Heroland excels in the visuals department, but unfortunately falls flat in its story delivery and gameplay engagement. It's the video game equivalent of visiting a theme park just to get cute Instagram pictures, but deciding not to go on any of the boring rides. Which, in today's day and age, might be someone's cup of tea. Unfortunately, it's not mine.

What Happened won’t appeal to the masses, but the game does well to convey its message of the internal struggles that so many face on a daily basis. It’s a dark, gruesome, and treacherous trek through some incredibly difficult subject matter that is worth experiencing for those who gravitate towards games surrounding themes of mental health.

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.

Aquanox Deep Descent isn’t a bad game. There are just plenty of opportunities for improvement. Piloting the ship throughout Aqua’s underwater world feels great. Honestly, I kind of wish the game had featured more of an open-world to explore, especially with the amount of salvaging and looting you perform throughout the campaign anyways. But that’s not the case, leaving little reason for me to dive back in after playing the game once through. Hopefully, a more robust online community will allow the game to thrive with its multiplayer component, but as it stands, Aquanox Deep Descent will likely be most enjoyed by hungry mech-genre fans who are looking for another ship to pilot. Just don’t forget to bring a towel.

The idea of trying to execute a medieval GTA-style heist while fending off other players is so good that I want it to work. This is just missing some kind of secret ingredient to make everything come together. Maybe after some time and the addition of DLC, this could be a worthwhile game to play with friends. Hopefully, that happens sooner rather than later, as right now Hood: Outlaws and Legends feels more like a missed opportunity than a bullseye.

At this point in time, it takes a lot to stand out in a sea of Metroidvania action platformers. With its gorgeous presentation and memorable boss fights, Islets does just that. It has some of the tightest platforming I’ve ever experienced, but I felt that the unbalanced combat design drags it down. I really enjoyed my time with Islets - it took me around 12 hours to beat the game, and it certainly doesn’t feel like time wasted - and I’d recommend it to any fan of Metroidvanias, but I don’t think it has universal appeal.

The Grand Getaway isn’t a good VR game, there’s no getting around that. But it is an excellent Wallace & Gromit short, matching the humour of the likes of A Grand Day Out or A Matter Of Loaf And Death perfectly. Full of heart, all its VR misfires are forgiven when you’re sat in Wallace’s kitchen with a giddy grin on your face.

Patch Quest is a novel dungeon crawling rogue-lite that has unique ideas which set it apart from some of the most noteworthy in the genre. However, it quickly becomes repetitive, with a huge, sprawling dungeon full of discoveries to be made that leave little impact on the world back home, turning it into an adventure that soon becomes aimless and disjointed.

KarmaZoo’s creativity and ingenuity make it incredibly appealing, especially when layered with its humorous character and charm. However, whether you can stick it out for the long haul to enjoy the game at its fullest is another matter entirely. There is plenty to love and I’d recommend it for any social night, but I don’t think we would ever stick with it long enough to unlock even half the avatars.

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.

The title damages its overall appeal by morphing this conflict from one of liberty against tyranny to one of liberals against conservatives, and, while the artists behind the title are free to do what they wish with their narrative, it feels like an ironic blunder to straight-facedly present such a serious, impactful, and important historical period as something so unquestionably black-and-white.

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.

When Kukoos gives you a good gimmick to focus your platforming skill on or puts them on the back burner entirely for its main mechanics, it’s a good, gorgeous time. Unfortunately, glitches, strange difficulty spikes, and an over-focus on these pets end up holding it back from being more than a pretty face.

Darktide is built on great foundations and I enjoy playing it a lot – especially with friends. There’s a brilliant game buried deep within this Hive World, filled with exciting combat and gruesome enemies in equal measure. However, to properly enjoy those glorious moments, you have to break through the pustular skin of Darktide’s pointless upgrade systems and wade through the poisoned viscera of dull progression. I just hope that the countless obstructions in the live service elements don’t turn too many players away from the game mired underneath.

As a PC game, without VR, this feels like a below-average game. I don't think it's fair to rank it as such, as I truly feel that a VR experience with the heart monitor hookup could hugely improve the overall gameplay. Admittedly, I'd love to know how exactly much.

Although I would have liked for that Zen to have come into play way earlier than it did, once everything clicked, Absolute Drift became worth picking up for a quick race whenever I have a spare moment. Just don’t expect to reach that level of driving skill quickly… if at all.

Tools Up! isn’t necessarily groundbreaking as a party co-op title. However, even with its issues, there’s a lot of fun couch co-op to be had (and fun extras to enjoy in the late-game).

If the upcoming patch completely irons out the save data, framerate issues, and other technical problems then this could make for a decent bout of fun. Mindlessly chomping on fish while leveling up your shark to be even more murderous can make for an enjoyable albeit frivolous time. As of right now though, until Maneater's problems are definitively dealt with, it might be safer for players to stay out of the water.

Perhaps the most attractive thing about Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts is its price. For thirty dollars, the game offers a ten-to-twelve-hour campaign that plays like a slightly less cinematic version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’s legendary Chernobyl missions.

The multiplayer component is the key selling point here as quick multiplayer strategy matches sound fun, yet even that is hurt by the apparent lack of an active online player base. All of these issues leave The Battle Of Polytopia as a title that doesn't have enough options and content to make it worth going to war for.

Gylt is a great gateway game for new players to experience the stealth, horror, and puzzle genres. Otherwise, it doesn’t really add much for veteran players to experience. It certainly doesn’t add anything special to the Stadia’s launch titles, especially since the game is probably coming to other platforms at some point. Gylt may not be a go-to title or a must-buy for Stadia players, but it’s good enough if you have five to six hours to kill.

Games like Crucible are born when they release and, with the help of a player base, live long complex lives. I'd like to see Crucible stick around for a while because I think the characters and combat have a lot of potential. It's underdeveloped right now, certainly, but it's got a strong core and I'll certainly be keeping an eye on in the coming months.

Meet Your Maker is a killer concept, but it feels empty despite building up a miserable world I so desperately want to know more about. For as boundless as the content may be, shallow progression makes it all feel disposable and vapid. It might be great in a year’s time, but right now it’s little more than a cool idea.

Playing Afterimage, then, is a lot like going to a congested airport. It offers you the chance to visit a ton of interesting destinations. But, getting to them can feel like waiting through a long TSA line only to find out you're missing essential paperwork. Yeah, I want to see Naples, but maybe not that bad.

When all’s said and done, it feels better than Cricket 19, and that makes it the best cricket game on the market. It’s not as breezy as the Brian Lara series, but purists will prefer the depth here. Big Ant Studios is doing a great job of providing a solid cricketing experience on a limited budget, and if you want cricket’s answer to FIFA, this is as good as you’re going to get.

But if you don't own a PS5 and wouldn't mind staring at those bright red World Stones from Remnant again, then Chronos: Before The Ashes might make for a decent distraction. Especially since completing this lifelong journey may not take you all that long.

While Farming Simulator 20 is likely to be appealing to long-term fans of the franchise, I suspect it won't be winning over many newcomers.

With a beautiful atmosphere, loveable characters, and intuitive controls, Void Terrarium is a great dungeon crawler for those looking to dip their toes into the genre. Unfortunately, it lacks substance beyond that, rendering it a pretty unremarkable entry in the rougelike game canon.