Split Fiction, just like Hazelight's projects before it, will not only have you belly-laughing throughout the experience, reminiscing about games, movies and literature the game regularly reminds you of, but it’ll also tug at your heartstrings and have you wiping tears from your eyes. The game's biggest victory is that it reminds you that endeavours as wonderful as Split Fiction (and those that it pays homage to) were created by the passion, devotion, and authentic experiences of humans such as Zoe and Mio, and the team over at Hazelight — not idea-extracting machines trained solely for profit off the human ingenuity that's so rawly at the beating heart of Split Fiction.

It’s a game about finding out who your mates are, and that they’ll be there for you no matter whether you need a good laugh, a telling off or a helping hand.

This is not only a great Dynasty Warriors game, but also a nice chance for historically-curious folks to hop on board. If you do decide to pick up Dynasty Warriors: Origins as your first title in the franchise, you'll be introduced to one of the most enjoyable action series and historical stories out there. If you're already a Dynasty Warriors fan, you know what you're getting into. Roll up those sleeves buddy, China won't save itself.

While Super Mario 3D All-Stars was content rich but low on actual effort, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury feels like a necessary release. It brings one of the best ever Mario titles to a platform people actually own, but also adds a new exclusive that’s completely worthwhile. It easily cruises onto the list of best Nintendo Switch games – and it’s a great start for Nintendo’s 2021. Just don’t leave us waiting too long for an Odyssey 2, yeah?

You can, perhaps, reductively describe Gran Turismo 7 as 'GT Sport with a single-player component'. But seeing as that was all GT Sport needed to be an absolutely stellar racing game, this is a must-have for hardcore racing fans and the kind of game that is so good it might actually transform a few casual players into bonafide petrolheads themselves.

Ultimately, those who are familiar with the original Silent Hill 2 will constantly be surprised by this remake, and those who aren’t as familiar are geared up for a great (albeit heart-wrenching) time. All of the pivotal moments remain, but veterans will find that they’re in different orders or brand-new rooms now. There’s new dialogue to look out for, and plenty of new notes, memos, and Easter eggs to discover, especially in New Game Plus. These changes may seem odd at first to existing fans, but all-in-all, they allow the story to flow much more smoothly, or add to it altogether. Think of the remake as a continuation — or a new rendition — of the never-ending, looping purgatory that many theorize James is trapped in.

You’re bound to make mistakes with such an emotionally-driven narrative at play, but with some hope from beyond the grave in Closer the Distance, you can help Yesterby move on. And if you had as wonderful a time as I did and are wondering how you can do things differently, there’s nothing stopping you from going back in time and trying to pick up the pieces all over again.

It is a genuine pleasure from start to finish, as dark and uncomfortable as it may be. But for every moment that might make you grimace, there is satisfaction to be found in seeking THE GIRL’s revenge, and destroying THE CULT is definitely a damned good way to spend 5-6 hours of your time.

While the start of Shadow of the Erdtree can come off as a regression, really, the DLC as a whole is FromSoftware flexing all of its creative muscles - including some it hasn’t used in a while and others it might be building up for the future. The depth of storytelling in the Lands of Shadow, as well as the new weapons, spells and items (all of which add to the lore themselves, of course), only better your experience of the Lands Between, and make for a worthy upgrade to what is already an unforgettable adventure.

That’s what Avowed is: strong storytelling, great combat, lovely visuals, and utterly charming. It’s not going to light everyone’s hair on fire, but that’s fine - because I know for a certain subset of people - refined people of taste, if you ask me - Avowed will enjoy cult classic status. It doesn’t necessarily push the envelope, but nor does it need to. It’s exactly what it needs to be.

I cannot help but to love Elden Ring Nightreign. It's a strange beast, kitbashed from parts of Elden Ring that feel clunky in places (god, the vaulting system can be frustrating at times). It has bugs, and it has blemishes. It's not a traditional Soulslike experience and as such will surely turn away fresh faces and diehard veterans alike. But it's also a celebration of you, the massive community of Soulslike players, and, specifically Elden Ring players. It's a game and a story about you, and all the weirdos you've met along the way. If this is a send off to Elden Ring and The Lands Between, it's a perfect one.

In a world where we've seen Square Enix fall down with remasters (examples include the lacklustre Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters and the egregious Kingdom Hearts on Switch), Tactics Ogre: Reborn highlights something special – a change of the guard, so to speak, that bodes remarkably well for the rest of the publisher's classic RPG oeuvre.

Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is a richly-deserved, lovingly-crafted redo of a classic. It takes one of Mario’s finest spin-offs and does just enough to refresh it while retaining everything that made it beloved in the first place. I only hope this leads to more Paper Mario games in this vein.

What ultimately matters, however, is that Elden Ring succeeds at almost every goal it sets out to achieve. It’s the culmination of years of refinement of FromSoftware’s formula. Mechanically, and thematically, this is a game making a statement: that you can buck industry tendencies even as you adopt their trends.

RGG’s also embraced visual customisation in a more in-depth manner than it ever has before here – not just with your ship, but with putting together custom outfits for Majima that’re mix-and-matchable, rather than rigidly set. You’ll spend most of your time in your getup of choice, ticking off suitably piratey sub-stories and goals in order to recruit new crewmates, as well as hunting down bounty targets pulled from IW’s array of different enemy categories to beef up your bank balance in refreshingly ungrindy chunks.

Taken individually, Hitman 3 feels like great value, with plenty of variety and lots to do. When taken as a whole, the World of Assassination trilogy is hands-down one of the best and most complete-feeling trilogies in video game history. It’s a fitting finale for 47 – at least for now – and it has naturally left me thrilled to see what IO does with James Bond or whatever else comes next. It might only be January – but I can pretty much guarantee this will end the year as one of my 2021 favourites.

So much information is communicated to you so naturally by subtle things – the clunk of an inert attack on an armoured enemy, or the slight twinkle of a fully-charged swing – that finding your own style within the skillset is instinctive. And that’s without the jarring stops and slowdowns that give knuckle-cracking impact to every hit and have you throwing yourself into each shot, like a football manager kicking every ball for their team on the sidelines. You get the biggest sense of this in the many, passionately fierce boss fights that punctuate the game. They do a great job of incorporating unique mechanics without coming off as cheap or overly simple. And, really, these boss fights are emblematic of what makes God of War Ragnarok great: they’re hugely successful meldings of an involving story and brutal action that not only produce an eye-popping, absorbing spectacle, but an impassioned investment in the outcome as well.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is everything I hoped it would be, and it’s yet another stellar release that showcases a confident Nintendo at its best. It is excellent, and is easily another must-own Switch title – at least, if you can understand and embrace Animal Crossing’s uniquely lazy pace.

Stray might ultimately be indie in size, but it’s triple-A in quality, and while it may only last eight to 10 hours, it’s a game that has touched me for a lifetime. I can’t wait to see how Straybrings people together, because that’s exactly what it’s going to do. Now, go hug your cat for me, if you have one.

This is a full-fat, planet-hopping, mystery-filled adventure that PS5 owners will lap up and non-owners will resent not being able to play, perhaps through no lack of trying. Miles Morales and Demon’s Souls were superb launch titles for the PS5, but we’re now through the looking glass. The bar has been set. The PS5 has arrived.

Crusader Kings 3 is my Game of the Year so far. If you’re looking for a new strategy title with some RPG flair that will suck you in for 500 hours or more during this endless lockdown, then it should be on your wishlist already. Better still, future support is already assured – there’s one expansion already in the works plus a few flavour packs coming soon if the huge base game isn’t enough for you.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster stands is a prime example of how to do remasters right. It doesn't cut or alter hastily. What Capcom has added, and what it has improved, only enhances the original experience. For Dead Rising fans, this is like a re-opening of your favourite childhood fast food spot, a brand-new un-torn version of your favourite t-shirt, or returning to a beloved holiday destination and finding all the places you've missed are still there and with a fresh coat of paint.

There’s just so much to love about Spirittea, and I’m very glad to be able to say that this adorable rural-life sim has been well worth the wait. As fans of Stardew Valley patiently wait on ConcernedApe’s upcoming game, Haunted Chocolatier, I hope to see plenty give Spirittea a go. It’s certainly one way to bridge the gap while we wait, but you might be pleasantly surprised by just how lovely - and truly addicting - this game and its host of unique spirits and townsfolk are. I mean, I would genuinely live in this adorable town where realities collide, if I could.

They say art is all about eliciting an emotional reaction; if you can do that, all the effort expended in creating it was worth it. I think Clair Obscur does that with aplomb. If you have ever loved role-playing games, ever, you owe it to yourself to play this. It has the capacity to touch you.

Dead Space doesn’t just place you into the role of Isaac Clarke, it forces you into his head, too. You’re constantly questioning if the apparitions he is seeing are real, and his physical reaction to the unbelievable events aboard the space ship only fuel yours further. You are completely at the whim of the USG Ishimura, and it never lets you forget that. Ultimately, Dead Space is a game that a lot of horror developers can learn from when it comes to creating suspense and a feeling of dread in its players. And as far as remakes go, Dead Space has me thoroughly pining over a decade-old series. That’s a success, if you ask me.

Tunic comes at a perfect time; in the middle of a packed release schedule dripping with titles that delight in killing you, it’s a calmer, more mild-mannered take on the adventure game that wants to engage in a friendly dialogue. It doesn't want to yell at you – it wants to encourage you. To explore, engage, and experiment. It’s the perfect palate cleanser, taking anywhere between six and 20 hours, and absolutely essential if you’ve got a fondness for adventure games with a potion in their pocket, a cape around their neck, and a twinkle in their eye.

What speaks volumes about Street Fighter 6, in a sense, is the length of this review. It’s long, and yet I barely feel like I have scratched the surface. World Tour is a slightly ropey debut for a really strong single-player format – but SF6 is ultimately more than the sum of its parts, and the core fighting system alone justifies a high score and a strong recommendation. The previous entry launched with potential, but was racked with problems. This is a worldie from minute one. It’s a must-have. And it might just be the most compelling overall fighting game package of all time.

Alyx has been the last week of my life, switching between this virtual reality world and the horror of our actual existence. In a week where we’ve had all the time to do what we want, it’s been hard to do anything but think. Alyx is the only thing that has grabbed my attention away, like an alien barnacle waiting high above with a hungry mouth and a sticky tongue.