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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Reigns system feels perfect for the adaptation, providing clever choices in the quests presented, a housing narrative and the encouragement to forge on. You will fail over and over in your path to success, but with endlessly rewarding progression and always-surprising encounters, the blows are softened...In this game, Geralt embarks on yet another very worthy adventure, with his signature dry humour contributing to funny, ridiculous and heartfelt encounters along the way. Take caution as you travel and you’ll have a warm, lovely time here.

As a requiem for the franchise, this adventure is a layered, thoughtful sequel. It manages to neatly thread two vastly different gameplay tones together, with each of its elements well-designed to create a cohesive, balanced adventure that serves a variety of needs ... With a steady back-and-forth between moments of sheer terror and outright glee, Requiem hauls you along a story that forces you to reckon with its core message: that even against the encroachment of nightmares, the world is worth fighting for.

It’s in the steps of this journey that In the Dark shines, as it delivers a warm, cosy parable about making space for others, even – and perhaps especially – when they find it difficult to accept love.

While there are many layers here – it’s a Paper Mario homage, it’s an original fantasy adventure and it adapts beloved IP – each idea is given time to evolve. There’s a delicate balance required, and developers Sleepy Castle Studio and Wing-It! Creative have managed it very well indeed.

Even advancing at a wicked clip, the DLC’s plot is well-balanced, and it consistently provides new reasons to return as new features unlock and the dark, gothic story unfolds.

The Séance of Blake Manor is a wonder-filled puzzle adventure that wields its horror aesthetic well, telling a dark and consistently enthralling tale while leaving room for player choice and exploration in every outcome. This home may be haunted, but the ghosts make for incredibly good company.

It understands that humans are at the heart of superheroics, and that a magical suit is less important than a desire to uplift everyone around you, and to help them realise their potential. To see past their flaws, to see what they can become. To save the world, one person at a time.

We could all do with the injection of charm that Dogpile offers, delivered so well in a beautiful cartoon art style, and with those all-important, synergistic game mechanics. This is pure, encapsulated delight that’ll leave you buzzing with a happy glow.

In its best moments, Skate Story is just an unbelievably cool game – and that totally makes up for the slightly more tedious sections.

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is not complicated. It’s an old 90s arcade game but designed with a one-time payment in mind rather than needing a constant stream of coins. It’s relatively easy to finish but the moment-to-moment experience of playing it is hugely satisfying. More than anything, it makes me want to pick up a huge anthology of fun old Marvel comics and enjoy some convoluted plotting.

This is a game that understands its purpose so clearly. The narrative may borrow occasionally from common tropes, but as each chapter dawns, Goodnight Universe feels more and more like its own thing, with clarity in its intentionality, and how it invites players into its narrative.

Overall, the mix of these five new mini-games makes The Jackbox Party Pack 11 an incredibly strong Jackbox experience. There’s a wonderfully cohesive style in this particular pack, and each mini-game feels well-designed for fun, party-based antics. It also hits all the activities that make a Jackbox game fun – there’s a drawing game, a trivia game, a funny writing game and more. It’s all in service of a multiplayer party experience that absolutely brims with a bright joy.

Metaphors aside, Death by Scrolling is undiluted fun. It’s simple enough that anyone can play – but not so simple that everyone can survive.

If you’re somebody with a knack for code-cracking, whether solo or in a team, Escape Simulator 2 is a wonderful translation of real-world escape rooms, with strong themes pairing with tightly-designed puzzles for an experience that’s well worth tackling. Keep your head on straight, and your brain waves humming, and electrifying mysteries await.