Split Fiction has an infectious, humorous energy that rarely flags. Even if the gameplay ingredients feel like a greatest-hits compendium, the enforced co-operation brews them into a heady cocktail of entertainment.

Perhaps The Great Circle never again quite hits that fabulous high bar of the Vatican locations but as the enthralling remaining hours roll on, you never regret the time spent in Indy’s company – or, more accurately, being Indy.

The overall standard remains high throughout and Capcom is to be applauded for its treatment of these remasters. Visually, they’ve been considerably groomed compared to their originals on DS and 3DS. Ultra-fans will be also amused by the art gallery, soundtrack compilation and meme-maker, plus the ability to jump into any episode of any case at will.

The Lost Crown is a true delight, a throwback for sure but a very moreish one that brings back memories while igniting new synapses too.

The Last of Us Part II is a landmark videogame despite its troubling attitude to violence. It constructs a nihilist vision that weaves a compelling story while offering little redemptive hope for the human race. It gets under your skin, not always in a good way, and cannot be forgotten...The remaster changes none of that and therefore, in its own way, is inessential.

Once you temper your expectations – it looks more like a last-generation title than the hard realism of Half-Life: Alyx – Vertigo 2 packs enough thrills to justify its mid-range price tag.

Wilds is a tasty meal but made with a few insipid ingredients that water down its flavour.

Crow Country deftly balances a comically grotesque story with some rudimentary combat and brainteasers of variable difficulty. It’s an ironic throwback to the days when games had to dial down the realism because of technological limitations. Your imagination does the rest and you’ll never trust a crow in the real world again.

At just €20, it justifies its existence as a showcase for the Switch 2’s versatility and as a succinct slice of fun in its own right.

It resembles nothing else out there right now and we should be grateful Capcom was prepared to give a small team its head in creating such an esoteric concept. It echoes the look of classic Japanese titles of the PS2 era such as Onimusha and Okami – but feels like totally its own thing, for good and for ill.

Even if the gameplay is mechanically uncomplicated, there’s no shortage in Reanimal of visual allure, albeit of the kind that makes you wince or at least provokes a morbid chuckle. ‘Did I really just see that?’, you think more than once.

The developers build an evocative monastic backdrop using painterly visuals and a cast of eccentric characters, overlaid with stealth mechanics and puzzle solving. Nonetheless, some glitchy animations and wonky interface design hint at a limited budget for playtesting. The Stone of Madness may not have the panache and depth of say, Shadow Gambit, but it’s an unorthodox prison sentence worth serving.

Grasshopper makes games like no other, a superpower in which the sheer creative force outweighs the sometimes-juvenile side-effects. Romeo is a Dead Man may not always be coherent and is often not pretty but it nonetheless possesses something compelling – as if you can’t look away.

The confined nature of the levels can sometimes be problematic when grappling with the wildly bucking ghosts, not least because aiming the vacuum feels a tad awkward. Younger or less experienced players drawn in by the colourful setting and gentle humour may find the battles with bigger baddies rather challenging. But at their heart, Luigi’s escapades serve up a helping of supernatural whimsy that stands up well after more than a decade.

F1 24 takes the most appreciable leaps for the franchise in years but for all that it remains just an incremental upgrade for owners of the 2023 version. If you haven’t kept up to speed lately with Codemasters’ revisions, however, then F1 24 is the new model to get the pulse racing.

For the first time in years, some peculiar animation glitches reared their heads – don’t think we’re supposed to see inside players’ heads during match build-up, nor the occasional melding of limbs in goalmouth clashes. But that foible and some clunky menus aside, FC 25 puts on an impressive performance, albeit one that could be considered level on points with FC 24. What a shame that the game no longer has any credible competitors to keep EA on its toes.

As collectively compelling as this soul-cleansing experience is, Cairn over-emphasises resource management to the point of busy-work. You’re constantly fiddling with items to sate Aava’s hunger, bandaging her bloodied hands, and even rearranging her rucksack like a round of Tetris. This hardcore mindset no doubt speaks to the arduousness of shimmying thousands of metres up a vertical surface. But to me it detracts a little from savouring Aava’s pilgrimage. Despite this rocky footing, Cairn reaches for the sky with a tale of stubborn bravery that at times will leave you breathless.

Aeternum still manages to captivate after many hours of gameplay, nonetheless, and it’s encouraging for the future of the game that Amazon has stayed loyal to the project for so long already.

Remagined mostly offers a rollicking good time that’s rarely too demanding as an RPG, asking only that you contain your cynicism about its typecast troupe of Irish and other nationalities.

Thousand-Year Door folds in more depth than Super Mario RPG, that is certain. The gameplay deals with additional layers – bits of Pikmin, bits of Metroidvania, for instance – and there’s an attempt to add value with extras such as concept art. Its offbeat comedy also carries an edgy vibe that strains at the Nintendo leash. This Paper Mario may be thinly spread but hidden dimensions give it space to become its own thing.

The scientific tasks at your destination really aren’t that interesting. Instead, the heart of the game lies in the methodical, even calming pursuit of a distant waypoint. There’s a soothing peace here out in the beautiful wilderness, even amid the roar of the engine, the shrill whine of the gears and the soft cursing as you get bogged down in yet another puddle of ooze.

Séance at Blake Manor still manages to be an enthralling piece of theatre, artfully presented and brimming with macabre melodrama.

Austrian-based developer Microbird Games has created something distinctive and compelling with its debut effort – a depiction of their native Alps where the inside of the mountains are more interesting that the peaks outside we regularly admire.

As rough around the edges as it is – the lack of impact from the weapons, the endless hunt for keycards and the right locked door – System Shock still adds up to more than the sum of its parts. It’s a game that sows confusion and fear in a way we rarely experience now, while reminding us the AI apocalypse might be closer than we suspect.

Keeper succeeds more as a delightful voyage into the weird than as a conventional videogame with challenges, goals and quests.

You may remember Sony’s last samurai-set game, Ghost of Tsushima in 2020. The similarities are legion – both are built on the same open-world template. The US-made Tsushima triumphs on a technical level thanks to sumptuous visuals and Hollywood-like polish. Rise of the Ronin looks at times like something out of the late PS3/early PS4 era, a bit glitchy and twitchy. Yet its intense swordplay and native authenticity imbue it with an absorbing playability that’s hard to ignore.

The heart of Ghosts of New Eden springs from the tender relationship between Antea and Red, the pain of their separation and the desperation of their situation – achingly conveyed by the two voice actors, Amaka Okafor and Russ Bain. It is this coupling that holds Banishers together, amplifying the difficult decisions the plot forces you to take.

Zero perhaps repeats its formula a little too often and stretches the storyline beyond its merit. For lovers of JRPGs, however, this prequel/sequel/whatever will do a number on you if you give it time.