With few standout multiplayer challenges and little compelling solo content, Bellabel Park feels overpriced and inessential next to the excellent original Switch 1 game.

Despite some ambitious ideas, beneath the surface Echoes of Wisdom is surprisingly uneven Zelda adventure. Few of its headline mechanics are utilised to their potential which means that, while enjoyable and charming, it ultimately feels less essential than other modern 2D entries.

Fallout similarities are distracting, but get into The Outer Worlds’ narrative meat and a more distinctive adventure emerges.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is Star Wars at its very best. A thrilling adventure with a stellar cast tied together with smart, expansive combat, and huge new worlds to explore. Performance issues aside, it's easily one of the best Star Wars games ever made and only makes us want more tales from the adventures of Cal Kestis and BD-1.

Starfield is the ultimate Bethesda game. It takes what people loved about Fallout and Skyrim, and casts it across an enormous galaxy filled with captivating characters.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater does exactly what we wanted it to. It's a way to play the PS2 classic on modern hardware, with a fresh coat of paint, and contemporary controls. While those looking for a more expansive remake may be left wanting, translating much of MGS 5's excellent gameplay to the PS2 classic is more than enough for us. After a difficult decade, Metal Gear is back.

This remains a thoroughly entertaining place to spend a few days, in fact, it is the most enjoyable PlayStation launch game Sony’s ever released. And for fans of Marvel movies who have been robbed of their cinematic superhero fix in 2020, Insomniac’s built a game in barely two years that plugs the gap nicely.

There’s something charmingly simple about Pragmata. It’s an 8-hour, linear third-person shooter with a charming, if fairly generic, story. We used to get dozens of these games a year; now, with this production value, they’re such a rarity that it’s a breath of fresh air.

Silent Hill F is certainly a diversion from the main series in a lot of (mostly welcome) ways, but it's still very much a Silent Hill game at heart. By focusing more on action – especially after a surprising twist halfway through – it risks alienating some survival horror fans by making combat the priority rather than the last resort, while some of its puzzles are too obtuse for their own good, but it's still an astoundingly beautiful game that horror fans really should experience regardless of its flaws.

An intelligent port that shrinks one of the best RPGs of recent years without losing the scale and magic.

Its new content may be underwhelming, but this demanding strategy adventure is still well worth a revisit.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 is the perfect sequel. The kind that improves on every aspect of the original, adding more meaningful content to the mix, quality of life fixes and throwing some interesting new aspects at players, whilst maintaining that core that made the first game so enjoyable in the first place.

The platforming won’t give Mario any restless nights, but the exuberant creativity around it makes for a bold, buoyant adventure.

Iron Man VR feels far more at home on the Quest 2 because the nature of its action is best suited to untethered play. There are still some issues with the game itself, however, that mean that even though we recommend it, we don't do so wholeheartedly.

Fans of the Two Point series will already know that Two Point Museum is a silly but compelling simulation which is easy to learn but hides a surprising amount of depth and variety. The new expedition mode, despite feeling a tad lootboxy, nevertheless ensures that this isn't just Two Point Hospital or Campus with a new lick of paint, meaning while we'd heartily recommend it to newcomers, veterans who thoroughly rinsed its predecessors shouldn't worry about this just being more of the same.

Though a tad slow to get going, Gears 5 has reinvented itself in ways many of us didn't dare dream was possible, blending what we loved about the franchise with a fresh story, personable protagonists, and some of the best visuals and shooting mechanics we've seen.

The new Forza is the best in the series to date when it comes to the look and feel of serious motorsport racing. Its relative lack of modes means it's something of a one-trick pony at launch, but that trick is an impressive one.

Mortal Kombat 1 is the best Mortal Kombat game to date. It looks stunning, has a brilliant Story mode, its new Invasions mode will keep solo players busy and, above all else, it's an absolute joy to play. Thoroughly essential for die-hards, lapsed fans and newkomers.

As long as you don’t mind a bit of mindless and aimless wandering, Lil Gator Game is a laid back and relaxing platformer (if a short one) that’s ably carried by its brilliantly funny dialogue.

Tin Hearts is packed with charm and its puzzles will keep your brain busy without ever being too cheap or frustrating. A few control and voice acting wobbles mean it's not quite as immersive as we'd like but it's a beautiful game nevertheless.

A brilliant conversion of an entertaining sim: if only all console ports were treated with this level of care.

Ghost Trick is a brilliant adventure that will appeal to fans of narrative-driven games like Ace Attorney. Its replay value is low, and fans who enjoyed the game on DS or mobile will find very little new here, but those coming to the game fresh will love what's here.

Hogwarts Legacy brilliantly captures the magic of the world of Harry Potter with its beautiful open world, engaging characters and exciting combat. While the open-world elements of the game make it feel more dated than we'd have liked, it's otherwise the best the Wizarding World has been in a video game.

Resident Evil: Village is a powerful monster, bolting together parts from Resident Evils 7, 4 and more besides. It’s longer than recent games in the series, yet still feels trim and sculpted as it shifts between it wide range of locations and set pieces. The downside of its eclectic approach is some unevenness, especially in a relatively weak opening act.

For all the deafening noise and fury of its street battles and set-pieces, The Division 2 is, at heart, a game of co-operative tidying up with incrementally better guns.

With a string of improvements across all its existing modes, WWE 2K25 outdoes its predecessor in pretty much every way. The weak link is the new Island mode with its cynical pay-to-win mechanics, but throw a Cena taunt in its face and pretend it doesn't exist and you'll find more than enough elsewhere in the game to keep you entertained for months.

Another great Resi remake that delivers action by the bucketload, but is somewhat lacking in replay value.

Switch’s Mario RPG feel like a love letter to the original game. Fans of the 1996 version will be delighted by the care that’s gone into recreating the SNES title scene-for-scene. For everyone else, this remains a charming RPG adventure well worth discovering.

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is yet another tremendous compilation from Digital Eclipse, as it continues to uppercut any challengers to its reign as the king of retro re-releases. The only sticking point in a flawlessly presented collection of games is the games themselves, some of which (especially the non-arcade releases) don't quite manage to break the Test Your Might blocks these days.

Doom: The Dark Ages gets so much right, that its main flaws come when the game takes you away from its main, excellent combat loop. While not every new addition works, the game’s new open zones are a treat, and the Doomslayer’s arsenal is still incredibly fun to run around with.

Sucker Punch’s Kurosawa homage has atmosphere and sharp combat, but it's weighed down by the genre’s more perfunctory tropes.

It's very much the Symphony of the Night revamp Castlevania fans asked for, but newcomers may relish its eccentricities too.

A solid collection of three brilliant visual novels, this Apollo Justice collection may not offer a lot more than HD-friendly versions of the handheld originals, but the quality of the source material means that's enough to entertain regardless.

Astro’s Playroom is both DualSense’s killer app and an unmissable, imaginative tribute to PlayStation’s history. Games have never felt this satisfying.

Digital Eclipse delivers another beautifully curated interactive museum showcasing the work of gaming's most unqiue creative minds. It may not span Minter's entire career, and some of his less popular works aren't covered in much detail, but the overall package is bursting with information and inspiration.

Comfortably the best kart racer on PS4 and Xbox One, and earning a creditable second place on Switch, this is a seriously impressive calling card for its unsung makers.

While it’s weird to see Nintendo deliver such a safe sequel, there’s no denying the continued pull of Splatoon’s splotchy skirmishes. Seasoned inklings can dive straight in; casual dabblers might find it a bit bare.

Battlefield 6 is exactly what the fans wanted, and what this game needed to be. The single player is fine, if largely tertiary, but the multiplayer shines. Extremely fun to play, rewarding and full of excellent maps and modes, this is the Battlefield multiplayer suite that will be bring those lost by 2042 back into the fold.

Ring Fit Adventure is a unique and entertaining adventure that could offer laxed gym-goers a compelling route back into exercise.

Nier Replicant is at once an improvement over the original while still retaining its dated design frustrations that’s not quite at the bar of modern remasters. Yet for all its flaws, the story, bolstered by its grand otherworldly score, has the same deep emotional depths that first won over new fans, and if nothing else, you won’t find a more mismatched bunch of outcasts worth caring about.

Two Point Campus takes its predecessor's lighthearted premise and expertly transfers it to a different environment. Its difficulty curve can be erratic andit has some bugs, but it's a laugh-filled time nonetheless.

Stray is a masterclass in environmental design, with one of the most engrossingly detailed game worlds we've explored. Like its protagonist it's a little on the short side, but what's here will stay with you for a long time. Essential.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land was already a fantastic game, and this new upgrade is worth the $20 asking price. The increase in resolution and switch to 60fps make it look and feel far more polished than before, and while the 12 new stages are essentially little more than an expansion pack, in this case more of the same thing isn't a negative.

While are no groundbreaking changes to upend the WWE series this year, the additions and improvements which have been made are positive ones, making the game another solid entry in a series that is now clearly out of its rut.

Dead Rising is still heaps of daft, gory fun, and the Deluxe Remaster is an excellent excuse to catch up with Frank. Almost every change that's been made to the new release is for the better, and while it won't blow your socks off like Capcom's other revisited classic, we're more than happy to spend another 72 hours with Mr West. He's covered wars, you know.

Triangle Strategy is an enormous tactical RPG with a solid turn-based battle system. Its epic plot and lengthy dialogue may be a bit overbearing, but anyone willing to take on an extremely detailed story will have a wealth to do here.

Yakuza’s new direction maintains the series signature drama and deckings, while finding rich new comedy in its weirdest beatdowns yet. Hugely entertaining stuff.

Wayforward's generous remake package keeps much of what made the original Game Boys titles great, with some significant improvements to presentation and multiplayer.

Pokémon Legends is the breath of fresh air the series has needed for so long. It may not have been apparent from the trailers, but this is one of the most entertaining, engaging and engrossing games in the entire history of the Pokémon series, and is highly recommended to both long-time fans and complete newcomers.

Marvel’s Midnight Suns combines addictive, deep strategy gameplay with a cast of characters that make the moments outside of the action just as rich and enjoyable as those in it. A lengthy campaign packed with missions to go on and relationships to form with Earth's Mightiest Heroes make Marvel's Midnights Suns a modern strategy classic and one of 2022's biggest surprises.

Lively combat and engrossing social clubs keep you busy, but it’s the much-improved detective story that elevates Lost Judgment above the original.

Like its 3DS predecessor, Pocket Card Jockey takes a delightfully silly premise and uses it to create an oddly engaging and highly engrossing puzzle game. Its repetitive nature makes it a one-trick pony, but if it's a trick you click with it's difficult to put down.

Charming yet challenging, Paper Trail is a beautifully designed game that will have you perplexed by its page-folding puzzles. A generous hint system ensures players won't get so stuck that they get frustrated, while collecting all the origami is a task that will likely turn even the most ardent puzzle fan's brain to pulp.

Nintendo has delivered a joyous compilation of three platforming classics, but it's difficult not to feel like it could have been even more.

There’s very little in Invector that you haven’t seen before, but that doesn’t mean any of its elements are unwelcome. Instead, Hello There Games has cherry-picked the more enjoyable elements from a number of different music games and brought them all together for a game that may consist of second-hand ideas but will have you up all night with that elusive ‘one more song’ feeling regardless.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is a sometimes compelling adventure weighed down by poor technical performance, and simple, frustrating and repetitive gameplay.

A bloated, showy post-apocalyptic melodrama that makes a meal of some engrossing mechanics and themes.

Mortal Kombat 11 is so close to being the best all-round fighting game package, but falls just short due to an aggressive need for currency grinding to unlock content.

All this enthusing notwithstanding, we're not sure Control is Remedy's finest action game – that accolade probably still goes to Max Payne - but it is perhaps Remedy's best-written and staged game.

Little Nightmares 2 is a cautiously expansive sequel which expertly paces its shocks and creepy atmosphere. The detail and weight of its locations are unnervingly believable, while its monsters are hellishly otherworldly. Exciting, brutal and darkly humorous, we just wish it gave us more reason to stay longer.

Jamboree is one of the best Mario Party games to date, due to the sheer number of modes available and their general high quality. It still hasn't managed to shake some of the core issues of the series (especially when it comes to balancing the game for younger and less experienced players) but judged against previous entries it stands out as a top offering.

Raccoin is a deeply dangerous game. Full of personality, deep, addictive gameplay, and a great visual style, it's a game I'll revisit for years. Some early game resistiveness doesn't dampen an experience that sits comfortably alongside Balatro and Vampire Survivors.

CrossWorlds is a brilliant karting game with satisfying handling, a fun portal mechanic and useful customisation options. Its weapons aren't as punchy as we'd like and it's unclear how it's going to keep players' attention long-term but it's a genuine, more traditional alternative to Mario Kart now that Nintendo's pointed its series in new direction.

A polished package of classic and modern games the entire family will enjoy.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard feels like BioWare playing it too safe. While it nails what it does best, like the excellent cast and interpersonal relationships, from a gameplay perspective it feels out of date.

Ace Attorney Investigations Collection is a solid way to round off the series' remasters on modern platforms. The point-and-click style exploration gives the game a slightly different feel to the rest of the series but both games are still legnthy, engaging affairs with plenty of fun twists and enjoyable dialogue.

Oblivion's importance to the history of not only RPGs, but modern video games, can't be undersold. It's a game that deserves to be enjoyed by a modern audience, and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is a great way to do that. Issues with the game that were slightly annoying in 2006 are maddening in 2025 and may turn off new players, but for millennials who still talk about The Dark Brotherhood, it's a lovely nostalgia trip through one of gaming's best RPGs.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is a balls-to-the-wall action game with a relentless pace and an almost comedic level of gory combat. It's very much a one-trick pony, however, and as thoroughly entertaining as fighting waves of enemies is, its tendency to recycle assets near the end of the game means it can start to overstay its welcome if you don't take it upon yourself to use the wide variety of optional moves available to you.

It feels like TT knows that this is very likely its last chance to do this series justice, and it's not only done that, it's created what is the very best Lego game, and frankly, one of the best Star Wars games that has ever been made.

While Horizon Forbidden West: Burning Shores is more Horizon mechanically, narratively it's the strongest story told in the series with excellent new characters and vital plot developments that set the stage for Horizon 3.

Another fantastic retro compilation from Digital Eclipse that celebrates the golden era of TMNT games with the level of respect they deserve. Newcomers may find a couple of the games haven't aged too well, though, and while there's a huge gallery it doesn't provide as much narrative as we'd have liked.

Assassin's Creed Shadows finally takes the main series to Japan, and does so in some style. With excellent gameplay, a compelling narrative and a massive, beautiful world to explore, it is so much better than many expected it to be. Even if it's not the game that saves Ubisoft, it did exactly what it needed to, bringing confidence back to one of modern gaming's biggest and most troubled franchises.

Borderlands 4 is a great RPG shooter with rewarding, engrossing gameplay. Some of the set dressing, like the bland new characters and pointless grappling hook, take the shine off, but the sheer amount of fun we've had with the game can't be overlooked. Borderlands 4 reminds us exactly why we were such big fans of the original two games, and falls on its sword in learning the mistakes of 3.

Sifu is a master of hand-to-hand combat, injecting its kung-fu showdowns with exhilarating fluidity, tactical depth and cinematic scale. Its structure is harder to fully embrace, though, as it demands a lot of repetitious dedication to even reach the final stages. At times that feels needlessly punishing, but the thrill of the fight should help pull you through.

Berserk Boy is a great modern take on Mega Man style gameplay and one of the better recent attempts to bring the 16-bit era into the 2020s. Its story is lacking somewhat but it's got it where it matters, with solid platforming and satisfying combat.

Despite the tumultuous landscape of live-service games around it, Marathon firmly carves its own place in the extraction shooter genre with an unmatched presentation and breakneck rhythm.

While even an excellent remaster such as this can’t make Skyward Sword a perfect Zelda game, this is such a drastically improved version of one of the most overlooked entries in the series, that Switch owners simply mustn’t overlook a second time around.

F1 22 is the best game in the series, but not by a distance. The improved handling and supercar challenges are cancelled out by the lack of a story mode and the superfluous new F1 Life mode, making for a game that gives as much as it takes away.

Monster Hunter Stories 2 is a solid and thoroughly entertaining turn-based RPG. As long as you can put up with some bad jokes and relatively low difficulty, there's a lot of fun to be had here.

As a sequel, The Outer Worlds 2 doesn't strive to reinvent its past foundation and does little to stand out in the RPG genre. If you're looking for new toys to play with, you'll find plenty of weapons and a much-improved gunplay to boot. Just don't expect to carry many memories of your time in Arcadia with you.

Newcomers may find it overwhelming, or slightly slow going in the early stages, but the campaign offers a great introduction to the genre, and the building blocks of Age of Empires. Don’t be surprised if you sit down to play a quick game, and then suddenly look at the clock to find that 3 hours have passed, your tea has gone cold, and the army that you’ve been meticulously building has been wiped by a garrison of archers you completely missed.

Arise is a beautiful, devastating and uplifting game that suffers from some technical issues on Switch, but not enough to spoil the experience.

Like any swordsman learning their craft, Ishin! starts unsteady and builds in confidence. Some ideas struggle to earn their place in the overstuffed mix, but with a propulsive tale, told by some of our favourite gaming characters, it’s easy to get swept up in Like A Dragon: Ishin!’s samurai cool.

For those who wished that God of War Ragnarok offered a bit more challenge or that Bayonetta had a bit more weight to its combat, this slick sci-fi slasher is the perfect tonic, offering both the perfect entry point into the Souls-like genre and a refreshing refinement of the well-worn character action formula. It may lack the naval gazing intelligence of the excellent Nier Automata, but when you’re having this much fun, it’s hard to care.

Hellblade 2 is a mechanically dated game carried along by its incredible presentational flair. For a game shown alongside the debut of Series X, it's not reflective of the story Xbox is trying to tell with its first party. As a result, it's disappointing.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a completely inoffensive, if somewhat bland adventure that will mildly entertain for the duration of its runtime, but won’t live long in the memory.

Gears of War mostly nails its strategy debut with an accomplished, but no-frills alternative to XCOM.

Three Hopes is one of the best musou spin-offs released to date, combining its tried-and-tested gameplay with a level of story depth that was missing in the Fire Emblem Warriors. Its sheer scope may be a bit much for players simply looking for a hack-and-slash action game, though.

The 70-odd holes have been meticulously designed, the shooting mechanic is wonderfully executed, and it nails that ‘one more go’ urge that only the best rogue-likes manage to accomplish.

Fire Emblem Engage is a great strategy game, but we don’t think it’s a great modern Fire Emblem game. Whether the reverence for the social elements of Three Houses came as a surprise to the team or not, the dearth of those moments in Engage makes it feel like it’s missing half of its core at times.

Bayonetta Origins sometimes feels like an idea half explored. In combat, two sets of fists are better than one, but adventuring never ignites in the same way. There’s a level of invention and style we’ve come to expect from the studio, but this isn’t quite Pure Platinum.

Valhalla’s sober detailed research is undermined a little by some slightly tipsy execution. But this is a hearty, bawdy Viking feast of a game which spins a fine tale and offers plenty to get your teeth into.

Sonic X Shadows Generations delivers a sturdy one-two punch of fan service, providing a solid remaster of a 2011 favourite and coupling it with a new game starring a fan favourite. The usual 3D Sonic platforming issues remain and the Shadow Generations open-world hub may annoy those who disliked Sonic Frontiers but overall it's a brilliant package.

These new additions don't always land as perfectly as it feels they were intended, but there's no denying this is the freshest the series has felt for some time.

More of a side-step than an evolution from Nioh 2, Wo Long is inventive and an adventure worth taking even if it’s technically suspect on PS5, but won’t live massively long in the memory once you’ve slain your final boss.

Avowed is a solid action RPG with an entertaining script, satisfying combat and impressively detailed environments. The inability to clean up side quests after the main story is beaten can be frustrating, but take your time with it and enjoy everything it has to offer, and you'll find plenty of memorable moments.

Epic Mickey Rebrushed takes one of the Wii's most visually unique platformers and fixes the camera and control issues it deperately struggled with before. The result is a far better way to play the game, finally allowing players to focus more on the wonderful art direction and storyline.

The Origami King contains some of the series’ standout moments – almost all of them related to its enjoyable script and wonderful, varied environments – but it also frustrates with some disappointing new features and all-too-familiar missteps.