It’s an extraordinary game. One that you’ll feel faintly lost in at first, while its many systems permeate your grey matter. But all the while its story unfolds and reveals new wrinkles, the sense of place growing deeper. The mechanics underpinning everything in Pillars II have shifted marginally towards accessibility, but that still leaves a huge amount of room for brutal challenge levels to its combat - and, crucially, it’s scalable enough that you can whack down the challenge, ignore your party composition, leave the pause key unpressed, and enjoy the adventure.

Id stumbles very occasionally in its ambition to expand on 2016, but you won’t care when you’re enjoying the best combat in shooters. Pure, animalistic catharsis.

With a beautiful Blighty and an innovative season-based online endgame, Horizon 4 is a wonderfully polished, thoroughly modern racer. Sadly, it doesn’t feel quite as progressive or impactful as its Aussie predecessor, and there’s a sense the sandbox series is ever so slightly coasting on its laurels.

Another fine outing for Agent 47, and a fitting, hopefully brief, farewell to one of the best stealth series of the last decade.

Pragmata is a truly unique and wonderful third-person shooter. It’s a throwback to linear action games of old, and thankfully its undercooked story isn't enough to diminish the quality of the brilliant hacking focused action.

Sea of Stars is a worthy pseudo-spiritual successor to some of the greatest JRPGs ever made. It improves on what made those games so special by modernizing their magic through balanced and engaging turn-based combat wrapped up in an enthralling world to explore.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is a marvel for fans of the series and newcomers alike, combining brain-teasing puzzles and scrappy action in the way only Indy can. A majestic use of the license, this is the gold standard for movie-adjacent videogames going forward.

In TowerFall Ascension, there are no inevitable deaths. Every time you stare down the shaft of the Grim Reaper’s arrow, there’s always a way out. You just have to be smart and quick enough to put a plan into action before someone nails you to the wall first.

Its approachability and poppy, colourful presentation make diving into densely packed levels and chasing high scores feel like a warm hug before the white-knuckle drop in.

A true tour de force from Arkane that is bound to be one of the year's best and most important games.

You have to admire Blizzard's approach to Diablo III. They fixed it. The game itself now absolutely superb. Reaper of Souls finishes the job.

The influence of the classics, Ultima VII, Baldur’s Gate II, they’re in there, but Original Sin is very much its own, unique grand adventure.

Motive's Dead Space Remake is a gloriously grotesque glow-up that embraces the original horror game's robust formula, and only a slight amount of jank keeps it from achieving perfection.

The Silent Hill 2 remake is a solid, respectful reimagining of a horror classic. The sound design is perhaps even more spectacular here, but modern graphics clean up some of the grit and grime, while overextended exploration and frequent cutscenes take away from the original's claustrophobia and fear.

Iceborne is a little bit more of everything that makes Monster Hunter so enjoyable. The pace drags at times, but that's easy to forgive amid dozens of hours of cool new monsters to slay.

Neva is a poignant platformer that's a worthy successor to the award-winning Gris. Its intricate and stunning Ghibliesque world is a visual marvel, and while its combat isn't wholly free from frustration, its stirring narrative ensures no dry eye in the room.

Failbetter continues to revolutionise the RPG - not by burning it all down, but by slipping pages of prose into every crevice it can.

This is a rich and thoughtful strategy game that is a joy to engage with at practically every level, and a new high-water mark of ambition and quality for Creative Assembly.

Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered swings on to PC with a marvellous port which is undoubtedly the best way to play the former PlayStation exclusive.

Armored Core 6 is easily one of the best mech games around, with blisteringly fast combat and a big focus on customization, even if its difficulty is lacking and repetition sets in before the end.

Perfectly distilling the Horizon formula, Playground Games have produced a racer that's varied, exciting and gorgeous to look at - and arguably the best of the generation.

Putting aside the superb plot, Square have made it easier than ever to catch up: main scenario quests have had their experience rewards doubled, and also provide high level equipment. You’ll also be put in priority queues for dungeons and story instances to get you through them hassle free.

Regardless of if you’ve played the first game or not, Rise of the Tomb Raider is a journey you should embark on. Few games offer thrills in such a well-crafted, honed package. There’s simply not a single moment when the game doesn’t feel like it’s not giving its all. Rise of the Tomb Raider truly makes you feel like Lara Croft: a bow-wielding, mountain scaling, bear-slaughtering, cave diving mad lady with more curiosity than can be healthy. And that feeling is just wonderful.

Diablo 4 embodies the essence of what makes Diablo so great, taking the best elements of its predecessors and sewing them together to create an ever-changing, ever-evolving chimera that we can’t wait to play for years to come.

Total War games past have expanded, changed and morphed over time and this will doubtless be similar. As it stands, Warhammer is a worthy addition to the series, particularly as a melding of two universes we’ve long wanted to see collide. And before long, as the patches roll in, it could be even more than that.

Thanks to a beautifully realised setting and some genuinely innovative combat additions, Monster Hunter Rise is fun from start to finish. If you haven’t played a Monster Hunter game yet, this is the best one to start with.

As thrilling as it is boring, as fantastic as it is mundane, but one thing’s for sure - there’s truly nothing else like it.

Challenges Forsaken for the title of best-ever Destiny expansion, and has much stronger foundations to build upon. Destiny 2 was already in a good spot, but Witch Queen represents a new peak for Bungie's oft-imitated, never-dethroned looter shooter.