Any game that lets you pull on your Velociraptor suit should, at the very least, be thrilling. Somehow, Raptor Revenge can’t even manage that. It takes one of the coolest animals to have ever lived, files off their claws and makes them a bin collector. That’s where Evolution takes you, I suppose.

If Cats Around Us: Giant Cat can find a solution for its biggest failing - that it’s kitten-sized, even for the price - then it might move closer to the top of its cat-egory.

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is one of the best entries in the Yakuza franchise, so any chance to play it again is a welcome one. This Xbox Series X|S version may not feature as many upgrades as the other two recently re-released Yakuza games, but it doesn’t need to. It’s visually a step-up from those and the pacing is a lot better too.

Apartment No 129 is a tricky game to review because, essentially, there are a lot of broken elements, and the control system is mayhem at times. But if you can somehow get around that, there is a reasonably decent, creepy game underneath.

Brews & Bastards is both good and bad. The actual shooting action is hugely enjoyable, but the platforming aspects and - frankly, stupid - multiplayer system weigh the scale down more towards the bad side.

Hero Seekers does just enough to lift itself above the rest of KEMCO’s output. The Hero system is interesting, and the story is compelling. As for the rest of it? Well, it’s very much a retro styled JRPG.

It’s thrilling to play, a Metroidvania where you can feel confident giving yourself over to the development team as they present surprise after surprise. It’s bruising, but that’s an expectation of the genre, and the rewards are bountiful. It’s a game where you may feel contradictions – sometimes despair, often delight – but everything is suffused with the glow of immersion.

Mel the Space Cat isn’t a particularly special platformer. It’s easy, short, and the enemies are all recycled from a bazillion other games. But Mel’s blink-dash power, which lets her zip about the level at speed, just about saves the day. A bland 2D platformer gets the smallest sprinkle of interest.

Outlaws + Handful of Missions: Remaster is a win for Nightdive. The developers' ever growing reputation for preserving and accentuating classic games is put on full display here. The remaster is faithful, one that keeps the spirit of the original game alive whilst smoothing some of the edges that time has inflicted upon it.

Direction Quad feels a little like Frogger, but with the frog’s shoelaces tied together (we know, frogs aren’t big shoe-wearers). To some, that might sound like an intriguing extra layer of difficulty. To us, it was rage-inducing. If you’re fond of a little masochism, give Direction Quad a go.

Total Chaos is a disorientating tale of mystery, horror and survival which despite some frustrating niggles, details a desperate struggle against insanity itself.

At times, it will be blindingly obvious that Yakuza Kiwami is now a ten-year-old remake of a 20-year-old game. It isn’t the best-looking game in the series by a long way, and suffers badly from some early pacing issues. Get through those moments though and once Kamurocho opens up fully, there is a very good Yakuza game within.

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is certainly a better-looking game than the first one, but it feels like it plays it a bit safe in improving anything else really.

There’s only one group of people who would get anything from RoboHero, and that’s achievement hounds. For everyone else, RoboHero is the most challenge-less puzzle game that we can recall. It’s a sudoku with only one number still to be filled out; a wordsearch with all the irrelevant letters redacted. It’s a puzzle in search of a point.

I’m not going to try to oversell Buffet Boss. It’s basic to look at and play, and never feels like you’re preparing food - everything is reduced to standing on squares. It’s even a poor example of a tycoon game, with less interaction than the average.

The Cursed Frog isn’t going to win any awards, but it’s about the best you can hope for from a cheap platformer. You’re getting a forty-five minute experience that can’t sit still, juggling ideas and mechanics without ever settling on one. By the end, we looked back on The Cursed Frog with fondness. It was an enjoyable burst of chaos.

Goat Simulator 3 - Baadlands: Furry Road has a lot to offer, but even for a Goat Simulator game, it is somewhat janky. Too janky.

Owlen and the Spirits of the Past is in the odd position of being the best Aery game in ages, yet it doesn’t have ‘Aery’ in the title. It’s also an appropriate gateway for new players, particularly if they’re younger. Just apply blinkers and avoid looking at the pop-in, musty story and over-eager visual effects.

If you want a good mystery and don’t mind a few hiccups along the way, then come and solve The Last Case of John Morley.

Retro fans, or those who loved the original, are going to have a blast with Blood: Refreshed Supply. It plays exactly like a game from those times: fast and furious.

If you want to know why programmers always have a pained expression, then play Sushi for Robots. It takes sequencing problems and repackages them exquisitely. But it’s not going to be for everyone: those with a taste for logic flows will have full bellies, while I found myself cursing its intricacy and difficulty levels.

Hidden object fans, run away. There is no story to speak of, the art is a washout, and it never seems to end. Enchantment 2 Sun’s Tear is what happens when hidden object games go wrong.

One Button Games 5-in-1 vol 3 proves me wrong. More specifically, Revolve A, Twin P and Two Lane have proved me wrong. They show that, with some wild invention and riffs on arcade classics, you can make one-button games that are fun for more than five seconds.

I can see the appeal in making One Button Games 5-in-1 vol 2. There’s a challenge in creating these games. You can see how the designers have done back-flips to make them function, incorporating hold-presses of the A button just as much as taps. But as fun as they must have been to make, we are the ones who have to play them. And I rarely found that process to be fun.

GIGASWORD is an ambitious blending of genres. RPG elements aligning with puzzles and platforming is always going to be a curious concoction, and in this case, sometimes for worse, sometimes for better. The poor platforming and bugs may put a downer on your experience, yet the overall brilliance of narrative, combat, and level design will most likely override this, leaving GIGASWORD an indie title worth playing.

This IS Simon the Sorcerer, claw-machined from the ‘90s and dropped into a polished, modern graphic adventure.

It all leaves Pad Quad as an opportunity that wasn’t seized. It’s a platformer where you can swing a racket, knocking back projectiles, and that’s inspired design. But Pad Quad does so little with the concept, building levels that could have been in any other budget platformer.

If you like survival and base-building games, there should be enough on show in Kentum to whet your appetite.