Toodee and Topdee is a cleverly thought out game, running nice visuals, a relaxing soundtrack and unique gameplay mechanics. I would have loved to have had more levels to play through and the option of online co-op would also have been good. But these are not deal-breakers and in the mountain of indie games that are available, Toodee and Topdee proves to be a special little title.

Whilst the story can engage during moments, the ending is lacking in anything substantial. SENSEs: Midnight is one for the survival horror diehards, and even then, only the OG diehards.

While Baby Storm is undoubtedly flawed, it gets by through sheer exuberance. You can’t stay annoyed at its controls for long when you’re being swept along by yet another new gameplay mechanic, yet another fiendish level layout, and some of the most high tempo gameplay of any multi-tasking sim. Like the kids in Baby Storm, it refuses to sit still.

Aery - The Lost Hero looks better than any Aery before, but it’s also a regurgitation of the same levels, often in a row. We’re not inclined to open the beak and accept it this time.

Through all the live services and toxic multiplayer experiences, we can lose sight of some simple joys of gaming. It can be an escape, and a means of expression. It can be a comfort and a feeling of progression. Chicory: A Colorful Tale reminds us that games can do them all with one flourish of its paintbrush.

We couldn’t shake the feeling that we’d been here many, many times before with Ghost Files: The Face of Guilt, but that was thrown for a loop by visits to the spirit realm. Suddenly, we felt like we were experiencing - whisper it - new ideas, and the experience got elevated.

Avoiding jumps, plowing through obstacles, ignoring weapons and respawning like your life depended on it: these are not the actions of a sane karter. But master Rubberduck Wave Racer's arcane arts and you have a surprisingly well-stocked racing game. It’s still nowhere near worth that £24.99, though.

Age of Solitaire: Build Civilization is one of the best-looking solitaire games we’ve played, but it’s a fancy wrapper on some unmitigated tosh.

As a quick tower-defence shot in the arm, Listeria Wars just about works. There’s a cracking immune system theme, which makes a change from all the towers and turrets that we are used to. But it’s so overrun with minor issues that we eventually had to put it down.

Sugar Tanks is a shot of syrup for tank game fans (or newbies to the genre), but you should be aware of the sugar-comedown at the halfway mark.

Amnesia: The Bunker is ahead of the class, achieving what many of its peers aspire to but often fall short of. If you’re a horror fan, this is a must play.

Last Labyrinth -Lucidity Lost- loses its edge without VR and merely becomes a mediocre puzzle game.

We hoped something would shake Brave Soldier - Invasion of Cyborgs up and give it some zest. Bosses and explosive barrels tried, but were never going to be enough.

It’s a strategy game for people who’d rather they didn’t have to do much strategising, and a resource management game where the ‘management’ comes in inverted commas. If that sounds like your thing, kick back, don your gardening gloves, and partake in some armchair gardening with Garden City.

Shukuchi Ninja isn’t anywhere near as good as the games it’s closest to - namely Party Golf and Angry Birds. Instead, it’s everything that a ninja isn’t. It’s clumsy, awkward, and more likely to hurt you than the enemies you’re aiming for.

Gruta is saved by some effective art, an impressionistic story, and controls that are so tight that they manage to make the unremarkable levels somewhat remarkable.

Herodes didn’t stick. We felt like we were being regularly flushed out of its system. The difficulty was one thing, but the erratic pacing and identikit enemy waves were too much.

Little Disaster is one that we can recommend, but you should be wary that it could explode in your hands at any point.

Dordogne is an imperfect package, then: a beautiful porcelain plate of a game that has cracks in it. The plate is unique enough to warrant purchase, but we wonder what it would have been like with more gameplay care.

If you are still to play Layers of Fear then you are in for a treat with Layers of Fear (2023). And even if you have played it before, you should head back in and be terrified once more.

Diablo IV is a blinder. The story, the visuals and the sheer freedom to go and do whatever you want, whenever you fancy it, all add up to make a game that is an essential play.

One of the best games of 2023 so far, Star Trek: Resurgence deserves to be spoken about as discussions surround the best Star Trek storyline of all time. Yes it is that good.

Kingdom Rush Origins is a little more expensive than its predecessors, but it’s still terrific value for money and you’ll quickly become addicted to its strategic gameplay.

Is thirty minutes of a good thing enough? We’d say so. This adrenaline booster to the heart had us gripped. But just as we were getting good, nimbly leapfrogging any and all obstacles, Steel Defier was over. It needed to be about triple the length for us to nod sagely and say ‘that’s about right’.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 takes what made the original an absolute belter of a game and improves almost everything. The turn-based action will keep you on your toes and ensures excitement in every encounter, while the charming yet gritty story hits you in the feels all over again.

MLB The Show is still the undisputed king of baseball games. Super Mega Baseball 4 is there for the casual or younger players, but it’ll be hard to keep eyes on this for very long. It feels quite soulless and devoid of personality.

For all the collision weirdnesses and lack of treats for racing well, there’s a sturdy racer in Final Apex. It feels fast, it drifts well, and there’s surprising heft to the cars. Some driving games would give a front axle to control as well as Final Apex does; we just wish there were more satisfying things to do when you’re in the car.

Loop8: Summer of Gods is a delightful visual novel with decent RPG mechanics that’s let down greatly by repetition and below-par battling.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a hugely enjoyable title; one that will appeal to those who love Warhammer, as well as being just as much fun for those that aren’t into the franchise. No back reading is required here - just a happy trigger finger. Playing as a love letter to the shooters of the past, it manages to smooth things out via modern controls, fun gameplay and satisfying action.

LASERPITIUM must be a marketer’s nightmare. It looks bland and has nothing fancy to shout about. You could be brutal and call it generic. But it’s so ruthlessly efficient at what it does. Writing it off would be a premature act. In its complex levels and juiced-up weaponry, there’s more than enough to keep a shoot ’em up fan quiet.

Zombie Derby 2 looks to address the grind of the first game, but only ends up changing the flavour of it. It ends up being a three-point turn that takes it back to where it started. But still, there’s a couple of hours of joy to be had in flying off ramps and landing on a zombie’s noggin, should that be your thing.

The depth and the difficulty of Age of Wonders 4 - and this is properly hard, be in no doubt - as well as the sheer amount of things to do, ensures this is a great way of losing a few hours, days, weeks or maybe even months.

Our requests have been heard with Kao the Kangaroo: Bend The Roo'les DLC, but not without small print. The levels are just as difficult as the challenge wells, and come with all the frustrations of the main game. We are thankful for what Kao the Kangaroo: Bend The Roo'les offers, then, but we’d liked to have pulled our hair out a little less.

The Royal mode and Live Campaigns are good additions, but ultimately, Trackmania feels a bit too restrictive for those simply wanting to enjoy even just the core experience.

DRIFTCE may be too demanding for some, but for others, the sheer challenge will spur them on. If you fancy yourself as a Touge master, you need to play DRIFTCE.

We Love Katamari REROLL + Royal Reverie doesn’t add much more that Katamari Damacy REROLL hadn’t already added, making it the second best of the experiences on the Xbox. But you really shouldn’t sidestep it either, as more of the same is ‘super-dooper’, as the King of the Cosmos would say, since the same is so instantly charming.

A bursting-at-the-seams package full of things to discover, all while welcoming newcomers and pleasing veterans, Street Fighter 6 is most certainly a game of the year contender. This is the perfect fighting game.

Paper Flight - Beyond Time is a good-natured attempt to reinvent the franchise, but it doesn’t half feel like someone gave up halfway through that attempt.

A Building Full of Cats is a great use of your cash. That money goes to promoting animal adoption over purchasing them, so you can feel warm and fuzzy about improving the world… before enjoying the double-benefit of some hidden object gaming. What’s here might not be revelatory, but it’s an adorable way to pass the hours.

Although not a fully fledged sequel, Supraland: Six Inches Under is a technically impressive and wonderfully creative follow-up adventure for new and existing fans alike.

Puzzle by Nikoli W Yajilin finds itself near the front of the puzzling peloton. It’s not unique enough to be sprinting out front, but it’s so polished and friction-free that it’s the best of the following rest. If you love the series, then this is an insta-purchase.

Undergrave is so elegant and minimalist that jumping into another run felt low effort. So, while we died in its turn-based battles over and over again, we never felt like rage-quitting. We’d have worked out another combo, another abuse of its three, simple attacks, and want to put it into action. Maybe – just maybe – that exploit would be enough to guarantee success.

Minecraft Legends is a proper strategy game, despite the friendly look. Scratching the surface will show a surprising amount of depth and whilst hardcore RTS players may sneer, it brings a ton of fun to the table.

If you have an interest in an ARPG, and are looking for something outside of Diablo, Ghostlore is well worth your time.

Ultimately, World Championship Boxing Manager 2 swings and misses with its simple, yet repetitive, boxing management sim. Sure, it’s a streamlined experience that’s easy to delve into, but in no time at all you’ll realise there's a monotonous gameplay loop and a lack of substance.

A sadly undercooked game that shows sparks of promise and a real passion for the source material. Unfortunately it is tough to recommend The Lord of the Rings: Gollum in its current form, especially at full price.

Easy achievements or not, Infini is well worth your time. There are the knowing nods and winks to concepts and emotions in the story that will remain with you after you finish the main game, which itself can be quite challenging. Stick around with Infini and it will stick around with you long after you have finished it.

Lost Artifacts 5: Frozen Queen isn’t a bad little resource management game - at times it’s relaxing, at others it’s a lightweight puzzle - but it’s too much of a bland thing. The sheer number of levels, alongside a complete lack of variety, felt like we were on a diet of bread and water for the week we played it.

There’s a chance that you may find After Us a bit too depressing, and it has to be said that the combat is highly repetitive. But the scale of the level design, visuals, and soundscore found here are outstanding.

You should have a good time with Eastern Exorcist. The combat is flashy and nuanced, the hand-drawn artwork is gorgeous and the short length makes it a perfect weekend game. There are some areas for refinement, especially in the polish of the overall package, but the fun of Eastern Exorcist shines above all else.

Overall, there is just a lack of polish in Mangavania, but thankfully it is rather short and you do get an easy 1000 Gamerscore pocketed for finishing it.

Hidden away in Death, Soul & Robots is a quality Metroidvania, but it keeps punching you in the face when you get close to it.

Gematombe launches a decent arcade puzzle concept onto the market, but then misfires in various ways. At its core, the brick breaker gameplay is exciting, with the Arcade mode proving to be the centrepiece. Beyond that though, the shortcomings of the mechanics, the lack of online leaderboards - at the very least - and the unbalanced AI, make it a tough sell.

Protodroid DeLTA rises above its niggles to emerge as a characterful platformer which pays a faithful tribute to those which inspired it.

If you’ve been lured in by the cat, then you should probably know that Neko Rescue Tale has all the worst aspects of one. It gives you a false sense of security by looking cute, curling up in your lap. But once you start playing with it, the claws come out, as poor level design, collision detection, platforming and - most of all - combat all cause blood to flow.

If you’re in the mood for a gothic, straight-faced Undertale, then Kargast delivers a low-budget cover that hits most of the right notes. It slips up with its repetitive, uninvolving combat, but never to the degree that you want to give up on your quest. It’s a fellowship that is just about worth joining.

We’re racking our brains, and we think Home Sheep Home: Farmageddon Party Edition represents the best Aardman game we’ve played. It’s got some knots in the wool with regard to its physics engine and stacking characters on top of each other, but otherwise you can be confident in a cooperative family experience that will reveal just how helpful you all are.

Evil Wizard takes twisted humour and easy to learn mechanics to craft a Metroidvania, action-RPG that you should take the time to play.

Not everyone is going to willingly invite the pressure and multitasking of Sweet Bakery Tycoon. But for those that do, this is a surprisingly intuitive, delicious-looking little time-management sim. In terms of portion size, though, it’s too big: the bland levels got dished up over and over, and we were overstuffed.

Within the myriad of LEGO racing games, LEGO 2K Drive does just about enough to carve an identity for itself. All the LEGO hallmarks are here with destruction, creativity and humour front and centre of most of what goes on.

Revita is a game that is worth the investment. Once you get into it, you’ll find yourself sinking in the hours.

Fundamentally flawed, Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator will struggle to hold your attention - it is frustrating rather than entertaining, no matter how many of you are playing at once.

If you’re a fan of the sim world, where you need to be involved in every decision, micro-managing every detail in every department, then you will have an amazing time with SimAirport. But should you be coming along for your first experience of the genre, this is perhaps not the best game to start with.

In the end, all our fears have been realised. Romancelvania’s dating sim half is frivolous fun, but its other half, the Metroidvania, drunkenly crashes the party.

Lucy Dreaming is a throwback, laugh-a-minute, point and click adventure that’s going to really test your logical and out-of-the-box thinking.

While there isn’t much in The Excrawlers difficulty or story to really get your teeth into, there’s plenty on the bone elsewhere. It took us aback, if we’re being honest: we didn’t expect this little roguelike to be so tasty.

If Blacksmith Forger was a free-to-play mobile game, we’d be complaining about the lack of material. You could barely make some tinfoil out of it. When there are dozens of alternatives for Overcooked!-style games, you’d have to be desperate to pick Blacksmith Forger out of the line-up.

The 90 seconds is less about the length of matches, and more about its shelf life. You’re going to retire 90” Soccer faster than you can say Jack Wilshere.

If you have a pre-teen player who loves gaming but struggles to knuckle down on their maths homework, then MathLand adds up nicely.

We’re not angry, we’re just disappointed. But we’ll let Puzzle By Nikoli W off: they’ve nailed so many puzzle games in the past that we’ll forgive them one stinker. Because that’s what Puzzle By Nikoli W Numberlink ultimately is: an unsatisfying meander into trial-and-error that leaves a bad smell in the nostrils.

It may sound like I’ve not particularly cared for Boss Rush: Mythology. But there is a very good reason for that - it is rubbish. The controls are awful, the graphics are woeful and there just isn’t any fun to be had here

But don’t let those rather minor issues put you off playing Planet of Lana. This is a game that deserves the praise, the plays and the passion it holds. A supremely well told tale that comes complete with brilliant visuals and an orchestral soundscape to die for, Planet of Lana is a hugely immersive adventure you need to play.

We’re not getting the last five hours of our lives back. It’s not that Gnomes Garden 7: Christmas Story is terrible: far from it. In fact, if you’re on the hunt for a relaxed take on city-building, then we might even suggest you play it. Our problem is that we’ve reached our saturation point with the Gnomes Garden games, and this release changes so little from previous iterations that it puts FIFA to shame.

With themes of loss, death, hope, sadness, survival and everything else, it isn’t necessarily the first-choice setting for a puzzle game. But all that adds up to make Moonrise Fall a unique title in that respect.

If you are a fan of the main missions in Saints Row, you will likely have fun with what is found in The Heist & The Hazardous. The final heist mission in particular follows the same vein of the more major missions in the base game and is fun.

Verdict Guilty hits the mark as an enjoyable and unusual fighter full of surprises that won’t break the bank.

Undemanding and, at times, tedious gameplay takes some of the shine away from Homestead Arcana, even if there is an otherwise bewitching world with a heartfelt story to tell.

Garden Gnomes 5: Halloween runs a relaxed, simple, city-builder formula, one that we’ve enjoyed in flashes, but it’s also one that has frozen us stiff with boredom on occasion. Much like a garden gnome, we suppose.

Original and intriguing while at the same time being strange and beguiling, No One Lives Under the Lighthouse works some old-school visuals in the best of ways.

Smile For Me manages to deliver a totally weird, but very interesting point-and-click adventure that’s unlike anything else.

It may take a couple of levels, but you’ll get hooked by Tin Hearts. The world, gameplay ideas, and touching story are all good enough to reel you in. I do think the level design found in the latter parts of the game does feel a bit extended, but others will welcome the challenge and relish in the complexities.

There are slight issues with combat in the early stages, but the exploration and puzzles on offer in The Last Case of Benedict Fox are very good indeed; they will keep you playing as you attempt to get to the bottom of the mystery. A challenging and involving game, the aesthetics of the whole world just add to the charm.

Blazblue: Cross Tag Battle Deluxe Edition is a welcome return home for the Blazblue series on Xbox. An accessible, fun and deep fighter, this will delight fans of the represented franchises but also serves as a great calling card for new fans.

Buddy Simulator 1984 is a bolt from the blue, a killer game that comes from nowhere to shoot you between the eyes. We can’t stop thinking about it, yet we’re cursed not to talk about it here, or to anyone else in fact, as it would utterly ruin the experience of playing it. So, take a chance, friend, and download Buddy Simulator 1984. We promise that it doesn’t come with AI malware included. Promise.

Where Sudocats shines is its accessibility. For not much money at all, Sudocats is a perfect Sudoku starting point for mewbies and young players. If you’re in that group, or you love cats so much you could cry, then Sudocats lands on its feet.

As much as Death or Treat wants to fall on the treat side of the equation, we felt tricked. We were completely sold on its charismatic art style, and were prepped for roguelike joys. But the levels are too much of a slog, the enemies artlessly created and - fatally - the combat is limp.

Even when we were in its idle clicker thrall, we couldn’t help but feel the yawning, encroaching void. Dig Deep isn’t good for us - yet the balls keep beckoning us back.

There’s a strong chance that the rustic therapy of Garden Simulator will be enough for you: but in our case, our green fingers were reaching for a little more depth.

Stranded: Alien Dawn is a very good survival game, one that builds in tower defense and sim-like elements too. Fresh and original, there is enough challenge here for the hardy player as well as plenty of accessible gameplay for any newcomer to the genre.

With its actual mission and objective based gameplay, Dragon Pinball may just be the best pinball game yet from Super PowerUP Games. But based on what has come before it, that isn’t really a compliment.

TramSim: Console Edition is another interesting and unique experience in the transport sim world. Driving a tram is a pretty unique and interesting experience, but it does lose its shine after you’ve taken in the routes a few times. Personally I think TramSim needs a few more cities to take in, especially when you consider the price of the game.

The lack of features brought by the Xbox Series X|S upgrade does not detract from the fun available in Star Trek Online, but you’ll need to look past the 2007 graphical style.

It’s possible that we have finally found the edge, the genre fusion too far, and God of Rock is it. The basic premise of the game is misguided, and when the graphics are so incidental to the gameplay, it strikes as a bit of a mess. If you want to fight, play a fighting game - if you want a rhythm action, choose one of them. This is a mash-up too far.

Hyper-5 is a fairly accomplished shoot 'em up with some interesting ideas. The allowance of tailoring your loadout works well, and the visuals are well presented, but the later levels in particular are very hard to navigate safely.

The best approach with The Creepy Syndrome might be to wait for a sale and beeline directly to its Lord of the Road inclusion. Whether you play the rest afterwards is up for debate.

Daydreaming about the ideal Color Pals gets us nowhere. We’re stuck with the reality: a game with a great idea that failed to exploit it. Then it implemented controls that would have been dismissed as clumsy on a ZX Spectrum. Colour us disappointed.

If it wasn’t for a few little niggles in regards the need to reload and work through jump mechanics, Bramble: The Mountain King could well have been verging on top marks. Even then, this is a game that is hugely enjoyable, and the Nordic world feels like a great place to spend some solid hours. Just be aware, this can be a scary place and at times a bit gruesome, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward is a horror experience that should be very pleased with itself. The story and setup are unique and intriguing, the scares come thick and fast and there are some nicely designed puzzles and gameplay mechanics.