It's a masterpiece, if not of technique, then of soul, story and heart.

Wasteland 3 doesn’t bring much new to the table, both as a CRPG and as a piece of post-apocalyptic fiction. But, it’s a terrifically executed role-playing game that rewards player investment from beginning to end.

A competent and crunching MMA sequel that brings key improvements to the Octagon but stumbles when the action moves to the ground.

PGA Tour 2K21 offers the best stroke play in years, with deep and rich shot and swing craft. Only a lean career mode proves its handicap.

Project Cars 3 is a great way to get into sim racing for newcomers thanks to its overtly gamey career mode, but the move into proper ‘simcade’ territory feels odd and unfulfilling.

While some of its farming, crafting, and resource collecting mechanics feel familiar, Spiritfarer has so much richness and depth, and everything you do feels meaningful and rewarding. Even in-between moments when I'm not playing the game, I catch myself thinking about it and picking apart all of the little details that really make it shine. Gorgeously animated and beautifully brought to life with an enchanting soundtrack, soaking up the sights and sounds of this mystical world is a true joy, and spending my time with the loveable spirits is an experience I won't soon forget.

Nothing else has ever paired high tension with complete silliness like this, and Fall Guys reveals we should've been doing it a long time ago.

Crayta offers a wide range of tools for players to build their own games, and the collaborative spirit of it all is second to none, but the end results are not nearly as fun as the journey.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is fun, light-hearted and a celebration of Super Mario with a strong story, great humour and brilliant characters.

Ghost of Tsushima is the samurai Assassin's Creed Ubisoft will wish it had made.

Rocket Arena turns an old standby into a new take on shooters, and what's lost in the translation is made up for with easy-to-learn fun.

Spread over four-five chapters and a few hours this could have been a great superhero experience, but stretching it out to a longer run time dampens what few magic moments it has.

Naughty Dog's PS4 swansong is an astonishing, absurdly ambitious epic that goes far and beyond what we could have imagined for a sequel to an all-time classic.

An unsatisfying mix of shallow strategy and low-energy shooting, Disintegration is hard to recommend to fans of either genre.

Mostly cool looks and hard work make for an eco-friendly expansion that inspires.

This is no worthy exploration of man's cruelty to the natural world, and I suspect marine biologists would have something to say about much of the science, but it's the perfect distraction from a world gone mad, and weirdly therapeutic. When you're not filling the water with blood or launching an innocent human into the air with a flick of your tail, the waters are a pretty playground, and there's always mischief to be made in the resorts, water parks, and marinas. Just don't dob me into the killer whale I sponsored when I was 12.

Mojang's smartly streamlined dungeon crawler makes for a more accessible alternative in the action RPG space.

There's a lot to love in Gears Tactics. The ebb and flow of the action is strong enough that it can be easy enough to overlook its flaws, but they are still there – present and accounted for. It's a game desperately in need of a little variety; perhaps the same can be said of the core franchise games too, but it's particularly noticeable when there's a degree of separation between a command and the resulting action.

Fallout 76 is still far from perfect but the main thing about the Wastelanders DLC isn’t that it makes things more fun or more interesting, and it certainly doesn’t fix much in terms of mechanics, it’s that it shows Bethesda is really trying. Wastelanders is the absolute antithesis of what launched which should underline how much work has gone into designing, making and implementing an entirely new game. I don’t know if we’ll ever reach a ‘remember when Fallout 76 wasn’t good’ point, but it’s clearly climbing in the right direction.

Firaxis lets its hair down for a fun but flawed twist on XCOM's proven recipe of tactics and tension.

Moving Out is a fun and chaotic co-op experience. While some levels will leave you in a fit of rage, others will have you in fits of laughter.

A beautifully crafted and entertaining reimagining of a classic that brings renewed life to its story and characters.

Another enjoyable reimagining for the Resident Evil series that nails the action but lacks depth.

This is hands-down the best virtual reality money can buy right now, and feels like a tantalizing promise of just what the big game studios could achieve if they were willing to put their time and money into creating a AAA experience for VR platforms.

Doom Eternal is a smart iteration of what came before it that occasionally stumbles under its own desire to evolve.

There continues to be nothing quite like Animal Crossing, and New Horizons proves that there's life in the old Nook yet.

Nioh 2 might play it safe in some respects, but the fluidity, depth and intensity of its combat is incredible.

A gorgeous, tear-jerking platformer which improves on absolutely everything in the first game and ranks among the finest Metroidvanias available today.