I can think of no better descriptor for the game than candy floss. There is no substance, no depth, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good or isn’t pretty to look at. However, I can’t help but feel like this game would be too hard and frustrating for most young children. Conversely, it doesn’t have much of anything to appeal to anyone over the age of six. In the end, I can’t really recommend the game, and the fact that it depicts the genocide of an entire race with the gleeful candour of the Androids from Dragon Ball Z really doesn’t help.

Wintermoor Tactics Club is a lovely bit of escapism. Those looking for challenging strategy should look elsewhere, and its presentation lets it down in places, but this school-life D&D adventure has its heart in the right place.

It’s not for everyone, and the ending could be a bit smoother, but the experience is still a good one if you’re looking for something a little bit different to dive into and don’t mind not sleeping for a few weeks.

Hypothetically there could be a lot of fun to be had here, but that’s not the case at the moment and I’d recommend waiting a while to see if things improve as Early Access continues for it. Diving in now is likely to lead to more frustration than actual game playing and that’s no good at all.

It’s all a lot of fun, but it’s also rather short. That’s not an issue if you’re happy to keep trying and constantly become better at beating the foes you’ve already dunked on, but it might be an issue for some people. It’s not very expensive though, so it’s probably worth a look if you like the sound of scoring three-pointers against an embodiment of fire.

It’s just a shame that the execution of everything here leaves a lot to be desired. The performance of the game is significantly less than ideal, with there being far too many loading screens that go on for far too long. There’s also the occasional visual glitch and broken frame rate to help you feel like your TV might be broken. It’s a collection of cool concepts, but it’s not anywhere near as polished as it could be.

Sometimes you come across a game that is so bad it’s good, maybe a little entertaining, The Room style. This honestly wasn’t one of them. The lifeless Blendr models, the janky controls and ugly misplacement of bad gothic tropes render this the kind of game that should just quietly be forgotten. Maybe moving on swiftly will spare the creators any further embarrassment.

The Swamps of Corsus is a must-buy for any fans of Remnant: From The Ashes, and the new survival mode will be a huge draw to anybody that wanted just a little bit more roguelike in their third-person Soulslike. It’s a lot of fun, and it’s not too pricey either, which is always a nice bonus.

Cloudpunk even does more than expected in its decision-making gameplay; though you’re presented with binary decisions, it’s rarely a good vs evil dilemma, with plenty of variables at play to make either option valid. It really needs to be experienced by anyone interested in cyberpunk narratives, story-driven gameplay or leisurely driving games. Even for those not interested in its themes, provided you’re open to the relaxed gameplay style, Cloudpunk will surprise you with how full of life its world is.

While a lot of people will look at Iratus: Lord of the Dead as a pretender to Darkest Dungeon, it does a lot of very cool things, and – at time of review – is incredibly well balanced as a result of its time in Early Access. There’s a little bit of a learning curve for those new to the genre, but those experienced in this kind of game will feel more than at home.

While The Flower Collectors doesn’t reinvent or radically reenvision detective fiction, and the plot never twists in very shocking or particularly exciting ways, it’s a sophisticatedly told, cosy murder mystery. In these times, that’s exactly the kind of entertainment I need to get through the day.

Galaxy Warfighter is a modern take on an arcade shoot em’ up, and it’s a good imitation, it just comes with a few caveats, particularly its repetitiveness and lack of evolution towards the later levels of the game.

Billion Road is chaos, it’s nonsense, and it shows that you can take a simple, perfect design, staplegun 100 tiny bells and whistles onto it and it’ll make a wonderful noise when it moves.

Everything in Circle Empires Rivals’ combat and circle-capture loop fits perfectly, it feels like a streamlined base-building RTS, although the absence of a campaign and staggered unit unlocks means that there is definitely some learning to be done before braving online play beyond co-op. While there’s only a finite amount of biomes and CPU enemy types, the procedural generation means that maps can feel fresh after dozens of matches.

The Procession to Calvary is proof you can take the old and make something entirely new. Its remixing of Renaissance art is absurd, surreal and ultimately hilarious. It stays true to its challenging point-and-click roots, but if you’re not afraid of some head-scratching, this is a glorious tale of murder and mayhem.

Overall, Ancient Enemy is an incredibly enjoyable game and one that is unlike anything else I’ve played. It feels like it’s been inspired by many of my favourite oddities, but it puts them together in a way that is completely its own, and I adore that about it. The story and exposition can occasionally overstay their welcome, but that won’t be an issue for a lot of people. It’s certainly a game that’ll have you ready to shuffle the deck and start the next round, and that’s the best thing about card games.

Most importantly, the key feature that the game hinges on – being a parasite – is superb. You can always come back from failure by simply body-snatching a new character (when they’re unlocked, at least). It’s a fascinating precedent for a rogue-lite in which you can die twenty times yet still continue your run – but don’t think that means HyperParasite is easy, because it’s not. On the other hand, if you’re struggling, you can grind enough cash to possess sub-bosses which tip the odds more in your favour.

Nick Bounty And The Dame With The Chewed Blue Shoe is a stereotypical comedy video game where it often references itself and other games or breaks the fourth wall with a wink to the camera so emphatic, it could make Borderlands blush – which may be just your thing.

In other waters, the fear of the ocean is a fear of systems. Systems of the natural and artificial are spun around, submerged beneath the surface, and retrieved from the sample bay to make purpose of life and meaning from death. The last time I visited the beach was at sunrise. I dropped a friend off at an international airport, drove on a highway out of the city, took a right before the Space Center, and ended up in Cocoa as the red light of the sun breached the horizon. You’re never far from the ocean in Florida. And every day of my life here I have done more to harm the biome through natural and artificial systems than a jellyfish every could to my lone body. It’s not clear, but we don’t need an AI to tell us what we’ve done. In the reflection of other waters, I see a fear of us.

Over The Alps is a fantastic mobile game, and a still-pretty-great PC game. Whichever platform you pick it up on, its historical, divergent story shines through.

Given the setup – clueless white scientist comes to terms with the consequences of her groundbreaking research – The Complex is a particularly vanilla flavour of dystopia that fails to inspire. These are uncomfortable tropes we’ve seen before, especially when it comes to expendable minorities and the guilt-ridden white people fretting over them. Even without the COVID-19 pandemic living rent-free in our brains, The Complex – despite its noble efforts – ends up feeling rather flat.

Mixed Realms have done a fine job with Gordian Quest. It may borrow a lot from D&D and Slay The Spire, so it’s hardly a unique experience, but it holds its own and proves highly engaging. Whilst combat was slightly limited by the randomised card system, it’s addictive and provides tactical fun, with the randomised maps keeping the experience fresh in additional playthroughs. It’s got a lot on offer, and with further updates to come, it’s one to look out for. [Early Access Score = 80]

One Step From Eden takes my memories of the Battle Network games and turns them into a fully-fledged and incredibly stylish roguelike. It is quite simply the best thing I’ve played all year. It might even be one of the best roguelikes around at the moment, and there’s definitely a lot of competition there. I can’t say enough good things about this nigh-perfect game, but I can say that you should stop whatever you’re doing and go and buy it. You’ll not be disappointed.

Element Space has the potential to offer a genuinely fun experience in the sci-fi genre, which is something that is wonderful to see, but not all that common. The issues presented by its poor performance and the less-than-stellar implementation of many of the mechanics result in something that is often far more frustrating than fun. It’s a huge shame because the world and the characters really did pull me in, but the bugs and crashes kept booting me back out again. Hopefully, the studio can keep these kinds of complaints in mind when developing a potential sequel. If they can improve the quality of life as well as iron out the technical issues, it’s sure to be a far more enticing game.

Iron Danger is a unique and rather wonderful little game set in a mythology we rarely get to see explored in video games. It’s charming, the characters are generally very likeable, and the systems are unlike anything else in gaming. It is, quite simply, good fun, and solving each of the combat encounters is intensely rewarding. It’s certainly worth a look if you want something just a little bit different, or if you just really like time-travel.

Paper Beast is a memorable VR experience like no other, letting you play god in a world that feels godless. If only its puzzles – sometimes creative, but other times frustrating – didn’t get in its way, it would be an unconditional recommendation for lovers of bizarre escapism.

I ended up quite liking This Strange Realm of Mine, perhaps because of the blemishes rather than in spite of them. The imperfections were reminders that this game could very well be an emotional treatise of someone who is still learning and growing. It felt like something I would have made as I was first encountering ideas that rocked the foundations of my understanding. Like The Beginner’s Guide, the narrative framework sometimes feels like an excuse to admit Big Thoughts to whoever will listen, and if we cannot use our art to do that, what’s the point of it all?

I’ve enjoyed my time playing Stela, and I don’t doubt that I’ll talk about it in the same breath as the Oddworld games or Heart of Darkness when going forward. While it lacks in the story department, and the PC version could do with and some texture work, it doubles-down in atmosphere and pacing. This is a stellar cinematic platformer which made me reminisce about the sub-genres’ early days. It’s undeniably not for everybody; people will be deterred by its numbing tension or willingness to kill, but it’s definitely one for those who enjoy environmentally pleasing puzzlers and don’t mind their games a smidge macabre.