While Final Fantasy XVI didn’t meet this fan’s expectations for a new series entry, newcomers to epic fantasy and action games will be swept away by the eye-melting combat and enormous-yet-approachable scale.

Mario Kart World stands in stark contrast to the original Switch’s franchise re-evaluation, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Where Link’s first foray into true open world design made for a generation-defining experience, Mario Kart World’s shift is uneven and chaotic, often producing frustrations alongside innovation and fun. A massive leap in fidelity and a lengthy development cycle have shaped a gorgeously realised world and roster of racers to barrel down impressive tracks with a small bag of new tricks. But the time spent between these breathless bouts is unrefined and clumsy, a world built for a console’s lifetime worth of updates that, for now, offers you little more than a freshly paved highway to nowhere. Mind the toll.

Conceptually, Silent Hill f is every bit the fascinating, uncomfortable step forward the series has needed for a long time. Its deployment of iconography, theme, and tone is both in keeping with what makes the Silent Hill titles so endearing and radically subversive for the genre space (at least within games). To balk at its gendered tale is to balk at the idea of Silent Hill itself. But Silent Hill f needs to exist beyond its concept; its ideas and commentary too weighted to celebrate for simply being there, and its systemic failures too omnipresent to not feel all the while. Silent Hill f is the step forward Silent Hill needs; it’s a shame it was onto such unstable ground.

With Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Konami has crafted a visually arresting re-release so fawning and reverent that it reads entirely incurious. Fans of the source material will no doubt relish the opportunity to play a more modern-feeling take on a generational piece of art, but such a seemingly important work should inspire more.

This spooky age of piracy has charming supernatural characters and visuals, but the hardcore stealth action on offer is an uncompromising, often unwieldy beast.

Ubisoft have built upon the foundations of its immensely satisfying city-building blueprint with a winning retheme, but a few too many technical and interface issues mean Anno 117: Pax Romana falls just shy of a recommendation.

The Night is Grey is a serviceable point-and-click experience that sees its gorgeous art style and animations overshadowed by a disappointing ending and frustrating puzzles.

A tight card-driven skirmisher is the beating heart of a deeply troubled Marvel game, burdened by feature creep and endless hours of terrible dialogue.

Repetitive combat and exploration pad out this wonderfully remastered cult JRPG experience that falls just short of a recommendation.

Rainbow Billy: The Curse of the Leviathan is a cute and cuddly family RPG that sacrifices depth for accessibility. This lack of substance may turn off older players who may be used to more complex affairs, but younger players and their parents will discover a great way to get acquainted with a popular genre of games.

As is sometimes the way, after reading my thoughts back I get a sense that perhaps I have been a little harsh. This remaster is undeniably beautiful, and faithfully recreates the experience of the original Ninja Gaiden II and its Sigma version on modern consoles – this much is certain. But despite its gruesome and oft entertaining spectacle, many aspects of its design, be it the one-note linear structure or godawful camera, mark it with a certain quaintness that isn’t entirely becoming. It was fun to replay this moment in time, but I don’t see myself going back for more. I’m watching very keenly to see what the extraordinarily talented people at Team Ninja and PlatinumGames can cook up with Ninja Gaiden 4 – hopefully we’ll see what a true modern reincarnation of this legendary series looks like.

Positively overflowing with meaty, tactical combat and terrific character writing, Trails of Reverie is held back by its dated presentation and sky-high barrier to entry.

Sumerian Six is clearly going to excite that contingent of weird and wonderful people who love to solve puzzles in a murder-y way. The aesthetic on offer, combined with the fun and fanciful tale of the Engima Squad meeting up and working together to take down a magical Nazi warlord, is plenty to grab you and hold tight. Just keep a pocketful of patience for any silly shit that happens while you’re save scumming your way to victory.

Despite the game’s issues, many of which I haven’t the space to detail, I could not help but keep playing. Although it feels like Guardians of Azuma would have benefited from a bit more development time, there was enough satisfaction and enjoyment in the steady cadence of explore-build-socialise-rinse-repeat that I simply didn’t want it to end. In good news for anyone sharing these sentiments, to a certain extent it doesn’t end; you can continue to explore, expand your villages, and develop your relationships in the post-game. The main gameplay components fit together like jigsaw pieces, and, if you can look past the issues, on the whole it’s a bit of an unpolished gem – multifaceted, perhaps a little scratched up, but ultimately with some value under those surface imperfections.

Generic boomer shooter gunplay and a stretched-out runtime could be make this a cold case for some, but the incredible rubber hose aesthetic and entertaining noir setting should help see most detectives through to the end.

Keeper and its endearing story of friendship and nature hits every artistic mark you would expect out of Double Fine, but its unengaging gameplay and lacking puzzles keep it from joining the studio’s top-shelf hits.

Age of Empires IV is a worthy return of an iconic series, but is difficult to recommend over older remastered entries. Newer players, and some returning ones, may find use of its new gameplay features but will probably end up scrapping them as they grow more experienced.

Which is the overarching tale of Senua’s Saga– for almost everything it does well, there is a better counterpart in its predecessor, the remaining new additions never fully realised. It is painstakingly crafted yet thoroughly unengaging, its ruminations on the human condition are not unwelcome but presented with unearned profundity and housed in gameplay that is apathetic to the player at best. Senua’s Sacrifice was a crunchy experience but, in its limitations, and focus, it blossomed into a striking, contained reflection of emotions through systems. Conversely, Senua’s Saga is undeniably gorgeous and well intentioned, but exhaustively preoccupied with its own reflection.

Fire Emblem Engage is enjoyable but leaves little impression. If the narrative was more compelling, if the character relationships were deeper and more interesting or if combat was more varied, there’s every chance that Engage would have felt more robust and impactful. In the absence of those things, Engage just feels…fine.

With some light visual touchups, Adol continues to dominate his PS2 era. The new sea air is good for his crimson hair, but the breadth of exploration can occasionally feel as broad as the Suez Canal.

Metal: Hellsinger enlists some all-star musical talent to bring its dream of metal-based FPS mayhem to life, but stumbles in finding its gameplay rhythm.

High Isle offers a number of fun, entertaining experiences. However, it focuses on mostly delivering more of the same rather than building and properly expanding on the game’s core ideas. It’s completely fine that it does this, but I just personally wish it strived to be a little more.

Short and sweet, Is This Seat Taken? manages to make a joyful puzzle game out of classically uncomfortable social situations. It could have done with a bit more variety, even in its short runtime, but this is one that will speak to a lot of folks.

Wanderstop is a well-intentioned take on the personal weight of societal burnout and the issues typically found in the cozy genre but struggles to find much ground beyond its initial premise as surface-level commentary and frustrating, awkward gameplay spoils the brew.

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity impresses with its narrative and fun hack and slash action from the offset, but dreadful performance and repetitive gameplay ultimately stifle its impact.

The atmospheric visual overhaul marks the best part of this exhausting and dated remake, while the villainous AI SHODAN remains a timeless antagonist.

In Sound Mind is a flawed but fun horror-adventure game. Flawed on the horror but fun on the adventure.

Playing through the thoughts and emotions that Izzy's feeling during a difficult time in her life is confronting and heartfelt in equal measure, making it all the more disappointing that Lost Words' core mechanic lets it down so much.