A certain level of scrappiness can be charming, but it’s harder to excuse in a big-budget project like this one, and three crashes in an hour is far too scrappy to be overlooked. Still, I do have a fondness for Rift Apart, perhaps because I do get the sense that this was a project built with love, yet not so much love that it wasn’t willing to experiment and try some new things. Once all the many, many bugs are fixed, this’ll be a pretty good game for families to enjoy, and a superb showcase for what the PS5 is capable of.

The Super Mario Galaxy 1+2 collection brings two all-time great Mario adventures to the Switch 2, offering their best visual presentation yet, with a crisp 4K docked resolution. While the package is a great value, the port is severely compromised by Nintendo's choice to retain the original Wii-era motion controls—clumsily mapped to gyro and touchscreen—instead of fully remapping them to buttons. This results in frustrating and unintuitive gameplay in handheld mode. Despite these "shackles from a previous generation," the sheer quality and inventive design of the two core games shine through, making it a recommended, though imperfect, way to experience these masterpieces.

Bayonetta 3 may not reinvent the wheel, but its lightning-fast action and engaging gameplay push the Switch to its limits.

For new players of 1v1 fighting games, this is the one to pick. With a command input system that’s slightly easier to grasp than many of its contemporaries and a brilliant visual style, Guilty Gear Strive is a solid first foray into the genre. You’ll still need patience though. If you’re desperate to get good, this game will allow you to, but if you’re looking for a super casual experience, Strive still falls into the same pitfalls as other games of its type.

The Switch 2 upgrade of Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a beautifully crafted 3D platformer that brings a familiar, yet fresh, adventure for the pink puffball. The new edition enhances the experience with improved graphics, a smoother 60fps framerate, and the addition of the Star-Crossed World DLC. While the core gameplay of sucking up enemies and objects with Kirby's iconic "Mouthful Mode" remains a constant delight, the game's overall simplicity and the safe nature of the new content might leave veteran gamers wanting more.

Forza Motorsport's 2023 reboot is definitely the best one yet. Improvements to graphics and audio result in a fully immersive racing experience. Despite a few niggles, the race against Gran Turismo is truly back on.

Interface issues aside, Shadowverse Champion's Battle offers a fresh new spin on the card-battling genre (unless you've been playing the base game on PC). Its mechanics are an interesting amalgam of all that came before, but timing an evolution effect to clear a path to victory remains exciting every time.

A Plague Tale: Requiem serves up a sprawling adventure across a plague-ravaged, rat-infested France, though the simple tale and mechanics at its core can’t bear this sequel’s bloat.

Darkest Dungeon 2 takes a great many things from the original whilst adapting it creatively into a new world. Whilst not all of its choices feel as weighty as the first, that thematic core is just as oppressive.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon is a fresh dawn for the franchise, spinning expectations on their head to great effect. It's a bright and charming storybook blast.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty's shaky story and reliance on grinding let down one of the most satisfying soulslikes on the market. This proves Team Ninja is more than just the sum of its parts, even if it may need a sequel to get the most out of it.

Despite having amazing core gameplay, 2K25 offers half-baked content that brings down the experience, with The Island being an egregious example of a predatory mode designed to make players spend even more money than they already did for a full priced game.

Diablo 2 Resurrected should have been a remake. The approach might be more streamlined than most modern RPGs, and combat is just as enjoyable as it ever was. However, it's also difficult to recommend for those unwilling to push back against the game at almost every turn. If you're familiar with the original and know its quirks already, the visual refresh is enough to warrant yet another playthrough.

While Velan Studios has created a competent multiplayer experience, Knockout City’s not especially thrilling. There aren’t many games that use dodgeball as a core mechanic, making it somewhat unique, but it feels afraid to take risks, creating an entertaining but ultimately safe experience. If you can gather up some friends, there’s silly enjoyment within and considering it’s got a free trial – to say nothing of Game Pass/EA Play – I’d recommend at least trying it.

But by stripping the Pokémon of anything that feels organic, Nintendo has effectively made its critters feel like wind-up toys, removing the romanticism and mystique that should always come through witnessing raw, unbridled nature. They took these untamed lands and tamed them before we even got there. Unfortunately, the resultant game is as exciting as you’d imagine.

Ultimately, Hell Let Loose is a hardcore shooter in every sense of the word. Though it’s very easy to get discouraged at the beginning, those committed to seeing it through will likely have a great time. Though the niche focus won’t appeal universally, providing you know what you’re getting in for, anyone after a tougher World War II shooter would do well to take a look.

A chaotic, vibrant combat racer with excellent visuals and multiplayer potential, shining strongest in Air Ride and City Trial, but stumbling slightly with uneven pacing and weaker modes. Fun, frantic, but occasionally overwhelming.

Like a Dragon: Ishin is a great standalone work that holds its own in a fantastic series. An exciting whodunnit plot is the basis for a whole lot of action, some solid storytelling, and characters you sort-of know and will grow to love.

Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is a surreal social sim that trades environmental creativity for hilarious Mii antics. Though it boasts deep character customization, the gameplay eventually settles into a repetitive cycle of maintenance that feels more like a quirky virtual pet than a game.

While it ticks all of the boxes for a decent MMA fighting simulator, UFC 5 fails to improve by any significant margin from its predecessor. It will enable you to play as your favourite fighters in the organisation, but will not likely be a memorable title from 2023.

A decent enough game that fails to innovate in the same way Legends Arceus did, Pokemon Legends Z-A feels like a wasted opportunity that may only be worth it for die-hard fans.

Synapse is at its best when you are flinging enemies around and shooting them from the sky. Unfortunately, poorly paced-difficulty changes and an unsatisfying endgame left me wanting a little more.

Hell is Us is a fascinating yet strange game, weighed down by its own risks. While it has the atmosphere and mythology for a great sci-fi experience, its ambitious “no objective markers” system turns exploration into tedium. Coupled with a story that ultimately goes nowhere, it stands out as one of the year’s most bizarre cases of wasted potential.

Read Only Memories: Neurodiver combines point-and-click exploration with an emotionally intelligent cast of vibrant characters. While clumsily paced at times, with minor bugs and errors, the overall experience is punchy, evocative, and memorable.

Gimmick is a delightful retro platformer, brimming with challenge and quality-of-life features to make it worth trying.

Gold Road is an exciting expansion in isolation, though it disappointingly passes up the perfect opportunity to innovate on The Elder Scrolls Online's now-predictable formula.

While As Dusk Falls’ story is full of thriller cliches and tropes, if you can look past the unique animation style, playing around with the well-written characters’ lives can be a lot of fun.

MotoGP 22 is a faithful and challenging entry in the two-wheeler series, though it may not convert those put off by its gruelling difficulty spike.