The Division’s astonishing complexity makes it appear to be one of Ubisoft’s most ambitious games to date. But that’s actually smoke and mirrors, because the key components are remarkably simple. Underneath it all, this is a classic Ubisoft open-world game, bolstered by fantastic co-op and PvP support, and marred by RPG percentages that are as intrusive as they are ineffective. Approach it with the view to completing the campaign and sightseeing New York with friends and you’ll have a blast. But this isn’t a world you’ll be living in for years to come.

Elden Ring Nightreign shoots for the stars with a clean retrofit of familiar assets into a roguelike format, but it’s dragged back down to earth with repetitive encounters, overtuned bosses, and lacklustre meta-progression. Random chance and an urgent pace rewards blind haste over careful buildcraft, but I'm confident its biggest issues can still be fixed.

Duck Detective: The Secret Salami is a short but very sweet adventure that works your brain and warms your soul.

What Routine lacks in quantity, it makes up for in staggering quality. It’s cassette futurism at its most tactile, with an aesthetic direction that’s only matched by the novelty of its CAT tool. Lunar Software raises the bar in sound design to deliver a singular experience for sci-fi horror fans.

Rules maintains the series' dual coming-of-age narrative, but often undermines its central pillar of choice.

Pacific Drive offers a road trip like no other, boasting immaculate sound design and a classic '90s conspiracy delivered through a compact survival-crafting roguelike loop.

While its stark simplicity might feel cold or even cruel at first, Mode 7 have in fact boiled the Synapse formula down to something perhaps more beautiful, burning away its impurities to leave hard diamond.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a thoroughly enjoyable Soulslike with intensely fun combat mechanics, slightly marred by jarring difficulty spikes and by-the-numbers music and sound.

Gorgeous to look at but quite shallow and full of bugs, F1 Manager 2022 needs to improve on the realism and accuracies before it can achieve pole position.

I’m not going to beat around the bush here: Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak is the greatest RTS I have played since I first started flirting with StarCraft II. It’s blessed with the detail of Wargame, the interesting terrain of Company of Heroes and the iconic style of its space-based predecessors. Diverse, distinct units; a genuinely compelling sci-fi story of mythic proportions; and absolutely the best sound design in the genre work toward making it a stand out RTS.

Unfortunately, Heat Signature’s structure lets it down somewhat. It becomes a repetitive grind, broken up by the occasional amazing moment. The procedural generation makes it feel special, randomly creating an environment for these unique anecdotes, but it is a double-edged sword as there are a multitude of uneventful missions in-between. Still, it all feels worth it for those moments when there are a few seconds left on the clock and you are forced to take desperate action.

The Dead Rising remaster fixes every small problem from the original, in turn allowing the spirit of Capcom's open-world to exist more freely. That increased polish however robs Dead Rising of some of its crucial character.

More time capsule than game, stirring sentimental wonderment and bad memories in equal measure.

Whether or not you’re a fan of Suikoden II, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is just about worth your time. Unfortunately, almost every high point in Nowa's adventure is met with a painful low, making for a disjointed experience bursting with forgettable minigames and characters.

While Overwatch 2 adds a host of heroes and features to Blizzard’s iconic FPS game, its PvP feels more like a simple content update than a full blown sequel.

Firaxis combats the inherent bloat of the 4X genre with partial success. All of the big new ideas in Civilization 7 work well and it's tighter and more engaging than any of its predecessors. Nevertheless, your sense of connection still begins to wane by the midgame.

Battle for Azeroth is a solid follow-up to Legion that'll keep fans happy - if only for the new continents, War mode, and dungeons. Time will tell if the rest of the features will give the expansion the shelf life it needs.

Civ VI is undoubtedly a better game with the addition of Rise and Fall - especially when you are struggling to hold everything together through a Dark Age. However, I do not think this expansion brings it to a place where all of its core ideas have really gelled yet.

With a gorgeous graphical overhaul and smoother gameplay, Hangar 13 delivers what a remake should. Just don't expect as much content as a modern open-world game.

Chapter Two was worth the two year wait. It’s comfortingly traditional if you pine for the old days, but not laden down with overly elaborate multi-layered puzzles that’ll keep you bashing your head against the wall for hours.

In BattleTech, the persistence between battles lets you weave a whole new plot through the game, one filled with characters and stakes that are wholly your own.

Still recognisably Borderlands, but the sense of place and improvisation elevates Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands beyond expectations. The overworld map feels tacked-on, but Gearbox commits to the bit in every other aspect.

Calling Stellaris Europa Universalis in space is probably reductive, but it was the first thing I did in this review not because they are almost exactly alike, but because, when I put away my empires and get on with my day, the stories that have played out in these digital worlds embed themselves in my brain, and I so desperately want to tell people about them. Both games tickle the part of my brain that wants every battle to have some greater context, every move I make to be part of a larger narrative. Stellaris manages to do this without history to lean on, though, and does so with aplomb.

Total War: Rome 2 is five years old but Rise of the Republic acts as an anti-ageing cream, bolstering it with a new campaign and features that means it can keep up with Total War: Warhammer 2.

WWE 2K24 is a fitting tribute to the legacy of the wrestlers that came before, the talented Superstars that now thrill millions worldwide, and the future of sports entertainment in videogames, even if there is still room for improvement in the presentation and some of its game modes.

It is with this finale that it’s clear that - despite so many similarities - this has been a very different season from the first. With Lee we had one goal: keep Clem safe. And whatever we did, as Lee, the end was pretty much a forgone conclusion. Not so, here.

A game with unapologetically singular focus, its distillation of deeper MMOs' elements nevertheless results in an experience that all too often feels barren.

Metro Awakening is a wholly new and unique Metro game that nails its predecessors' atmosphere, narrative elements, and tense combat. It's one of the strongest VR games out there, and I'd go so far as to say it's the optimal way to experience the Metro universe in videogame form, even if performance woes and bugs hold it back on Meta Quest 3.