UFO 50 should be admired for its tenacious commitment to its mission - creating a fake machine from the 1990s and populating it with a diverse and authentic compilation of very real and mostly entertaining games.

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.

Donkey Kong Bananza might be considered too easy for most players – even the boss battles barely raise a sweat – and overall doesn’t occupy the same rarified air as Super Mario Odyssey. Yet the bulldozing ape ably showcases the power of Switch 2 and earns a place alongside Mario Kart World as an essential purchase for owners of the new console.

You will curse Blue Prince many times in your early runs for its capriciousness – before permanently unlockable items and acquired acumen begin to ease your route to the finish line. Persist and you will appreciate the interlocking brilliance of Ros’s creation. Resist and you will be pointlessly pounding your head against the wall of a dead end.

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.

By right, this shlocky 30-year-old franchise should be a shambling wreck, given gaming’s speed of reinvention and its tendency to eat itself. But like the T-virus that never dies, somehow Requiem keeps Resident Evil alive, its cells absorbing the old body and rejuvenating it into something just as terrifying.

Nomada keeps its game tightly focused, leading to a running time of about four hours. But the melancholic exploration of the intertwined emotions of parenthood, death and nature will stay with you for a lot longer.

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

Each descent into the pit begins with an almost pathetic damage output but as you gradually gather a chaotic constellation of powers, the screen begins to resemble a pinball table on overdrive, an intoxicating display of destruction orchestrated by you. It’s anything but a straight shooter, it’s a memorably sideways take on a classic.

Kojima hasn’t lost his predilection for pretentiousness nor the preposterous but in Death Stranding 2 he’s created a powerful piece of entertainment propelled by the sheer force of his personality. There’s probably no one else in gaming who could have got this made – layering the human need for connection with grand sci-fi themes and a satisfying gameplay loop. We should all be grateful for the 61-year-old’s unique talent.

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

Simogo showcases its characteristic ability to wrap compellingly novel gameplay in a distinctive visual aesthetic, all the while telling a captivating story.

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.

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.

By aiming for authenticity and committing to character growth by repetition, Deliverance II walks a dangerous tightrope. Its uncompromising nature won’t be videogamey enough for many players and wilfully renders some components such as combat unappealing.

Tempopo won’t have the same impact for adults as Unpacking but it’s a fun diversion brimming with cheer and pitched at a very reasonable €20.

If you’re looking for faults, the games’ roots in the motion-control era leads to some frustrating moments related to the role of the on-screen cursor. You might also carp that SMG1 in particular doesn’t always make it clear when the conventional rules of gravity apply, sometimes sending Mario tumbling to his doom. Nonetheless, these count as minor quibbles set against the sheer exuberance and star quality of Super Mario 1 + 2.

The core of Ivalice Chronicles holds up well despite its origins being almost three decades old. The protracted conversations in which the player is merely a listener will not be to everyone’s taste but they contain enough hooks to carry you to the next taxing battle.

Xenoblade Chronicles X remains stuck in the game design of 10 years ago, padded with hackneyed dialogue, pinballing the player from silly quest to tired kill quotients. Sure, it occasionally surprises you with a stunning panorama or confronts you with a colossal enemy. Even then, though, it’s not long before you’re engaged in a repetitive combat loop where your attacks trigger automatically and your optimum strategy relies on approaching enemies from the rear.

Mizuguchi has a fine pedigree in fusing music, visuals and gameplay, his Tetris Effect rebooting the seminal block puzzler in 2018 via sensory override. Lumines Arise runs a similarly psychedelic nightclub, playing different instruments but achieving the same out-of-body fever dream.

Arco’s creators are a small but disparate bunch encompassing Poland, Australia, Mexico and Spain. This compact team is reflected in its concise design, with most missions and side-quests lasting just a few minutes or less. But they have designed a game with a big heart and a lingering place in the player’s memory.

Unlike Resident Evil, Silent Hill 2 is sparing with scenes of pure horror, save for the infrequent encounters with unkillable nemesis Pyramid Head. He comes at you every so often with a giant blade, his metal mask shielding him from your bullets until he decides to go away again for no apparent reason. Less is more – in terms of visual style and tension-building – can be effective but the long periods of nothing dramatic happening in drab locations border on monotony. And that’s the last thing you want in a scare-em-up.

It feels as if Nintendo has a way to go to crystallise the open world into something beyond a random meander. Despite this reservation, Mario Kart World elegantly nails Nintendo’s goal of showcasing the Switch 2’s horsepower while shifting the series into a new gear to surprise and thrill a legion of fans.

If you’re to judge Nioh 3 by its obvious inspiration, Team Ninja comes up a little short here. Its open world and impenetrable lore lack the invention and sheer charisma of the peerless Elden Ring. That said, the two-in-one personality gives such a distinctive flavour to the combat that some hardened From Software fans might be forced to re-consider their loyalties.

The puzzles remain as pleasantly headwrecking as ever, sometimes relying on noticing tiny details, other times requiring meticulous deductions based on trial and error. Few could blame you for sneaking the odd look at a walkthrough that at least points you in the direction of a solution. The developers acknowledge they’ve applied several tweaks to modernise the game. “This is not the same old Riven, but we hope you’re as surprised and intrigued by the new one as we were,” they say. On the evidence of my playthrough, you won’t mind getting stuck in this captivating prison with no hope of release.

The Alters artfully balances the time pressures of Dolski’s physical tasks with the emotional toll of managing the clones, a responsibility made all the heavier given that you’re trying to rescue not just yourself but all your selves. Maybe living one life might easier after all…

Like many polished big-budget games made to a formula, Ghost of Yokei is missing just a little bit of soul.

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.