For me, at times, Everything feels like the game Spore should have been. When I watched the early presentations of that game’s silly creature creator and its invocation of Powers of Ten, I wasn’t imagining a fiddly, shallow strategy game, but an experience that hoped to approximate the awe I sometimes feel when stargazing or can tap into by listening to Carl Sagan talk. By throwing out most of Spore’s traditional mechanics in favour of a cross between Katamari Damacy and Nested, Everything gets closer to sublimity. And though I don’t think it gets all the way there – not for me, not right now – the silliness is constant and delightful.

Surviving Mars, it turned out, was little more than a plucky little rover, diligently raking the regolith to make a place for the main rocket to touch down. Now, however, the eagle has landed, and it’s a bloody lovely bird.

Aside from the plot, I’d say most of what held my attention about Green Hell was how dazzlingly beautiful and technically impressive it was, but the more traditional survival elements are all solid enough that I look forward to playing more. So, it turns out that the jungle does indeed got fun, games, and whatever you may need, providing what you need has a very strong stick component.

It’s reliably brilliant fun, and the best multiplayer experience a Ubisoft studio has ever worked into one their many open worlds. Whether played alone or alongside 63 other warm bodies, Riders Republic is unalloyed gratification in a stunning natural utopia, a streamlined series of rewarding activities so open-ended and forgiving it can sometimes veer into a directionless fuzz. Things are certain to change shape as more stuff is added and the player-base settles in for the long games-as-a-service haul, but there’s enough arcade fun here at launch to delight your inner extreme sportsperson, the one who looks at Tony Hawk at 53 and thinks, yes, there is still time for me.

The annoyances, such as they are, will weigh heavy on some people, and the invitation to care earnestly, and to enjoy a story that is unironically about the power of love, will be anathema to others. But gosh, it's a nice game - an oasis of solid single player story in a dry season of live service - and the biggest step forward in this particular direction that Don't Nod have taken for years. I'm hoping the colon in the title might mean more banishings to come. [RPS Bestest Bests]

It’s rare for a puzzle game to be truly original, but Mushroom 11 can claim that accolade. It applies its originality in smartly traditional ways, employing 2D physics puzzles in a new style. It’s glitchless, which is a rare treat, especially for a game that lets you break your blob into many parts and jam them in between rotating cogs and swinging platforms. It’s one of the best puzzle games in a very long time.

Usually, in the course of gameplay, a game’s character becomes an avatar for you. But A Way Out accomplishes something far more subversive and bold. Eventually, for better or for worse, you become an avatar for your character.

This isn't a full review of Eriksholm, simply because after five or so hours, I didn't fancy playing any more. Maybe it gets amazing after five hours and one minute. Oh, I still don't like it. Yeah but what if it gets amazing after five hours and two minutes? You can probably tell by now this is sunk cost at its silliest. Lots of games to review, and I have to draw the line somewhere. So, here's some impressions based on the time I did spend with it. Apologies to Erik, I'm sure he's very nice.

As James gets closer to his destination, he accepts it as a one way trip. His morose sense of duty starts to slip away, and he finds himself liberated. He starts enjoying the catharsis and doom of it all. If you get yourself similarly attuned to its sometimes abrasive nature, you’ll find that El Paso, Elsewhere turns into a strangely sad and sweet odyssey, borrowing heavily from similar works but ultimately creating something deeply unique. A cosmic third-person shooter from a forgotten age that will make you dwell on your worst break-up.

Had I tried to write up Rogue Trader for embargo, I suspect I would have disliked it a lot more. Much as I try to distance myself from pressures cultivated by review conditions, having a game this gigantic lobbed at your calendar inevitably leads to burnout and impatience. Rogue Trader is a lot more entertaining when you can dip in as you please, providing you keep copious notes, but even then, there will be moments when you feel overwhelmed. The game’s appetite for the pomp and pageantry of Warhammer 40,000 is at once its best and worst quality. Sometimes, it’s a gorgeously Gothic gateau noir that teems with strange and different flavours, such that you can spend hours guessing at the ingredients. But sometimes the flavours obliterate each other, and you just feel like you’re trying to swallow a cathedral.

The fights can be plenty challenging, especially if you venture online or into the openly-described-as-unfair gladiator arena mode, but I was never able to shake the sensation that they’re just a delivery vehicle for a really great cartoon.

Dirt 4 offers infinite replayability for stage rallies, and some good options in other disciplines. I’m hoping that in the future Codemasters is going to add some more courses for Land Rush and Rallycross (GRC, with its Red Bull addled, Vegas-XTREME antics and massive jumps would be a great addition), but for now I’ll be happily enjoying the bountiful content in the main game. Dirt 4 is right up there in the top tier with iRacing and Project Cars, and it has me loving low traction in a way I haven’t before.

It is, very much, A Tropico Game, but it knows how to go big, how to feel like it’s playing with the citybuilder big boys, instead of remaining in its safe soft play corner. There’s plenty of stuff I’d change, especially tonally and in terms of international relationships, but I played it happily until I couldn’t see straight. I’m left thinking it should have called itself Ultimate Tropico rather than the implied exhaustion of sticking at 6 at the end. [RPS Bestest Bests]

Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh here, but that’s because Solar Ash’s movement is brilliant and I hunger for more ways to roam its wastes. Don't expect one fluid joy ride, but when it does come together it really does impress. If you’re after a few hours of slicin’ and skatin’, I’d say it’s worth strapping those blades up.

But these issues are just uncommon enough that Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 manages to weather them over and over again, and it’s never too long before the simulation begs your forgiveness with a relentless series of the most astonishing postcard views you’ve ever pointed your eyes at. Whether you’re breaking cloud cover over Mount Rainier, flying low over the gin-clear seas of Saint Lucia, or making your final descent into the greasy miasma of Gatwick, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is an endless parade of giddy spectacle.

If you prefer your pleasures somewhere on the periphery of your attention, you’ll find there are plenty to pluck off the branch here.

I feel like Rime will be a game celebrated by those who already love the third-person genre, those au fait with Tomb Raider-style climbing and jumping, and environmental puzzles. It’s certainly celebrated by me. But I wonder if it might have a harder time winning the affections of those who aren’t already sold on the concept, simply because of the swathes of assumptions it makes about a player’s fluency. Or maybe I’m being patronising? I’m not entirely sure. What I do know is I’ve had such a splendid time with Rime, so deeply enjoyed its expansive and sumptuous world, and found myself not missing the attack button at all. Not when there’s a sing/shout button that does so many more interesting things. [RPS Recommended]

Far Cry 5 is frustratingly uneven as a whole. From minute to minute its combat systems are the best in the series, and its vehicles handle better than those in previous games as well. Its landscapes are a delight, their details rich and worth exploring, and you get to develop your playstyle and objectives on your own terms. Until something gets in the way. It wants you to enjoy all of the freedom it offers until, through its systems, characters or story, an interruption arrives. It’s the land of the free, but that freedom only goes so far.

There are a few dents and scratches in Pepper Grinder's toolkit, then, and some of them will require a little brute force to work through. But taken as a whole, three-to-four-hour experience? I wouldn't say they're devastating enough to spoil the otherwise immaculate performance of its drill work. Pepper Grinder is still a fun, novel and sparky breed of platformer, and one that will regularly make you break out in more smiles than anguished grimaces. Despite its hardships, you'll still mourn when those credits roll, and if that's not a sign of a good video game, I don't know what is.

Galak-Z is a smooth, polished and compelling arcade shooter that trades in tension and tactical awareness rather than screen-clearing power-trips. The randomised structure adds just enough unpredictability that it’ll stay on my hard drive until I’ve managed to beat it at least one more time.

The characters all strongly stick with me after finishing, and I think that’s probably more important than anything else.

There's not a lot of depth to Tinykin but that's actually pretty nice. There'd a lot of fun to be had just being a tiny dude in a huge house. With satisfying platforming, cute little critters, and plenty of exploration surprises it’s the perfect bite-sized adventure. With a four-hour run time, I played it in two sittings and it was perfect for some laid-back gaming. It's great to see how Splashteam have taken the core inspiration of what made the Pikmin games so enjoyable and have infinitely improved on it. A solid recommendation.

It’s definitely a shame that painting isn’t more of a thing. But this really comes together. A slow, gentle, personal RPG, with neat little stories, characters I remember, and a real sense of having spent time in a special place. Oh, and last of all, in Eastshade if you want to get around a bit faster, you buy a bicycle. Yeah, it’s exactly that sort of place.

Battlestar Galactica: Scattered Hopes is playable for a run or two, and it has flickers of the series that inspired it, but spend too much time in its company and it simply becomes robotic.

Ultimately, though, great Colosseum fights, sometimes funny Akame missions, and occasional story wins can't quite make up for Like A Dragon Gaiden feeling like a hurried excuse to resurrect Kiryu. Yes, it ties into his upcoming role in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth and it's lovely to be in his shoes again, but the story pales in comparison to previous offerings. Motoring between endless fights in the game's story doesn't represent what Yakuza stands for, and throughout I couldn't help but wrestle with the idea that it might be erasing not just Kiryu's own name, but the series' wider legacy.

If I had lots of free time, I would probably enjoy it a lot more. But I don't, so tipping over with a cargo bay full of steel beams makes me frown, where it might have otherwise made me laugh. This, I think, is another issue. RoadCraft is a podcast game, in the same vein as Truck Simulator or Elite: Dangerous. There's a big place for games like this in the world, sims that excel in delivering a specific kind of wonderful and comforting boredom. Slow tasks that act as a reassuring sedative in the manic whorl of life. But RoadCraft's start-and-go flow makes it a bumpier ride for me. I was falling asleep, but I never quite drifted off into its promised dreamland.

What you need to know is that Mohawk have made a game that creates tension and ruthless competition out of a screen of ever-changing numbers. Every victory feels hard-earned and every defeat can be traced back to specific twists in the tale, and in each of its half hour sessions, there are as many twists as in Civ’s six thousand years.

It’s weird to say it, but Shadowkeep’s problem is that a lot of the problems and hard questions that Destiny 2’s first year threw up have been solved since the Forsaken expansion a year ago. Shadowkeep hasn’t had to fix anything, only attend the age-old challenge of keeping players on the Destiny treadmill. As a result, everything feels awfully familiar, from the big events right down to the quest types, which are still largely about earning currency to buy a quest that wins you a roll on a new item of gear.