The rote hack and slash combat only really hits its stride hours into the campaign, as you begin to unlock additional skills and off-screen party members who fly into battle with special attacks on your command. Infinite Combate does get better as you sink more time into it, but its low points will likely test your patience. In particular, quests with strict time limits can often feel unfair, and grinding out tasks purely to improve your relationship with different characters is a slog.

Thanks to questionable tactics, a tedious and boring structure, bullet spongey enemies, and a narrative that’s completely throwaway, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is far and away the worst entry in the franchise this generation. Some of its inventive combat mechanics remain intact, but they’re completely overshadowed by throwaway side quests that we were tired of five years ago. This is a boring, tedious slog through Nazi-occupied Paris that you can probably skip.

Ultimately, this is a disappointment that lacks the heart required to truly celebrate the cars it has so lovingly recreated.

Warriors Orochi 4 is a disappointingly cheap sequel. Stripped back and basic, it feels like a quick and easy apology aimed at fans who were left disgruntled by the dire Dynasty Warriors 9. There's still enjoyment to be found here, with the series' trademark action holding strong, but poor presentation and unstable performance drag the experience down. Koei Tecmo really needs to get its Warriors games back on track, but until that happens, you're better off nabbing the far superior Warriors Orochi 3 Ultimate.

League of War: VR Arena does exactly what it says on the tin. It provides you with a basic strategy experience that remains fun for a few hours, but as you realise that the game won’t be introducing any sort of innovation or new mechanics to mess around with, repetition sets in fast. Introducing a second player into the mix through arcade mode does shake things up a little, but it’s not enough to mitigate the feeling that what’s on offer here is slim on content and all a little too basic.

Kill la Kill - If certainly looks the part, but once you're past the striking art style and eye-popping visuals, it's only a matter of time until the gameplay falls flat. As a bombastic anime fighter it can hold up for at least a few rounds with friends, but beyond that, this is a lacking release, both in terms of mechanical balance and bang for your buck.

While the story missions are enjoyable and the Strikes are some of the best, there just isn't enough new content here to reinvigorate Bungie's project for more than a few hours at most.

This remains a ground-breaking game, and it's still possible to appreciate the areas where it innovated, but time has not been kind to the title's damp performances and dismal writing.

With lofty ambitions and some great elements, After Us lets itself down in as many ways as it triumphs. Gorgeous art direction and an admirable anti-pollution message aren't enough to make up for tedious combat, performance issues, and open-ended level design that plays things a little too loose. If you're itching for an experience like this, there are better options out there, at the very least until After Us' performance issues are addressed. There's the core of an incredible experience here, but it's just not ready yet.

While the Khaos Reigns expansion does come with a full Kombat Pass 2 (including the guest fighters later down the line), the story is only around two hours long, making this expansion's price – which is almost on par with an entire game – a little questionable. And it doesn’t do anything to change the glaring flaws already present in Mortal Kombat 1 such as the terrible Invasions mode or the overpriced cosmetics.

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG, sadly, never shines as brightly as it does during its opening hours. There's enjoyment to be had here, sure, especially for anyone with love for the '90s – but all of the references to Chrono Trigger and Pogs in the world can't balance out the pleasure-less battle system and overly complicated levelling up mechanics.

You could do a lot better than Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water this Halloween season; the PS5 has built up its horror library up just enough for there to be something else worthy of your time. Those cutscenes, though. Very creepy.

There is so much squandered potential in Armikrog it hurts. The voice acting is great, but there's not enough of it; the visuals and animations are superb, but let down by repeated puzzles.

Mato Anomalies is a tough sell; it features some fresh ideas and concepts (which should be applauded) but fails to create a compelling core gameplay loop in the process. With so many other other excellent turn-based titles demanding your attention, it fails to provide a compelling reason to undertake this surreal journey.

Despite its seemingly vanilla exterior, CounterSpy is a remarkably ambitious title. It makes an admirable attempt at creating a new kind of 2D stealth game, but unfortunately the results just aren't particularly compelling. While its presentation is dapper and divine, its gameplay is clunky, and the whole experience gets tiresome very quickly.

Bravo Team’s tactical combat is a good fit for virtual reality, and it’s exciting peeking out of cover in order to take pot shots. But for a title focused squarely on its action, the shooting rarely feels satisfying – even when you’re armed with the excellent PSVR Aim Controller. Though the visuals are never outstanding, we like the way the title takes you on a continuous journey through a war-torn city, but limited variety means the release shows its hand within its first few minutes. And, frankly, not even online co-op will help you to care for the fate of the titular team.

Its approach to open ended gameplay is appreciated and its combat is fun enough for the first ten hours, but the game eventually loses steam and its story is nothing worth shouting about. To make matters worse, technical problems harm the experience to the point where you'll find it hard to care about the characters during what are supposed to be emotional scenes.

Lost on Mars is a decent sci-fi distraction from the main game, but it fails to really introduce any new ideas. The irreverent story is fine but isn't particularly memorable, and the silly humour accompanying the action misses more than it hits. The combat can be fun and frustrating in equal measure, while the various things to do don't exactly inspire. It's perfectly serviceable, but despite being set millions of miles away on our neighbouring planet, it's hard to shake the feeling we've been here before.

For everything The Quarry does right, it has just as many glaring issues or niggling problems to bring it right back down to Earth. Supermassive Games has been trying to better Until Dawn for seven years now, and at this point, it looks like it's never, ever going to happen. The Quarry is just a bit dull, and that's the exact opposite of what these types of titles strive to be.

Stuck with a novelty look and feel that would attract younger players – who won't actually have a chance at many of the questions – this is one for battle hardened quizzers with short attention spans only.

Urban Trial Freestyle may have taken a lot of inspiration from Trials Evolution, but it only emulates the bare minimum. Yes, there is a bike, and, yes, there are obstacles to navigate, but any soul or innovation is left at the starting line. This is a cold, sterile replication of a successful franchise, and a testament to the fact that fun cannot be imitated in such an uninspired way.

There are far better Assassin's Creed games and far better platformers, so this spin-off has nowhere else to go but the gulag.

N.E.R.O. intrigues as an interactive visual novel, but it fails in its attempts to be a game. The puzzles here are laughably easy, and they subsequently get in the way of the storytelling. There are some beautiful cutscenes and an interesting story here, but they're too often impeded by unenjoyable gameplay.

There are certainly enjoyable moments to be found in Zombie Tycoon 2: Brainhov’s Revenge, but they’re buried beneath repetitive gameplay and unnecessarily frustrating mechanics. The multiplayer chaos is just enough to keep you coming back, but things are never quite as well crafted as the charming art direction would lead you to believe.

Even if you’re not familiar with Blacksad’s previous adventures, fans of games like L.A. Noire or any of the Telltale adventures will find something to like about Blacksad: Under the Skin. It’s a real shame, then, that the game is so buggy on release. Numerous technical issues really spoil what would otherwise be a very entertaining whodunit.

A good time loop mechanic is supposed to give you enough variety so that repetition doesn't set in. Unfortunately, this is where Loop8 falls flat. You’ll be going over the same conversations and they’re just not interesting enough to make it worthwhile. It also doesn’t help that there’s only a small variety of enemies, and that the underworld is mostly just the town with a different colour palette. It's hard not to get annoyed when you realise that you’re still not strong enough to take out the next boss, and have no choice but to repeat the last few weeks.

Overall, the title is ridiculously restricted, and while there are different endings encouraging multiple playthroughs, you’ll have seen all that it has to offer in hours. The sprites are chunky and the environments pleasant, and there’s some earworm audio to add to the overall presentation, but you’re unlikely to find yourself dreaming of this once you’ve seen the credits roll a couple of times.

Dynasty Warriors 9 goes open world and the result is a game of extreme ups and downs. For every gloriously huge battle there's a boring stint of traversal across a dreadfully barren map. For every interesting story moment or interaction, there's a horribly ugly graphical glitch. Factor in an unconvincing combat system overhaul, and you've got a Dynasty Warriors title that may disappoint even the most dedicated of fans. There's still some good historical hack and slash fun to be had here, but we expected much more from the return of this flagship series.