Whether you want to whet your appetite before Animal Crossing: New Horizons comes out or you're looking for your next fix after blowing through everything available in Stardew Valley, Rune Factory 4 is the perfect second-life for you. You might feel a bit overwhelmed at first, but once you manage to find your focus the addictive gameplay lets you wash away hours of your day in an instant.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie is a crossover epic over a decade in the making - and it sticks the landing so well. Longtime fans of the franchise are in for an almost overwhelming level of callbacks, story conclusions, and narrative fanservice. In-between all of that, the endless Reverie Corridor provides an addictive way to dig just as deep into the combat mechanics as the story digs into the furthest reaches of Trails lore. This is a massive ending to a massive saga, and as long as you've kept up with every entry so far, you're guaranteed to enjoy it.

There were several very powerful moments, with Dontnod’s mature approach to the subject matter and ambiguous decision making key, as they tackled the theme of life and death that ran throughout. Alongside some great puzzles and use of Max’s time warping power, this is the best episode yet.

Windjammers serves as a reminder you don’t have to make games with super flashy graphics or complex gameplay in order to stand out and be fun. At its core, Windjammers is a very basic game, but that’s likely part of why it has captured a cult following over the past 20 years. Now it finds a home on the Nintendo Switch, and I couldn’t think of a better place for it. Time to dust off those discs and prepare for glory.

Boomerang X is the 2AM food truck run of arena shooters. You're in and out before you know it, but holy shit is it amazing. The boomerang abilities that form the core of the gameplay are unique and insanely addicting, but there's always new foes and features constantly revealing themselves as the game progresses. It's a brief experience, maybe too brief, but it's still an unforgettable one.

Life Is Strange: True Colors is an incredible new addition to the series. It brings perhaps the most likeable protagonist yet, the absolutely gorgeous Haven Springs, and an excellent supporting cast together for an intensely emotional but hopeful tale. With enough gorgeous sweeping cinematic shots to put an indie film to shame, and some absolutely incredible writing, Alex’s journey is something you must experience.

Whether you’re a returning fan, a lapsed player or a complete newcomer, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier gets off to a good and welcoming start, with more than a few twists and turns packed into the two-part episode.

A wonderfully fun game. It successfully captures the spirit of the earliest games in the series but without feeling dated. This generation of consoles has suffered slightly from an understocked catalogue of games that revel in their over-the-top nature and SSX is a perfect remedy for that.

I can't help but feel underwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, it's a competent enough game but one that suffers from a few technical issues, as well as never really managing to stir any emotions from the player. It's not bad for the money, but there's much better out there.

Samurai Showdown is a strong entry into the sea of fighters, showing a lot of love for the original series, while also being able to appeal to newcomers. A few niggles aside, people are going to be playing Sam Show for a long time. EVO just got more exciting to watch.

Terraria is a simple game that is hard to master, and one that can easily consume your time. The only stories here are the ones you create, either by yourself or with others, and there’s a chance to construct some real masterpieces.

Plotting the downfall of the human race is a rare treat in videogames, and there’s a lot of fun to be had in bringing this to pass in Zombie Night Terror.

It’s clear to see WayForward put their Kickstarter funding to good use. Shantae: Half-Genie Hero features some of the best platforming of recent years, and it’s easy to recommend to anyone that’s a fan of platformers or Metroidvania style games, though a couple more levels to combat the game’s repetition would have been perfect. Wayforward will have to settle for almost reaching that mark instead.

As a story, Children of Zodiarcs is a little lacking, but if you don’t mind some grinding the mix of combat, card and dice system is a delight. Although some characters are less useful than others, the fights are enough to pull you through if a tactical RPG is what you are looking for.

Reigns’ devilishly simplistic game of Tinder-like kingdom management feels just as inventive now as it did in 2015, but Reigns: Her Majesty fixes some of its more poorly considered design choices while also putting a refreshing spin on the challenge you face by casting you as a (very powerful) woman in a man’s world. The king is dead. Long live the queen!

If Where's Wally is your kind of jam, Hidden Through Time is a lovely digital recreation of that genre. With a cute aesthetic and pleasing creation and sharing tools, there's a lot here to keep the whole family entertained.

OTXO puts a roguelike spin on the familiar Hotline Miami murderfest formula, but it doesn't quite nail the landing. While moment-to-moment combat is fast and flashy and unforgiving, there isn't enough care put into the roguelike structure of the experience to make new runs feel justified or exciting.

Alisa is a real standout in the world of indie horror games, both in terms of aesthetic and gameplay. It's very tough when you first start in the mansion but once you get to grips with the controls and enemy patterns it becomes relatively easy to work through the game. It ends with plenty of scope for a sequel and there are many unanswered questions so hopefully one appears. Still, in the here and now, if you like the look of the screenshots then I can heartily recommend playing in this dollhouse.

Deadlink is a great arena shooter with fast-paced action and a banging soundtrack. You’ll be speeding around arenas as hordes of enemies give chase, and you will be challenged. Things can get repetitive, but you'll probably be having too much of a good time to care.

Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road is a sports drama, a JRPG, a town builder, an Ultimate Team-like, and even (occasionally) a football game. It’s also brilliant, charming, and thoroughly good-natured, and a fantastic game to head into 2026 with.

Ground Zero stands out as one of the most polished and complete indie survival horror experiences in recent years. While clearly heavily inspired by Resident Evil, it feels like a lost game in the series rather than a copycat and the mix of combat and puzzles keep things fresh throughout. Throw in the generous extra modes and the unlockables mixing up subsequent playthroughs and you have a game that offers dozens of hours of quality survival horror for a bargain price.

Darkest Dungeon II is to be applauded for not resting on its laurels, instead opting to make significant changes from its predecessor. The style, challenge, and strategic brilliance remain and that is enough to make it stand out still. However, the focus on roguelike randomness and excessive grind does make this a very different experience and one that didn’t gel for me. If you have the patience to explore the rich detail of the mechanics and the stoicism to deal with the inevitable deaths and disappointments then this is a journey worth taking. Just don’t expect it to be a comfortable ride.

Where other franchises are demonised for failing to constantly evolve, Ace Attorney is one that benefits from remaining untouched, propped up by lovable characters and some superb writing.

Every minute of Chuchel’s short playtime is filled with delight and almost every interaction is guaranteed to make you smile. It is a distillation of interactive fun that is the best example of Amanita’s design philosophy so far. Chuchel is the total opposite of the games that dominate contemporary gaming and as such, deserves to be hugely successful. Just check out the trailer above and try to resist the charms of the little dustball of fun.

It makes me think of what Luca di Montezemolo said, as he rated Fernando Alonso’s season in Formula 1. “My eight is worth a ten because it’s a score I give as an incentive.” He was speaking of brilliance when handed imperfection, and GT6 deals with aging hardware and limited time, when trying to deliver on near limitless ambition. So I give it an eight, as an incentive to push on from here and deliver on the promised potential.

As a modern successor and sequel to the classic PS2 era Budokai Tenkaichi trilogy, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a great time for Dragon Ball fans. You'll have to ease yourself into the controls, but once it clicks it's a lot of fun to explore the full roster and smash anime characters together.

Fate/Samurai Remnant is the best game in the franchise. It's a perfect blend of Fate worldbuilding and faithfulness to the Edo-period Japanese setting. It's also an incredible next step for Omega Force, and delivers one of the most addictive and engaging action-adventure experiences I've had in ages.

Berserk Boy is a love letter to classic platformers, but in combining its inspirations together it carves out it's own path as an incredibly promising new game and, hopefully, the first entry in an unforgettable new series.