Like its predecessors, Another Code: R might occasionally wallow in sentimentality, but that’s easy to excuse given how unafraid it is to tackle topics like loss and regret head-on, its distinctly untraditional subject matter making it feel like a breath of fresh air in an industry dominated by physical rather than emotional conflict.

It’s as compelling a ‘pure’ single-player shooter we have had in many years. What is perhaps most surprising, and welcome, is how well an FPS controls on the Switch in handheld mode. It isn’t as naturally suited as other controllers, perhaps, but after a little adjustment I found myself tearing around hell blasting demons with no problems at all. A great game worth the technical compromise if you want to play it on the go, and a promising sign that FPS can find a home on Switch.

Nintendo rightly thought that this form of Zelda had peaked and had to leave much of it behind to foster a new sense of adventure. But that we get to enjoy this brilliant inflection point again, with notable modern trappings, is a delight.

Those comparisons to Resident Evil 4 are not entirely unfounded then. It is not as genre-shifting as that game – few games are – but it does share a certain ethos and hunger for variety in tension and action. It is very much its own thing too, both a natural continuation of the series recent reinvention and a manic expansion of its long-standing invention and flamboyance. Most of all, it is a tremendous, and tremendously terrifying, video game in its own right.

BioShock: The Collection is just one iconic, influential game and its two excellent sequels packed together in one box. These kinds of games come around rarely, and if you’ve not played any of them, you absolutely should.

What holds Titan Souls from greatness, then, isn’t the difficulty posed by besting its bosses - or even the lack of narrative elements - but the act of felling the foes themselves. What should be a momentous occasion - particularly following waves of near countless failures - is too often anti-climactic.

The game has a learning curve which is less a curve and more a brick wall you'll run into at high speed the first time you take the game online and find everything you thought you knew was wrong. Typical middle-of-the-road players can spend weeks looking like they've never played a video game before in MVC3 but at least they'll still look brilliant, albeit in an uncoordinated fashion.

For the most part, though, Artyom’s train journey is a compelling one. The characters you share it with can be overly loquacious and too broadly drawn, but its sense of camaraderie in the face of hardship can’t help but endear to the bittersweet end...But it is at its best tends to be when you are on your own, exploring a beautifully drawn post-nuclear wilderness or creeping through the dark, lighter in hand. That Metro Exodus can do both with equally aplomb is arguably its greatest strength.

Xbox One owners will be super pleased –– thanks to Bethesda’s ongoing mod support since the release of Fallout 4, you’ll get access to over 200 mods at the time of writing. PS4 players aren’t so fortunate, and will likely be disappointed by the paltry number choose from –– Sony’s 1GB limit on mod files means that the mods themselves are limited to more cosmetic changes that don’t nearly explore the vast potential that a community driven bank of content provides.

The acid test will be if Telltale then carry these decisions through the remainder of the season...Which, fortunately, is set up terrifically by this second episode. A House Divided does occasionally suffer from its position as a bridge, rattling exposition off in order to set up the subsequent episodes, but it performs its role with real élan.

Indeed, its central mechanic feels rather like a statement in itself; perhaps this is Nintendo’s way of motivating its designers and players alike to embrace the idea of approaching the familiar from a fresh perspective.

Despite a few quibbles, Overcooked is terrific because of its commitment to uproarious, hilarious and challenging co-operation. As long as your friendships, family bonds and marriages can take the odd dropped champignon à la crème, of course.

Halo 5's campaign will not be the groundbreaking adventure that sends players flocking to the Xbox One, but Warzone's sprawling battles twinned with the precision of Arena just might tempt competitive shooter fans to take the plunge. Work to be done for both 343 and the Xbox One, then, but this is a formidable start.

It is at its best tends to be when you are on your own, exploring a beautifully drawn post-nuclear wilderness or creeping through the dark, lighter in hand. That Metro Exodus can do both with equally aplomb is arguably its greatest strength.

The Last of Us is irrefutably one of the best games of the PS3 era but it's beginning to feel of its time – and beneath its gorgeous next-gen glow-up, Part 1 is still, essentially, the same game. Which wouldn't be a problem at all were it not for that troublesome next-gen asking price.

Football Manager requires a certain level of commitment. If you can make that commitment, I can see that there's a rewarding experience to be had but I don't think I can do it. Almost two decades after I started playing, I'm more comfortable with Fifa and with the lighter iPhone version of Football Manager. But a whole new generation of students are about to get their minds blown.

The commitment to its ideas makes Live a confident, bold and stylish game.

Much of what new players might see could come across as cliche for 3D platformers, but only because would-be challengers plundered Mario's ideas for their own mascot-driven adventures.

15 feels like a significant step forward. Not only in terms of mechanics, but in terms of improving players knowledge and skill at the game through finesse and feedback.

Nidhogg is a game that is messy and finely tuned, at the same time. It’s certainly niche, definitely esoteric, but for those that it does tickle, (especially those who have a friend to play with in real, physical space), it’s the kind of experience that is unlike anything I can think of, and since first coming across it years ago, has been talked about with a sense of wistful nostalgia by anyone I know who’s played it. And that’s got to be worth something.

As much as the red-blooded manly man who exists inside me (however fleetingly) wants to pigeonhole Kinectimals in the casual-core-for-kids category, I just can't do it. This is because, in the interests of journalistic integrity, I have to admit to having been completely disarmed and won over by the experience of interacting with the cute cuddly, virtual cubs in the game.

The puzzling, while fearsomely inventive and effortlessly pleasurable, unfortunately doesn't fulfil its obvious potential. But if you are possessed by Ghost Trick's charms, you will find an affecting, charismatic game with a whole lot of spirit.

This brilliant rogue-like is much more than a 2D Dark Souls.

Another terrific, if overly familiar, entry into the Zelda canon. It may not always match the epic sweep of its home console brethren —this is the leanest Zelda that I can remember— but its compact dungeons and fat-free exploration are perfect for a handheld. This is the best portable Zelda yet.

Frippery aside, Forza Motorsport 7 is an exceptional, exhilarating and absurdly polished racing game. It may lack the depth of some of its more serious competition, but it finally feels comfortable in its framework as a more accessible and energetic simulation.

The cast of characters breathe a lot of life into The Surge’s otherwise cloying, horror-themed take on robots and cyborgs, and by the time the end credits rolled, I found I’d experienced an exceptionally interesting, exciting and satisfying narrative action game.

The take away from Shadow of Mordor is that it’s fittingly a game that should inspire games in the same way it has so clearly been inspired, taking strong systems from big games and adding a few new ones of its own. I’d love to see the nemesis system be applied in a more intricate way to the handling of intelligence assets in the world of international espionage, for example, or maybe even an interpretation of the interpolitics of mafia families in the mid century.

As well as some smart on-field tweaks, Madden's marquee mode sees notable improvements after some notable neglect.