Temtem already does several fundamental things better than its inspiration and clearly has the potential to be the very best, like no one ever was. [Early Access review]

A mawkish attempt to glorify the 80s that features some gorgeous visuals and music but offers no real insight into the era’s culture or games.

A beautiful, colourful, and bitingly satirical sci-fi Metroidvania that also has a welcome respect for your spare time.

Playing an 8-bit style text adventure on the Nintendo Switch is novelty enough but this inspired mix of weird horror and puzzle-solving is more than just a blast of ‘80s nostalgia.

One of the most original sports games ever made but with so many flaws and limitations it makes you wish you could skip ahead several sequels and play that version instead.

Unravel the mysterious history of a dead planet in a brief, overly simplistic first person walking simulator.

A competent adaptation of the original anime but there’s a serious danger of déjà vu even for series fans, and the solid but unremarkable action is unable to overcome it.

It doesn’t have the depth of standalone Persona and Fire Emblem games, but this is a fun crossover that will please followers of both, and Japanese role-playing fans in general.

The result is absolutely sensational and Gladiabots has a level of depth and complexity that will keep the right kind of stubborn logician busy for months.

There are no instructions and the English translation is a bit homespun, but the game is rock solid, its real-time gameplay loop proving hugely compelling.

There are a few tricky puzzles in there, but the overall sense is one of gentle relaxation.

Even if you love the game’s sense of humour and art style, the quality of the interactions is so wafer thin it’s impossible to draw much satisfaction from them. Randomly surviving may be marginally less irritating than dying through no fault of your own, but neither is much fun.

In spite of its manifold similarities and some distinctly wobbly voice-acting it’s still good, its involving multi-stage puzzles taking quite a bit of teasing, prodding, and experimentation to figure out.

Beautifully drawn and with a haunting soundtrack, the cyclical nature of the game and its oblique plot exposition make this a playful and constantly delightful experience.

With its 8-bit-style graphics and roguelike trappings, Space Grunts 2 is every bit an OrangePixel game; only this time, rather than being about action, it’s a turn-based deck builder with an emphasis on speed and simplicity.

An essential purchase for any Monster Hunter fan, that also happens to be one of Capcom’s best ever PC ports.

Regardless of what it may or may not do to your brain age, this is a disappointingly low effort remaster with serious technical issues and a lack of interesting content.

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.