It might be the closest the game industry has yet come to imagining the mix of tension and monotony of routine life in a world of undead.

Even if no one in your family gets into the Toy-Con Garage, the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con Variety Kit should still provide plenty of fun. My family was amazed while making these ingenious, multifaceted models and delighted as we watched them come to life with a little digital magic.

Kratos is no longer seeking revenge, but rather redemption. He feels multidimensional for the first time. As a dad, I sometimes found myself rooting for and even identifying with him on a gut level, especially as I watched him make some obvious parenting mistakes.

But if you’re looking for an insight or two into the sociopolitical troubles currently haunting the country in which Far Cry 5 is set, best not to get your hopes up.

Sea of Thieves is wholly dedicated to keeping players on equal footing. Someone who’s been playing for a day can crew up with someone who’s been playing for months, and neither will have an inherent advantage — save, of course, the latter’s experience with the game. It’s a bold move meant to keep the entire community playing together, and early indications suggest it works.

The most interesting thing about Dragon Quest Builders isn’t what it takes from Minecraft but instead how it fills in some of the gaps that have existed since that game’s inception. Namely, storytelling, quests, and building guidance

I can see myself continuing to play on and off for months to come, getting better and trying new tactics all the while. And that, if nothing else, earns Monster Hunter: World an enthusiastic recommendation for anyone interested in the idea of seeing if they have what it takes to combat roaring, furry, fire-spewing bird dinosaurs.

Movement is painfully slow. I must have spent nearly a quarter of my time walking at a snail’s pace down dark and empty hallways with nothing to do except brace myself for the occasional startle courtesy of a cheap jump scare destined to go unexplained.

It’s not a bad game so much as a small one hardly worth the price. Unless you (or, more likely, your kids) are diehard Kirby fans who feel compelled to own every game in which Nintendo’s pink puffball appears, there’s really not much reason to invest.

All I can really say is that Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris is sufficient for someone like me, an admittedly casual Destiny player. I’ve found it worth the price of admission, and satisfying once consumed. If all you want is sufficient motivation to jump back into the blessedly refined firefights in Bungie’s online shooter for another week or three, Curse of Osiris probably won’t disappoint.

The slog is real, but worth it for hard core JRPG fans.

And the sad truth is that those who can’t play for scores upon scores of hours and refuse to spend more money to get the game’s best stuff will likely feel the consequences in online play as they go up against those who have. This could potentially put a serious damper on online fun as time rolls on.

Call of Duty: WWII‘s campaign may not quite manage to fully satisfy players’ cravings for a terrific war story, but its online play is an addictive and multifaceted blast.

Super Mario Odyssey is an absolute delight that will remind you why you started playing games in the first place.

Its carefully crafted story and dialogue rolls back and forth between the farcical lunacy for which the series has always been known – outlandish military science, over-the-top villains, and a heaping helping of gore – and moments of authentic emotion in which Blazkowicz is downright soulful, musing to himself on the afterlife, love, and family as though he were a character in a Terrence Malick film.

I laughed loudly and frequently, and could hardly bring myself to stop playing. But I’m not sure I’ll be in the majority.

The Enemy Within 2 oughtn’t to disappoint genre fans. It’s a challenge to survive, and there are some good moments of both physical and mental horror. I’m not sure Tango Gameworks’ largely backward-looking franchise will ever be a mainstream giant within its category, but sometimes the best horror experiences are those geared for a subset of fans – especially if you happen to be a member of said subset.

Fire Emblem Warriors is more than just a Warriors game with Fire Emblem personalities in place of classic Chinese historical figures. It manages to retain a distinct Fire Emblem flavour despite dishing out a style of action that is arguably the polar opposite of what Fire Emblem fans expect.

If you like Tolkien fantasy and all you really care about is finely crafted and gratifying combat, then you’re bound to have a ton of fun. Buy with abandon. You’re in for dozens of hours of bloody and gruesome entertainment. If, however, you want a fantasy role-playing game with a little more story, a more thoughtfully designed world that’s a pleasure to explore, and a pace of play that allows for more time engaged in activities outside of battle, then keep shopping. Middle-earth: Shadow of War won’t be for you.

Even with the arrival of some worthy competitors – like Slightly Mad Studios’ laudably hardcore Project CARS 2 – Forza still feels like the reigning champion of authentic racing. It’s not exactly revolutionary, but until something truly ground-breaking within the genre comes along it’s hard to fault Forza Motorsport 7 for being anything other than the best racing sim around.

Cuphead ought to handily quash any lingering questions as to whether video games should be considered works of art.

Happily, Divinity: Original Sin II successfully walks the thin line separating empowering choice and confusing chaos.

The improved endgame combined with a far more satisfying campaign makes Destiny 2 an easy recommendation for folks interested in an online shooter. If Bungie can sustain the feeling of progression through the long months between expansions – and perhaps do just a little more to make the experience a bit more welcoming for lone players – then I suspect Destiny 2 will enjoy a long life.

The tremendous exploration and rewarding combat do a pretty good job of filling the narrative void. Metroid: Samus Returns reconfirms all the reasons why this franchise has persisted for more than a quarter century, and adds a few new features that ought suggest it will continue to entertain for years to come.

As in past games within this series, I most often find myself competing not against AI or human opponents, but rather to improve upon my previous performance. Which is exactly why most people play golf in the real world. That Everybody’s Golf successfully simulates this experience in your living room is perhaps all that golf fans will need to know in order to decide whether to pick it up.

An unexpected delight that blends the look and feel of a Mario adventure with the goofy potty humour of Ubisoft’s Rabbids franchise and then drapes this colourful mosaic over the framework of a deep, challenging, and lengthy turn-based strategy game.

Simply put, aside from Nathan’s absence and the lack of anything notably new in how we play, there’s very little to disparage here. Naughty Dog remains a master of storytelling and spectacle rivalled by few other studios. I can think of no good reason to ward Uncharted fans away from The Lost Legacy.

The Long Dark‘s long-in-the-making story mode was worth the wait. And with an eventual total of five episodes each looking to last between seven and ten hours, it looks like it may well prove a truly epic survival experience.