Desert Bus VR is deeply tedious but that’s the whole point. It’s not a game meant to be played seriously but rather for a charity event, which changes the rules significantly. The old Sega CD version won’t be going anywhere, but this looks nicer, the ability to have friends along adds a fun social aspect and those can help make for better charity streams and hopefully bigger donations. Plus, if you just want to get a taste of the trip, the price tag of Free is a great incentive to put in a bit of time behind the wheel. Desert Bus VR is a fantastic upgrade to one of the strangest success stories in the history of gaming and one that should help raise a nice chunk of change for a worthy cause.

These are epic adventures and can now be enjoyed on modern-day hardware for the first time. Anyone who loved them before should get them as soon as possible to prepare for Shenmue III, while newcomers to the series have a fantastic starting point to get fully caught up on Ryo and his adventures.

Disgaea 5 Complete comes with a lighthearted story, enjoyable characters, all the DLC and gameplay full of different strategies for every player to try. It works amazingly well on the Switch, as it’s a perfect title to play in short bursts with handheld mode.

Hearts of Iron IV is an easy recommendation for grand strategy fans of all ages and encourages them to take the time to figure everything out.

A modern JRPG masterpiece. It is the perfect blend of the classic JRPG formula mixed with contemporary features. Almost everything this title does has had some equivalent seen in RPGs that came before it, but they have been tweaked where the experience still feels fresh.

Amid the Ruins is an exhilarating adventure and the best episode thus far. It gives players drastic choices to partake in, not to mention building on the relationships between Clementine and her party.

This is basically five standalone games wrapped into one deep package. While it will have DLC released for it, there’s enough content out of the box to keep players busy until the next Call of Duty and probably some time after that. The campaign is perfectly paced and entertaining throughout, the multiplayer is rich with customization and Zombies is refreshingly challenging. The only real black mark is a story teetering on the on the brink of pretension, but the existentialism of it is undeniably fascinating.

An excellent conclusion to Blizzard’s trilogy. While one can get impatient with the familiar mission structure, it’s impossible to argue with the excellent faction balance and action.

An immensely clever and unique game, Chants of Sennaar expertly captures the power of language through its well-crafted cultures and its intricate and perfectly-challenging puzzles, turning the art of translation into a captivating bit of gameplay. By the time you’ll have validated your last glyph, you’ll still be left wanting more, but what we have here still makes for a terrific journey that is not to be missed out on.

While Pony Island is a short game —we clocked in at around two hours for a playthrough— it is an achievement. Very quickly, Pony Island’s subtle ominousness becomes a journey into utterly fun madness.

Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon may seem like a minor yet unexpected twist for the franchise, but it’s a twist that pays off big time. The core gameplay is easy to get into, but you quickly discover that there’s a deeper level of strategy required, and the next thing you know, you’re on a streak of multiple runs, trying to get past that one particular level. Throw in multiple characters with different playstyles that allow for variety, amazing graphics and a nice chuck of stuff to unlock, and you have a true gem, be it roguelikes or puzzle games (or both) that you prefer. Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon might be a pocket-sized dungeon, but there’s a huge amount of fun in it.

This is one of the most satisfying and complete tactical roleplaying experiences to come out of 2013 and realistically the last few years.

Demon Tides is an excellent 3D platformer, easily one of the best in years thanks to its expansive, colorful worlds, variety of challenges that require putting its extensive moveset to full use, bonuses and extras, and even an incredibly likeable cast. Beebz seems like she could be a '90s mascot-with-attitude refugee, but she knows when to turn it off, and the fact that it's clear she actually likes and appreciates her friends makes her attitude fun rather than obnoxious. Cutscenes are never long enough to feel like an interruption to the gameplay, letting them be rewards between one stretch of platforming and the next. There's even a button dedicated to pointing out the nearest collectible, meaning you can focus on the challenge of acquiring it rather than scouring every inch of the level for that one last pickup. Like all Demon Turf's tools, how you use it is up to you, so if you want a vicious challenge or a guided tour, that's your call. There are enough movement modifiers that even the most difficult sections can be made possible with a little perseverance, putting Beebz and her crew that much closer to successfully platforming their way through their newest adventure.

There’s just so much that Snack World does right for a dungeon crawler that even without having any sort of serious story it manages to be one of the best in the genre with the sheer fun variety it offers. Anyone looking for a brand new adventuring title should give Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold their time as it’s surprisingly fantastic.

Marvel Rivals is a stellar multiplayer game that has plenty of potential in the years ahead. It sounds like it has a great content plan, as the game just added the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic into the game a month into the game's launch. When you keep that in mind alongside the stellar gameplay and team-based mechanics, Marvel Rivals is likely to stay for many years ahead.

It’s something that delves deep into the existential question regarding life and death, and our reason for living under suffering. It also goes in an immensely different direction, one that it felt impossible to see coming. This is all enhanced thanks to the original soundtrack that goes well beyond what we could have hoped for, immersing us in a tale we will never forget. That’s not to say there aren’t flaws, though, as there’s a few moments throughout the campaign that felt like padding, and some of the solo instances, as creative as they may be, killed the flow of events. This is on top of a good chunk of gear being reused assets. Thankfully, all of this pales in comparison to the rest of the adventure, witnessing one of the most well-written RPG stories ever told. Truly, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before, in an MMO or otherwise.

Attack of the Friday Monsters is a perfect bite-sized chunk of story-based gaming, and will easily blow past any cynical defenses to take up a warm and fuzzy place in your heart.

Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair is the definitive Danganronpa experience.

It’s absolutely loaded with tracks and a strong difficulty curve, meaning that players are regularly being challenged to do increasingly difficult tracks.

The game simply puts players into a spell thanks to engaging gameplay, a killer soundtrack and hypnotic visuals. Anyone who has never experienced the series before is in for a treat. Existing fans should be prepared to fall in love with Lumines all over again.

The Witcher: Enhanced Edition is a remarkably deep title filled with decision making tasks that actually have an effect on the story itself.

Despite being only one level long, Cocoreccho! is packed to the brim with excellence and fun, and that one level is worth ten from any other game. [Nov 2007, p.66]

For fans of the first title this one is a must-have to dive into so much more, while those interested for the very first time need not worry as nothing will be missed by picking up this sequel as the first entry. Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is an absolute joy with near endless amounts of fun to sink many hours into.

Ether One might well represent the apex of its particular subgenre. It engages the player at every level they might want to engage it, and rewards them handsomely for plunging into its depths.

It feels like an important evolutionary step in presentation and tone, presenting a believable narrative populated with realistic characters, structured in a way that remains captivating until the last word is spoken. Multiplayer is disposable and combat can feel a bit rudimentary at times complete with balance issues, but being perpetually enveloped in the stunning world Naughty Dog created makes it easy to forget any flaws.

Episode 4: Faith delivers a fantastic story-focused episode and sets up the perfect springboard for the Diaz brothers’ next stop of Puerto Lobos. Sean might have been battered, bruised and forever wounded by his scars, but Life Is Strange 2 charges to the finishing line with significant momentum behind it.

Resident Evil Requiem is a game for new and old fans alike. It contains the identity of both the recent entries in the franchise and some of the remakes, meshing both horror and action that works most of the time.

And for a game that will take thirty to forty hours for non-completionists with three scheduled DLC expansions, keeping the game interesting is extremely important, which thankfully Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire has no problem doing.