Expansive without being intimidating, varied without being overwhelming, familiar without being tired; Elliot's adventures are wonderfully designed, consistently enjoyable, and utterly compelling. While The Adventures of Elliot: The MilleNnium Tales' writing may be more Mid than Middle-earth, the rest of the game compensates by being powerfully strong.

Brilliant, bizarre, and a bit too obnoxious for its own good, Gothic 1 Remake is a solid remake of a hugely influential RPG. Dedicated to keeping the deeply unique and unfriendly spirit of the original alive, this still feels like little else, though I can't help but wish it was willing to add more polish.

Mina the Hollower is one of the best indie games I've played in a long, long time. It borrows familiar ideas from Zelda, Dark Souls, and a million others to make its own, and offers endless choice and variety in how you carve your way through its world. It's an uncommon tribute to classic games that often surpasses the quality of the titles that inspired it.

007 First Light is Bond's best game yet thanks to smart design decisions that make this a well-rounded spy thriller. Merging together moments of blockbuster spectacle with slower-paced stealth, this understands the appeal of spycraft and is able to deliver the fantasy in ways no other game can. Starring a young James Bond, this origin story can sometimes feel like just a beginning – but what a way for this spy's career to kick off.

'Modern' Assassin's Creed is absolutely still here, but it's the adjustment of the 'classic' feel of Black Flag, rather than overhauling entirely, that makes Resynced so interesting. This is Black Flag at its best, the flagship of the Assassin's Creed series' treasure fleet flying over the waves at full sail. [Hands-On Impressions]

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is a delightfully charming platforming adventure that encourages exploration, discovery, and experimentation. With a host of curious creatures to investigate that shape the different levels and all have their own abilities, every chapter succeeds at feeling varied with plenty of surprises packed in. While narratively thin, Mysterious Book's inventive creativity makes Yoshi's welcome comeback worth your time.

I happily continue to zip along Gotham, gliding into the night and generally completing various objectives and upgrading skill trees as I see fit. That's after finishing the story, which I could also go back and replay just to make sure I pick up the collectibles in them too. There's just so many little things to do, see, break, and build.

As a successor to Disco Elysium, ZA/UM's spy-fi RPG is a little too fearful to roll the dice on something new. But if the systems and themes are a little too familiar in Zero Parades: For Dead Spies, that does mean some of the old charm persists – and if you can look past the odd irritation, you'll find an NPC crew worth getting to know in Portofiro.

The best Forza Horizon game yet, delivering an astonishingly vast and detailed open world, filled with incredible features. With easily 100 hours of high quality solo content and infinite potential with community creations and online play, Forza Horizon 6 is a glorious showcase game for Xbox gaming. Just be warned the straight-laced racing gameplay is pretty tame compared to the genre's finest.

Supermassive steers The Dark Pictures Anthology toward brave new horizons in Directive 8020, and for the most part, the mission stays its course. The survival horror narrative, despite delivering chills and heart-stopping thrills aplenty, is often held back by pacing issues, plot armor, and the promising yet inconsistent implementation of series-first stealth. It's neither the best nor worst of the Dark Picture series, and while I had a pretty good time aboard the Cassiopeia, I might not become a frequent flyer.

Mixtape is a nostalgic, vibes-based experience set to a shockingly solid soundtrack that's narratively important and also kind of a bop all its own. Teenage ennui permeates but never overwhelms while Stacy and her buds try to have one last wild night before it's splitsville in what's ultimately a short, meaningful game that's relatively light on mechanics.

Invincible VS brings the hyper-violent aesthetic of the source material to an exciting, easy-to-learn fighting game, with a healthy roster of playable characters and a decent amount of game modes. While the story falls short of Invincible's peak, and some actors from the show don't feature, it's still a must-play for Invincible fans.

Heroes of Might and Magic: Olden Era is a triumphant return for the legendary strategy RPG series. Even in early access, this is the best entry since the iconic Heroes 3, combining the appeal of the classics with slick modernization and plenty of fresh ideas. This launch is a terrific starting point, and is already incredibly feature-rich, offering near limitless play. While the campaign is incomplete, what's there is a solid entry point for this deep and unique turn-based take on the genre.

Coming from Don't Nod, it's a shame that both Aphelion's storytelling and climbing mechanics feels so lackluster, with Uncharted-like sci-fi action failing to make much of an impact at all. Some gorgeous alien vistas and a decent premise fail to interest for long when simply controlling characters feels clunky and uninteresting.

A lean fusion of sci-fi action and eldritch horror that alternates between introspective narrative and madcap combat, Saros is Housemarque's largely successful attempt to broaden the appeal of previous roguelike Returnal without sacrificing anything along the way. The final result is pure atmosphere, and sticks with you in all the right ways.

Titanium Court is a jazzy, off-beat corpcore roguelike that blends match-three with RTS battles in a way that feels effortlessly simple rather than overwhelming complex. Infused with a joyously weird sensibility that extends into each roguelike war, this is snappy enough to keep me coming back to see what could possibly be next, all with an overarching mystery that keeps me compelled. This is so oddball it couldn't possibly be like anything else, and this fusion is so unique it'll keep me hooked for many more hours to come.

Tides of Tomorrow is a narrative adventure set in a gorgeous but deadly ocean beset by a plastic apocalypse. Filled with episodic adventures across each island, weighty story decisions are placed within those made by a community of players. At times, this makes it feel like a theme park ride with cast members – but a really good, well-crafted one. Unique, vibrant, and a genuine thrill, this is a stunning journey that'll stay with you.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is an ambitiously detailed Lovecraftian detective story that makes great use of its supernatural horror source material. Open-ended puzzles across each chapter challenge in all the right ways, giving you the tools to sort through the mountains of evidence. Sometimes overly fiddly, and with more than few technical issues, pondering can be replaced with bursts of annoyance, but this is more often than not a great chin-stroker.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a worthy sequel that I can't put down. It's weird, surreal, and a great evolution for Nintendo's iconic social simulator - even if it feels repetitive at times.

With a skilfully written story in a small but immersive world filled with charm, emotion, and more than a few blush-inducing jokes, Dosa Divas takes a warm and meaningful approach to linking food, family, community, and memory. You'll be sweet on this.

Pragmata is nostalgia wrapped in a shiny new spacesuit with plenty of cool tricks up its pressurized sleeve. It's good to see Capcom returning to its quirky action beat, with an impressive host of weaponry, upgrades, combat hacks, and base-building as the sci-fi adventure moves through beautifully-conceptualized biomes. The visual and stylistic elements definitely give me deja-vu at times, and I could do without its heavy-handed themes battering me over the head, but beneath all that polished titanium sits a profound tale of humanity I'll not soon forget.

Life is Strange: Reunion wisely walks back Double Exposure's biggest eyebrow-raisers, and it's nice to see the return of Chloe Price and Max's rewind powers, but they add little to this muddled story. An arson attack mystery initially compels, but Reunion's plot quickly becomes disjointedly paced and bogged down with past drama.

Darwin's Paradox is a charming and good-natured adventure that struggles to stand out in the puzzle-platformer genre. Octopus abilities are a nice idea, but ultimately add little to this simplistic adventure that often feels like it's treading water.

Marathon steals the breath from your lungs. An intense shooter that thrives on PvP encounters and a well-realized setting, Bungie's extraction shooter is off to an exceptional start

Crimson Desert is messy, but as you untangle its mechanics and compensate for its flaws, elements of genius and wonder make the experience worthwhile. Take time to leave the beaten path and find out which of its many facets appeals to you, and you'll discover a game that's far better as a sandbox than as a story.

1348 Ex Voto starts with a wealth of potential, and unfortunately manages to squander it at every turn, creating a hollow, rage-inducing, and disappointing experience, with its beautiful depiction of Italy and talented performers being its only saving graces.

What Toxic Commando does, it does very well – but most of it has already been seen elsewhere. Carving through zombies is fun, but by failing to leverage the idea of superpowered protagonists, the threat of fatigue after completing the story for the first time looms large, which isn't ideal for an online game like this.

A firm improvement on its predecessor even at this early stage, Slay the Spire 2's slight twist on its deckbuilding philosophy might not appeal to everyone, but makes for a rewardingly complex alternative. [Early Access Review]