Frostpunk is no city builder, if that’s what you’re looking for then this is not a game for you. If you are on the other hand wanting to be pushed when it comes to city management, survival, research and moral decisions, that’s where Frost Punk delivers. Be prepared to be stressed when things don’t go your way.

I am blown away by BATTLETECH. It’s a game that I have wanted to play for a while but I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it nearly as much as I have. This is a solid, complete game which has had me utterly absorbed. The size of this game, the enjoyability, and the time it takes to complete justifies the £35 price tag. This is hands down one of the best releases so far this year.

I’m fully aware that this game is multiplayer focused and the single player is more for practice and getting used to the game before playing human opponents, but the AI is terrible, and I would go as far to say laughably awful. If you are only looking to play single player avoid this game, at least for now, as you will be wasting your money.

Deck Nine have finished off Life is Strange in sterling fashion. Saying farewell to Arcadia Bay with Before the Storm is sad, but the best farewells usually are.

An interesting concept which is let down by the resource system and the repetitive nature of the gameplay.

Did you like Life is Strange? Then, whether or not a prequel was strictly necessary, you should absolutely play this.

Survious has done it again. They have managed to create a unique VR experience that is highly engaging, looks great in the Vive, and is incredibly exhilarating to play. The movement system is brilliantly executed offering a unique VR gaming experience that also doubles as solid workout. Be warned though because your arms will ache if you play long enough. Sprint Vector is a must-have game for any VR gaming enthusiast.

I’ve had a thoroughly enjoyable time playing Boxed In but it could do with another game mode of some sort, but at the cheap price of £4.79, it’s well worth the money. Boxed In is challenging and it has me coming back for more to beat my scores. Well worth a look if you have a Vive or Rift.

Overall, Sairento VR is a solid VR game, it may not have the polish of some AAA VR titles but that’s to be expected as Mixed Realms are a tiny indie studio which is probably why bugs have slipped through the net. This is a game that will challenge your VR skills, the weapons respond well and the movement is excellent which is a huge plus in VR. Despite its flaws, Sairento VR is definitely worth checking out if you’re looking for some fast-paced VR action.

This expansion is an opportunity to delve into a somewhat refreshed Total War: Rome 2 that I’m sure some will relish. But no matter how many overhauls take place, it’s a game that can’t entirely rid itself of that 2013 launch baggage.

Jade Dragon takes a slightly different approach from prior area-and-culture focused expansions for Crusader Kings 2, putting much more emphasis on off-stage activities than making new realms playable. That means the bulk of this DLC takes place through menu interactions, but I think Paradox has done a good job fashioning an engaging system out of this restriction. China is both a major threat, and a source of great (potential) personal power for those rulers within its influence. If you have little interest in playing an eastern-located realm, or lack any of the DLCs mentioned towards the start of this review, Jade Dragon is less compelling (those Casus Belli are nice, but won’t justify the purchase on their own). Otherwise, this expansion does a fine job re-igniting interest in an area of the Crusader Kings 2 map outside the usual western Europe feudal suspects.

The original game impressed me so much in 1999. I loved it to bits. But I can’t help but feel a little disappointed with the outcome of Outcast – Second Contact. A complete rework of the original game would be worth the asking price ($30), but it’s just not been given the full makeover it truly deserves. That said, I would love for Appeal to be given the opportunity to create a sequel and revisit this fantastic world.

Football Manager is an annual series that really only has to worry about competing with itself. Aside from a few pipe dream projects on Steam, there are really no other football management titles around. Despite not all the feature changes being an unqualified success, Football Manager 2018 is still to be recommended as an absurdly detailed simulation title. To this day, it has a propensity for generating narratives rivaled only by the Paradox grand strategy games. But if you do already own Football Manager 2017 I’d regard the yearly upgrade as gently desirable rather than an urgent necessity.

With its quirky cartoony graphics and cheerful audio, the sheer horror of what you are doing is completely lost as you play. We all know dropping an air-conditioning unit on a pedestrian or dropping electrical cables into swimming pools is not the done thing in polite society, but Death Coming manages to keep you thinking and engaged with this strange cartoon world. Well worth the asking price of £4.99.

I played through the campaign once, and then played through bits of a second campaign to see the other timeline changes. I still haven’t done all of the bonus Enigma Code missions that send you back through previous stages with new enemy layouts and new things to find. I’ve played about 15 hours, and despite some weaknesses and minor complaints, I enjoyed pretty much all of them. Wanna shoot, stab, and otherwise viciously maim Nazis for a good cause, while enjoying some really good characters? Wolfenstein 2, ladies and gentlemen.

Simply put, if you have Everspace and want to experience the game in a new way then the Everspace Encounters DLC is well worth the asking price of £6.99. If you have not picked up Everspace yet then make sure you pick up the DLC at the same time. Even after playing the core game I have sunk a load more hours into the DLC thanks to the new challenges. Rockfish has made an already great space shooter even better with some great new missions, along with NPCs that add some real flavour to the experience. This is a very solid piece of DLC.

In a lot of ways, it’s a game made for a specific audience. I’m part of that audience, and while there’s a bunch of stuff I wish was different, or better tuned, or more coherent (and maybe was a few chapters shorter, as the real climax of the game takes place a little way before the end) I had a bloody good time. It’s not for everyone – certainly not for those expecting a deep horror experience – but it scratches my Resident Evil 4 itch in a stylish and pleasing way.

There’s a fairly familiar (albeit shorter) list of things in FIFA 18 to sigh about and wish EA would use some of their ample resources to fix, even if you ignore my paranoid suspicions about bouts of idiocy from otherwise competent virtual footballers. But I must admit that this installment’s renewed emphasis on tricky defending and darting midfielders getting on the end of crosses makes it a fair bit more engaging than FIFA 17 felt on launch. It’s building on where that game left off at the end of its life-span, so if you’re already appreciative of the FIFA ‘feel’, and can cope with more involved defensive duties, you’ll find it suitably inviting. I complain, but another several hundred hours in FIFA 18 inevitably await.

Runic Games take you on a wondrous mysterious journey through fantastic environments making HOB well worth your time.

Some lingering series quirks persist, but other smart lessons from the first game have been applied to Total War: Warhammer 2. Another four mechanically diverse factions, each pursuing a singular campaign goal on a richly detailed map, make this a powerful sequel.

Those who come across Bastard’s Wound as new players, people who’ve perhaps picked up the game and DLC as a bundle, should find it to be of similar quality to the other distinct areas in the Tiers. It was also released alongside a free update that expands the ending with a new path of alignment, which people coming to the game late will benefit from as well. Judged in a vacuum though, especially taking the $15 price tag into account, this expansion feels a bit too conservative. Coming to it as a new player, the similarity to the rest of the game will be a boon. For someone returning just for the DLC, the familiarity is welcome, but tinged with some disappointment.

While Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock has its share of minor problems, they don’t significantly detract from some engaging tactical encounters within a universe of familiar sights, sounds, and Cylons.

Let’s face it: if you played Life is Strange then you’ve probably bought this already, and if you haven’t, then you should play that first. If you’re one of the few Life is Strange players who haven’t picked this up yet, I’d definitely recommend waiting until we see how the rest of it turns out. What’s here is good and fine, but this episode feels like a prequel episode (no pun intended) that’s building up to whatever’s going to happen.

Their overall objectives may not be radically different from the equally pillage-happy Chaos and Beastmen, but an engaging roster, a smart twist on quests in the form of beast hunts, and a pair of Lords with a lot of thematic character mean Norsca and Wintertooth still stand out. This may prove to be the final major addition to the original Total War: Warhammer; if so, it’s a sign-off with real factional flair.

A faithful genre piece, Aven Colony takes the socio-economic juggling of settlement building games like Tropico and Banished, transports it to space, and establishes a pretty successful outpost.

Like Spec Ops: The Line and Alpha Protocol, Get Even is a flawed game whose strengths dwarf the mechanical weaknesses. Expect it to start popping up on podcasts or in long-form articles in the next few months, accompanied by the ever-present caveat “well, the combat bits aren’t particularly good” and then praise for almost everything else. It’s probably going to pick up 6/10 type scores in most places that aren’t here, and I can completely understand why. The shortcomings are easy to point out, but Get Even delivers a complex, non-linear narrative full of clever misdirection, shifting truths, and conflicted characters in a way few other games can match.

Yonder’s world is an impressive and stylish creation. The variety of environments (both geological and natural) squeezed into its compact island make for an enjoyable, exploratory romp for as long as that novelty keeps its hold. But once the main 4-5 hour quest is done, you’ve seen the extend of what the game has to offer. That wouldn’t automatically be a problem, except the crafting and farm ownership aspects are too superficial to act as a compelling reason to return. As a result, this is a short and undeniably sweet title which lacks the depth of its contemporaries.

There will be plenty of players loving the Diablo 3 Necromancer, and at the end of the day, if the majority people still playing Diablo 3 are happy with what’s included then that’s what matters. The Necromancer is reasonably enjoyable and, if you’re satisfied with Diablo 3 and all you want is a new class, then you can probably come to terms with the $15 price.