Minecraft Dungeons is a breezy dungeon crawler that reproduces Minecraft's playful attitude.

Despite some cool heroes and a neat twist on battle royale, Amazon’s long-awaited hero shooter wasn’t worth the wait.

It's just a shame the journey from infant to megashark isn't populated with a wider variety of activities. Like Hooper said, sharks just swim and eat, and that's unfortunately not enough to fill even a short action-RPG like Maneater.

The excellent franchise mode adds loads of depth and decision making, and on-field play is livelier than ever.

Cute little city-builder with big ambitions and even bigger cosmic cetaceans.

Streets of Rage doesn't do much to innovate, but it's a beautiful brawler with just enough depth to stay engaging through multiple runs.

This deep off-road sim delights in giving you a hard time, but every victory is all the sweeter for it.

Gears Tactics' structure couldn't quite sustain the 25 hours or so it took me to get through the campaign, but slap the combat into a sequel with a couple more strategic systems that balance out the variety and pacing, and I'd honestly rather play it over XCOM, a recommendation I never expected I'd make.

The story has some issues, but this vast, beautiful city is a joy to take flight in.

A fine superhero SWAT team tactics game smothered by a little too much admin.

A polished but disappointingly by-the-numbers FMV adventure that won't linger in your mind for long.

A gentle and engrossing underwater sci-fi game that will have you thinking about more than what lies beneath the waves.

Bleeding Edge's characters are cool, but the combat is too shallow to hold attention for long.

Resident Evil 3 is essentially a chain of action set-pieces, threaded together with a paper-thin story and a few too many cutscenes. This is the direction the series started to take post-Resident Evil 4, when it seriously lost its way and we ended up with the abysmal Resident Evil 6, and I'd hate to see that happen again.

With old friends, new enemies, and an exciting story, revisiting City 17 in VR is a thrill in Half-Life: Alyx.

Doom Eternal is a ceaseless, panicked nightmare that pushes you to point and click with more skill and style than ever before.

For better or worse, this is a classic hex wargame with updated graphics.

Call of Duty: Warzone reaches new heights in battle royale by ditching backpacks and throwing me in a Gulag.

A vibrant mystery adventure but maybe not for you if you're picky about picross.

Packaged with the rest of the Master Chief Collection, it’s an easy way to hop in and see what all the fuss was about 20 years ago. If you’ve spent the last 20 years moulding Halo PC into a custom content chimaera, it’s a harder sell. What Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is offering a clean slate.

It's not a chore to conquer China in Romance of the Three Kingdoms 14. It's just underwhelming. Especially when we've seen this era represented so much better by Creative Assembly so recently, I couldn't come up with a compelling reason why I'd play this instead. Only die-hard fans of the franchise who want to see Koei's specific takes on these characters will be likely to find much to get excited about here. And given that this is the fourteenth entry in the series, I expected a lot more.

Despite variable success with the choice element, this is a kingdom you’ll want to save.

It's inconsistent and sometimes annoying, but ultimately a charming, challenging, heart-string-pulling fable.

A quality remake that broadens the scope of the original and massively improves its final chapters.

Bloodroots is a brutally good slasher that often outstays its own welcome.

I'd really love to know how Corruption 2029 came to be. It feels like a very stripped down, bare bones game—a space for the designers to experiment with concepts in a turn-based tactics space. The big problem with Corruption 2029 is that the same developer put out a very similar game with the same strengths and far fewer shortcomings only two years ago. Fans of Mutant Year Zero might want to check it out to get a bit more of that stealth tactics fix, but anyone else should opt for its more illustrious predecessor.

With a fun concept, superb creation tools, and finely crafted puzzles, Besiege is a construction game to savour.

A mountain of issues gets in the way of the gratuitous monster murder and engaging customisation.

The Suicide of Rachel Foster builds a haunting hotel, but fills it with an insensitive story ill-equipped to deal with the issues it covers.

"Not every conspiracy has to be the f.cking Templars." If that made you smile, buy with confidence.

Marvelous’s mechfest looks beautiful and plays like a dream on PC, but it's held back by repetitive action.

An enchanting adventure that boasts some magical hand-drawn animation, but will inevitably leave some players perplexed.

A compelling story about rural America that is both surreal and thoughtful, if a little disorienting.

A superbly crafted game that serves as storyteller, teacher, and concerned friend.

Novel presentation and a masterful complexity curve, but The Pedestrian's very shy about storytelling.

Tense and thrilling with finely tuned systems, Saints & Sinners is a must-have VR experience.

An exceptional RTS let down by a very disappointing remaster.

It’s not going to rock anyone’s world, but for a cheap TV tie-in it’s a lot more engaging than it has any right to be, serving as a pleasant opportunity for any series fan to spend a few more hours in Gelfling company.

Clever innovations and a generous economy make Legends of Runeterra easy to love. [Open Beta review score = 85]

It might seem gimmicky, but Chess Royale is an effective introduction to an often-confusing genre.

An excellently-crafted shooter, especially with friends. Just don’t expect much in the way of brains.

Funny, fresh, and full of surprises, Typhoon’s debut blends genres expertly. Co-op doesn’t add much, though.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is by no means perfect, but it’s a solid RPG that very efficiently covers the entire Dragon Ball Z saga. The game sometimes crumbles under the weight of its own systems, but Kakarot is still a fun way to revisit (or even experience for the first time) the Dragon Ball Z saga.

Floaty combat and repetition mean this cartoon brawler is never more than a pretty face.

A sumptuous fusion of sound, colour and love that everyone should try.

Often obtuse in its puzzle design and not that artfully told, The White Door is still effective at taking you to another place.

Fails to explore its themes but still delivers the series' most potent monster hunting yet.

Transport Fever 2 offers a pleasingly detailed logistics simulation, although it does move mightily slow at times.

Occasionally fun but often unconscientious, Detroit: Beyond Human takes steps in the right direction but retains too much of the old Quantic Dream formula.

Wattam is a fun colourful playground for players to goof around in, even though it's controls have a few screws loose.

Excellent writing and vibrant characters help to overcome prominent technical issues and unwelcome repetition.

A lighthearted romp, with plenty of opportunities for creative building and a surprisingly good story.

But MechWarrior 5 is a game that will get a pass on its narrative woes because, I must concede, the narrative is so thin the gameplay completely trumps it. MW5 is unmistakably a game about being a sandbox mech jockey, and the stories are just a low-quality veneer over some superb robot combat. If you're here for a mech smashing simulator, this is the best new mech smashing simulator around. Here's hoping for more and better from a MechWarrior 6.

Life is Strange 2 promises a classic roadtrip, but fails to put you in the driving seat.

Espire 1's VR stealth is brimming with neat ideas, but the end product is slightly less than the sum of its parts.

A PC port that minimizes Halo: Reach's flaws and highlights its strengths, from the unique campaign to the joy of a clean headshot.

A game about breaking free from monotony that gets, perhaps inevitably, a little monotonous.

A great one-shot adventure or an enjoyable grindfest, depending on which you want.

Strategically delicious, Phoenix Point’s biggest problem is lackluster technical execution.

A seamless continuation of the series that makes up for its limitations with pure heart. It's like Ryo never left us.

Lost Ember is a wonderful, unique, and unforgettable experience with a love for nature.

Technical issues marr an otherwise slick adventure. A must for Star Wars fans.

A mediocre XCOM-like in the form of a deeply worrying depiction of militarised police.

Red Dead Redemption 2's stark, slow depiction of America's fading frontier is a monumental work straining against stubborn mission design and stability problems.

Wargames don't see a lot of innovation, but Unity of Command 2 builds new things out of familiar parts.

Thrilling night races make Heat the best Need for Speed in years, even if I want to batter every one of its racers.

A fun blend of puzzle and roguelike that inspires forward-thinking, but cuts your strategy short.

Another superb entry that feels tailor-made for the series' most dedicated players.

Excellent VR combat and movement wedged inside a repetitive quest system.

Unaware of its absurdity, Blacksad: Under The Skin fails at much of what it attempts.

A polished, wide-ranging update that brings the classic RTS into the modern age.

Another strong (yet stressful) management sim from Frontier Developments.

A serene gravity flipping puzzler with impossible structures to wrap your head around.

The top-notch writing and superb voice acting, coupled with the visually vibrant hellscape, keeps your interest from start to finish.

Modern Warfare evolves the series for the better, but it could be so much more.

There's a category of games I think of as Saturday morning cartoon games. They lack depth, but they are fluffy and easy to enjoy. As I look back on some screenshots as Pippin laser blasts a poor marauder into a pile of dust, I realise that's what The Outer Worlds is to me. If you meet it on those terms, I think you'll enjoy it.

This charming sequel doesn't need flashy new innovations to craft an engrossing adventure.

Invigorating arcade racing let down by lightweight multiplayer and campaign modes.

The thing about Disco Elysium is that my experience of it is completely unique to me, such is the dizzying variety of skills, stats, thoughts, and conversation options on offer. You could play through it five times and still not see everything, so there's no one experience to assess. But I can say with certainty that it's one of the finest RPGs on PC if you value depth, freedom, customisation, and storytelling.

To be clear, Destiny 2 is still an engaging shooter that—when you step back and take stock of all it has to offer—is absolutely packed full of stuff to do. Shadowkeep is both an entertaining assortment of new activities and a solid base from which the game at large can build and improve. But Shadowkeep also doesn't feel like Destiny 2's final form, and there's a real sense that there's still much left to be tweaked and tightened. The subway is being refurbished slowly, one station at a time. That doesn't stop me from enjoying the ride.

Indivisible's inventive battle system brings the thrill of a fighting game to a JRPG-like party system but its platforming sections aren't as magical.

John Wick Hex is a movie tie-in that doesn’t go for the lowest common denominator. What could easily have been a generic real-time action game works wonderfully in this form—converting the pace of the movie action into a very elegant illusion of it. It works admirably despite the within this somewhat sparse presentation, and feels like an idea that the developer could evolve into something really special in the future—with or without the John Wick license.

Poorly stapled-on mechanics and a general lack of polish make Breakpoint's open-world tactics simply not worth the time.

Puzzle design does the heavy lifting for Trine 4, a fun but ultimately hollow experience.

Neo Can is ambitious and thoughtful, but it sometimes overshoots into something too bleak.

What the Golf? has been in development for a while—I feel like I've tried it at several indie game events over the past few years—but now that it's out I'm delighted to see its a fun, funny, extremely inventive puzzle game and a pleasure to play from the first hole-in-one to the final cat-in-seven.

Slick and generous, Magic: The Gathering Arena is finally the adaptation the CCG originator deserves.

It's too repetitive and easy, but Crying Suns story and frantic combat are worth experiencing anyway.

However invested you become, however much enjoyment you take from competency and victory, however many times you watch that replay back of the Volta goal you scored by flicking it backwards over a defender, losing another with an elastico and backheeling it into the net (at least double figures now), FIFA 20’s biggest failing is in producing an enjoyable football match.

A post apocalyptic road trip with more stops than starts.

The steely smash-and-crunch of the combat merrily pushed me through its 20-hour campaign and beyond into New Game +, compelling me to ignore the rudimentary world and focus on those glorious moments where sparks, limbs and scrap metal fly with brutal abandon. Deck13 has come a long way, welding together a solid, structurally sound Soulslike that adeptly showcases what makes this genre special.

An exceptionally pretty if otherwise conventional JRPG with diverting combat. Not an all-timer, but worth a (re)visit.

Hilarious, bursting with charm, and satisfying to play. Untitled Goose Game is a winger.

Grittier and more convincing than ever, Konami's soccer juggernaut excels on the pitch but barely tries off it.

Lack of depth and variety, and some platforming missteps, stain an otherwise great, oppressive experience.

The Bergson's are charming but their quest is a bit too lifeless. A middling dungeon crawler elevated by its style.

GreedFall's combat, dialogue, and romance are overshadowed by better RPGs, but it's competent enough to recommend with caveats.

An endless font of bad jokes and cool guns in the series' most vapid story yet, Borderlands 3 skates by on watching numbers fly and goons explode.