Another ineffectual attempt to transpose the Dark Souls gameplay and atmosphere into a sci-fi setting, although the split-screen mode is an interesting novelty.

Grounded shows great promise, and apparently a large community is already at work helping Obsidian to hone it (which is the main point behind its appearance in Early Access). It has all the ingredients required to make it a cult hit and you can only hope that Obsidian will finish it off sooner rather than later.

One of the best 2D shooters of the modern era is also one of the most visually distinctive games of the whole generation, and a stunning work of imagination on every level.

An impressively original take on XCOM style turn-based strategy that gains in depth and versatility what it loses in accessibility, with some of the best boss encounters of the year.

One of the most impressive technical achievements on the Switch, which even manages to make improvement to the PC original – although it’s rather expensive and the original is beginning to show its age in design terms.

Playing as an alien monstrosity is a great idea, and at times works well, but the fiddly controls and awkward mix of gameplay ideas doesn’t gel together well.

As far as being an early access game goes, you’d barely guess in terms of normal gameplay, as while there are a few bugs and glitches it’s nothing compared to how most AAA games launch nowadays. However, the further you start to explore away from the town the more missing content and blocked-off areas there are, waiting for a future update and the final release. We’re never fans of early access precisely because of things like that but if you take the current state of the game as an extended demo then we can definitely say that Ooblets is already growing us.

A stylishly presented, adult-themed adventure that explores the night life of Paris in thought-provoking but agreeably quirky detail.

One of the most relentlessly charming video games ever made and the best Paper Mario since The Thousand-Year Door.

A competent but shallow and overfamiliar attempt to replicate Assassin’s Creed style open world adventure in the world of 13th century samurai.

The coronavirus has made its themes more relevant than ever and while there are many odd decisions, in terms of plot and game design, the overall experience remains strangely engrossing.

Despite its elegant art style and stirring musical score, it’s crushingly dull. The narratives don’t branch, and with auto-fight turned on, your role is reduced to that of spectator rather than player, and no amount of fourth wall-breaking humour or twisted fairy tale storylines make up for the boredom at its core.

The light touch of the writing offsets the slightly melancholy content, and its Emerald Isle setting makes for a welcome break from the usual Americana, fantasy violence, and crime fighting.

Although frequently compared to Zelda games, and indeed sharing a similar structure and pastoral charm, it unfortunately lacks Nintendo’s magic and feels plodding and workaday despite its undoubtedly lofty production values.

Earn XP to level up, unlocking new creatures, equipment, heroes, and bigger maps. While finding a decent weapon early on can make a big difference, the randomness isn’t too brutal, and the game gets more interesting as you progress, with more characters and larger levels forcing you to make judicious use of each hero’s skills to survive.

It’s exquisitely designed, both graphically and in terms of its ruleset, and gives the distinct impression of being a labour of love. It’s also monumentally addictive and despite its high – at least for mobile – price is an essential purchase. The Android version is due for release later this year.

It’s still a dialogue-heavy adventure set in a dystopian, cyberpunk future, and maintains its Broken Sword-esque sense of humour and charmingly British sensibilities. Sadly, it also suffers from the same peccadilloes as its ancient forebear. Chief amongst those is the need to figure out sometimes non-intuitive sequences of actions to solve its puzzles, and sitting through reams of chat that sometimes isn’t quite as amusing as it imagines. It’s still worth it for the sweet pang of nostalgia though.

It can’t match FTL’s perfection, and its assortment of 300 events start repeating much earlier than you’d imagine, a problem exacerbated by how story-focused it is, making the repetition particularly glaring. It’s still very good though, with a solid script and beautiful pixel art styling.

A technical disaster in almost every conceivable way, which obscures not only the hilarious characters but the fact that the game is considerably less compelling and nuanced than the original.

Interesting plot and story concept, fantastically versatile 2D combat, and some of the best dungeon puzzling outside of a Zelda game. Gorgeous graphics and soundtrack.

Codemasters’ stewardship of the F1 licence finally gets into top gear with a thrillingly rigorous simulation that also makes every effort to make its appeal as broad as possible.

An impressively ambitious, and consistently enjoyable, VR action game that embraces all aspects of the Iron Man character and is only let down by technical limitations.

Putting all the best content behind a pay wall seems a very unwise decision but the breezy insanity of Trackmania still shines through and the potential of the track designer is immense.

Your desire to carry on shrinks with every match, giving the game a perilously short half-life. This is only a beta, where almost everyone is as unfamiliar with the game and its legacy as each other, so perhaps the game’s virtues will become more obvious once players have had time to get more practice in and formulate appropriate strategies. But at the moment it’s an exhaustingly dull experience that quickly has you wondering why you don’t just switch it off and play one of the dozens of superior alternatives available. Admittedly, they won’t be free but as with most things in life, you get what you pay for. [Beta review]

It’s very much showing its age, but this remaster does just enough to prove that Racer would’ve been a good game with or without the Star Wars licence.

Reasonably good value for money and a better open world environment than the original but with very little story or structure, Pokémon’s first expansion feels disappointingly hollow.

If you’re going to make a console compilation and leave out what is arguably the best entry then it’s hard not to see that as a missed opportunity.

Given the price and the fact that the compilation still isn’t completely comprehensive this is a hard sell for all but the most obsessive Darius fans and we’re really not sure how many of them there are in the world.