As I said up top, there’s a paucity of good wrestling games on the Switch, which means that it’d be very easy for a half-decent one to break through and feel like it’s Game of the Year-material. Action Arcade Wrestling, unfortunately, isn’t up to that task.

Is Red Ronin original? Definitely (or, at least, mostly definitely) not. Is it a fantastic game nonetheless? Yes, beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Retro Bowl is generally worth it, if you’re a Switch-owning football fan who wants to play their favourite game on Nintendo’s system. It may not be perfect, but it’s miles better than anything else you can play.

Taken altogether, it makes for a pretty great experience. Whatever Infernax may lack in originality, it makes up for by being not just a great homage to its influences, but being a blast to play. It may only be February, but I’ve found one game that’s a lock to be one of my favourite games of the year.

The PC port for Monster Hunter Rise is the definitive way to experience this game. I am excited to see where the franchise goes from here, although I will find it hard to slide back into any Monster Hunter game without the new traversal and streamlined elements. Whether you want to hunt alone or play with your friends, play “Fashion Hunter” or experience the main quests, there is something for everyone in Monster Hunter Rise.

That’s really this game in a nutshell: it’s relentlessly sunny in the face of a grey world, and you only win by making the lives of your friends brighter. Given we’re in the dead of winter as I write this – after a few very difficult years, in the midst of yet another pandemic wave – that’s the kind of message I can go for. Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is a pleasant antidote to these times, and even if I can’t describe it, I know I liked it.

Just about my only real quibble with Dojoran is in how it describes itself. It claims it’s a 1-bit platformer, but that’s kind of a misnomer. For me, when I think of those, I think of games like Zero Zero Zero Zero, that really do look 1-bit, to the point they could’ve come out on one of gaming’s earliest systems. Dojoran, by contrast, may have a black-and-white colour palette, but it still looks like a more modern game. As I said, though, that’s just a quibble. Dojoran is a fun platformer – whether you want to play it until the Platinum pops, or if you keep on playing beyond that point.

Sifu on paper looks like a short title, with it’s five stages you would think it will be a short weekend experience and you will be done. However, it is so packed with content that even though you think you’ve mastered a level, a discovery at a later stage will force you back to an earlier stage. It’s varied arsenal will have you constantly replaying certain sections just to see how different a score you can get (such as the hallway fight in the first level which encapsulates the feeling of a certain fight scene from the movie Old Boy). I read somewhere that the devs wanted action sequences to feel like a Jackie Chan movie, and given what I’ve seen they’ve definitely nailed it. Although most players’ experiences will at first look like the credits of a Jackie Chan movie, through persistence and patience, their encounters will start to look like the final cut of the film.

It’s a shame that the execution is so bad, since, as I said, there’s a good idea at the core of Monster Harvest. Given that there are plenty of very good monster-breeding games and farming sims out there – even if not necessarily in the same game – you’re much better off playing those in tandem rather than suffering through this.

If you want something to take over a Minecraft- or Don’t Starve- or Terraria-shaped hole in your life, Nira isn’t it. It aims high, and clearly has some great influences, but it can’t seem to meld them all together into something worthwhile.

It’s clearly better than its predecessor, but that’s the lowest bar imaginable – and it’s pretty clear that it’s a bar that this one only just clears by the barest of margins.

My final thoughts on my overall experience with Dying Light 2: Stay Human remains positive. Seeing some coverage come out and be turned off by the bugs and issues that were pre-release was expected, but disappointing since I had faith that Techland would stay true to the fans and make sure the experience is covered top to bottom with prime support for the players and community. I commend the entire development team including Lead Designer Tymon Smektala for being engaged with the community leading to the release and listening to what they all have to say. It shows in the final release and look forward to spending even more hours in Villedor for years to come.

Just about the only drawback that could be applied to I Love Finding Cats! is that there’s nothing linking all the puzzles together. It’s not like the games are improved by having a shoehorned-in narrative (like, I know that Faircroft’s Antiques had a story, but I couldn’t tell you what it was), but if you want one, you won’t find it here. Then again, the point of the game is right in the name: you’re supposed to find cats. If that’s all you want out of I Love Finding Cats!, then you’ll probably be very, very pleased with what you find here.

If you’re not a fan of shmups – whether upwards-scrolling or side-scrolling – Gynoug isn’t likely to win you over. It’s a fairly easy Platinum, but other than that, there’s not really much to recommend it.

Truthfully, I don’t think that Danganronpa Decadence is the best way to experience the trilogy. These are three very intense games, each with enough crazy twists and over-the-top cruelty and violence that you should probably take a break between each one. One thing that you’ll be reminded of again and again in each game is that they earn their M ratings beyond a shadow of a doubt. But nonetheless, these are still three of the best games the visual novel genre has to offer, and if you’re even remotely interested in playing murder mysteries, they’re all must-plays.

It’s a gorgeous game that gets to the heart of why people get hooked on golf and, as I said, if you’re a fan of the sport, it’s a must-play.

Visually, everything is black and white, with a few hints of red, which is certainly pretty striking. On top of that, Apple Slash is scored by a chiptunes soundtrack that does its genre proud. To be sure, if you’re looking for something more substantial, Apple Slash isn’t it. But if you look at it as a teaser or a prelude for something bigger – which it hopefully is – it certainly seems like the first part of something that could become a truly distinctive experience.

So if you’ve never played one, or perhaps both games, then I think this collection is a no-brainer for sure. And even if you have, the upgrade discount path makes this collection a worthy addition to your growing PS5 library, and it’s sure to be the game that you pop up in when you’re trying to show off modern console technology to your friends and family. It’s a solid remaster of two excellent games, both of which are well worth playing through again.

Arietta of Spirits won’t wow you like some of the best Zelda-inspired games, but it’s still got some niceness at its core. That may not make it a classic, but it’s enough to make it fun enough while it lasts.

At the very least you’ve got to respect how much effort went into this game, and how much it asks of players. As I said up top, Ratalaika has been responsible for some of the laziest, low-effort visual novels imaginable. I’m not going to then complain when one of their visual novels swings hard in the exact opposite direction. There’s a tonne of content to be found here – all Angels with Scaly Wings asks is that you just be super into reading about kissing dragons to get the most out of it.

Dropping the ball on versus play aside, having this port available means a larger audience will be able to experience the joys I did those many years ago. My timeless strategy of locking down my opponent’s characters to 100 HP, keeping the opponent’s SP low while waiting to initiate one devastating union attack to end the match still works and I’ll continue to employ it until I collect all 300 cards in this version. I just hope that SNK will find it worthwhile to adjust the Versus play so that you can actually play against other humans and whatever deck they’ve assembled rather than facing a doppelganger deck with another person doling out the strategy.

Windjammers 2 is what a sequel should be. Updated visuals, added bonus games, and new characters, all without ruining the core game play. As I have said, Dotemu did a remarkable job with this release just as they have with their previous classic sequel efforts. If you are a fan of the original Neo Geo game, or if you want a fun game with a lot of challenge, than look no further than Windjammers 2. We may actually have a contender for 2022 Game Of the Year on our hands! I cannot recommend this game enough to every gamer out there, it is truly a super fun time!

At some point you have to assign proper value to your own time, because Extraction will not. There are too many good games out there that manage to do this better. If you are on PC, play GTFO instead. If you are only interested in GamePass games? Play Aliens: Fireteam Elite. Do you want tight Rainbow Six gameplay and tactics? Stick with Siege. There are no upsides to Extraction that outweigh the negatives here, and I cannot suggest it to anyone in its current state.

Yes, the jumps are floaty, but the whole thing feels dreamlike with its vividly coloured world, so it kind of fits together. Further, Castle on the Coast is, ultimately, a collectathon, so the objectives are secondary to bouncing around the world, picking up everything in sight – and the given the sheer number of collectibles to pick up, it’s pretty easy to sink a couple of hours into just grabbing everything in sight. And, again, it’s all for a good cause. Castle on the Coast may not be perfect, but its heart is in the right place. In this case, that’s enough.

Really, I shouldn’t be shocked that A Good Snowman is Hard to Build is so cute or so good at what it does. After all, it’s a loose sequel to A Monster’s Expedition – which also came to the Switch after being a mobile hit, and which was also utterly delightful. You don’t need to play one in order to understand the other, but if you want some adorable-but-challenging puzzle games, you should probably play this one. Or that one. Or, better yet, both.

If you loved the games back in the ‘90s, you may enjoy reliving your youth, but for everyone else, there are plenty of other more modern games worth your time and attention.

Suzerain is an outstanding political game that’s perfect for anyone who’s ever dreamed of drawing up their own budget or getting into no-win situations, and I loved every minute of it.

God of War was a masterpiece when it was released and raised the bar for what a game like it could be. It is one of the best games of that generation and sits somewhere in my top 10-20 best games of all time. This new PC port fires on all cylinders and elevates this already great game to further greatness. I experienced no issues with my entire playthrough, the game never crashed, I did not find any bugs or glitches, and the performance was always exactly what I expected out of the systems I played on. I cannot recommend both the game and the PC port highly enough.