with a silly side that helps to de-sexualise the more lewd content.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake feels like a missed opportunity to build on the unique concept of the original game. It could have been expanded with new scenes and situations to provide fresh new challenges and keep players on their toes. Given the success of A Way Out and It Takes Two, more work could have been done to make its co-op mode much more intuitive and enticing, too. As it is, it’s successful in beautifying the original game but nothing more, unfortunately.

Bloody Ties isn’t likely to wow you in any way. As DLC goes, it’s very much inessential. But for just £7.99/$9.99, those wanting an excuse to return to Dying Light 2 might at least find it entertaining. The challenges will test your skills, while the cosmetics will allow you to further make Aiden your own. It’s just a shame that it very much feels like an extended side-quest, and that your hard-earned equipment is mostly rendered useless.

Need for Speed Payback is at its best when you’re completing story missions, speeding through thrilling set-pieces and battling against cops and criminals. It’s even highly entertaining when you’re just belting around its open world, completing activities and engaging in events. But when you hit that brick wall and have to put a halt to your fun for hours at a time in order to raise your car’s performance level, your patience will be tested, and many will decide to simply not bother at all.

Keep your expectations in check for Welcome to ParadiZe, and there’s some fun to be had here. It’s marred with some technical issues and the odd bug but ultimately, exploring its world with your pet zombies in tow is, against the odds, entertaining enough to keep us playing — especially if you’ve got a co-op buddy along for the ride.

Rough around the edges, Sports: Renovations is far from best game in the renovation sim genre, but it's saved by its interesting collection of locations. Fixing up a boxing gym or a swimming pool certainly beats a kitchen or living room. It's just a shame there's not a great amount of finesse in the tools you use.

Anger Foot is essentially Hotline Miami played from a first-person perspective, with your foot being your most valuable asset. As fun as kicking things with a variety of effects is, however, the action gets repetitive pretty fast, the difficulty feels unfair at times, and the soundtrack may drive you up the wall.

Thanks to its budget price, Postal Redux may well be worth checking out if you’re a fan of twin-stick shooters and have the stomach for it – its atmosphere makes it wholly unique. It is undoubtedly dated though, and doesn’t try to do anything interesting other than shock you. Will it succeed? Probably – it can be quite a harrowing game if you think about it too much. Kick back and accept it for what it is, however – a video game – and some enjoyment can be had.

If you want a quick blast of escapism with a bit of a challenge, then this what you’ll get. Nothing more, nothing less.

Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal is one of those games that’s not bad, but not particularly good, either. It’s flawed in multiple ways, but it’s still somewhat fun to play, albeit in short bursts.

Each of the four chapters ends with a finale that is the best the game has to offer; the fast-paced rhythm is taken to the extreme as everything crumbles around you while you race through the level.

It’s just a shame that my enthusiasm and interest was eventually fully deflated by obtuse puzzles that offer no guidance and ultimately feel superfluous to the game. Get rid of them altogether and you’ve got a gripping interactive story that’s dying to be told. But with the puzzles as they are, STAY is reduced to feeling more like a badly-designed old-school adventure game. I’m gutted.

Creating outfits is hugely entertaining. If you’re the type of person who spends far too long in a game’s character creator screen, you’re going to have a whale of a time piecing together outfits in Fashion Dreamer, making everyone look their absolute best. But that’s about all there is to do here. Sure, showing off your own designs in your showroom can be entertaining, especially if you’re playing online. But a serious lack of substance and any semblance of challenge really lets the experience down. Playing dress-up is a fun and relaxing way to pass the time, but if you’re expecting anything more, you’re going to be disappointed.

For the devout Assassin’s Creed Valhalla fan, there’s about 20 hours or so of solid gameplay to be gleamed out of Dawn of Ragnarok. A bit more if you want to see and do everything. But chances are it won’t particularly impress. It’s simply more of the same for the most part, with a story that fails to truly engage.

Based on the popular graphic novel series, Dog Man: Mission Impawsible puts players in control of the part-human, part-dog superhero along with his friends. This puzzle-platformer lacks level-to-level variety, however, making it a bit of a slog despite the acquisition of some nifty gadgets along the way.

P1: Anchor Light tries to stand out from the anomaly hunting crowd with its Bioshock-inspired setting and musical statues gameplay element. It somewhat works, too, although the latter can also be a source of frustration. Other than that, this is a typical anomaly hunting experience that can sometimes be a bit too dark for its own good.

I can’t get the thought out of my head that life’s too short to play a game that is so, well, mundane. I guess what I’m saying is that for those of you who love bridges and hate monsters and explosions, Bridge Constructor is the one for you. For the rest of us, there’s Gears of War 4.

Unbound: Worlds Apart isn’t a bad game by any means, but after a few hours of play it simply begins to feel bland and a little repetitive. Your portal powers seem interesting at the outset, but chances are you’ll eventually get tired of using the same combination of them to overcome platforming challenges and to make your way past creepy arachnids and other oversized bugs unscathed. If you’re in the market for a challenging puzzle platformer there are worse out there, but you’re probably not going to remember your time with Unbound: Worlds Apart once you’re done with it.

Knack 2 just doesn’t do enough to make its existence worthwhile.

If you’ve played Terminator: Resistance and found yourself wanting more, Annihilation Line is definitely worth considering. It doesn’t really try to offer anything new gameplay-wise, but it does allow you fight beside Kyle Reese and go behind the titular Annihilation Line. Those two factors alone will be enough to convince most fans.

In many ways, Gran Turismo Sport feels like a tech demo. Visually, it pushes the bar, with car models that are as good the real thing and environments better than ever before. And the lighting; holy hell, the lighting. It is glorious. In terms of content though, it’s lacking.