Alan Wake 2 is a strange, imaginative, and truly ambitious sequel that never fails to upend your expectations. While some of the bigger concepts presented by Remedy Entertainment lack refinement, a few rough edges don't detract from a consistently confident and startlingly original adventure. You won't find anything else quite like Alan Wake 2 this generation.

A fulfilling experience. The improvements to gunplay and customization take it further than its predecessor. Its story gives you enough hooks and motivators to want to see it through to the end. Unfortunately, it may feel like a bit of a slog to get there, and you'll want to sort out exactly who's hosting that game between you and your online friends very early on. However, with a well-balanced squad, there are few more pleasing experiences than taking down a gigantic robot constructor through four unique skillsets.

Despite it having been released twice already, this is still an adventure worth playing through again.

This multiplayer component caps an already stunning single-player campaign and extends the value greatly. If you can't get enough of WWII, Call of Duty 2 is the hot ticket.

The ultimate descendant of classic console RPGs. It's what all RPGs might be like if Final Fantasy VII hadn't come along and changed everything.

It might not have the Best Game Of All Time credentials of Ocarina of Time, but Majora’s Mask is still one of the most incredible adventure games ever made.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is an excellent expansion so large that it almost feels like a sequel. It's a better version of a great game.

Dark Souls used to feel like a gigantic trap. Dark Souls 3, for better and for worse, feels like home. The third in the trilogy is bewitching while it lasts, but may not leave you wanting more.

This is one of those rare titles that add strength to the argument of games as art. Get it.

Morrowind will please both serious role-playing fans as well as anyone looking for a technically stunning adventure that will hold their attention longer than your average hack-and-slash title. This is the good stuff.

Gameplay on the 360 is almost perfect, but for the mushy d-pad on the wireless controller. Precise jumping (of which there isn't all that much, thankfully) or very quick direction changes aren’t always easy. You definitely have to want to look past some of the issues this creates. But when the core game is this great, that’s pretty easy to do.

An already amazing journey into synesthesia achieves its full potential with PS VR and Area X.

While its story falls short of the bar set by Assassin's Creed II, Brotherhood packs in more than enough new content and improvements to make up for it. It's not the best of the series, but it's still an essential piece of the ever-expanding AC puzzle.

More maps, more enemies, more weapons, more glorious spectacle than the original, and that’s just the co-op. Fresh versus modes and intense violence make this the apocalypse to beat.

More maps, more enemies, more weapons, more glorious spectacle than the original, and that’s just the co-op. Fresh versus modes and intense violence make this the apocalypse to beat.

Intelligent, creative, and never less than thrilling, Titanfall 2 finally realises the series' true potential with verve and polish.

With so many modes and diverse rewards to uncover in Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit, it almost feels like 2.5 games in one package. Plus, the fact that the online component works so incredibly, and we still can't pick a favorite between playing as a cop or racer speaks volumes to the game's quality. Quite simply, there is no better, more accessible racing game out there.

Quirky, creative, and constant good fun, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury blends Mario gameplay old and new with great success, creating a title that feels worthy of his 35th birthday celebrations.

The cure for the common Triple A title, Dark Souls takes every gloriously strange and punishing moment from Demon's Souls and expands and improves upon it. While its fundamentals hew closely to the original's, Dark Souls is a completely unique experience with no direct competition on the market. For those who get it, it's undoubtedly one of the year's best.

Pokemon Pokopia is like a brilliantly bizarre blend of Pokemon, Animal Crossing, Dragon Quest Builders, and Viva Piñata, and despite its many influences, manages to be a unique spin-off for the Pokemon series that's also an accomplished life sim.

A top-notch expansion that nearly surpasses GTA IV itself for sheer fun and replayability, The Ballad of Gay Tony puts a fittingly explosive, over-the-top coda on the story that Niko Bellic started.

Cyberpunk 2077 Phantom Liberty is the culmination of CD Projekt Red's efforts to right the wrongs of a challenging launch, with this premium expansion combining with Update 2.0 for a total revitalization of Night City. This is Cyberpunk 2077 at its best, and with the price of entry this low you've got no excuse not to dive back in.

The best puzzle games have the ability to make the player feel inversely smart and stupid. Fez takes this further than any game we've ever played, giving us the feeling of being both cackling genius and babbling idiot within minutes of each other. It's an absolute triumph in creating something new both in terms of its platforming and its puzzle solving; blending together genres in ways we've never seen.

Again, it feels like we're well-served for horror game remakes at the moment, but Motive Studio's Dead Space is a horror remake done right. It really is a sublime mix of fresh and familiar, and it's freaking terrifying in its loud and quieter moments. Its reworked visuals and stunning dynamic lighting totally transform certain areas, while the remake's new dismemberment animations mean hacking off enemy limbs with the Plasma Cutter, uncovering bone and muscle tissue as you do, is now gorier than ever. I know this first hand, because I was too scared to run.

You won’t experience the same feeling of immersion that you’d get from playing World of Warcraft or EverQuest II as the game loads you and your party to areas separated from the rest of the players online every time you leave town, which makes playing Guild Wars feel more like a 3D version of Diablo II at times.

The Séance of Blake Manor is an incredibly detailed supernatural mystery where every guest is laden with secrets to unravel. Set across a weekend where every minute of every hour matters – each magical attendee having their own schedule – few detective games feel this immersive and rewarding to pick at. Weaving together mythology, magic, and historical detail, each case you solve fairly sticks to the rules, no matter how supernatural. This is a hotel worth checking into.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses fully realizes a new, meaningful direction for the franchise that makes it the best it has ever been.

The power of the Xbox 360 is put to brilliant, vicious use in Burnout Revenge's second lap, and it's still one of the most thrilling racing games we've played. Get online and hurt someone.