The best non-Tomb Raider game ever, as well as being one of the best value Xbox Live Arcade games of the year and a superbly designed co-op game.

Downloadable content done right, with excellent value for money and a high standard of new tracks that seem even more consistent than the main game.

A surprisingly good port of a purposefully old school computer role-player, that proves even the most PC of games can work on consoles.

A brave game indeed as it attempts to marry the best of old school Japanese role-players with new and modern ideas… and generally succeeds.

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.

As graceful a marriage of old school action and modern sensibilities as you could probably hope for, despite the so-so multiplayer and repetitive setting.

The most innovative real-time strategy for years, even if the story mode isn't as good as multiplayer.

The question of how important originality is to any new game is largely a question of personal taste, but Hollow Knight offers some compelling mitigation for its lack of innovation: the gorgeous presentation and the insanely low asking price. There’s no question that Hollow Knight is hugely enjoyable and great value for money. But if its gameplay had been as imaginative as its visuals it could have been a genuine classic.

It may be a one trick pony but Saints Row 2 in space will give anyone an appetite for destruction.

The best Paper Mario game since The Thousand-Year Door, but also a charming adventure in its own right, with some surprisingly good storytelling and fun combat.

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

Another incremental improvement that adds some welcome new features but fails to fix old ones.

The Wii U adds nothing to the experience, but neither does it take away from what is one of the year's most feature-packed and enthralling epics.

Despite its obvious flaws the reactive story and compelling characters make this one of the best storytelling experiences of the current generation.

Wonderfully strange, outrageously violent, and unexpectedly intelligent. Hotline Miami is indie video game design at its very best.

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.

A superb multiplayer game that takes a very simple premise and crafts from it one of the best competitive arcade games in years.

The best version of Control so far, that makes good use of the PlayStation 5’s features and leaves plenty of hope and anticipation for a future sequel.

Remaking Metal Gear without its creator seems foolhardy but this is as good an effort as could be imagined, without completely redesigning the original game.

A fantastic sequel that refuses to be just the previous game but with more options, although in terms of scale and ambition it is most certainly bigger and better.

A far better advert for the PS5 than its short length and last gen assets might have suggested, with superior storytelling and more compelling characters than the original.

The best horror game of this generation and one of the few courageous enough to try new ideas and make the player a victim, not a saviour.

Probably the closest you'll ever get to another Project Gotham Racing, with a fantastic-looking open world filled with top class racing opportunities.

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?

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.

Not one of the standout entries for the series, with just a few useful additions that never go quite far enough. Not that it tempers the game's addictive powers.

Still a fantastically well-designed action adventure, but this is easily the worst version of the best superhero game ever made.

An excellent return to form for the Dragon Age series, and the biggest and most ambitious Western role-player since the new generation began.