Blowing out Factorio’s scale and reinventing its factory systems multiple times over, Space Age is an immediate contender for the best expansion ever made.

Starship Troopers: Extermination's cooperative battles are mechanically innovative and can be enormous fun, but a general lack of polish and a slapdash single-player hold it back from greatness.

MechWarrior 5: Clans delivers a strong story of struggling young warriors alongside the best-ever version its iconic, lumbering mech combat.

A game all about gliding and exploring trips over its own feet.

Technical issues and lack of a substantial upgrade aside, Until Dawn remains the perfect interactive horror movie.

Silent Hill 2's remake is a fun but flawed take on a flawless gem.

Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is the best Dragon Ball game we've had since the PS2 and a generous love letter to Toriyama's classic series.

A beautiful, 100-hour-long journey from beginning to end, Metaphor: ReFantazio takes the best elements of Persona 5 and somehow improves on them.

While its new environments are a decent aside, Shattered Space seems largely content to tread water, leaving Starfield the same mixed bag it always was.

Vessel of Hatred gives Diablo 4 a beating heart: Compelling characters to root for, creative loot to chase, and fiercely expressive action.

A smart and silly spin on 3D platformers and 2D classics that’s delightful from start to finish.

God of War Ragnarök isn't the cleanest sequel, but it leaves Sony's angriest franchise in a great place.

Perhaps a bit too divergent from the Final Fantasy formula, but rich characters and spectacular combat still make it an impressive sequel.

One part detective sim and one part chaos generator, Shadows of Doubt lives up to its influences as an immersive sim that actually makes good on its ambitions.

A beautifully presented and accessible game in a sometimes obscure genre, Ara: History Untold is a pretty picture book rather than a deep tome.

Judero is peak indie game: Funky, weird, rough and wonderful in a way only such a small, ambitious project could be.

Despite plenty of style and cheek, Keylocker can’t get past the repetitive grind of its battles.

Italian folklore makes for a unique setting, but Enotria lacks the smooth combat and smart mechanics you'd look for in a decent soulslike.

Tiny Glade is a stress-free building game with some lovely ideas, but it too often feels restrictive rather than meditative.

A sprawling survival game in a beautiful subterranean world.

Not as satisfying a city builder as the original, but the society simulation is still on point.

A superb retro-style smorgasbord in real danger of drowning out its own consistently good work.

This wonderfully clever strategy roguelike demands your best, and it deserves to get it.

A collection of fun hacking minigames attached to a bland metroidvania.

The roguelike and FPS genres haven't been spliced so successfully since Deathloop—and Wild Bastards deserves just as much acclaim.

Satisfactory is a masterfully made game for crafters, builders, and factory managers of all kinds.

Visions of Mana weaves accessible action and RPG elements together to create a gorgeously enthralling fairy tale.

Fans of Warhammer 40,000 will be delighted by the spectacle and authenticity—but ultimately disappointed by messy action and unengaging multiplayer.

Even if I can't see myself logging into WoW every day, The War Within's campaign satisfied the urge to get lost in Blizzard's big fantasy world again. The story will continue as major updates happen and that might be enough to keep me hanging on until the end of the trilogy. But anything past that is a bottomless chasm that I'm happy to skip over, unless Blizzard finds a way to blend its powerful storytelling with a grind that doesn't drain the joy out of its world.

A charming meowtroidvania.

Concord feels out of touch and already out of time.

Old school strategy, sensibly modernised. Creaky cutscenes and character art aside, the visual overhaul works wonders.

Star Wars Outlaws is Ubisoft's most ambitious game in years, but it plays the basics way too safe.

Tactical Breach Wizards review: Excellent turn-based tactical combat wrapped up in a joyful, tightly-written story.

An entertaining roguelike deckbuilder held back by irritating design decisions. Frustrating, but far from a bust.

Black Myth: Wukong blossoms with an eccentric cast of characters and expressive combat all wrapped up in the rich world of its source material.

Ironclad's impressive sequel has made me proud to be a sinner.

While light on visuals and variety, Natsu-Mon's comforting world makes it a delightful summer escape.

Familiar and inventive, tough yet easygoing, World of Goo 2 is a whole world of fun.

Sharp and compelling strategy that expands on the first game with a clever new progression system, but at over twice the length it's in danger of outstaying its welcome.

Cygni: All Guns Blazing is a rollicking bullet hell-inspired blockbuster that never lets off the gas.

Earth Defense Force 6 is big, dumb co-op fun and a masterclass in asset recycling.

A grim reminder of the senselessness of war and the best old-school survival horror game in ages.

Not hard enough to be a challenge, but not painless enough to be relaxing.

A deep, surprisingly sticky, truly free-to-play mashup of what you like from a bunch of other survival MMOs.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a beautiful puzzler—and a satisfying riff on the Austrian tourist economy.

ZZZ is a shallow, polished front for a relentless online store.

A serviceable slice of Soulslike fantasy that doesn’t do enough to stand out from an overcrowded genre.

Anger Foot is a funny, unique FPS only slightly let down by performance issues.

Kunitsu-Gami's a gorgeous and engaging take on the tower defence formula.

A rich world and amazing dungeon design more than make up for dips in the story.

Riven is as impressive, immersive, and unmissable as it's ever been.

A masterfully designed expansion to one of the best action RPGs of the last decade that not only complements the base game but expands its thematic and systemic scope even further.

It's simply the best Destiny 2 expansion—both a satisfying conclusion to the series' first saga, and a compelling shooter packed full of stuff to do.

An emotive story that is equal parts terrifying and traumatic.

Vengeance combines the fresh, familiar, and the fiendish into one incredible RPG.

Less assured and sorely missing story mode, this feels like a downgrade over F1 23.

An awkward story doesn't hold Capes back from being one of the best turn-based strategy games of recent years.

A slow opening and a slightly dated core game engine do not detract from a thrilling and engaging samurai epic that's ported with skill to PC.

Despite its greater scale and visual splendour, this sequel fails to escape the shadow of its predecessor with a muddled tale that Senua herself feels out of place in.

A thrilling mystery that asks players to rise to its challenges, and rewards them when they do.

Men of War 2 is a flawed but rewarding gem for masochistic RTS fans.

Dread Delusion brims with an exhilarating sense of discovery that starts to wobble in the final act.

Homeworld 3 takes some big swings, but while it's a very good RTS, it never quite comes together in the same way as its predecessors.

Little Kitty Big City is an adorable, entertaining journey through a delightful world that’s just the right size.

A sleep-destroying puzzle metroidvania of baffling depth, Animal Well may go down in history as one of the genre's best.

A no-fat riff on the early days of survival horror that knows just what to streamline and what to keep pleasingly obtuse.

An even better version of one of the best Early Access survival games.

A bizarre, confronting and darkly funny descent into hell, Indika takes a lot of risks and mostly sticks the landing.

An undersea soulslike that's cute and compelling, though weirdly crass.

Sand Land is just another forgettable tie-in to add to the existing anime game pile.

A joyous adventure and fitting swan song for one of Japan's great RPG directors.

Tight design and compelling mythology compensate for a few too many borrowed ideas.

A killer puzzle game that tests your skill and your patience.

A great artstyle and flashes of brilliance never truly make up for a meandering, risk-averse plot.

A clever yet frustratingly muddled follow-up to Monster Train.

There's half of an amazing game in Broken Roads. Trouble is you have to play the other half.

A rough-edged but worthwhile spin on historical 4Xs that oddly leaves Civ's greatest flaws untouched.

Five hours of fun, frantic platforming that’s unwieldy and all the better for it.

Pleasant but rarely compelling characters undermine this spiritual sequel to Gone Home.

A pleasing world and satisfying jetpack exploration aside, Cutter Slade's return is rarely out of this world.

A charming but slight co-op action game where a basic combat system is elevated by clever bonuses and abilities, and half the pleasure is the world's incidental details.

Technically impressive but just not as fun or innovative as its predecessor.

A magnificent adventure with impressive fights and some very rough edges.

Unsettling and narratively ambitious, this is the best Alone in the Dark game since 1992.

There’s a lot to love in the core loop, but this diamond in the rough gets buried under a repetitive campaign and late game balance issues.

A suspenseful yet forgiving turn-based tactics game that lets you play a part in shaping history.

The Thaumaturge might be a bit light for RPG lovers, but it’s a gorgeous, incisive look at a world long past.

A creative fusion of familiar platformer elements that improves with time and investment, and proof that Evening Star is more than just the Sonic Mania crew.

One flipping good idea can’t save this repetitive roguelike deckbuilder from only rolling above average.

A great remaster of a beloved, if now very old school, FPS that is handled with great care and attention.

Ultros is easy enough that you rarely have to fully engage with its most interesting mechanics, and its writing struggles to effectively convey its lofty ideals. But the lines still connect together at the end, turning this metroidvania into a beautiful, circular experience of presence and balance. It’s a game that wants you to see the world differently when you finish it, and the way everything is connected. If nothing else, what other game lets you take a stroll through an umbilical cord?

With its emphasis on crafting and trading rather than action, Last Epoch puts the cart before the horse.

A novel and challenging survival game that puts you in the driver's seat of one the best cars in videogames.

A roguelike deckbuilder debut already worthy of joining Slay the Spire and Monster Train at the King’s table. Essential.

Combining moody and gratifying ship-on-ship combat with shallow live service trappings, Skull and Bones is great within the claustrophobic parameters of what market forces allow it to be.

Server issues aside, Helldivers 2 is a bombastic, strategically engaging and funny squad shooter.

Relink offers fluid combat against inventive bosses in gorgeous landscapes—this is an essential ARPG.