Raiden V: Director's Cut is a solid, retro-flavored shooter that does a lot right but doesn't innovate or advance the genre forward in any way.

Drowning in modes, creative scope and possessing the best grappling gameplay in a good while, WWE 2K18 is the best the series has ever been on PS4. All the same, the time is ripe for the series to undergo the sort of far-reaching transformation that both it, and its fans, have long deserved.

Gran Turismo Sport mixes things up with its online scene and always-online front, but the heart of the game is still here ever-present as one would expect of such a beloved franchise. Not every issue is major. In fact, most may never bother most. I quite loved the motion control changes Polyphony brings this time around, adding an extra bit of heart to a game already filled with it. However, like any heart, there’s some bad that cannot be forgotten, even if the greatest parts shine so brightly.

A thunderously stylish arcade shooter with spectacle to spare, Megaton Rainfall is a must-have for PSVR owners.

Age has slowed this old soldier down, despite some snazzy new upgrades to its core. The best and worst thing about Rogue Trooper Redux is that it plays exactly like a modernised PlayStation 2 shooter. It’s decent enough, but 2000 AD fan service aside, there’s little about it that stands out in a sea of other shooters that are ‘decent enough’.

The Evil Within 2 is a great addition to the survival horror genre. It improves in a lot of aspects from its predecessor, but also makes some sacrifices that made the original so memorable from a horror standpoint. The Evil Within 2 is a damn good game and any fan of the genre should give it a shot.

ELEX is bad in almost every way. It’s a poor attempt and impossible to enjoy anything outside of its interesting setting and backstory.

The most telling thing to say about Detention is that it carves its own niche into the videogame horror genre. It shows a maturity and storytelling finesse for much of its brief run that eludes many within its medium. Despite a slump in the final act, and a couple of coldly logical puzzles that feel out of place with the story, Detention is a smart and sophisticated survival horror that draws from reality to fuel fear.

ECHO’s lacklustre story, slow pace and restrictive character control mildly detract from what is otherwise one of the most refreshing stealth titles to come along in a good while. Make no mistake; fans of the genre will find much to like in ECHO.

Fans of the series will get a kick out of Gundam Versus' fast-paced combat and customisable Gundams.

Much more of a streamlined experience than a game, Everest VR provides an intimate and well-crafted perspective on Earth's largest mountain.

A mixture of realistic hunting simulation and literal walking simulator with a fairly gentle introduction, The Hunter: Call of the Wild is certainly not a game for the impatient. It's beautiful vistas and sedate pace make it a very chilled out experience for the most part, full of relaxing exploration, but to engage in the hunt itself is a tremendously time-consuming act.

Another great achievement from Image & Form. SteamWorld Dig 2 takes everything that made the first game good and ups the ante in every way. Easily a must-buy game.

A great continuation of the solid work wrought in the season opener, ‘The Pact’ ensures that Telltale’s Batman: The Enemy Within continues to soar.

The sequel boxes are generally ticked off with Shadow of War, it’s bigger, better, and a touch more ambitious than Shadow of Mordor was, but there are aspects that feel somewhat dated now, and there’s a lack of polish to certain controls that dilutes the fun just a smidgen. The Nemesis system remains the star, and with the addition of sieges and tribes, it’s a star that burns brighter than ever.

A whimsical and charming take on the Metroidvania formula, Mystik Belle’s infusion of puzzle solving elements make it feel much fresher than many of its genre stablemates.

While the original issues are still present, what made Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen so special is here as well. Glorifying combat, organic progression, and a saturated world will keep you slogging through the occasional lull on your way to the heart of it.

Non-PSVR owners should be joyous; one of the better space shooters of recent times can now be enjoyed without Sony’s shiny virtual reality apparatus. For PSVR folks meanwhile, EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone represents the definitive version of CCP’s VR space blaster.

Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a grand achievement from a small studio that needed a big win. It’s not everyday you get to play a game that tends to reward you for everything you do. Great combat, fantastic dungeon exploration, incredible visuals and a great soundtrack. Battle Chasers: Nightwar hits all the marks.

Hob is an enjoyable experience, providing hours of great puzzling and platforming fun – despite the game’s face-value story and technical issues.

FIFA has rectified the majority of its shortcomings, providing a confident marriage of fluid, dynamic never-say-die football and just enough content to undoubtedly tie footballing fans over for as long as their free time permits. Simply put, this is best FIFA in years.

While it starts off strong, The Coma: Recut sets creative traps for itself that keep it from being a short and sweet horror romp.

As a videogame, Fragments of Him falters far too often, providing very little interactivity, and dragging things out to pad the brief runtime. Yet there’s something here worth experiencing from a narrative perspective. This is a well-written eulogy of a recently deceased man by the people whose lives intertwined with his, covering his flaws, strengths, and sexuality in frank and brutal fashion.

A flawed take on the survival adventure template, The Solus Project's subpar execution ultimately undermines the few moments of true enjoyment that it occasionally provides.

Blue Reflection tries to take the social aspects of Persona and make them more streamlined and simplified but fails to make them interesting in any way. The combat and beautiful locations and character models add some light to the title, it’s not enough to make it stand out or memorable in any way.

An effortlessly stylish cyberpunk, twin-stick shooter, RUINER is essential for fans of the genre.

A beautifully snappy RTS that boasts a great single-player campaign and an endlessly entertaining multiplayer mode, Tooth and Tail is essential for tactical newbies and veterans alike.

War of the Chosen overhauls the already fabulous XCOM 2 and turns it into absolutely essential fare. The introduction of the Chosen, the soldier bonding system, and the photobooth mode, are perfect additions in that they amplify the base game’s best qualities. It’s just a shame the shine is dulled ever so slightly by a bunch of needless technical issues.

Destiny 2 improves upon its predecessor in every conceivable area, resulting in a content-packed, enjoyable FPS that will keep you entertained for months on end.

Maize is an 80's Spielberg movie on crack. That is all.

Project CARS 2 is one hell of a colossal mammoth of a game. The scope of the driving series available, the car and track selection from classic to the modern era, the weather, the brilliant online championship mode, it’s all there, ready-in-waiting. Whether you play it for the single player or for the multiplayer, this game has everything.

A resoundingly confident continuation of 2016’s Game of the Year, Death of the Outsider is a worthy addition to the Dishonored pantheon.

Marvel vs Capcom Infinite isn't the massive step back that was feared, but it's not exactly kept up with the frontrunners of the genre either. There's lots of fanservice in the daft melodrama of it's story, and the fighting itself is still flashy and as punchy as before. Just don't go in expecting an evolution of the series.

While it doesn’t address some longstanding degradation of ingenuity in certain areas, PES 2018 provides the best pure football found in a videogame, and the additions it has made only amplify that.

Redout: Lightspeed Edition is a decent, if unambitious effort that will satisfy anyone looking for a fix of accomplished and blisteringly fast sci-fi racing.

While NHL 18 still features that pristine, refined gameplay with plenty of game modes to jump into, it still needs that special something to keep itself relevant with the changing times. Despite that, NHL 18 has enough to keep any hockey fan enthused for months.

A simplistic tale dealing with the most complex of human emotions. Have a box of tissues at the ready, as Last Day of June punches you right in the kidneys.

A mechanically modest platform puzzler, The Lost Bear neatly leverages the power of PSVR to fashion a wholly charming adventure that lingers long beyond its slim duration.

VIII Lacrimosa of Dana is an addicting action JRPG that features great combat and a narrative worth exploring.

Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode One - Awake is a great start to Deck Nine’s mini-prequel series. Despite some hiccups, Before the Storm establishes a compelling cast and endearing game world that is just begging to be explored further.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth offers further content in the franchise. While the narrative base has an intrigue all its own, the vehicle by which it's received has flaws that can’t be ignored. It’s a visual novel with limited combat and some peculiar choices that somehow finds its way to a stellar conclusion.

Leaving its predecessors legacy far behind, Knack has seriously grown up and become the platformer we deserved all along.

Codemasters has yet again released another glorious Formula 1 game that continues to push the franchise forward. With its updated handling model and in-depth career mode, it’s perfect for fans of the series building upon the best parts of what made F1 2016 great.

Windjammers offers up a healthy dose of what made great arcade games great: tight controls, fast pace, and room to grow.

After completing Zero Time Dilemma all I want to do is go back through all three games with the knowledge I’ve gained through the series, and see how far back everything is foreshadowed and set up. This isn’t just an impressive game in its own right, but a fantastic trilogy that should be experienced by anyone looking for a good sci-fi puzzle thriller.

An entertaining puzzler that harkens back to the storied heritage of its developer, Obduction isn’t quite on the level of its peers, but will satisfy armchair masterminds looking for their next brain-tickling fix all the same.

Songbringer is a coda of the past that retro-inclined gamers will want to leave on repeat. Others may want to skip to a different song.

While the fun selection of characters teaming up to destroy hordes of demons and soldiers is a hoot, Warriors All-Stars is otherwise a weak, uninspired jumble of a Musou.

Resident Evil Revelations is a great buy for Resi fans and a solid entry into the series for newcomers. Just don’t expect anything new if you’ve already played the game on Nintendo 3DS or PS3.

This is very much more Everybody’s Golf with a few extra brush strokes and a overtly pleasant online portion to round it out. The result of that is easily the best version of the game to date, and with a good price point and welcoming structure, it’s a fine place to visit for a few holes.

Absolver delivers on its promise of a compelling and unique combat system, but falls flat in almost every other way. Some baffling design decisions hold it back, so it’s hard to recommend the game simply based on its combat.

An epic adventure in absolutely every sense, Pillars of Eternity arrives on PS4 in highly impressive form and confidently stakes its claim as one of the best RPGs of the year.

Madden NFL 18 is a breath of fresh air in the franchise, highlighted with Longshot, a new engine, and more accessible game modes to round off the package.

Daedalic’s adaptation of Ken Follett’s The Pillars of the Earth is off to a strong start with retina stroking hand drawn visuals, deep characters and a refreshingly grounded setting.

What The Escapists 2 does do is improve its look, expand your options for escape, and throws in a hilarious multiplayer. What The Escapists 2 does not do is make itself significantly more accessible and forgiving. If that put you off the first time, there’s little to convince you to play the sequel, but for fans, this is a rather pleasant upgrade.

Two years old it may be, but Undertale arrives on PS4 feeling as timeless and inventive as ever.

With Observer, Bloober Team have crafted an interesting, and often clever, sci-fi horror game. There’s a few tiny technical hitches, some detective work that feels a little too obscure, and a lead character voiced in an inconsistent manner, yet the strength of the game’s world-building, and execution of its memorable literal head trips, softens the blow considerably.

Overall, ChromaGun is a charming puzzle game with all the wits and humour of its bigger ‘stepbrother’, Portal.

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School is a shocking surprise that has come out of nowhere. The suspense, encounters, and puzzles make for an unforgettable experience deserving of the horror moniker.

As improbable as it sounds, Thimbleweed Park has brought the Lucasarts adventuring heyday kicking and screaming like a three-headed monkey into 2017 with the sort of verve few would have expected. Thimbleweed Park is utterly essential for point and click adventurers everywhere.

Housemarque’s understanding of arcade shooting mechanics is, as ever, strong with Matterfall, but it lacks the flair and bombast of the more thoroughbred members of its family. The core concepts carried over from Housemarque’s previous efforts may be signature moves now, but they are starting to grow a little tired, more so when the game they feature in isn’t among the best the developer has put out.

Simultaneously a great introduction to the Yakuza series and one of its better entries, Yakuza Kiwami is precisely how you remake a classic.

A decent if distinctly workmanlike RTS, Sudden Strike 4 should certainly appeal to tactical newbies but is too limited to appeal to really anybody else looking for a sophisticated, strategic challenge.

Essentially an update of its predecessor with a new art style and some carefully considered additional nuances, Nidhogg 2 nonetheless remains an obvious choice for friendship-destroying, local competitive party play on PS4.

Taking the better aspects of classic and modern Uncharted, The Lost Legacy is a short, explosive chunk of adventure. Chloe and Nadine are elevated far beyond the supporting roles they once played, and both end up as interesting, formidable, and highly likeable characters, among the best in the series in fact. There’s a greatest hits feel to some of the set piece moments, and the story takes a little time to get going, but this manages to be both a fresh direction for the franchise, and a warmly familiar experience.

A real labour of love, Masquerada is a highly enjoyable RPG effort that is absolutely drowning in audiovisual style and spectacle, even if the overly linear structure and sometimes convoluted world building detracts from the final result.

The team behind Saints Row showcase their balls of steel by taking the plunge into the deep end and taking you along for the rough and ready ride that is Agents of Mayhem.

To have Cities: Skylines on PS4 is wholly welcome. It may suffer slightly for the transition, but what makes it a wonderfully accessible and engrossing city builder is still there. It may be a touch simple for the sim enthusiast, but it has the ability to draw a wider audience into the genre, and that’s something to be happy about.

Lawbreakers has a decent foundation with high-action gameplay, but many fundamental things go amiss, and many decisions sacrifice its universality.

Sonic Mania successfully takes Sonic back to the formula that saw him become a big deal to begin with. That means it does bring along the flaws in that design as well, but there's no denying this is as good as the Blue Blur has been for a long time.

The first episode of Batman: The Enemy Within marks a strong start for the second season of Telltale’s DC-centric series.

Hellblade is one of my favorite titles this year. Its incredible use of sound and visual manipulation to completely immerse you in its experience is a credit to Ninja Theory. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a prime example that you don’t need a massive budget to create something extraordinary.

A great new use of the PSVR. The Monkey King is a great example of taking advantage of PlayStation VR to do something other than play games. Digital Domains first incursion could use some improvements but it's a great first attempt.

Patapon Remastered most certainly looks and plays the part, shining beautifully on the PS4 with zero hiccups in gameplay during my experience. Due to the repetitive grindy nature, however, it is best left bookending longer play sessions of other games, and is ill-suited to a home console, unless you could take it on the go as well, as with the Switch.

The second Mega Man collection is a touch light on content, and by this point the formula has grown tired. That doesn’t mean there isn’t joy to be had though, as what is on offer remains as solid, colorful, and stimulating as ever.

The Long Dark is a shot in the arm for the survival game. The story mode is a decent addition, adding some mystique to the cold wilds, yet it currently doesn’t trump the personal stories you create outside of it in survival mode, where joy, hope, dread, terror, and despair come in unpredictable waves. The game’s harsh, grounded style will divide opinion, but it truly feels like a fresh perspective that incorporates the risks and rewards of survival and exploration.

If you’ve got the patience and understand that Euro Fishing: Urban Edition is a challenging true simulation of the popular sport, then there’s no doubt that you’ll get a kick out of catching fish in its beautiful waters. Personally, we found it a bit boring.

Smashbox Arena is a fun PSVR title that has some great gameplay but can be short-lived.

While its individual parts aren’t anything particularly special, Vostok Inc. melds those parts into a unique, amusing, and compelling whole. The manner in which developer Nosebleed Interactive has fused a clicker game to a twin-stick shooter and made sense of it is impressive. A rather nice surprise.

Overall, Eastshade Studio has a good setting primed ready for their main game, Eastshade. The environments are beautiful and the interactions are cleverly done, let’s just hope that they sort out the mouth masks, the stuttering, blurring, and the framerate before Eastshade arrives.

Sundered is a grandly accomplished Metroidvania effort that is complimented by some of the most beautiful 2D visuals to date.

When Super Cloudbuilt clicks, it's platforming at its best. That only comes once you've spent a decent amount of time learning its ways however, because the learning curve towards that nirvana is riddled with plodding, awkward discovery. In the meantime, the dreamlike locales and intriguing story serve as motivation to push through.

One of the most satisfying and fulfilling games i’ve played this year. Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun is a great game that makes you think three steps ahead. I was hooked from the very first kill to the very last.

Theseus is a terrifyingly atmospheric adventure that is well worth experiencing for owners of PSVR.

There’s a lot of potential with Archangel, but when so much potential is unrealized, then the end product loses its luster. Archangel is exactly that, starting off with a bang and tapering off too quickly to maintain its level of initial intrigue.

Fun is woven into every aspect of Tiny Trax being, and while the lack of additional modes and relatively no-frills VR implementation both leave something to be desired, the skilful handling model will keep most wannabe racers of all ages coming back for more.

As a seasoned city-builder, Aven Colony is a solid game that has translated remarkably well to the PlayStation 4.It’s incredibly fun and challenging and optimising your colony to no end will keep you entertained.

99 Vidas is a perfectly charming, if uneven take on the side-scrolling brawler that spends far too much time with one eye on the past rather than looking to the future of the genre.

Pyre’s world is full of dynamic characters with unique motivations, darkly vibrant backdrops that look like paintings, and a soundtrack that you’ll be humming for days, weeks, even months to come. It might be slow to start, but once it picks up it never looks back. The Rites are exciting and addictive, and you’ll always want to play “just one more round.” Even when the game is over, you’ll want to have at least one more round through the whole thing, just to see how things might turn out differently. Pyre is an admirable addition to both Supergiant’s repertoire and any gamer’s collection.

Fallen Legion: Sins of an Empire is a unique experience that presents a fun yet challenging combat system with great animations and a world where every decision you make affects the kingdom around you. It’s not perfect by any means but it succeeds more than it fails.

Children of Zodiarcs is a great example of passion and innovation. A kickstarter that succeeded in funding and rewarded everyone in the process. A great example of what a studio can achieve when the right people behind it.

This rather short expansion can be fun for fans of Little Nightmares, but lacks content and isn't as impactful as the main game.

The bar of expectation was not set particularly high for Cars 3: Driven to Win, yet by focusing on the right things and not patronising its intended audience, the game is a surprisingly enjoyable racer that's a pleasure to handle.

With finicky controls and oversized maps, it’s hard to recommend this game to anyone other than those who love the franchise and the two series themselves.

A uniquely innovative shooter with imagination to spare, there is nothing quite like Superhot.

There’s a good concept to DeadCore, and for the most part, it’s one that feels pretty well executed. It’s no looker, and the PS4’s controller lacks the dexterity needed to truly master the platform puzzlin’, runnin’ and gunnin’ DeadCore offers, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something enjoyable and challenging to glean from this console version.

Yonder Chronicles brings to the industry a game focused more on exploring, developing, and interactions over violence and leveling, and the end product is refreshing. A few things hold it back, but the heart and soul of the entire package is not to be denied on its way to success.

PSVR feels like it was made for this simply because Superhot VR is indomitable proof of life for Virtual Reality as a gaming platform. If you have PSVR this needs to be your next game.