Horizon Forbidden West improves upon Zero Dawn in almost every aspect. The story is particularly well-written and ebbs and flows from air punching highs to dark, horrific lows. Like later Jurassic Park movies it suffers from the fact that we've already seen massive robotic dinosaurs on our TVs, the wow factor is reduced, and that the puzzles, crafting, and RPG elements could have been lifted from any number of games. Even so, it's still a spectacular robo-beast smack down and thoroughly enjoyable to play.

Retro Bowl is pure gaming joy, wrapped with a nostalgic little bow. It’s also the best American Football game in years.

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.

Sifu is a game that I wanted to love. I had high hopes for it being one of my game of the year contenders, but it left me feeling intensely deflated instead. It's a game that confuses the precise mechanical difficulty of Sekiro with a forced difficulty brought on by simply giving bosses armour. I find myself irrationally angry with Sifu. Sifu is a game that had exceptional potential, but squandered it on the wrong lessons.

Behind the chilled out vibes of OlliOlli World's new art style, happy-go-lucky characters and eccentric customisation, this game takes Roll7's flow-state side-scrolling skating to new heights. It's a tad more welcoming for newcomers, but even OlliOlli 2 veterans will have plenty of new tricks to learn and master through its increasingly wild and challenging levels.

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.

I’ve found myself disappointed with Century: Age of Ashes. There is a fairly solid central PvP F2P game here but nothing to make it stand out aside from the presentation. The modes are basic and repetitive and levelling up takes so long it seems set to encourage spending real money on cosmetic upgrades. On the surface this looked like the game my teenage self dreamed of, but like most teenage dreams, this mainly results in sore wrists and a feeling of shame and disappointment.

It’s perhaps not what Tom Clancy fans had envisioned for the series, but there’s something to Rainbow Six Extraction that's definitely worth checking out. It stands apart from similar co-op shooters thanks to that tactical edge and gunplay it's inherited from Siege. That said, the repetitive nature of running missions, difficulty spikes, and overall presentation hold the game back. This is Ubisoft we’re talking about, however, so Extraction will likely sprout a long tail that will continue to grow over the coming months and years.

Long after Nathan Drake hung up his holster for the last time a half decade ago, Uncharted’s legacy still remains. This collection crams two genre-defining prestige hits together - the kind of linear AAA action games we rarely see today. Let’s hope for more treasure-hunting adventures to come.

Pokémon Legends Arceus is a must-play game for fans of the franchise. Not only is it the very best Pokémon game yet, but it elegantly takes the formula and flips it on its head, creating a unique new challenge that fans will love. With the nods to the anime and Pokémon games abound, Arceus feels very much like a love letter from Game Freak.

Growing the burgeoning ‘serotonin snapper’ genre, Pupperazi is as relaxed as gaming gets. Aimed at pretty much everyone that isn't a cat, this is another indie gem that’s sure to leave you with an almighty grin on your face and, as an added bonus, you won't get dog hair on your sofa.

SNK vs Capcom Card Fighters' Clash was a brilliant game two decades ago, and the passage of time has done nothing to diminish that. If you’re a fan of DCCG’s, or the rosters of these two fighting game powerhouses, then Card Fighters' Clash is more or less essential.

Online play then is clearly the meat and potato of the game, promising both ranked and friendly matches. At the time of writing, there are precious few people to play against online – something not helped by the game’s lack of cross-play between consoles. Indeed, just winning a single match saw me rocket to the position of 6th ranked Windjammer in the PS4 world. What I can tell you is that online play was both smooth and lag-free, a positive start to Windjammers 2’s odds of finding a lasting online audience.

Battle Brothers is like a school-yard bully. This video game brute will do it’s very best to break you. It will tell you that you suck. Then it will aggressively inform you that your mum will be performing some sexual favours on it whilst giving you a wedgie in front of the rest of the class. But stick up to this bully, impress it with your resolve and maybe you’ll find that it’ll be your best friend. Perhaps, eventually, as close as a brother. The question is, do you have the commitment to get there? If the answer is yes, then you’ll ultimately - after far too much graft - find a deep and comprehensive strategy RPG. Just be prepared to have to stick with it, as this bully really hates you.

God of War is a great port of one of the PlayStation 4's biggest games. PC gamers have all of the graphics options they could really want, and the game's origins mean that even fairly modest gaming PCs can push for high frame rates and resolutions. If you've not already played the game on PlayStation, this is a great chance to catch up ahead of Ragnarok's highly anticipated release.

Monster Hunter Rise on PC is the best place to play this incredible creature battler. If the series was looking for a permanent home, PC players would be more than happy to see it moving in.

Rush Duelling is a great idea, but Yu-Gi-Oh! Rush Duel: Dawn of the Battle Royale!! is a poorly executed waste of time. While it could be a fun entry point to the franchise for 5–7-year-olds, the frustrating pace of play, coupled with the issues where things just don’t work as they are supposed to, makes it far more trouble than it’s worth. Do yourself a favour and let this one pass you by.

Exo One is an enjoyable other-world experience that challenges players with the mastery of an alien spacecraft. Tight controls and great physics more than make up for the odd repetitive spot, making Exo One an absolute must for anyone with an Xbox Game Pass subscription. Even without one, I’d still recommend picking it up.

Once you're past the horrendously long queues to actually get into the game, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker was an almost flawless experience. This conclusion to a decade-long tale is told with a visual, musical and narrative artistry that isn’t often seen in any medium. Endwalker doesn’t quite reach the heights of earlier parts of the series, but it sure as hell ends the current arc with a bang and everyone involved with this game should feel damn proud of themselves.

Halo Infinite marks a clear moment in 343 Studios’ handling of the series. They finally have a grasp on what makes Master Chief tick, and they bring all of that knowledge to bear in often-spectacular fashion. While some issues nag, it’s clear that Halo Infinite is a brilliant new entry in the series, and one that makes this particular sci-fi FPS relevant once again.

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.

After the Fall is a fun co-op zombie shooter in VR, but with a lack of content at launch, awkwardly randomised attachment unlocks, and constantly separating parties between levels, it's not without issues. I really want to love After the Fall and, honestly, I would be at peace with all of its flaws if it had more content.

Annihilation Line is a good DLC expansion, but will do nothing to change your mind about Terminator: Resistance. If you enjoyed the setting and the gunplay then there is more here to get stuck into, but there is no deviation from the core gameplay to be found. Not quite ‘I’ll be back’, but neither is it ‘Hasta la Vista’.

A brief fumble in the darkness of space, Heavenly Bodies is designed to beguile you with floaty, physics based puzzles. It will scramble your brains as you perform the most straightforward of tasks, at times testing your sanity and (if playing in co-op) the strength of any relationship.

White Shadows might have a short run time and be fairly by the numbers as a platformer, but it packs a lot in for you to experience. If you enjoy your dystopian fiction then you will find a game that sets up a world which raises questions, though the the Animal Farm influence is clear to see. White Shadows hits on a lot of dark themes, but does so in such a way that is not overwhelming.

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.

Solar Ash is one of the best games of the year. It looks gorgeous, its story is pretty unique and surprising, and its set-piece moments get really intense, as you might expect from skating along the back of a black goo and bone dragon. It's a nice surprise to end the year with that any "skating combined with combat and gigantic monsters" enthusiasts, which is definitely already a thing.

Although hardly original in its premise, Dauntless continues to offer an extremely fun and accessible take on the monster-hunting roleplaying game, that's better than ever on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. It wastes no time in throwing you straight into the action and while easy to pick up there’s plenty of depth there for fans of the genre. Dauntless is a behemoth among free-to-play games and has only continued to get better with age.