“Play this game” if you’ve ever wanted a puzzle platformer, Limbo-esque horror game that drags you through a swamp of grim-dark Nordic fairy tales by your ears. It’s an excellent, labor-of-love game filled with little details that make the world feel very much alive - although no one wants that. I’d never leave my house again.

I had a great time with Cassette Beasts, but it was undeniably frustrating in places. It iterates on the Pokemon formula in nearly every possible way, and exploring the world via companion quests rather than just doing a big circle on your Gym challenge creates a wonderful sense of adventure. Cassette Beasts tries a lot of new things and most of them are successful. The story is compelling, the characters are engaging, and the battle system is one of the best I’ve ever used. It doesn’t pull everything off, but I’d much rather play a game that takes risks, rather than one that rehashes the same old formula time and time again.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has everything a Star Wars fan will want - it's an excellent story, and uses classic Star Wars tropes, musical cues, and narrative moments. But if you're not enamoured by a John Williams horn reprise, what you have is a decent adventure game with a vibrant but often annoying open world that you keep being sent back to, that rarely lets you think for yourself and often just doesn't quite work properly. For a story so sharp, it's a shame the game gets in its own way so often.

I have no doubts that the Steam Workshop will do wonders with this game. If modding is supported properly by the developers, which it appears will be the case, we could have some seriously impressive mods down the line. I’ve already played around with the Beyond Stranded mod that adds a bunch of new traits, survivors, and expeditions - it’s a clear indicator of what is possible given enough time and effort. As it stands, though, Stranded: Alien Dawn is already a good game, but with more customization, narrative elements, scenarios, and general expansion on some solid foundations, it can become a great game.

Burning Shores first seemed lackluster in comparison to previous expansions in the series. Frozen Wilds was a refreshing addition to Zero Dawn, and Forbidden West was an even bigger step up, so the slow start in treading familiar territory made me feel like Horizon had potentially lost its flame. I’m so glad to be proven wrong, as it still burns as bright as ever, and with a dauntless new character taking part in one of the most momentous fights we’ve ever seen Aloy face. After this, I’m even more excited to see where the story goes next.

Riot Forge has an incredible track record of matching studios with the right project, and this is the best example yet. It is such a strong execution of an idea that it ultimately suffers for being underscoped. Had The Mageseeker had the full force of Riot behind it I can easily see it being a game of the year contender, but it feels like the publisher isn’t ready to go all-in on these outside projects yet. I don’t think Sylas’ story should end here, and I’m excited to see what Digital Sun does with the world of Runeterra next.

It’s rare for games this introspective to be made with such delicacy, and Hibiscus & Butterfly is a gem that’s shaped with care for detail and a great amount of love. Love is everywhere in this game, from the carefully written dialogue to the drinks referring to the developer’s own Southeast Asian region. The game’s message, really, is about love for yourself and for others, and in a world where everything feels like an opportunity for more division, it feels incredibly healing to play a game so focused on empathy and connection with the people around us.

Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp marks the return of two classic strategy games, and WayForward has done a stellar job bringing them back to life while never sacrificing the formidable challenge and anime-esque charm of fictional warfare the series has always nailed. While some of the new features are lightweight and the addition of flourishes like voice acting and level creation will prove meaningless to certain folks, this remaster still supplies a solid foundation I pray Nintendo isn’t afraid to build on. Few in the genre can compete with the immediate simplicity and approachability of Advance Wars, but Nintendo needs to take it further.

Despite a history of disappointing delays that nearly doomed Dead Island 2 to obscurity, it’s here, and it’s both confident and capable in almost everything it does. Arduous quest design and the occasional repetitive tedium is a flaw, but you’re often too drowned in zombie guts and cringe-inducing creativity to care. Dead Island 2 isn’t going to change the world of zombie games, nor does it intend to, but the fact it has emerged from the ashes in a state this immaculate is a miracle in itself. Hammer some nails into a metal baseball bat, set it on fire, and start swinging. I guarantee you’ll carve out a good time beyond all the viscera.

I wanted to enjoy this game, but I didn’t. I expected smoother movement, interesting characters, and better expression of the game’s themes, but The Library of Babel fell short. Its premise was interesting enough, and its eclectic influences could have elevated it, but it was undercut harshly by its design flaws – and its unoriginal plot couldn’t save it.

Longevity will no doubt come from DLC, much as with Dungeons, but that ultimately leaves Minecraft Legends feeling like an incomplete experience. There are so few schematics and troop types to work with, keeping things from getting too overwhelming for those new to the genre, but leaving little else for those hoping to enjoy a new strategy game. And if you come to it hoping to find Minecraft’s signature sandbox feel, you’ll also be sorely disappointed, as the well quickly runs dry.

There’s no point to anything in Tron: Identity. It took a magnificent sci-fi world and gave us an hour of closed-off, inconsequential guff to fill the space. Its additions to the Tron mythos are interesting but underused, the characters are flat functions for a deceptively shallow adventure, and you’ll be walking away from the Repository with the vague feeling that you’d just wasted your time.

Thanks to uneven difficulty, grating writing, and a general lack of polish in every other area, its appeal is only skin-deep, and quickly outstayed its welcome.

Process of Elimination never hits the highs of Danganronpa’s zany cast, intense trials, or attention-grabbing set pieces, but it does come close. With a brilliant cast to carry the story, clever sleuthing, and enough twists to keep you going, this is a game any wannabe detective should consider.

This is a lot for a visual novel to tackle, and sometimes Kabaret’s writing falters. There were moments when I cringed at how heavy-handed the game was in making the character reconsider their previous statements, and moments in which the dialogue didn’t do its narrative justice. Most of the game still held up, with some very evocative writing and plenty of statements that made me confront my own ideals. The major characters were impressively layered, considering they’re based on mythical beings. I have no regrets about giving eight hours to this visual novel, and I came away changed. It is definitely worth your time.

It's an expensive toy that has specific flooring and space requirements. But if you have the right place for it, I can't recommend Rift Rally enough. It's the first full-fledged AR experience that doesn't feel like an experimental tech-demo, and it inspires so many more possibilities for the future. Velan Studios understands the appeal and nostalgia of Hot Wheels, and has filled this game with so much variety and so many great ideas. I haven't been this impressed by a game in a long time, and it fills my jaded gamer heart with hope.

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.

Everspace 2 doesn’t have a great story and its systems aren’t particularly deep, but the things it does well more than make up for its shortcomings. Once you get into the rhythm of traveling from map to map and clearing all of the objectives, it’s alarmingly easy to lose track of time. Rockfish has stuffed so many stunning locations into this game. Whether you’re skimming the surface of a desert planet, circling a half-destroyed moon with its core exposed, or navigating through tight corridors to deliver ramen in a floating metropolis, there’s always something new to see. I’m so glad there’s finally an approachable space sim out there, and I can’t wait to dive into the Ancient Rift endgame loot farm. This is a game I’m going to be playing for a long time.

Despite its bugs, Deceive Inc. is fun enough that I immediately started asking my friends to play with me. Nobody has taken the bait yet so I haven’t tried the multiplayer mode, but solo mode is fun enough that it’s tiding me over. Here’s hoping that the game fixes its many bugs quickly, because there’s plenty else to love about this game as long as they build on the base they’ve started with.

The Last Worker tries to be a lot of things. It’s a satirical puzzle adventure at heart, but a large part of it is spent stealthily avoiding sentries, it’s got an endless runner minigame starring SKEW that overstays its welcome, and there’s a lot more first-person shooting than I expected. While the story and stealth are both great, the rest of the puzzles are frustrating exercises in tedium, and that’s the feeling that lingers after playing. When the most compelling gameplay is the tedious day job that the game is trying to satirise and not the exciting revolution empowering you through the bowels of the Jüngle warehouse, you know there’s a problem.

GrimGrimoire OnceMore is an engaging experience. The battle system is its strongest feature, and is extremely satisfying to play around with. Developing your own personal strategies and comparing them with other players is one of those joyous moments you won’t forget in a hurry. Despite the mediocre storyline and all the repetition you’re forced to endure, the game is well worth checking out if you’re a fan of quirky and unique RTS games.

Crime Boss is a game at war with itself. All three modes offer something, but none of them does their specific thing that well. Meanwhile, the characters and writing that surround these missions feel painfully stuck in 2011. And customisation is either limited or random in a way that makes it feel like you never quite have control of your loadout.

Dredge is a nice, enjoyable fishing game with a low-fat horror coating. The mechanics, upgradability, and weird fish variety are enough to make for a lightweight and engaging time. But if your primary interest is in the narrative or atmosphere, you may find yourselves disappointed.

You can dig deeper and appreciate mechanics and ratings all you like, but for the first time in years I can boot this baby up with my friends and feel like a kid again. John Cena is all over this thing too, subverting his once polarising fan reputation to cement himself as the wrestling icon he is and always will be. The Champ is Here.

Like a good book that you simply can’t put down, Storyteller will charm you with its whimsical and inventive gameplay, so much so you’ll finish it in one sitting. But therein also lies its biggest flaw. While Storyteller has a superb foundation and core idea, the puzzle mechanics aren’t challenging, and the gameplay is too short and lacks variety, so you’ll breeze through it in no time at all.

Delete After Reading is short but sweet and plays around with some interesting ideas in terms of how interactive an interactive fiction experience can be. While the puzzles aren’t anything groundbreaking, the way they’re presented keeps things feeling very fresh. Overall, the game is a fun time, the perfect way to introduce a kiddo to adventure games or waste away an afternoon trying something new.

I had the time of my life throughout my 20 hour Hardcore playthrough and immediately started up a New Game+ run on Professional mode to see how well I could put all the lessons I learned throughout the game to the test. It has exceeded my high expectations across the board, and it represents Capcom’s best-ever work on the series. Normally I'd still find time to nitpick some minor annoyance or under baked section, but I just don't think games get much better than this.

This is not the penultimate chapter in Destiny's decade-long story anyone wanted, but even without everything weighing on its shoulders, Lightfall still disappoints.