The Sword of Ditto is a good looking, adorable and funny game that is held back a little bit by its time limit. I would love to explore the island and its quirky sense of humour at my own pace, but the constant ticking clock makes it feel like you’re being rushed through the environment. It’s fun and worth playing if you don’t mind time being a factor.

It’s clear that Crisis on the Planet of the Apes has a lot of ambition and it does get a lot right in this regard, but at the end of the day, all we have here is a VR tech demo. Climbing around here was the most immersive VR moment I’ve had to date, but the controls could sometimes took me right back out of it. As a showcase for what VR could do in the future, it’s another great example of things to come.

Dead Secret lasts for just a few sittings, but it’s a game you’ll walk away from satisfied. As bigger studios keep fumbling around for a VR blockbuster blueprint, indies like Robot Invader continue to fill in the gaps with smaller, more experimental games.

Whilst not as divisive as the film they are based on, The Last Jedi tables are certainly polar opposites. You’ll find an incredible cinematic pinball experience with the Last Jedi table, but the Ankh-To Island table just gives you good reason to keep on playing The Last Jedi table instead! Overall, with one good table and one poor one, this new pack feels too insubstantial to be a must have.

Though it’s rough around the edges, has difficulty spikes and very much feels like the foundations on which Harebrained can build upon, the core turn-based tactical gameplay of BattleTech is great. Micromanaged the tactical combat is gripping and tense, whether you’re crossing your fingers that the damage won’t pierce your armour, or laughing as your mech punches a hole through the middle of an enemy. This could easily grow into something special, and I hope it does.

On initial appearance Dusty Raging Fist looked like everything I wanted from a game, but that just goes to show you should never judge an anthropomorphic 2D side scrolling beat ’em up platformer by its gorgeous anime graphics. Unresponsive combat, atrocious platforming and game breaking bugs, crashes and frame rate issues ensures that Dusty and his cohort will soon be gathering dust on player’s shelves.

On the one hand it is a game that deserves a great deal of attention for its experimentation with traditional genres and mechanics, but it never quite breaks free of feeling like a prototype. In many ways, this is the curse of the truly original title – breaking new ground brings a complex mix of expectations and frustrations.

Deployment is a huge amount of fun and ultimately it’s just nice to sit down with a great gameplay experience and enjoy it.

There are several issues marring The Adventure Pals that prevent it receiving my whole-hearted recommendation. Yet, despite these problems, I very much enjoyed my time in its zany embrace. Its quirky characters, breezy story and colourful game world proved to be enchanting, while its solid platforming and combat mechanics, in conjunction with local co-op play, kept me on my couch till the end of the story.

This is the arcade game the 12-year-old version of you was always meant to play. Fast, frantic, outrageously challenging and with the sort of free-form play that requires and rewards player creativity. Infinite State Games have created something very special here. I’ll see you in the skies, just try and beat my high score.

A lot of what goes into God of War feels as though it was cherry-picked from the modern gaming zeitgeist. The semi-open world structure, loot system, and a much deeper narrative focus work well, but are all trends being pushed by most other big games. As a result, God of War can feel slightly homogenised in a way that some fans may find unappealing. Thankfully, a strong sense of setting and brutally satisfying combat help maintain that God of War identity. If it wasn't made abundantly clear already, this is the first in what will most likely be a new trilogy for the God of War franchise, and this first instalment serves as a pretty great foundation.

Humour is a tough aspect for games to get right, but Super Daryl Deluxe nails its dry, surrealist American-indie tone. Despite the inherent repetition of the RPGvania match-up, the writing, graphical style, and imagination that Dan & Gary Games have packed in here mark it out as a wonderfully weird indie gem.

I was blown away by the gorgeous character designs and illustrated portraits and the tactical combat also impressed me with unique systems that made it a bit more than just a cookie cutter tactical RPG. Unfortunately, for as much as I loved those aspects, hamfisted humor and clunky menu navigation on console dampened what could have otherwise been a magical experience. It’s hard to get past those issues, but if you’re able to, there some truly special stuff here in Regalia.

Despite the game’s pacing feeling a little off at times, Masters of Anima takes a solid formula and adds its own twist in order to deliver something that is entirely its own, wonderful, entity.

Extinction is a game that has large ambitions, but fails to be as exciting as it could have been. The Revanii look imposing, but are less threatening than the smaller enemies that accompany them, and with a mixture of lacklustre storytelling, repetitive action and some technical issues, Extinction end up a remarkably average title.

You will see all that Blasters of the Universe has to offer within an hour, but unlike many PSVR shooters there’s tonnes of replayability and it works really well as a party game if you have friends round. You’re going to need more space to play than most PSVR games, and also more stamina, as dodging, ducking, and flinging your arms in all directions really gives you a work out. Like the best arcade games it has a simple but addictive gameplay mechanic and is one of the best PSVR shooters to date.

The whole game feels like a build that has sat unreleased for 15 years and has finally been pushed out in 2018. If it were a low priced game aimed at the younger fans of the book series I might have been more lenient, but to release such a cynically shoddy game and then have the sheer cheek to slap a £30 price on it is inexcusable, and I wouldn’t even recommend picking this up at a sale price. It doesn’t even work on a ‘so bad it’s good’ level. Beast Quest is the gaming equivalent of Old Yeller, but without the emotional attachment.

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.

Octahedron is a great platforming experience with a unique identity, style, and gameplay. Its dozens upon dozens of levels are a tiny bit on the short side, but mastering those challenges is what kept me coming back for more. It’s one of the more distinct offerings as part of the Square Enix Collective and is something of a hidden gem.

Detective Pikachu is a deceptively small game with simple cases and not a heck of a lot else. As someone whose detective itch is usually scratched by the Phoenix Wright games, this felt like solving the really easy introduction cases in each, rather than challenging logic and reason. It certainly has the presentation chops, but the people who’ll get the most out of Detective Pikachu are diehard Pokémon fans and younger gamers.

Instead of being a full-fat adaptation of Survival Evolved, ARK Park is more of a taster, chopping that game into smaller chunks, then isolating them. This isn’t the same sprawling open world shooter – it’s something much smaller and less substantive, though still looks to capture that core ARK essence. It may succeed on some level though, needless to say, those players who pony up £30 and go in blind could come away deeply dissatisfied.

Sea of Thieves defies modern gaming conventions in brilliant and refreshing fashion, creating a fairly unique sandbox where you and your crew need to find your own fun. It might be in real need of more variety to the quests and activities, but Sea of Thieves’ curious charms are like a siren’s song that keep drawing me back for more piratical adventures on the high seas.

Exorder certainly has some potential, but it ultimately has a few issues with the UI and balancing of the campaign missions. Playing around in Skirmish mode was fun for a few minutes and the campaign certainly started on the right note, but the over-emphasis on escort missions spoiled the broth somewhat. With room for expansion, there’s perhaps something to Exorder later down the line, but it’s a difficult proposition at this juncture.

Scribblenauts Showdown is a fun game you can pick and and play at any time, but you may feel the novelty wear off without friends to play with. Despite this, Scribblenauts Showdown offers some great mini-games and game modes. It feels different to party games we’ve seen in recent times, but it’s also pleasantly familiar.

It’s rare that I can’t find positives to talk about in detail, and it’s a real shame that Fantasy Hero ~Unsigned Legacy~ game wasn’t improved in any way, but simply ported with no tangible improvements over the PS Vita original. Fantasy Hero has the occasional solid mechanic in place, but neither the story nor its gameplay boast any interest or originality. This game may have been considered pretty average upon its original release in 2014, but by modern standards it’s incredibly poor.

Vermintide 2’s co-op battling is nice step forward over the original. It’s gruelling at times, and that can sap the fun out when you’re failing missions and not making progress, with the weighty combat, the additional sub-classes and a long and deep progression of difficulty and loot, there’s plenty here for those that want to be in for the long haul.

Disc Jam is a good attempt at combining multiple sports inspirations into a video game, and for the most part Disc Jam achieves this by delivering a solid competitive experience with simple mechanics. The only things that I feel let this game down are its lack of real differentiation between playable character and lack of court designs. The game is good, but it feels a bit simple and safe.

Far Cry 5 is another improvement to a series that hit its stride quite a long time ago. It gets a recommendation not because of any of its individual features, but because they all combine together into a game that becomes paradoxically funny and horrifying, occasionally at the same time. It depicts a part of America lovingly with its tongue very firmly glued to its cheek, but when I close my eyes, I still see Joseph Seed staring back at me.