With a bright, pixel art infused splash, River City Girls throws you headlong into an old-school brawler that at times evokes the best of the genre. Whether you line it up against Streets of Rage, the rather excellent Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game, or River City Ransom – a title which you’ll be unsurprised to hear River City Girls has a direct lineage to – it hits all the familiar highs and lows, while throwing in a few twists that mean it’s not just a by the numbers retro title.

Torchlight II is an older title that feels its age at times. Nevertheless, it remains a solid example of its genre and will keep you occupied for hours on end. Multiplayer, an expansive upgrade system, and a sea of worthwhile loot make up for the repetitive gameplay.

With everything that it brings to the table, Iceborne is a truly monstrous expansion. Capcom has gone above and beyond in crafting an additional adventure that breathes a shocking amount of new life into Monster Hunter World, setting a new benchmark for the series in terms of pure quality. Although many of the base game's gripes remain, it's ultimately very difficult to pick holes in such a supremely satisfying experience. Iceborne is Monster Hunter at its absolute best.

It's an engaging and compelling narrative with more twists in the tail than we could count, and it's the visual novel side of things which supports that with a set of robust features and mechanics. You'll be able to scan scenes for clues and people to talk to via a cursor, while an inventory allows you to tailor a conversation to a specific piece of evidence. Meanwhile, investigations give you the chance to get to the bottom of a certain point in a case and Max Mode varies your responses to people of interest on an increasingly ludicrous scale.

It's easy to see why Final Fantasy VIII is considered one of the series' most divisive entries, but its story and gameplay systems remain unique 20 years after its original release. Final Fantasy VIII Remastered has its flaws -- the draw system is still a total pain in the arse -- but there's a magic and atmosphere to Squall's often mental adventure that's incredibly endearing. This is a PlayStation classic given a new lease of life, and it's still way more interesting than the majority of Japanese RPGs hitting our consoles today.

The game opts for a sim-like model, but in practice is much more forgiving than DiRT Rally 2.0. It's not perfect; cars can be unpredictable, and sometimes spin out when it feels like they shouldn't. Overall, the driving is competent, and most importantly, delivers that thrill ride as you scream over treacherous terrain. It's a shame the presentation is somewhat lacking, because this is otherwise a solid rally experience.

Catherine: Full Body is the best way to experience an incredibly unique game. It oozes style eight years after its original release, and although its storytelling does stumble from time to time, this glimpse into the desperate life of Vincent Brooks is still more than worthy of your attention.

Sadly, Harvey’s New Eyes stumbles with occasional poor voice acting, and story and character work that doesn’t quite live up to the standard of the puzzles and visuals. The darker nature of the plot is a good contrast to the vibrant visual style, but the narrative is not as compelling as in other examples of the genre. That being said, Harvey’s New Eyes is likely to be an enjoyable experience for any point and click fan who picks it up.

Man of Medan kicks The Dark Pictures Anthology off with a whimper rather than a bang. The format has a lot of potential, but this was undoubtedly the wrong story to showcase it. The narrative is slight and rarely gets out of first gear, the characters are annoying, the scares limp, and the dialogue unnatural. There's constant technical hiccups. In fact, the scariest thing about Man of Medan is how it ever went gold in the state that it's in.

Black Desert is rougher than a badger's behind, and the simple combat won't blow anyone's skirt up, but the game does have upsides. The world is fleshed out and fun to explore, the side activities are more amusing than the campaign, and the character creation is superb. This is the sort of game that will undoubtedly appeal to a small subset of people who are more than happy to accept the uglier technical issues as the admission price to a well realised world full of things to do.

Oninaki falls short of being a great action RPG, but it's not without its charms. An intriguing world and story keep things afloat, while an addictive character progression system distracts from repetitive dungeon crawling. This definitely isn't Tokyo RPG Factory's best game, but it is an interesting diversion. With a little more depth, a sequel would be a tempting proposition.

Knights and Bikes serves as a powerful nostalgia trip that’ll take you back to your imagination fuelled childhood adventures. With pretty much every aspect tightly crafted to exude a childlike spirit, the art style, animation, soundtrack, and gameplay all help give authenticity to the story of Nessa and Demelza’s burgeoning relationship. While a touch more challenge – especially in the combat – would have been welcome, the breezy pace of the story will help captivate your attention, not only with its themes of friendship and self-discovery, but more importantly through its correct instruction in how to apply jam and cream to a scone.

There’s no doubting that Control is a good experience, but it’s not one that’ll go down in the history books. Its explorative and combat-focused gameplay is a major highlight thanks to abilities that give you the chance to get creative, but the unreliable framerate that goes with it puts a stop to the enjoyment far too frequently. This is most definitely worth playing, but that’s about as far as any substantial praise can go.

If you’re looking to bring destruction and pandemonium to motorsports, Wreckfest will suit your needs to a tee. The experience is let down by technical grievances far too often, but what’s left after the fact is more than worth your time.

Decay of Logos is a game that’s an absolute joy to get lost in. It’s not going to hold your hand, and it expects you to indulge your curiosity by exploring hidden pathways and seeking out the land's dark secrets. While the combat can be quite tough, it feels much more accessible than games like the Souls series - it won’t take too long before you’re ducking and dodging like a pro.

Erica is an intriguing, admirable experience that those looking for something a little outside of the video game norm will surely latch on to. With an impressive set of performances, a story that’ll have you hooked straight from the off, and meaningful decisions that have a major impact on the game, FMV is making waves all over again.

Overall, RAD is a great time. A simplistic roguelike with a humble, yet ingenious mechanic. Its biggest downfall is a lack of multiplayer, which is disappointing, as teams of different mutants roaming the Fallow would’ve provided a new level of fun and extended replay value. That said, for what it is, it’s well done. The variety in its power-ups, map generation, and character selection keep things fresh, and the gameplay evolves alongside the mutating characters to remain entertaining and addictive. Throw in witty dialogue, a super-looking dystopia, and a wonderfully thought out soundtrack, and you have a roguelike that is truly rad.

Ancestors Legacy makes a comfortable transition to console, serving up an RTS experience that plays superbly and looks the part. Minor technical issues and a moderately cluttered UI do little to detract from the overall action, which is strong across all of the release's main modes.

The shooting is fun, frantic, and makes for a great two-hour time sink. Not to mention the precision and responsiveness of aiming with Moves is far better than we’ve come to expect even from some of the bigger titles. The downside is you’ll probably never have an interest in revisiting the title after that initial foray.

The greatest show on turf gets a bit more personality with Madden NFL 20’s new X-Factor abilities. While this headline addition only applies to the sport’s biggest superstars, it injects new life into the on-field action. The new QB1 campaign may have potential in the future, but in its current guise it’s a step back from the Longshot story explored in previous entries, while the fan-favourite Franchise mode continues to see neglect. Ultimate Team is unquestionably the series’ underlying bread-and-butter, and with tons of new challenges to complete, it’s sure to become your new obsession as American football’s 100th season gets underway – just be wary of investing too much money into the mode.

This collection includes a spoiler-filled fourth episode, so despite its overall short length, it’s worth the asking price, if you can bear to part with your cash.

The game is incredibly slight; beyond some unlockable characters, it's likely you and your pals will grow tired of the concept very quickly. There are no other modes, no tortured storyline to follow -- just position your sumo correctly until you fail. You do so with the shoulder buttons, but while it's very simple, in practice it's fiddly and not particularly intuitive. There isn't even any music to enjoy while you wrestle your character into shape. For those looking for a new party game to play with some chums, this is certainly different, but you'll be done with it faster than it takes you to buy it.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD shows its age in pretty much every way, but its enjoyable and simplistic gameplay loop is enough to give you something to chew on. Alongside one of the most insane narratives in all of video games, it’s a From Software joint that needs to be seen to be believed.

Thanks to simple controls and near constant progression, this can quickly become unbelievably addictive. There's a lot more to Forager than meets the eye. Save for some occasionally fiddly controls, this is a pleasant surprise indeed.

The Church in the Darkness has some good ideas, but they’re not properly realised. Gameplay never ventures out of its basic boundaries, while the narrative doesn’t offer up enough variety or compelling subplots to engage with. The Church in the Darkness is competent for a couple of playthroughs, but it’s an experience that you’ll quickly forget about.

Doughlings: Invasion is a surprisingly fun time. Though it appears on the surface to be little more than an unpleasant looking clone of Space Invaders, its surprisingly deep gameplay elements, well sloped difficulty curve, and some banging tunes make it a simple yet effective bit of arcade fun for short bursts. Though players are unlikely to pick it up for more than an hour due to the lack of multiplayer or meaningful rewards for completion, that hour will at least be entertaining. Don’t let the ugly graphics put you off; if you’ve got a spare bit of dough, it might be worth a look.

A brief, but memorable experience is at the core of Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot. Downright stunning environments serve as a backdrop to exploring the streets of 80s infused France. Between the solid performance level and the fluid controls, this is Bethesda’s best excursion into virtual reality. Given how well the title succeeds at pretty much everything it sets out to do, we hope that this is step one to a fully fledged Wolfenstein VR title down the road.

Wargroove is finally on PS4, and despite launching with practically no fanfare, it's very much worthy of your attention. The pixelated exterior houses surprisingly deep tactical gameplay that's easy to grasp but will soon give your grey matter a workout. With highly customisable difficulty and a vast range of modes to enjoy, this is a decent turn based strategy game that fans of the genre shouldn't pass up -- although we suspect many will have played it to death already.