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.

A sprawling, story-based epic whose ponderous cinematic cut scenes give way to swathes of arcade style mech action, that is amongst the most fun you can have in a giant robot.

A fun and unusual take on the third person stealth game, that suffers from some humourless writing but benefits from a surfeit of peculiar magic powers.

Probably the best Mario Party so far, with an impressive amount of content and gameplay that remains fun and accessible for absolutely everybody.

A brief, joyous exercise in curiosity and exploration, that’s at least as much about atmosphere and the feeling of traversal, as it is about your destination.

A bafflingly pointless remake, that absolutely no one asked for, and which manages to introduce a number of new flaws while completely failing to justify its own existence.

From its knowing mock 16-bit art style to the perfectly metered sound effects and music, Balatro is rarely less than utterly compelling and playing on a touchscreen is, if anything, slightly more intuitive than using a mouse or controller.

Your castle itself may look unique, as you build eccentrically-shaped rooms and staircases, but your courtiers look like Wii-era Miis, and the fundamentally uncreative nature of its gameplay makes it a depressingly pedestrian experience.

An excellent Japanese role-player that is at least the equal to Persona, with an engagingly thoughtful story and enjoyably fast-paced combat.

Colourful VR platforming in the style of Astro Bot: Rescue Mission and while it can’t quite live up to its obvious inspirations it does come surprisingly close.

An excellent remake that does all it can to bring the classic original into the modern era, while maintaining the same nuanced levels of psychological horror.

The exact opposite of what Starfield needed, with a DLC expansion that magnifies the parent game’s failings and sidelines its more positive elements.

A clever and unusual indie detective story, but the emphasis on clunky stealth and samey cases quickly saps your enthusiasm for the pixelated noir setting.

A modern 16-bit role-playing with inspirations that range from Stranger Things to Persona 5, with elegant turn-based combat and a knowing wink to the genre’s more established tropes.