Ghostrunner 2 is the definitive cyber ninja experience – an unapologetically cool power fantasy that’ll get your adrenaline pumping in no time.

Even in this subpar technical state, Cities: Skylines 2 is a potent and captivating sandbox that’ll see the hours fly by as you engage with it. It’s a worthy successor to the title that dethroned the mighty SimCity and will define the genre for the years to come. Official as well as modded content will surely supply players with even more toys and tools in the future.

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 won’t do anything that blows you away, but it doesn’t matter when a game plays, looks, and sounds as good as this. It’s an improvement over the first game and proves how polished and slick a sequel can be when the developer is free to revisit and refine on top of solid foundations. Now we just cross our fingers and pray that Insomniac gets an 18-rating for its Wolverine game because it just might pull it off again.

Sonic Superstars is the modern 2D Sonic game I never thought we’d get. It updates the visual style in a way that feels true to the classics while bringing in top-tier level design that allows the core platforming mechanics to shine. In a week when both Sonic and Mario are launching new games, it’s a good time to be a 2D platforming fan.

On a technical level, Star Trek: Infinite has been a stable experience for me, though not without some rather annoying hiccups that I’d describe as typical Paradox launch shenanigans. Some missions were bugged and could only be completed by reloading to previous points in the game due to the wrong conditions being given, for example. Nothing in terms of visual glitches or crashes on my end, though.

Total War: Pharaoh delivers the series’ best campaign experience yet, becoming its new gold standard for customization options and mechanical depth, while improving on its predecessor’s battles. It manages to translate the fascinating and mysterious history of the Bronze Age Collapse into video game form in a great way, though budgetary constraints are sadly visible when it comes to scope: How beautiful would the addition of the Assyrians and Mycenaeans in the east and west or actual trade routes on the map have rounded out this game. If Total War: Pharaoh has proven one thing, then that Creative Assembly Sofia has earned the chance at working on something bigger next time – this kind of quality campaign deserves a grander stage.

There’s the usual minor improvements in visuals, and EA Sports finally implemented full crossplay. Vision passing sometimes makes passing easier, though most matches move so fast that you don't benefit from the player tags and icons anyway. You can fire coaches in franchise mode, too. That’s about it for new additions, though. Franchise mode and other existing modes remain largely unchanged, and HUT Moments is the only new mode this year. NHL 24 is a solid new entry, despite some balance issues, though it feels like it’s time for a bigger, more ambitious refresh.

It’s a shame, as there’s real potential in Mineko’s setup. It has a strong blend of the fantastical and mundane, and that’s refreshing in a genre where “fantastical” usually just extends to “you can run an entire farm by yourself and not die.” The art direction is also bolder and more striking than we usually see, and it goes a long way in creating a unique, mildly eerie atmosphere that helps sell the island’s mythology.

I wanted to like Ty 4 a lot more than I did, and while there is some fun to be had with the game, I found myself wishing from start to finish that it was the 3D platformer game I pictured in my head when somebody said Ty the Tasmanian Tiger.

Despite a bit of jank, and a bit of outdated game design, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with The Legend of Nayuta, and I would recommend it to anyone who’s even remotely interested.

Baten Kaitos 1 + II HD Remaster is a great way to play this pair of classic games, but there are a few caveats. A few of the new visual features might make the game lag, and the original English dub is missing aside from during the opening cinematic – very peculiar. But despite that, if you’ve ever wanted to play Baten Kaitos, I have no doubt that this is the best way to do it.

What distances it from Persona – and it really is similar in many ways – is the detail and design of the monsters, as well as the real-time combat. There are a huge number of systems at play here, combos, special moves, elemental effects, partner skills, and special skills all work together to help you take down what can be fairly difficult bosses. The downside of a condensed story is that you won’t be as close to the characters by the end but it did what it wanted to do effectively, and I’m excited to see what else comes from the team.

A man might enjoy the story, but I am not a man, and I did not.

I hope Ubisoft continues to make city-based Assassin’s Creed games because it’s refreshing to play something this tight and focused after the more bloated, RPG-focused AC games, but the developers need to update it for modern tastes. From the tech powering it to the structure and base mechanics, I’d love to see where the series could go with a proper overhaul. I’m not asking for a completely different game, but the physics and parkour controls feel drastically dated, and it’d be nice if they could find a way to let us infiltrate buildings beyond making us search for keys like it’s Doom.

Optimization on PC seems a tad problematic. Aside from a challenging Thrustmaster pedal set-up, the frame rate is on the low 70fps with an Nvidia RTX 3080 while resorting to a relatively low resolution of 2560x1080. Even at such low resolution, the game features aggressive dips between cutscenes and traffic at the start. This may be something to watch out for for those not playing on Xbox Series X, where performance is solid.

Once again, it’s a testament to the quality of Baldur’s Gate 3 that, through the bugs, difficulty level, and awkward UX, my friends keep coming back, and we all still can’t wait for the next lengthy, multi-hour session which will inevitably end with another dead merchant. It always does, and at this point, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The Lamplighters League is intriguing from the first second, sucking you in with a great art style, fantastic voice acting, a jazzy score, and supernatural mystery. It manages to keep this going by offering compelling gameplay systems that give you lots of freedom and feel immensely satisfying to use. For me, this combination makes The Lamplighters League the best turn-based tactics game of 2023.

Separate Ways is the DLC we didn’t know RE4 remake needed, and it’s up there with the best DLC content we’ve ever had for a Resident Evil game. It’s a bit of a shame that this side-story of the original game was carved out to be paid DLC, but when the package is this good, it’s hard to moan. If you enjoyed Resident Evil 4 remake, then Separate Ways is an absolute essential.

Even though the feeling on the pitch is only slight different, not all of the new gameplay additions hit the mark - but even so, there's something that makes EA Sports FC 24 feel like the freshest games in the series, and certainly a good way to leave FIFA behind.

I can see why the episodic structure is appealing, but the choice to release each episode two weeks apart is a huge misstep. There is a reason why people binge-watch series. They want to know the ending while they still care. Releasing The Expanse in this way only punishes the early adopters, which are the ones that are paying the most for the worst experience.

Cyberpunk 2077 has always been good at pulling you into its world, but Phantom Liberty grabs you by the collar and pushes your face right into the grimy, piss-soaked alleyways.

MK1 is a pretty brilliant package. It doesn’t have the same swathe of content that Street Fighter 6 launched with earlier this year, but what is here shines. It’s gory, brutal, and incredibly kamp. This is a great step forward for a franchise that was at risk of stagnating. This is a modern Mortal Kombat klassic.

I’m left struggling with how to talk about The Teal Mask. Like the main game, it is one of the most enjoyable mainline Pokémon games ever produced, but the series’ old problems keep rearing their ugly heads and dragging the experience down from both a technical and gameplay standpoint. I love this DLC and I love Scarlet & Violet, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

I really wasn’t expecting Motorfest to be that big of a step forward for The Crew, but I’m pleased that I was wrong. All the major aspects of gameplay have been massively improved from its predecessor with the racing engine, events system, and reward loop each being better than before. While The Crew 2 only attracted a niche fanbase because of its unique gimmicks, Motorfest has a much broader appeal.

Despite its similarities to so many other soulslike games, it does enough to be different. For hardcore soulslike players, there is the promise of a new story, and alternate endings among the difficult boss fights. For newcomers, Lies of P does a good job of easing you into the action. It hasn’t made me more interested in soulslike as a genre, despite me obsessing over it for the last few weeks, which I guess goes to show just how different it is. Despite how dark and rainy it may seem, there is a genuine goofiness to it that is rare to find, and the promise of a unique story for each playthrough will see it stand out.

Starfield is a Bethesda game in every way. If you’re going into it expecting something like No Man’s Sky, you’re going to be disappointed. It’s Skyrim in space, which is exactly what I hoped it would be.

It was the little things that prevented me from claiming Sea of Stars as perfection. Without spoilers, one character does something VERY naughty, that ends in some very bad things happening, and everyone seems just okie dokie with it after the fact. No one brings up it was their fault, just because they’re good in battle, I guess. However, it is hard to criticize Sea of Stars, as it does what it intends exceptionally well, and it delivers something we’re all familiar with, in a very refreshing way.

If you like previous Strategic Mind games, this one delivers the exact same experience, which in turn means that if you didn’t like any of its predecessors, there is nothing interesting for you here.