Exhausted Man is a real hodge-podge of mixed ideas that don’t always work together - the contradicting gameplay elements, the fact that any ‘rewards’ are in fact detrimental, and that within the first hour of gameplay you’ve seen all this one has to offer.

Reed Remastered is fine but flavourless, an aggressively average platformer that doesn’t care for ideas, memorable moments or reasons to return.

Pixel Heroes: Byte and Magic is made for those who really cherish RPGs from the past. It has got its flaws, but is definitely a game for fans of the genre and time period.

Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 is a game of two halves. If you can look past the glitches, there’s a good game fighting to get out, and one with a lot to offer. This is a big game, and with the free roam map and variety of approaches that can be taken, one that offers a lot to the player. However, glitches that require a mission to be restarted, or for you to fast travel out of the area to get out of them, are not really on in this day and age. It is due to these that I have had to really think about my final score – do I score on potential or actual experience? In the end – as usual – I’ve had to put my actual experiences ahead. If CI Games manage to patch out the glitches, this game will easily get a half or full point more. But without it, it can be classed as nothing but average.

Adrian’s Tale is an average (if not charming) adventure, but there’s nothing here that most players won’t have seen before.

There’s no debate that Tonguç Bodur knows how to create a game, yet whilst Finding the Soul Orb has some good bones to it in terms of the linear narrative journey and artistic visuals, it isn't one of his best games.

I've got more than a feeling that this is just a minor blip for the series.

The single player mode is great fun, and while this makes for an enjoyable experience, once the online multiplayer begins to work as intended, this is a game that will go from strength to strength.

There are some interesting level designs here and enough variation even through its short runtime to give you an excuse to try Circus Pocus. It won't be winning any awards for innovation or execution, but it remains fun throughout and doesn’t last longer than is needed.

Young players who are resistant to a bit of repetition, who thrive on simple platformers with forgiving mechanics AND carry a love for creepy shelf-goblins will find a welcoming game that is perfectly suited to a level a day over advent. For everyone else, we can sneer at The Elf on the Shelf: Christmas Heroes and mutter into our eggnog.

Much like those which have come before it, Aery - A Journey Beyond Time on Xbox is enjoyable. It's a simple piece of gameplay with an intriguing premise that delivers a relaxing experience even when chronicling the fall of humankind.

Grim Idle is free and so there’s value in the sense that you can earn a huge chunk of Gamerscore and have a little fun experimenting with the skill tree, without exerting much brain power. Beyond that, it doesn’t offer enough enticement to carry on and venture across the rest of the galaxy.

Mostroscopy brings something different to the table in regards to its presentation, but then the wheels fall off. The fighting action is so simplistic that there is rarely a challenge, and unless you have a regular buddy who can come round to challenge you to some sofa-based battling, it’s not much fun once you’ve clocked it.

There’s a killer idea at the core of Swordship, and so much presentational care has been put into supporting it. What would happen if you ‘pulled a Mirror’s Edge’ and made a shooter completely pacifist? The result would be Swordship, a dodge ’em up that’s overloaded with potential. In execution, though, it slowly capsizes.

To be fair to Chasing Carrots, they’ve not overpriced Pressure Overdrive too much, but if you want to give it a go, I’d say to wait for a sale. There are better twin stick shooters and driving games out there for your hard earned cash.

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.

First Time in Rome Collector’s Edition averages out as promising but faulty. It’s got too many rough edges to recommend to newbies, but there’s plenty to satisfy a fan of the genre. Treat it as ‘Further Reading’, rather than an essential to pack for holiday.

Noob - The Factionless is one of those games that does what it says on the tin, providing a decent entry level experience to the RPG genre. However, by doing close to the bare minimum, it feels nothing more than just about adequate.

As it stands, Bit Dungeon Plus is a decent little Rogue-like game that is a good pickup for those that want a little bit of challenge. It would be supremely better if the developers actually told you what certain stats did, or if you could actually keep your extra lives in between sessions of your run. But the equipment system is nice, and the respawning Demons really help extend the playtime of each run – without making it feel too monotonous. It could definitely use with a bit more polish, but the raw game is still, on the whole, pretty decent.

Honestly, it took me a little while to really get my head around Isle of Spirits on Xbox One. The permadeath was initially annoying and the look and design was just too simple for my tastes. But after a while, I began to enjoy the casual island life, beginning to understand the ways of survival on these randomly generated islands.

With a guide, Catie in MeowmeowLand might hit a sweet spot: some satisfying poking around with a safety net for the overly weird stuff. But if you want to embark on this without that net, then prepare yourself for some moments of aimless point-and-clicking.

It is great to have one of the classic farming games on modern consoles again, but STORY OF SEASONS: A Wonderful Life can’t hold a candle to many of the more modern offerings.

I look at the breadth of stuff in Defending Camelot – Tower Defense Action and kind of marvel. There’s an unholy amount of content here. But I also wonder what it would be like if the emphasis was less on ‘more’ and instead shifted toward ‘polish’.

If you’re someone who likes watching behind the scenes videos and interviews about the creation of games, or you just love seeing the myriad ways in which people express their artistic visions through this interactive medium, Scrap Garden’s massive heart more than makes up for its technical shortcomings.

Aery - Calm Mind is a pleasant experience for the couple of hours it takes to complete all the chapters. The idea is that you take it in in chunks, and this is probably the best way of tackling the scenarios, especially if you're just using the game as a chill-out mechanism.

Barry the Bunny can be completed in under two hours, especially if you are rushing through things. If you’re an achievement hunter then it does give you a quick 1000 Gamerscore, but I don’t think you’ll get much more joy out of it then that. There’s nothing wrong with the game per se, it’s just easy and a bit redundant after a while.

Firefighting Simulator - The Squad manages to capture something of the dangerous (and dare we say) exciting profession. However, there’s not enough here to prevent it from ending up as a flash in the pan.

All in all then and Path of Exile is an enjoyable game, held back by some peculiar design choices, both in game and in the UI.