While there’s an inherent fumbliness to Blood & Truth – I’m not ashamed to admit I’ve dropped a grenade under my own ass, my friend – it’s a game that wants you to feel and look cool. When you’re in the zone, it’s the closest to playable John Wick as we’re likely going to get – that is if John Wick liked flipping people off and collecting vape bottles. If you’ve got PSVR, this is the game to show the tech off to all your pals.

Nostalgia might well have carried this one through, but in truth it doesn’t need it: this is a great game that has for the most part aged remarkably well, with the visual upgrade and other tweaks serving to make absolutely certain it’s worth the price of admission; I just wish the AI didn’t sometimes feel so cheap. It’s rare that a game can be as good as it was 20 years ago in a modern re-release – but this classic kart racer manages it.

Other than that, Dragon Quest Builders 2 is a masterpiece. No joke. If automation was to take my job right now, at least I’d have something to lose myself in during these long summer months.

From a pure level design perspective, it’s a huge improvement over Wolfenstein 2. Unfortunately, it seems to have forgotten a lot of what made both New Order and The New Colossus such great games in the process.

Whatever path you choose, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is an absolute blast. It’s the best Fire Emblem title since Awakening, and it goes straight onto my list of must-play Switch games.

It’s a suspense thriller that could’ve been written at any point in the last century, were it not for the gripping addition of player choice. In a month that’s seen Man of Medan push interactive fiction into multiplayer, and Telling Lies build on the investigative purpose of Her Story, there’s no comparable innovation here beyond those tactile controls that feel like you’re manipulating scenes in real-time. But there are shocking truths buried at Delphi House, and maybe that’s enough to soothe the soul on a long Sunday.

The writing, direction, and performances are consistently brilliant. This is Remedy at the peak of its game. Control feels like a company rediscovering itself, waking from a long slumber. Remedy’s legs work as intended once more, the vestiges of sleep paralysis a distant memory.

It’s initially interesting, but its bundle of ideas and systems stumble between clever and stupid, intuitive and clunky. Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey needs more time to evolve.

Despite the fact Borderlands 3 seemingly wants me to hate it, I really, really like it. Like, a lot. I say this as someone who’s become a bit disenfranchised with the loot shooter. The moronic, sophomoric (sophomoronic?) dialogue masks over one of the most thoughtful, satisfying shooters you can play right now. You just have to learn to tune out the white noise, and to swap your weapon before you open a chest, you idiot.

This review has largely been gushing, but I want you to know that Astral Chain isn’t perfect. The non-combat side of the game is often fairly pedestrian and the story can be pretty overwrought even if it is largely told in a knowing, tongue-in-cheek manner. With that noted, this is absolutely a worthy successor to Nier Automata – and like that game, Astral Chain is definitely a contender for one of my favourite games of the year.

Personally, I’m genuinely excited for future Dark Pictures instalments. And I’m still playing Man of Medan, figuring out its hidden traps and machinations, despite my frustrations with it.

World of Warcraft went through many changes over the years, for better and for worse. That leaves Classic feeling conflicted, both a rose-tinted dream and a dated mess.

It’s a strong campaign, then, and one made better when you play with friends – as is always the way – and the suite of features that accompany it will likely keep you busy for some time.

Iterative sequels are obviously pretty common in video games, but when a game is built around user-generated content it’s plainly more difficult to get right. Super Mario Maker 2 nails it, however, mashing together the joy of 2D Mario and the frightening ingenuity of a huge community of players to make for a Switch game we could easily all be playing in a decade. It’s difficult to think of a more compelling argument than that.

An extraordinarily competent racer, which makes sense.

The interplay between the AI, your abilities, the physics of the world, and your guns is some of the best I’ve seen, and I never thought I would be saying anything like that about a sequel to Brown Shooter: Apocalypse. There’s much more to this than its kooky, pink-hued marketing campaign. If you sleep on it, you’re sleeping on one of the best – if not the best – single-player FPS games of this generation.

The lack of seamless transitions between gameplay and cutscenes means you’re often staring at a black screen as the game interrupts you, the story is predictable, your activities are repetitive, and the technical issues – frame rate drops, freezes, and myriad bugs – are a constant annoyance. While it’s still slightly better than most recent Xbox One exclusives, Days Gone just isn’t anywhere near the quality of the majority of PS4 first-party releases.

Labo VR isn’t likely to set the world of VR on fire, but as a cheap VR option that’s a family friendly way to explore this growing area of gaming this new Toy-Con kit feels like a clever, worthwhile addition to the Switch’s weird and wonderful cardboard world. It may also very well be the first time Labo has truly made sense to me. It’s classic Nintendo ingenuity, with classic Nintendo results: just pure fun.

Rest assured – these are a fantastic way to revisit familiar adventures for existing fans and a must-play in the genre for everybody else. At last, they’ve got a current release definitively worth bothering with.

Tropico 6 isn’t spectacular in terms of breaking the mould. There’s no revolution here, but nor would El Presidente want one – that keeps him in power, after all. It’s a confident game that plays it safe, offering simple iterations and smart tweaks to the already well-trodden and successful styling of the series to offer up an entry that, at the very least, is superior to its direct predecessor.

It’s a leisurely, relaxing adventure that is absolutely confident in its abilities – and for those happy to have such an experience, a very easy recommendation. It’s the best Yoshi game in years.

Sekiro is a game a lot of people are going to bounce off. It’s one for the “git gud” crowd – for people who want a feeling of accomplishment, rather than the fake achievement you feel from finding some Level 20 Pants in most modern triple-A experiences. It’s FromSoftware at its most confident, at its most unapologetic. It’s Bloodborne but faster, with fewer crutches yet somehow more fair. It’s also one of the best games released so far in what’s already looking like a strong 2019.

There’s a compelling endgame, there’s loot that actually matters, and missions don’t feel like they’re copy and pasted to bulk out the runtime. If some of the frustrations can be ironed out, it could be the best of its genre. But for the love of god, please let your writers say something if you ever make another one.

It’s not going to win any Game of the Year awards, but if you’re looking for a fun co-op game that scratches a similar itch to something like PayDay, Rico is well worth picking up.

Capcom is a master of the genre it spawned.

I went into Anthem with an open mind. It’s a game I wanted to succeed from a studio I’ve always been fond of. Unfortunately, it’s everything everyone feared at reveal. It’s a hollow experience that’s been designed to appeal to the widest market possible while squeezing more money out of those who are hooked in by its doggy treat design.

I’d be extremely hesitant to recommend anyone part with $60 for it. There’s just not enough here. Still, all things considered, Crackdown 3 being this enjoyable represents a minor miracle, and I’d love to see what these teams are capable of with the franchise without being dicked around by corporate for half a decade.

Over 22 central story quests, and a clutch of side objectives, New Dawn is surprisingly good at throwing up varied tasks.

A brilliant sequel that wrestles control away a little too often.

Genesis Alpha One really grew on me over time. At first, I was easily frustrated by my own apparent idiocy and failure, but the longer I played, the more it made sense and I was proud of my all female crew on the USS Goldhawk. If you’re looking for a survival, space-exploration shooter that’s oddly relaxing, then Genesis Alpha One is for you.

Resident Evil 2 Remake is the perfect blend of nostalgia and the new, marrying a classic game with contemporary game design.

As my first real foray into the silent indie adventure genre, I was pleasantly surprised.

With those caveats aside, Onimusha: Warlords is a damn steal at £15.99. Where most publishers are trying to squeeze as much as possible out of people, juicing those nostalgia glands for every penny, here we have a sensible price point for a decent older game that’s been blown up to look passable on a modern screen.

All told it’s a solid little package, however, and Catherine is still full of charm in how it delivers its whacky, mind-bending storylines – even though how it approaches some topics is deeply flawed.

The Nintendo Switch port is impressive, and the game is perfect for a spot of grinding on the go, with only occasional frame drops to let it down in certain cities. Otherwise, Tales of Vesperia is a classic JRPG that goes back to the roots of what made the series shine. Despite its flaws when it comes to its setting and style, earnest storytelling, a fantastic combat system, and memorable cast of characters make the game worth that ten year wait.

The management sim is on the up again, but Parkitect might be my favorite game of the genre’s revival yet.

One of the best multiplayer games of the year.

With an everything but the kitchen sink approach, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lives up to its name - it's the best gaming cross-over experience ever.

That’s how it goes while you inhabit Just Cause 4. Constant iridescent glimmers of the game it wants to be, tethered by a grappling hook cord to mechanical clunkiness.

Civ 6 is a decent port, but the reason it’s grabbed me so thoroughly on Switch even after hundreds of hours logged on PC is because this game is perfect for this sort of handheld mode play. Civ’s turn-based nature makes it perfect for quick pick-up, put-down sessions, and the Switch’s nature as a dedicated gaming device means that this is now arguably a better shout for a few turns of Civ on the go than a larger, more cumbersome laptop.

Let’s Go is trapped between fans hungry for more of what they already love and those keen to see the series really do new and different things. I’ve fallen firmly into the latter category for a while now, but Let’s Go ended up being something really unexpectedly needed for me: a nice nostalgic palette cleanser before a hopefully significantly changed Pokemon experience next year.

Make no mistake, Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu and Pokemon Let’s Go Eevee aren’t the foundation-shaking next-generation Pokemon games hardcore fans have been waiting for, but experienced trainers will find a lot to love in this nostalgia-driven spin-off. Newcomers and lapsed fans will likewise find an approachable and exciting adventure with hidden depth.

Battlefield 5 is a brilliant shooter that’s hamstrung by its setting. Ignoring all the tonal weirdness, the core of the game is the best it has been since Bad Company 2, filled with smart design choices. When we finally get away from this latest trend of revisiting historical conflicts, when Battlefield is once again freed creatively, we could finally get something to rival the Bad Company series.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a brave prequel that isn’t afraid of taking risks. It is innovative, surprising, stunning, dramatic, and generous - a highlight of this generation and a benchmark for other open world games to aspire to.

If you liked any of the Witcher games, novels or Gwent, then I would implore you to buy Thronebreaker. It’s like a 30-hour long easter egg, filled with references, inside jokes and an engaging story with an empowering lead.

Bandai Namco is on a bit of a fighting game roll. Tekken 7 and Dragon Ball FighterZ are both hugely successful, and SoulCalibur 6 comes out swinging with the same sort of tightly-constructed, satisfying action. It’s arguably the most approachable of the trio, though its accessible systems aren’t necessarily the best-balanced in the world. It’s an easy recommendation, mind, because at a casual level SC6 is just bloody good fun.

FIFA 19 is better than FIFA 18 in almost every way, and it’s more fun to play than any other football game right now.

Comfortably Xbox’s best 2018 exclusive.

If you’re new to the series, I’d still absolutely recommend starting with the original. For fans, though, it’s more Valkyria Chronicles, and that’s reason enough to pop a giant red exclamation mark above your head with excitement.

For all the savvy tweaks to combat and exploration, Shadow of the Tomb Raider unfortunately feels like an extremely long expansion pack, now with killer fish and face mud.

Spider-Man is at its best when you’re mid-flow. It’s a game that can capture that awesome trance-like feeling where you’re so in tune with the rhythm of swinging and hopping between buildings or dodging, countering and attacking enemies that everything else melts away. That’s when it feels most special, and it’s then that what Insomniac has achieved here is most plain. Much of its design is familiar, but it appears here in a refined, polished form that makes it an easy recommendation.

A flawed masterpiece is a masterpiece nevertheless, and perhaps the most important reason that modern, quality ports of Shenmue exist is that there truly is nothing else quite like it. It deserves to be experienced.

Battle for Azeroth is still good. Great, even. One of the best expansions World of Warcraft has seen. Cinematics are driving the storytelling stronger than ever, and a handy apocalypse providing a nice reset for the decades-old plot. There’s a wider range of ways to play, and what missteps are taken feel more like minor nuisances.

The first episode of The Walking Dead’s final season is an excellent start, but that’s usually the case. It’s always been the middle episodes that Telltale’s weaker seasons have struggled with.

Minor as the additions the Plus expansion brings, Sonic Mania is still one of the best 2D platformers in recent memory, and is definitely the best Sonic game in a very long time. I can’t help but wish there was more of it, but there’s no denying this is an excellent package – and yes, it’s still a must-play.

A beautiful, challenging and often utterly brilliant throwback to the golden age of Japanese RPGs that somehow scuppers its chances of being a true classic through an ambitious but ultimately flawed narrative structure.

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is an incredibly bare-bones port, but that doesn’t really matter in the end. We all know it was originally released on a naff platform next to nobody owned, and a game this fun and charming deserves a second chance. The Switch and 3DS versions are fine ports, and suitable for just that.

The Crew 2 will be an incredible racer in a year’s time. It’s just not there right now, and it’s a shame. It’s full of potential, packed with a dizzying amount of variety, and you can’t help but be impressed by the massive world you inhabit. Unfortunately, The Crew 2 is just too inconsistent to fully recommend.

Vampyr is a remarkable game that gives me genuine hope for the future of single-player RPGs. What it lacks in polish, it makes up for in ambition.

The biggest crime a piece of media can make is to be boring and Detroit is as guilty as can be.

Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition lives up to its name: it’s the best version of this game, and this game is also the best in the Warriors series. Zelda fans should be aware of what they’re getting into, as those who expect the nuance of regular Zelda will be sorely disappointed. If you want to hack, slash and experience an exciting, fan service assisted power trip, however, Hyrule Warriors will fit the bill nicely.

It’s a confident sequel, then, and does enough work to fill in the gaps through discreet bits of exposition that it could probably be enjoyed as a standalone adventure, too.

The important thing is that the core game behind this port is brilliant, mind. It’s difficult to actually add much new content to a game like Tropical Freeze because the original version of it is so close to perfect – so instead you end up with the same fabulously choreographed levels and challenges recreated on a new, better platform. While punishing, it largely steers clear of frustration, a perfectly-pitched mix of challenge and reward.

This is a game to be savoured slowly and enjoyed as much for its questionable qualities as its obvious ones. Where other franchises seek to shave off rough edges, Yakuza has opted to not only keep them but to celebrate them.

God of War has grown up. It is violent, but it’s not excessive. It is angry, but there is something to contrast it against. There is a flash of nipple, but it’s Kratos’s. Kratos is older, and he feels remorse for his past, but it feels like Sony Santa Monica also wants to atone. If that was God of War’s goal, the studio deserves a standing ovation. This isn’t only the best God of War game, it’s one of the best games of the current generation.

Detective Pikachu doesn’t offer an enormous amount of actual game to play, but what’s there is hugely charming and entertaining.

Far Cry 5 is an interesting game to play in 2018, and it’s easily the best the series has been since Vaas asked us if we knew the definition of insanity in 2012.

Sea of Thieves just needs more. It needs more ways to play, more mission variety, more enemy variants than just different coloured skeletons, and more meaningful progression. If these things don’t appear soon, I can see player numbers dropping off substantially after a short while. When it is the players themselves that create the game’s standout moments, potential player drop-off is a huge problem.

Playing Burnout Paradise today, something else stands out: the speed.

While it failed to grab me the first time around, the second time has been a charm: Pac-Man Championship Edition 2 Plus is a great, brave effort to do more with this classic gaming icon than simply rehash and rerelease emulated versions of its heyday. With its quick-fire modes it’s also an absolutely perfect fit for the Switch – and well worth it’s downloadable-only price of entry.

On occasion the open world even meshes with the existing strengths of the series to create something special. For the most part it’s a wretched attempt, however, rescued only by how fundamentally satisfying and fun the musou combat is when you strip it right down.

The Switch continues to be a great place for ports of fantastic games, and my feelings around Bayonetta’s Switch Collection are much the same as they were for Skyrim and DOOM; this is the perfect excuse to either replay these games or to experience them for the first time if you missed them the first time around. Bayonetta might be a strange outlier in Nintendo’s game library, but she deserves her place: her games are absolutely modern classics in the action genre.

It’s still a really exciting, interesting and different fighter. That last bit is crucial – despite similarities to the Gundam games, there’s nothing else quite like Dissidia on the market, and some will certainly find themselves hooked on its unique, hectic type of battle.

It plays like Dragon Ball. While it plainly owes a lot to MVC3, Dragon Ball FighterZ manages to strike a balance between tag versus fighter ideas and the iconic imagery and designs of its license to create the best Dragon Ball game there’s ever been – and arguably one of the best licensed games ever.

This rebuilt vision of Monster Hunter feels like a truly smart, forward-thinking improvement to the series. It’s an impressive leap forward.

Capcom has done a great job iterating on what was clearly an unfinished shell of a game with excellent foundations. In the last two years they’ve built something really special, and Arcade Edition’s soft relaunch makes this the ideal place to jump back in or make your SF5 debut.

Before the Storm elevates Life is Strange and compensates for some of its failings. Imperfect as it may be, I consider it absolutely essential to a full understanding of Life is Strange – whatever your own personal reading of it may actually be – and the series as a whole to be one of the highlights of my entire gaming life.

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds is a groundbreaking game not just because of its unique design, but also because of how it shakes up the standards we’ve been judging games by for years.

Curse of Osiris is disappointing. There’s nothing here to tempt you in if you’re not already keen, and nothing to calm the anger of those who are – we’ll be waiting for a Taken King style re-release for the latter.

It feels like Capcom couldn’t quite decide what it wanted Dead Rising 4 to be. Should it be a return to roots and the style of the first game, as the use of Frank and Wilamette suggests? Should it be a Saint’s Row style casual sandbox fun, gleefully nuts without much restraint, as the design and combat is? Should it be something new, a new vision for the series? Dead Rising 4 tries to be all three, and while it’s by no means a bad game little about it stands out as a result.

There’s an admirable, bold level of depth on show here, and even the story begins to pull its weight more vigorously in the second half of the game. The fact that combat still works after so many hours proves that this is the best sort of RPG, one with a longevity and a depth not so often found in story-driven Japanese RPGs in the current market.

Classic Sonic feels like his infamous sneakers are lined with lead. Generations was decent, but in such close proximity to Sonic Mania these problems feel all the more crippling.

At its heart, Comrades definitely has the right ideas. It has problems that appear to largely stem from being built as an afterthought atop a single-player focused game, but many of the ideas it has for a multiplayer Final Fantasy experience are pretty strong, and there’s a particularly impressive effort to tell a proper FF story in a multiplayer setting that pans out remarkably well. Oh, and it has a lovely new theme tune by Nobuo Uematsu. If this is indeed a test for the future, it’s a solid proof of concept – if not exactly a must-play at this point in time.

Once you’re done with the five-hour campaign, the horrid state of the multiplayer will take centre stage. After a while, DICE’s attention to detail and stunning graphics will grow old, and you’ll be left doubting every encounter, every death. DICE’s biggest crime with Star Wars: Battlefront 2 isn’t that it added microtransactions, it’s that it forgot to make a game worth playing in the process.

At its heart, Comrades definitely has the right ideas. It has problems that appear to largely stem from being built as an afterthought atop a single-player focused game, but many of the ideas it has for a multiplayer Final Fantasy experience are pretty strong, and there’s a particularly impressive effort to tell a proper FF story in a multiplayer setting that pans out remarkably well. Oh, and it has a lovely new theme tune by Nobuo Uematsu. If this is indeed a test for the future, it’s a solid proof of concept – if not exactly a must-play at this point in time.

Assassin’s Creed Origins is not a dramatic departure from the formula as we last saw it, but manages to be much more fun and feel way more fresh than any entry since Brotherhood and Black Flag. It plays to the strengths of a genre Ubisoft helped bring into the mainstream, respects the player and their freedom, and allows them to beat up crocodiles. I’m into it.

A stunning game. Super Mario Odyssey is the best of the 3D Super Mario titles and a Game of the Year contender in a properly stacked year.

The game still plays great on a controller on PC, and no amount of exclusive content will matter when you see it running this well. Sure, you’ll have to stomach the upfront cost of a PC, but I am willing to bet you’ll find other uses for the new machine than just playing Destiny 2.

The PC version of Nioh is the very definition of functional. It works well enough that you can enjoy your time with it, but it’s unremarkable everywhere that matters.

The glory days of Need for Speed seem a long way off. Need for Speed Payback is swamped with unnecessary guff when it should be stripped back and lean, the engine purring. There’s little to recommend in a game that feels unnecessary in so many areas, with so many blocks to actually having fun. There could be a decent game under here somewhere, but there’s no reason to hang around and find it.

Doom 2016 is still utterly fantastic, the sort of thumping, compelling shooting experience that gets the blood pumping. In a time when so many shooters can feel like rote shooting galleries, Doom feels like something more – and it remains a firm recommendation for anyone who’s yet to play it on whatever platform they can get their hands on.

These games include a stupidly large amount of content and Sun and Moon remain the most compelling, charming and interesting world Pokemon has presented since it was brand new back in the the 90s. For its audience, this enhanced edition is well worth the price of admission, though I’d be lying if I said my eyes weren’t firmly towards the future when Pokemon arrives on the big screen via Switch.