All in all, it’s an essential entry for both new and returning hunters, and another vital exclusive for Nintendo’s 3DS.

Death Stranding takes on a whole new meaning in 2020, and it's a story well worth revisiting or experiencing for the first time on PC. The pacing of the game can certainly drag to a screeching halt through the middle, but with boosted frame rate and crisper visuals, you'll likely be too mesmerised by the hauntingly gorgeous world of Hideo Kojima's latest masterpiece to even care about the uneven story beats.

An incredibly successful port. The game runs silky smooth and with a powerful gaming rig it’s noticeably sharper than it was on PS4. With perfect controller support and wide variety of graphics options to boot, it’s obvious that care and time was put into this port.

Silent Hill 2 is a fantastic remake of a true classic, Bloober Team putting their own spin on the iconic horror game. That being said, enough of rough edges remain that could put some players off – ironically the same rough edges that make it so successful for me. These echoes of some of the less positive aspects of the original game, as well as some performance issues on console, are the only negatives in a game that more than does service to the legacy of Silent Hill.

Half a decade later, Ni no Kuni is still a must-play adventure for fans of JRPGs and Studio Ghibli films. That we get to play it once more without having to plug the PlayStation 3 in again is a treat in its own right, but seeing it remastered in 4K is simply magical.

Guilty Gear XRD Revelator feels more like an expansion than a legitimate sequel, but this isn’t a bad thing, as the fighting is still highly engaging and the numerous teaching materials allow newer players to get up to speed nicely.

Valfaris is an excellent and challenging action platformer with a wonderfully designed combat system. The balancing of close combat, laser action, and the shared resource for shield and subweapons mean that most encounters require a careful and skilful approach. The result in a standout title that shows how far Steel Mantis have come from the flawed Slain: Back From Hell.

God of War: Ghost of Sparta is the perfect swansong for Ready At Dawn, their mastery of the PSP unmatched, and it's also a fitting climax to a portable sadly suffering in the shadows of endless rumours of a successor.

Mario Kart World takes that big and bold step into a different style of racing. A big open world, bigger lobbies, and a Battle Royale style multiplayer mode add up to a Mario Kart that is both familiar and refreshingly new. It's not as tightly tuned as Mario Kart 8 was, but this is still a lot of fun, and essential for the Nintendo Switch 2.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is one of the finest metroidvanias I’ve ever played and a fantastic way to start 2024. Thrilling and kinetic platforming, thumping combat, and a vast game world that demands exploration, and makes it a joy to do. It’s time to kick nostalgia firmly in the unmentionables; this is the best Prince of Persia ever.

A crazy, over-the-top spectacle that’s uproariously enjoyable, with its only restraint being Nintendo’s handheld hardware.

Trails to Azure is The Legend of Heroes at its best. With some of the most enjoyable characters, jaw-dropping events and immersive world-building of the entire franchise, it's clear why this Crossbell duology has been held in such high acclaim by fans for so long. If you've struggled for ages to find the right time to get into Legend of Heroes, your wait is over — start here with Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure.

With an engaging lead, amusing story, crunchy combat, thrilling platforming, and a fascinating world to explore, Crypt Custodian is a near purr-fect metroidvania. Litter-ly one of the best I’ve ever played.

Ghost of Yōtei is an excellent game with an engrossing story, a great lead, deep combat and a land that has so much to discover with a lot of details. This is a truly worthy successor to Ghost of Tsushima.

Though I remember having a huge amount of fun with XII when it came out, it’s always been Final Fantasy X that was ‘my’ Final Fantasy game growing up. However, having replayed them both again in remastered form, it’s clearly XII which comes away the winner. A wonderful remaster with welcome enhancements, it’s remarkable just how fresh, fun and involving Final Fantasy XII feels over a decade later, with elements that still feel modern in a franchise well known for hanging onto the past.

Nioh 2 - The Complete Edition manages to give budding yokai hunters even more to do, and whether you missed the PS4 version of the game or not, it's definitely one to sink your teeth into if you fancy a challenging experience.

The perfect example of a game that has actually aged better over time. There's something for everyone even if you never got into it twelve years ago. While the high level of execution may take some time to get adjusted to, it's ultimately worth it. The online multiplayer not only provides a near lagless experience, it moves the genre forward in terms of features and technology.

If Total War Warhammer 3 is the beginning of the end for Creative Assembly's fantasy series, then it's going out on a high note. The game takes several steps forward in how the campaign works, how it builds toward climactic battles and then how those battles take place, and there's plenty of quality of life improvements for the Total War series as a whole.

Sonic Mania surpasses the Mega Drive/Genesis originals. It not only incorporates what made Sonic great, but has the inventiveness to shatter what was possible in a 2D platformer. As a nostalgia trip, it sets the bar for what comes next for the modding community. For those unexposed to what made 2D Sonic great, this is still a solid game in its own right and may create new fans in the process. If being this good took ages, it’s about damn time.

It's good, really good. Hello Games might only be four strong but their first game has production values and a sense of purpose many retail PS3 games can only dream of. It's a focused, concentrated game, apparently clear of feature-creep and publisher intervention, and manages to tick all the right boxes.

Desperados 3 is a fun jaunt through the Wild West on a classic tale of revenge. Mixed with stealth strategy with a diverse roster of badasses this real-time tactics game gives rise to a lot of cool gameplay moments. Yeehaw!

Blizzard really has put the effort in though, and it shows with an absolutely fantastic port that plays brilliantly, looks good, and will keep you interested for hours on end.

The Switch version is just the base game, but that’s more than OK. There’s plenty to sink your teeth into, providing hours upon hours of unique experiences, accompanied by a divine soundtrack to really get you in the mood for building nations. Civ VI is a titan of a game and well worth your time, even if you’ve already spent hours on the PC version, because, now it’s portable, which is potentially dangerous to those who have jobs.

For them to successfully steer one of their flagships back on track, Capcom has done what many thought was unthinkable. It was less than twelve months ago that the publisher released Umbrella Corps, at which point I – and no doubt many others – were ready to call time on the series. Resident Evil 7 definitely has a handful of weak points, but it’s by far the best AAA survival horror game we’ve seen in quite some time.

Rise of the Tomb Raider is an action-packed tour-de-force that, while derivative at times, is a fantastic romp from beginning to end. This sequel learns some of the lessons of its predecessor by making the game more like a recognisable Tomb Raider game, while at the same time implementing some new features and impressive visual design. While not quite the globetrotting adventure some were hoping for, Rise of the Tomb Raider is well worth playing.

Chants of Sennaar and the way it explores the relations between different groups of people is really engaging as a game. With language at its core, it highlights both the differences and the similarities between people and cultures. Chants of Sennaar is a puzzle game that deserves attention.

The Battle Royale game mode is so compelling, with each loss only making you want to do better next time, and each victory giving you stories of tense games of cat and mouse and frantic gunfights. It’s still lacking in terms of polish and optimisation, but after years of experimentation, this feels like the real start of a new paradigm in multiplayer gaming.

DJ Hero could easily have been perfect – there’s a huge amount of potential in the idea but I can’t help feeling that a little more time would have evened out the poor mixes and given more in the way of a creation mode.