EA Sports FC 24 may be wearing a new strip but it remains the superlative football sim of our time.

The game may look like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, but its philosophy is unforgiving, with painfully limited ammo and a foe that can only be taken down with a headshot.

The writing is sharp and the action fun, but it is the stunning re-creation of another world that is this game’s crown jewel.

For RTS fans starved of major releases, PC fans increasingly abandoned for exclusive IPs and, of course, Starcraft fans in their millions, HotS is a massive slice of expertly crafted, beautifully balanced and totally tactical gameplay...Just don't make us wait so long for the final chapter, please!

The diversity and creative ingenuity of these little four-dimensional riddles is truly impressive. I was sad to finish the game after four or so hours, but enriched by the journey.

And bravo to Nintendo for keeping this franchise on the standard DS rather than – for the time being, at least – adding that third dimension.

This is a world that, robot assassins aside, is pleasurable to exist within and to explore, made all the sweeter by virtue of its unexpected arrival.

While it seems passé to mention licences, Fifa again dwarfs its rival where real kits, faces, stadia and presentation are concerned. Although some of these elements can be tackled in PES with a quick file download, this factor remains a deal-breaker for many fans, cementing Fifa 17’s status as the complete footballing package. The Journey, really, is just the beginning of what is on offer here.

The game's most compelling aspect is its almost RPG-like popularity engine, which encourages you to see every slight kink in the road as a means to show off. If driving like a hooligan without having to face any consequences – in cars you'll never be able to afford – sounds appealing, then you'll love Forza Horizon. Whether by accident or design, Microsoft has hit upon a format that gives its flagship driving franchise the credibility it previously lacked.

This spiritual successor to Jet Set Radio has the same stylish look and feel, though with better gameplay for the outlaw street gang.

The skilful combination of game conventions and fresh ideas is the real marriage at the heart of this unusual adventure.

It’s kind of brave of Firaxis not to just give us XCOM with an asset swap. Midnight Suns is its own thing, combining strategy and soap opera in a nod toward Japanese battle tactics games and the underlying frivolity of the Marvel universe. One thing Firaxis certainly hasn’t done is dumb down turn-based strategy for incoming comic book fans. This is a hugely challenging game, with dozens of hours of play and a narrative that wants to say interesting things about family, identity and sacrifice. Sometimes, it even manages it.

With its ever-louder demands for precise jumps and absolute control fluidity, Rayman Origins won't be for everyone. It is tough – have we mentioned that? – and it will frustrate some gamers more than it compels them to continue.

This is a game that can sit proudly in the Halo canon and also call itself a true, albeit hybrid, RTS. It’s instinctive to play, exciting to watch and packs in some genuinely new ideas that deserve exploring. And if you still can’t get past the inevitable compromises and unfamiliar UI, there’s always the PC version.

On the multiplayer servers, players can jump into lighthearted casual races or far more intense open events, where the global community of players bring their own cars – and their own tuning – to the track. But personally, most of my time with Forza Motorsport has been spent all by myself, taking the same left turn over and over again, until I’ve memorised every nuance of the angle. Turn 10 has brought out the obsessive in me. I mean that as a compliment.

Despite the shift to a season battle pass, Overwatch 2 retains is character, its charm and its individuality. It is the pop-culture, day-glo, neon-scorched riposte to dingy military shooters, and its concentration on empowering team-minded players and tactics makes every match feel like an unexpectedly violent buddy comedy. It is what it has always been: the shooter for the rest of us, but now there’s more of it and it’s kinda sorta free. Happy hunting.

Not everyone is looking for a game like Outriders, and if wooden dialogue and sci-fi cliches – it’s all commanders with eye patches and mad scientists – are not your thing, there’s no shame in that. But if you’re the type of player who reached a flow state in Doom Eternal, or speaks wistfully of Diablo, or perhaps remembers the rhythmic gunnery of Bizarre Creations’ The Club, Outriders will speak to you.

This game is an idiosyncratic joy – a brash, clever, juvenile head-trip, messy at the edges but all the more likable for it. It is loaded with brilliant pop-culture references, channeling not just Adams, 2000AD and Tank Girl, but also anime and 90s industrial dance music. Void Bastards is Cowboy Bebop meets Trainspotting, on a night out, in a galaxy of death.

It would have been wonderful to see this team’s giant imagination expressed through the subversion of, rather than adherence to, well-worn puzzle platform conventions, but perhaps that is just plain greedy. It is, after all, such a treat to find a gorgeous narrative game that owes nothing to the culturally prevalent aesthetics of Disney, Marvel or Studio Ghibli. While the puzzle construction at the heart of Creaks is formulaic, that should not be a disincentive to give this short, singular experience a try. No time with an Amanita Design game is ever wasted.

Perhaps it’s a little safe in the way it goes about things, anxious not to lose that Spelunky magic by disrupting the familiar flow. But that spell hasn’t worn off after 10 years. With its dastardly remixes of existing themes and a bunch of brilliant new additions, this will certainly replace Spelunky HD as the definitive cave-diving Derek Yu roguelike. I wouldn’t change a thing – though some of my former turkey friends may have different feedback.

It’s unsettling and unconventional, and I was totally unable to turn away.

Discounty is a valuable addition to the sorority of cozy, slice of life with a dream-job games. It goes a little against the grain, while still managing to hold your focus. While there is not a lot of romance in running away from your life to work in a supermarket, there is certainly a lot of good clean work to do, which still manages to feel like play.

The improvements do now leave the actual battles in conspicuous need of a visual overhaul (something for the imminent 3DS to tackle, perhaps) but at least fans will have plenty to occupy their time until that happens.

If Life Is Strange were a Netflix series, I would probably have stopped watching it a few episodes in. Instead, it’s a game I’ve been playing for more than a decade, and I care about these characters. (I also appreciate that more than a smidge of the original’s millennial cringe remains: a Foals song plays over the credits.) Life Is Strange has always been corny but it has also always been earnest, grounded in friendship and feelings. Max and Chloe deserved this chance to end their story – and so did we.

And despite these issues, this is still Football Manager, with all of its delicious tactical minutiae to get lost in. Thanks to the modernised tactics and match engine, making the perfect tactical tweaks to kickstart a stoppage time comeback and silence those oh-so-confident home fans has never felt better. Football Manager 26 provides tangible feedback to your split-second decisions and lets you conceive fictional rivalries that can last for seasons. And when you beat Sunderland with three goals in the final five minutes, the thrill remains unsurpassed.

From Dust is sublime – it's arguably close to being a piece of art. But prospective players should be warned you will only succeed here if you are a calm, benevolent and (above all else) patient god. Wrathful Old Testament types needn't bother; you'll only end up staring at the Game Over screen.

Madden 16 is an authentic, challenging simulation that explores key facets of the sport in new ways and adds much to the experience in the process.

The most fun you’ll have is playing with a bunch of friends in the same room, but there’s also an online mode which offers ranked or friendly games. However you choose to play, the game exudes childlike charm while hiding layers of depth beneath its chaotic exterior. You can spend hours practising perfectly timed drop shots, mastering spin and getting your positioning just right, and figuring out which fever rackets best suit your style of play is an involving process. It is, in short, exactly what you want and expect from a Nintendo sports title – something for everyone, and then something more for those who decide to go pro.