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.