Rocket Arena is the best kind of mindless fun.

While I might disagree with the notion that Carrion is a truly great Metroidvania, a genre that has buckets of both older and modern classics, it is at very least a refreshing take on it. It controls like a dream with an analog stick, and there's a fluidity to the monster’s movements that I honestly feel like I will be searching for in other games for years. It just falls short of greatness, settling quickly into its comfort zone as a series of interconnected puzzles, and then failing to surprise me much after that.

Fae Tactics takes an enjoyable swing at streamlining a complex genre, but doesn’t reinvent it in the process.

Coffee shop philosophy with a side of comedy banter, plated attractively.

The genre-defining shooter holds up fantastically, despite an imperfect package.

Filled with what made the original game great, this second trip to Union City has been worth the 26-year hiatus.

Slow, weird, and indulgent, but a true original, and a journey that will linger in your mind long after it's over.

The deep career mode is even better when managing your own team, and the racing is superbly tactical.

A faithful recreation, but why go back when Stardew has since perfected the genre?

A fantastic return to Superhot’s slick shootouts, at the expense of the original’s deft pacing.

Ambitious in the extreme, Shadow Empire is a unique sci-fi wargame that's a little lost in its own details.

Colorful characters alone can't wake up this sleepy sailing and farming adventure.

A fine balancing act of challenge and intrigue, with stabiliser wheels courtesy of Ron Perlman's voice.

A bare-bones refit, but this remains a captivating JRPG, marrying slice-of-life drama with stylish demon battling.

Desperados 3 turns the Wild West into a brilliant tactical playground that will fill you with lead over and over again.

A calm and realistic marine-diving simulator that unfortunately never goes deeper than the surface.

Valorant transforms the best of CS:GO with agents and abilities, resulting in an exceptional FPS that everyone should try.

A deckbuilder that will have you doing hit point calculations and liking it.

A time-bending puzzle game clever enough not to be just another time-bending puzzle game.

A clear and distinct spin on 4-player co-op FPS with atmosphere, ingenuity… and real navigational problems.

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.