The original SNES classic deserves better than this overpriced and undercooked remake, which fails to recreate the original’s ‘90s charm.

It won’t be for everyone, for various reasons, but if nothing else Kingdom Come proves that a role-playing game doesn’t have to rely on fantasy to keep you interested.

Dynasty Warriors finally gets the overhaul it’s long been waiting for… and while it addresses a few old problems it creates just as many new ones.

A fantastic sequel and one of the greatest action games ever made, and now available on a format that people actually own.

A superbly crafted 2D adventure that is a near perfect blend of new and old influences, in terms of both gameplay and the stunning visuals and music.

A knowing tribute to some of the greats of action gaming, and a highly competent 2D shooter in its own right.

A very worthwhile expansion of the venerable strategy game, whose new features seem a natural, and surprisingly realistic, extension of the original game.

A surprisingly successful mash-up between two completely different franchises, whose quiet charms offer a welcome alternative to incessant action and overbearing storytelling.

It definitely looks the part, and the striking is excellent, but stodgy controls and a weak ground game makes this far from the ultimate MMA game.

A hugely impressive achievement in interactive storytelling, that tackles difficult subjects head-on but still manages to be life-affirming and relatable.

The Final Fantasy crossover gimmick almost feels like a distraction in what remains a uniquely innovative, but also frustratingly flawed, fighting game.

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 best indie platformer since Super Meat Boy, but also one of the best storytelling experiences of recent years – with an incisive and thoughtful portrayal of mental illness.

A stunning recreation of one of gaming’s most enduring classics, and what remains a towering example of the art of interactive entertainment.

The Room series offers players tactile, faux-Victorian puzzles that involve opening up wood and brass contraptions to reveal crank handles, sculptures with star-shaped bases, and devices that happen to be just the right angle to connect two recently-discovered apertures. Unlike The Room 2, which came over all Myst and had you spending a significant chunk of your time wandering back and forth, this goes back to its roots with a much more compact experience, revolving around the rooms of a single doll’s house. It does nothing to innovate and is relatively short-lived, but it’s enormously engaging while it lasts.

Ported from a PC game, Antihero has you building and running a thieves’ guild in Olde England. Taking turns with a computer or human foe, your job is to earn gold and lanterns, the two currencies you need to upgrade your thievery HQ and recruit new ne’er-do-wells to do your bidding. Splitting your time between scouting new premises, occupying useful buildings, burglary and assassination, you grow your criminal empire whilst craftily side-lining the opposition. The game’s multiple interlocking systems supplying a complex set of tactical options to exploit in your quest for infamy.

When the local parish church won’t absolve you of immoral acts committed elsewhere, you need to re-commit each of the seven deadly sins within the bounds of its diocese. So begins this work of delightful absurdity that brings together baroque music, Renaissance painting, and the spirit of Monkey Island; in a point and click adventure that feels like being stuck in an interactive Terry Gilliam animation. Its puzzles are not sophisticated, and the multiple fourth-wall-breaking references and meta-jokes won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but picking your way through cheerfully animated Hieronymus Bosch canvasses never loses its charm.

If you’ve played other Michael Brough games, like Imbroglio or 868-HACK, the details of Cinco Paus may come as less of a shock to the system. It’s a fabulously complex and deep turn-based strategy game revolving around the use of five magic wands, each of which has complementary powers and limited uses. Discovering how they work and what each system does is left entirely up to you, because the game is only available in Portuguese and does not have English subtitles, making discovering its rules through a series of hard-won Eureka moments, fascinating and daunting in equal measure.

You’re Rock Gunar, sole survivor of your unit and last bulwark against the extraterrestrial onslaught in this Aliens sentry-gun simulator. Illuminated by the flickering muzzle flash of your gun and the explosions generated by grenades, Molotov cocktails, and one highly combustible species of alien, your job is to aim high or low to take out herds of xenomorphs advancing along the floor, walls, and ceiling. It’s all a little bit mindless, but the upgrade path has a satisfying grind to it, and the chiptunes and faux 16-bit pixel art style are a winning combination.

Most of the time when games overlap with art, the result is whimsical rather than fun. The delicious multi-layered puzzle you’re presented with in Gorogoa is quite an exception. It tells the wordless story of a boy’s quest to find a fantastic beast, via the usual collector’s set of glowing orbs. This time though, you interact with the game by rearranging four on-screen frames, panning, zooming, and playing with perspective until you wheedle out the solution to each of its mysterious and beautifully drawn scenarios, in a process that’s entirely unique.

As twin stick shooters go, Jydge, whose in-game blanket replacement of ‘U’s with ‘Y’s is never adequately addressed, is definitely on the more subtle end. As well as administering hot leaden justice to criminals, you’ll also need to collect evidence, ‘confiscate’ cash, and rescue civilians; whilst doing your best not to let them get on the business end of stray rounds. With sizeable upgrade trees covering your gun, armour, and special weapons – and levels of polish commensurate with its console roots – Jydge is an entertaining, refined and eventually extremely challenging jaunt through an alternative approach to the legal profession.

Old school JRPG fans will find much to enjoy here, but the refusal to innovate does more harm than good for the genre’s reputation.

The best Monster Hunter so far, and already one of the most compelling multiplayer games of the year – with an elegant balance between depth, difficulty, and accessibility.

An uneven mix of the overfamiliar and the surprisingly inspired, but the gorgeous graphics alone make this a Metroidvania to remember.

One of the most technically impressive PlayStation VR games so far but a disappointingly drab and unfocused prequel to Until Dawn, that takes itself far too seriously.

A dream come true for Dragon Ball fans, but also a highly competent fighting game that is a front runner for the best fighter of the generation.

A fantastically well-designed and presented roguelike, that makes your heroes’ mental health just as important as their physical well-being.

Despite all the controversy Street Fighter V was always a great fighting game, but as unearned as some of the criticism might have been the Arcade Edition silences it once and for all. It’s still not quite the milestone Street Fighter IV was, but it is certainly one of the best one-on-one fighting games of this generation in terms of gameplay, online features, and now – at last – content.

A perfectly competent Advance Wars clone, but until the free multiplayer DLC turns up it’s only the half the game it should be.

Indie gaming at its retro-loving best, with some of the most cunningly-designed and purposefully infuriating 2D gameplay ever seen.

A great sequel that refines and improves the original prison break format with more variety, better graphics, and some fun multiplayer.

An inventive and fun rhythm action game that keeps the genre alive through the unlikely medium of breakdancing.

Another highly compromised VR remaster, that offers one of the best open world experiences so far and yet still manages to feel deeply flawed as it does so.

PUBG is one of the best multiplayer experiences of the generation, and this is the best version of it so far – even if it’s still a work in progress.

It might not be as funny as Portal but the puzzles are almost as inventive, in this contrived but entertaining crossover.

The episode itself has its weak points, but it’s still a successfully heart-rending finale to one of the great storytelling achievements in gaming.

PUBG is one of the best multiplayer experiences of the generation, and as technically flawed as this Xbox One version currently is that fact still shines through. [Early Access Score = 70]

The fact that we can still be surprised by such a long-running series is one of the best things we can say about the game and its DLC.

It takes just under three hours to get through and we have to say we thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it does come across as slightly inconsequential.

Still one of the most beautiful video games ever created, not to mention the best Zelda game that never was.

As inessential as most story DLC tends to be, but despite a few unwanted encores this is still an entertaining, if unnecessary, story expansion.

After many uninspired titles, Assassin’s Creed Origins is bigger, prettier and, quite frankly, more fun than any other game in the series so far. It helps, of course, that Cleopatra’s Egypt is a fascinating place that begs to be discovered. Who wouldn’t want to climb the pyramids?

A distinctly unambitious expansion that adds nothing meaningful to the parent game except a very short, and mostly dull, new story campaign.

A hugely entertaining 3D platformer that channels the imagination and unpredictability of older games without becoming a prisoner to the past.

At times it feels like a reanimated corpse itself, but as mindless and predictable as it may be Dead Rising 4 can still offer hours of inoffensively dumb entertainment.

A gripping mix of survival horror and existential science fiction storytelling, which is notably improved by an optional new safe mode.

An inspired effort to try and make Doom work in VR, but the limited control options on PlayStation VR leave the action feeling clumsy and frustrating.

In some ways a backwards step from its immediate predecessor, but this is still a fascinatingly complex Japanese role-player with the best open world since Breath Of The Wild.

A good value expansion for what is both one of the most imaginative puzzle games of the year and one of the best co-op experiences.

A superior Resident Evil spin-off that manages to mix old school horror and more modern combat better than almost any other entry in the series.

The Animal Crossing formula is pared down almost to the point of inanity on smartphones, as the cynically-contrived microtransactions leave a bitter taste.

A great remaster of a forgotten almost-classic, but most of its flaws were already obvious 18 years ago and this does little to improve any of them.

It’s got toddlers, swimming pools, and all the recent updates, but what this otherwise promising console port lacks is a sensible control scheme.

A serious attempt to get the whole of Skyrim working in VR, but the compromises in terms of graphics and controls are considerable.

Still arguably the best detective game, and an impressively ambitious example of adult storytelling – despite a few structural and narrative flaws.

Even without any new content the portability is enough of a draw to enthral veteran players all over again, while anyone new to the series will wonder how they ever did without it.

A solid online shooter ruined by thoughtless corporate greed, whose malign practises could damage the whole of gaming if they are not kept in check.

An excellent new version of the smash hit multiplayer game, that takes a simple premise and turns it into one of the best competitive arcade games of the generation.

The best Pokémon game ever just got slightly better, with an even more expansive endgame and some welcome, if trivial, new tweaks and additions.

One of the best Lego games of the entire series, with a dizzying array of bizarre characters and some genuinely compelling gameplay for younger players.

The best new Football Manager in several years, and although the improvements are still minor they create a more nuanced and realistic experience than ever before.

A sloppy port but this is still the best SoulsBorne clone out there, with plenty of unique ideas of its own and some of the best combat of the generation.

The worst Need For Speed game of the modern era, that leaves no stone unturned in its attempts to make itself as boring, repetitive, and exploitative as possible.

A seemingly impossible port is carried off surprisingly gracefully, with the old school shooter action working very well as a handheld game.

Bland, boring, and badly made – returning to the bad old days of low rent mascot platformers is not a good way to demonstrate the power of the Xbox One X.

Whoever this shoddily made platformer is meant to please it won’t be those that like Sonic Mania, or any of the better 3D Sonic games.

A generous expansion that through its stunning visuals and inspired creature design showcases the best features of the original, even if it doesn’t fix many of its flaws.

The best Call Of Duty for several years, but it still owes too much to the past – and the campaign’s attempts at a more serious tone are only half successful.

One of the oddest sequels of all time, which removes one of the series’ most interesting features and adds almost nothing in return.

An even better game than the original, whose innocuous visuals hide a tense and unpredictable survival horror of surprising potency.

PC gamers needn’t worry they missed the first game, as the superior sequel’s endless loops of addiction feel far more honest and rewarding than the flawed original.

A missed opportunity to reinvent the Assassin’s Creed franchise, which offers only incremental improvement and too many old problems.

Some of the most fearless and idiosyncratic storytelling ever seen in a video game, married to one of the most viciously entertaining shooters of the generation.

A joyful celebration - and evolution - of the Super Mario series, that encapsulates all the fun and creativity of video gaming at its very best.

It’s more an unofficial Castlevania game than a movie tie-in, but if you can handle the high difficultly level this is an effective substitute for the real thing.

More frustrating because of the things it gets right than the blindingly obviously problems with bugs, a dull career mode, and a strange new loot box system.

A director’s cut that for once makes a significant difference, with new levels and the return of co-op – although the underlying game is still slightly flawed.

One of the best Life Is Strange episodes so far, with more earnest and relatable character work and some impressive branching storytelling.

Arguably the best Gran Turismo ever in terms of the driving, and definitely in terms of the graphics, but a lack of content keeps it from getting up to top speed.

Fire Emblem has the potential to make a great partner, but this badly made and painfully simplistic crossover is as disappointingly dumb as all the other Dynasty Warriors games.

The real question here is why Rebellion has bothered to remaster the game at all. If it’s a first step towards releasing more 2000 AD adaptations then we’re all for it, but viewed on its own merits this is the same mediocre shooter it was more than a decade ago. For fans of the character it is at least a faithful adaptation, but viewed as anything else but fan service its thrill-power is far from zarjaz.

A worse game than the already flawed original, whose poorly crafted action is as ineffective as its clichéd attempts at horror.

A complicated game to score. It’s a mechanically-superior sequel in every way, with more robust combat mechanics, mini-games, and puzzles populating the reference-stuffed open world. But there’s a nagging feeling the extended length and focus on combat has come at the expense of a memorable story. It’s still an essential play for fans of the show, and role-playing nuts will greatly appreciate the surprising amount of depth, but a South Park game propped up by its game mechanics is perhaps the most unlikely twist you’ll find here.

Not the deepest wilderness survival game in terms of gameplay, but certainly one of the most atmospheric and thought-provoking.

Definitely one of the lesser Lego titles, and yet still a fun co-op game with plenty of charm – and more new ideas than many of is stablemates.

Although it would’ve seemed madness a decade or so ago the complaint that a video game is just too long, or overstuffed with features, is becoming increasingly common. Some developers just don’t seem to know when to say no, and Shadow Of War is a prime example of a game that would’ve been a lot more entertaining as a shorter, leaner experience. Less features, rather than more, would’ve been better, and we’re not just talking about the loot boxes.

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

A hugely entertaining 3D platformer that channels the imagination and unpredictability of older games without becoming a prisoner to the past.

The best farming sim ever finds its ideal home on the Switch, with gameplay and hardware that complement each other perfectly.

The Layton legacy continues with an endearing new lead and lots of new puzzles, but relatively few new ideas.

A fantastically charming mix of golf sim and role-playing game, that smooths over its rough edges with its irreverent humour and wild imagination.

A surprisingly effort-filled remake of the first Mario & Luigi, which retains the same amusing script as before but revamps the graphics and presentation.

Despite borrowing so much from so many different games Capcom’s Western style role-player remains very much its own game – with plenty of interesting ideas of its own.

A better Gran Turismo game than the real thing, with stunning graphics and mountains of content – although the use of loot crates and limited-use mods is worrying.

Probably the best portable football game there’s ever been, but it’s not really FIFA 18 and the limited online options drastically limit its appeal.

A stunning work of imagination, with a collection of high quality boss battles to rival any other in gaming – and a difficultly level that’s equally hard to beat.

The Danganronpa formula feels like it’s starting to get a little stale, but it still manages to pose interesting moral quandaries with a large dose of black humour and anime style weirdness.

One of the best computer role-playing games ever, with such a level of complexity and flexibility it’s difficult to believe it exists, let alone that it could ever be bettered.