From Spring to Summer, to Fall and Winter, season changes will render certain crops dead. You have to plan ahead – farming doesn’t even occur in winter – and your jobs remain engrossing day-in, day-out. That’s Stardew Valley’s greatest strength – it gives you a load of interesting things to do in your new life, rewards you whichever you choose to do, and it always feels like more than just a farming game.

As fan service, it does a solid (if a little lazy) job of hitting all the right notes, it’s fun in brief moments, but we’ve seen far too much of it before in previous games. True fans have been waiting so long for a proper sequel that it’s hard to not walk away disappointed.

The detailed town is fun to explore, the dialogue is witty and consistently funny, and the Yo-Kai designs are wonderful (not to mention brilliantly animated). There are just too many occasions where you’ll feel like a spectator and, yes, wish you were playing Pokémon instead.

In the most flattering sense, Ratchet & Clank plays like a PS2 platformer: brisk, nimble, self-contained, but visually it’s up there with the best on the PS4; Insomniac has united two very different eras in videogame making.

If you enjoyed last year’s iOS/Android sleeper Fallout Shelter, but wanted more complexity, less predictable combat and a greater sense of achievement even in abject failure, look no further.

This year’s UFC feels like it improves in some key areas – overall quality, game modes and such – but not enough to really feel a great leap from the past.

This is a masterful piece of storytelling from Naughty Dog, packed full of wonderful and genuine character moments, great performances from the main cast and no small amount of little references for fans of both the series and developer. As a celebration of what Nathan Drake has given us over the last nine years we couldn’t really have asked for too much more.

Much like the recently released Street Fighter V, Pokkén Tournament is a fighting game that only really comes into its own if you plan on playing it in local or online multiplayer. Solo gameplay is fun in short bursts, but to get the most out of this one you’re going to need a partner to duke it out with.

This is a solid start for IO, but it still needs to do a lot to convince us that this release model has more worth to the player than the traditional ‘release a finished game’ method we’ve grown to love and appreciate.

Luckily, the core concept coupled with that gorgeous and impactful art style is enough to warrant our recommendation. Your time with Superhot may be fleeting, but you’ll find every second exhilarating.

It doesn’t move at the breakneck pace of most games nowadays, nor does it ever seem particularly concerned to address some of the plot points or character gaps it leaves dangling, but those that take the chance on the full Quantum Break experience (episodes and all) will find a quirky and unique experience waiting that you just won’t see replicated anywhere else.

Refined combat, excellent creature and world design and frequent shout-outs to series highlights make this, in many ways, the best of the lot.

Nights of Azure has potential, but unfortunately falls into too many tropes of the JRPG world.

Genuine creative potential, but lacks polish. [Issue#172, p.96]

Best with a team of heroes. [Issue#172, p.95]

Ultimate for fans, good for anyone else. [Issue#172, p.95]

A thoughtful experience with great gameplay. [Issue#172, p.94]

An interesting but frustrating space oddity. [Issue#172, p.94]

Intriguing game held back by a faltering script. [Issue#172, p.92]

Clever, unique, inventive but brief and repetitive. [Issue#172, p.91]

No masterpiece, but captivating. [Issue#172, p.88]

An offhand effort that adds little to the series. [Issue#172, p.87]

As it stands, this is a good example of how to do a DLC package.

What you’re left with is a short slice of horror that’s got a few genuinely brilliant ideas up its bloody sleeve, but one that dulls the edges of its own experience with a lack of subtlety.

Despite its pretty environments and swollen production value, Garden Warfare 2 feels a lot like its smartphone cousins, less a videogame, in the noble sense, and more a tar pit, swallowing down your time and providing little in return but useless virtual tat.

Despite some skinniness in the core mechanics, this is a strong game with a consistently charming aesthetic and challenging progression-based system: if you’re enduring enough to live through the first week or so, you’ll meet a slew of survivors, and you’ll uncover a glimpse of America that’s still celebrated.

It’s wonderful, evil, gorgeous, horrible, satisfying and merciless. You might hate its lack of checkpoints, or bad levels spawns that almost instantly kill you. It doesn’t care. Screw you. It hates you. But you’ll love it.

When it all comes together – and it often does – Unravel is an adorable game with a charming soundtrack and some gorgeous background environments. There’s still a sense of satisfaction each time you solve a puzzle and Yarny’s animations are enough to warm your heart. It’s just a shame that the game’s myriad frustrating moments ensure this warm heart is accompanied by heat under the collar.