Ace Banana is a fun VR game that is best played in short bursts. The motion tracking drift outside of the archery sections are hard to ignore, especially when this issue hasn’t cropped up in other VR games I’ve played using the same set-up, but the archery itself is accurate.

NBA 2K25 is both a great and a frustrating experience. Beneath the layers of VC and the slow grind is a very good basketball game. The presentation is top notch and MyGM is the best mode to play to get the full NBA experience. MyCareer can be fun and it is a shame it is so bogged down where players have to choose to grind very slowly to improve, or to spend quite a bit of additional money to improve their players.

Destiny is far from a perfect game, with flaws quite clearly apparent in the storytelling and the repetitive formula, but it’s also a game that can quite easily keep you coming back for more time and again, especially if you play with friends.

Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka With Love is a good point and click adventure game with sense of humour and some challenging puzzles. The Switch version does have some technical issues and there's a little bugginess, but Irony Curtain is a fun little send-up of spy thrillers.

Princess Peach: Showtime! is a good game, but It will not be for everyone and those with decent gaming experience won’t find a challenge here... but that isn’t the point. This foray with Peach into acting scratches that itch of a game that is just a fun little time within minimal stress or worry – something we all need right now. Peach's adventure isn't anything groundbreaking, but the commitment to its theming and spades of the classic Nintendo charm make it worth sticking with until the curtain call.

An evergreen classic.

There’s so much that I like about 11–11 Memories Retold; the wonderful story, exceptional vocal performances and, for the most part, a beautiful and refreshingly unique art style. These elements all delight, yet they are let down by some poor minigames and underdeveloped gameplay mechanics. Despite these issues though, I was compelled to see this story to its conclusion, thanks to some smart plotting and a narrative that zips along like the very best page-turning novel.

Neptunia Virtual Stars is a great new direction for the series. It's weird and unexpected, but it's a breath of fresh-air compared to the familiar territory the last few games have been treading. There's a massive amount of love for vtuber culture in this game and it helps lift up the fun and refreshing story. It's a shame that the combat couldn't reach the same highs as the rest of the game, but while it's a major wrinkle, it doesn't ruin the entire experience. Any hardcore vtuber fan needs to play this game, and some clunky combat won't change that.

I like playing Curved Space, but I found it most enjoyable when played in fairly short bursts. The ideas and the gameplay are both good, but the level design runs counter to the fast-paced gameplay when you simply can't find an enemy. The music slaps though, so that's a nice touch if you do find yourself enamoured with the strange mix of impossible spaces and bug shooting.

It’s a shame that some of the new gameplay elements don’t quite fit together, but on the whole, Season Two is off to a solid start that will likely hook those who enjoyed the original.

Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince is a lovely return for the series' 2.5D puzzle platforming. It tinkers with and broadens the gameplay options to be more welcoming, and levels can feel a little stretched out at times, but grab a couple of friends and stick it on Classic mode, and this will delight fans of those first two games.

Lost Words: Beyond the Page tells a tender, emotional tale, but you’ll find yourself wading through the fantastical and mechanical elements of its secondary one in order to reach its conclusion.

Gazzlers is a fun-filled arcade blast that gives VR fans the perfect opportunity to switch their brain off. It’s not the kind of thing you’ll want to play in one long sitting – few VR games are during a rather summer-like October – but returning to it day in, day out, is the perfect way to get your daily endorphin hit. [Tested on Meta Quest 3]

If the jumping was tightened up a bit, and the difficulty spikes not so big then this could have been one of the best platformers of recent memory.

The work that has gone into bringing Another Code: Two Memories and its sequel to Switch is impressive, giving us a pair of enthralling adventures to follow. The DAS is an excellent little gadget, and the characters and overall story are excellently written and charming, but the short length of this collection and lack of activities outside the investigating result in a somewhat one-note affair. Another Code: Recollection is a decent little package, but you might be left wanting if you have played the original releases.

There’s a lot to like about Surviving the Aftermath and I became genuinely invested in the continued existence of my survivors, fighting and struggling with all I had to get them through the many hardships of living in a post-apocalyptic world. It’s unfortunate that I was constantly forced to return to exploring the turn based world map, rather than having fun building stuff. Also, if you do decide to pick up Surviving the Aftermath, it's probably best to go for the PC version to avoid the contradictory brain-melting console controls.

Dying Light 2 expands and refines a formula Techland has been peddling since its breakout success with Dead Island. This sequel learns a lot from modern open world video games, its massive, zombie-infested sandbox rarely feeling empty, especially as you breeze through city blocks with a Mirror's Edge-like finesse. However, Dying Light 2 inherits the same problems - a dull story, tiresome combat, and character progression that’s a tad too sluggish.

If I could grade Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duels in Magic Terms, I’d give it a Sideboard B. If you love Yu-Gi-Oh, this is probably the pinnacle of the game’s experience, with modern flourishes and easy access to a huge repository of cards. However, if you’re not a hardcore fan and just fancy dipping your toes in the water, this game is probably not for you — by all means give it a chance, but don’t be surprised if you find its complexities impossible to overcome.

Neva is almost brilliant. This is a finely crafted game let down by too much empty time-wasting, untapped potential in its puzzling, and a rather onerous desire to make people cry.

Frame-rate aside, Sigma 2 Plus is still one of the PlayStation Vita’s more recommendable titles. The story is nonsensical and there are a couple of minor issues orbiting the game’s presentation but it still plays well, and features a fair amount of content both in and out of the single player campaign. With that said, fans of the series should approach Plus with caution, unless they are desperate for their Ninja Gaiden fix whilst on the go.

As a building project, Labo displays a sense of ingenuity that few things do, and as an introduction to design and engineering it’s clear, fun, and solid. It’s a shame then that the game itself is a little too simplistic, though allowing kids to stomp around a city smashing things may not wear out too quickly in practice.

SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom - Rehydrated is a solid remake that perhaps stays a little too true to the original. The updated visuals bring the game more inline with the original cartoon series, but some dated game design holds the port back from being truly exceptional.

Lost Wing is a hugely enjoyable and exciting arcade mash-up of endless runner, roguelite, Wipeout and Tron. There's a bit too much grinding for content and the nauseating screen-rotating anomalies, but these are sufficiently offset by thrills of the rest of the game and a budget price point. It's a game that managed to make me both punch the air and slap my face in despair on a regular basis; how many video games can you say that about?

Nintendo continues to revive what some might call their lost generation of games. Pikmin 3 Deluxe is yet another Wii U transplant though one that slots seamlessly into Switch’s first party line-up. Although unwieldy and slow to start, Nintendo’s charming inventiveness has produced an intriguing, if not excellent, entry in the strategy genre.

Murder By Numbers puts a narrative-heavy spin on the Picross experience and accompanies it with enough difficulty setting that even a mathematically challenged fool like me to get engrossed in the grid-filling action for hours on end. Unfortunately, so much of the story is tainted by unlikeable characters and a constant barrage of eye-rolling references that take away from the otherwise unique style of the world. I was still engaged enough with the mystery and addictive soundtrack to see the game through, but the number of times I had to pause the game and walk away after reading another miserable 90s reference soured the experience.

Stellar Blade is a pretty enjoyable game to swing your hairband sword at, so long as you don't mind the obvious sexualisation. There's a few rough areas, but nothing to spoil things overall and there’s plenty of interesting story to uncover as you fight your way through giant monsters with circular saws for heads and weird tentacles for legs.

The Gunk is an entertaining adventure with a message about pollution and industrialisation. with a likeable protagonist. The pacing is a little drawn out toward the end of the six to seven hour journey, but there's a great visual style and an enjoyable game to experience.

EverSiege: Untold Ages strips away the ultra competitive aspects of a MOBA to create a solo or co-op game that feels nostalgic in a lot of ways. There's an awful lot to do here and loads of progression to unlock, which is always satisfying. I do hope they find a way to make the multiplayer feel more satisfying to share, and will be keeping an eye out for updates post-launch.