A co-op action roguelite with simplistic, special move-based combat and some heroes that don’t quite pull their weight, which while fine in multiplayer is not satisfying enough to take on solo.

Solid realisations of some superb, underexposed games from the heyday of the 2D shooter genre, that illustrate the immediate legacy of R-Type and the coming of the Metal Slug games.

Solid realisations of some superb, underexposed games from the heyday of the 2D shooter genre, that illustrate the immediate legacy of R-Type and the coming of the Metal Slug games.

A clever remake of one of Japan’s favourite video games, with charming new visuals and just the right amount of modern upgrades.

An inspired mix of first person shooter, role-playing game, and survival horror that offers up one of the most compelling, and interactive, open world environments this generation.

A solid follow-up to the original, which offers a more appealing art style and interface, as well as an even greater variety of macabre murders to puzzle over.

The best-looking Lego game ever and the most fun Aloy and the rest of the Horizon Zero Dawn cast has ever been, in this cheerful but shallow spin-off.

Another immaculately researched and presented interactive museum by Digital Eclipse, but one that is missing too many important versions of the game to function in quite the way it’s intended.

Royale’s latest update has now had a month to bed-in, and it’s a welcome change. The two-tier battle pass has been slimmed down to one – the free version now considerably more generous – and the shards needed to buy evolutions are easier to come by. A fix for the game’s creaking clan wars system is presumably in the works, but this already feels like a big step in the right direction.

If you don’t mind splashing quite a bit of cash, this is a cracking old school adventure expertly refined for touchscreen.

Eventually you unlock a Vampire Survivors-alike mini-game that’s actually moderately entertaining, but the rest is a uniformly bland cash grab that is absolutely not worth your time.

Progress is sedate, and at launch it does have some balancing issues. It’s biggest problem though, is that if your opponent’s losing and quits, during what can be quite protracted matches, you get a smaller reward than if you’d simply lost, which feels unfair. Still, with Ninja Kiwi’s customary polish and attention to detail there’s a great deal of promise if it can retain a decent player-base.

A very clever spin-off that subverts your expectations about Tactics games by replicating the gameplay and visuals of Metal Slug through the medium of a fast-paced and surprisingly innovative strategy game.

There’s a lot of promise on display in Metro Awakening VR, but on PlayStation VR2 at least, it’s not yet in a playable state.

A welcome return for the Mario & Luigi franchise, that proves to be a more involved role-player than expected, even if it lacks the consistent humour and weird gameplay flourishes of previous games.

A deeply flawed attempt to combine survival horror with Devil May Cry style action, that tries to do a dozen things at once and succeeds at none of them.

Everything you could want from a theme park simulator, with a near endless collection of modes and options, and an endearingly cheerful tone and sense of humour.

One of the best Call Of Duty games in years, with one of the greatest campaigns in the franchise’s history, along with solid, if somewhat less ambitious, multiplayer and co-op modes.

The storytelling and characters are as dull as ever, but Horizon Zero Dawn remains one of the best open world experiences of the last gen and now looks better than ever.

A loving tribute to one of the grandaddies of survival horror and while the game feels random and abstruse compared to modern titles it’s still entertaining and surprisingly scary.

Despite a fantastic soundtrack and interesting characters, the game’s lack of player choice and clunky writing fails to live up to the gravitas of the series.

A triumphant return for BioWare, with a massive, action-intensive fantasy role-player, that combines a complex and intuitive fighting system with a great script and a glorious looking world to explore.

There is still a long way for me to go, and lots of areas Black Ops 6 can drop the ball from here. That’s even before we get to multiplayer and Zombies. All of that will come in our full review. However, often you get a ‘vibe’ for a good Call Of Duty game early on. A feeling that this could be one of the more important entries in the franchise. Right now, I’m starting to get the tingling. [Campaign Review]

An excellent twin-stick shooter that borrows liberally from the likes of Doom and Devil May Cry, to create a punishingly difficult but extremely rewarding arcade game.

It’s altogether too authentic to the rules of the film but despite its slow-motion gameplay and contrived scenarios it’s hard to imagine a better Quiet Place video game than this.

Not only one of the best VR experiences ever made but one of the best Batman games too, with a fantastically immersive simulation of the Dark Knight Detective, that’s just as good as the other Arkham games.

A fun mix of PS1 era horror nostalgia and Life Is Strange style emotional drama, that goes a little too light on the scares but is still a compelling mix of influences.

A competent remaster of one of Sonic’s better mainline outings comes bundled with an even better Shadow-centric adventure, that makes up for its short length with fantastic levels, tight controls, and fun new powers.