Pokémon Art Academy is a polished, enjoyable time sink, with intuitive controls. It’s very easy to pick up and play, and uses the Pokémon licence well to introduce a new group of potential artists to the Art Academy series.

If you’re new to poker or have been playing for years, Pure Hold’em is about as close to playing for real as you’re going to get - there isn’t a more faithful experience on the market.

Eden Genesis is a game for the hardcore gamer, and requires a total mastery of its systems and mechanics to get the most out of it.

Getting a rhythm going as you charge across the battlefield can be quite hypnotic, and while it is easy for anyone to pick up and play, mastering it will take much, much longer.

Disney Illusion Island plays things very safe at times, but sometimes that’s okay, and it’s worth celebrating nonetheless.

Haunting, atmospheric and highly playable, Crowman & Wolfboy adds just enough depth and content to make it more than your average auto-runner, while a Metroid-Vania-like approach to new abilities and level exploration add some real replay value to an enjoyable game.

The Invincible is a great walking sim that tells a solid science fiction story, with a likeable protagonist and some strong writing.

Yo-Kai Watch is a charming and sprawling RPG, one that appeals to a younger audience with its adorable characters and moral-heavy story, but also to mature players with its intense and complex battle system.

If you're looking a creative and lighthearted city builder, then Tinytopia could be the game for you.

It’s not always user-friendly, but it is incredibly unique and often very funny, which makes its difficulty all the more incongruous. The biggest problem is that it just doesn’t feel tight enough, and the input system is far too haphazard for precision. And yet, it’s hugely likeable and playable throughout.

West of Dead is a compelling and enjoyable challenge, helped along by Ron Perlman's undeniable charisma and a handful of interesting new ideas.

he story is well worth putting up with the technical issues. While the console versions cost double of the PC and mobile ports, this is still a story worth experiencing in any format available to you.

LEGO Horizon Adventures is a lot of fun, and Studio Gobo has done a great job making Aloy's journey full of excitement and humour.

The SNES-era visuals and bouncy soundtrack hide a universe of complexity, decision making and intrigue. It has a charm that will ring true with gamers of a certain age, and for anyone who is up for the challenge. Yes, The Escapists is challenging, but it is also very rewarding, and something about those little sprites kept dragging me back for more.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy-themed MMO doesn’t get everything right, even on PS4, but the things it does well outweigh those it doesn’t, and the end result is a fun and engaging open world RPG with some great multiplayer options that don’t really come into their own until end-game.

Fustercluck doesn't add anything that feels super new, it at least offers up an incredibly Borderlands-y expansion filled with meat chunks and silly weapons - and it's the only game this year that'll let you shoot down the actual moon, go on a mini quest to retrieve it, load it into a catapult and use it to batter down the walls of a meat castle. So, y'know, there's that.

Thanks to a series that genuinely gets better with every iteration, Sniper Elite 3 remains one of the best snipers sims of this generation

Whilst unashamedly similar to Slay the Spire, Monster Train has enough of its own ideas to deliver its own blend of deep, addictive fun.

Blood and Truth is a lot of fun, making use of a wide range of guns and all of the Move controller's capabilities.

A captivating and engaging experience. Once you put on that suit and are launched into the sky, you begin a journey that will have you smiling throughout, even during the challenging moments.

The Saints Row vibe is strong, but Volition's latest is still a brilliantly bonkers blast-fest.

From a hopeful beginning to a heart-wrenching conclusion, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is an endearing and emotional adventure that will resonate strongly with anyone who has a younger or older sibling.

If you don’t own the game already, but do own a PS4, then you’d be daft not to pick up Injustice: Gods Among Us: it’s a terrific fighter that runs incredibly smoothly, whilst retaining that ultra-cool ideal that only a comic book can deliver.

Valentino Rossi: The Game may be too much of an advert for the motorcycle legend himself, but it finally brings the MotoGP series back to the top of its game.

Synapse is a successful roguelike that makes you feel stronger with each run, and while it won't blow you away, it's a fun time and makes great use of the PSVR2 features.

Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire - Ultimate Edition brings the epic CRPG to consoles, and the majority of it is excellent, although there are far too many load screens that seem to go on forever.

There is a real richness of content and back-story that has been invented, and despite the feeling that you don’t really make much progress in solving the case in question, I really wanted to press on and find out what was going on.

Cat Quest is a lovely action RPG that will be enjoyable for newcomers to RPGs and veterans who like cats.

Demon Gaze II improves on the original in a lot of ways and is another excellent dungeon RPG from Experience Inc. that is worth your time.

More action packed than the previous episodes, with better character development and progression, The Last Place you Look is the best episode yet.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page is a gorgeous, moving tale of two young girls facing an increasingly frightening world and eventually finding beauty where those less innocent might not, and that’s the kind of writing that transcends mediums.

The Shapeshifting Detective on the Switch is the best way to play it since it offers the full big screen experience and has the ability to not only play it on the go but with both button or touch controls. If you enjoy murder mystery games, this one is definitely worth your time.

Tropico 6 is the best in the series to date, taking the personality and humour from previous titles and adding extras that make being El Presidente feel better than ever.

Despite some glitches here and there, which are likely a by-product of the speed, DeathSprint 66 is a lot of fun.

Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed is a wonderful remake that looks gorgeous in many different ways, with simple yet fun platforming at its core.

Roguebook is an interesting deckbuilder that does a lot of things well. It doesn’t do a great deal that feels new and exciting, but there are flashes of brilliance here and there.

A slick, compelling adventure only let down by a glut of technical issues that really should have been polished out.

The utter antithesis of The Last of Us, a top-down Left 4 Dead-alike that ignores pansy ideas like human emotion or common sense in favour of stuff that explodes and makes other stuff explode. It’s colourful and loud and a ton of fun either alone or with friends, and is probably one of the best zombie blasters released in recent years.

Outer Wilds is good-looking and quite unique in its subgenre, and there's a compelling, intriguing mystery to solve that will keep you guessing as you progress across the galaxy.

WRC 7 is undoubtedly 2017’s most exciting rally game, held back only by an overall experience that makes the same mistakes as its predecessor.

Star Wars Battlefront II is a good video game, it delivers a fun campaign that allows you to act out pretty much all your Star Wars fantasies.

If you’re in the mood for a charming adventure through a gorgeous fantasy world, Eternal Strands is worth checking out.

A blissful, almost trance-like state can be achieved when playing Race the Sun, and despite being a game that slowly reveals itself to you, rewarding you for getting better, this is worth shouting about.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is filled with wonderful combat, great visuals, and a decent story, but the technical issues are too prominent to ignore.

Yakuza Kiwami on Switch is a good port of a great game, and while it shows its age in certain areas, it's still a lot of fun to play.

Mixing puzzles, stealth and even mild horror elements, FRACTER is a short, sweet adventure that’s just fun to play.

Fast and frantic, Bayonetta is still a quality action game. The visuals may have aged somewhat, and the difficulty may be hard as nails, but this is the definitive version of a game that feels strangely at home on a Nintendo console.

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical is full of charming gods and funky songs, and some issues with sound levels aren't enough to ruin that.

Regardless of its outward simplicity and colourful art style, Silent Hope is a really fun, rewarding and likable game.

Another great episode in what is becoming Telltale's best series. But the sporadic episode release is harming it overall.

The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors is a surprisingly dense beat-em-up that is lots of fun to play, and the old school aesthetic does it wonders.

WWE 2K22 isn't revolutionary, but with some much-needed tweaks and loads of content, there's a lot for fans to enjoy.

My Time at Sandrock is a huge life/farming sim that, once you start to understand its systems, can be a hugely rewarding experience.

The Walking Dead Season Two may not have moved into top gear yet, but Telltale have already shown that they are more than capable of producing more gut-wrenching moments and difficult choices.

Animal Crossing New Horizons: Happy Home Paradise allows players to get creative, adding new furniture and design choices at every turn.

Killer Queen Black doesn't feature an abundance of features, but the simplistic gameplay and cool win conditions make it a nice little multiplayer that's in the same vein as Nidhogg.

The Ringed City DLC is a mixture of things, unfairly difficult in the beginning, it opens up and delivers a thematically fitting end to the series of the whole. Great boss fights as well as a new PvP mechanic elevate it above the previous DLC.

Simply put, Light is just a joy to play and experience.

Basically a ‘complete edition’ of the original release, Zoo Tycoon: Ultimate Animal Collection adds enough to keep both fans and newcomers happy, providing challenge for those who want it and a sandbox mode for those wanting a more laid back experience.

It may ultimately be a little shallow, but it has bags of charm and there is more than enough on offer here to provide hours of animal magic.

There are some cracks in the shiny veneer, for sure, but on the whole Humankind is a great experience with almost endless replayability.

Goat Simulator 3 is ridiculous, but it's so much fun that it's hard to not recommend, thanks to crazy missions and enjoyable gameplay.

Megaton Musashi W: Wired may not attract may new devotees, but for those who cannot resist strapping into a giant anthropomorphic robot, this is a rollicking good time.

Move or Die: Unleashed is an absolute blast with friends, with plenty of fast paced minigames to trash talk and squabble over.

PGA Tour 2K23 features tight controls for those who want to master every swing, and does enough to bring players in from the last entry.

Fifty years is a long old time to remain even slightly relevant in the games industry, and whilst this package probably wont win too many new fans, it gives retro fans a great walk down memory lane.

With destructible environments (you can blow holes in almost everything), frenetic action, over-the-top physics and a soundtrack that rarely takes a breather, Severed Steel is an enjoyable, cathartic experience.

With animal fusion and a fantastic morality system, Let’s Build a Zoo brings some great new ideas to the tycoon genre.

The bright visuals pop and sing thanks to the increased power and the game runs as smooth as butter at all times. Addictive and entertaining, CastleStorm’s mix of fairytale whimsy and challenging strategy – as well as its mishmash of play styles – makes it a solid and enticing prospect whatever the platform.

On PS5, The Valiant is just as playable and enjoyable as on PC, even if it's not quite as good-looking.

King's Bounty II offers an enjoyable mix of a fantasy RPG and tactical turn-based combat that fans of both genres will lap up.

Soccer Story has some great ideas, and makes football a vessel for solving fun puzzles and reintroducing the game back to the world.

Oxenfree is a haunting, emotionally-charged mystery that spreads its shocks a little too thinly, but still manages to deliver an engaging, memorable experience.

Lightfall does less with Destiny 2 in a narrative sense than previous expansions, but improves the quality of life considerably.

Valkyria Chronicles IV’s playbook is a beautifully illustrated, tactical delight.

SnowRunner has its issues, but its unique brand of truck simulation and off-road adventuring is enough to keep you entertained for hours on end.

Filament is a tough puzzler that will challenge even the ardent fans of the genre and it feels like it belongs on Nintendo Switch. The new Hint system will also stop the unnecessary frustrations too.

Overcooked! 2 – Surf ‘n’ Turf is an excellent expansion that adds interesting new mechanics and more than enough content to justify the asking price with only poor difficulty scaling holding it back.

Most impressively, perhaps, Harmonix have implemented Kinect with confidence and skill, so that it never feels like a chore or a gimmick, instead it is the perfect control method for conducting and crafting magical melodies.

A visually ballistic and staggeringly polished fighter that offers great lip service for fans of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure while also delivering a game with enough flair to appeal to both determined and casual fans of the fighting genre. And if there’s one thing people will remember about All Star Battle, it’s that it’s stylish. Mission accomplished, Cyber Connect 2.

Ultimately, Dungeons of Hinterberg feels like a chilled-out version of the usual action-adventure titles like the aforementioned Breath of the Wild. You could just explore for scenic spots, advancing time that way for a bit, taking in the sights and sounds of Hinterberg and visiting the town’s various festivals. But if you want to progress and aid Luisa in her quest for self-discovery, you’ll eventually have to get your hands dirty.

The RPG elements are still too confusing and convoluted, too, but much like in 2012, Theatrhythm is a fun, heart-warming piece of fan service that offers better value for money than before, while giving fans plenty of museum-based goodies to explore and reminisce over.

Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection might not feature any updated visuals, but it features tons of content and enjoyable battles.

This is undoubtedly the finest handheld version of the Disgaea-verse that you could possibly wish to own.

A great port of an already solid game, Daemon X Machina plays like a dream on PC. It may be messy, but it's also frantic, non-stop fun.

The Switch version is fantastic for everything but online play. The lack of anti aliasing is only really noticeable if you play with RWBY and other characters together thanks to the new sprites versus the older ones. I had no performance issues at all. This game runs like a dream in portable and docked modes.

It isn’t F-Zero, but there’s a good, fun challenge here for anyone with an anti-grav racing itch.

Developers who port multiple games to the Switch in a single package should add something to incentivize double dips and YummyYummyTummy has done just that. Even if you played these games on either system before, this is worth looking into if you enjoyed your time with Fallen Legion.

You get an improved experience all round with MotoGP 22 – it is still hard as nails, but the nostalgic documentary mode and solid raft of modes makes this a crucial purchase for fans of two wheeled racing.

IDUN - Frontline Survival is an interesting take on the tower defence genre with likeable characters and a fun story.

Blacktail may not put every foot right, but it's still an enjoyable, compelling romp through a dark and beautiful fairytale world.

Sonic Mania is both fluid and fun, and reminds us all of what a Sonic game should be. This is a game by Sonic fans, for Sonic fans.

Elderand is an enjoyable, old-fashioned hack ‘n’ slash adventure that will challenge you without punishing you.

The LEGO formula may be growing tired at this point, but LEGO DC Super-Villains is still one of the best games TT Games has produced and is an excellent use of the DC licence.

Gerda: A Flame in Winter tells an intimate tale of love and sacrifice, and forces you to make difficult decisions you often struggle to make.

You won't play anything quite like Republique anytime soon, and its deep storyline is worth taking the time to dig into.

Circuit Superstars is a fun little racer that offers a challenge, harking back to the joy felt when playing Micro Machines back in the day.

Not the most thrilling game, but a powerful, well-told story nonetheless.