Dojoran is the latest 2D platformer to hit PSN and while we've seen it all before, it does have a reasonable level of challenge that will appeal to retro platformer fans.

Showing promise in the early stages, Clid the Snail is both a charming shooter filled with a ton of character and visually interesting themes. However, the slow pace, cluttered worlds and repetitive gameplay fail to elevate the game to true greatness.

Deathloop offers a fun, time bending romp. The story is intriguing and the characters, butterfly effects and abilities are the strong points only hampered by a lot of repetition and the odd technical hitch.

We're not sure that Inked's puzzle-solving gameplay will turn many heads but its drop dead gorgeous visuals will.

Embr is a fun firefighting game with a true sense of silliness. We've seen the physics-heavy party game done a lot recently but Embr's originality and focus on replayability make it stand out as one of the more unique games in the genre.

NBA 2K22's basketball feels more refined than last season. The revamped stamina meter leads to a more tactical team game and shooting is consistent and reliable. It looks as sharp and well-presented as ever and those wanting some quality time on the court will be well served. Unfortunately, the familiar encroachment of microtransactions dominate the MyCareer and MyTeam modes. The old problems with judging your performance also still persist.

Bus Simulator 21 remains relaxed in its driving but a few key tweaks to the mission structure makes for a more flowing experience. The new buses give you plenty to new toys to tinker with and the new locations show a touch more life to the city. It's still got some rough edges but I had an enjoyable time. The flow of the campaign is greatly improved and makes for a much smoother ride.

Ultra Age is the sort of game that you'd find for sale on disc heavily discounted within a couple of months of release during the PS3 era, yet take a punt on it and really enjoy yourself. Not actually a lemon, but definitely a bit citrussy. It's a fair action brawler with pyrotechnic combat and a fine line in roadblock bosses. But that's just fine.

Greak: Memories of Azur is a solid puzzle platformer that is broken by the save system and crappy inventory management. We hope you like replaying sections over and again as you'll be well catered for.

Crown Trick is a Rogue-lite, turn based, grid based RPG with a heavy emphasis on luck. The permanent upgrades you can unlock along with your own experience do tip the scales in your favour the more you play and turn it from a harsh game into an enjoyable title.

Kylotonn continues to improve with WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship. It remains a great drive and the career mode, whilst a little stagnant, does offer you plenty to get on with. The anniversary content feels like a well-rounded mode that, although steep in difficulty, allows you to enjoy the series' more iconic vehicles. The DualSense is put to good use and it's nice to hear your co-driver has some more personality this time around. It's not taking large strides but remains a fantastic rally experience.

Virtuous Western is a (very) cheap and cheerful puzzle game dressed up as a retro Wild West shooter. It has its moments but you're looking at a thirty minute game here with a pretty trivial level of difficulty and as such you'll be done with this before you know it.

Weapon of Choice DX offers up a unique and crazy take on the classic run and gun genre. It may be pretty short but there's a fun, focused shooter here and one that does off some replayability too.

Madden NFL 22 is a good return to form for the series after last year's clunker. The NCAA teams are a good addition as well as confidently implemented PS5 haptics. That said, if you hate American Football, this likely isn't your thing.

Golf Club: Wasteland has a nicely executed narrative that is let down a little by withholding too much. The background radio calls do a lot to flesh out a barren, broken Earth and it helps that the golf on offer is decent, if a little simple. When the holes get more complex, frustration can creep in but I feel the penalty for failure is minor enough for people to persevere.

Q-YO Blaster is a low-budget shoot 'em up in the classic style that brings Parodius-style visuals to the party but could use a bit of refining in the gameplay department. It's fun and gloriously silly though and worth checking out for some cheap arcade thrills.

The Medium is a linear experience with an interesting if underutilised split dimension mechanic. The story is complex but can also be predictable whilst not providing enough in the way of intrigue. Temper your expectations and you may just get something out of it.

By taking addictive puzzling and giving it a chilled out city-building vibe, GrizzlyGames have created one of the most relaxed and enjoyable titles of the summer. We didn't expect anything from Islanders but now it hurts us to stop playing it.

Kitaria Fables offers some fun exploration and combat in the quest for materials and better equipment. The quest distribution is slow enough to needlessly prolong the game whilst the farming is a necessary chore if you want to make money. There's a cute game here for those who like to take their time, especially if they have a friend for the couch co-op, but the busy work and slow pace may put off some.

Quake finally gets the love it deserves after twenty-five years in the dark, with by far the most comprehensive remastered collection to date. Modernised without losing anything in the process, Night Dive have created something special by not only bringing the core experience back, but with all the expansions, new episodes, and a boatload of features that players can tune to their liking. This release takes an important yet aging technical milestone and turns it into an essential experience that is both worthy of a new audience and the embrace of old fans.

King's Bounty 2 offers up a large campaign full of deep, tactical battles and plenty of lore but is hamstrung by ropey presentation, sluggish controls, slow exploration and poorly-explained combat systems.

Tormented Souls is an excellent love letter to survival horror games of old. With that comes limited saving, dodgy voice acting and clunky combat but that doesn't detract enough from the exploration and puzzle solving to sour the experience. Fans of the genre absolutely must give this a try.

It's clear RiMS Racing has some good new ideas and a handling system that's greatly complimented by the DualSense controller. It's a pity the bikes and tracks on offer lack some variety. Repetition sets in with a lengthy career mode but it's clearly an enjoyable ride and customising bikes can be an engrossing, meticulous process. At times, the slim content can feel strung out but there's an impressive foundation to build upon.

Orbibot offers physics based puzzles whilst controlling a ball. Unfortunately the controls never feel right, making achieving what you're trying to do harder than figuring out what you have to do in the first place. Still, another easy platinum (or two).

Aliens Fireteam Elite is the quality shooter that Aliens fans have been wishing for for decades now. The story may feel a little disconnected from the film that inspired it but the action is great, it gets the details right and we're going to be playing it over and over for a long time.

While seemingly built for trophy hunters, Barry the Bunny is a charming, well made, yet unremarkable 2D platforming adventure. The game is decently polished and plays well enough, but not to the point where it will leave a lasting impression.

Spelunker HD Deluxe brings an awful lot to the table. Using the blueprint of an old favourite, Tozai Games have delivered dozens of levels with some modern visuals. It does look smarter and a little sharper but the old challenge remains. It controls reasonably well but the memory-heavy nature of the levels will put some players off. With few options available to tweak difficulty or add lives, you're left with an authentic, if divisive experience. Multiplayer does allow you to bring friends along for the ride too.

We've seen this style of game before but by stripping out any real need for strategy and thought and instead turning the game into a raucous smash and grab arcade experience, the developers have created an instant party game classic. Get Packed is the co-op removals game you never knew you needed.

As a punishing game-built on resource management and difficult choices, Despotism 3K won’t be for everyone. The reliance on trial-and-error choices contribute to consistent frustration. However, If you can break through this difficulty layer then you will find a unique and hilariously mean-spirited title that will keep you busy for hours.

Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed is a re-release of a ten year old portable title and it shows. Apart from being weak on a technical level the combat is basic, the story is lacking and the side quests are repetitive. Not a patch on the sequel, but major fans might get some joy out of it.

Bone Marrow is an RPG-flavoured take on the popular mobile game 2048. While it tries to update that game's mechanics, ultimately the new wrinkles to the gameplay don't improve it in any way and you aren't incentivised to play fairly against the AI at all.

With only two tracks and a non-exaggerated game completion time of ten minutes, suggesting Ion Driver is a barebone experience would be an understatement. This initially attractive racer does nothing to further the futuristic racing genre, or do anything to make an impact beyond the nagging feeling of disappointment which permeates throughout. The experience is plagued by bugs, poor collision detection and far too many broken promises to count. Avoid.

Trigger Witch is a great mechanically sound dungeon crawler with lots and lots of guns. It's really quite good, even if the story is all sorts of nonsense.

Loopindex is a fun little puzzle game. It's not massively long or hugely challenging. But it's just fine being what it is. Yes, the loop mechanic feels a bit underused, but there's plenty to get on with otherwise.

Apple Slash is a basic top-down, maze-based hack and slasher set in a fantasy land but it's too short, simple and plainly presented to really be something we can recommend.

We're always up for some co-op brawling action and we love a good loot system and RPG mechanics. Unfortunately, Blightbound rather fumbles the ball when it comes to every element. There's fun to be had when it goes well but you feel as though you're fighting every aspect of the game to get to it.

Cris Tales is an enjoyable, shorter than average JRPG with some interesting time travel mechanics. The visuals are fantastically stylised and the characters are likeable but the time travel mechanics don't quite go far enough to make it stand out.

Freddy Spaghetti 2 is a poor sequel. It's a straightforward platinum and while it's not devoid of quality, it's just so average with it. If you've not played the first game, we'd recommend you play that instead.

Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials wears it's influences proudly and, at times, it pays an effective homage whilst building a blueprint of its own. The visuals look deliciously detailed and animated with plenty of life. It's accompanied with a wonderful soundtrack but I just don't quite enjoy playing it. There some clever puzzle-platforming involved but the large map is packed with screens of tricky jumps. It leads to a game lacking in momentum and frustrates me. It'll appeal to those wanting more of a challenge but it's not clicking for me.

Fallen Knight offers up some reasonably polished hack and slash action but would benefit from much tighter controls. While we appreciated the clever addition of a rogue-lite second campaign, the overall experience is just a bit too sluggish and frustrating for us to recommend the game but there is still some enjoyment to be had from it.

Dariusburst: Another Chronicle EX+ doesn't feel like a new game but rather just a cut-down version of the previous one. As such, the mid-range price point doesn't feel like great value for money and given how the game doesn't cater to newcomers very well, the audience it will really appeal to will be better off sticking to its predecessor instead.

It hasn't moved far visually from last year's effort but the package F1 2021 is offering is substantial. Braking Point provides a daft narrative diversion that might offer new players a gateway into the sport. For the rest of us, career mode remains largely the same with plenty of time to be spent chasing the front of the grid. The handling feels consistent and the racing is compelling, although the AI does seem to lack a little pace. The DualSense offers some welcome additional feedback, although I did find initially the adaptive triggers off-putting.

Urban Trial Tricky is a decent motorcycle based, stunt heavy Trials clone and it can be a lot of fun. The child-friendly presentation is definitely at odds with the level of skill you'll need to make good progress though.

Within the Blade is a great indie ninja game with a few rough edges. Just a few minor tweaks could elevate it, as it is in its current state it's a scrappy but likeable game.

Chivalry 2 takes some cues to make the sword and shield combat feel a touch more accessible. I feel it's for the better with a fairly decent tutorial leading you right into the fighting. Whilst it can feel daunting, I've seen myself contributing to battles very quickly. The combat is deep with an importance on positioning and timing. It is slightly undermined by trying to keep the players together but, even if duels are harder to come by, the chaos of a full battlefield is hard to ignore. It's fascinating, fun and fluid.

The Game of Crone DLC is an enjoyable extension to the main game with helpful rewards if you haven't done everything already. If you've completed everything the most useful stuff arrives too late and although the story is entertaining enough it's not enough to drag you back.

Graveyard Keeper is an enjoyable, addictive experience. Without the DLCs keeping a decent supply of materials for all the building and crafting you need to do can be tedious, but when you unlock a new branch of industry or revenue stream the reward is high. Maintaining a graveyard has never been so much fun.

This reboot takes a classic shoot 'em up and reinvents it quite brilliantly. By upping the presentation to the max, it provides an exciting, modern version of the game without messing with the original's gameplay. For fans of the original, this is simply essential.

Doom Eternal is one of the greatest FPS games of all time and this is no less true with the PS5 update. The various visual modes provide a more tailored experience to those wanting to pick between 4K or framerates, while the myriad of updates over the past year have continued to tweak and improve the core experience considerably. If you haven't played it yet, now is the perfect time to jump in.

Crash Drive 3 is a killer driving-based party game with excellent cross-platform support and a focus on pure enjoyment. A few niggles hold it back though and we can't help feeling a new name and cheaper price would have gained it much more of an audience. But, for now, don't sleep on this one. It's a gem.

Chicory: A Colorful Tale is a frequent delight. It’s probably one of the better games we’ve played this year. This from an indie. Forget Ratchet and Clank, fun though it is. Chicory is possibly our favourite game this year.

As a newcomer to Conan Exiles, the Isle of Siptah did feel a little daunting. There's an abundance of new things here and it can be tough to keep track of it. There's a lack of direction here but persistence does lead to some rewarding content. I would've liked some more visual polish and a slicker inventory but it's clear the focus here is on providing compelling content for the player to do. It's a shame you can't use an existing character to quicken the grind.

Ninja Gaiden Master Collection offers three games of varying greatness in one set. It's not quite the all inclusive package one would hope for and the enhancements are limited but seeing each game back to back really shows the strength of each and highlights the fact that the controls and combat were always top notch.

Song of Horror does a great job of bringing back that classic survival horror feel. Certain mechanics that made sense when the game was episodic make less sense in this full release but it's still an enjoyable nod to a now less than common genre.

Curved Space is a gorgeous looking, and sounding, shoot 'em up with a nice planetoid-hugging level gimmick but in reality it's a little boring, and awkward, to play. It's not bad but it doesn't live up to its full potential at all.

If you're in the market for a cheap and brightly presented Space Invaders clone, Super Destronaut DX-2 will keep you entertained for an hour or so but it's just as limited as its predecessor.

Truth be told, there's a lot to Cross the Moon's story. It's eventful but the lack of really interesting characters stifles my interest. It looks great with photography given a gloomy tone of the underworld. It's a shame the soundtrack can only match it some of the time. The lack player agency also took away whatever minor interactivity this genre tends to roll with. It's not a bad visual novel but I found the wordy script tough to get through.

Fans of Dungeons and Dragons will enjoy the characters and setting of Dark Alliance but the game doesn't do much with its combat, exploration or looting elements and ends up feeling underwhelming in all areas. If the game gets the technical improvements it badly needs and can tighten up the gameplay, then this could be a decent co-op brawler. But for now it all feels a bit unfinished.

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is a beautiful, occasionally stunning effort from Sony first party studio Insomniac. It's a series of summer blockbusters strung together with all the bombast and spectacle of a Michael Bay film. Yes, the price is probably too high, but we'd still recommend it.

Call of the Sea is a case of great plot, beautiful surroundings, mixed puzzles. Some puzzles require such leaps of logic that you may struggle to progress. Despite that, this is worthy.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX adds a modern sheen to a game very much of its time. The new look is fantastic and the soundtrack is splendid. Unfortunately, Alex's jumping and hit detection presents a game that is tough for me to tolerate. With some convenient touches, it might be an okay way to experience what remains a tough game rooted in decades' old design.

Sun Wukong VS Robot is a cheap little Metroid clone that'll last you an afternoon without putting much of a dent in your wallet. It doesn't push the genre forward in any way though and is a game you can easily skip.

A solid roguelike experience, marred by the hangups of the VR platform which have been removed in favour of next generation visual trimmings. The Persistence Enhanced Edition holds up as an atmospheric sci-fi horror title with challenging permadeath mechanics, but repetition takes hold a bit too soon.

Donuts 'n' Justice is a great little side scrolling shooter with a daft ending. See it through on normal difficulty even if you opt for the easy platinum trophy otherwise.

Tour de France 2021 feels so, so familiar. Whilst the upcoming 2021 tour is replicated in its entirety, there's little new here. Tweaked Peleton behaviours will improve your experience but it's an experience wrapped in the same tired engine. The license brings a lot with it but I'm still puzzled by a roster of identical riders that show a real lack of individuality. Fans will enjoy the mountain of content but it doesn't really feel fresh to me in any major way.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition is the best way to play the classic trilogy. The higher resolution and frame rate make it look really nice and although having to have everything installed at once is a pain, having it all wrapped up in the same package, all but one minor DLC and a multiplayer mode included, is incredibly convenient and a very generous and replayable package.

The core gameplay loop of Hood: Outlaws & Legends is fun, violent and competitive but currently this feels like a game mode that should exist in a much more fleshed-out title. The challenge now is for them to keep the community interested while new content is added. If they can manage that, Hood may well go on to be a popular online title.

Wreckfest looks, plays and feels better than ever on PS5 and its mix of arcade chaos and realistic physics still holds up very well indeed.

Astalon: Tears of the Earth is a hidden indie gem that combines Metroidvania-esque exploration with solid roguelike mechanics to create a game that is addictive, enjoyable and very compelling if you can get past the NES-style presentation.

A Little Lily Princess takes an old children's novel and breathes some new life into it. With a colourful and polished aesthetic, the cast of characters are interesting and diverse. It does take opportunities to sidestep from the source material but the main narrative rigidly stays the course. Whilst I'm not entirely won over by the stat-building nature, the events and paths this can lead to do give the story some new ground to cover.

Geared primarily for the online, esports crowd, Virtua Fighter 5: Ultimate Showdown is an excellent way to get back into the franchise that started 3D Fighting. AM2 and Ryu-Go-Gotaka has given the fifteen-year-old game a successful visual facelift without sacrificing the sublime gameplay for window dressing. However, more love for offline and single players would have been appreciated.

Rabisco+ is a wolf in sheeps clothing, it's cute looks belay its unforgiving nature. Ultimately the challenge and twitchy controls overwhelm any real fun you might have otherwise. The very fact that we can’t be doing with playing again for the PS5 platinum speaks volumes.

A lovingly recreated homage to Monster World IV for the Mega Drive. Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World captures everything that made the original release so much fun to play, while introducing quality-of-life improvements that keep the action/RPG fun coming in a streamlined fashion. There has never been a better time than now to give this underappreciated gem a try.

Biomutant is a bit of a slow burner. It took a while to get its hooks into us, but it sure did. It's not startlingly original and is a bit overburdened by its sheer scope, but we don't feel shortchanged by our forty plus hours playing it. You could do a lot worse.

Capcom return, once again, to their vast library of arcade titles and there are plenty of coin-op classics here for retro gamers to choose from. Your enjoyment will be dependent on your own level of love and nostalgia for these titles and if you're not a shoot 'em up or fighting game fan then you aren't well served here. Thankfully though we'll be happily playing Giga Wing and Progear for a long, long time.

Gutwhale feels like a game in concept. With some responsive controls, there is an enjoyable loop on display that quickly ran out of steam, for me. Content is all too slight and, whilst it's a game that feels best suited when you have a couple of minutes to spare, I'd seen it all in ten minutes more. If it was expanded upon with more levels, hats and enemies, I would have been more inclined to recommend it. As it is, by the time I got into Gutwhale, it was already over.

RetroMachina is a solid action puzzle game with vividly realised enemy designs, a great mind-control mechanic and beautiful art. A technical issue halted our playthrough prematurely, we just hope a patch resolves it.

Despite the initial promise of an interesting story with a comedic quirk, The Protocol falls flat on nearly every fundamental level. The gameplay is tedious, the comedy doesn’t land and for all of the title’s good ideas; the game fails to live up to or capitalise on any of them.

Resident Evil Village is another fantastic game in the franchise. It leans towards action, rather than slow paced horror this time but also adds a large helping of exploration for those that want to see everything. Ethan isn't great but his opponents are very colourful and keep you interested in moving forward. Add the replayability of harder difficulties, New Game+ and Mercenaries mode and it's a game PS5 owners should not ignore.

WarDogs: Red's Return is pretty much a canine-focused clone of Final Fight and it hits all the same beats that the '80s beat 'em ups did but it works well enough as a tribute to the genre. The presentation is off-kilter, the plot is overly long and dull and we had a lot of success from just mashing the kick and punch buttons but overall this is a fun fighter which will keep you entertained for an hour or two at least.

Dark Nights with Poe and Munro is a well crafted FMV story with branching plotlines. Well acted and scripted with it and great value for six distinct episodes into the bargain. Well worth spending a few evenings with.

Infestor offers a couple of hours of gentle puzzling and platforming and is relatively enjoyable. It's not going to turn any heads with its graphics or gameplay but it doesn't ask too much of you either.

Skate City is alright. There are better skating games out there for sure but if you're looking for a mellow take on the genre, this'll do for a while.

Returnal is as bold as it is relentless. Taking the best of Rogue-lite mechanics, third person shooting and foreboding sci-fi atmosphere; Housemarque have delivered an evolution of their excellent pedigree while masterfully demonstrating what the PS5 can do. While the notable difficulty will be a test for some, conquer it and you will be rewarded with a game that is slick, ruthless, and dangerously addictive.

Terminator: Resistance was a fairly average PS4 game that did enough with the license to appeal to us as fans. Playing through it again in 2021 has been enjoyable enough though and its old-school level design is actually pretty refreshing in this era of open-world titles. It's just a shame that the PS5 facelift and new DLC didn't add anything to the experience but if you want a reason to replay the game, this is it.

Make no mistake, Angels with Scaly Wings is a romance tale first. Despite the crime story and talk of sci-fi, the game really wants you to date dragons to unlock more intrigue. It's not for me. With the more interesting snippets of information locked behind multiple playthroughs, this leads to something I just don't enjoy. The presentation is decent but the use of multiple artists leads to a lack of visual cohesion. Above all, I dislike how sudden the relationships advance.

R-Type Final 2 just doesn't live up to the hype, or the weight of its own history. Ultimately, it feels a little unfinished, like they underestimated the initial Kickstarter and had to deliver a game, even if it wasn't the one we all dreamed it could be.

Trails and Traces: The Tomb of Thomas Tew is a point and click adventure game with two easy platinums. It's pretty ugly and the voice acting is very poor but the script is alright and the puzzles, though simple, will keep you reasonably entertained for the short running time.

Gravity Heroes is best played with others. Whilst you can tackle the campaign alone, the boss fights seem to be scaled for multiple players. It's also where the game's creativity resides. The controls can take some getting used to but the gravity mechanic does mean thinking about foes from all angles. Combat is fine although a little more variety could have helped with weapons, in particular, being on the small side. It's all presented nicely with some detailed visuals but the remaining modes don't appear to offer much in the way of longevity.

Buildings Have Feelings Too! is a bit of a misnomer, this is more Urban Regeneration Simulator, but that’s not quite so snappy. Hamstrung by not explaining its more complex mechanics that well before burying them in a sub-menu, this feels like it needs a little more polish to be a success.

Pocoyo Party is a fun game for those with younger kids in their household, replicating the look and feel of the TV show well. Notably it uses the DS4 tilt functions to great effect, which is more than we can say for 99% of PS4 games.

Terra Trilogy is a compilation of three shoot 'em ups that take a lot of inspiration from some early arcade titles and they all have potential but are let down by some horrible difficulty spikes and cheap level design.

Super Meat Boy Forever changes from a difficult, traditional platformer to a difficult auto-runner. It retains a lot of what people like about Super Meat Boy but the change from pure platformer to what amounts to a two button control scheme might put some people off. What the designers achieve with those two buttons is something to be applauded however.

Papa's Quiz uses Jackbox-style technology to offer up some solid quiz gameplay. The stiffness of voice acting hurts the atmosphere though and ultimately the game is a bit too dry to really succeed as a party game.

Fantasy Friends is a simple enough life simulation game for children that offers up some basic entertainment but does begin to feel like work rather than play and doesn't go far enough in terms of gameplay to warrant its hefty price tag.

Heal is the sort of classy title that we've come to expect from Jesse Makkonen and it offers an afternoon's worth of gentle puzzling and some stylish atmospherics. It's not quite up there with his Distraint games but Heal is a likeable taste of what this talented developer is capable of.

Smelter is a tough 2D action platformer with some less engaging strategy elements between levels. The presentation is great and there are lots of hidden items to find and trials to challenge yourself with, but the difficulty does cross a line at times which is detrimental to the fun.

As a solid puzzle platformer title with an innovative dimension shifting mechanic, World Splitter almost has everything it needs to be a new Indie darling. However, overly simple presentation and occasionally frustrating moments hamper things somewhat.