With production values that are through the roof and an extremely engaging story, Death Stranding is among Hideo Kojima's best games. The moment-to-moment gameplay, however, falls short due to its repetitiveness, and the long stretches without any real action make it difficult to recommend the game to all open-world fans. Death Stranding is something different, and only approaching it with an open mind will reveal the brilliance of its themes, its characters and its hauntingly beautiful dystopian world.

SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE is an engaging, albeit shallow experience. The combat is outstanding and still one of the best you can experience, only enhanced by the new abilities featured in this standalone. However, where the combat has improved, the taut and well-thought-out nature of the levels is lost due to the roguelike nature of the game, with the thought and surprise of the originals story lost in what is mostly meandering waffle here. Is it a good game? Yes, it's well worth playing if you just want the combat. If you want more, you'll likely be disappointed.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is as bonkers as you’d expect and fans will no doubt enjoy catching up with Agent York, but a lack of atmosphere, dull action, serious technical issues, and the creeping sense that Swery is becoming a touch too self-aware conspire to kill the fun. Deadly Premonition 2 is for the hardcores – most other folks can safely close their investigation after finishing the first game.

Beyond a Steel Sky is a classic adventure game because it's obtuse, complex, frustrating, and once you've gotten past that difficult puzzle, endlessly satisfying. Whether or not this will satisfy fans of the 1994 original remains to be seen, but this is the best adventure on Apple Arcade, and has a lot to offers fans of Telltale Games and other adventure classics.

F1 2020 does as much as can be expected from Codemasters, offering an oustanding racing experience on the track. Where it goes further is off of the track, bringing in an incredibly extensive My Team mode, as well as fleshing out the career mode with a full Formula 2 season. With a massive amount of content, great racing and quality throughout, it's hard not to love the game. The only real issue I have is the inclusion of the new Podium Pass (battle pass) system, adding a microtransaction for cosmetics.

Trackmania is a nice addition to the series, one that looks and sounds great and, even when it's incredibly frustrating, it's fun. The downside is the new monetisation system, a subscription service that looks like it could segregate the community. The game is very extensive and if the audience picks it up, it could be great for the same reason the other Trackmania games were: user-created content using an outstanding track creator and editor.

Crayta is yet another game that serves as a platform for user-created content. Despite the competition, it still manages to stand out and not just because the game is on Google Stadia. With its focus on multiplayer experiences and experimental design, this could become a fantastic library of titles once the community starts generating its own products.

Ninjala's action doesn't always deliver and the combat can feel unresponsive or slow when you're on the receiving end of attacks, but despite that, Ninjala is an excellent free to play multiplayer title that every Switch player should try out. If you like Splatoon but want something a bit different, this is a great game to play. Just don't expect the story DLC to blow you away. At least it's cheap…

With its excellent world-building and intriguing story, P.A.M.E.L.A could have been a great survival game, but it sadly fails to reach the must-have status due to a variety of issues. The game can still be an enjoyable experience, but how much really depends on the player's tolerance for mediocre combat, bad enemy AI and the many technical issues.

The Anno History Collection is as the name implies, a collection of the historical Anno titles. Unlike other re-releases that have come out recently, this isn't a remaster or a remake, with the games coming in their original glory with a few tweaks to enable modern resolutions, allow the games to run smoothly and allow you to play online. Is that enough to justify the high price? That's up for debate, as is the value you'll get out of each of the four titles, with the age of the first two really showing. You can, however, buy the titles separately. So do I recommend it? The games are good and there's a massive amount of content, it's down to you if you're happy playing some (admittedly great) older games with few noticeable advancements.

Despite some interesting mechanics that make the game feel like a true adaptation of a tabletop RPG, The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes is a cRPG that needed a lot more time in the oven. With some technical issues to boot, it is really impossible to recommend the game in its current state to any type of RPG enthusiast, as there are classic and modern games that offer much better experiences.

Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade is a rock solid collection of Taito classic shooters in one package that can be listed more premium than casual fans may be willing to pay.

Pokémon Sword and Shield's Isle of Armor Expansion gives the game the best environment and world design Pokémon has had in any 3D game, mainline, or spin-off, but very little else. If you're a Pokémaniac who is dead-set on completing another Pokédex, you'll love this, but if you want to do something other than filling out a list, this is not for you. This is not the whimsical world-traveling adventure mainline Pokémon games are, this is just boring.

Summer in Mara can be endearing and sometimes evokes the spirit of better games like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Wind Waker, but poor UI, confusing mechanics, and repetitive quest design harshes the game’s mellow vibe. Perhaps Summer in Mara can be improved with updates, but for now, I’d only book myself on this island cruise at a discount.

Samurai Shodown is a great fighter that looks beautiful, and deserves a much bigger audience than it has - but as of right now, there aren't enough players online to satisfy fighting game fans, and there isn't enough singleplayer content for more casual fans. The new characters that have been added since launch are great, but Samurai Shodown still feels like a game that needs an overhaul. I still have my fingers crossed that the future of Samurai Shodown and SNK will be bright, but I still have my doubts.

Valorant doesn't stray too far from Riot Games' plethora of hero-focused titles. With the fusion of high-level gunplay and hero mechanics, Valorant is both highly competitive and unfortunately too highly skill focused for casual players to enjoy.

Following on from Shadow Tactics, Mimimi Productions have continued their excellent form with Desperados. While the maps can be a little dull and the game arguably slow, the level of tactical nuance and environmental storytelling, as you progress through engaging and challenging missions, is second to none. Desperados III is an undeniably great game, the best in the series and arguably one of the best in the genre.

The Last of Us Part II is bleak and at times leaves the player feeling hopeless as they play through one of the finest crafted pieces of gaming ever to grace a home console. This is one game that people will be talking about for a long time.

Beyond Blue does exactly what it set out to do. It isn't trying to compete with action oriented games but instead focuses on a part of our world so often overlooked to create an incredible sense of place, beauty, and conservation out of the people playing it.

Disintegration is a somewhat fractured experience. The game’s quirky combination of shooter and strategy mechanics works, and multiplayer is a lot of frantic fun, but its single-player campaign suffers from some oversights, technical issues, and monotonous design. If Disintegration is a hit, I suspect it will be for its multiplayer, so while I’m being a bit conservative with my score now, the game will hopefully hover to new heights as PvP content is added. Whether you want to jump on your Gravcycle now is up to you.

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is, simply put, an amazing value for money at only $19.99. Containing two legendary strategy games that have been masterfully touched up, looking great and also including the ability to see the old view for comparison, the games have also been touched up with new modern features as and when required, without sacrificing what made the games the iconic titles that they are. There are ever so slight issues with pathfinding at times and the difficulty can ramp up at an insane level, with the AI almost seeming like it's cheating, but overall this is the best remaster I've ever had the pleasure of playing and one that I can't help but recommend to anybody and everybody, even those brand new to the series.

Clubhouse Games 51 Worldwide Classics is the best minigame collection on Nintendo Switch, but just like Super Mario Party, playing alone is an act of futility. This will be essential for gatherings with friends once lockdown concludes, but if you intend to sit with this by yourself, you might be better sitting out entirely.

Warface: Breakout is a very admirable attempt at a close-quarters competitive shooter, but in a market with CSGO and now Valorant, Warface looks to be the very weakest option. It doesn't do anything unique, and it's aesthetically ugly. When Warface: Breakout works, it works well, but as it stands now I do not see a future for the game long-term.

The Wonderful 101 Remastered is an incredible action game, one definitely worthy of playing for those who skipped over it on Wii U. The unique battle mechanics make it a standout and borderline essential for action game fans, while those more casual fans who just want a big explosive adventure will find a lot to love here. And if any game deserves to be played by a wider audience, this has to be it.

Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath lets its villains strut their stuff in a fun epilogue, and the new fighters are all welcome additions, but an overall lack of content makes it tough to wholly recommend this expansion at its full $40 price tag. Those new to Mortal Kombat 11 can get a much better deal, but if you’ve already bought the game, this Aftermath may not add up.

While Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition doesn't entirely look like a new game, with remnants of Wii design clear to see, everything else about it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with modern JRPGs. Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition has an explosive story, mesmerizing worlds, dramatic cutscenes, and a lot of heart. If you're a JRPG fan and you haven't played Xenoblade Chronicles yet, you owe it to yourself to give this game a try.

Minecraft Dungeons is a bright and colourful dungeon crawler, with interesting enemies and fast, frantic combat. It doesn't bring anything new to the genre, and takes away quite a lot of its complexities, leaving us with a simple, accessible, unremarkable yet still fun game.

Crucible in its current form feels uninspired in a lot of ways. While the heroes themselves would fit great into smaller arena matches, throwing sixteen players into an oversized MOBA map sours what makes Crucible unique among other hero shooters.