One of the best Aliens games ever made and a clever and innovative real-time strategy all of its own, that needs just a bit more polish and a lot less bugs.

A glorious looking and warm-hearted adventure in modern healthcare, let down by tedious mini-games, bugs, and lengthy conversations that often go nowhere.

Another cutting edge F1 simulator, with a great single-player story mode and a more accessible range of options and modes than ever before.

It has quite a lot of substance, and plenty of new units to unlock, as well as complex interactions between their various powers and attributes.

The shape of its isometric puzzles may be reminiscent of Monument Valley, but it lacks that game’s inventiveness and refinement, its intrinsic clumsiness imposing upon the difficulty.

Coming complete with all its manifold vehicles, levels, and customisation options, it’s horribly grindy but stripped of its microtransactions at least not actively unfair.

Decades of sub-par copycats haven’t dulled the appeal of Puzzle Bobble and while there’s too few new ideas this is an effective reboot for what remains a classic match-three puzzler.

The last great Katamari game and in terms of everything but the soundtrack the better game of the two, even if the novelty barely stretches across two titles.

The best Amnesia game since The Dark Descent and a welcome spiritual successor to Alien Isolation, that makes darkness more terrifying than any video game before it.

A fascinating retro shooter that proves a perfect match for the world of Warhammer 40,000 but whose almost complete lack of nuance and variety eventually wears you down.

Three old school JRPGs that are so perversely old-fashioned they force you to draw your own map - and yet they’re surprisingly captivating and fully deserving of this welcome remaster collection.

A fan-pleasing sequel that makes effective use of its new open world structure and some welcome nuance in the storytelling and character customisation.

A far better launch experience than its predecessor, with an excellent fighting system and a wide range of options and features that transcend the usual genre traditions.

Not the high-end remake that some fans would have been hoping for but even as a, at times, too faithful remaster this is a fascinating second look at one of gaming’s great unsung heroes.

Broken beyond belief but also a fundamentally bad idea for a video game, with inanely shallow and repetitive gameplay - Gollum is not only the worst mainstream game of the year but of the last two generations.

A disappointing attempt to ape the magic of Inside and Limbo, which despite some of the best visuals of the year suffers from unimaginative puzzle design and storytelling.

The offensive microtransactions aren’t a surprise but the tedious open world structure obscures what is a surprisingly nuanced and technical arcade racer.

Whatever your views, it’s a monumental piece of game development and well worth a look, even if just to marvel at the high budget window dressing and wallow in its manifold, blissful absurdities. [Review in Progress]

A fantastically clever puzzler that would be perfectly welcome if it was just a 3D Lemmings clone, but it soon evolves into something far more imaginative and unpredictable.

A charmingly narrated VR puzzle game, with some interesting mechanics, but it’s let down by mechanical difficulties and occasionally insufficient signposting.

An excellent sequel and one of the best Zelda games ever made. A follow-up that builds upon and refines the achievements of the original, while adding many new and equally innovative ideas of its own.

Its touch controls work well enough for the button mashing and occasional dodges the game requires, although fighting your way through areas that previous runs failed to complete, long after you’ve collected all the loot they have to offer, is as tedious as it sounds.

Even though this has the feel of a game originally built for freemium, and later converted to being genuinely free for Apple Arcade, it manages to be reasonably challenging, your upgrades sincerely needed to progress through its levels. It’s also the only game we’ve come across where you can level up the protagonist’s hairstyle. There’s not much punishment for dying, other than having to replay the current map, but its exceptional level of polish and a clearly talented art department make it a tempting distraction.

As is traditional, the opening hours provide rapid upgrades, before slowing things down to encourage you to spend money. You and your alliance will also regularly find yourself at the mercy of bullying, big spending whales, but at least you’re not forced to watch any ads.

The latest in a franchise that dates back to before the original PlayStation, Worms WMD fortunately eschews the series’ dreadful flirtation with 3D, returning to its good old 2D roots, and adding a fair few twists of its own.

It works really well on a touchscreen, letting you dip in for a bit of mayoral action wherever you happen to be. It may only take a few days to occupy most of the available space in your starter city, but the map itself is vast, letting you experiment with different conurbations across its varied terrain.

A solid sequel to one of the best roguelike games of recent years, that personalises the conflict against Lovecraftian madness while adding to the original’s compelling turn-based battles.

A massive and complex fantasy themed 4X strategy game, made appealingly straightforward thanks to its cleverly refined interface.

A pared back turn-based strategy that successfully replicates the action of XCOM but is so lacking in originality and variety it feels like half the game it could have been.

Immersive sim meets four-player co-op in this vampire themed first person shooter that features competent gunplay but a lack of ingenuity in its challenges.

The best Pokémon clone by a significant margin and arguably a more enjoyable experience than the more recent 3D games, with some clever new ideas and fantastic visuals.

A 90s style JRPG with dungeon exploration, random monster encounters, and a penchant for crafting, whose rough and ready production values undermine its comforting milieu.

A small but welcome improvement on Fallen Order, that offers little in the way of originality but does have some of the best lightsaber fights and Soulslite action this side of the Outer Rim.

An exceptionally pretty slice of DLC that does nothing to address the faults of the main game but does manage to emphasise its many successes, especially the graphics.

An excellent remake of one of the best strategy games of all time, that is as accessible and versatile as an action game but has some of the most deceptively deep tactical combat ever seen in a console release.

A surprisingly lean and mean sequel which amplifies the bloody thrills of the original through its impressive presentation and flexible mechanics.

A failed attempt to turn Minecraft into a real-time strategy game, that goes out of its way to be as shallow as possible and is made worse by fiddly controls and terrible AI.

A welcome reminder of an unfairly forgotten franchise, but while Battle Network is an ingenious and fun action role-player it is possible to have too much of a good thing.

A loving homage to 16-bit classic Flashback but despite some fun visuals the clumsy controls and combat could have done with a bit more modernisation.

As with the main game, our fears that the more generic control system would undermine the appeal of the original have proven unfounded and the remake of The Mercenaries is great fun and makes the whole package seem like even better value for money than before, with enormous replayability for a single-player game. We can only hope that Capcom doesn’t get greedy with DLC – at least not for anything that was in the original version – but either way The Mercenaries only makes a great game even better.

Slick, high-tech, and impeccably well designed; this is the best golf game of the modern era and the new standard for others to aspire to.

A prequel to Road 96, that adds skating mini-games but removes the procedural generation of the original – but it’s still engagingly written, and has a lot to say.

Although all the brass and wood are reminiscent of The Room series, puzzles here don’t involve as much physical tinkering, instead offering more cerebral challenges, getting you to unpick written and pictorial clues, connecting props spread across different parts of each room. It also makes imaginative use of your mobile’s accelerometer in a set of conundrums that can be pretty taxing. Fortunately, there’s a hint system, but for anyone who enjoys having their brain teased this will be a delight.

First released in 2009, the Apple Arcade version is unchanged, and remains a masterclass in minimalist touchscreen interface design, even if its slow pace and singular focus may put off adrenaline fans.

Like the recent and mostly terrible, Tomb Raider Reloaded, Mighty Doom uses the well-worn Archero template, this time to somewhat more interesting effect.

Each region’s effectively its own puzzle, and even in the training level it’s highly unlikely you’ll be able to complete all the goals, recycle your buildings, and take off in your airship on your first attempt. It’s got a meditative pace, but with so many possibilities to consider at each stage you’ll be glad of that.

The game is as compelling as ever, and this is an interesting opportunity to compare it with the TV show, but at launch this is one of the worst PC ports from any major publisher in a long while.

An entertaining and fiercely satirical evocation of a future corporate dystopia, that manages to be both genuinely funny and surprisingly varied in its gameplay.

Given it’s a free joke download, we’re not going to give The Murder Of Sonic The Hedgehog a score but we still recommend you try it out for yourself, be you a casual or diehard Sonic fan. Hopefully next year other publishers produce more April Fool’s gags of this quality and not just the usual tedious fake news.

An unlikeable, repetitive, and blandly designed clone of Payday that wastes its celebrity filled cast on an equally substandard script.

More up close and personal zombie slaying in post-apocalyptic New Orleans, retaining the original’s focus on exploration and crafting, and its relentlessly uninspiring combat.

One of the best post-Breath Of The Wild open world adventures, but while the game’s heavily influenced by Zelda it ultimately plumps for amiable exploration over more rugged adventure.

A solidly constructed VR roguelite that combines guns and magic for some memorable runs, even if its graphics and setting won’t be winning any awards.

A highly original puzzle game that turns the act of telling a story into an entertainingly convoluted process of logical deduction and amusing plot development.

A short but sweet VR romp that replicates the Peaky Blinders universe perfectly, even as it runs up against some of the intrinsic limitations of VR gaming on the Meta Quest 2. [Tested on Meta Quest 2]

More a reimagining than a straight remake but despite the difficulty of recapturing lighting in a bottle, this is both a loving tribute to the original Resident Evil 4 and a great game in its own right.

An improvement on last year’s already firm foundations, WWE 2K23 continues the franchise’s rebirth with steady improvements, beefed up game modes, and an epic recreation of WarGames.

A moderately entertaining on-rails action game that fails to learn anything from its predecessor Until Dawn: Rush Of Blood or indeed other, much older, lightgun games.

A peculiarly pitched spin-off that has almost nothing to interest Bayonetta fans and instead offers an Ōkami Lite experience that is so undemanding it almost seems to run on autopilot.

A brightly coloured, cel-shaded zombie shooting gallery, that feels a more solid package than the Oculus Quest original and successfully channels the simplistic fun of 90s lightgun games.

Whether Nintendo intendeds to reuse it for the inevitable Mario Kart 9 is impossible to say, but perhaps there might be some hint as to their future plans once the Booster Pass finally ends. Knowing Nintendo, they’ll more likely keep their secrets to the last moment but it really doesn’t matter because combined with all this DLC it’s difficult to imagine how anything could better Mario Kart 8.

Sometimes its pixel art graphics and relatively modest frame rate can make it hard to figure out what hit you, but its roguelite cycle of upgrades and unlocks soon exerts a powerful, benign addiction.

It’s got a really nice flow to it that gets more noticeable as you start to know the cards and what they do, which is handy as it also gets quite a bit trickier as you progress.

Conversation is witty and naturalistic, even if Taylor’s habit of sending alerts for every single phrase he utters can rapidly become an irritant rather than a draw.

Unfortunately, unlike Archero, it’s mind-numbingly dull and lacks any sort of compelling reason to continue drowning in its multiple currencies and lacklustre, microscopically incremental upgrade paths. There’s a genuinely free Netflix version that removes all the microtransactions, but it’s equally tedious.

A loving homage to Castlevania and another great slice of DLC for Dead Cells, with the two games working together in perfect harmony.

A disappointing follow-up to Nioh, that has most of its same qualities but, unfortunately, almost exactly the same flaws; with two few new ideas to make up for the lack of advancement.

A fun and accessible introduction to the world of Catan but technical failings and a lack of options mean it’s not quite the adaptation it could’ve been.

It’s unfair to criticise any game for being something it’s not, so instead we’ll say that this is another excellent implementation of VR technology by Hello Games and despite all the years that have passed No Man’s Sky has never been better, resulting in another must-have title for PlayStation VR2.

The real-time battles are better than ever but rather than being a highlight the main story campaign is a peculiarly dull experience, that exposes the lack of genuinely new ideas.

We say the game wasn’t designed with VR in mind but we’re not sure that’s true. Capcom already did an excellent job with the VR mode for Resident Evil 7, so we imagine they had support for Village in mind all along. If they didn’t then the sequence near the start, where you stumble through the snow in the dark, is, entirely by accident, one of the best VR experiences we’ve ever had. [Review in Progress]

A fascinating reimaging of an 80s classic that never quite existed, but as interestingly unique as it is, it lacks the elegant simplicity of its more famous stablemates.

An underserved remaster to an unremarkable 2D platformer, that was the primary reason why the soft reboot of Kirby And The Forgotten was necessary in the first place.

The mix of highbrow story concept and complex first person combat is certainly reminiscent of Bioshock, but this churlish homage has nowhere near the same nuance in terms of either plot or gameplay.

A welcome novelty and throwback for long-time Yakuza fans, that offers everything they love about the series, although it’s held back by a rather underwhelming plot and too much fan service.

Arguably the best Monster Hunter clone ever made and while it’s not quite as good as Capcom’s series it does have some unique and interesting ideas of its own – despite initial impressions to the contrary.

An effective tech demo but it struggles to be anything else, not least because for the majority of the time it’s just a fairly vanilla climbing simulator.

One of the best PlayStation exclusives of recent years is an inspired mix of bullet hell shooter and roguelike dungeon crawler, that somehow still feels like nothing else on console or PC.

An excellent remaster of one of the best games of its generation, that looks and plays so well you could easily mistake it for a modern game.

Despite the change in tone many things remain consistent, from Amanita’s trademark simple but infinitely expressive character design, to trial and error gameplay that has you tugging, pushing, and prodding things to solve puzzles, making this a perfect candidate for the move to mobile. It’s a brief experience, once you’ve figured out what you’re doing in each scene, but also an eerily atmospheric one.

Its physics works beautifully, but lobbing a bunch of ammo at stuff until it collapses and being rewarded with yet another un-earned 3-star victory soon feels a bit dull. Fewer levels, that actually encouraged you to think, would have been infinitely preferable.

An entertaining and well-designed mobile port.

Unfortunately, the lack of chain reactions and the fact that the game automatically selects chains for you gives it a dull, staccato feel. Combined with the stingy number of turns you get before having to wait for a recharge, Tumble Time utterly fails to live up to the joy of its visuals.

A truly wizard RPG, whose historical setting frees it from the limitations of the books and films, with an open world experience that entertains no matter how much you care about the source material.

A poignant, slow-paced but ultimately shallow exploration of memory and legacy in a changing world, that also manages to be the world’s first cycle-based walking simulator.

A very welcome surprise, that is one of the most enjoyably unique games on Xbox and one of the best rhythm action games in a very long time - as well as having arguably the best cel-shaded graphics ever seen.

A litany of missed opportunities results in one of the most aggravating action role-players of recent years, with irritating characters, dull combat, and a frustrating movement system.

An excellent remake of a not-quite-classic survival horror, that nevertheless makes a convincing argument for the continuation of the series.

A misguided attempt to recreate one of gaming’s oldest and most influential classics, that’s let down by outdated visuals and prehistoric gameplay elements.

What starts as a sweet and endearing homage to 90s gaming evolves into a sophisticated and, at times, dark exploration of two troubled youths, in one of the best indie games of the year.

A more traditional Fire Emblem experience than Three Houses, but one that’s filled with fun new features and emphasises deep and varied gameplay over dating mini-games.

Easily the best One Piece video game there’s ever been and a genuinely fun and innovative Japanese role-player in its own right.

Another great indie detective game that not only makes solving crimes fun and interesting but has some surprisingly good storytelling to tie everything together.

The best sequel to Chrono Trigger there’s never been, with a pseudo-Japanese role-player that maintains a delicate balance between retro homage and modern indie game.

One of the best story-based games of the year, with a complex mix of dystopian sci-fi, religious meditation, and a razor-sharp script.

A purposefully under-designed platformer that takes several cues from Pikmin but forges ahead with its own distinctive take on a platforming comfort game.

Fans of gripping mysteries and intriguing puzzles will love the eclectic storytelling, but not necessarily the pervy humour, in Kotaro Uchikoshi’s most fascinating oddity.

The best 2D shooter for several years and a fantastic homage to the genre, with some of the best pixel art graphics of the year.