At the moment, Everything Is Crab is in a great state, but I think it’s missing a lot of content for more replayability and variation from run-to-run. I can see a ‘meta’ developing quickly, too, which will reduce choice even more. That being said, even in its current evolutionary form, I’d say this is one of the better roguelikes so far this year.

If you are looking for an interactive story-based cozy game, this is a rad choice. However, don’t expect much more from Wax Heads than a well-executed moral stand against an increasingly AI-loving, money-grabbing and overly-polished world of entertainment.

Mouse is an enjoyable and visually stunning shooter with just enough uncapitalized potential to make me mourn what could have been. It looks amazing, the music is spectacular, the voice acting is top-notch, and it feels great to play in the moment, but its unwillingness to put up even a semblance of challenge is its biggest downfall. I’d still very easily recommend it, but sticking it on the hardest difficulty is almost a requirement.

Regardless of what you specifically look for in a cosy game, there’s a little something for everyone here. Even with my nitpicks, I’m unlikely to forget the stories I pieced together to tell Tabitha’s life story anytime soon.

A small roster of games aside, the Marvel Maximum Collection is everything someone who wants to play these games in 2026 could want. Classic Marvel titles from three decades ago dusted off so they can join the growing list of old games being rescued from the past and made playable today. Throw in all the quality of life features that let you either play these games as they were intended, or with mod cons so that you can actually finish them, and this collection is a fantastic celebration.

Darwin's Paradox is easy to admire and occasionally difficult to enjoy. ZDT Studio has built something visually and narratively confident for a debut - Darwin is a protagonist with real charm, and his world has a presentation that consistently overdelivers. But a game is only as good as it feels to play, and this one too frequently asks you to fight its systems rather than inhabit them. The frustrations are not deal-breakers in isolation; cumulatively, though, they erode the goodwill that the presentation so diligently earns.

Not enough time is spent with characters to sympathise with their plight, while the narrative itself discordantly jumps between several themes without committing to a singular vision. It’s not helped by a middling combat system and exploration that is too simplistic and predictable for its own good. As a queer woman, I’m delighted that games like this exist, but I can’t bring myself to ignore the fatal flaws that hold this passionate effort back from greatness.

The Dying World comes to us after a messy early access period, and it shows. The pacing is all over the place, and parts of the narrative feel unfinished. The finished stuff is fantastic, but the rest leaves so much potential left unexplored.

There is a fun time to be had here, but ultimately Pokemon Pokopia doesn't explore the Pokemon side of its world and offers building quests that are mostly rigid and repetitive. As ever with Pokemon, there is enough charm to see it through, and the mechanics aren't shallow, even if they're used in aid of the same few tasks over and over again.

Even as someone who isn’t the biggest fan of the original Rayman and its penchant for punishment, I still found a lot to love in the 30th Anniversary Edition. The many tweaks and enhancements make it the way to play the original, and the detailed documentary is a great extra on top of it all. It’s just a shame that the party is pooped a bit by the missing soundtrack and some teething problems.

In a genre crowded with self-serious shooters, there is something refreshing about a series so deeply committed to its own identity. Even when the bit falters, even when it reaches for the lowest-hanging fruit, High on Life 2 never feels timid. It is garish and intermittently incisive. At its best, it makes the threat of human extinction feel like an open mic night you’re moderately glad you attended.

If you’re buying Mario Tennis Fever to have a few rounds of tennis with friends the way you would Mario Kart, then you’ll have a good time. It’s a solid arcade tennis game with some unique powers and cute character moments. But as an overall experience, it’s shallow, a little unbalanced, deeply lacking in creativity, and seems to deliver the bare minimum of options outside of its roster and rackets.

Romeo is a Dead Man is self-aware and self-referential, filled with personality. Whether it’s a compelling personality will vary from person to person, but it throws so much at the wall that surely something will stick. The combat is excellent, the enemies are memorable, and the balance between macabre and levity is well-tuned. Despite the stumbling story, there’s enough bounty in the chaos to recommend this game.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 is now the best way to experience Yakuza 3, especially since this retcon will likely now be the established canon. There’s no arguing that it has improved on the original in many ways, not only giving it a much-needed facelift and tinkering under the hood to make for a smoother experience, but adding a whole host of new content to whet our appetite. While I lament some losses during the creative overhaul and I am notably disgruntled by one major change, I can’t deny that the positives far outweigh the negatives.

I desperately wanted to love My Hero Academia: All’s Justice. It looks, sounds, and plays better than One’s Justice, while having tons of details that fans of the series are going to love. And in Free Battle, where there's no ridiculous difficulty spikes, they probably will. It’s just a shame that loving All’s Justice outside of that mode too often feels like getting hit with a Delaware Smash, leaving it as a decent and incredibly frustrating game that should have been great. Hopefully it will be with some sorely-needed balance patches.

I can’t help but be a little disappointed with Arknights: Endfield. On paper, it has the makings of an excellent gacha game, and with some updates in the future, it potentially might become one. But for now, it’s a slow and often tedious experience. I can’t see myself jumping in on launch day like I had originally intended, because I’ve burned out on the experience much quicker than I thought I would.

Pathologic 3 is about disease and friction and difficult choices. It is not a game for everyone, and it doesn’t try to be. It’s demanding and deliberately obscure, and asks you to embrace failure as part of its teaching method; that will put people off. But for those willing to meet it on its terms, it offers one of the most thematically rich and emotionally resonant experiences in recent memory. I wouldn’t go back in time to avoid this roller coaster, but I also wouldn’t want to live through it all over again.

The Skate part of Skate Story is very good, offering variety, pace, and a unique approach to boss battles. But it's less intricate by design than other skating sims, and that's to make room for the Story part. Your mileage may vary on this, and there's clearly a lot of thought gone into every element, but sometimes so much of it comes off as noise. Or maybe you're smarter than me, and you'll just get it.

With the sheer number of excellent shooters available this year, it’s difficult to recommend Black Ops 7. It’s undeniably a highly replayable game tailored for fans, but that’s not what this franchise needs. Turning the campaign into another dumping ground of camo challenges and meta grinds really shows the current priorities of Activision. Zombies is the last bastion of innovation left, yet I fear it’s not enough to keep players around. The creativity that once made Call of Duty an industry trailblazer has long been forgotten.

Even if Titans of the Tide is a little too short to make that kind of impact, it’s still easily the best SpongeBob game since Battle for Bikini Bottom, and possibly even better if you take off the Jellyfishing nostalgia goggles. I can only hope that Purple Lamp keeps it up, because it finally feels like it’s nearly cracked the Secret Formula.

Deadpool VR isn’t going to change the world of virtual reality or convince many newcomers to give the medium a try, but it is a gruesomely good time with satisfying combat, plenty of parkour, and a surprising amount of variety across its roster of villain-focused levels. Those with a Meta Quest 3 gathering dust in dire need of a new exclusive will have a bloody good time here, even if its occasionally formulaic nature risks holding it back from greatness.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is the epitome of wasted potential. It’s one of the most beloved TTRPG franchises of all time, and the original game has become a cult classic over the years. This isn’t the sequel we hoped for, wanted, or even expected. It’s a Vampire: The Masquerade in name only.

Bye Sweet Carole still needs work, and it shows. Truth be told, though, a few quality-of-life upgrades – controls and hints – would be more than enough to potentially turn this game into one of those titles I come back to over and over again as years go by. Because don’t get me wrong, I am impressed with Bye Sweet Carole as is. But I can’t help imagining what it could be with a few tweaks.

Little Nightmares 3 is fine, but I’d be lying if I said it lived up to the series's namesake or managed to take it anywhere worthwhile. Supermassive never quite hits the mark of what made Little Nightmares so distinct and terrifying. Over a disappointingly short runtime, I feel no desire to return for any collectibles, and not one moment has stuck with me. Instead, I’m only left wondering what could have been done better.

The experience is a constant tug of war between its disparate good and bad qualities. But Digimon Story: Time Stranger thrives on its good, and save for the eyeroll-inducing DLC dilemma, its bad doesn’t feel intrusive so much as uninspired. A colourful cast of characters gradually comes into its own, resulting in one of the most compelling Digimon video games to date.

If you can overcome its tight combat and find beauty in its bizarre world and characters created by SWERY and SUDA51, Hotel Barcelona is a solid roguelite with some innovative additions (I love the Slasher Phantoms) and some very cool moments. If that's something that piques your interest, why don't you check into the hotel and join me?

It's not at all that Henry Halfhead is bad. It's good enough fun for the two hour runtime it offers. But it feels like the sort of game you'd play for 15 minutes, say 'wow, this will never get old!' and then 45 minutes later you're kind of thinking maybe you were wrong. If it committed more to being silly than to reminding you how fun silliness is by taking it away, then it would get old a lot slower, and would likely sustain itself for said two hours. Unfortunately, like Henry himself, it gets old a bit too fast to leave much of an impression.

Lost Soul Aside is not good, but it does serve as a vehicle for exciting, fast-paced boss fights and an entertaining, in-depth combat system. If you can stomach some truly abysmal writing, unlikable characters, and a painfully generic sci-fi/fantasy setting, then you could get something out of it, but for the most part, Lost Soul Aside is nowhere near the savior of the hack ‘n’ slash genre that I was really hoping it would be.

Cronos: The New Dawn is easily the most confident original game that Bloober Team has ever produced, but this unfettered ambition also brings with it teething issues that are awfully difficult to overlook. Combat is punchy yet clunky, exploration is atmospheric but predictable, while the central narrative is often held back by lacklustre performances and clumsy writing. There is a great survival horror game at the centre of Cronos, but it would have been much stronger if it had broken new ground rather than wondering tentatively on what came before.

Hell Is Us has loads going for it, and its political messaging has more weight than its comparatively shallow tagline gives it credit for. But I was initially enticed by its promise of exploratory restrictions, and they just aren’t strict enough to sell that idea for a full 30 hours. While Hell Is Us confidently executes upon its story, quests and puzzles, so much of it feels hampered by the fear that players would give up too quickly if it kept on taking risks. I really, really wish it did, though.

Drag x Drive isn’t destined to be the next big Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive, but it remains one hell of a compelling case for its underused mouse controls and is a truly original sports title. It’ll take some time to get used to its oddball pacing and unorthodox mechanics, but once you’ve found your wheels on the court it’s hard to pull yourself away.

The separate districts feel distinct and while they’re not interesting to explore per se, they do provide a pleasant backdrop as you go from race to race. In the end, I was just hunting for more ridiculous bike upgrades, including a frame that replaced my sleek bike with a massive hotdog. Wheel World isn’t everything I’ve ever wanted in a cycling game, but I appreciate all its polish - the sort of chill game you stick on for a couple of hours in the evening, do some races, and call it a day.

There’s plenty to enjoy about Wuchang, but it is not a game for the casual soulslike enjoyer. It’s a game for the soulslike sickos. I’m usually right there alongside them, but frustrations upon frustrations sour the whole experience.

Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact might not be a looker and would be laughed out the door for more lore-focused anime games, but it manages to just about come around as soon as you sit down to play it. Eighting’s incredible fighting prowess is doing all of the heavy lifting here and, while it’s a shame the low-budget hampers Nen x Impact from being a top-tier game, it’s still a good time. Just don’t expect to learn anything about the series if you’re a newcomer.

Rematch has good bones. It’s full of energy, raw and unbridled. But it’s a rough diamond, and rougher than most. The game has serious issues that border on rendering the game completely unfun. But if players stick around for long enough for developer Sloclap to polish those defects, to improve the servers and make goalkeeping feel responsive, then we might just have something here. At the moment, it’s a bit of a mess. But it’s a mess that keeps you coming back, that forces you to play ‘one more match’ in case it’s the one where you finally net a hat trick of bicycle kicks. And it’s a game I’d prefer to play over EA FC any day.

Its compelling early story beats can’t save it from its repetitive battle system and lack of meaningful connections, and I came away from my experience feeling like this was a rare miss for a company that is usually so consistent. It’s certainly a weird choice for a remaster.

It’s a shame this one misses the mark so widely, because there’s a really strong foundation here. Maybe it would work better as a PvP game, or maybe it just needed to ease up on the story and focus on delivering more variety. The first couple of runs of Battle Train feel magical, until you realize that’s pretty much it, and the rest of the game is just a lousy version of Archer and a lot of trips down the same old tracks.

It reminds me of the games I loved as a kid, and without all the dark patterns modern games use to keep players hooked (and paying), it’s certainly one of the most ethical multiplayer games you can play this year.

Tron: Catalyst’s fatal flaw is that it plays everything overly safe, and never rises too far above ‘fine’. It’s terrified of you getting lost in an excellent world that could have been ripe for exploring, and its systems aren’t developed enough to make combat or looping ever feel engaging. It never quite shakes off the feeling of being a budget Hades; it’s, at the very least, a fine way to kill a few hours, even if you forget about it immediately after.

Siege X is a bold, uneven evolution that both honors and undercuts what made Rainbow Six special in the first place. It’s more polished and more ambitious, but also less focused, less grounded, and occasionally less fun. Whether you love it or hate it will depend entirely on what you want from Siege in its tenth year.

Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma is a game of two halves. You have the village management where you’re decorating empty spaces and making numbers go up - this is the half that’s generic and shallow. The other half is a more-than-decent action-adventure populated with a pretty great cast. The gameplay cycle keeps you flipping between these two halves often enough to keep you interested and distracted, but when you look at Azuma with a few steps taken back, it’s not the prettiest sight.

Doom: The Dark Ages is the weakest entry in a fantastic trilogy of games, and despite how I feel about its additions to combat and exploration, I’d rather an experience that took risks and sought to reinvent what it means to play a Doom game rather than build upon the familiar.

Best Served Cold doesn’t revolutionise the genre, but it does tell an incredibly compelling story about class, power, and people desperately trying to find their way in a world that’s not that different from our own. It’s not perfect, but it’s valuable nonetheless.

Detective Dotson succeeds in both its objectives – to capture everyday Indian life and create a compelling whodunnit murder mystery. Apart from some clunky animation, a slightly unintuitive mystery board, and unnecessary voice acting that sounds like a last minute addition, it's a point-and-click adventure that hits all the right notes and doesn't take itself seriously.

This all leaves me feeling mixed. On a basic level, Revenge of the Savage Planet is pretty fun. Despite shotgunning most of it in two days, I was happy to play more. Moving from a double jump to a grapple to a rail grind to a stomp is simple fun...But it feels like some identity has been lost in the game's expansion. In broadening out to encompass four planets and change, Revenge loses touch with the series' foundations. It's a more curated open-world experience than, say, Assassin's Creed Shadows, but it isn't nearly as different from that kind of mainstream triple-A open-world game as its roots would lead you to expect. Revenge of the Savage Planet seems to have confidently marched in this direction, but I'm not sure it was the right one.

I eagerly await the day when Primal Game Studios announces a sequel or a spiritual successor. Built on the wisdom earned with this project, I could easily see Mandragora’s sequel becoming a must-play for action RPG fans. But I’m not reviewing potential. What’s currently here is an ARPG that nails its setting and core gameplay; everything else is underbaked. Fans of ARPGs will likely have a great time with Mandragora as I did, but those who are more interested in a nail-biting Soulslike or a clever Metroidvania won’t find it here.

I had a great time playing Pax Augusta, and while it’s a niche game for a niche audience, anyone who has fond memories of playing historical city-builders will enjoy this breath of fresh air. A game built with real care and attention in a developer’s spare time, self-taught with YouTube tutorials. The fact the game is half as good as it is an incredible feat of development.

If you devoured the Danganronpa and Zero Escape series in the same way that I did, and you’re also cool with playing a decent tactics game as you unfurl the mysteries instead of going to trial or solving escape room puzzles, then you’ll feel fully satisfied by what feels like a natural progression of these two series blending together. It’ll never escape apples-to-oranges comparisons with so much in-your-face Danganronpa, which might be off-putting for some, but that’s a highlight for people like me who loved that series and the games it inspired. Though the tactical elements never quite felt like they were prioritized as heavily as the narrative, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy earns its stripes as the next in the line of spiritual successors, given how close a chord it strikes to both Danganronpa and Zero Escape.

I ultimately have to give it up for Tape 2 and Lost Records as a whole, for delivering an evocative experience that manages to capture what it feels like to be a teenager, even if you weren’t born in the ‘90s. Lost Records: Bloom & Rage’s second and final episode is a mostly satisfying conclusion. I just wish it could have had space to do more than just wrap things up.

Disney Villains Cursed Cafe is best handled in short bursts to carry on the cafe vibe. Personally, I play one day at a time to help carry the story, but it can all be completed within a couple of hours if you just want to see how it ends. Bully the Villains if you want or try to help them become better people; at the end of the day, it’s your cafe.

South of Midnight doesn't reinvent anything, but it does a competent job of everything it attempts. With all that’s going on in gaming right now, that's worth something. South of Midnight respects your time, delivers an emotional narrative, trusts that you know how to play it, and is bursting with texture and taste. This is a future classic for someone, and it might just be you.

If you love Croc, and love the idea of playing a polished version of the original game in 2025, that last part doesn’t really matter. All that matters is the remaster is faithful to the original and improves upon it. If you want to play the best version of Croc you’re ever going to play, this remaster is exactly what you’re looking for. If you never played the original and you’re on the hunt for a new platformer, you should absolutely take Croc for a spin.

Bleach: Rebirth of Souls has some uneven presentation and can get overly repetitive towards the end of its campaign, but its more thoughtful combat mechanics and commitment to doing the series’ story justice make it a strong first entry in what I hope is a new series. Whether you’re a seasoned Bankai user or a newcomer to the Soul Society like me, Rebirth of Souls is sure to show you why Bleach earned its place in The Big Three.

Your House is a short game, clocking in at about three hours to beat it all in one go, and with five clearly separated chapters if you want to play in small bursts, but because of that, you notice the time to take walking back and forth in tunnels, not being able to take the turns you want to take but having to guess or remember the entire layout and each room's name. This, combined with puzzles that seem to solve themselves and the strained narrative, drag down any enjoyment the individual problem solving might have granted. Your House is a good facsimile of an escape room, but the flaws only become more apparent in the digital realm.

Kaiserpunk is awesomely ambitious, and I respect the game a lot for what it’s attempting to do. Fans of both the series it draws from will find aspects of Kaiserpunk they’ll enjoy. However, I just feel like I’d rather play either Anno or Hearts Of Iron - both games that are available on Steam often for the price of less than a pint. I hope that work on Kaiserpunk continues and the developers flesh out some of the systems, rework the UI, and work on both key aspects of the game (city building and regional management) to add more detail. There’s a lot of potential here, but Kaiserpunk’s just not quite ready for war.

While their restoration itself leaves a lot to be desired, The Gate Rune And Dunan Unification Wars is still the easiest way to access the first two games in the Suikoden franchise, and despite my many quibbles, the quality of the original titles bears out. That is more than enough to justify this collection’s existence, even if it does feel like a bit of a squandered opportunity.

For the handful of shortcomings it has, Knights In Tight Spaces is still a worthy successor to Fights In Tight Spaces, and the first deckbuilder to really catch my attention in 2025. Hopefully, this franchise will do what all the best action movies do, and continue to spawn sequel after sequel; after all, everyone loves a good fight scene.

The Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered collection is the easiest way to play these games, even if only one is worth playing. I’m still not sure retrofitting Chronicles and Angel of Darkness into what feels like a tight, connected quadrilogy makes sense, but Aspyr has made experiencing The Last Revelation on modern hardware so much more intuitive, while also preserving the very dominoes that led to Core Design losing the keys to the kingdom. This is Tomb Raider’s legacy, warts and all.

Overall, I left Afterlove EP feeling more confused and frustrated than I was moved. It has a lot of interesting things to say about moving on from loss, the vicious hold that grief can have on us, and how art and love are intertwined, and its character writing is excellent, but the whole experience felt too unfocused and directionless to say anything concrete.

Avowed is a valiant attempt at fantasy you can play your way, but while it delivers well enough with combat, the narrative just isn’t there. Too ambitious in what it wants to do, it falls way short. It’s a very mediocre version of the masterpiece it tries to be, but it’s also a solid version of Just Another Video Game. The story goes nowhere and all ends the same way, but maybe the journey is just about worth it.

Daybreak 2 sits in a weird space in which it’s a must-play for fans of the series, as it sets up events that will be built upon in future games, but it’s also really difficult to recommend. If you’re determined to go in regardless, keep your expectations in check, brace yourself for a seemingly endless amount of filler, and you should have a decent enough time.

It’s a really competent rhythm game with great music, tons of content, and another strong concept from Brace Yourself Games. You’ll no doubt face frustrations with some of the story mode’s decisions and the game’s overall difficulty spikes, but if you just want to rock out and chase some high scores, you’ll have a blast. I’m already looking forward to seeing the players who pull their dance mats from deep within their closets to tackle hordes of skeletons and beat the game’s most challenging songs with ease.

Resistance isn’t a bad game by any stretch. With dense missions, gorgeous environments, a clever new mode in Propaganda, and a likeable new protagonist, it’s a solid entry in a fantastic series. But it doesn’t do anything new: this is the same shooting and sneaking as it has been for almost a decade now, and Hawker alone doesn’t bring enough to help Resistance stand out as anything more than just more Sniper Elite.

While Donkey Kong Country Returns HD is a commendable platformer and one I am glad to have on the Nintendo Switch as an exclusive swansong, when Tropical Freeze already lives on the console, it’s hard not to view its predecessor as inferior. It’s a challenging retro platformer that is a delight to play for the most part, but with each new set of levels, I wanted to see what a new Donkey Kong excursion might look like, instead of love letters like this that are defined by their attachment to the past.

There’s some fantastic action combat with an array of weaponry in Dynasty Warriors: Origins, and for some people, that will be enough. But as the game pivots to a more narrative focus, it only exposes its shortcomings, and feels too repetitive and inconsequential to sustain its own story.

Sometimes, a game like Oath in Felghana is all you need. When you get home after a long day, you’re not making a five-star meal for yourself. But that doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy it. It’s something you’ve gotten so used to that it brings you comfort just to eat it. You’ve probably played hundreds of games like this before, but Oath in Felghana knows that. It’s not a groundbreaking game, but it’s not trying to be. It has all the basic ingredients you need, without any of the extra spices. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s comforting. It wants you to sit back and enjoy the experience, savouring every drop of its familiar flavour.

It is a gorgeous game, with an excellent sense of atmosphere, and decidedly troubled gameplay. At its best, it plays like a classic rotoscoped platformer, which can feel charming in its own right, but at its worst, it is cumbersome and awkward. This Samurai most certainly has spirit, but his sword could use a little sharpening.

VR is still waiting for its Breath of the Wild moment. Climbing is still only allowed on certain surfaces, certain cliffs, certain patches of a giant bat’s disgusting dry skin. It’s very much a ‘yellow paint’ scenario. Battles occur only in prescribed arenas. Straying from the intended path is discouraged. Enemy AI is basic. The plot may as well be non-existent. Behemoth makes the most of its medium, but I can’t wait for the first VRPG to abandon these archaic design philosophies in favour of complete virtual freedom.

Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind’s simplicity and short pace sadly mean that it doesn’t come close to trading blows with the bar-setting Shredder’s Revenge like I hoped. Still, by lovingly capturing the series’ trademark energy, providing simple but satisfying brawling goodness, and setting itself apart with unique Zord sections, it manages to be a good time and a treat for hardcore fans. I just wish there was a little more to it and a lot more of it.

If you focus solely on the main story I think you’ll get a lot out of the experience. It’s a fun story with some decent gameplay variety that’s authentically Indy. You won’t miss much by strictly sticking to the main quest, and in fact, your experience will be better for it. It’s a shame the rest of it falls so flat.

The Edge of Allegoria is a grown up Pokemon game, for better or for worse. I enjoyed my time with it, but I think the fact it was so obviously Pokemon helped that a lot. A worthwhile experiment, and good for a larf, but not a game changer. It may be the first game ever to reference the 'why do they call it oven when you of in the cold food of out hot eat the food' meme though, and that's got to be worth something.

This port is an enjoyable way to experience the game, but it is much more limited than the name ‘Neo Dimension’ might imply, especially with Square Enix branding it as an enhanced release. The inventive combat and gorgeous dioramas Fantasian always excelled at are still incredible here, while its inconsistent pacing and poor character development remain untouched. It has had some bells and whistles added, including an easier difficulty mode over the at-times grueling challenge of the original game, but nothing that substantially improves the experience. Fantasian is still a mobile game, you can just play it on a bigger screen now.

All in all, Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl is a perfectly average open world survival shooter. It’s an interesting setting with well-realized characters, but it’s held back by less-satisfying gunplay and a run-of-the-mill ‘good enough’ sense of exploration. I wouldn’t recommend it to everyone. But if you’re a fan of games like Fallout: New Vegas, or you enjoyed past Stalker games, then this one is worth following up on.

The game’s excellent acting, memorable characters, and compelling visual style make the game very worth your time, and if you’re used to the groan-inducing logic of point-and-click games of yore, Loco Motive won’t be any more frustrating than anything you’ve already played.

Lego Horizon Adventures is a good game, but it’s about as shallow as a video game can be, and sometimes even less. It’s a shame for both fans of Lego and Horizon, as this is one I thought could be a big step for new Lego games based on more iconic IPs. It would feel much more worthwhile at a lower price tag, and though there are still plenty of reasons to enjoy the experience, it could have been so much more. As is the case with Horizon’s history, Lego Horizon Adventures is just… whelming, at best.

Mechwarrior 5: Clans gets most of the important stuff right. If you like the idea of manning mechs, I’d say it is well worth climbing into the cockpit.

Metro Awakening is an admirable attempt at translating the post-apocalyptic shooter series into virtual reality, and at its best is a poignantly atmospheric marvel with great controls and an unrivalled sense of place. Yet it is also held back by poor checkpoints and combat, which quickly falls into a repetitive game of cat and mouse between very stupid enemies. It learns all the right lessons from masterpieces like Half-Life: Alyx without introducing enough new innovations of its own, and because of that, it suffers.

These issues aren’t small, and I find it difficult to wholeheartedly recommend a game that only ‘gets good after X hours’. At the same time, with over 20 hours and counting, Metal Slug Tactics makes me want to get back to it, play a quick run, and try to unlock everything that’s here to unlock. This is far from the revival I was expecting for the series — and I’d still love a classic 2D entry — but if it catches the attention of new generations, I’m here for it.

Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered doesn’t need to exist, yet here we are, and considering the $10 upgrade fee, its presence could have been significantly more barbaric. Passionate fans looking for an excuse to replay Aloy’s debut adventure with lovely visuals and a fresh list of trophies will find this remaster a no-brainer, but for a more sceptical soul like myself, it’s hard to look past the lack of quality of life improvements that only serve to highlight how far things have come since Horizon Zero Dawn first arrived, and how hard it’s become to look back.

As modest as it is, it still accomplishes what it set out to do. It's a good, fun Life is Strange game, and there isn't much else like that. It maintains the delicate balance between campy and comforting throughout, but you just can't help but notice that the tightrope is only a few feet off the ground.

Shadows Of The Damned: Hella Remastered is a nice throwback to an era that feels more distant every day, and it still holds up as an adventure that you want to go over from beginning to end in a single sitting. Unfortunately, the remaster ends up being undercooked, with some lacking features and issues that prevent it from being a better package.

Despite its combat and platforming only being serviceable and the overall package needing a bit more polish, Mutants Unleashed still managed to be a turtle surprise because of how much love and understanding it has for the source material. It may not reach the same gameplay heights of Shredder’s Revenge or Splintered Fate, but it has one of the best tales to tell of any TMNT game.

Romancing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven is likely to be your weirdest friend’s favorite RPG. It is a playfully obtuse, mechanically deep outing paired with a story that is almost charming in its simplicity. It feels dated, but it also features a singular vision that sets it apart from other games in the genre. I suspect, at the end of the day, it will carry on the legacy of the Saga franchise and be a divisive title, which is probably a good thing. We need more divisive games.

Cozy Game Pals delivered a sweet experience perfect for those who want an effective short Halloween story and have a place in their hearts for how games used to look a couple of decades ago.

This is the kind of indie game that I would love to see succeed, and the next steps post-launch, both in terms of ongoing development and community support, will be crucial in determining whether it’s remembered as a Justinian or an Honorius.

Even when my time leaping into enemies was interrupted by these technical issues, Unknown 9: Awakening’s excellent cast of characters and inventive soul-hopping combat mechanics kept me invested all the way through its gloriously last-gen adventure. With how depressing this generation has been at times, that is absolutely meant as a compliment.

While I’m sure that’s not going to be enough for those who have already played hours of Worms Armageddon or who already own it on PC (which remains the best way to play), for everyone else it’s a nice way to experience the series at its best. Hopefully, above all else, it’s a reminder to Team17 what makes Worms works so well - and it isn't when it's trying to be a battle royale.

The Patrick Star Game is fun, and to see the original cast return for it is a wonderful thing, but this deep-sea sandbox remains in relatively shallow waters despite a rich history of references and callbacks. It’s probably a safe bet to keep your kids entertained for a good while, but for us adults who still have a soft spot for SpongeBob SquarePants, this is still a solid recommendation - just when the game is on sale and you’re looking for something simple to mindlessly work away at.

Much like James Sunderland, we have returned to Silent Hill, but what was once our special place has changed. Thankfully, enough of what made it special remains and will likely warm the cockles of nostalgic fan hearts and newcomers alike, even if you’ll have to look past some of the garish new additions in the process.

Mortal Kombat 1 hasn’t missed once with its post-launch DLC characters (and really, with its roster as a whole) so I’m sure that the rest of the expansion’s soon-to-be-released fighters will be great, but as it stands I can only talk about these three. While they are some of MK1’s strongest characters (in terms of how they play at least), they can’t make me overlook what is otherwise a weak expansion greatly overshadowed by NetherRealm’s last offering.

If you can get past Edward’s cumbersome quips, the story of Murder on Space Station 52 is worth checking out. Puzzle fans who enjoy a chance to scratch their chin before the solution dawns on them will find plenty of things to love, but be prepared to rake that same hand through your hair when you get frustrated at some of the more convoluted answers. The game’s air of mystery and sense of style are fully on point throughout, but man was I happy to step out of Edward’s shoes for some peace and quiet when I rolled credits.

Despite some teething problems with the perfect vision of how the game is meant to be played meshing with the actual execution amongst players, Mannequin is an inventively strategic game that offers positive momentum for shooters in the VR space. I expect patches to further address the balance and maybe give the game a bit of depth, but fresh out of early access, it's a solid addition to the Meta Quest library.

None of these features are particularly groundbreaking or game-defining. As always with a new FC game I think that there has to be a better and fairer way for this to work for the consumer. My ideal is always a seasonal model, one that follows the real-world football season. Update the existing game, set everyone back to zero - with legacy cards for those who still want to play with their old teams and look back on cards they’ve collected - and provide live-service content updates as EA does for so many of their other titles. That way you get the same buzz of a new game without having to pay £100 for basically the same game engine, graphics, and features every year.

I’m not sure that anything can ever capture the lightning in a bottle that was Epic Mickey’s original concept, but Rebrushed is the closest thing we’ll ever get to that dark magic, even if one of its core pillars is something that still drags it down. If you’re a diehard fan, you’ll love all of the small changes Rebrushed makes to cut down on the grind and monotony the original suffered from, and if you’re a newcomer you’ll experience Disney’s weirdest venture at its absolute best.

Even if Street Rumble doesn’t do much to stand out from the crowd, it’s a decent brawler in its own right and worth checking out for fans of The Karate Kid. It’s not going to win at the All-Valley Tournament, but at least it put up more of a fight than Cobra Kai: Dojo’s Rising.

Space Marine 2 doesn’t seek to reinvent the third-person shooter or hack-n-slash genres, but it’s a competent addition to both. That said, it’s a great game for Warhammer fans, and nails the feeling of being a Space Marine better than any other game. The combat is crunchy and satisfying, executions are beautifully brutal, and the thunder hammer is one of the best weapons in gaming. But issues with linear levels, ally AI, and the unknown future of multiplayer mar the experience a little. Warhammer fans will pick this up, everyone else is probably better off waiting for a sale.

While much of Visions of Mana’s bloated side content misses the mark, its gripping storyline, likable cast, ample mechanical tweaking, and engaging combat combine to forge a very good game, if not quite a great one.I wasn’t at all confident that we would ever get another big swing at the series, so for all my caveats, I’m damn glad this game exists.

It doesn’t have a tidal wave of fans supporting it, and it isn’t free to try out or available with any subscription service, so it has a lot of work to do in order to make the effort of playing it worthwhile. Whether that be through trial periods, new modes not before seen in the genre, or even a boost from Secret Level when it airs months from now, but as a middle-of-the-road hero shooter, it can’t rely on any one of these things alone. Concord is good, but it’s not in a good place, and there’s a lot of work that needs to be done to not only keep it afloat, but to get the motor running.