Eternal Strands tries much, and very nearly all of it comes off. We could do with some faster pace to lore integration, yet if you wish to skip the backstory that attempts to be injected, you can do so. But land in the world created by Yellow Brick Games and you’ll constantly be astounded by what Eternal Strands offers, whether it be during an Epic battle, in the various ways of traversing the land, or with the playing of physics, the thermos and the mechanics at play.

There is a lot of game to go at in Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, as well as a host of bosses to beat, each one providing a stellar challenge. If you like samurai affairs, or the Onimusha games in general, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is an easy sell, as it is very much more of the same.

Journey to the Savage Planet on Xbox One is an amazing game – there are no two ways about it. It plays fast and fluidly, the enemies are challenging to kill (especially the bosses) and with a beautifully scripted, humorous thread of story running through it’s been a joy to play. In fact, if the netcode had worked properly at all times it would be a slam dunk for this Savage Planet, but even then you still owe it to yourself to play this game. It really is that good.

No matter how you look at it, Persona 5 Tactica is super rewarding and there’s not a thing to moan about. As a bold new direction for the Persona franchise, I have to applaud the bravery.

Carrion on Xbox One is a very well-designed and crafted game. Whilst it can be frustrating to backtrack and redo levels when you’ve got a new power, the backtracking is part of the design rather than a flaw in the design. The combat is nicely weighted and the stealth elements are light and don’t require too much patience. Whilst it’s a short, punchy game, it doesn’t outstay its welcome or become repetitive.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Heart of the Forest revels in storytelling and character-building, presenting you with choices to make, adding consequences to those choices, and then growing your character based on those consequences. It could have done with a bit more bite and certainly more Garou-bloodletting, but the tale it tells will leave you over the (full) moon.

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.

Perhaps the opening moments of Airhead are a bit bewildering and the latter puzzles are rock hard, but as an overall experience, Airhead is a blast.

Pepper Grinder successfully combines traditional platforming with a refreshingly original gameplay mechanic that breathes new life into a very tired genre.

Even after investing many multiples of hours into Civilization VII, you’ll continue to be dragged back in. Much like most of the franchise, it's a real time-eater, and once you start it's hard to stop. There may be a bit of a dumbing down in systems, but as someone who has come back to the series after time away, I appreciate the change, even though it continues to feel familiar.

Hunt: Showdown on Xbox One provides a very solid multiplayer experience, one that fans of this genre will love.

WILD HEARTS is one for both fresh faces and hardened veterans, and should be seen as the first legitimate threat to Monster Hunter’s unopposed reign at the top.

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.

The first few hours of Surviving Mars are frustrating and the game can come across a bit disappointing; stick with it though and once you have figured out what to do all by yourself – due to the ineffective tutorial tips – the game opens up and almost becomes a completely different experience.

Assetto Corsa Competizione on Xbox One is a hard game, make no mistake. Learn to play by its rules, learn the tracks, learn just how much you can lean on a car, and it will suddenly click. This is not a game for casual players though and if you want to make the most of the content here, you need to commit the time and get good. The rewards are there – it’s just down to you to unlock them.

If you’re looking for a new top down shooter in which you can play your own way, then you need to call the JYDGE.

The lack of multiplayer is felt here even with an interesting eliminator mode, and so Formula Retro Racing is only one to check out if you aren’t able to play Virtua Racing and are starved of options.

It doesn’t execute all of its ideas perfectly, but RAD is endlessly charismatic, visually fascinating and just incredibly creative… and I’d expect nothing less.

The scope and fun of the game shines through, and if you give it a chance, Andromeda will reward you with an enormous amount of satisfaction.

Overall and whilst Crawl may not be what every dungeon crawling fan is used to, it certainly offers something new for local multiplayer fans. With surprisingly capable bots on hand to fill the empty spaces should you be flying solo, you’ll find a perfectly enjoyable game for a quiet afternoon session in this cracking title.

It’s a vibrant and exciting open world full of a wealth of missions, side missions, and recruiting to do, complemented by some decent visuals and brilliant audio work. As the hours have progressed I’ve become ever more excited for the opportunities that it throws up, so much so that now I’m already well invested in upcoming DLC and the promise of multiplayer elements.

The retro survival horror tactics of FOBIA - St. Dinfna Hotel are enjoyable enough for the first few hours, as you go about exploring and working out what is going on, all as a strange tale of the supernatural unfolds

The heroes in a half shell have achieved an entertaining and exciting experience with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate.

Immortals of Aveum should be praised for its original concept, writing, and new world-building. It's a new franchise that is brave; a very different type of FPS. Playing through feels like watching a good Marvel movie - you'll have a good time but will rarely care for it after.

The standard of this second episode feels like a traditional Act Two. It’s not quite as good as the first, and is hopefully sitting here just to bridge the gap that is leading to an exciting final third.

If you like bikes, enjoy racing and have a passion for speed, thrills and all things beautiful then RIDE 3 is definitely a game you need to be getting involved in. It may not have much originality in its game modes, but it does provide a quality racing experience throughout and with hundreds of stunningly recreated bikes, some wonderful tracks and hours of fun to be had messing around with customisations, there is certainly plenty to shout about with the latest entry to the best bike racing series around.

Some may see Evolution as just a fancy looking Zoo Tycoon, and they’d probably be right, but when you throw in some brilliant visuals, a huge amount of Jurassic Park lore, cameos bringing in the most famous characters from the big screen flicks, and that music, you’ll quickly understand how Jurassic World Evolution is much more than that.

Punch Club may not be the fighting experience we were expecting, but what’s missed on the fighting side is more than made up for by the exceptionally well worked management aspects of the game. It can take a while to get to grips with just how everything works, and just how you’re going to find time to fit everything into the day, but those that spend enough time will quickly find themselves enjoying one of the best management sims currently available.