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.