Röki is a brilliant and emotional adventure that will appeal to all lovers of adventure games and well-told stories in general. The mature themes are handled in such a wonderfully appropriate way that it would make a perfect family game, and I loved the time I spent with Tove. Rather than a flatpack indentikit product, this is a game that has all the hallmarks of true artisanal craft and skill.

The thing I'm most impressed within this pack is that the quality of all of the games is so high. With most Jackbox Party Packs, there's one or two that you'll end up avoiding or that doesn't quite match up to the others in the bundle, but each game in The Jackbox Party Pack 7 offers something different and appeal to nearly everyone. You'll have an immense amount of fun with this pack, and it might just be the best Jackbox Party Pack yet.

PGA 2K21 gives a damn fine game of golf. It controls solidly and there's a good learning curve as you get to grips with the more advanced types of shot. Despite that, I can’t help but be a little disappointed with the feel of the overall experience. What should have been a hole in one return of a licensed golf series feels like it's only just managing to hit par.

Sable is a truly wondrous and serene experience at times, but lift the mask and you find it's also one that has its flaws and inconveniences. If you can see past its weaknesses, this is a journey of pure and innocent discovery that's well worth taking.

Consistently challenging but impossible to put down is certainly a cliche, but it’s a perfect description of this game.

Chariot is one of the better platformers I’ve played of late. Played on your own, it is a good and challenging affair, but working in a pair pushes it up a few notches.

Motorslice is a game that needs a few patches to sort out some of the clunkier elements of its traversal, like the parkour and jumps not landing as they should. There is some awkwardness with dialogue choices but they can be ignored as they have no bearing on the story. The world itself is well designed but it needs more substance when it comes to enemies too.

Thanks to its derivative nature, Q.U.B.E. 2 never quite escapes the shadow cast by Portal. There’s too many similarities within its core mechanics, structure, and themes for it to stand alone entirely. And yet, once the player accepts that, they will find a compelling puzzler.

WRC 10 is a great rally package that hones many of the WRC 9's strengths to a finer edge. There’s a couple of visual glitches that need working on, but all in all, rally fans will love what KT Racing have put together this year.

A title that will appeal to a niche corner of the gaming public, with its focus on a murder mystery wrapped in discussion of social issues. It’s also feels like quite a passive experience compared to other games that are in the same genre. There’s interactivity with objects and solving puzzles, but being dialogue heavy may put some off. The story of 2064: Read Only Memories is decent however as is the voicework, and there is replayability through making different choices.

Mind Scanners is perfectly paced, creative and engaging, striking a skilful balance between satisfying play and storytelling. I finished in a couple of evenings, but they were some of the most consistent and enjoyable evenings I’ve spent gaming this year.

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is an ambitious game, and this kind of endeavour should be applauded and encouraged. Seeking to harness the difficult topic of grief in the form of a Metroidvania was always a big ask. Unfortunately, on this occasion, it proved a challenge that simply hasn’t been met.

A really fun game but it’s nothing at all original. Perhaps that shouldn’t be said about something that’s one of gaming’s few examples of a parody, but it really falters at the times it tries to do something entirely original, whether that difference be within its own series, genre or gaming as a whole.

Dead of Darkness is a great 2D Resident Evil tribute that brings plenty of its own ideas to the table. There could have been less reliance on instakills late in the game and the attempts to feed in some Eternal Darkness style sanity effects are underdone, but the core gameplay, the puzzles, and the twisting narrative are all well worth the price of entry.

The inclusion of both the original and its superior sequel make Patapon 1+2 a great value release at the very least, but Bandai Namco could have done so much more to make these games as palatable as possible for modern audiences.

As a standalone game, Green Day Rock Band doesn't quite offer enough content to warrant a full price release for most people. While it is fun and a very polished game, it just needs that extra spark to make it a great game like The Beatles: Rock Band.

In our experience, you’re not relying too heavily on dynamic resolutions and upscaling to high the graphics presets provided by Sony, but there’s plenty of scope to tweak settings and apply some upscaling to get core ray tracing features and a solid 60fps performance that matches or betters the game on PS5. All in all, Spider-Man 2 on PC has proven to be a reliable performer in both of our use cases.

Tethered is a delightful experience that shows the immense range of genres that can benefit from being brought to virtual reality. It boasts a playful and thoughtful approach to strategic god games whilst bringing you wholly into its world. For PSVR owners looking for something a little different, Tethered is utterly essential.

OkunoKa Madness isn’t the name of the game, it’s the name of the condition you have once you’ve played it. Evil geniuses are more forgiving than this game’s development team, and though you’ll be whimpering for the sweet, simple oblivion of a shark-infested tank, OkunoKa Madness will have you clambering back out for another go.

As we wait for the inevitable Sniper Elite 5, this is one virtual reality shooter you won’t want to miss. Sniper Elite VR hits its mark with immensely fun sniping gameplay, delivered in perfectly portioned bursts of action.

While it's been pleasing to see Nintendo revitalise certain parts of their back catalogue, Mario vs. Donkey Kong feels a bit dated, despite the modern graphics. I just wish there had been a slightly grander effort to modernise the feel of the game.

Mortal Shell is just an incredibly satisfying experience. It’ll punish you constantly, but if you can master the mechanics it lays out in front of you then you’ll have an incredible time of things. The lore is a little more obvious that in other soulslikes, and the story it tells and the world it puts you in are both rather enthralling. This is definitely a game that fans of dying a lot will enjoy, but it’s probably not for everyone.

If you’re a fan of the kind of ultra-difficult, ultra precise platformers that gained popularity a few years ago, then 10 Second Ninja X is right up your alley. It doesn’t reach the same heights of controller breaking frustration, which is probably a good thing, but with minimalist controls, short and to the point levels, and a whimsically silly story, there’s quite a lot to like here.

Cake Bash has provided my family and I the most fun we've had in front of the telly all year. It's a wonderfully enjoyable and completely hilarious party game, one that is accessible to all players. The argument can be made that it's a little light on content but then isn't that that the way with the best of cakes? Sweet, delicious, moreish and gone all too soon.

Grand Kingdom is one of the most interesting things I’ve ever had on my Vita, combining so many ideas together and somehow making them all work. Like a weird looking dish at a foreign restaurant your cousin recommended, you might doubt it can be anything other than a huge mess, but once you get a taste of it, you’ll realize just how wrong you were.

If you’ve been craving a more traditional entry to the series since A Crack In Time, then this will suit you perfectly. It’s not the longest or best game in the series, but it’s a budget title and full of fan service, though that may turn non-fans away and it’s hardly the best entry point into this universe.

Overall Race The Sun is a fantastic endless runner style game, a genre which I’m usually not a fan of. It’s incredibly addictive and really taps in to that ‘one more go’ mentality.

Dead Island 2 does a great job of reanimating this dormant zombie-battling series, with the gore-filled combat and excessive weaponry that goes well with the oversaturated LA setting. It’s an enjoyable romp, but at the same time, ironically feels like it's playing it safe.