Shadow Warrior 2’s combat is gleefully expressive and varied, but undermined by tired, dated humor.

Shotgunning AI baddies in a predictable story doesn't do much for me these days, but the tension of roadie running through a smoke grenade and dropping two human opponents at perfect range is a Gears thrill that still holds up.

A total assault on your ears, eyes and reflexes. Thumper will beat you up, but you’ll enjoy it.

An epic ode to the joy of football, but with room remaining for improvement.

An intriguing but often incoherent mystery that’s bogged down by long-winded dialogue and terrible puzzles.

Starts promisingly, but soon slips into a tiresome, repetitive grind, never doing its unique period setting justice.

Slayer Shock has no dearth of interesting ideas, from the central conceit to the NPC gang, but few of them are ever taken far, or in interesting directions, leaving it with only the solid combat, half-baked systems, and repetitive missions.

A decent, but not essential, two-hour expansion for Mankind Divided that’s ultimately more of the same.

Colorado isn't the most visually appealing or intricate level in Hitman. But it provides some much needed variety—a change of scenery and challenge that rounds out the Hitman experience. It feels as if IO has spent most of this season demonstrating that it can still get Hitman right. It's nice to see they're now confident enough to move away from the template they've created.

An original and deep game of strategic online warfare that brings your sci-fi capital ship fantasies to life.

It's a shame that PES has made so many worthwhile tweaks, only to deliver a lacklustre PC edition. PES could—and should—be as good as the console game in every detail, and if have a console you’ll be throwing good money after bad. Pity, as otherwise this ought to be a seminal football sim.

An imaginative, atmospheric, and cleverly designed sci-fi adventure that’s over far too quickly.

Forza Horizon 3 is huge, varied and constantly entertaining. It treads a fine balance between simulation and arcade—bombastic and silly at times, but also an accomplished populist racing game. I don't like the script, the cast of irritants manning the radio stations, the way playing your own music in-game requires the use of Microsoft Groove, or the fact that one of the nicknames you can choose is ‘Bantersaurus Rex’. More seriously, I worry Microsoft will continue its habit of integrating DLC cars and expansions in overbearing ways (Forza Horizon 2 went as far as playing an in-game trailer for its Storm Island expansion.) But these are annoyances I'm prepared to forgive in a game as good as this.

A slick cinematic thriller, but interaction is limited and the story loses focus in the final act.

Nails the look, the sound, and the speed, but Redout stalls on the sensation.

ReCore buries a great action platformer beneath layers and layers of open world busywork.

This savage brawler has its moments, but swiftly moves from brutal to boring.

AI wobbles remain, but this is an excellent racing game, and an authentic Formula One experience.

If Blizzard can continue to deliver, Legion sets the stage for what could be the best chapter of World of Warcraft yet.

A beautiful, if simple, puzzle game that remains faithful to Myst without feeling dated.

Attacking settlements, especially your own, is good fun, but there’s hours of chores to complete before you can really become a raider.

A fun, serviceable update to the 4X legend that brings little memorable to the genre aside from its personality.

A masterful distillation of classic action-platforming gameplay, doling out tension and elation in equal measure.

More good Hitman, although the repetition of style and presentation is taking the shine off the experience.

A superb remix of Grow Home that gives BUD a bigger sandbox to play in, at the expense of some challenge.

A beautiful, smartly designed game set in a gorgeous futuristic city, but with a story that doesn’t quite do it justice.

Relaxing exploration and some lovely scenery coupled with repetitive systems, frustrating menus, and a lack of real discovery.

This Is The Police looks and sounds gorgeous, but becomes dull and repetitive after the first couple of hours.

A fresh, fearsome realisation of a classic Warhammer race that revitalises the core game.

Gorgeous and invigorating, Abzû flounders a bit with a hamfisted story, but there’s still nothing quite like it on the PC.

Realm of Shadows indicates that it might tell an interesting Batman story, but takes time to get there and suffers from Telltale’s tired design and engine limitations.

One of the most fun and challenging local co-op games ever made, but the single-player experience is less thrilling, making the lack of online play disappointing.

A charming space sandbox that will keep you busy and entertained for hours.

No polish or refinement, just lots of giant ants and plenty of ways to kill them. Ridiculously fun at its best, which it frequently is.

A few technical issues aside, Quadrilateral Cowboy is a clever puzzle game bursting with personality.

Not as unique as you’d perhaps expect given the premise, but still a very stylish, characterful and funny adventure.

Lovely Planet Arcade is a fast, challenging deconstruction of old school FPS design that can be frustrating, but makes up for it with heaps of charm.

A beautiful JRPG that captures the spirit of the genre's early hits while playing things a tad too safely.

The setting is great, but weak combat and limited choices stop this RPG from going anywhere fun.

Ghoulish creature design and fun combat are weakened by long boring stretches, clueless AI, and snickering obscurity.

It looks incredible and controls beautifully, but Inside’s best ideas are spread too thin.

A stylish mix of bullet hell and deft swordplay, Furi is only held back by rare bugs and poorly designed difficulty spikes.

An average action game saved by a charming sense of humour and an intoxicating sense of fun.

Beyond a fairly daunting control and difficulty curve, Brigador is a gorgeous top-down shooter with a remarkable level of strategy.

Mighty No. 9’s dash mechanic is a lot of fun, but bad art, imprecise hitboxes, and awful level design make the experience extremely frustrating.

Fascinating, but not in a good way. It's rare for a major publisher to release something that, for a significant part of its short length, feels so bad. Yes, the bike sections are standard fare for the series. RedLynx is good at making Trials levels, and has made a handful of them here. But their quality only serves to highlight how bad the other levels are. This is the worst Trials game. It's also the worst Blood Dragon. Neither series comes out of this partnership looking good.

What Valhalla is trying to do is interesting, but playing it is boring. The dialogue drags, the main bartending mechanic is tedious and the day-in, day-out repetition becomes frustrating quite early on.

A warmly affectionate remake of a browser classic, with enough new pieces to justify its existence.

An increased focus on action and unsatisfying cases overshadow the decent bits in this detective adventure.

It captivates me because—imperfectly, impressionistically, and perhaps a little amorally—it lets me orchestrate the most titanic armed struggles in history, from the fussy economic details to the cut-and-thrust of mechanized warfare. There are other great strategic-level wargames out there. But I have never played anything like Hearts of Iron 4.

VR can’t elevate Edge of Nowhere’s mediocre climbing, shallow combat, and contrived story. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

Despite the missteps with combat, and another storyline that is just too dry to get invested in even with well-produced cutscenes, I still recommend Catalyst. It’s annoyingly close to being the ideal Mirror’s Edge game, but retains a few of its predecessors’ issues, even if those problems have manifested in different forms. If you loved the first game as much as I did, there’s so much to enjoy about running around this big, gorgeous playground—I just wish DICE had stuck the landing.

Dangerous Golf has a good variety of levels and lots of stuff to destroy, but offers weak, unsatisfying control over that destruction.

Not quite on par with Sapienza, Hitman's third episode is nonetheless a detailed, intricate playground for murder.

In most games, frustration and annoyance are solid indicators that something isn't working. Here, they're part and parcel of competition. If I'm annoyed, someone else is having a good time. If I'm elated, someone else is raging. That can be difficult to put a score to, because it removes emotion as the guiding light of a subjective process. Here's what I can say for certain: Overwatch is a great, occasionally fantastic shooter, and filled with fresh, clever design decisions.

Shadwen begins with promise, but has neither the depth nor the variety needed to fulfill it.

The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine is an accomplished piece of genre fiction with some characters I'll come to miss. Pour a goblet of the red stuff and join them, you won't be disappointed.

A fun, imaginative platformer that’s full of ideas, but prepare to die, a lot.

A tense and spooky strategy roguelike that's as satisfying as it is harrowing.

The series leaves its garage looking even worse than when it went in. Decent handling doesnt save it.

A great setting, a good story, and more dialogue-based solutions than the base game provides.

If you find real history a bit bland compared to glorious nonsense made up by strange British people then Warhammer is the Total War for you.

One great RPG and one curio. Not a perfect port, but definitely Square Enix’s best stab at bringing Final Fantasy to PC so far.

Homefront: The Revolution feels slapdash, and after the initial fun of learning its systems, drab repetition reveals obvious exploits.

With Doom’s campaign, id Software found a sweet spot nestled somewhere between nostalgia and modernity that celebrates the pulpy sheen of big-budget shooters and resurrects an intense, simplified focus on the shooting itself. Doom sticks a bit too close to home to reinvigorate the genre, but it’s a reminder that FPS games aren’t limited to stop and pop corridors and political melodrama. It’s a reminder that sometimes a controlled, crafted appeal to base desires—going fast, flying high, and swift, tongue-in-cheek demon justice—are more than enough.

Tree of Savior's biggest grind lies in chipping away all of its flaws just to experience its nostalgic charms.

Classic Gearbox shooting with an experimental MOBA twist, but it’s no Borderlands.

The early game promises an instant strategy classic, but Stellaris is unable to maintain that pace.

Master its complex systems and Offworld Trading Company is ruthless, immediate and thoroughly rewarding.

A gorgeous tactics card game that's simple to pick up but has significant depth.

Huge, open and beautiful. Sapienza offers up a different sort of challenge to Paris, and is a promising sign for Hitman's future.

A tubthumping tribute to the 40K universe, with perfectly grim design. Multiplayer definitely needs work on its balance though.

A handsome and brutal strategy sequel that benefits from a range of intelligent improvements.

The immersion of VR elevates this strong action RPG journey into something special. [Oculus Tested]

Strong first impressions make this ideal when showing off your new Rift headset, but there's little to keep you flying beyond those first few moments. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

A leisurely stroll through a beautiful apocalypse. Rapture is stirring and heartfelt, but may be too slow and hands-off for some.

As a Baldur's Gate adventure, Siege of Dragonspear works well. While it's not entirely tonally consistent with the original series, it does a good job of inserting itself into the middle of the story without feeling like sacrilege. As a result, though, it requires that you still be invested in that story. The fact is, a decade and a half later, there are much smoother, more enjoyable RPG experiences available.

Genuinely amusing and one of the slickest VR experiences to date, Job Simulator is perfect for quick demos of your new headset, but has little long-term value beyond that.

Even after the free-for-all matches start to feel redundant, the punchy, full-body action in Hover Junkers remains hilarious fun.

Enter the Gungeon is a good shooter that underdelivers on its promise. It's still fun, but there are better examples of the genre.

An average shooter tied to a compelling, confident story, but the TV show is ultimately an expensive, if entertaining, gimmick.

Sprawling level design, thrilling combat, and masterful indirect storytelling make Dark Souls 3 the best Dark Souls yet.

Ashes of the Singularity delivers thoughtful real-time strategy with tons of units in play, but drab maps and a poor story.

Stylish, beautiful, and uncompromising, Hyper Light Drifter is as rewarding as it is frustrating.

Beautiful as you could ask for, especially in VR, but exhaustingly repetitive. [Partially tested with VR]

A fun, nostalgic platformer and a cool use of VR, but repetitive design makes its short length a boon.

A lovingly remastered version of a LucasArts classic. Day of the Tentacle is every bit as funny and entertaining as it was back in 1993.

A warm and joyful adventure through a magical world; obtuse at times, but more interested in delighting than challenging.

Functional, yet prosaic. Constructing robots is a highlight, but Automatron's quest is short and unremarkable.

Still the best baseball management sim ever, and predictably so given its similarity to last year's great game.

Not particularly difficult, and its mobile roots are showing, but Hitman GO: Definitive Edition is an entertaining puzzle spin-off.

The Division is a challenging co-op cover shooter and a gorgeous open world diminished by bloated and unnecessary RPG tropes.

It's a little hobbled by old-school stylings and the story could be better, but few modern hack-and-slash RPGs are quite so fun.

Gears of War is fun as ever, but the technical flaws and limitations of Ultimate Edition are disappointing.

An imaginative, atmospheric setting with great art and quality voice acting, but Shardlight is by no means a great adventure game.

Despite being a smart progression of Blood Money's ideas, Hitman feels unrefined and unfinished in lots of small but important ways.

Despite an impressive variety in art direction and environments, Soul Axiom’s puzzle design is shallow and frustrating.

A solid tactical RPG frustratingly buried under a terrible port.