A frequently funny and riotous take on Dodgeball, the lack of online multiplayer and occasionally soft-headed AI isn’t enough to meaningfully detract from the lustre of Stikbold’s blissfully enjoyable local multiplayer shenanigans. This is the dodgeball video game you never knew you wanted.

A fairly competent remaster of one of the last generation’s most underappreciated shooters, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Editon reminds us that dumb fun doesn’t mean no creativity. For anyone who’s already played it, there’s not much new to make this an essential repurchase, but if you see it for a lower price down the road, grab it.

Atelier Sophie has a target audience in mind here, and while it offers a compelling crafting with alchemy, the narrative lacks much intrigue to keep things moving.

Life is Strange, Episode One: Chrysalis is a joyous, gripping adventure that has laid down a strong foundation for the rest of the series.

Baby Steps won’t click with everyone, but if you have the patience, it delivers one of the most memorable and oddly inspiring platformers in years. Every laugh comes with frustration, every fall makes the next step sweeter, and the whole thing somehow feels worth it. It’s clumsy and challenging, but also one of the most charmingly human games you’ll play this generation.

Shortcomings aside, Codemasters has delivered a very fast paced, slickly presented, arcade demolition derby that is more than capable of giving you some great entertainment value.

Yu-Gi-Oh! Legacy of the Duelist is a great TCG offering that comes recommended to newcomers and fans of the series alike.

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.

The Council Episode One is a thunderously promising start for this fresh, sophisticated and intelligent take on the narrative adventure.

While its future is not set in stone, what Onrush brings to the table right now is a highly refreshing take on team-based vehicular mayhem complete with vibrant visual flair and a thumping soundtrack.

Vacations are supposed to be fun and breezy – and that’s exactly the way I would describe Vacation Simulator. Full of silly laughs and sunny good times, Vacation Simulator also delivers just the slightest edge of dark humor to keep teens and adults engaged. With a wide variety of puzzles and activities - any of which can be skipped – Vacation Simulator has a bit of something for everyone, while expanding on the original game in interesting ways.

Carly and the Reaperman is a PSVR title like no other. It encourages co-operation in a way I have not experienced before in VR. If you have another person to play it with you will have a lot of fun. It's a great experience that will bring you closer together and test your communication skills. It's attractive, well designed and a few niggling issues aside, a great experience. Get out there and save some souls.

The Falconeer: Warrior Edition is largely the same game that I already enjoyed when it first launched, but experiencing it on PS5 has made all the difference. The DualSense's features are well implemented, and the gameplay flows in such a way that you never want to put the controller down. Despite issues with the UI, and how certain aspects of the game work, you can just get around them, and can avoid them altogether once you've moved into the endgame.

Hot Wheels Unleashed is an excellent arcade racing game with some truly inventive and crazy tracks, wonderfully recreated Hot Wheels toys that drive beautifully and the visuals to back it all up. Unfortunately an imbalance of reasonably long to extremely long tracks and their many hazard risks make it too easy to get frustrated when struggling to reach top spot, and the track builder while very well detailed fails to make the user experience anything but pleasant.

Rarely is a game fun, beautiful and thought-provoking while being entertaining. The Wild at Heart does cover some heavy emotional threads while weaving them into a bright, bold and funny tapestry. New items and systems are introduced slowly and regularly, the puzzles are fun and there is always something to do. There are quests and objectives off the beaten path, secrets to find and weird characters to help. The Wild at Heart is a game I can recommend to just about anyone.

Much like Manual Samuel and other titles of that ilk, Heavenly Bodies certainly feels tailor-made for the streaming scene. With its penchant for generating knee-slapping laughs and red-faced moments of white hot anger that are both best enjoyed with friends and in front of a captive audience (not to mention the speedrunning mode that would arguably garner a fair audience), 2pt Interactive have certainly crafted a commendably enjoyable co-operative yarn that should last well into the holidays and beyond.

If you're the sort of person who saw martial arts movies in your teens (or younger) and immediately started mimicking scraps with your best mates as you left the cinema, then Midnight Fight Express is for you. Jacob Dwinzel feels like he is aspiring to be the games industry's equivalent of The Raid and Gangs of London director Gareth Edwards and cannot wait to see whatever violent delights this acolyte of cinematic violence comes up with next. For anyone else with even a passing affection for roaming brawlers, Midnight Fight Express boasts some of the most satisfying combat I have experienced in any game of the last few years and on that fact alone carries it to a high recommended indeed.

Sam & Max make a largely triumphant return, with a reminder of just how special and stupid a series it can be. Save the World benefits the most from the overhaul, but Beyond Time and Space remains the peak of this former Telltale Games series.

Shedworks has created a gorgeous throwback of an adventure game that settles the player in for a leisurely, minimalist voyage of self-discovery.

While not perfect, RIDE 5 certainly has bags of potential. If you're willing to put in the time to get to grips with its punishingly realistic gameplay, then there's the reward of some truly exhilarating first person racing that will have you on the edge of your seat.

If you can look past the point & click mechanics which influence the game's poor pacing, there is a great story written in Frank and Drake. As you indulge in a thrilling conspiracy, you will come out of this game feeling an emotional obligation to its characters, and the will to find out the truth hidden in its multiple endings.

The presentation and content of Shotgun King will put a lot of people off. However, if you like chess and rogue-based games it is well worth a bash. I adored its presentation, it reminded me of games form my youth, yes, I am that old. Pairing one of the oldest games on the planet with rogue-lite elements works far better than it has rights too and Shotgun King is truly unlike anything else I have played. We need more games like this, its what drives the industry forward in a sea of cut and paste shooters and RPG's.

Even with it being a game that normally doesn't draw me in Smalland manages to activate something other games like it couldn't, getting me to have fun solo in a survival crafting game. Smalland's sense of detail and scale to the world had me always wanting to see what was around the corner. That being said, if you are looking for something that will test your combat skills or is a game that is deeper than just survive and craft, then Smalland might not be something that holds your attention for long. However, if you're looking for a low intensive game that will allow you to turn off the world and explore, then Smalland is a perfect game to get lost in.

The Land Beneath Us is a fun roguelike with puzzle-esque combat that is easy to learn, yet will make you think if you want to do well in later stages. If you enjoy the genre or were curious about trying it out, I feel that there are few games that I would recommend before The Land Beneath Us.

MechWarrior 5: Clans takes the classic Mech-Sim formula the series is known for and adds in new controls, mechanics and a great narrative-driven story to appeal to a wider audience. This entry is more console-friendly and pushes the series in a direction likely to garner a new audience and please long-time fans simultaneously.

While I would have liked to see a bit more done to update these games for modern platforms beyond just a bump to resolution, Patapon 1+2 are still landmark titles that deserve a look from anyone who has an appreciation for PlayStation's back catalogue. This is the definitive way to experience two core PSP games.

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 maddening eschewing of basic exposition makes Below feel like something of an arrogant work - but ultimately it wields a tremendous audiovisual aesthetic and weaves an interesting, if not an always thrilling, take on the roguelike adventure template.