It’s an absolutely fascinating, atmospheric take on the horror genre that plays on the mechanical strengths of its various genres to create an utterly unforgettable experience.

Bohemian Killing is, despite some problems in execution, one of the most alluring games I’ve ever played on a conceptual level.

It is a fantastic example of how to combine the numbers-driven loot game with a top class FPS, and Lo Wang should be chainsawing his way into the annals of FPS history. Plus it also has music by Stan Bush. What more could you want from a blood-soaked, irreverent, funny and frantic shooter?

Battlefield 1 is a fantastic game. If you want a shooter that replicates the epic scale of two armies at war, or one that prioritises tactical thought over twitchy trigger fingers, this is the FPS for you.

For such a complex and in depth game to feel so intuitive is impressive, but for such a game to remain fun, exciting and unpredictable after forty, sixty, one-hundred hours of play? That’s joyous.

The plot’s exceptionally strong too, albeit with one rather jarring bit of progression that didn’t feel hugely believable to me, mainly due to the game’s brevity. It’s enough to stop it being up there at the pinnacle of game storytelling, but only by a hair’s breath. Otherwise, the dialogue is believable, sensitive, thoughtful, the plot surprisingly gripping, and the potential deviations and outcomes are all equally satisfying. It’s £2.79 on Steam, 2-3 hours long, and I absolutely highly recommend this little gem.

Burly Men at Sea is the closest thing I’ve played to an interactive fairy-tale.

At its heart, Mafia 3 is a simple story of revenge, but its actors sell it to you with gusto, and the linear prologue does a great job of getting players invested. Unfortunately, as soon as you’re out in the open-world and you’re free to roam, it becomes a repetitive slog, not least because when you’re doing the same thing on repeat, it only serves to highlight the limitations of the rest of the game.

Its thrilling, opulent campaign is tempered only by a lingering sense of familiarity and hesitation to capitalise on some interesting new ideas. While its online offerings feature all the bells and whistles you would expect of Gears of War. There is some work to be done for The Coalition to make Gears their own, then, but as the first page of a new chapter for the series? It is a helluva place to start.

The smart trade-off between rollicking action and exploration makes for a cohesive, confident and satisfying adventure. Where Lara Croft goes from here will be fascinating, but rarely has a game's title been so apt.

Even the co-op, local-only, fails to save the game from tedium. It’s a shame; aesthetically and mechanically there could’ve been something here, but there just weren’t enough ideas put in play to make Mother Russia Bleeds into anything special. Coupled with the often frustrating collision detection and the woefully poor friendly AI, Mother Russia Bleeds ends up as little more than a tedious, forgettable drudge.

The underwater controls are sublime, the soundtrack by Austin Wintory is perfect; choral swells and orchestral build-ups, a real sense of place and spirituality. If exploring an underwater paradise and uncovering a fantastic story appeals to you, then give this stunning little gem a go.

Head and robot gameplay styles mesh together in a fluid, intuitive way, and the gorgeous colourful space stations and melodramatic sci-fi synth soundtrack makes this sci-fi romp an enjoyable, surprisingly sincere tribute to the wobbly sets of old.

Every choice, every death and every shot feels like it counts in XCOM 2 and it is this feeling of real consequence that makes for a truly remarkable strategy game - one that goes beyond its clever design decisions and the odd technical hiccup to create a tangible sense purpose and real emotion to your squad’s story. As an experience that puts you in control, lets you relish victories, forces you to truly mourn mistakes, and allows you to grow as a tactician against insurmountable odds, XCOM 2 is near faultless.

It is a shame that FIFA 17, for all of its definite gains, still has familiar problems on the pitch. There, PES remains champion, but off it, FIFA is unrivalled. And it certainly plays well enough that the unique pleasures of The Journey and the rest of its footballing suite remain a treat.

A feast of driving that sets out to sate whatever vehicular desire you may have from minute-to-minute. It can’t be perfect, perhaps, but it is a real pleasure.

Virginia hit me right in the chest, the kind of game I’ve wanted to exist for years, and the first game to actually nail it in a way that I think fully takes advantage of the potential. It is the game that titles like Dear Esther, Gone Home and Firewatch have hinted at, but in a way that evolves the interactive narrative form way beyond anything we’ve seen before. It’s a game to savour and talk about for years to come, one that left me, just like the inhabitants of Kingdom, Virginia, speechless.

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.

While there are off-field problems that go beyond unavoidable licensing issues; on the pitch, PES remains peerless.

A sterling upgrade that has taken the fine work of its predecessors, and ran with it.

Here you feel like you are put on both sides of the divide, manipulated by fsociety to manipulate others. That you might start to enjoy and crave the power that the latter affords is a disturbing and fascinating thing.

Video game narratives can be great, but nothing will surpass the stories we create in collaboration with a game – emergent, unscripted moments that pop up unplanned and create lasting impressions, and that’s where Mankind Divided excels.

F1 2016 is the game Codemasters has almost been making for years; complex, feature-full and still packed with the adoration for the sport that the studio has demonstrated since it got its hands on the license back in 2010. For anyone that’s a fan of racing, this is without the doubt the most unmissable recreation of it you can buy. For anyone that likes going fast, this will probably convince you, too.

Incredibly simple to pick up and play, but with the potential for plenty of tactical approaches, Videoball is a great multiplayer game and I’d love to see it hit the esports scene in a big way.

Chime Sharp is maybe a tiny bit bare bones compared to its competitors, with no multiplayer and fairly short round times, but the focused precision really suits the game here, and it’s nonetheless a fantastic chillout puzzle game, one I highly recommend.

It’s not the most difficult of games, as Kirby titles generally aren’t, but it is enormous fun, and up there as one of my all-time favourite 3DS titles.

No Man’s Sky is a fundamentally simple game; one that’s flawed, slow, and where the moment-to-moment activities are sometimes even... boring. But its intoxicatingly rare attitude towards pure discovery create a game that’s captivating unlike any other.

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.