The Champion’s Ballad DLC is a nice addition to Breath of the Wild, but not an essential purchase. Great for people looking to return to Hyrule, but casual Zelda fans might want to wait for a sale.

Black Myth: Wukong stands out as one of the strongest debut games released in recent times. While not groundbreaking in any way, it masterfully blends elements from several popular franchises to deliver an engaging action RPG experience that ranks just below the very best in the genre. Although stuttering issues and minor gameplay flaws hold it back slightly, these shouldn't deter any action RPG or action game fan from picking it up. The Journey to the West has rarely been this enjoyable.

Boxboy + Boxgirl is perfectly pleasant platforming that anyone can enjoy. If you’re looking for a new puzzle game to play on Nintendo Switch in bitesize chunks, look no further than Qbby and his new friend in Boxboy + Boxgirl.

Despite featuring a very familiar experience inspired by The Legend of Zelda series, Kena: Bridge of Spirits manages to stand out from the competition with its amazing visuals, excellent combat system, and puzzle design. The underwhelming story and lack of real innovation prevent the game from being a must-have, sure, but what Kena: Bridge of Spirits does well, it really does well, so much that it's very easy to look past its issues.

Gears Tactics is, simply put, an excellent turn-based tactics game that stands up well against titles like XCOM and others at the top of the genre. While it has some slight issues, such as disappearing characters and a story that can best be described as "more Gears of War", the character development is better than the series' average and most importantly, it makes slight changes to the genre that make it a tactical joy to play. From extensive character customisation letting you specialise characters and teams, to gameplay tweaks, like adding a slight movement boost if you end in cover or removing the idea of a movement and attack phase of a character, Splash Damage has created one of the best RTT games in quite a while.

Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes is a great game that offers loads for the hours you'll spend on it. While it doesn't feel revolutionary, it's still a lot of fun to play especially for fans of the two series.

Fire Emblem Engage’s story is derivative JRPG nonsense and its social elements are skippable, but the game’s battlefield heroics largely make up for its shortcomings. Classic Fire Emblem combat mechanics make their welcome return here and are nicely elevated by the new Engage system and a slate of varied, surprisingly-challenging maps. Fire Emblem Engage won’t be everybody’s favorite entry in the series, but it should be a critical hit with many seasoned generals.

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon’s restrained tone and quirky dual-character mechanics won’t immediately connect with everyone, but you owe it to yourself to give the game a chance. Bayonetta Origins eventually comes into its own in a big way, delivering escalating action, compelling character development, and expertly-executed fan-pleasing moments en route to a satisfying finale. This tale of friendship is the perfect companion for Bayonetta 3 and may even win over those who haven’t been bewitched by the franchise in the past.

Halo Infinite is, in my opinion, the best game of the series. While still faltering in the narrative, character development, and exposition, it improves earlier titles. Combat is entertaining and engaging, with improvements made across the board, but mention must go to new abilities like the grappling hook. The move to an open world helps the game stand apart, with added freedom to take the fight to your enemies and a vast arsenal of weapons and vehicles to bring into battle. While it slips up on a few occasions, from somebody who has never been part of the Halo fan club, this has given me a glimpse of what could be great things to come.

Endless Space 2 is a great 4X strategy game that is almost guaranteed to improve. While not free of bugs, including a few large ones, it's a title that oozes character. Each and every game offers the flexibility to play the way you want to and adapt as you please, while offering some excellently told stories with every game also offering a fresh emergent story to boot.

Tyranny perfectly encapsulates what makes a role-playing game great. With superb writing, an engaging story and setting, solid mechanics and huge replay value, the new game from Obsidian Entertainment is a must play for all true RPG lovers. Tyranny isn't just about the triumph of evil: it is the triumph of role-playing games.

Football Manager 2017 isn't a revolutionary update to the series, but it's the best in a good number of years. The new match engine is such a huge improvement and the AI enhancements add to the overall feeling that this is the most realized football management game yet, feeling more realistic than ever before.

NBA 2K18 has a few holes in its game -- the series needs to improve its writing, the ballyhooed MyCareer Neighborhood hub falls flat, and the tech powering the series is nearing retirement age. That said, boil the game down to its essentials and you have a rock-solid, well-balanced sports sim that provides an immensely entertaining shoulder-to-shoulder same-couch multiplayer experience.

Amnesia: Rebirth is a more than worthy new entry in the popular series, and one of the best horror games released this year, thanks to its engaging story, great writing, and a truly unnerving atmosphere that can make playing the game almost uncomfortable. If a horror game manages to achieve this, small issues like a lack of gameplay innovation and limited replay value don't really matter much.

F.I.S.T. Forged in Shadow Torch throws a lot of different things at the wall and tries to make them all stick. In the end, it's a bit of a messy mix of platforming, combat, robots, and animals that Dr. Robotnik would be proud of, but it's still great fun to play even if it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Ys IX: Monstrum Nox is a more than worthy new entry in the series, thanks to its gripping story, great exploration mechanics, solid combat, and a very tight pace that keeps players interested and leaves them hungering for more. The low difficulty level, dated visuals, and a hit-and-miss soundtrack impact the experience slightly but in no way tarnish the quality of the game, which is, everything considered, even slightly better than its excellent predecessor.

Hand of Fate 2 captures some old-school RPG charm, but deals a few too many bad cards in the process. The game’s appealing premise is marred by unsatisfying progression, punishing randomness, and clunky combat. Nostalgic RPG fans will find things to appreciate here, but given the popularity and diversity of actual tabletop gaming these days, it’s hard to fully recommend the half-stacked Hand of Fate 2.

Despite Yakuza Kiwami sharing a near perfect reflection of 80's Kamurocho from Yakuza 0, there's still an important story to tell. The city of Kamurocho welcomes all with a wide array of minigames, sidequests, and the most Majima cameos of any Yakuza title to date.

Blood & Truth is a fantastic roller coaster ride from beginning to end, coupling together an actually decent crime story along with two-handed gunplay that could only work in VR.

Kazuma Kiryu's lineage is ever present even as the streets of Kamurocho are swapped for the well-traveled streets of Kyo at a time when American influence was only starting to reach Japan. Despite being a period piece set during the tumultuous Bakumatsu period, Like a Dragon: Ishin! still feels like that classic Yakuza JRPG that fans already know and love.

Pokémon Sword and Shield have a few problems which prevent them from attaining classic status, but what's here is an incredibly fun, pretty, and enjoyable RPG that is hard to put down once you start playing. The loop of fighting trainers and catching Pokémon is one that works incredibly well here as it ever has, but I can understand why hardcore Pokémon fans will feel let down. Still, if you're not bothered by Dexit, this is a great Pokémon game to pour a couple of dozen hours into, at least.

New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a great Mario package, although still feels incredibly familiar. Multiplayer chaos is fun for a short while, but testing your skills against difficult stages is where Super Mario excels, as always. If you've not played a 2D Mario platformer in a while, this is well worth it, though Wii U fans who've played it before should think twice before purchasing.

Torna: The Golden Country makes for a fantastic place to start in the series and an essential play for anyone that enjoyed Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Ghost Giant is easily one of the most accessible PSVR puzzle games available in 2019, despite the control issues I encountered during my playthrough. There is a deep story about mental health here, but its impact is certainly softened by the cartoony adventures of Louis and his oversized ghost friend.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake is a hauntingly beautiful reimagining that successfully modernizes one of the series' most iconic entries with modern visuals and new mechanics. While the atmosphere and puzzles are masterfully executed, the experience is slightly dragged down by a combat system that can feel more frustrating than fun. However, the expanded story and atmospheric overhaul still make this a must-play for fans of the series and survival-horror fans in general.

The storytelling pacing in these premiere episodes has been perfect. If Telltale manage to maintain this level of quality, this could end up becoming the best season of The Walking Dead yet.

The Maverick Hunter X's adventures have been neatly compiled into one cohesive package. Whether this is your first or your eighth X game, there's still plenty of charm to be found in X's greatest hits.

Expeditions: Rome is a surprisingly detailed tactical RPG that takes you through three huge theatres of the Roman republic on a personal quest for revenge or triumph. This story is what you make of it, packed full of meaningful decisions that influence many aspects of the game. Adding to this story is a robust character development system that feeds into the excellent combat, with multiple side-missions to develop both characters equipment and stories, as well as your war camp. The game feels like it could become dull, but never reached that point and is one well worth it for any RPG fan.