Polishing a classic formula without revolutionising it, this is a robust package that includes something for just about every kind of RTS player, from beginners to grizzled veterans.

Battlefield V delivers the series' finest single-player campaign yet, painting the horror of war from rarely seen perspectives. That tension carries through to the multiplayer, which has been tuned to hammer home your vulnerability in a firefight.

TV show stalwarts should breathe easily and those on the fence about the game’s penchant for outrageous humour to definitely give it a go for the sake of its fantastic gameplay. However, if South Park has never been to your taste, The Fractured But Whole makes no attempt to change that.

The classic RTS battles carry the third entry in this once-essential series, returning more or less untouched, but alongside a bloated and unfinished campaign mode that feels at odds with the core ideas of Company of Heroes.

One of the most engaging and original story-based games this year. It’s dragged down by some trite videogame elements but its characters elevate it above its contemporaries.

Dishonored: Death of the Outsider captures everything that’s great about Arkane’s assassination series, while also showing that it can still surprise. Smart tweaks improve the core gameplay and, if you’re worried about having fewer powers to play with, you can always go back through it with Corvo’s moveset when you’re done. As far as mission quality goes, it peaks in the middle - the fourth mission has us revisit a location from Dishonored 2, albeit slightly reworked, and the final mission feels much more linear than what’s come before. Still, it all leads to a satisfying conclusion that neatly ties up every plot strand that’s been hanging since that political assassination, whoever you decide is responsible.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is an impeccable story of coming to terms with trauma and making difficult decisions, punctuated by moments of outstanding beauty and strength.

Initially unwieldy but eventually engrossing, Age of Wonders' latest entry translates its Civ-meets-XCOM formula brilliantly to a new sci-fi setting. Even if the elements of that sci-fi are a bit rote.

A superb dungeon crawler that's held back from perfection by some crude monetisation practises and half-baked dialogue.

Black Myth Wukong is the Journey to the West adaptation I've always wanted – an ambitious action RPG with stunning visuals, spectacular boss designs, and snappy combat. However, sluggish camera tracking, restrictive exploration, and early-game difficulty spikes might be a dealbreaker for some.

Though the natives still feel underdeveloped and the colonies don’t really become interesting until they attempt to gain independence, Conquest of Paradise is still a welcome addition to Europa Universalis IV. It adds more than it takes away.

Its core combat is probably better than XCOM's. If only it did a little more with it, Gears Tactics would be one of the greats.

Old World adds dimension and complexity to the 4X style, but its slow pace and intricate resource management hinder it from reaching its full potential.

An outstanding homage to Fire Emblem which, in its rich cast of characters and thoughtful tweaks to combat, occasionally surpasses its classic inspiration.

This is Company of Heroes 2 at its best, a standalone that focuses on the series’ core: man and machine duking it out across Europe. Those seeking a narrative will find plenty of stories in the tense battles amid crumbling towns and dark forests, so the campaign isn’t missed at all

Struggles to do justice to what should be its show-stopper moments, but breathes much-needed life into the Khajiit and their homeland.

A phenomenal single-player experience that competes with the best this iconic series has to offer. Multiplayer needs a fair few structural tweaks, but still ultimately sparks joy.

Just as Endless Legend and Civilization V are now far superior to how they started, so can Endless Space 2 be. It’s odd to talk of foundations in something so markedly floaty and space-based, so perhaps it’s better to think of this as an outpost, plonked down on a planet waiting to be colonised. It’s a fertile planet, sure, but one that’s yet to be fully exploited.

Though on the surface it’s a simple tribute to Command and Conquer, Tempest Rising breaks free of its influences with a visual style and mechanical flourishes all of its own. Its core ideas may work better in a smaller-scale tactics game rather than an RTS, but there are several missions where everything fits together.

The Evil Within 2 is entirely its own horror experience - part open-world survival game, part psychological horror. It is a bold, bloody evolution of the survival horror genre. Moreover, like its centipedal monstrosities, this is a game that excels at defying expectations. Scenery, gameplay, and pacing shift gears constantly, keeping me guessing nearly every minute of the 20 hours it took to reach the end of its story.

It’s challenging and thoughtful, but it does lamentably become repetitive.

Reanimal exploits our love of theories and in doing so creates a game that’s bloated and narratively confusing. While it’s undeniably pretty and the boss designs are cool, two-player co-op is fiddly and unforgiving, detracting from any real tension the game tries to build.

Headline features that don’t have a lot going for them mean Football Manager 2023 is the smallest step forward in the series yet, but a step forward nonetheless, to make this the best FM game to date.

Never before has a game felt more at home on VR when compared to its PC counterpart. PowerWash Sim VR sets a new standard for the care and attention to detail that devs must now meet when porting their games into virtual reality. [Meta Quest 3]

Elite: Dangerous is a beautiful arcade experience, plugged into an empty galaxy, one so big and bold that it might trick you into thinking there’s more to see and do than there really is. You’ll probably love it anyway.

The new World Congress and climate change mirror real-life in that they're partly beyond your control, making them hard to factor into your schemes. The new civs are among the best and most novel in the game, though.

Honkai Star Rail is a highly polished turn-based RPG that builds off the Hoyoverse gacha machine, and while it certainly doesn’t reinvent the wheel, its colourful cast of characters and mercurial tone sets it on the right track.

Life is Strange 2's first episode goes in a bold new direction that points the series towards current political issues as much as it does human drama. It's promising but a little slow to get going after a thrilling opening scene.