All this is beautifully brought to life with scribbly, expressive character portraits, wine-coloured backdrops and a cosy, mock-serious score that suggests a chamber-music troupe lurking just across the salon. Card Shark isn’t always this charming, however. Building the story around perfecting tricks makes for plenty of repetition, whether practising in the coach or restarting a scenario with little more than the shirt on your back. Nerial does its best to avoid a traditional game-over – you can actually cheat death – but it’s easy to imagine a better-resourced version of the game in which every loss sends you along a wholly different story branch. Still, mastering a new con is always worth the trial and error – as is the thrill of taking a duke to the cleaners.

Total War: Three Kingdoms is a wonderfully torrid period epic that understands the greatest stories are written about people, not empires.

Babbdi has a retro ambience that goes beyond its low-resolution textures. Its brevity and open-endedness makes me think of the magazine demo disc levels I’d hoard and replay as a teen. But it also feels like targeted relief from 2023’s anxieties, blending a strange restfulness with a sense of possibility. And yes, it lets you play La Cucaracha.

Saltsea Chronicles will doubtlessly win over players of cozy indie games and tabletop RPGs this autumn. The story is involving, challenging and builds out the tale of a missing leader – and partner, and friend – with elegance. The sunken, oceanic world runs on radios and astral plane sailing for technology and prayer - the characters simply do not always get on, despite their shared quest. This is a sophisticated adventure, taking the medium of the narrative game to new horizons.

Fifa Street's new cooler, slicker presentation sits better with the game than I first imagined. Yes, it's a far cry from the arcade-like iterations of yesteryear, but in truth it's all the better for it.

It’s a delightfully silly journey, and a rare example of a truly iconoclastic video game emerging from a sea of derivatives.

Running at a breathless 60-frames-per-second and with tiny loading times, Hotshot Racing is a slick callback to a much-loved era of racing games made by people who are clearly passionate and knowledgeable about the genre. Older players will get all the references, and newcomers will enjoy a bright, exhilarating game that forgoes modern frills for pure, seamless racing entertainment.

Overall, Bad Piggies merits a four-star rating, especially as a relatively small tweak in the number of mechanics dished out for free would reduce the frustration factor.

Like Angry Birds, there's a big daft sense of humour behind Trials Evolution. Very much like Angry Birds, the game has got that "I'll just have one more go …" quality that can swallow hours whole. And exactly like Angry Birds, it's a simple premise that only takes seconds to pick up.

Graphically, Kid Icarus: Uprising is astonishing to behold, given that it was designed for the 3DS – which is just as well since at times, it gets incredibly busy in visual terms, and if it wasn't crisp and sharp to look at, it would get confusing. Overall, it feels fresh, original and exhilarating to play, and thanks to its off-the-chain level of bonkersness, it should appeal to young and old alike.

This is the battle royale genre pitilessly trimmed to its wildest moments, where every encounter is a riot of explosive jump-cut hyper-violence. It is not for the faint of heart or slow of trigger-finger.

There is real craft on show in Angry Birds Space. The merchandise and spin-offs may be ubiquitous, but the gameplay still feels fresh, with enough new elements to reawaken the addiction for players of the previous versions.

It’s difficult to think of a driving game on console that engages you more fully than Project Cars.

The PS Vita controls, while feeling shoehorned in the proceedings, are not deal-breakers overall. Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus is still a fantastic game, and whether you're a newcomer or a long-time fan of the series, this is an essential purchase for PS Vita owners.

Most disappointingly, for all the worlds he visits or challenges he overcomes, Sackboy never really develops past his minimal original powers, meaning LBP2 retains its two-button gameplay from start to finish.

The Artful Escape is, Galvatron has said, a 17-year-old’s conception of what it is to play in a rock band: musical transcendence meets universal adoration beneath the hot lights. But behind the shimmer, this is a touching tale of how to break free of the creative expectations of others. There is little traditional challenge here, but as a left-field power fantasy, few video games are so immediately stylish or so gratifying.

There were many moments of beauty and terror during my ascent that left me quietly awestruck. That awe, in the end, was proportional to the hardship.

Video gamers may wonder why they would play a card game when their medium has moved beyond such limitations; tabletop gamers may bemoan the fact that people are getting excited about the wrong card game. But if you fall awkwardly between those two groups, Hearthstone will keep you hooked for some time.

It's not an easy or forgiving game. Disappearing platforms require excellent timing, and not thinking ahead can often mean leaping on to a platform already occupied by one of the many alien invaders, sapping one heart from your meter.

This is a barren world, but rendered exquisitely, drawing careful inspiration from French cartoonist Jean “Moebius” Giraud in its blend of space and intricacy. Exploring its crannies delivers a slow-burn joy. Developed by a small team from north London (Shedworks, because the two founders began work in a garden shed), Sable is an unusual expression of the so-called “open world” – the dominant video game genre today. Most lead you in certain directions, ensuring you approach landmarks from the best angles, matching every plot beat with a suitable musical flourish. Here, by contrast, you are totally free to explore wherever, whenever, however you wish. There are whispered points of interest, but there is no wearying to-do list, and as such your journey and destination are uniquely, wonderfully personal.

Cowabunga Collection is a nunchuck-twirling, shuriken-hurling jaunt through a glorious five-year stretch of Konami’s rich history, a perfect complement to the recent indie brawler Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge.

Enslaved provides a rollercoaster adventure wrapped up in a brilliantly told story, which sees you grow as attached to the characters as they do to each other.

Detroit: Become Human is a spectacularly crafted game that bends and branches out around the player’s choices in an astonishing and unparalleled way. Although hampered by tired central plots and some predictable, occasionally hokey storytelling, the result is a technical feat in video game development and a meticulously detailed cinematic achievement.

Where modern blockbusters are often weighed down by bloated worlds or predatory business models, Dead Space cuts right to the quick.

If any game ever challenged the old distinction between graphics and gameplay this is it, because simple as its systems are, and even as dull as the fetch-questing can sometimes be, the look and script and voice-acting carry this rocketing over the finish line – as well as through the taste barrier. In some ways this game is to the RPG genre what the animated series is to celebrity voice overs: a comic impersonation.

Moonloop Games pulls off its artful attempt to elevate the humble twin-stick shooter.

If you want to be free to make your own way through an intriguing narrative in gorgeous surroundings, this subtle, melancholy game is for you.

The Yakuza games have always balanced brutality with tear-jerking sentimentality: it’s a curious mix, but they commit so wholeheartedly to both that they somehow pull it off. It’s no surprise when the final act launches a full-blooded assault on your heartstrings. Yakuza 6 may not be subtle, but few players will be left dry-eyed as the curtain on this tale is finally drawn.