What a pleasant surprise Vertigo 2 has turned out to be. Waking up in a cell, held captive by the omnipotent — and possibly sinister — Brian, you are eventually let loose to explore a massive scientific facility housing a quantum reactor. The similarities to Half-Life are striking and immediate, but dev Zulubo hasn’t shied away from this, and the results are spectacular.

With engaging tactics, deep customisation, and addictive team-based gameplay, Breachers is one of the best shooters yet available for PSVR2.

Rising is the game that the original Granblue Fantasy Versus should have been, and while it's a bit cheeky that players are being asked to pay for it all over again — with yet more DLC characters incoming — it's hard to argue with the overall package. This is a gorgeous fighter that feels great to play.

God of War Ragnarok: Valhalla is a brilliant addition to a brilliant game. Not only does it remix the core title's combat in a compelling, highly replayable roguelite mode, it does so with Santa Monica's usual cinematic style, weaving in meaningful story that'll keep you hooked while it lasts. Fans of the series really shouldn't pass on this — and, because it's totally free, there's no reason to do so.

Another miss for the Rings franchise, then. There are bursts of quality here, and the potential for fun when playing with others. However, it ultimately fails as an adaptation and a survival game.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an excellent open-world adventure. Thanks to Ubisoft Massive’s collaboration with Lightstorm, this is easily the best movie tie-in we’ve experienced. The level of detail is second to none, and fans of the series will have a whale of a time spotting little references here or there to the mainline films. However, we’d be tempted to say unlike Hogwarts Legacy, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora would be a good time even if you weren’t a fan of the series or haven’t seen the films. The game is certainly filled with tropes of the Ubisoft formula, but the lore and focus on harvesting and hunting elevates that open-world design to create an immersive and inviting setting that we happily lost ourselves in.

There's a good, steady sense of progression, and elevators that take you to the end of each department alleviate some of the repetition. When you get on a good run and build yourself up with beneficial buffs and powerful attacks, the game starts to sing. There's definitely plenty to like about Have a Nice Death, but its flaws prevent it from reaching the heights of its contemporaries.

All in all, Echoes of Fallen feels like little more than another chapter in Final Fantasy 16's story — but it's a good one, especially in terms of action. Oh, and it might just feature the most insane boss encounter in the entire game, if you can believe it.

Arashi: Castles of Sin Final Cut is a competent VR stealth sword-fighting action title with solid gameplay, gorgeous story cutscenes/setting, and an enjoyable array of weaponry that makes the open-ended levels a joy to complete. Unfortunately, its last-generation visuals, underwhelming AI, and occasional bugs and crashes cause this shinobi to stumble. With a little more time in training to learn some advanced moves, Arashi could have been a must-buy title.

Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader is a CRPG worthy of its grimdark sci-fi setting, offering players engaging tactical turn-based combat and an immersive adventure. It lacks polish, and we encountered some frustrating bugs, but deep class customisation and an exploration of the setting like nothing before means there's plenty to recommend for fans who are willing to take the plunge.

Despite some technical letdowns, Arizona Sunshine 2 is still a joyous celebration of zombie brain-bashing. It features some of the best VR shooting on the market, with a reload mechanic that is incredibly satisfying and really brings to light what makes the platform so great in the first place. As a sequel, it improves graphically, narratively, and just controls a whole lot better. With a solid campaign offering, various difficulties, and a horde mode with more maps to come, Arizona Sunshine 2 is the full VR package — and an absolute must-buy for PSVR2 players.

Pinball M exists to provide Zen Studios with a venue to explore more mature material, but launching several months later than the underwhelming Pinball FX, it also fixes a lot of core structural problems with its peer. This is a more cohesive, rewarding package overall – and the first batch of five tables are bloody fantastic to boot.

The Last Faith competently blends the Souls-Like and Metroidvania subgenres, dressing the package in a very compelling gothic Victorian aesthetic, one clearly inspired by Bloodborne.

It's an abysmal end, resulting in a controversial sequel, leaving fans of 1992's rad Flashback most likely preferring to return to Conrad's previous amnesia in the original's plot to forget that Flashback 2 ever existed.

SteamWorld Build is a delightful and very satisfying foray into the city-building genre. The two gameplay modes complement each other well, offering two very different but equally pleasing ways to gain resources. While we do wish the story could've lasted a little bit longer, the addictive gameplay and slick presentation makes it very easy to recommend.

KarmaZoo gets a lot more right than it doesn't. Ultimately, it succeeds in delivering a simple but fun experience, and its clever design means players behave positively and altruistically. If you're looking for an online game with good vibes and friendly co-op, this is it.

Because so much of its content is repurposed from past games, Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections is easier to recommend if you're new to the series. That said, this is still an impressively comprehensive anime fighter; the team-based gameplay holds up, the new modes are solid overall, and sheer size of the character roster is hard to ignore.

"We need a new Call of Duty game every single year," the Activision executives bellowed, and out popped Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 after the development times caught up with them. A truly anaemic release, there's never been a surer sign to press pause on the series. 14-year-old content is the best thing about this year's entry and if that's not enough of an indictment of where Call of Duty is at in 2023, we don't know what is. A franchise in serious need of a complete reboot, Modern Warfare 3 has to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Atlus has successfully translated the turn-based combat of its 2017 masterpiece into a competent tactical experience, though Persona 5 Tactica won't be heralded with the same praise. Consistently good during fights, customising your party and mastering its many stages is where the game is at its best. However, there's little to the title besides those skirmishes, and without any exploration or sense of character progression, this feels like the Phantom Thieves at the end of their tether. Joker and co have enjoyed a great run, but Persona 5 fatigue is well and truly beginning to set in.

Blowing stuff up is fun, and Teardown gets that. Its varied voxel environments combine with nuanced physics and deformation systems to make levelling buildings, eviscerating vehicles, and orchestrating massive explosions a thrill. An inconsistent campaign and lack of multiplayer don't keep it from setting a new standard for video game destruction.

It's a clever setup; we're surprised it's taken this long for the star signs to be turned into a series of boss characters.

UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves is a heartfelt tribute to the giant robot genre. It's clearly a lower budget title, and technical issues certainly sour the experience somewhat, but there's good, straightforward fun to be found if you're a fan of classic anime.

Jagged Alliance 3 is a rousing return to form for the series, offering a solid tactical offering that finds a welcome home on PS5. Rough around the edges, with a tone that might turn some off, it offers plenty of replayability, with each turn as tense as the last.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a much tighter, more focused platform fighter than the first entry in the series, with more gratifying combat and some truly imaginative move sets. Although its campaign is repetitive and there are frequent crashes to contend with, this sequel still manages to land a solid knockout blow here.

Beyond the Dawn isn't an especially exciting expansion, but it's still a solid post-game experience for those who enjoyed Tales of Arise. It's guilty of treading overly familiar ground, and the storytelling can feel a bit tedious, but there's fun to be found in exploring all-new dungeons and taking on powerful opponents. The DLC may be dropping too late for many players, but Alphen and the gang's epilogue is worth the return trip if you've got the time.

Little Goody Two Shoes is an excellent life-sim adventure with some intriguing elements of horror sprinkled throughout. If you want to play a different take on this well-established genre, then this game might be for you.

While the console edition of Football Manager 2024 is admirable and certainly serviceable for those who can't play on PC, it's tough to recommend thanks to how stripped back it is by comparison. Entire features are missing, and navigating through menus is a slow, frustrating chore. This is a subpar port that's fine as a gateway experience, but it's hard to look past its flaws — especially when the grass seems so much greener across the way.

EA Sports WRC combines Codemasters' off-road racing pedigree with officially licensed cars, teams, and locations. The result is a confident and robust rally game that boasts super-fun driving, intense and challenging stages, and all the modes you could expect. It's only really let down by technical and performance problems. Here's hoping those will be ironed out in due course, because this is otherwise a rewarding rally game that gets (nearly) everything right.