Nintendo Switch Sports really is a game of two halves. Offline the game is sorely lacking in features but may still be enough for 'casual' families looking for some simple fun. Solo players, however, will want to head online, which is where the game's progression system (and its real longevity) can be found.

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.

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.

Total War Pharoah doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does introduce a handful of promising and sometimes deep new ways to approach the familiar formula. Combat is still hit-and-miss, but the approach to history and empire-building are among the best in the Total War series.

With a terrific soundtrack and clever rhythm mechanics, Cadence of Hyrule is the best Zelda spin-off yet.

Cygni is an exceptional evolution of the shoot 'em up genre, one that relentlessly pummels the player with enemies and explosions. Its combat is extremely satisfying and its lengthy stages and customisable elements make it the sort of game you'll play through numerous times. We'd be recommending it as a full-price game, but at £25 / $30 it's a no-brainer.

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.

EA Sports FC 25 makes smart choices so that the time you're spending in the game feels much more worthwhile. Rush is the best addition in years, and hopefully indicative of the future of the franchise.

Lego 2K Drive is a great open-world racing game with an infectious sense of humour and impressive customisation options. As long as you can cope with the typical 2K grindy microtransactions and take steps to avoid its major save-wiping issue at launch, it's well worth playing.

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.

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.

Romeo is a Dead Man is Grasshopper Manufacture at its most confident and its least conformist. It's got its fair share of rough edges, but the combat is satisfying – offering a challenge without being frustrating – and the sheer inventiveness in its myriad art styles and its bizarre plot ensure this is an adventure you won't have seen before. Anyone with an interest in wandering off the beaten track of familiar third-person action adventure games should check this one out.

Not quite Yoshi’s Island beater, but closer than he’s come in a long time.

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.

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.

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.

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.

An uneven action experience gets by on a huge amount of charm and a gorgeous visual treatment that more than holds its own ten years later.

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.

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.

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

Beat 'em ups were flatlining when Scott Pilgrim was originally released. A decade later the genre is in rude health, but it's a testament to the game's quality that it still stands tall as one of the better examples. Fans may be disappointed, however, that practically nothing has been added to the game after all this time.

Vampire Crawlers’ deck-building gameplay is incredibly smart, and the runs never feel like they stretch for too long. It takes every smart decision made in Vampire Survivors and translates it beautifully to a new style of gameplay. Even if you’re not usually a fan of roguelites or deck-builders, you need to try Vampire Crawlers.

Luigi's Mansion 2 HD is another strong Nintendo remaster which doesn't mess around with the original too much, but delivers enough improvements (particularly in terms of visual detail) to make it a worthwhile release. The controls still aren't perfect and Luigi's Mansion 3 is the better game but the sheer charm crammed into every crevice means it's still absolutely worth a look.

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.

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.

Le Mans Ultimate is an exceptional racing sim that offers quality racing. It's sorely lacking in features, however, especially if you're a solo player.

EA has delivered another worthwhile FIFA package, but while Street Football and FUT seasons breathe new life into some areas, others remain stagnant and barely improved.