It’s a small step in the right direction for the genre but the lack of players means that in this particular space sim, there’s no-one to hear you scream.

Rome: Imperator is one of Paradox’s biggest and best games - it also has a bigger focus on military expansion than their other games.

Tropico 6 is a great step forward. It fixes a lot of the problems that plagued the last instalment and does it while adding plenty of content. Limbic have created the building blocks of something great and with more focus on military interaction of invading and conquering it could become a brilliant all-round experience.

Rome II is a testament to all that is great about PC gaming and should be a must buy for all its followers.

Earth Defense Force 5 doesn't do much to get away from the series standards of campy story telling and underwhelming graphics, but does improve upon the series' unique appeal by reducing grind, increasing enemy variety and giving soldiers some new tricks to get around the battlefield. There's nothing quite like EDF and this is the definitive entry in the series.

Cake Bash is a fun party game with a lot of potential, but with relatively few bash modes and minigames, it can feel repetitive after a while. The limited progression and fast unlockables also mean that when your completion hits 100%, you may see little reason to continue playing. However, with the freedom to play against bots, local friends or online, if looking for a cute, quick and easy party game to jump into, Cake Bash may fit the bill.

It may lack the sprawling epic world of Red Dead Redemption, but this is your next best choice for a Western fix that satisfies.

Ratchet and Clank: Nexus is not a full-length gaming experience that will last you months. What it is, however, is a loving goodbye to a pair of gaming heroes.

As long as you don't mind the insane story and the games many profanities you will really enjoy Trover Saves the Universe. Its bad language can be turned off but in my opinion the game is better with it. I don't think it will be to everyone's taste but it's bright, fun and never overstays its welcome. Its VR implementation is very good and never gets in the way of enjoying this wacky adventure. I really enjoyed it and I think most other VR players will too. It's unique and should not be overlooked.

The fantastic touches such as bizarre monoliths swinging around to your movement, or crazy bridges taking shape as you step across them or entire buildings being summoned before your eyes ensure Kairo is strangely uncomfortable, creepily crazy and ultimately highly memorable.

Burial at Sea might be a challenger for the best-ever narrative-based DLC yet presented to the gaming community at large. It carries on the legacy of all Levine’s games, and Infinite’s in particular by delivering a strong story with a devastatingly stunning blow at the end.

Freedom Cry may not be particularly long or radically different from Black Flag but as a companion piece it feels important, imbuing its protagonist with a desire for retribution and justice that bleeds through the screen and inhabits your own persona. For that reason alone it deserves your attention.

TENS! has simple controls, a unique combination of puzzle elements, and a challenging difficulty curve - but its lack of varied multiplayer makes it a very brief experience unless played sporadically. If you're mathematically-minded, don't mind listening to the same soundtracks over and over again, and don't care for the loose narrative linking the puzzles together, then TENS! will win you over.

Super Mario Party is a fantastic entry in the series, one that uses the unique attributes of the Switch wonderfully. The modes on offer are plentiful and varied and all a lot of fun. If you have been hoping for a good family game, then this is it.

SuperEpic's satirical style might not be for everyone, but if you are OK with that aspect then this is an excellent addition to the ever growing Metroidvania genre. Graphics, soundtrack, and gameplay fit together beautifully, making SuperEpic difficult to put down.

What’s rather galling and confusing is the fact this is the third version of this game to exist after the PS3 and the original browser game.

Do My Best Games have created an incredibly immersive, varied and compelling game, it is tense and always leaves you wondering what is beyond the next door. Its simple gameplay is enhanced by the compelling story and leaves you always wanting to find out more from its inhabitants.

The White March Part I adds another twenty hours or so of content, and has the same polish present in Pillars. The biggest criticism is its awkward insertion into the main game, feeling more like an unnecessary addition than an essential piece of Eora’s canon.

Team17 have done it again with another endearingly designed, vastly comprehensive fun experience. The Survivalists is one of the best crafting games that I have played and one of my favourite games of the year.

While I enjoyed my time with Cat Quest 2, a bit more depth all around would have been "purr-furred." Perhaps the developer's hints of updates to come will remedy this oversight sufficiently.

Caught within a comic book, fight your way through as the protagonist Fury to help your creator overcome his doubt as an artist. A devilishly fun and extremely difficult rougelite that thankfully doesn't penalize you as harshly for dying as some within this genre. There is a steep learning curve in "Hard Mode" (technically normal mode) but there is an "Easy Mode" option with customizable parameters to make the game more accessible. Shoot, loot, and keep your combo going to shield you from enemies and collect health with each kill. You can even complete a whole run on one continuous combo, are you up to the task?

Genuinely fun and cute, with a story line and visuals that will keep you enthralled as you play the short campaign.

With hilarious dialogue and world details, the wholesomeness of these hard-working monkeys, and a variety of fun mechanics and pleasant physics displayed in it, the sum of all these parts helps to build an absolutely delightful experience for us to enjoy. And as tense as the gameplay can be, we will enjoy as many cooperative building adventures as we can handle in a lighthearted space journey, full of Bonkies, bananas, and aliens.

Pumpkin Jack is a fun, quirky 3D platformer that will both entertain and challenge you over the course of its 6-8 hour campaign. Though its platforming and camera controls can sometimes be a tad clunky, the experience is engaging enough for that to not be a problem, and you'll be far more concerned about the monsters trying to take you down. If you liked MediEvil or similar games, you'll love Pumpkin Jack.

As ambitious as it is, Ghost Recon: Wildlands fails to break free from the Ubisoft blueprint. However, that doesn't stop it from being an addictive, sprawling shooter, particularly when playing online.

Superior to the original in almost every department, The Evil Within 2 will still divide opinion with its difficulty. Persevere though, and you'll find a gore-soaked diamond.

A solid strategy game that may suffer slightly from being, as with the surface of Mars, a little too dry.

Despite a few technical issues, Borderlands: Game of the Year is an amazing looter shooter remaster, and when played with a group of friends, is still one of the most enjoyable titles of the last decade.

Beyond Two Souls is a mixed game, with many elements of the story amounting to binary choices, some aspects of the narrative being poorly fleshed out and gameplay regularly amounting to choosing whether to be terrible or not. At the same time though, there are enough satisfying moments that provoke empathy for Paige's character and moral quandary to intrigue and entertain those drawn to coming of age stories and tales of the supernatural.

Plants Vs Zombies is bright, colourful, lovely to look at and fun to play - it’s the third person shooter no-one knew they wanted and may go a little way to filling the small gap before the big triple A games start to drop.

Pathologic hasn't aged very well. It's biggest flaw? It's simply too slow and clunky.

Victor Vran is an excellent port of a solid Diablo clone combining solid 60fps (ish) dungeon crawling with some heavily action-oriented demon-slaying gameplay.

Black Ops is back and darker than ever. With a rich story and plenty of super-spy moments, this game keeps you gripping down on your controller. Always going to be compared to past titles, this iteration stands up to the challenge and delivers a whole new experience on what a Call of Duty title should be

Overall it is hard not to be impressed with what Turtle Rock have achieved here, as Evolve is truly unlike anything available at the moment. Its no-nonsense approach is a breath of fresh air, and while the steep learning curve may force some gamers out of the loop early, those who remain will help form the core experience of the game in the months to come - a version of natural selection if you will.

The Swords of Ditto: Mormo's Curse may have some room for improvement but provides a lot of a joy and endless hours of gameplay. It's fun and darn right adorable and that's enough for me!

A colourful, often hilarious RPG-lite adventure, crippled by a tedious and frustrating combat system.

Journey To The Savage Planet is a short, sweet and near perfectly crafted puzzle platformer with a refreshing and satisfying take on co-op progression. Those who love to explore, climb into, under and on top of everything to find hidden areas in the games they play are in for a treat with this one.

It’s a lovely experience, and if you’re one of those gamers that live and breathe handheld RPGs then you really need to make the time to check this one out.

This is a great take on a 2D real-time strategy game, it has a good sense of humour, and most importantly; it is a lot of fun. The single-player campaign is well written, but the multi-player is where the game truly shines.

For now WWE 2K14 will serve as an admirable filler, its wide array of modes and customisation there so players can concoct their own stories once Wrestlemania’s has been told.

The game is a revelation, it's the nearest you are going to get to a perfect Tomb Raider game. It's sweat dripping environments whether in a jungle in Peru or deep in a tomb covered in blood or swimming through water filled caves filled with dead bodies made me feel like I needed to take a shower after each gaming session. Regardless of the age of the series, this game is keeping up with modern games and surpassing them in every way.

If you enjoyed the original Devil May Cry 4 despite its repetitive nature and you know you want to invest time into learning the new characters, then we recommend you pick up the game. But if you only have a passing interest and the sound of three playthroughs isn’t music to your ears, then we suggest you wait until the next iteration in the Devil May Cry series.

What episode one of the Tyranny storyline allows then is something which brings that which worked before, scales back that which failed and starts a fresh story more immediate than the main one became towards the end. It’s over as quickly as it started and leaves you wanting more - both for the immediate quenching of the tale to hand but also as an opening into the possible futures.

The Crown Tundra gives you a lot more engaging content than The Isle of Armor, but it's still a bit lacking in polish. If you like Legendary Pokemon though, this is the DLC for you.

Mario Tennis Aces is one of the best arcade tennis simulators on the market, especially when played with friends, but a lack of content will see many lose interest rather quickly.

But for its claustrophobic close combat control system and difficulty spikes, Unruly Heroes is a fun and visually appeasing adventure platform worthy of your time.

Samurai Shodown for the Nintendo Switch is a solid fighting title for returning players and newcomers alike. While it does suffer visually, particularly in handheld mode, the gameplay remains stellar throughout.

A fantastic sandbox for experimentation, yet this framework is not backed up by a rich environment.

After a couple of mis-steps, between Revelations and RE6, the franchise is firmly back on track.

A last generation concept spruced up in higher definition, given a bit of spit and polish and sent out with a couple of new mechanics.

This holiday season, if you want to forget about the world, join up with a few friends and fight monsters in an absolute bloodbath then look no further.

So here we have a glorified prologue which showcases the new generation with aplomb and makes the mouth water at what Kojima Productions can do over the course of a full game.

A bite-sized portion of melancholia topped with just enough sweetness to make the journey easier to swallow. It’s a cascade of metaphor, both obvious and subtle, that can wind you unexpectedly even as you delight in its beauty.

A beautiful JRPG throwback with deep combat, held back by punishing difficulty spikes and far too many technical issues on PS4.

The replay value is low, but it’s a nice distraction while it lasts.

Amnesia: Rebirth is a game that asks you to open up your mind a little, just enough so it can creep through the spaces and tamper with the fabric of your sanity. If you let it in, you are guaranteed to have a great, scary time. The only thing you have to worry about is once it’s in there, will it want to leave?

A brilliantly done driving simulator, but without any serious single-player campaign to go alongside the online timesink.

With Batman, Telltale took a huge gamble by reimagining established heroes and villains, and skewing the comic’s plot in a different direction. It could have been a tremendous success but, lacking the foundations of a story worthy of its characters, the end result is storied and often incohesive, even within individual chapters. Gotham deserved better.

Despite some occasional framerate drops and a slightly twitchy camera, Beyond Blue is a thoroughly relaxing and educational dive through some of the most beautifully-diverse underwater landscapes on the PS4.

Overall, Inazuma Eleven GO is stronger as a JRPG than as a sports game, but should still provide children with the football excitement they are looking for during the World Cup.

Life Is Strange is off to a near flawless start. Its story, characters and world are all incredibly interesting and in combination have built a fascinating plot that we can’t wait to continue in the second episode.

Battlefront is a fantastic game for a certain type of person. Its dip in, dip out accessibility, matched with the obvious lashings of love and detail from a development team that clearly respect the franchise and its fans - it is absolutely perfect for fans of the original trilogy who these days have limited game time.

Stripping racing back to the basics, Codemasters have crafted a simple game that’s one-hundred-percent about the racing while also proving that going for the simple option doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the easy one.

Stars in Shadow is a surprisingly competent throwback to classic 4X games, but shines brightest when toying with new ideas.

A hefty and uncompromising challenge for those who would welcome it, but a tad too unforgiving for newcomers to the genre.

Vacation Simulator is without a doubt an amazing follow up to Job Simulator. It brings fresh ideas to the table along with the series trademark humour. Its very fun to play and even more fun to mess around in its varied environments. If you loved the previous game you will love this. Both me and my family were glued to this game the whole time we played it, its a joy to play.

Headliner: NoviNews is a solid political adventure title with gut-wrenching decisions and scathing morality. If you can withstand the crushing weight of your decisions, you're sure to love your time in Novistan.

Hands down the most fun I have ever had on a base builder. Providing you with everything you expect and more to fill you up on your evil deeds. A true kudos to the original entry in the series, you will have your wicked way in no time and soon the world will truly be yours!

Overall, there’s plenty of value to be had in Atelier Escha and Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dark Sky. It just takes quite a bit of time to maintain your patience with the heavy dialogue, bland visuals and a generally boring story.

Good old fashioned and accessible Warriors-style action wrapped in a story full of pre-established lore from the Fate series. Particularly great for those new to Musou.

While The Medium does not look truly next-gen, the excellent dual-reality mechanics and storytelling prowess of Bloober Team ensure it is one of the most technically and narratively sophisticated horror games to come out in years, recalling the best of games like Silent Hill.

Willy Jetman: Astromonkey's Revenge is a charming indie shooter with plenty of adventures to be had, but its repetitive music, inconsistent controls and surprising difficulty curve hold it back slightly. Worth a look if you enjoy a challenge, and a quirky story.

Crossing souls is a masterpiece of both story telling and nostalgia. The gameplay is great and the game is as stylish as the eighties themselves. You will come for the nostalgia and stay for the genuinely brilliant story.

Paraphrasing Jake Johnson in Jurassic World, the parks in this game are legit.

The best thing to say about The Evil Within is that it is a good survival game with some decent mechanics, the worst thing I can say is that it is a poor horror game that doesn’t live up to its design or the talent of the director.

Overall, this first foray into Resident Evil Revelations 2 is a good one.

Despite its classic metaphoric coming of age storyline, despite its lovingly drawn backgrounds that seem to have sprung to life from the pages of children’s stories and despite the innocuous language and childish humour, the incongruous nature of the frustrating puzzles will thwart children unfamiliar with the ancient lore of point and click adventures.

A brutal, chaotic top-down shooter that offers great focused gameplay but little else.

I Am Setsuna is a wonderful game which, while bittersweet, is told beautifully. It fits the Nintendo Switch wonderfully and is a great example of what the console is aiming to achieve.

Bloodroots is a fantastic indie action game - it looks gorgeous, it plays even better. If you're a fan of games like Hotline Miami or even just action games in general, this is one worth checking out.

A disappointing end to a series with promise, Game of Thrones needs likable characters to engage emotion.

For what it’s worth Wrong Number is the typical cliched mixed bag, with the best bits of the original dressed up in the excesses of what the developers thought they needed to add to make this a bigger, badder sequel.

Tell Me Why pushes the boundaries of video-game storytelling with its mature, open-minded approach to its themes and its pioneering representation. The inclusion of a trans lead character is vital but the story is a lot deeper than what's on the surface.

In all, Omensight clearly has a lot of heart and, while not as lengthy or deep as some other games in the genre, it offers up a kind of marriage between gameplay and story telling that makes use of it's format rather than being limited by it. That somewhat tragic story is one that seems likely to inspire a lot of thought from the young minds that interact with it, hopefully some of the aged ones too.

Considering there was a time not long ago where it seemed we would never see a proper conclusion to The Walking Dead, the finale we do get is wonderful. There are a few end outcomes based on your path through the story, each as strong as the one before. But, most importantly, there is real closure here, and a sense that this was a journey worth taking.

Whilst there are clear deficiencies in places, this is just due to the fact Shemue is an aged classic. But a classic it remains and whilst other games may have surpassed it from a open-world game point of view, there's never really been anything like Shenmue for nearly 20 years.

Observation is an unnerving, beautiful, and captivating space station thriller that will stay with you long after the credits roll.

Awkward controls and an uninspiring score thankfully don't sink a game with an intriguing story and well-designed puzzles.

It’s short but not particularly sweet. There are many other games that evoke the same feelings as The Gardens Between, but they do so far more effectively.

One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4, then, is not only the best Pirate Warriors game to date - as you would expect - but maybe, just maybe, the best Musou game available at the moment. Despite the reused story assets that may cheapen the experienced for seasoned Pirate Warriors vets, Omega Force once again prove they are the kings of their craft with this glorious, delicious slice into anime mayhem. Sit down, Hyrule Warriors. You aren’t the pinnacle anymore.

Despite slightly unintuitive controls, Railway Empire offers just enough depth and detail to make it worth a play. We can't help wishing for a much more encompassing railway management sim though.

Lara Croft And The Temple Of Osiris is a worthy follow up to its 2010 precursor and expands on everything that was put in place in the Guardian of Light.

If you want a minimalist, reaction-based action game with style and a kick-ass soundtrack, go for it. If like me you equate playing a game to reading a good book, then it's definitely not for you.

A charming set of characters in a post apocalyptic world help to keep the player interested in this fascinating combination of action platformer and tower defence game. While the pace can feel a little off in places overall the game is a lot of fun and the splitscreen co op is a brilliant inclusion to keep you playing through,

Exposition-heavy, yet light on actual plot development, In Sheep’s Clothing is perhaps the weakest episode of The Wolf Among Us to date.

A pedestrian episode which does little to shake the feeling that the series is in dire need of a shake-up.

A brilliant shoot 'em up that harks back to the good old days of video games but with a refreshing modern update. You can jump in for one run and leave five hours later because the game play is so enjoyable.

It’s taken them long enough, but the Atelier series is finally entering a space where you would be happy to recommend them to any RPG-loving friend, rather than leave them to that one guy we all know who only plays games with suspiciously young and underclad heroines.