An attempt to simplify and streamline XCOM sounds like a disaster in the making but the original’s tense turn-based combat is still highly entertaining even in this reduced form.

A gothic masterpiece of weird fiction and roguelike exploration, that gives you the freedom to do whatever you want in one of gaming’s weirdest fictional worlds.

An entertaining and agreeably clever remaster of the classic puzzle platformer, with added 3D bonus levels that give the formula a welcome and devious shake-up.

There are still glimpses of the original’s charm, and the potential of an earthquake-surviving simulator is made clear, but this tonally awkward, disaster of a game doesn’t get close to realising it.

Tool around, explore, and try to reach lofty areas you spot from ground level. Taking out surveillance drones and signal boxes could be seen as using your hoverboard to dismantle the tools of oppression, but then you also have to destroy fire hydrants, so maybe things aren’t that straightforward, in this piece of interactive entertainment that’s as much toy as formalised game.

With excellent pixel art, Bomb Chicken is an engaging puzzle platformer with its own very distinct personality.

To keep abreast of upgrade requirements you’ll need to watch ads to double your winnings, or pay £10 per month for what amounts to a battle pass giving you automatic gold doubling and the ability to autoplay levels, obviating the need to sit there triggering special moves when their cool downs expire. That may be a fundamentally mindless process, but like most successful incremental games, the steady flow of upgrades proves shamefully compelling, although if we have to sit through one more ad for Charm King we can’t be held responsible for the consequences.

With the spider crawling all over 3D objects there are moments where you’re not sure which way to drag the 2D joystick to get it to go where you want, and occasions when it’s unreasonably finicky about standing in the right spot to attach a web to an object, but in general this is a fun, gently puzzling game of eight-legged espionage.

There is such a thing as being too hard and the original version of Below proved that, but there’s also such a thing as second chances and Explore mode has managed to turn Below into a game everyone can enjoy, and without compromising its original vision.

Minimalist adventuring that’s original, clever, and soothing – and a perfect example that gameplay and atmosphere is always more important than high-tech graphics.

Fans will be arguing about it for decades to come but for now this is a surprisingly daring reinvention of the legendary original, although it’s a shame its biggest flaws were largely avoidable.

A competent remaster of a story mode that, while it still has the ability to impress, feels old-fashioned, shallow, and grossly overpriced.

An interactive movie that tries to tell a relevant tale of near-future Britain but is marred by characters that lack credibility and a story free from dramatic tension.

The source material already had its problems, but this disappointing remake manages to make Resident Evil 3 seem even less inspired than it did originally.

The definitive version of one of the best Japanese role-playing games ever made, even if it’s easy to see the joins with some of the story additions.

A flawed remake of one of the Sega Saturn’s most recognisable classics, that fumbles the controls and visual upgrade and yet remains a relatively enjoyable homage.

It often feels a little undercooked but the emphasis on teamplay and some very unusual characters offers an enjoyable alternative to other online multiplayer games.

A great game for novice fighting game players, with some interestingly unique ideas, but the bland fantasy world and lack of playable characters lessen its impact.

An incredible technical achievement but one that is surprisingly short of genuinely new ideas, and often struggles to get the balance right between VR showpiece and satisfying gameplay experience.

A whimsical and engrossing VR puzzle adventure, who’s lack of hand-holding and gentle discoveries prove consistently engaging and relaxing.

An unfairly neglected part of the Doom canon is given the remaster it most certainly deserves, in what is one of the most welcome retro remasters of recent years.

A significant improvement on the reboot and while there are still a few flaws the core combat is some of the best in any first person shooter this generation.

Animal Crossing finally gets a sequel that moves the franchise forward, in a surprisingly timely release that is perfect for this year in terms of both its gameplay and its philosophy.

It’s not changed much but what improvements there are, are all positive in what remains the best Dark Souls clone not made by From Software.

There are neat graphical details, with chunks of masonry blown off buildings by grenades or tank rounds, and your tiny soldiers will automatically dive to the ground when a machinegun opens up nearby. The base game also had some excellent DLC, which will hopefully make its way to this rock solid iPad port.

There’s always someone falling off something, or getting impaled on something else, in a cacophony of tiny sound effects reminiscent of the chaos of LittleBigPlanet 3’s excellent multiplayer mode.

Although graphically pretty, the controls are often slow to react to your input and swiping to swap out redundant power-ups is horribly temperamental, undermining a great deal of the potential fun.

It may not be able to claim much originality compared to its predecessor, or Metroidvania games in general, but this is still one of the best examples of its craft this generation.