It’s still early days for Torchlight 3. Right now it’s a decent dungeon crawler, but even in this heavily saturated market there are still occasional gems, and in its current state Torchlight 3 simply isn’t that. With work done on the skill trees and classes, and the injection of a little spectacle, it could become something great. As it stands though, it’s really just another dungeon crawler.

Slain: Back from Hell is not worth buying in its current state on the Switch. Get it on PS4 or PC if you have to because it just isn’t fun playing a game that slows down and can’t maintain a locked frame rate. If these issues are addressed in upcoming patches, it will be worth it.

Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is an extremely mixed bag so far. While I’m enjoying the atmosphere, the few stealth-based missions (I say “based” but you can just wander in and shoot everyone) have been the highlights. Skif is a likeable enough horrible person, and I like how much there is to do in terms of quests and side content, but it’s held back massively by stifling bugs, unsatisfying gunplay, iffy voice work and sound design, and a general air of being five to ten years behind the modern market. Or maybe I’m just missing the point. Either way, with only around a dozen hours played I’m still in the early game, so perhaps by the time I come to add a score to all this, a lot will have changed. Either way, right now, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl isn’t setting my world alight. [Review in Progress]

One thing that’s apparent even in early access is how much love and effort is being put into this game. Manor Lords is rich, compelling, and looks incredible at times, and offers a genuine slice of Medieval life for those up for the challenge. As more features are added in early access and some of the bugs are chased out (there’s still one hanging around that stops your families from moving into the homes you’ve built), I’ve no doubt Manor Lords and Slavic Magic will continue to go from strength to strength. [Early Access Review]

It’s a paid beta, though (which is iffy in itself in some ways), and so there’s lots of room and time for improvement. It’s just a shame that a game with such polished shooting and looting is bogged down by such clunky menus, tangled systems and tiresome mechanics. We’ll re-examine Fortnite as and when the big changes come, but for now it’s a lot of fun, once you’re comfortable with how it all works.

Black Skylands is only in Early Access at the moment, but I’ve had a lot of fun with it. While combat can get frustrating at times, the rewards across the different islands make it well worth it. The story is engaging, and the open world has been meticulously crafted to provide such a wholesome experience. If you enjoy the trailer, I’m sure you’ll have a great time exploring Aspya and building your own home in the sky. [Early Access Review]

There’s some excellent design work on display here, but it’s just lacking that touch of polish that a finished product needs and while the adventure mode is good it just highlights how little use LABO has outside of its own wheelhouse. Maybe, just maybe Nintendo needs to help developers integrate LABO kits into their games as bespoke controllers, it might be that that finally helps LABO take off.

Playing the first episode of Hitman brought back fond memories of unique kills from previous titles, with the grander and more compelling scale of the game adding tons of replayability. I don’t doubt there will be those left frustrated with the game’s short length, but its focus on great gameplay is where Hitman truly shines. Even though you only feel like you’ve dipped your toes in the water, the first instalment of Hitman leaves a lot of promise for the rest of the series.

I think ORX is looking very promising so far, but in its current state it does (understandably) have some issues. There’s no playable tutorial to speak of, just a few screens of text and pictures that pop up when you first start a level, and it’s simply not enough. It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how all of the intricate systems work together, and I can’t imagine everyone will have the patience to do that without much in the way of guidance. [Early Access Review]

Time will tell if Crayta makes an impact on its intended audience, but I sincerely hope it succeeds, because it’s definitely one of the best creative games on the market.

One of the best things about Valheim is that it it doesn’t hold your hand, but doesn’t leave you floundering in the dark, either. Although it does leave you stranded in the woods, quite literally, with nothing but your bare hands and some talking ravens for company. [Early Access impressions]

Jumplight Odyssey throws a lot at you, but the more you play and work things out for yourself, the better the game becomes. Hopefully the aid available as far as direction and tip pop-ups get added through the Early Access phase, as it can be daunting and off-putting. It’s a stunning game to look at, and the level of design on each deck is incredible. Managing your crew’s emotional state and work rate does get easier, and the constant threat of the Zutopans gives you more than enough motivation to harvest materials and keep your ship afloat on the mission to reach the Forever Star. [Early Access Review]

I don’t mean to be down on a smaller dev who has made a competent enough indie shooter, but I feel this genre is at a point where if a new entry isn’t doing something unique, then it needs to stand out some other way, and Hyperviolent just doesn’t. If you’re after a few hours spent mashing demon brains and roaming around looking for keys and matching doors, then Hyperviolent has you covered. If you’re after something fresh and new, maybe not so much. [Early Access Review]

The thing is, what Dissidia NT does do well is hamstring itself from actually being good. A good fighting mechanic can only carry a game so far, outfitting the game with so little in the way of modes to actually experience is bad enough, but to then completely lock away a staple mode of fighting games to force people to repeat play stagnant modes is practically unforgivable, especially for a story based franchise like Final Fantasy.

Blending together a turn-based RPG with card battles and roguelite mechanics, Gordian Quest has a certain magic to it, despite its repetitive gameplay loop. [Early Access Score = 75]

Disney Speedstorm has plenty of potential, but at present the racing feels unbalanced and there's far too much currency to get familiar with. [Early Access Review Score = 55]

DRIVE Rally is a well produced, fun rally experience. It’s imperfect but there’s plenty of time for tweaks before the full release in 2025. With a unique artistic style, arcade style handling, four charismatic co-pilots and a plethora of stages, there’s more than enough on offer for both beginners and rally veterans alike to enjoy in this early access release. [Early Access Review]

Am I a convert? Not yet, and I may never be, fully. But I’m glad I finally had a chance to see what everyone else has been telling me for years.

One of Nioh’s coolest features is the revenants. These are scattered throughout the levels and are graves of real players and NPCs. When you approach one, it’ll give you the level they were when they died, and what you’re likely to receive if you bring it back from the dead, and then kill it again. You could stumble across a stranger’s grave and fight them as they were when they died; it won’t be you fighting the actual stranger, but it’s a great feature and can get you some decent gear.

Shapez 2 is a lovely looking, zen-like, itch-scratching conveyor-a-thon, which fans of factory-builders will spend countless hours delving into. [Early Access Score = 90]

Even before playing on live servers I’m not afraid to say that Battlefield V’s multiplayer is great. That is simply undeniable. It’s impossible to not care about the result of each match, tense finishes seem to happen almost every other game and the moment to moment action is incredibly satisfying.

The Devil Within is, at its core, a very enjoyable, very well-balanced Soulslike Metroidvania that should only improve throughout the early access period. It also features music from Matt Heafy of Trivium, which is a perfect match for the brutal, neo-futuristic, apocalyptic environment design across the three stages here. Whether or not you choose to buy early access games or not is up to you, but The Devil Within: Satgat has plenty of gameplay to get stuck into right now, with a lot more promised over the next 9 to 12 months. [Early Access Review]

The Anacrusis looks to be everything I want from a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. The pick up and play nature is compelling from the drop, and the 70s sci-fi setting is so refreshing. The AI Driver really makes every session totally different, facing different combinations of aliens in different settings doesn’t get stale. I know the next few months of my life will be spent replaying the game over and over again with my partner, and I can’t wait. [Early Access Impressions]

Tales & Tactics is an incredibly dense Roguelike auto battler, that once you put the time into learning you'll never want to put down. [Early Access score = 85]

While Vampire Survivors isn't even technically out, the latest update has made this Early Access title so fun to play. [Early Access Score = 80]

DNF Duel is an extremely welcoming fighting game that I’d recommend to genre veterans and newcomers alike. The battles are tense, the visuals are out of this world and the inputs and tutorials make it really easy to pick up and play. I never thought I’d truly get into this genre of video game, but DNF Duel managed to drag me into it and I couldn’t be happier. [Review in Progress]

As with any survival-crafting-farming game in early access, Lightyear Frontier will only grown and evolve – but unlike many of its contemporaries, it already feels like a complete experience. How long it can sustain my interest with so few possibilities of sudden death or unannounced explosions of violent fury when the wildlife is careless enough to wander through my domain remains to be seen, but if you want a relaxing, good-looking, steady little farming sim with a touch of sci-fi and lots of scope to build and grow, Lightyear Frontier’s early access offering is worth checking out. [Early Access Review]

If Stitch Heads continue along this path with Superfuse through early access, they will almost certainly have a winner on their hands come the full launch. They understand the genre and know exactly what fans want from it – right now it just needs balancing and expanding. The aesthetic is cool and the universe is interesting, and the Fuse system is just fantastic. The cathartic thrill of looting and levelling is hamstrung a little by the sense of repetition, but it’s early days yet, and Superfuse has the potential to be a genuine hit. [Early Access review]

Second Extinction is very much a Left 4 Dead stablemate, but it stands on its own thanks to its enemy variety and compelling atmosphere. [Early Access Review Score = 75]

With plenty more to test in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, we’ll update this review to include a breakdown of its multiplayer, but as far as the campaign goes, Infinity Ward has put out a solid effort that surpasses most Call of Duty campaigns we’ve seen over the last five years. It’s a good sequel to 2019’s reboot, but still follows some all too familiar tropes, with some of the characters not getting the spotlight they deserve. [Review in progress]

This is brilliant, it’s everything I wanted the game to be and maybe even a little bit more.

While I do have a fair few hours invested in Fade to Silence, its slow opening and lack of direction had me struggling for longer than I would like... [Review in Progress]