For those fans who’ve been waiting for the next Dave the Diver, this DLC more than bridges a gap. It arrives as a near full-length sequel to its predecessor, at just a fraction of the cost. Anyone wishing to revisit the Blue Hole, or anyone thinking about travelling there as a newbie, should make time for this wild and wonderful jungle trip.

If you’re looking for a swashbuckling game of high fantasy adventuring, that’s not what Tavern Talk Stories: Dreamwalker is. But if you’re looking to live and breathe in a fantasy world without the responsibility of worlds on your shoulders, then this is a wholesome and delightful narrative sim with a slow pace and bright charm that is quick to sooth. You can’t be the hero all the time. Dreamwalker is a balm to those who prefer to take a back seat.

But with a warm approach, a bright, cartoonish art style, and a lovely perspective on how items hold memories, and may guide us, it remains a lovely experience with much to say about the winding road of life. Short and sweet, Momento is a game all about the small quirks of living, and the unseen weight behind each and every choice we make.

If you’re in need of a laugh, or you know your friends could do with one, this really is a gut-busting time. Nintendo so rarely gets experimental these days, and it’s fantastic to see the company hasn’t lost its touch.

007 First Light is a bold, cinematic adventure packed with dynamite – sometimes literally – that tells an explosive, always-gripping modern tale about spycraft and its place in the world. It effectively modernises and reboots the Bond franchise, with a clear care and understanding of why the 007 brand is so enduring.

Coffee Talk Tokyo is the best, most well-written entry in the series so far, and a great example of how a cosy game does not need to shy away from the world or its characters’ struggles.

Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is absolutely lovely. It's a curiosity-driven adventure with a light-hearted approach that encourages player exploration and experimentation over more action-heavy adventuring. While that marks it as different to other entries in the Yoshi video game franchise, it's an endearing tilt that encourages return visits.

Whether as a first Batman game or a revisit of franchise lore, Legacy of the Dark Knight presents a rich adventure of layered twists, complete with solid and approachable gameplay, along with that well-balanced, laugh-out-loud humour. As an ode to such a prolific franchise, there’s so much the game gets right.

Ultimately, between the two, I prefer Call of the Sea. It’s a more cohesive game with a stronger story. But Call of the Elder Gods is a worthwhile follow-up, one that offers similarly challenging puzzles with satisfying solutions. If you enjoyed the first game, this call’s worth heeding, too.

Since its launch, Two Point Museum has evolved in some surprising ways, with its museum curation mechanics being translated to an array of settings. Following on from its delightful zoo-themed DLC, Arty-Facts is yet another must-play expansion, with plenty of new content, and a robust storyline to build from.

Across its short runtime, Mixtape makes a deep impact. As much as it’s about the story of three friends trying to savour their last moments together, it also speaks to the great promise of growing up and how wide-open, beautiful and terrifying the world once seemed then. It’s about growing as a person and what that can mean for the people left behind. Mixtape is also about the power of music and how it can help with these fears – how it can be a companion, express inner doubts, excitement and ambition, speak to the soul, or just provide an artful escape. In this exploration, Mixtape is simply magical.

Kiln deserves a chance to go further. It’s got incredibly novel, cool ideas about character building in its menagerie of quirky pots, along with a customisation system that feels tactile and very creative. Even lacking variety, there’s explosive charm in its gameplay and a sense of moreishness that some competitors lack...The world of multiplayer gaming, particularly in 2026, can be brutal. Here’s to hoping Kiln can survive the fire and come out stronger on the other side.

Saros understands exactly what motivates players, and presents all the tools you need to experience the joy of triumph against the odds. Even when it presents a frustrating road block, there is always the opportunity to move through it, with persistence key to enjoying the game’s many, ever-twisting challenges.

It’s a tremendous piece of narrative game design.

With its lovely cast of characters, all with their own tiny personalities and intentions, and the freedom to forge friendships, romance and make enemies, it’s a delight to vibe within Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream. While this game isn’t as meaty as anticipated, and you’ll need to find your own sense of play, it’s entirely loveable, and easy to invest in.

Despite being in development for several years, Pragmata arrives as a tight, prescient and timely adventure with plenty of thoughts to share about what our tech-infused future might bring.

Here is a game that attempts to revisit what made the original Life is Strange so popular, that sacrifices the integrity of Double Exposure and its boldest ideas, for a softer, less punchy adventure, with fewer things to say. Seeing Chloe and Max together again is aggressively nice, but Reunion leaves so many threads dangling that it’s hard not to question what the game could’ve been instead.

In a world of swift movement, KuloNiku: Bowl Up! is an opportunity to take a well-earned cosy gameplay break, but one that allows for consistent achievement and a real sense of satisfying progression.

Simplicity can be beautiful. Hidden around the World understands this intensely, delivering an experience that is quiet, cosy and entirely wonderful. For a break from the real world, or just an opportunity to pet some cutesy critters, this is one small journey that’ll take you far away.

I played the Nintendo Switch 2 version of TR-49, and I wish I had stuck to the PC version. It’s not just that the interface design suits the PC better – using a controller works, even if it’s a little inelegant – but the game runs surprisingly poorly on the system, with long stuttery pauses and many moments where the game would freeze unless I went back to the Switch home menu to re-enter the game.

Even in our own little fishbowls – whether physical, as in Covid lockdowns, or metaphorical – we must all make the same effort to climb past grief and hopelessness, and work through our own feelings and memories. It’s the only way to be there for our friends and family, and to keep proving our worth – if only to ourselves and nobody else. Raw and realistic, this game is a beautiful tale of overcoming and becoming.

On Nintendo Switch 2, Super Mario Bros. Wonder's stages pop with vivid colours, and the action looks fantastic. There's a layer of crispness here that really elevates the colour palette of the original game and its sense of charm. The upgrades make it well worth replaying the adventure, or challenging yourself to collect each and every hidden item.

Screamer is a game of half measures. It’s got an anime style that doesn’t extend beyond the menus and cutscenes, a cool drift mechanic that isn’t put to good use by the dull track designs, and a long story campaign that just doesn’t hang together in an interesting way...It feels like a game where the final product perhaps isn’t what the developers set out to make, or where restrictions have prevented it from realising its potential. It’s a shame – a story-focused, anime-style racing game with cool drifts and deep interpersonal conflicts between a diverse cast could have really been cool.As it stands, Screamer is screaming for some significant tweaks under the hood before it’s totally roadworthy.

Longevity is a touchy subject in this day and age, as many live-service titles have struggled to keep up with the gaming landscape. Marathon, for a while, looked to be one of those one-and-done that would be lost to time...Fortunately, Bungie has crafted something that proves that wrong, but looks to get better with each update. While not a single-player haven or easy-to-enter title, what you get is a great multiplayer extraction shooter that many should get in on as soon as possible.

Esoteric Ebb is a delight and a joy. It’s yet more proof that taking yourself less seriously is when the real magic happens.

With a grand scope to this storytelling, and visuals to match, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection is a dazzling experience that surrounds you with its beauty.

While this game isn’t as much of an upgrade as its predecessor was, it still offers plenty for players looking to live out their wrestling dreams.

Pokémon Pokopia is entirely brilliant. You'll have expectations. You'll want a cosy, wholesome adventure, with Pokémon given a chance to shine. Pokopia brushes all of those expectations aside with a confident wave, arriving as an expansive, ambitious life-adventure simulator that's absolutely packed with bright ideas, and the execution to match.