Astro's Playroom is the perfect way to start your PlayStation 5 experience. It's a fun little platformer with lashings of PlayStation nostalgia which introduces you to all the fantastic new features of the DualSense controller.

Giant Squid starts the new generation strong with The Pathless. A short, sweet, and simple adventure that marries contemplative exploration, with uniquely satisfying movement mechanics that function in both a visually stunning open world and the setpiece boss encounters. While the experience may be too easy for some, this game is worthy of attention in the crowded launch line up. Not only as a great title, but a shining example of what indie developers can bring to next generation gaming.

Jade's Ascension is weak both in terms of presentation and gameplay and adds nothing to an already populated genre. If it was technically reliable that'd be something but the game feels unfinished even beyond the incredibly limited scope of its design.

This is one experience that is very much 'for the fans'. While Liftoff: Drone Racing has some accessibility, the real meat of the experience will be enjoyed exclusively by those with passion and investment in the sport. Aside from ropey visuals, physics, and music, Liftoff appears to provide a decent recreation of Drone flight, with plenty of customisation for those that delight in depth.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla is another open world game from Ubisoft and if you've played one before then you know what that means. There are some changes from the last Assassin's Creed game but nothing major enough to make it any better or worse. I like exploring an open world, ticking off quests and filling the map so if you're like me you'll have fun. Just know that this is, again, a huge time investment.

Unturned is a sandbox zombie survival game that presents as if it was made in a day but does more depth and detail than you might imagine. Ultimately though it's just a bit too slow, empty and pointless to really ever be engaging. It's pretty expensive too considering it is free on the PC.

What Handball 21 does well is represent the top of the European table of the sport. Unfortunately, the gameplay and animation can't hold up to the challenge. As a newcomer, I struggled to get to grips with what is a very tactical sport. I find space hard to manufacture and, whilst defensive duties are better handled, the goalkeepers provide a real lottery. I can't complain much about the modes on offer but the clumsy gameplay dampened my enthusiasm. Some training modes could've helped but I found this game tough to penetrate.

Faeria is a great CCG battler in the grand tradition of Magic and Hearthstone, and just like those it's dependent on how many hours you plough into it in terms of what it gives back. Make no mistake, Faeria wants to be the reason you turn on your PS4. Perhaps the timing of its release is the little off with the imminent PS5 release, but it's no less addictive. We expect we'll continue to dip in regardless.

Golf With Your Friends is a mixed bag. To run with the golf analogy, some clubs are great, others are going to leave you gasping in exasperation. It's better with friends, but sadly the moribund online means this is a local only affair. The three new courses are generally good barring Volcano.

Vera Blanc: Full Moon is a clunky visual novel with easy puzzles and a forgettable plot. It's not terrible, but neither is it easy to recommend.

Hardcore pinball players and those who remember playing the originals will get something from this pack but these tables seem a lot less fair than Zen's own ones and that makes this compilation a lot more frustrating than it should be.

Pacer delivers a fairly accomplished attempt at a futuristic racer. Whilst I do wish the campaign had some difficulty options, the racing has a good aesthetic and handles responsively. The ease at which you can switch load-outs is a lovely touch and the presentation manages to realise a very corporate super-future. I do wonder if the online options are enough to keep veterans interested but what R8 studios have achieved here is admirable.

Dirt 5's condensed career feels light on variation but the carnival presentation and slick pacing helps stave off some of the tedium. Whilst there's plenty of vehicles, they don't all feel like winners. The course creation does give you something else to pursue after career is over. I've had fun racing around the well-designed courses but I can't help feel this is compromised and a little narrow in scope. If an arcade racer is what you're after, this works nicely.

If I would recommend Undead Darlings: No Cure for Love to anyone, they'd have to be onboard with a very slow dungeon crawler. Whilst I do like the writing and some of the relationship building, it requires a fair amount of tedium to get to. Systems seem in place to lead your party into a hasty retreat when weapons break, inventory fills or a boss becomes too steep to beat. Outside of that, I find a game that's charmingly presented with some really nice touches. It's a shame the combat becomes such a time commitment.

Ord. gives you a noun and a couple of verbs and lets your imagination do the rest and, surprisingly, it kind of works but such minimalist gameplay and presentation presents the game with limitations that restrain it too severely.

Galacide's mix of shoot 'em up and puzzle mechanics works very well. The only problem is that it's just a bit short on content.

Double Pug Switch is a fine auto-runner with some fun mechanics. We just hope for your sake you get further than the brick wall we found ourselves hitting.

Damsel is a score chasing, timed, tough platformer with lots of mechanics. Some are good, some not so much, but the nicely animated but difficult to read visuals and level design make what should be a fast paced experience into one that doesn't flow.

Two Parsecs from Earth is a fairly considered, focused platformer with some precise controls. At times, it's not as responsive as you want but the cold sting of death becomes a mere minor inconvenience. Whilst the levels are smartly designed, it does lead to some exact and rigid challenges that hone in more on trial and error. At times, I felt constrained and it's hard for me to get a good flow going. It has a colourful aesthetic but there's very few moments of character here.

If you're going to take on a 1981 arcade classic with modern day (almost) cutting edge hardware then you'd better come correct. But if you ignore what made that game a classic and add game mechanics that make things worse, then that's a little embarrassing. Terra Bomber may pander to the fond memories of Scramble fans but ultimately it'll alienate them most of all.

Neighbours Back From Hell is a remake that no-one asked for but ended up being a pleasant surprise. An accessible puzzler with engaging stealth elements that likes a laugh and doesn't drag on. That's how we like them.

Foregone is a more linear take on the Metroidvania formula, with plenty of loot and skills to unlock along the way. Once you have all those skills it becomes a lot of fun to run, jump and dash through the attractive environments, defeating enemies with your range of weapons and skills as you go.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin plays well, but plays it that bit too safe. Its almost generic, lacking any real character of its own. It's alright though, better suited to short play sessions rather than hours of extended gameplay.

Cross•Krush is a cute puzzler that does everything right but would be massively improved by adding things it doesn't do. It'll make for a great hour or so of puzzling fun but after that there's nothing here to encourage sustained play.

Torchlight III continues the series' cheap and cheerful take on the action RPG stylings of the Diablo series but comes up short on its combat, looting and storytelling. There's fun to be had here, especially in co-op, but nothing about the game stands out apart from some pretty, but messy, visuals.

Warsaw makes its way from PC to PS4 pretty much intact. The controls take a bit of getting used to and the load times are slightly too long but the challenging, tactical combat and uncommon setting translates without issue.

Cake Bash is a delightful party game with a good variety of minigames and unlockables. Couch based as well PSN multiplayer is a given, this deserves to be played by many.

Street Racer Underground somehow takes the concept of street racing and makes it entirely uninteresting. This game is badly conceived and the implementation is even worse.