For all its many flaws, LOTR: Gollum is an oft-beautiful and oddly endearing adventure.

Resurgence is the perfect mash-up of dramatic Star Trek storytelling and Telltale-style decision making, but with too many QTEs.

Boltgun is stupendously fun—a treat for Warhammer players and a worthy member of the growing legion of retro shooters.

Hrot's very final boss was a joke that didn't land for me after an unbroken string of ones that did, but otherwise it's pure boomer shooter excellence.

A graphically gorgeous descendant of Myst, paradoxically limited by its own ambitions.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is a challenging yet fun roguelite experience, even if it does sacrifice some of what made the original great.

Even amidst the farming sim renaissance, Roots of Pacha cultivates a charming, community-driven vision of the Stone Age that’s endlessly satisfying and always enchanting.

Redfall's empty open world, flimsy shooting, and siloed systems make for a flat, dull experience.

Beautiful, polished and painfully hollow. Ravenlok’s bones are immaculate, but lack meat or connective tissue.

Intriguing puzzles aside, this metroidvania is plagued with systems that seem designed to frustrate.

A flavourful and inventive 4X full of incredible spells and engaging empire management.

A creative blend of sneaking and shooting that will have squads coming back for more.

Despite its gacha systems, Honkai: Star Rail is an impeccable turn-based RPG with a killer visual style.

A triumph of sinister mood let down by archaic puzzle design.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is an excellent sequel and a fun Star Wars story, but maybe wait for better performance.

A survival colony builder that generates stories of triumph, disaster, and white-knuckle rescues.

Watching your favourite game genres make out sounds exciting, but God of Rock doesn't quite nail it. It leaves a game that feels at odds with itself, sometimes fun to play but mostly frustrating or uninteresting.

A revolutionary tale told with memorable characters, excellent combat, and surprisingly forthright politics.

Dead Island 2 is hampered by dull design choices, repetitive combat, and a painfully weak story, with its only saving grace being its great performance on PC.

Don't be fooled by its drab exterior, Wartales is a deep and richly rewarding exercise in party creation.

An action strategy spinoff that disappoints both genres and misses Minecraft's magic.

An enthralling horror mystery that, outside of its relatively short length, doesn't seem to have suffered at all from the difficult circumstances of its development.

A perfect balance of accessibility and strategic depth, elevated by charming visuals and buckets of personality.

It's a shame that a Last Of Us review has to carry such a low score. It feels like slamming Citizen Kane because its Blu-Ray features aren't up to standard, such is the game's stellar reputation. But the state of the PC version isn't just disappointing or annoying—at the time of writing it's actually a real barrier preventing you from playing the experience properly. There's an all-timer laying dormant behind all the issues, but at present on PC, this one just doesn't click.

So, an expertly crafted space adventure? Yes. One of the best examples of this genre we've ever seen? Also yes, with the caveat that it's a style of game that's been sadly under-represented in recent years. The lack of heavy simulation elements and emphasis on combat makes this a game that's perfect for a quick blast as well as longer play sessions, but it's also a satisfying and, thanks to all the side missions, really quite long adventure that'll keep you looting and shooting through space for up to 90 hours.

The Great War: Western Front is a bleak, conservative attempt to capture the brutal battles of World War I.

The Last Worker's free-flying hovercraft gameplay is inventive, but its most exciting implications are left boxed up.

There's merit in Ravenbound's kinetic combat, but the game's ambition is undermined by technical issues and an empty world.