Ultimately, the more you give to Indika, the more you get out of it; whether it’s pondering the philosophical questions it asks you or soaking in the environment… just don’t anticipate any concrete answers. Indika wants you to come to those conclusions yourself, much like its troubled protagonist.

Ultimately, the game's story is a fun one that does touch on some heavier themes, too. But it's the collective action at Spino that helps it feel special. Sand Land feels like a game that you can't believe wasn't originally released on the PS2. It's the fact that you can so strongly feel Toriyama within the game that that results in it feeling like a wonderful, imperfect send-off for one of the most influential artists ever. It won't knock your socks off, and I doubt it will be part of the game of the year conversations further down the road. But I don't care. I'm just happy to step into an old, but new, Toriyama world once last time.

If you can stomach that pesky cake-carrying elephant, Stellar Blade is well worth your time. It's not perfect - there's room for improvement, sure - but having experienced Shift Up's first venture into a triple-A console release I'm along for the ride from here on out.

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.

Peach’s foray onto the stage is is full of whimsy and many moments of sheer joy, just as 2023's Super Mario Wonder is, but the difference is that this is Peach’s game – and hers alone. Despite the Sour Bunch trying to sully the Sparkle Theater’s reputation, Princess Peach is here - as a Cowgirl, Ninja, Detective, and so forth - to put a stop to that. And she puts on a wonderful, replayable, empowering performance while doing so.

Much of what you can experience in Rise of the Ronin has been done better elsewhere. Team Ninja picked the wrong edges to smooth off. Rather than go down the Elden Ring road of allowing freedom of exploration and discovery to balance out the challenge of combat, Rise of the Ronin instead takes a step backwards to the era of rigid open-world games that put players on treadmills, and train them to expect rewards when the bell rings. It's a disappointing change of stance from Team Ninja, and one that could leave them open to an unfortunately mortal blow.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is wickedly clever, tightly designed, self-aware in all the right ways, and refreshingly unconcerned with whatever the latest trends are. The only game Dragon’s Dogma 2 is really interested in iterating on and answering to is the original Dragon’s Dogma. For fans of that game there’s delightful bonuses, references, and punch-the-air moments, too. But even for newcomers, what should be plain is that Dragon’s Dogma 2 does its own thing - and its own thing is magnificent.

Standing on its own, Unicorn Overlord is an excellent expansion of Vanillaware’s now-trademark visual style and its newer RTS mechanics, offering both gripping strategy and an atmospheric pulp fantasy world that you're going to want to sink hours and hours into.

But if you’re hoping to scare yourself senseless and expose yourself to plenty of shocking scenarios as a reagent for the Murkoff Corporation, with or without friends, The Outlast Trials is undoubtedly worth its retail cost of £24.99 / $29.99 (via Steam) at launch, but if you’re expecting a game that you’ll replay well into 2024 and beyond, I’d temper your expectations.

If there’s one thing Expeditions and its terrifying muddy siblings will teach you, it’s that eventually overcoming the perils of picturesque, but unyielding nature through sheer relentlessness will never stop feeling rewarding.

Flaws be damned, scores be damned, though. In my heart, this will inevitably end up as one of my favorite games of 2024 - its vibes are simply irresistible.

It’s an extremely funny, well-made, and once-traditional co-op game stuck in a live service cage that makes it sadder and more tiring as time goes on. Will the most demanding content in the game convince players to stick around and actually engage with the ‘numbers go up’ systems? I don’t think so, but I’m not writing it off just yet.

The problem is that, as many of us know, gacha games are inherently exploitative, and even though I'm confident in resisting spending any money on them, I still feel a bit strange about the pull I'm experiencing towards such a game thanks to a seperate, supposedly stand-alone RPG. Should you play Relink for a taste of Granblue Fantasy's world? I think so! But go in knowing that it won't give you everything you might want, and take it as it is.

At a certain point you have to step back and judge a game for what it is rather than what it isn’t. After all, if you want the female protagonist there’s Portable, and if you want the epilogue there’s FES. But as a stand-alone thing – as a convenient, modern, and attractive way to experience a truly great RPG classic – Persona 3 Reload is a wonderful offering.

The Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a little less consistent when compared to the two collections that preceded it, but it's still doing the good work of bringing a gem of a series to new platforms and audiences at a time when these games otherwise risk being left behind. Whether its slightly shaky attempts to position itself as a stand-alone trilogy will prove an effective draw for new players remains to be seen, but of course it's an absolute must-play if you're already a fan of the series — and if you were drawn into the franchise through the last two remastered collections and haven't encountered these three games yet, you're in for a particular treat.

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.

If this review appears glowing, frankly that's how I feel about the game. It's without a doubt my favourite fighting game out right now, and I've been fiending to get back online ever since they took the pre-release servers down. The one scratch on the game's spotless form is online infrastructure that doesn't quite live up to other games on the market right now, which makes it hard to recommend to those with seperated friend groups or subpar online connections. If neither of those apply to you, Tekken 8 is absolutely worth picking up at your earliest convenience.

Ultimately, Palworld is good fun. I’m looking forward to seeing how multiplayer works out with my friends. It’s easy to argue that much of Palworld’s best bits feel like they’ve been lifted from somewhere else, somewhere that has not been intentionally disavowed as an inspiration. Palworld definitely has some features worth admiring, and is finally letting keen monster-collectors dabble in the whole ‘what if Pokemon, but dark and violent’ query that many of us have often had, but I’m quite disappointed in how unoriginal it often feels. [Early Access Review]

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a smart game that makes you feel even smarter. It’s a Metroidvania that’s learned from the best, but without sacrificing any element of its own personality – for better and for worse. Beneath the gaudy graphics and cheeseball story, there’s a hardcore platforming heart bruised by punishing combat. Middling boss design aside, this is a game that you can sink an easy 30 hours into. And you’ll come away feeling clever, powerful, and dexterous.

Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is a bonefide cure-all for your fighting game ailments. A banger release, right at the end of the year.

Like it or not, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora feels like the perfect companion piece to James Cameron’s movies: it’s big but often intimate. Savage but calm. Familiar but charming. Even without playing a single minute of it, you should know whether it’s something you want to play. If you decide to make the jump, I suggest letting go of cheap analogies and using Na’vi instincts first and gamer brain second.

It’s a game I could easily see myself winding down with during the evenings, ticking off my to-do list of tasks while wrapped up cosily. The music, the style, the brief thrill of finding rare components or clearing dungeons; it gives me the same feelings that Harvest Moon once did, but God damn, there’s a lot to be cracking on with at any given moment. With that in mind, I think it’s about time I return to Sandrock.

So, it’s a little on the easy side. But in the 90s, Mario RPG created a new generation of role-playing fans with a mix of whimsy, magic, and familiar characters that back then was incredibly uncommon. This remake retains all of that - all of the stuff that matters. At some point, I have to accept that us old’uns who remember it probably aren’t the primary audience for this remake - and that’s okay, too. It’s an easy recommendation, regardless.

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.

The most important thing about EA Sports WRC is that I’m pretty sure I’ll get addicted to the moments its recreation of rallying can provide across its plethora of modes. As with Dirt Rally 2.0, it’s those simple, brief moments when you get into a perfect adrenaline-fuelled flow and feel - just for a second - like you are as good as Colin McRae, that’ll keep me coming back for more, no matter how many trees I hit in between them. I'm pleased and relieved to report that post-acquisition Codemasters still understands what makes a good rally game tick.

My big takeaway from Like A Dragon Gaiden is that I really hope RGG does more side stories in the future or at least takes a similar approach to new mainline games. The chance to slow down and experiment with character growth, different storytelling styles, and a more focused approach to narrative building paid off brilliantly with Joryu’s tight tale.

Your mileage with WarioWare: Move It will inevitably vary. What do you want from this game? If you want the classic microgames experience, it isn’t really here. If you want a killer multiplayer game to play with the family over the holiday season (assuming everyone is able-bodied), it’ll be ideal. I can’t wait to play this more with friends. But I don’t see any reason to boot it on my own again any time soon.

The only thing malfunctioning around here is the economics of game production. And from that struggle, under circumstances that echo those of the original movie’s troubled production, a brilliant piece of work emerges, that somehow nails every part of the brief and finally proves that Robocop can inspire worthy sequels. And if it didn't look a bit ropey sometimes, I doubt it would feel like Robocop: a stop-motion ED-209 falling down some stairs is goofy as hell, after all, but none of the CGI perfect ED-209s in the 2014 remake ever did anything goofy, and it was crap. So. Y'know.