One of the best survival horror games of the generation, that’s frequently terrifying but also surprisingly nuanced and intelligent when it comes to its storytelling.

There are flashes of brilliance, especially when it comes to the flying, but confused storytelling, boring loot, and unsatisfying missions don’t justify the game’s massive time investment.

An unapologetically hardcore sequel that sacrifices accessibility to appease fans of Codemasters’ fledgling racing sim series.

An inspired mix of skateboarding and 2D platforming that manages to combine a surprising level of realism with some enjoyably impossible level design.

Despite improvements the debt to Portal cannot be fully repaid in this cleverly-constructed by staid first person puzzler.

The imaginative puzzles occasionally come close to replicating the genius of Portal but the bad jokes and repetitive gameplay make this a poor substitute for the real thing.

Tetris and battle royale turn out to be a perfect match with probably the best multiplayer version of the game ever made.

A crossover between the world’s most famous manga characters results in a peculiarly underdeveloped fighter, with an especially disappointing story mode.

A tragic end to Crackdown 3’s long and painful journey, with an unremarkable campaign mode and a multiplayer that is a disaster in terms of tech and design.

A direct-to-video style sequel to Far Cry 5 that’s still perfectly playable but fails to make use of its own premise in any interesting way.

The best post-apocalyptic survival game of the generation, that innovates in terms of both its varied gameplay mechanics and its incisive storytelling.

An impressive blend of old school cyberpunk and modern survival horror, that manages to overcome a bad celebrity voiceover and some distracting technical issues.

The latest Civilization VI expansion handles a difficult subject matter with great insight and in a way that improves the game and makes you think of the world beyond it.

The original Yakuza has been remade into a sequel to its own prequel, but although it’s perfectly competent it feels outdated compared to the newer entries.

BlazBlue goes out in a blaze of glory, and although it lacks new ideas it certainly isn’t short of characters, game modes, or thrilling action.

A Monster Hunter clone that does some things differently but doesn’t manage to improve on element of it is far more entertaining inspiration.

The intentions are good, but cute graphics and some clever ideas can’t stop this ‘feel-good FPS’ from being anything but a downer.

An enjoyable reminder of one of the best ever portable role-playing series, although it’s really more a greatest hits compilation than a new game.

It’s not ugly by any means but it does all feel a bit generic, especially considering how iconic Fortnite’s map has become. It’s well designed though, which is the important thing, and ultimately has more in common with Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4’s Blackout. [Early Verdict]

A wonderfully refined sequel that takes everything that was great about the original and expands and improves upon it, making for a much more accessible experience for everyone.

It lacks the sparkle and modernity of the more recent Florence, but still evokes a wonderful sense of mystery and melancholy, and because of its sedate pace does not in any way suffer from having touchscreen rather than physical controls.

It’s highly polished, but somehow lacks the heady compulsion that typified the early days of Clash Royale or Boom Beach, with rounds feeling less fun and exciting than the colourful cartoon characters that participate in them.

The 15 islands you’ll rule in campaign mode take a lot of work to balance, as you try to ensure your populace is well paid, fed, and entertained to offset the less pleasant needs to pay rent and taxes. It’s highly engaging and the iPad port works seamlessly.

The best Advance Wars game never made and while there are a few flaws there’s also plenty of new ideas and a mountain of extra content.

The mix of tactical spaceship building and roguelike action is intriguing, but Genesis Alpha One suffers from a split personality and a limited development budget.

A confused and confusing mess of terrible storytelling, simple action, and endless fan service that will delight existing players but baffle new ones.

Shallow and repetitive it might be, but this new mobile game can prove surprisingly tense and recreates the atmosphere of the first film very well.

A fascinating premise that is used not only to create a set of mind-bending puzzles but to ruminate on the nature of reality. It’s just a shame about the controls and the short running time.

One of the best portable role-players ever made and a joyful mix of bizarrely inventive gameplay and surprisingly sharp comedy.

A considerably less daring second episode, when compared to the first, that highlights the problems of episodic content more than it does the qualities of Life Is Strange 2.

A fantastic big budget remake of one of Resident Evil’s most popular entries, that manages to look state-of-the-art but in terms of gameplay finds a perfect balance of old and new.

A strange yet relatively successful attempt to merge television with an episodic video game, that should at least please the show’s fanbase.

A successful return flight for the veteran franchise, with highly entertaining aerial action that remains accessible for new fans and old.

A disappointing return for Suda51 whose shallow, repetitive action is not helped by a relentlessly unfunny script and tired pop culture references.

An atmospheric and often perplexing exploration game that suffers from bugs, uneven level design, and an unwavering dedication to leaving you to your own devices.

An interesting attempt to make a 3D Harvest Moon, that combines some of the best elements of Minecraft, but it lacks any real identity or new ideas of its own.

A low budget but competent remaster of a game that’s showing its age – and yet still makes a good argument for a future franchise revival.

An enjoyably distinctive survival game, in terms of gameplay, visuals, and an unusually affecting story.

An adult video game that is neither exploitative nor pretentious, but instead weaves a fun yet incisive tale about all too human characters.

Formulaic but not always predictable, this remains the best of the Tales series and one of the definitive Japanese role-players of the 2000s.

Compared to the classic 2D Super Mario games this is disappointingly anodyne, but it’s still competently made platform fun that can be enjoyed by everyone.

A very successful attempt to address real world news events in a video game that always feels realistic but never manipulative.

The game’s love for Ghosts ‘N Goblins is obvious but its refusal to cater for anyone but hardcore fans results in a frustrating and tedious slog – especially in story mode.

A frustrating mix of survival game and roguelike, that has absolutely no respect for your time and yet still hides an enthralling and rewarding action adventure within its murky depths.

The exceptionally witty writing that regularly knocks on the fourth wall is a bonus that’s somehow brought to life by feeling as though you’re actually there on Pandora with its cast of mock-savage weirdos. If you’re a PlayStation VR owner and enjoy first person shooters you may be seeing less of your family than planned this Christmas.

The obsessions with realism and old school action don’t come at the cost you might imagine, in this tense and well-designed online shooter.

At last the Earth Defense Force series gets a sequel worthy of its early promise, even if there are still a few unwanted bugs left.

A stunning visual achievement and a mediocre Metroidvania but despite that unevenness this is still an affecting interactive journey with real emotional resonance.

It might be missing the name but this is the best Wonder Boy game ever made, updating and expanding the original concepts into a perfect mix of new and old.

An inspired approach to co-op and non-player characters turns what could’ve been just another Dark Souls clone into one of the most interesting action adventures of the season.

There are all sorts of decisions to make: should you try and cover up the civilian casualties from a stray airstrike or fess up, lowering support? Will you educate farmers on use of pesticides, or offer passive advice? It sounds dry, but once you’re in the thick of it, using the game’s myriad social and political leavers to lessen the chaos, it’s utterly gripping and offers layers of extra complexity over Plague Inc.’s already highly compelling ruleset.

It has extremely high production values, but the lack of skill needed and the emphasis on waiting for absolutely everything limit its appeal.

As a pick up and play mobile puzzle game this ticks the right boxes: levels are short and satisfying to crack, and its cute graphics are just enough to give you an impression of golf.

It’s very much its own game however, its Czech roots evident in both its art style and slapstick sense of humour, which features a much rowdier demeanour than past games from the studio. CHUCHEL is an irreverent, surreal rollercoaster ride that never lets ideas or cultural references outstay their welcome.

It may be turn-based and lack any sort of time restriction, but it’s also highly competitive, with a distinct stab of angst when another player steals the very line of food and felines you’d nervously been eyeing. Sadly, it’s also riddled with bugs, many of which force you to restart the app, something that with any luck will be addressed in an update.

Yes, you can still be brutalised by higher level players, but most matches don’t feel that way, and real-time strategy fans aren’t exactly spoiled for choice on mobile, making Rivals well worth trying out.

The result isn’t quite the sum of its parts unfortunately, because although each course looks stunning, rounds have an unfortunate tendency to be frustrating, the random factor underpinning victory just slightly too prominently. That’s actually quite a good analogue for real world crazy golf courses, and if you enjoy that element in the digital world this will seem pretty great.

The charmingly dark and brooding graphic style works nicely with the fizzing electromagnetism of each level, but it’s undone by the touchscreen controls. The demanding, pixel-perfect jumps you need to pull off to complete platform sections immediately rendered exasperating by the woolly onscreen joystick and buttons. It’s not in any way a dead loss, but without a physical joypad you should brace yourself for irritation.

Vengeance’s 12 or so hours of entertainment are joyous, and speeding through them with paid upgrades is a fool’s errand. This is still the very pinnacle of the Tower Defense genre and even if you completely ignore its microtransactions, it’s a superb game.

More than just XCOM with talking animals, this inventive strategy game has plenty of new ideas of its own – even it’s a little lacking in replayability.

A no-thrills PlayStation 4 port that has most of what you’d want from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds but in a much uglier, watered down package.

Still one of the most original and entertaining video games there’s ever been, with a surreal sense of humour that permeates every corner of the gameplay and presentation.

Easily the best Smash Bros. ever made, with a fantastic new story campaign and a near infinite range of characters and options for multiplayer.

It’s an improvement on the last game but as a franchise Just Cause is still squandering the majority of its potential with its banal mission design and dull storytelling.

A survival game that isn’t out just to punish its players, but to entertain; with an impressive mix of exploration, crafting, and survival horror.

The cleverly-calibrated control system is the main point of interest here, but this is also an entertaining, if somewhat staid, take on VR Super Monkey Ball.

The video game equivalent of a concept album, and a hugely successful mix of visual, music, and gameplay influences.

A labour of love that few are likely to appreciate – but if for some reason you did want a hand-drawn remake of Toki then this is your lucky year.

The spirit of 90s arcade racing is reborn in a homage to everything from OutRun to Lotus Turbo Challenge, and despite a few bumps in the road it’s all just as much fun as you remember.

The best 2D shooters of the retro era return once again, with a good value package that has plenty for new fans and old.

Even at this early stage (there’s no indication yet when Red Dead Online will officially emerge from beta) there’s plenty to do, with a similar wealth of content to the single-player game. And yet Red Dead Online hasn’t abandoned its essential character: it’s altogether slower and more content to leave you to your own devices than GTA Online. The prospect of living an online life in Rockstar’s vision of the not-quite-as wild-as-it-used-to-be West seems just as alluring as the story mode.

A daring, and largely successful, attempt to show the civilian side of war, that succeeds as an interactive drama even when it occasionally fails as a game.

While it packs in more content than its predecessors, RIDE 3 feels soulless and nonessential if you already own last year’s instalment.

It commits no cardinal sins but this belated return to the world of Darksiders comes across as shallow, frustrating, and disappointingly dull.

Imaginative use of VR to make one of the best new music games of the generation, and which also manages to be the best Star Wars game never made.

A disastrous failure whose technical shortcomings may one day be fixed but whose design failings, and obliviousness to its own potential, suggests a game that is irrevocably broken.

If you’ve already played The Heist you’ll easily be able to imagine how Turf Wars plays out. In fact, if you’ve played any story DLC from the last few years it follows a very familiar path of artificially extending the running time of the parent game with the bare minimum of new features and enemies. But more of the same is exactly what some people want from Marvel’s Spider-Man and it’ll still be interesting to see how things end with the final DLC next month.

One of the best PC to console ports ever, with the strategy great working impressively well on the Switch and opening up the series to a whole new audience.

Its incremental improvements will appease fans but it does little to entice new players, in what is still a very dry and demanding sim that’s devoid of character.

What could have been the best Battlefield of the modern era fears like a mere shell of a game, with missing features, too little content, and far too many bugs.

A brutal, albeit familiar, survival game that’s thoughtfully designed and elegantly refined, and as a result easily the best game of its type on PlayStation 4.

Remakes so good they flatter the original games, but whether or not they deserve this level of star treatment the end result is three enjoyable and accessible 3D platformers for all ages.

The perfect introduction to ‘proper’ Pokémon games for GO players but also an enjoyably nostalgic remake for existing pokéfans.

It feels a lot like the second half of the same season, rather than a true sequel, but Hitman 2 is still a beautifully crafted stealth game that’s full of character.

A bizarre mix of weighty subject matter and cartoon presentation that somehow works perfectly in portraying a morally complex world and its characters.

It’s ruthlessly hard, although you can adapt the difficulty level if it all gets too much, and it suffers from the usual issues with onscreen joystick and buttons, but its beautifully-rendered visuals and refined mechanics make it a joy to play from start to finish.

A masterful reimagining of Tetris that changes little about the core gameplay but still manages to create one of the most immersive video games ever.

It channels the grit and desperation of the TV show well enough, but the prolonged development has ended in a co-op shooter that feels outdated and unexceptional.

A deeply flawed attempt to revive Road Rash, that gets the fighting right but crashes out when it comes to the racing and graphics.

An impressively assured attempt to prove that video games can tackle serious subject matter with respect and a level of insight that only interactivity can provide.

You wouldn’t know to look at it though, its graphics looking hilariously ropey by today’s standards, but playing it reveals a game that is still in a class of its own. Without a central story or campaign to anchor you, once you’ve completed the grossly insufficient tutorial you’re left to do practically anything you like in a world that contains well over a decade’s worth of gameplay for newcomers.

Although frequently frustrating – this is a game you will find yourself loudly shouting at – it’s also fabulously clever and addictive, with one more go an almost foregone conclusion as you once again impale/lacerate your stickman in pursuit of that final collectible.

Slapping down a couple of mines and energy structures, then sending a massive volley of missiles to destroy the enemy base will get you through the first few levels, until suddenly it becomes overwhelmingly tough. The lurch in difficulty isn’t insurmountable, but also isn’t much fun, which is particularly disappointing given how perfect everything else is in Element.

The ability to grind previously explored areas to improve skills and equipment is essential for all but the most dextrous players, and those with an MFi joypad will find it preferable to the onscreen controls, which while competent do sometimes let you down in the heat of battle. It’s game of the year material for fans of twitch action.

FromSoftware’s first VR game is full of interesting ideas but very little entertainment, with frustrating storytelling and tiresome puzzles.

A terrible idea poorly realised, with a mixture of pretentious, gimmicky storytelling and banal combat that is almost awe-inspiring in the full extent of its incompetence.

One of the best Switch ports so far, both technically and in terms of how handheld mode enhances and compliments the original gameplay.

A no-thrills arcade racer that straddles the line between nostalgic throwback and outdated curio, and while fun in short doses it quickly loses its novelty.