Iron Crypticle is a fantastic rogue-lite update of some of the seminal arcade experiences of my youth, and provides a rewarding challenge even at its easiest setting. Coupled with the compulsive delights of competitive high score tables and randomised dungeons, I can see myself returning to it for a long time to come. It isn’t the revolution of the genre that something like Nex Machina is, but it refines its influences into a hugely enjoyable game, and as such comes highly recommended.

I really, really, wanted to love The Long Dark, but a myriad of poor design choices and bugs teamed with a complete lack of instruction made it one of the most frustrating games I have ever played.

Tough, expansive, and boasting a surprisingly mature narrative, Sine Mora EX is a remaster done right. Offering native 4K visuals – if you’ve got the right kit – tons of content and rock-solid gameplay, side-scrolling shooters simply don’t get much better than this.

Batman: The Enemy Within opens with a fantastic episode, turning the world of Batman on its head once more with new foes and new allies that you’ll have to work with. It drags Bruce and Batman further down into the murky grey area that he inhabits, keeping players constantly guessing as to whether or not they’re doing the right thing and bringing relationships new and old into the foreground.

I did like going back through the four games on offer with Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 overall. The features included are exactly the same as the first Legacy Collection and the way saving works now makes for a fairer challenge that doesn’t make things too easy. It’s just a shame the enhanced version of Mega Man 8 wasn’t used and Mega Man & Bass was not included, as it gives the impression Capcom’s heart wasn’t quite in it. It’s a decent collection, but plays things far too safe.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice is a profound sensual experience that’s unmissable. The way it highlights psychosis and incorporates it isn’t just a part of the aesthetic, but it also makes for fascinating gameplay. This is a phenomenal achievement for the discussion of mental health that we’ll be talking about for years to come.

While there’s nothing particularly poor about Songs and Shadows’ story or battle system, the way they come together leaves an unwelcome void in between. When playing, it’s hard not to compare it to bigger, better games like Baldur’s Gate or more recent RPGs like Pillars of Eternity and Divinity. Masquerada just doesn’t have the same level of rewarding complexity or seamlessness, bogged down by constant stopping and starting.

As special as it was ten years ago, Patapon Remastered is a glorious example of when art, music and gameplay coalesce into something far more intoxicating than its sum parts would have you expect.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Graceful Explosion Machine, and if you enjoy chasing high scores then it will provide you with a decent challenge. For the the rest of us, it’s a dinky little shooter that you can complete in a couple of hours and will forget about in half that time.

The truth is, even if the servers were packed, it wouldn’t do much to save this shooter. Developer Bigbox VR has some interesting ideas though these are bogged down by mediocrity at every corner. You may be able to squeeze a few minutes of fun from Smashbox Arena, but beyond that it’s an incredibly hard sell.

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.

It seems overly simplistic to conclude by saying that Dark Arcana: The Carnival is a hidden object game that will appeal to fans of the genre. There is nothing here to really draw in new players and I remain perplexed at its conversion to consoles. Given the regular releases of Artifex Mundi titles, there must be an audience for them and this title will presumably be well received by these players. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no hidden depth here and its predictable nature left me underwhelmed.

Overcooked and the Nintendo Switch are really a perfect match of frantic co-op cooking and a games console that’s all about taking games on the go and sharing them with people. Right now it’s difficult to wholeheartedly recommend this version though, given the widely reported frame rate issues. Here’s hoping they can cook up a fix sooner rather than later.

While a fun and interesting take on the genre, Shadow Tactics will prove a little too demanding for some. Although self-contained, levels are surprisingly big, each crammed with an array of moving clockwork pieces. With some stretching past the half-hour mark, it can be an overwhelming and sometimes exhausting game to play. Still, you’d be hard pressed to find a stealth game as satisfying or rewarding.

Tacoma has some great characterisation and is a very different breed of science fiction, but my enjoyment was sapped by one key mistake in how the story was told. It also has issues with loading and can be somewhat bland to look at, but looking around you, the environmental storytelling is top-notch. By the end, I’d become invested in these characters, but not necessarily their plight.

Namco Museum is only really worth purchasing if you either have an unhealthy obsession with at least three of Namco’s arcade classics, or want an immensely fun party game and don’t care too much about the price or extras. It’s great to see that they won’t be forgotten, but aside from Sky Kid there were no games that I hadn’t already played that I liked. Namco Museum is certainly well put together and presented, but the selection of games just aren’t completely enticing.

Super Cloudbuilt is a stunningly well realised game. It’s fun and frantic, yet the player is always in control. How much you enjoy this game will really depend on how much of a glutton for punishment you are. Cloudbuilt is frustratingly hard, but those with the patience and skill to persevere will find a rich and rewarding title with a great deal of replayability, returning to each level to find the optimal routes and looking like a boss whilst doing so.

Challenge fiends may still have a good time with DeadCore, although in its current state I would be reluctant to recommend the console port over the PC version – if you have one. Originally a project by a fledgling group of five young French developers, DeadCore shows some promise as a platforming first title: the basic mechanics are generally good and fun to use. It’s a shame the game is entirely let down by poor controls and sometimes cheap challenge design, both of which are at odds with the game’s speedrunning ethos.

Unboxed: Newbie’s Adventure will be a pleasant surprise for many 3D platforming fans. Although fairly unassuming, it offers a simplistic, lighthearted approach to the genre with hours of fun to be had.

I wasn’t expecting to like Miitopia as much as I did, but it certainly had me hooked until the end. It’s deceptively long despite its rather basic premise and while the first two thirds are somewhat restrictive, the final third is when the game really comes into its own and shows off its true potential with compelling mechanics that are surprisingly deep. Miitopia is an odd duck for sure, but one that is very hard to put down once the hooks are in.

Archangel is a game that shows a lot of promise from Skydance Interactive. There’s flaws with checkpoints and lip syncing, but the game’s presentation on the whole is great and none of that matters when you’re piloting the mech. You feel incredibly powerful as you easily brush aside smaller tanks and drones, while battling with larger enemies feel like a proper fight.

Short and succinct, there’s nothing about Theseus I strongly disliked. That said, beyond the occasional picturesque moment, there isn’t a lot here worth shouting about either. It succeeds in bringing a brutal slice of mythology to life, but lacks the depth or impact of similar action adventure games, putting too much emphasis on style and presentation.

Much like Chibi Robo! Zip Lash was a bit of a flop in converting a primarily 3D franchise into 2D, Hey! Pikmin makes errors of its own. While the antics of the Pikmin seen in the levels are adorable and the game is visually pleasing, I just couldn’t get over the way the Pikmin behaved when I was playing. It’s otherwise a rather bland and forgettable adventure that Pikmin fans can quite easily skip.

Once you get the hang of Tiny Trax, it’s a fantastic little racer that demands you learn the tracks, perfect every corner, and know exactly when to boost in order to win. Some people might stall while getting over the initial hump of learning the handling, others when contemplating the amount of content in the game, but get past that and you’ll find a slot-racer for the VR generation.

The first impressions of Aven Colony are great, as you build your first colony, finding your way on this alien world. It doesn’t take too long before you start to see the limitations, whether by design or by mistake, leaving this as a city builder that’s easy to pick up and play, but one that could do with a little more depth.

Cars 3: Driven to Win is a fun and eclectic racer, and one that boasts plenty of content that’ll keep fans of the films happy for many hours, especially younger gamers who may well overlook some of the flaws. It’s a shame then that the game’s poor performance, lack of polish and often unfair difficulty level make it that much harder to recommend to anyone else.

A crafty base concept and careful execution make Superhot one of the most intriguing games to come from the recent class of indie-developed shooters. Its bizarre setting and puzzle-like approach are refreshingly original and hopefully something the team will now expand upon following Superhot’s early success.

Supergiant Games continue to burn brightly as an independent studio, with Pyre being their latest imaginative and fantastical adventure. It casts aside many of the trappings of an action RPG from Bastion and Transistor in favour of something more akin to a real time tactical game, wrapping its fast paced and often fraught battles up in a world and cast of characters that gradually draw you into its cyclical tale.