Its networks of straights, curves, bridges, tunnels, crossovers, and track-ending buffers take a fair bit of highly engaging experimentation to fit around the terrain, its initial 10-second solution times rapidly giving way to 10-minute head scratchers.

There does come a point where frustration sets in, the randomly assigned ingredients making it hard to predict exactly what you’re cooking, which makes filling in the last few pages of the game’s cookery book an unnecessary chore, but for a bit of knockabout kitchen-centric fun, its first few hours remain highly entertaining.

Not the most ambitious Monster Hunter expansion there’s ever been but it’s still able to introduce a host of new creatures and features to the always engaging formula.

It’s relatively short but Cuphead’s long-awaited DLC does not disappoint, with some incredibly well orchestrated boss battles that look more amazing than ever.

Another visually spectacular Arc System Works fighter that is both surprisingly accessible and full of hidden depth and clever ideas.

Brilliantly replicates the thrill of driving this year’s F1 cars and even the cynical F1 Life, and it’s awful microtransactions, can’t spoil the excitement.

A competent but flawed compilation of the four best Sonic the Hedgehog games, which adds a half-hearted modern twist to the classic games.

A good quality compilation of some of Capcom’s more overlooked fighting games, although there are a few filler titles and some unfortunate omissions.

Fire Emblem should be the perfect partner for Dynasty Warriors style action, but this incompetently made crossover squanders its potential on trite fan service and hollow gameplay.

A successful tribute to F-Zero and WipEout where going fast never stops being fun. Its surprisingly meaty career mode more than justifies the price tag but it may struggle to win over more casual racing enthusiasts.

A stylish and brilliantly designed blend of first person shooter and platformer, which nails the compelling and addictive chase for the perfect run.

A lovingly crafted retro homage, made with skill and obvious affection for the source material – but there’s very little attempt at innovation and little to interest non-fans playing on their own.

The best and most balanced Mario Strikers title yet, undercut by limited modes and a lacklustre sense of progression.

With its gorgeous Studio Ghibli artwork and charmingly offbeat dialogue translation, Ni No Kuni makes its way to mobile. Sadly, that’s the end of the good news, because Cross Worlds features all the worst things about modern mobile gaming.

It’s no Age of Empires, but is a well designed and addictive take on the genre with a generous campaign and online multiplayer modes.

The hack, slash, and loot world of Diablo is brilliantly re-engineered for a small screen but the fun, initial progression is offset by a grinding endgame and/or eye-wateringly costly microtransactions.

It’s noticeably harder precision aiming sniper rifles, giving shorter range fully automatic guns an advantage, but its roster of 10 legends unlocks more quickly than it did on PC and console, and matches have the requisite speed and tension. A solid start.

Blow up cars, send people flying, jump off tall structures, and do your best to combat the terrible controls just enough to fulfil each level’s litany of objectives. Goat Simulator’s re-emergence on Apple Arcade is identical to the original release, offering its peculiar demolition-orientated delights to a new generation.

A wonderfully unique historical adventure whose seemingly simple gameplay is made wonderfully tense by artful presentation and a sharp script.

A charming, atmospheric indie game with some enjoyably imaginative puzzles and evocative visuals, whose only real flaw is a lack of longevity.

A well executed and impressively detailed mix of Metroidvania exploration, Soulslike combat, and role-playing style customisation that’s marred only by its demanding controls.

More highly addictive Nazi cranium popping, that improves almost every aspect of the experience – especially in terms of the open world and expanded weapon options.

A complex, vampire-centric role-playing game where conversations replace violence, but whose boring puzzles and undercooked script suggest its budget didn’t stretch nearly as far as its ambitions.

A loving homage to the Evil Dead franchise, but it’s a series that doesn’t particularly suit the 4 vs. 1 concept, with shallow combat and too little variety.

A stylish blend of rhythm action and dungeon crawler that misses a beat when it comes to satisfying gunplay.

It feels more like a long lost SNES game than a modern action role-player but that’s clearly the point in this charming, if insubstantial, prelude to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

Another impressive attempt at a 2D Soulsborne but a less entertaining game than Salt And Sanctuary, with some frustrating combat that doesn’t always feel entirely fair.

The absence of clues and the plethora of places where words overlap provide a decent challenge right from the start, and there’s plenty of free content to try before you have to spring for the full game. It’s not Wordle but it is a fun alternative for those seeking a new challenge.

It looks nice, but there’s absolutely nothing going on underneath the veneer, apart from collecting currencies to perform upgrades that let you continue fighting more identical battles, while the game patiently tries to hawk its microtransactions.

It’s an impressive achievement given the game’s inherent complexity but, especially on a phone screen, battles are fiddly, with the job of highlighting and dragging units rendered inaccurate by the size of your thumbs compared with your microscopically small fighting men and cavalry. The less time pressured diplomatic elements work far better.

There’s no time pressure and the gentle soundtrack lends it a mellow pace that in no way undermines its challenge or the feel good nature of its puzzles.

Battles are initially a walkover, almost never resulting in a loss, the only limit to your raiding being time and patience. The issue is that unlimited battles swiftly reveal the limitations of its game design, with ennui setting in far earlier than in the more polished Supercell titles that inspire it.

The attempts to mirror the cinema of Akira Kurosawa work on a visual level but the story and gameplay are so empty and repetitive this barely works as a homage, let alone an engaging game in its own right.

An absorbing mix of tabletop inspirations and sci-fi storytelling, that makes for one of the most unique and well-written games of the year.

A muddled reimagining of the groundbreaking Wii Sports, with an unwarranted focus on online play and new game additions that are never as much fun as the originals.

A bad idea poorly realised and while the original coin-op retains its campy charm this remake is rendered pointless by the unsatisfying controls and glitchy performance.

It hasn’t aged particularly well, and there are serious technical issues with the remaster, but the sequel to Chrono Trigger is still one of the original PlayStation’s best Japanese role-players.

A delightful and hugely entertaining journey of puzzles, battles, and exploration that makes you feel a part of both its story and the living, breathing, miniaturised world of Moss.

A wonderfully enthusiastic love letter to Lego, Star Wars, and video games in general, that goes above and beyond the call of duty in terms of the scale of the adventure, the attention to detail, and the sheer volume of content.

A reskinned Borderlands 3 that would’ve been much better off as an expansion, given it’s too short to justify the outrageously high price tag and too long to hide the lack of variety and new ideas.

An appealing riff on the Pokémon role-playing formula which, while a little too safe, has enough small deviations and improvements to justify its existence.

Despite some of the same minds behind Dishonored being involved, this top-down immersive doesn’t live up to its soaring ambitions and often struggles to entertain.

Unleashing the full, terrifying complexity of a PC-based grand strategy game on console is a Herculean task, which Crusader Kings 3 manages with deftness and aplomb.

One of the best Kirby games ever made and while the formula hasn’t changed as much as it first seems it’s also one of the most enjoyable co-op titles of recent years.

Rarely has such a big budget game been based on such a thin gameplay premise, with this bafflingly dull first person action adventure that begins to run out of steam by the end of the tutorial level.

If it wasn’t for the change in graphics this would get an unequivocal recommendation and even with that issue, we can’t imagine anyone that already enjoys Mario Kart 8 not thinking this isn’t worth getting as well.

Enjoyable Souls-lite combat can’t make up for the tedious loot system and laughably bad storytelling, in this misconceived Final Fantasy spin-off.

Old school adventure sensibilities and an expertly-designed puzzle box world combine in this charming and engaging indie gem.

The 60fps option improves the gameplay to a small degree but, almost a decade later, it’s not the graphics or the story that impresses the most in GTA 5, but the open world design. It’s the one element that is beyond criticism and while it is beginning to seem a little old-fashioned compared to newer titles like Zelda: Breath Of The Wild and Elden Ring it’s still lightyears ahead of any of its would-be rivals.

The first post-season pass DLC is a substantial slab of new plot, gear, and abilities but never anything more than that. If you loved the base game, this is a lot more of exactly the same.

A remarkable comeback for the franchise, with a redesigned game engine and control overhaul making for a very entertaining experience.

It’s mildly engaging, and you can call in friends to help if boss encounters get sticky, but other than the usual compulsion of role-playing style levelling up, it’s pretty forgettable.

Games can go on for quite a while, but it’s a rewardingly tactical process and later victories especially can feel like genuine achievements against the odds.

Its ecological message is delivered with finesse and charm, and the hour or so its nine chapters will take you to complete is rarely less than enchanting.

Favouring smaller, more scripted levels than its forebear, you’ll once again need to bump off targets while preventing your handiwork from being noticed by security. That means engineering ‘accidents’ by shooting pieces of scenery or gunning down targets where their bodies will fall conveniently out of sight. While still entertaining, PvP contests often seem as though you’re playing a bot rather than a human and the whole package feels a shade less compelling than the original, which is currently available for 49p.

Between the mountains of paid content and limited range of things to do, you can’t shrug the sense of stultifying pointlessness in a game that’s not really a game at all.

With myriad graphical touches, from the creepy crawlies that infest many levels to your character’s tiny, bloody footprints as she wanders away from the scene of a battle, it’s clearly a labour of love.

Not only the worst game Platinum has ever made but one of the worst live service titles of any kind, with an especially disgusting attitude towards microtransactions.

A visual novel that offers the occasional diversion into some engaging turn-based strategy but would’ve been infinitely better if it had curtailed it’s long-winded storytelling aspirations.

A highly original, dark gothic thriller whose lack of compromises will restrict its audience but are hard not to admire.

A perfunctory kart racing spin-off that has a few unique charms but falls well short of its far superior competition.

Making full use of PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller to convey an incredibly deep and satisfying driving model, everything from weather to reflected sound effects have been modelled to perfection – making Gran Turismo 7 easily the world’s most complete driving game.

Although its addition of plot and characters doesn’t quite work the racing action is as thrilling as ever, with a huge diversity of vehicles and the compelling handling fans have come to expect from the series.

An impossibly ugly attempt at a faux retro 2D shooter that thankfully plays better than it looks, but still feels like a mostly wasted opportunity.

A masterful blend of Dark Souls and Zelda: Breath Of The Wild that makes high demands of its players and yet still remains surprisingly accessible and adaptable.

Less a reboot of a forgotten NES game and more a sub-par clone of Dead Cells, where the gorgeous visuals cannot hide the mediocre gameplay.

There’s still room for improvement but this is the best King Of Fighters has been for many years, with enough new features to please both veterans and newcomers.

An inspired ending to the Warhammer trilogy that rather than just adding new factions makes a host of clever additions and changes to the gameplay and structure, in what is one of the great achievements in modern strategy gaming.

A solid sequel to the crowd-pleasing original, which still doesn’t make enough of its unique setting but manages to add an impressive amount of depth to its combat and side content.

A bright and breezy revamp which builds on OlliOlli’s established mechanics with an abundance of personality and reverence for skateboarding culture.

Each garden is its own discrete puzzle, that takes tapping and experimentation to pick apart, clearing the way for your feline hero to make his way across the next hedge. Lovely hand drawn artwork and a piano soundtrack complement its mediative pace.

It’s nostalgic fun to start with, but you quickly reach a stage where currencies pile up so slowly that you either have to spend actual money or leave it alone for half-days at a time. Despite its high production values, there’s just too little to do.

Gradually unlock and research new weapons and armour to support your increasingly testing forays, in a game that takes some getting used to, but rewards dedication with challenging and complex stop motion battles.

As a straight action game the core combat is elegant and original but the roguelite structure makes the already mountainous difficulty just too much to bear.

A little rough around the edges, especially in terms of the storytelling, but the interminable wait for this open world zombie sequel has been worth it.

Uncharted 4 is one of the best action adventure games ever made but this remaster does so little to improve the experience it doesn’t feel like anything other than a cynical cash grab.

There’s still a lot of room for improvement but this is easily the best Pokémon game for several years and a positive new direction that the mainline games would be wise to follow.

An absorbing, tactical three-person co-op game that does well to expand the Rainbow Six gameplay into a more fantastical setting.

An admirable refresh of a cult classic, with excellent presentation and thoughtfully implemented new mechanics, but it’s held back by its reluctance to modernise in other areas.

Despite the huge variety of moves and characters, this disappointing follow-up to Guacamelee is let down by mindless combat and bland dungeon design.

Kratos looks better than ever in this welcome PC port of one of the best action adventures of the outgoing generation.

Motion Twin’s winning take on 2D Metroidvania roguelikes is kept alive by another excellent DLC expansion.

Multiplayer is still about who has the better car, limiting its playability, but the single-player mode is excellent.

Featuring Buzz Lightyear, Elsa from Frozen, Wreck-it Ralph, Mickey Mouse, Moana, Maleficent, and others, more characters are due this year. It’s a solid start, and provided matchmaking remains this easy, a promising one.

Naturally, it still suffers the same flaws in terms of storytelling and pacing as the console originals, but with all three pieces of DLC included the exceptional value for money makes it hard to resist.

An obvious labour of love that finally provides a full release for one of the best looking 2D arcade games ever made, although it’d be wrong to paint it as a lost classic in terms of gameplay.

Praey For The Gods attempts to do far too much with obviously limited resources and the end result is a buggy, frustrating chore that at no point comes to close to doing anything as well as Shadow Of The Colossus, let alone bettering it. Like a bad pub tribute band, its only real accomplishment is making you appreciate the original even more.

Too familiar, too easy, and too short but if you’re looking for an undemanding time waster on Game Pass you can certainly do worse than The Gunk.

Shovel Knight’s first spin-off is just as good as his mainline games, with a clever take on tile-matching puzzlers that offers an enjoyably unique challenge.

A genre hybrid that turns repetitive loop grinding into one of the most uniquely addictive gaming experiences of the year, with surprisingly few caveats.

The low budget is obvious throughout but the game is clearly trying its best, with a great gameplay experience and an impressive array of options and licences.

When you factor in the £25 price tag, Big Brain Academy: Brain Vs. Brain could be considered a no-brainer, if you’re after a decent party game that’s suitable for everyone. However, the lack of new mini-games and disappointing online features does make this franchise comeback feel more cynical and lazy than it should.

The bizarrely structured and frequently uninteresting story campaign threatens to undermine the multiplayer, but this is still easily the best Halo has been for over a decade.

An extremely solid space combat simulator that struggles in terms of storytelling, and doesn’t entirely justify its open world approach, but still offers an enjoyably unique experience.

An excellent console port of a deep, impressively addictive, and very amusing, sandbox megalomaniac simulator.

An excellent sci-fi platformer with exquisite art design and sublime traversal mechanics, which finds distinctive ground among its obvious inspirations.

A colourful and good-humoured 3D retread of 1990s point ‘n’ click adventures that despite the odd innovation suffers from the same frustrations and limitations as its ancient forebears.

A charming paid-for addition to New Horizons that doesn’t feel exploitative even as it comes off the back of one of the best free updates in recent gaming history.