A comforting anthology for diehards, with some disappointing omissions, sweetened by the inclusion of certain curios.

Furnishing Jack with a pretty significant upgrade, Ghostrunner 2 is a more refined, leaner, and more sophisticated game than its predecessor – bigger, better, and badder. Badder as in gooder.

A gratifying new spin on SEGA's iconic blue blur, Sonic Superstars introduces co-op and a smattering of other neat ideas for the best 2D Sonic game since Sonic Mania.

Offering more vehicles, new environments, a story mode, and a raft of new features, Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged takes what worked in the first game, and turns up the heat. As far as knockabout, fun arcade racing is concerned, this is about as good as it gets.

Lords of the Fallen is enough to tide you over until the next Soulslike, and it has some arresting sights, but it lacks a focus of its own.

A fine game of ice hockey, NHL 24 improves upon last year's instalment, offering some slick new features, and all of the usual modes and other accoutrements you'd expect, all nicely presented.

The truth is, Forza Motorsport feels like it was released to tick a box on the Game Pass release calendar, rather than it striving to retain its place at the pinnacle of video game racing. And if this is the future of Microsoft's first party games, Game Pass might not be the big deal it's been treated as. Forza Motorsport no longer feels like a love letter to racing car fans, but instead feels like a leaflet someone has shoved through my letterbox.

In paring things back and zoning in on what really makes Assassin's Creed special, Mirage emerges as one of the most pure and enjoyable entries in the series for a while. Basim's origin story is certainly one well worth delving into.

FIFA 24 in all but name, EA Sports FC 24 continues the series' tradition of slick, authentic, iterative football, with more Ultimate Team, more Career mode, more Kick Off immediacy... more of the same.

Taking inspiration from Bloodborne and Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Lies of P leads the pack of FromSoftware imitators. It has an intriguing and arresting world and some brutal, assured combat. With a hollow hero in the middle.

If you're hoping for a decent single-player experience, you're shit out of luck. Payday 3 is a resolutely co-op affair, but then, you'll need people you can trust to pull of the perfect heist. Either way, this is a first-person shooter that's criminally good fun.

Outdoing previous Mortal Kombats in the gore stakes, and boasting a slew of meaningful and genuinely exciting single-player content, alongside the usual online offerings, Mortal Kombat 1 outstrips previous efforts, delivering one of the finest fighting games money can buy.

One part MotorStorm, one part Forza Horizon, The Crew Motorfest is a hugely accomplished open world racing game that brings across the best of The Crew 2, while sprinkling in a few neat ideas of its own. Also, the returning on-the-fly car, plane, and boat switching is enormously welcome.

Starfield is the perfect example of a video game that is equal parts brilliant, and equal parts flawed. Its open-world is nothing short of staggering, while its animations and dialogue are something best left in the past. Regardless of that, though, Starfield is truly an iconic experience, and will go down as an all-time great - of that I have no doubt.

It's not often we play a puzzle game with such a unique hook, but Chants of Sennaar's glyph deciphering conundrums and other gameplay twists make for something that's pretty much unlike anything else.

A cracking dose of fast-paced action, Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is a triumphant return for FromSoftware's mecha series after a decade, which proves both sternly challenging and deliciously rewarding in equal measure.

A fantastical magic shooter epic with a smattering of light RPG elements, Immortals of Aveum combines enjoyable FPS combat, traversal, and exploration to great effect, making for a memorable, often spellbinding experience.

Ramping up practically every facet of what made the first game such infectious co-op party fun, Moving Out 2 is a sheer unadulterated joy, and the most fun you can have dragging a bulky sofa around. As William Shakespeare once said, don't forget to lift with your spine.

Stray is a wonderfully crafted game. It not only manages to successfully immerse you in the role of an adorable cat, where exploration is key, but it also tells an engaging science-fiction story along the way.

A little short on polish it might be, but there's no doubting Atlas Fallen's credentials as a decent slice of good (but not great) open-world fantasy action.

Not exactly a huge leap over last year's game, F1 Manager 2023 is nonetheless an impressively deep, all-encompassing motorsport management sim, with an enjoyable new Race Replay mode. Just don't expect any huge, sweeping changes.

A spicy blend of story and delicious South Indian cooking, Venba is a unique indie tale that deserves to be savoured. As developer Visai's debut game, this is stellar stuff.

Remnant 2 is not only an excellent Dark Souls-inspired shooter, but it boasts an incredible amount of creativity and ingenuity, the likes of which we’ve not seen in quite a while. It’s a game full of wonder, mystery, and will keep you on the edge of your seat... even when you're getting your ass handed to you!

An impeccably made multiplayer dino shooter, Exoprimal has all of the right stuff, but, with only a single mode to play over and over again, it can quite get repetitive rather quickly.

A crisp and cracking remaster of a little known Nintendo DS curio, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is Capcom doing what it does best – bringing back its old games in carefully considered, elegantly made revivals. This is no exception.

Like Red Bull Racing winning every single Grand Prix, Codies brings home yet another cracking Formula One racing sim in F1 23, bringing back the excellent Braking Point story mode alongside all of that other good stuff. Break out the champagne – this one's a winner.

Developer Milestone lives up to its name by reaching one with MotoGP 23, providing the most accessible entry in the series to date, with fancy Neural Aids helping to ease in new players. MotoGP 23 also happens to be a polished, authentic motorcycle racing game that will also please even the most hardcore of motorcycle nuts.

We love Katamari, and you should too. Like Katamari Damacy Reroll before it, We Love Katamari Reroll+ Royal Reverie is a damn fine remaster, brimming with colour and verve. If it's a pure shot of fun you crave, then you can't really do much better than this.