With less loot to grab, simplified platforming and easy puzzles, Darksiders 3 leans harder on its combat than previous games. And while Fury packs a punch, the wonky camera makes fights more frustrating that they should be. It doesn’t condemn Darksiders to oblivion, but it’s the lowlight of the series so far.

Riddled with bugs and bizarre mechanics, Underworld Ascendant is a bafflingly poor debut from OtherSide Entertainment.

Despite the considerable issues with the PC version, I've still had long stretches of fun with Fallout 76. I really wish PvP had more at stake then lost junk (or at least more willing participants) but the world retains a lot of what I love about Bethesda's previous RPGs with finely crafted environments, enjoyable weapons and crafting, and surprising little scraps of story to uncover and investigate.

The Walking Dead gets the zombies and the theme just right, but everything else is a mess.

As chaotic and exhilarating as Battlefield has always been. Just don’t expect a dramatic reinvention of the series.

Essentially more of its predecessor but with a more consistent quality of levels. Which is fine: its predecessor was great.

A mediocre detective game with predictable stealth and a surreal story that runs out of steam near the end.

It's a spectacular disaster, which feels like a rarity these days: there are lots of bad games, but for a game that was announced at E3 and made by a major publisher and studio to be this catastrophic is something.

Football Manager returns with a kitbag full of new and overhauled features. It's the best at what it does, and FM 19 is the best it's ever been.

Mostly delightful and sometimes punishing, Bad North is a fun alternative to more complex strategy games.

I listened to Wandersong's soundtrack while writing this review, and I've been happily jiggling my leg throughout.

An often spectacular space shooter that lacks the variety and depth to justify serious investment.

Exapunks is a hacking game that will make you feel like a genius or an idiot—sometimes both in quick succession.

A fighter with a great roster and exciting brawls, let down by an undercooked singleplayer component.

A beautifully constructed and powerfully atmospheric mystery that you really have to work to solve.

A captivating story and varied card battles ensure this light-touch RPG remains entertaining throughout its lengthy campaign.

A quality-made but unsurprising multiplayer FPS that offers refined versions of the current most popular modes and top-tier shooting.

Maintaining an almost impossible level of polish across its many modes, FIFA 19 might not eclipse PES 19 on the pitch, but it demonstrates its worth via The Journey.

The pixel-art is faultless and the gameplay is pleasingly reminiscent of the classics, but Timespinner doesn't offer much that feels new.

Though the main story suffers because of it, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a remarkably massive RPG held together by a web of satisfying pursuits.

A good RPG with some unique ideas, but one that ultimately plays it too safe to really stand out from the crowd.

An empty galaxy and endless grinding mar clever writing and engaging combat.

An old-fashioned game in a shiny new package, The Bard's Tale 4: Barrows Deep is a worthy addition to a classic series.

Unless you're looking for a hardcore sim, Forza Horizon is still the best racing series around.

Combines robust storytelling with consistently inventive, surprising missions. Not just a return to form, but a new series peak.

I'm coming up on 100 hours logged in the expansion and I don't even feel close to done, nor have I slowed down a bit. My friends and I have been burning the midnight oil and playing almost every night, which would've been unthinkable before. After a precarious first year, I'm finally enjoying Destiny 2 again. It feels good to have it back.

Frozen Synapse 2 has plenty to offer with its campaign, but again, this sequel is at its best when playing against other fallible humans.

A charming watery theme park management game where fish are friends, not food. Until they eat each other or you forget to feed them.

A JRPG for people who haven’t played one in a while, basically. Well-made, but disappointingly safe.

A greater focus on raiding tombs, and massively improved stealth combat, make this one of Lara Croft's best modern adventures.

A mostly fun, realistic football sim with wonky AI.

A bare-bones basic shooter that's good for some fun with friends, but there are other, better co-op adventures out there.

Despite an attractive veneer, Planet Alpha offers rote and shallow platforming. Try Playdead’s Inside instead.

Two Point Hospital is a brilliant management game, regardless of nostalgia.

Social commentary delivered with baseball bat subtlety, Not Tonight owes a huge debt to Papers, Please, but finds its own voice in the bit-parts of post-Brexit Britain.

Donut County is a short, entertaining tale of a trash panda who just wants a sweet quadcopter.

The freedom, and the constant sense that I’d be surprised when I turned the next corner, somewhat smoothed over the frustrations of Death’s Gambit, but it’d be a stretch to say I enjoyed it as a whole. Figuring out the best strategy for each boss fight is satisfying, but actually beating them isn’t fun enough to justify the pain of battling the stingy stamina system. Throwing myself at the same boss 29 times in a row just wasn’t quite worth the hassle.

Even if its new loot system is a bust, Battle for Azeroth is a vibrant expansion full of wondrous new locales to explore, characters to meet, and stories to tell.

A weird, beautiful, melancholy martial arts adventure. Flawed, but an unforgettable, singular experience.

Following a series high last year, F1 2018’s welcome additions don’t add up to a meaningfully fresh experience.

A promising setting and clever systems are let down by simple enemies, simpler characters, and strange balancing.

A jog-fest with sluggish combat and inconsistent stealth, but a story that will pull you toward the end anyway.

An atmospheric, well-designed adventure elevated by borrowing elements from role-playing games.

Monster Hunter: World’s thrilling fights with fantastic beasts never get old, even if they require tiresome item management during downtime.

Busy friends list but short of local pals? This safe but solid sequel was made for you.

Beautiful combat livens up Overload's tedious levels.

A stellar action platformer with gorgeous presentation and excellent combat. Punishing but worth it.

Madden 19 offers a fascinating single-player story, but the rest of the game largely falls into the same tropes you experienced a decade ago.

I haven’t played the first This Is The Police, but I can’t help but feel like the sequel simply adds too much. The game feels like it needs to refocus on the day to day policing and the small storylets that accompany it, which are great. Unless the message is that running a police department is an impossible task, in which case: mission accomplished.

Beautiful pixel art and tight controls make Chasm a fine, if reserved, modern take on the Metroidvania.

Too much games-as-a-service cruft gets in the way of a potentially decent action-RPG.

Comfortably the best, funniest and most heartwarming game about a desperate battle over real estate, now available on PC as a good port at a generous price.

A daring, exciting and bleakly powerful payoff that handsomely rewards your investment in its characters.

It’s Left 4 Dead with aliens down to the very core, but a flattering rendition of the formula that’s worth playing with friends.

Fighting bugs on Mars is a repetitive exercise only enlivened by the presence of your chatty pal Hurk.

A plodding and predictable 4X strategy game that's relaxing in its own way, but rarely challenging.

Mooncrash feels like it was never intended for everyone to enjoy—instead it reaches out to a certain type of Prey player that will appreciate its systems in a purer form. For me, the slow progression holds it back a bit, but this is an innovative expansion that still captures much of what I enjoyed about the base game.

Lumines Remastered’s lack of online multiplayer is regrettable, its session length still demanding and, frankly, it’s probably a better match on Nintendo Switch, but it does the important thing: it brings a puzzle classic back into focus and proves that Lumines can still shake ya body down to the ground.

Changing weather and festive traditions enrich the four-year-old life sim.

A well-made remaster with beautiful modern visuals and outdated platforming rooted firmly in the past.

An impressively huge, occasionally beautiful map doesn’t make up for mediocre driving and a lack of multiplayer options.

The scope is ultimately limited, but what a roaring spectacle of broken car bits Wreckfest manages.

Initially stunning but lacking the depth and variety to support mammoth playtimes.

A blend of mismatched genres that somehow works, Yoku’s Island Express is a beguiling game of modest brilliance.

Moonlighter is a cute and casual revival of an uncommon mashup but doesn’t stick around to push the boundaries.

There are some brilliant, original ideas in here, but Vampyr tries to do too much at once and suffers for it.

Made with affection and artistry, this retro appetiser is a very pleasant surprise.

A dark, engrossing, and challenging narrative card and crafting game.

A solid survival game vastly improved by putting the focus on people, not zombies.

A puzzle-platformer that's elevated by its winsome anime aesthetic.

Broad in shoulder, wide in scope, rough around the edges. Nevertheless, an enjoyably meaty survival game.

It’s got its hooks into me: it’s a better game than the original in every way, and it nails the battle between pitcher and batter that’s at the heart of baseball. If you’re a fan of the sport, it’s a must-own.

There is potential for amusing cat-and-mouse exchanges, but a lobby full of humans is hard to find.

A massive, bountiful RPG with richly descriptive writing, a well-realised setting, and deep tactical combat.

Dead in Vinland combines resource management, RPG combat, uneven writing, and a lot of diciness into something I couldn't stop playing until I finished it.

A brilliant early game and bold experiments almost make up for the AI niggles and the boring march to the final battle.

A sometimes tricky RPG with gorgeous art that's perfect for co-op.

Familiar, lightweight but almost impossible to dislike, this is an effortlessly enjoyable action RPG.

A deep tactical wargame with strong fundamentals supporting a broadly successful campaign system.

Frostpunk is a stressful, stylish, and addictive survival management game filled with incredibly difficult choices.

A beautiful medieval adventure that uses real history and interesting characters to tell a compelling story.

Impressive ogre battles and challenging, hectic missions, but I just wish there was a bit more to Extinction.

The problem with this is that death, rather than some looming, ominous, ever-present threat, becomes little more than a minor inconvenience. And sometimes, when you’re stuck on a puzzle, it can be annoying too. Minit has no real stakes, which cheapens the timer system and makes it feel somewhat arbitrary.

The wonderful chaos of the open world and your choice of how to tackle it is occasionally stifled by bad boss fights and worse boss speeches.

A superb water park for four friends to splash around in, but progression is sluggish and there are too few surprises beneath the waves.

Messy, varied and inadvertently hilarious: A Way Out is an unusual but uneven tandem ride.

Octahedron gets more mileage than you'd think out of the ability to summon platforms beneath your feet.

Northgard is a surprising, elegant RTS that's laden with a very dull story.

Without Evermore, Ni No Kuni 2 would have been good. Because of it, it's one of the best JRPGs on PC.

Surviving Mars is a lot of hard work, but managing a burgeoning colony never stops being compelling.

KSP's sandbox gets bigger by focusing on what makes it a great PC game: flexibility, freedom, and random explosions.

Offers a fantastic road trip, even if it's not a particularly in-depth RPG.

Vermintide 2's combat and level design are so feverishly fun that I'll put up with its bad matchmaking and RPG progression if it means chopping more ratmen in half.

An excellent beat-em-up with tons of wit and great combat, Full Metal Furies belongs on any couch co-op playlist.

Joyful and surprising, even when you're cracking open an anthropomorphised egg.

Even stranger than its premise and scarier than it looks, The Station is a short ride to a great ending.

There are beautiful and tragic scenes, songs, and passages to find in WTWTLW's journey, but they're spread far too thin.

A well-formed slice of noir mystery, beautifully presented. Some writing issues aside, A Case of Distrust is well worth your time.