A celebration of misbehaviour, with an avian avatar that instantly takes its place amongst the greatest villains in video games history.

As charmingly idiosyncratic as you’d expect from the creator of Katamari Damacy, but although the harmonious message is clear the game itself is a frustrating chore.

One of the best Dark Souls clones so far and while some things are near identical the co-op features help distinguish it as something more than just a straight copy.

A highly successful return for the long dormant sci-fi simulation series, and what it lacks in accessibility it makes up for in terms of satisfyingly tactical action.

A disappointing way to end an otherwise epic series (especially if you take into account Showdown) but the retro visuals and excellent 2D platforming can still delight.

It’s completely free, with no ads or in-app purchases, and is clearly a labour of love for the small team at Stay Inside Games. If you like turn-based tactics and have a phone, you may as well.

The sparkly graphics and familiar faces do their job, although it soon starts to get trickier, tempting you to spend in-game gold and actual currency to complete levels. For its target audience of small girls it’s fiendishly compelling, just don’t forget to turn off in-app purchases before handing your phone over.

Warm and witty, this four or so hours of charming adventure will leave you very much looking forward to the next episode. It’s not what you’d expect as a follow-up from Threes creator Asher Vollmer (and others) but it’s good all the same.

With a couple of hours’ worth of occasionally irritating head-scratching, there’s a slight sense of having played the intro to a much larger game. Whether you’d want a full-length version of Discolored is another matter entirely.

With infinite continues and no ads, it’s a friendly user experience, and even though some of the level design is a bit iffy, the art style is unusually good for a freebie.

Unlock skills, nurture your commanders and do your very best to stay alive in this fascinatingly tricky game of tactics that if anything works even better on a touchscreen than it did on PC and consoles.

The brothers’ interactions and cute claymation styling make for delightful, heart string-plucking interludes between levels. There’s not much of it but it concertedly leaves the door open for future chapters.

The creator of XCOM returns with some interesting new ideas, but without the budget or time to refine them Phoenix Point struggles to offer a viable alternative to its more established rival.

A relatively engaging finale but one that suffers from all the problems of the series as a whole, with too little interactivity and a lethargic plot that struggles to get into gear.

A masterclass in terms of cinematic adaptation and slow burn survival horror, but the overly long running time and lack of compelling storytelling prevents it from being a classic.

One of the best-looking games of the generation and an indie adventure with a serious but subtle message to tell… it’s just a shame it’s still not that much fun to play.

Part of the problem is clearly the budget, with low-tech visuals and poor sound quality, but that would’ve been a lot easier to forgive if the gameplay had been stronger. It’s not awful, and is a reasonable gateway game into other, better games, but the obvious danger is that if you’re unimpressed by the flawed experience of Narcos you might be even less likely to try out XCOM. And since nobody really expected a game based on Narcos to be any good, that would be the real tragedy here.

A game of exploration and combat that’s hamstrung by PlayStation VR’s unreliable motion-tracking and a movement system seemingly designed by someone who hates you.

Another excellent PC to console port, with surprisingly intuitive controls and a wealth of content and options that make this one of the best strategy games ever.

A literal dream come true for fans and while most others will struggle to understand the appeal it’s impossible not to admire Yu Suzuki’s vision and tenacity in not only making the game but making it his way.

The best Bubble Bobble game in over two decades and while it isn’t quite as perfectly formed as the original it is one of the best couch co-op games of the year.

There’s moments of greatness, and genuine terror, in this loving homage to everyone’s favourite double-hearted alien, but time and again it’s dragged down by dull puzzles and drab storytelling.

There’s the endoskeleton of a good movie adaptation here, but with dire graphics, dull combat, and tedious missions this low budget shooter is very easy to resist.

An earnest attempt to create the ultimate Jedi simulator but the mishmash of game influences and an unengaging story leaves it only impacting on the surface.

A sizeable improvement on last year’s already excellent game, with major changes and minor tweaks that will delight veteran players and encourage newcomers.

A short, boring, and painfully repetitious glimpse into the life of bees that will make you wish you had a virtual can of Raid handy.

The furore over Dexit may be overblown but even without it this is an underwhelming and unambitious attempt to modernise Pokémon and expand its horizons.

The furore over Dexit may be overblown but even without it this is an underwhelming and unambitious attempt to modernise Pokémon and expand its horizons.