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]

Sky Oceans: Wings for Hire looks to recapture the magic of Skies of Arcadia, but slow combat and clunky controls let it down significantly.

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]

Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a baby sized adventure with an all grown up price tag, with poorly designed stages and frustrating enemies.

Elrentaros Wanderings has the makings of a lovely relaxing game, but its repetitive nature and frustrating side objectives kill those cosy vibes.

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]

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]

Die by the Blade has a few good ideas in its sheathe, but ultimately it fails to generate any genuine excitement.

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]

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]

Bulletstorm VR is disappointing in every way, and while there are few redeeming features early on, there are better ways to play it.

I’ve played over a dozen hours of Enshrouded’s Early Access build now and I still can’t tell you what it is about Keen Games’ fantasy adventure game that makes it stand out for me amongst so many others. Just recently we’ve had Ravenbound and Frozen Flame, both of which present beautiful fantasy worlds ripe for exploration, and both of which have their fair share of fresh ideas. But neither struck a chord with me like Enshrouded has. [Early Access Review]

Flashback 2 is a mind-boggling mess of a game with few redeeming features, and a sequel we just didn’t need.

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]

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]

Adore brings action packed combat to the monster collecting genre, but unfortunately it's just too repetitive and frustrating to recommend.

Playing Dead Man's Diary is simply a tedious experience, and unless you have an invisible wall fetish you should stay well away.

Deadliest Catch: The Game had the almost admirable ability to make me not want to either take up crab fishing in real life, nor to find out what the eventual endgame of its videogame counterpart was.

Greyhill Incident could have cornered a niche in the market, yet its forgettable story, poor dialogue, and lazy gameplay make it one to miss.

I expected to love Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer, but the teen humour is painful and the shooting is just okay.

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]

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]

Animal Shelter Simulator should be a game full of joy and life, but in reality it's just bland, repetitive and hard to control.

Digimon World: Next Order is grindy, unintuitive and just plain dull, and no amount of exciting evolutions will change that.

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]

Sports Story is a huge disappointment, with a ton of technical issues, a lack of tutorials and unenjoyable new sports making it one to avoid.

Goodbye World tells an interesting story about game development, but the slow pacing and gameplay issues really let it down.

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]