Forza Horizon 6 is developer Playground Games at the very top of its game, delivering the biggest and most diverse series entry yet, and a triumphant celebration of cars and car culture. It helps that it looks utterly stunning too.

While it may not offer much in the way of an evolution over Call of the Sea, as a sequel Call of the Elder Gods nonetheless expands upon its predecessor in a meaningful way, though it fails to deliver a story that's as interesting or as unpredictable as the original. Still, some complex and well-executed puzzles more than make up for its other shortcomings.

A remarkably lovely and unapologetically cosy story of life in vinyl retail, Wax Heads has heart to spare, a diverse soundtrack, an inviting art style, and a unique record-recommending gameplay hook. Groovy.

TerraTech Legion is a pleasant surprise, emerging as a slickly presented, enormously playable, and endlessly addictive vehicle-based survivors-like auto-shooter experience that's well worth seeking out.

An absurdly fun and unique multiplayer throw down, Kiln might be somewhat light on content, but it more than makes up for it with bags of character, immediacy, and infectious gameplay.

Darwin’s Paradox is a stealthy Pixar cartoon, imbued with slapstick platforming.

An ornate and clever sequel that enlivens the formula, with a niggling hint of deja vu.

Who’d have thought that poncle could make a game as simple but addictive as Vampire Survivors, eh? Never played a first-person dungeon-crawler before? Vampire Crawlers is the perfect place to start - it’s a cracking fusion of turn-based battling and roguelite deckbuilding. Get it played.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire is fast-paced first-person shooter fun with an inviting cartoon twist. Developer Fumi Games' debt to DOOM and its ilk is plain to see, but it's the monochrome noir look and energetic animation that marks this out as something unique, like a rich stilton or something.

Beyond Words is never less than a pleasure, despite its plain visuals, and it keeps your attention with its delicious layering of mechanics.

Both an engaging mystery and a fine send off for Max and Chloe, Life is Strange: Reunion puts a nice cap on a saga that started life over a decade ago. The only question is, what comes next?

If you're none too keen on roguelites, then Absolum is unlikely to change your mind. But, if you like the idea of a stunning beat 'em up beefed up with the various trappings that come with a roguelite experience, then this will prove to be an unmitigated delight. Turn on the assists, and players of all skill levels can enjoy this.

An energetic and remarkably well made entry into the extraction shooter space, Marathon can be enormously harsh and unforgiving, but stay with it, and it can also be immensely rewarding.

Scott Pilgrim EX is further proof that developer Tribute Games is unbelievably adept at creating sublime retro side-scrolling brawlers,with sumptuous pixel art, fun and varied gameplay, and a brilliantly energetic chiptune soundtrack.

A fantastic third chapter in Capcom's brill Monster Hunter spin-off series, Monster Hunter 3: Twisted Reflection boasts a lovely anime style, an engaging narrative, and ample RPG depth. It's great.

Once again, WWE 2K26 delivers yet another fine bout of grappling, with a huge selection of modes and a colossal roster of Superstars, alongside a handful of meaningful refinements. The new reversal system might not be to everyone's taste, but there's no denying this remains an eminently playable wrestling experience.

Planet of Lana 2: Children of the Leaf emerges as a worthy follow-up to the first game, boasting a smattering of neat improvements over the original, a touching story, and, despite a few moments of frustration, an otherwise enjoyable procession of platforming and puzzles.

A brilliantly effective blend of the old and the new, Resident Evil Requiem succeeds in just about every conceivable department. It's tense, compelling, and an all-round good time.

While dyed-in-the-wool fans of the original might long for the pixellated sprites of old, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined succeeds in being a stellar, loving remake of one of the series' best, with a uniquely appealing 3D doll-and-diorama style. It's all rather lovely.

A truly magnificent game, you'll soon forget that Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade is based upon only a small sliver of the original – it's astonishingly epic in its own right, with plenty of surprises.

A '90s-style movie tie-in you might have seen in an arcade back then, had it actually existed, Terminator 2D: No Fate is a love letter to retro games and a sci-fi classic that might be short, but it's oh-so sweet. Hasta la vista, baby.

Fostering an all-pervading tension from beginning to end, Routine succeeds as an efficient jolt of sci-fi horror, delivering rich environmental storytelling and complex puzzles. The lack of help might turn some players off, but for those willing to stick with it, you'll find a rewarding and immersive experience.

Fifteen stages of comic book nirvana, fifteen perfectly realised Marvel characters, and a bucketload of references for fans ensure Marvel Cosmic Invasion succeeds as another superlative retro-style scrolling beat 'em up from Tribute Games. This is about as good as it gets.

Silent Hill 2 is an assured and richly made survival horror, a fine celebration of the past.

Monster Hunter Stories' tale of Riders and a terrible blight running rampant across its world proves to be gratifying, but it's the nicely realised, straightforward RPG mechanics that makes this a real joy, and more than welcome on Xbox.

Nearly twenty years since it first released, Virtua Fighter 5 still has plenty of mileage left in it. Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage emerges as the definitive version of a great fighting game, with meaningful new features, and challenging fighting mechanics that will keep you coming back.

Developer Digital Eclipse has delivered yet another riveting, reverent compilation of seminal games with rich behind-the-scenes insights, perfect versions of the arcade originals, and a slew of console ports. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection is absolutely essential stuff for anyone with even a passing interest in the fighting game series that allows you to violently kill your rivals. A flawless victory, indeed.

If you miss Burnout as much as I do, then you owe it to yourself to take Wreckreation for a spin. This is about as close as we're ever likely to get to a sequel, delivering blisteringly fast open world racing, and superb track building tools.

If the first PowerWash Simulator casually sponged away hours of your time, then prepare to be inexorably immersed once more. PowerWash Simulator 2 takes everything that the original did so well, and offers meaningful improvements to the formula. It's time to clean up once more.

There is a tone of playful improvisation to Ball x Pit – of pros in an experimental groove.

Retaining the look and feel of the original tower defence classic, Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted remains an unbridled joy sixteen years on – the colourful visuals are crisp and appealing, and the bonus content will keep you hooked for hours on end.

If you've yet to play a Katamari game, then Once Upon a Katamari is as good a place as any to start. Its time-hopping adventure offers a fresh spin on the series, with new mechanics and additions that only serve to enhance a winning formula.

The Outer Worlds 2 is a thoroughly enjoyable sequel, boasting an injection of adrenaline-fuelled gameplay compared to the original. We can't help but feel like it's lost a little bit of its soul when it comes to choice and consequence, but that doesn't take away from the overall experience. Just temper your expectations.

Another deep and compelling chunk of dinosaur wrangling, Jurassic World Evolution 3 also happens to be remarkably welcoming, though not at the expense of its detail and complexity. It also looks pretty slick, and it's got loads of Jeff Goldblum in it. That’s a win in my book.

Ninja Gaiden 4 is not just a beautifully gory return for Team Ninja's twenty-one-year tenure with the series, but it's also vintage PlatinumGames, serving up a relentlessly paced flurry of swords, lopped limbs, and buckets of blood. What more could a ninja fan possibly want?

Hypnotic, rewarding, and oddly relaxing despite its various demands, Little Rocket Lab is a fantastic cosy life sim that will unapologetically hoover up your time. And it looks utterly lovely.

After a disappointing showing with Battlefield 2042, Battlefield 6 rights the ship and gets the franchise back on track. Everything we hated about 2042 has been remedied here.

An inviting and enjoyable dose of brutal co-op combat and platforming laced with British humour, King of Meat wants you to entertain a baying TV audience for glory, and in turn, it succeeds in entertaining you, too.

Boasting chaotic and fun survivor-like auto shooter action with added mining, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor is one of the finest examples the genre has to offer. If survivor games like Vampire Survivor and its ilk are your poison, then I'd recommend drinking this one up.

Sonic and co.'s best kart outing to date, Sonic Racing: CrossWorlds comes close to achieving Mario Kart levels of fun, with enjoyable drifting and power-up based combat, as well as a neat gimmick in those realm-shifting 'world ring' portals that drop on the track. This is a bright and breezy blast.

Building upon what makes the series unique, Borderlands 4 is a triumphant dose of looter-shooter mayhem, with ample depth to match its fast and frantic gunplay.

EA Sports FC 26 is a matter of refinement over revolution in all facets of the game. It’s a slight change in course rather than EA Vancouver plotting a completely new course, and while it’s probably the best iteration of FC yet, a lot maybe put off by the price of admission for what is essentially a fresh lick of paint.

Earthion is a dream of future past, a late-career gem from Yuzo Koshiro, and a sharp-edged shooter that keeps you coming back.

After all this while, Team Cherry has come back and done it again. Hollow Knight: Silksong is a fiendish metroidvania that repays your close attention and your stress with rich sights and sounds.

Imbued with a similarly offbeat humour as Starship Troopers and just as gleefully silly and violent, Helldivers 2 also happens to be a fantastic bug blasting co-op shooter, whether played with friends or strangers. It's a thing of beauty.

It might not feel all that different to NBA 2K25, but there are enough refinements and new things in NBA 2K26 to make this year's game more than worthwhile. If you're a fan of hoops, then the lure of a new MyCareer, more MyTeam, and the always great NBA Eras, will no doubt prove irresistible.

A compelling and absorbing action game free of handholding, Hell is Us pulls you in with a gritty narrative and setting, then holds your attention with smart puzzles, solid combat, and a dark, dystopian story.

A masterclass in how to resurrect a dormant and beloved series. Like Streets of Rage 4 before it, Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is another beautiful, fluid, and endlessly gratifying game that stays true to its classic forebears, while providing something that feels fresh and vital. Superlative stuff.

A departure from its open world roots doesn't mean Mafia: The Old Country is any less grand in narrative scope than its predecessors. Not only does Hangar 13 tell a good story, it also delivers solid action and stealth, in an impressively detailed and evocative 1900s Sicily setting.

If you missed it on PS5 and PC two years ago, then you owe it to yourself to seek out Viewfinder on Xbox. It's a cracking, utterly unique first-person puzzler, more than deserving of your time.

Decades on, Gradius still proves enormously addictive and exciting. Gradius Origins is a great way to discover how the '80s and '90s shmup trailblazer helped to define a genre, with seven games that still hold up today.

I would be surprised if Ragebound is not the best of Koei’s Ninja Gaiden revivals in 2025.

A tight, calibrated tactical shooter that harks back to the genre’s best days.

Another unadulterated dose of raw arcade-style gameplay, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 follows in the wake of THPS 1 + 2, delivering another duo of reverent remakes brimming with secrets, skateparks, and new things. Soundtrack shortcomings aside, this is cracking stuff.

Nightdive has done its level best to make System Shock 2 sleek and fast, in the hope that a little of the revolutionary might leak out.

An enormously enjoyable and rewarding dose of reverse bullet hell, Soulstone Survivors tips its hat to Vampire Survivors with chaotic roguelite action, a gratifying sense of progression, and masses of variety.

Hades in a half-shell, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate is a fine roguelike action game that comes alive in co-op, but can grow quite repetitive when played alone.

A remarkable feat, Final Fantasy XVI looks incredible and plays like a wonderful dream, the combat in particular being exemplary. There are some moments when the action lulls, but this does little to detract from a game that veers close to being a masterwork. Two years on, the game shines on Xbox.

The multiplayer Control spin-off you didn't know you needed, FBC: Firebreak is an engaging and moreish shooter with interesting mechanics, an abundance of supernatural weirdness, and ample co-op fun. You'll never look at a sticky note the same way again.

Ambitious in scope and scale, Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is an enormously ambitious and remarkably deep Oblivion-inspired RPG. But in shooting for such a high bar, its technical shortcomings unfortunately hamper the overall experience.

Elden Ring Nightreign is yet another playful slice of experimentation, with breezy movement and rich multiplayer mechanics.

With the welcome return of Braking Point and some substantial improvements to My Team mode, EA Sports F1 25 emerges as another fantastic instalment in Codies' racing series.

Deserving of its remaster treatment, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is well worth revisiting (or, indeed, playing for the first time), especially, if, like me, you're excited for the arrival of Onimusha: Way of the Sword next year.

Yet another sensational compendium of classic arcade fighters, Capcom Fighting Collection 2 brings together eight seminal classics, and although there are a couple of omissions, what's here is great. For anyone who whiled away hours in the arcades back in the 1990s and 2000s, you need to get on this.

A hefty slab of pure FPS gameplay, DOOM: The Dark Ages nails just about everything, balancing brutal combat and a spot of open exploration beautifully. Crucially, playing as the Slayer makes you feel like an unstoppable beast - it’s fantastic.

As comprehensive as MotoGP 24 was, MotoGP25 outstrips last year's game with the addition of the Arcade Experience and three Race Off disciplines to master. New and returning features make this feel like a worthwhile update, and a must for all bike fans.

A sequel that eclipses its forebear in just about every department, Revenge of the Savage Planet is an immensely enjoyable platforming adventure with a lovely vein of slapstick comedy and daft satire lampooning unchecked corporate avarice.

Still crazy after all these years, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered takes the 2006 classic and burnishes it with meaningful visual upgrades, refined combat, and other modern touches. And it retains all of its original charm, that unique eccentric spirit left entirely intact.

A cult Saturn game comes alive, in a well presented blast of mech action.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage marks developer Don't Nod returning to its Life is Strange pinnacle, delivering a coherent and compelling yarn that expertly flits between an evocative 1995 and a friend's reunion in 2022. Bring on the sequel.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is probably one of the most impressive $40/£40 games I’ve ever played and puts a lot of full price games to shame. Thanks to some really unique battle systems and combat variety, Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG to remember. It’s bloody gorgeous too! Oof!

Move over KOF. Fatal Fury is back with a vengeance, and it's great. Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves is an attractive, immediate, and enjoyable fighting game with a lot going on. And, yet, it's easy to pick up and play, but tough to master, rewarding practice and perseverance. It's well worth putting in the time to get good.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows delivers feudal Japan to the masses in style. Sure, Ghost of Tsushima beat it to the punch a few years back, but Ubisoft Quebec’s effort is wildly different in so many ways and an absolute pleasure to play. Whether you like stealth or action, Shadows is a light in the darkness.

South of Midnight is Compulsion's best game by a country mile, emerging as an assured and beautifully crafted Southern Gothic folktale that feels like a bracing breath of earthy, swampy air.

British horror games are having a moment just now, and Rebellion has served up a witty, fun slice of apocalypse.

One part Hotline Miami, one part Duke Nukem, Mullet MadJack is an uncompromising and beautifully straight-up shot of first-person shooter adrenaline with a neat roguelike twist, all fed into your brain one frenetic minute at a time.

WWE 2K25 continues a strong run of wrestling games with another enormously enjoyable and robust entry, full to bursting with modes and playable Superstars, and an interesting new distraction in The Island. This is well worth swandiving into.

Sorry We're Closed is a cool game and a bit of a one-off. Ostensibly, it's a survival horror experience inspired by PS1-era examples, but there's more to it than that. It's also about relationships and love, in all their various forms. It's wonderfully weird, and we're here for it.

It Takes Two set the bar for co-op excellence, and while Split Fiction doesn't necessarily raise it, Hazelight has succeeded in delivering another stellar two-player experience, packed with a variety of superlative set pieces and clever gameplay mechanics.

Avowed is the perfect example of Obsidian doing what it does best. Choice and consequence runs deep through its veins, while the sheer variety of playstyles on offer is pretty damn impressive. While the lore and story won’t win any awards, Avowed is a great way to while away a good 30-hours or so.

Another Monster Hunter game, another eminently playable entry in Capcom's colossal creature feature. Monster Hunter Wilds is superb, with the new Focus Mode making for the most immediate and enjoyable instalment to date. A monster triumph.

On paper, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii sounds like a step too far into unfettered silliness for RGG Studio's crime saga, until you remember the series has always revelled in daftness. Submit to the game's enjoyable pirate fantasy, and you'll find that there's a lot of fun to be had here.

What I like about Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is not just its burnished look, but the way it relights the dimmer half of Lara's legacy and offers a different story.

There's a good reason that all seven of the games included here still hold up. They were great when they originally came out, and they're great now. Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is the perfect tour through Capcom's 1990s fighting heyday, and, quite possibly, the best fighting collection yet. Utterly essential.

It took a while to come to consoles (over a year), but Cuisineer was worth the wait. As RPG roguelite social sim genre mashups go, this is about as good as it gets. It's lovely and colourful, too. Cuisineer is a tasty little morsel.

This is moody, broody, and tranquil, like a good book.

Its camera might remain somewhat skittish and the upgrades here aren't exactly seismic, but Ninja Gaiden 2 Black, rebuilt using Unreal Engine 5, certainly looks the part and delivers immediate, lightning-fast ninja action, replete with buckets of blood and viscera. It was, and still is, excellent.

With Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Warhorse has favoured fun and impact over realism, and as a result, the sequel to the popular 2018 title has improved leaps and bounds. Stability and bugs are still an issue, but if you can get past that, then there’s a thoroughly enjoyable medieval romp to get your teeth into.

Proving once more that there's life yet in its killer sniping mechanics and expansive sandbox missions, Sniper Elite: Resistance is another cracking series entry, even if it's not much of an evolution over Sniper Elite 5. No doubt, Rebellion is saving the big guns for Sniper Elite 6.

In placing a lone hero at the centre of its historical Three Kingdoms story, Dynasty Warriors: Origins emerges as a much more focussed affair. Marry that to some stellar combat mechanics, and it's almost impossible not to get swept up in the overblown 1 vs. 1000 action. This is an unbelievably fun game, and certainly the best Dynasty Warriors game I've ever played.

An accessible Roguelike that might initially seem a bit on the short side, Ravenswatch has more than ample replay value in the number of characters, modifiers, abilities, and items to experiment with. If you enjoyed Hades and crave roguelike action of a similar ilk, then the fairy tale charms of Ravenswatch will scratch that itch.

The Thing: Remastered is worthwhile and no mistake. Nightdive's lovingly made revamp might not paper over the cracks of the 2002 original, but it preserves what made it a cult classic, while applying subtle, albeit meaningful, improvements.

Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 1 & 2 Remastered is a great way to play two underserved cult classics, with reams of extra material for the devoted.

If you worry that single-player capers with plush budgets and a modest claim on your hours are destined for a museum, hopefully this will delay the entropy.

It may not be nearly as culturally seismic as Final Fantasy, but Fantasian Neo Dimension is proof positive that Hironobu Sakaguchi is an RPG maestro – it's another memorable tale that deals with big themes and neat systems, and its arrival on consoles is more than welcome.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is an independent game, in the truest meaning of the term, and, beyond the hook of its mysteries, you may be drawn to it by virtue of being tired of other things.

A captivating trawl through four decades of Tetris, with a stack of archive footage and other interesting tidbits, Tetris Forever is also a superlative collection of games and curios that will satisfy all but the most demanding of Tetris fans. Essential stuff.

Expertly revamped and updated for the modern RPG fan, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is a great way to discover one of the most beloved entries in the series, with gorgeous sprites, lush environments, and all of the features you'd expect from a game released in 2024.