Controls on a touchscreen are hit and miss though, which can leave you wondering whether you’ve solved a puzzle but messed up the controls, or simply haven’t figured something out correctly. It’s also a great deal less satisfying than the games it borrows from, even if it does look and sound consistently spooky.

Although similar in some respects to Hearthstone, the tactical depth and ability to deploy game-changing combos keeps it fresh and distinct, the touchscreen port playing even better than the PC original. There’s still an undertone of pay-to-win but provided you don’t take things too seriously it doesn’t spoil the fun.

It’s designed to be relaxing, but the reality of not knowing what the hell is going on is actually slightly stressful and eventually extremely dull.

Fights themselves are a bit light on tactics, with the looming shadows on all sides making it impossible to see enemies before they’re right on top of you, but the range of other activities and role-playing style progress of your troops will appeal to those who love XCOM but prefer their games a bit less sadistic.

As you progress across its worlds the complexity layers on, with new powers and gardeners constantly being added in what is a clever, likeable, and surprisingly deep game.

It’s a bit of lightly addictive throwaway fun, a sense that’s undermined by rounds against overwhelmingly more powerful computer-controlled snakes.

Puzzles soon become multi-layered memory tests, especially when you’re trying to pare back the number of moves used, and there’s no hint system, so you’re on your own (or on YouTube) if you get stuck; although the tinkering and eventual epiphany is where the real joy lies.

The best Need For Speed in several years, which may sound like mild praise but despite a lack of variety this is a fun arcade racer hybrid that respects its roots.

A welcome return for one of gaming’s greatest puzzle franchises, and while it’s not quite the best in the series it certainly has the most content.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is an amazing achievement in terms of production values, but it is also a fundamentally flawed video game that leverages its seemingly infinite resources in such a self-indulgent way that it undermines both its storytelling and your patience for seeing it through to the end.

A serviceable mini-game compilation with some moderately interesting highlights, held back by peculiar design decisions and little replay value.

A work of unbridled ambition and imagination but also a pretentious, contrived, and frequently quite dull gameplay experience - Death Stranding is peak Hideo Kojima.

Some of the best dialogue of the year and an interestingly original portrayal of Hell overcome a slightly undercooked take on classic graphic adventures.

A welcome revival of a much-loved franchise, although Banana Blitz was never the best entry and Sega has had to accept too many compromises in porting it from the Wii.

It’s a pleasure to wander around, the input of American artist William Chyr evident in the expansive and mildly trippy building designs that trail off into infinity. And it’s no shrinking violet on the challenge, which rapidly becomes deliciously tricky.

Developed by Simogo, whose spine-tingling Year Walk, and expectation subverting Device 6 have rightly become landmarks in mobile gaming, this is another one. It’s a shame it will be denied to Android users, but for Arcade subscribers it’s possibly the first unequivocally essential download.

It’s weirdly hard to concentrate on what the text is actually saying, rather than simply spotting which sentence fragments go where, so it’s not much of a reading experience, although it is a gentle and long term challenge that turns out to be pleasantly relaxing without a timer.

Unfortunately, its reach sometimes exceeds its grasp, and even on the latest iPhone it suffers from frame rate stutters when the action gets busy. Its unremittingly generic sci-fi characters and setting also conspire against it.

It’s a joyous affair, even if aiming can prove a bit frustrating, especially as the farmhand, with his limited water reservoir and three naughty porkers to keep track of.

Elegantly balanced so that using a controller is no advantage over touchscreen, its developers promise regular updates of new mazes, game modes, and challenges.

Nowhere close to a reinvention of the series but the more serious tone is mostly successful, with an ambitious story campaign and some entertaining new multiplayer modes.

It leans too much in the direction of the original when it comes to the puzzles and difficultly level but this is still an utterly charming romp, with wonderfully inventive set pieces and gorgeous visuals.

After several patches and months of waiting this may, possibly, become a halfway decent wresting game, but at launch this is the gaming equivalent of Doink the Clown.

A remake that is loyal to a fault when it comes to honouring the original, with gameplay and design mechanics that were barely acceptable 21 years ago, let alone now.

Garden Warfare 3 in all but name, but while it’s not an emphatic improvement on the previous games it’s still a highly enjoyable, family friendly online shooter.

A deep, funny, and intricately designed RPG reminiscent of the golden age of Fallout, when conversations mattered and comedy-grade cynicism came fitted as standard.

A few unfortunate backsteps make the first native PlayStation 4 entry something of a disappointment, but Trails Of Cold Steel is still one of the best old school JRPGs around.

A fiercely original take on traditional computer role-playing games that often seems unrefined and self-indulgent but is still a welcome shake-up of genre norms.