Cuphead isn’t so much of a case of style over substance, but rather style over accessibility. The art is simply astonishing, and so too the music, but the gameplay is frequently too frustrating to make Cuphead a totally enjoyable experience. Essentially a boss rush game, its pacing allows for no relief. There are no moments of downtime to come down from the frustration or elation of your battles, it’s just long bouts of tension and stress that, for the most part, outweigh any joy that’s felt.

It’s a LEGO game alright, and these small but meaningful changes make it one of the better titles in the collection. Even if the Ninjago franchise doesn’t interest you as much as Batman or Marvel Superheroes might, the gameplay and signature LEGO humour makes The LEGO Ninjago Movie Videogame well worth jumping into.

It’s the frustrating sort of hard that comes about because of poor mechanics rather than elegant design. Despite your demon powers, the rules of this particular fight club start off by declaring that they’re going to be totally different for you and your enemies.

Episode 2: The Pact far exceeded my expectations.

After experiencing the finished product, I’m pleased to see that Pankapu turned out to be such a charming and worthwhile adventure.

I think my current 19 hours spent with Cook, Serve, Delicious 2 speaks for itself, but it is a really fun game.

For ardent rally fans then, WRC 7 is well worth a look. The often dull visuals are well worth enduring for the brilliant track design on offer, and after some tweaking the handling model is very rewarding. It’s doesn’t do much to improve on last year’s offering, but those after up-to-date teams and a new challenge to get stuck into will find that it does just enough to make their investment worthwhile.

If you didn’t like the gameplay loop of Steamworld Dig, then there are probably not enough changes here to massively alter your opinion. But for those of us who did enjoy it, then Steamworld Dig 2 will happily suck us right back in, the refinements made creating the perfect balance between familiarity and freshness.

Ruiner’s budget presentation does little to sully what is otherwise a challenging, addictive and sublime twin-stick shooter experience. Whether you’re head-hunting a particularly nasty criminal, taking on a group of cyborgs or arduously battling against a fearsome boss, Ruiner is action-packed, stylish as hell and fucking awesome. In fact, it just might be one of the most memorable experiences I’ve played this year. Just play it on PC if you can though, yeah?

It’s got the sun, it’s got the babes, it’s got the bikinis and it’s got the water guns. Plus, it’s got innuendo by the bucketload.

It’s the perfect pick-up-and-play game, and the Switch’s portable nature means Conga Master Party is right at home.

Caveman Warriors isn’t so much a bad game then; it’s just one that’s a bit bland and exceedingly niche.

Minecraft Story Mode Season 2, Episode 3: Jailhouse Block isn’t awful, it’s just so disappointingly middling. Furthermore, the series has started to hit the same familiar beats as season 1 which, given that the first two episodes felt so fresh, is a little worrying. Hopefully Telltale can pick things up for the remaining episodes and do justice to Jessie’s journey.

If you’re a fan of challenging platformers or find yourself drawn to the ever popular art of speedrunning, SEUM is a title that you definitely shouldn’t resist.

What you are here for is the titillation, and to pretend otherwise would be a joke. There is more than enough to keep a fan occupied, despite the long wait for events to reach their climax.

Metroid: Samus Returns’ amalgamation of some things old and some things new results in a 2D Metroid game that, while at its most evolved, is caught in somewhat of an identity crisis. There are brief flickers of brilliance showing us what this exploratory new take on the series could have been, but it often finds itself carrying the overbearing weight of being a pseudo-authentic remake.

Despite its garish, over-the-top veneer, Danganropa V3: Killing Harmony is an emotional, involving, brilliant game that will yank out your heart and run it over with its brightly coloured tricycle.

It may not be the prettiest fighting game on the market today, but it’s undoubtedly the most fun.

There are times when Death of the Outsider feels a little too familiar but, despite the game’s reuse of art assets, these moments are far and few between. An engrossing, well-paced send-off for a series that already tops the stealth genre, Dishonored doesn’t get any better than Death of the Outsider.

I’m not really sure who Drive Girls is for. It’s too short and generic to satisfy most fans of the genre. It fails on nearly every level, never able to outlive its initial gimmick. The game leaves its one joke of “ladies, but also cars” stranded amid a desert of awkward anime tropes and reiterated levels forcing you to relive the same Drive Girls gameplay loop forever. It’s not that Drive Girls is simply repetitive, it’s just somehow boring. And that’s not something I thought I’d say about a game where women transform into cars, fight bug-robots and lose their clothes.

Baja: Edge of Control HD isn’t going to blow anyone away, but for racing game fans after some cheap off-road thrills it’s certainly worth considering. It’s got a decent rock-heavy soundtrack and its races are often full of thrills and spills, keeping you moderately entertained for well over 20 hours or so.

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

An unfortunately lengthy adventure with some fantastic characters, an intriguing narrative, and a simple but enjoyable strategic battle system. However, some abysmal design choices – namely, a lack of balance between visual novel and battle sections and a horrendous amount of bland filler content – severely tarnish the overall experience.

Archaica: The Path of Light really impressed me with its clever puzzles, intriguing story, unique realms and relaxing sound design, and I can’t recommend it enough to players looking for something challenging and fulfilling. If TwoMammoths’ debut game is anything to go by, there’s a lot of great things in store for these developers because Archaica: The Path of Light is sure to impress many.

If you’re after a horror-tinged point and click adventure game you really can’t go wrong with Tokyo Dark. The few control niggles you’ll encounter will quickly be cast aside as you put your nose firmly to the floor searching for the next clue, which is surely the hallmark of a great mystery.

At its best, League of Evil is a simple but challenging ride suited to short bursts of play. One that controls exceptionally, but struggles to fully amaze where its peers do so elsewhere.

Ultimately, because of Reaching for Petals‘ short running time, it feels more like a tech demo than an actual, fully-formed video game experience. It’s more of a showcase of “just look what the Unreal Engine can do!” than anything else. I guess, being Blue Entropy Studios’ first game, in some ways it is a tech demo. The team has demonstrated their incredible ability, and it leaves me excited for what may come next with a little more experience under their belt. But while Reaching for Petals may be impressive visually, there’s just not enough there to make it truly worthwhile.

For the most part, Zero Time Dilemma is a challenging, fantastical ride. Its puzzles are perfectly pitched, and while it may take you a while to wrap your head around the game’s story, you’ll delight in slowly piecing together its winding narrative.