It’s a strangely meditative process though, thanks to the plinky-plonky music and ambient sound effects; along with the slow pace of the game supplying an almost ASMR feeling as you fiddle about with the number of spots on each hexagonal tile to get them to add up, whilst feeling absolutely no time pressure whatsoever. It’s a great little game, even if it occasionally dances over the fine line between tranquillity and dullness.

The deadpan humour is complemented by deliberately B-movie style acting, but the formula-making mechanic is undermined by ever-stricter time limits which make it feel like a chore well before its relatively brief eight acts are finished. On the plus side, half its profits go to charities actually searching for a cure for cancer.

With its splendid mock 16-bit graphics (that come complete with a simulated CRT mode), chiptunes, a save system that lets you continue but resets your score, and an easy difficulty that gives you three layers of recharging shield, it’s tough but fair in the way that modern versions of old school shooters tend to be. This is a quality offering and easily amongst the best available for touchscreen devices.

It’s an interesting mix, and despite moments that require ultra-specific placement of Magibot’s power circles, and a fair bit of dodgy translation into English, this is a mostly successful blend of mental and dexterity-based challenges.

Its rapid-fire sequence of perfectly designed puzzles is a constant source of joy, as is its simple and elegantly-designed interface.

Despite its good looks and offbeat content, the process of winning rapidly becomes too fiddly to be much fun.

One of the least-demanded Nintendo sequels of recent years has relatively high production values but it’s still a dull, repetitive mix of tower defence and overly-simplistic action.

Mysterious, whimsical and intriguing, this is one to take your time over.

A mediocre remaster of an all-time classic, but by the mere act of fixing (most of) the frame rate problems this becomes the definitive version of one of the decade’s most influential video games.

A considerable improvement on Quantic Dreams’ previous work, and while the storytelling is still flawed its tale of abused androids feels very human.

A deeply disappointing sequel that devolves from a perfectly judged mix of rhythm action and platforming to an unfairly difficult slog that’s not nearly as clever as it thinks it is.

Some of the most difficult decision-making in gaming, both tactically and morally, but occasional rough edges betray the game’s small budget and short development time.

The spirit of old school arcade racing is reborn in a homage to everything from OutRun to Lotus Turbo Challenge, and despite a few bumps in the road it’s all just as much fun as you remember.

One of the best Shin Megami Tensei games returns, mixing standard Japanese role-playing with the series’ typically provocative story elements and Persona style gameplay.

The State Of Decay concept still holds plenty of promise but this sequel is so broken that laughing at its bugs and glitches becomes its primary source of entertainment.

Zelda may have inspired one of the best Dynasty Warriors games to date but the end result is still well below average by any other standard.

Half-broken and needlessly obscure, but if you have the patience this challenging survival game can be extremely satisfying – and it’ll be even better when it’s finished.

Another unapologetically old school role-player that gives its audience exactly what it wants and adds some fun pirate-themed exploration for everyone.

A bizarre mix of weighty subject matter and cartoon presentation that somehow works perfectly in portraying a morally complex world and its characters.

A predictably inessential expansion that adds nothing anybody ever asked for and completely fails to address the points fans have been complaining about for months.

No fun at all on your own, but together on the same couch this is one of the most entertaining co-op puzzlers of recent years.

A charming homage to Streets Of Rage and other scrolling beat ‘em-ups, but it doesn’t overcome the genre’s limitations and manages to add a few of its own.

An amiable but underwhelming homage to the forgotten majesty of Uridium, that adds some welcome new ideas but removes too many of the old ones.

Not so much a video game as a shameful attempt to convince children to spend their parents’ money on expensive microtransactions.

A novel setting and concept can’t hide the game’s technical limitations, but this is still an entertaining first person roguelike that does try to do things differently.

A fun, if slightly limited, retro reboot, that works very well as an arcade shooter even without the novelty of VR.

Another failed attempt to get a traditional first person shooter working in VR, although the online co-op option keeps the novelty going for longer than it should.

An understandable attempt to create a more accessible Total War experience, but it’s been streamlined so much it offers only a small taste of the series’ full potential.