The Long Journey Home does a superb job of making you feel like a stranger in a strange place. The aliens you encounter are all established and regard you with mild curiosity rather than alarm. You’re properly up against it and that can be very gripping. After six hours, however, it’s just draining, and because every objective is a mini-game, there’s almost no respite from the moment-to-moment struggle.

Capes mostly overcomes its cliches, lack of customization, and limited scope thanks to its strategic gameplay that will test the mettle of even the most hardened of turn-based tactics veterans.

As a sendoff to these beloved characters, Persona 5 Tactica tells a decent story and has novel tactical RPG ideas; even if said mechanics destroy all semblance of challenge.

For the moments where the procedural stuff just works perfectly, creating a bastard-hard but ultimately memorable level, and for the world itself, which is lovely, The Swindle is worth dedicating a couple evenings to. It won’t steal your heart though.

It’s missing that spark of personality and something that ties all the scenarios together. And it’s in desperate need of a great deal of polish.

Beneath Avowed’s mycelium-covered surface lurks a good RPG stifled by a lack of real stakes. The Living Lands feel anything but alive, and while the combat strikes the right balance between fun and challenge, it doesn't offer anything new. If you’re looking for a comfort-food fantasy RPG, then Avowed’s got you covered, but you need to set your expectations accordingly.

Its colourful cast of characters handles Batman’s absence well, but mismatched features and puzzling progression means it trips as much as it triumphs.

A cheeky take on Dungeons & Dragons lore isn't enough to carry the lacklustre combat, sluggish controls, and dodgy enemy hitboxes.

You may get a laugh or two, but it’s an otherwise poor shooter that thinks large numbers of enemies are difficulty spikes and distractions will make people forget about the soft locks, crashes, and lack of accessibility options.

Star Wars: Outlaws captures the visual feel of the source material but misses the mark with nearly everything else. An uninteresting open world and tedious stealth sections bog down what could have been the start of something special.

Despite having 50 years of legacy to work from, this manga mash-up feels like a rush job. The combat offers basic fun, but as a complete package Jump Force proves to be a flop.

An initially intriguing game that quickly reveals itself to be a slight and unimaginative shooter. An opportunity missed, and a let-down on a technical level to boot.

Solo Leveling Arise is authentic to its anime and webtoon inspirations, but it's too grindy, frustrating, and repetitive to come close to rivaling the best gacha games.

A unique premise, great sense of style, and a number of novel design concepts aren’t quite enough to compensate for Slitterhead’s repetitive mission structure and lifeless combat.

For the most part the execution is too simplistic, and the frustrations are too frequent.

The premise of Siren's Rest is strong enough to plumb the depths of Still Wakes the Deep’s enduring mysteries, but as a compact story DLC, it’s just too shallow. The principal goal of tracking down collectibles siphons the tension from its claustrophobic environments, and The Chinese Room's overreliance on scripted sequences creates missed opportunities for emergent horror.

A muddled game that trips over itself by implementing mechanics from various genres, but never fully expands on their potential.

An earnest but empty love letter to Quake and Duke Nukem 3D that never gets around to doing anything to call its own.

Fallout 76 isn’t to be compared with other Fallouts - it’s a spin-off that wants to be something new. Unfortunately, the multiplayer sandbox it tries to be is stagnant and intensely frustrating to play.

Considering you’ve likely played the previous three games and have now spent around eight hours keeping homicidal animatronics at bay, there’s nothing about this fourth game that begs for you to return. Instead spend the cash on a bag of snacks and some drinks, and watch someone else shriek loudly into a microphone for you.

Hell is Us starts strong, but quickly falls into a tedious loop of collection and delivery, with an uninspiring combat system and a story that loses its initial promise. The superb place-setting and unnerving tone can’t save this action RPG from stumbling across the finish line.

It’s one of those ‘good game buried in here somewhere’ experiences. Tonally it’s all over the place, and its design may as well be from the dark ages at this point. But there’s an alternate universe in which the likeable, upgradeable Agents and gratifying gear-gating are instead married to interesting, varied missions and an atmospheric open-world. That is what it would have taken for Agents of Mayhem to shine, and the most bizarre thing about its actual execution is how deliberately Volition seem to have shot for mediocrity. This doesn’t feel like a game hampered by ineptitude, but instead by a misunderstanding - or plain indecision - as to who it’s actually intended for.

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

AEW’s first foray into videogames has much room for improvement across its odd-looking character models, slim game mode offerings, and poor AI balancing. That said, in the right crowd, you might enjoy it for its schlock and solid controls.

Alone in the Dark is a weak survival horror pastiche largely devoid of original moments. The occasional dash of character in its 1920s Deep South setting can't make up for repetitive puzzles and the feeling we've seen all of this before.

This hack-and-slash wears its simplicity like a lovely Scandinavian jumper, but is scarcely substantial enough for its handful of hours and drenched by awful aesthetic choices.

Deliver At All Costs has tons of potential, but it doesn’t know what to do with it. A solid storyline is neglected in favor of chaotic quests, but the missions aren’t varied enough to stave off repetition for long. It's a game of competing ideas and intentions that would have been better explored across two entirely separate and fully realized projects.

Where life finds a way, Exoprimal has lost its purpose. Defined by boring combat and a lack of innovation, I’m left feeling like that Brachiosaurus in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – hopeless and yearning for more.