Whilst its story is both welcoming and gripping, and its dialogue remains on point, Beat Cop fails to build where it truly matters. The core loop, although very serviceable, becomes tedious and repetitive before long, with little mechanical depth in place to keep things fresh. There’s certainly some fun to be had here, but it tends to be quite fleeting. In essence, it’s a generic management sim that, to its detriment, rarely ever attempts to innovate.

Writing this conclusion brings a tear to my eye; on one hand, Layers of Fear looks beautiful, controls well and does give you a sense of horror. But then there is the gameplay loop – as I started playing I noticed more and more that Layers of Fear relies more on walking and looking than traditional horror gameplay. After about 30 minutes of picking notes up to “read” (the voice acting was excellent), I was disappointed. I wanted/thought more would happen. My interest did pick up once we got the lantern, however, that was short-lived. Some of the puzzles were good but overall I was left very short-changed and rather let down by what I got (or didn’t get) out of it.

Aggelos is a love letter to fans of classic side-scrolling platformers. Despite a few glaring issues, the game achieves greatness through staying true to its formula, through not holding back on its difficulty, and through maintaining a pace that effortlessly keeps things interesting and unique. Whilst this may not be the best adventure of its kind, it’s certainly high up there, and in the midst of so many retro-inspired releases, that’s a feat in itself.

Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is glorious to look at with an endearingly oddball approach to character design. A combat system that rewards and a story that goes deeper than the ornery main character suggests.

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble sticks close to the source material in the way the story plays out and most of their likenesses. The combat is robust and fast paced and great to be played along with friends if you like games like the turtles beat ’em up games. It’s a shame there is no online co-op play but they have provided some ways to replay the game to improve the longevity, and it is quite fun to play through, especially if you are fans of the original films.

I really quite like Tannenberg. It’s committed to presenting WW1 in a pretty chilling way, yet still manages to be a fun, challenging online multiplayer shooter. The levelling progression menus are a bit confusing, and there’s not all that many people playing it yet, but get a good squad to go into battle with and I think you’ll be won over.

Aside from the lack of online co-op, Battletoads is put together beautifully, with tremendous hand animated graphics, well written and witty storyline, and tight controls which made me very happy as I was fighting my way through the enemies.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is off to a fantastic start. Telltale looks to have finally returned to true form here, serving up a well paced story that’s thrilling, engaging and consistently tense. Credit also needs to be given to the writing and the voice acting, which is the best we’ve seen from Telltale for quite some time. If this quality is maintained, the series is certainly set to go out with a bang.

Those of you who already have an interest in Space faring expeditions will likely get the most out of Mars Horizon, as otherwise the fairly bland gameplay and presentation may well put you off digging into the experience. There’s a good amount of educational merit to it though, so hopefully it’ll inspire more people to learn! But if I’m completely honest, the most fun I had from Mars Horizon came from the controller vibrating in my lap during rocket launches. And yes, Bigger is Better. Lol.

SYNTHETIK: Ultimate is a decent rogue-lite game but it has made a lot of choices that could compromise the experience based on the player. They have tried to combat this with difficulty modifiers and game customisations, but it’s not normal to have to tweak the game this much before you can play a game without being frustrated. Once you have got past that, the game is a decent challenge and there is some variety on offer. The weak storyline, the unclear level progression and inventory organisation might, unfortunately, might put many off.

Reverie Knights Tactics is a decent attempt at a strategy RPG. I found the combat quite similar to the publishers other game Fell Seal but not as complex or interesting. The story had potential but it lacked too much content so you didn’t get the background of the setting or the characters. But for 10 hours it’s still a fun playthrough if you enjoy this style of game but those puzzles will frustrate you.

As someone who is not blinded by nostalgia I personally loved this game. It reminded me of Super Mario 64 or, at the least. Banjo and Kazooie. It’s a fun and entertaining platformer, whether you believe it’s just a kids game or not. There’s a reason why this game was called a classic and I can see why now. With its new paint job it just renewed its title. You have a few problems with the load times and hit detection, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that this game is amazing.

Battle Alliance seems like it will be a love letter to fans of the series with so much content to unlock and so many battles to experience. For those that don’t care for the franchise, the offering is very slim.

The visuals are amazing, the game is simple and it has a heart, that I can say about Minecraft Legends. There are things that could’ve been done better and it’s not as complex as the Civilization games – or any strategy game for that matter – but Mojang and Blackbird Interactive get my respect for venturing off into the unknown and finding a treasure like this.

2064: Read Only Memories offers up an excellent story that’s set within an intriguing world. The game is held back by some poor design choices and overly simplistic puzzle logic, but for those that seek nothing more than a decent plot, this has you covered.

Woodle Tree 2: Deluxe+ for me is a sound 3D platformer and is not over-complex, though it does seem to have confused its target market somewhat. With its simple story and cute graphics, you would think the game is aimed at the younger generation. But with the tricky combat and awkward jumping at times, you would need to be a slightly more accomplished gamer to be able complete some areas, as it requires a level of nerve and patience the younger generation don’t usually have.

Pawarumi isn’t going to change the game industry, but it will be there to set a president for other top-down shooters, with its complex and appealing style and great controls this game may be short in longevity but it could last a while for true fans of the genre.

Assassin’s Creed Rogue Remastered brings back one of the most interesting titles in the series, along with all previously released DLC. The visual improvements are top notch for the most part, but technical issues from the original version have come along for the ride too. That being said, it’s well worth a trip down memory lane, warts and all.

Maneater is another great title from Tripwire, plenty of blood and adventure packed into this single player shark fest. Full of fun and great gameplay I highly recommend to any Jaws fan or horror nut out there. The only thing I’d like to see next time… Online shark battles.

Issues with its fluctuating difficulty curve and its short campaign length to the side, Ninjin is a decent beat ’em up that does a great job at combining its varying elements together to produce such a fast-paced and chaotic adventure. The gameplay goes a lot deeper than expected, and with support for both online and local multiplayer included, there’s little to scoff at here.

I came into The Survivalists with high hopes, being such a fan of The Escapists. Sadly I came away from my time with it underwhelmed. There’s certainly fun to be had, and the feel of Escapists is here is parts, but some of the elements, such as the lack of storage space when out exploring, kept bringing my experience further down the longer I played. Here’s hoping Team 17 can bring me back in with the eventual (please) Escapists 3.

Button City is the epitome of chill. Even when the tales touch on heavier subjects, it’s both handled sensitively while also never really getting us down. A great way to spend a few evenings, you’ll leave Button City having made a bunch of really cute new friends!

I know I am not the intended audience, however, I did have fun with this kart racer. Controls are simple with the added feature of auto acceleration for the younger players (or the lazy ones like me), while the graphics look good and are on point for the Gigantosaurus world.

Real-time Worms action is something all previous fans of the series have probably thought about at one point, and it’s nice to not only see it happen but have it modernised in the popular battle royale style. It’s simple enough to pick up and play and the cross platforming means you can squad up with your friends using other platforms too. I found it fun to play and a decent addition to the Worms series. My only gripe is that sometimes there are too many explosions on-screen to keep track of your worm at times.

Inquisitor Martyr is a great game despite the occasional technical flaw. There’s no shortage of mission, weapon and enemy variation within, making for a Diablo-like experience that’s faithful to the source material. Support for local and online co-op is present, though, regardless as to whether you go into this as a solo player or with friends, Inquisitor Martyr’s engaging gameplay will keep you firmly entertained.

Fishing Sim World offers a soothing, robust and faithful representation of its real-world counterpart. I take issue with the game’s lack of atmosphere and its hands-off tutorial system, but outside of that, there’s little else to scoff at here. When all is said and done, Fishing Sim World manages to tick many of the boxes that it needed to, it’s deep, diverse and packed with choice.

Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions is definitely made for a select audience. Unfortunately it’s an audience I don’t see myself being a part of for very long. But if you are passionate about jigsaw puzzles you get a fairly large assortment for the cost of $11.99. Sweet dreams.

Demon Tier+ is a fun dungeon crawler with some interesting ideas which worked well for me. This gaming style prevents over-grinding to allow you to breeze through, and the dual currency part of the game is interesting. It has a decent amount of challenge to it to keep it interesting too. I recommend this to dungeon crawler fans, as there is a lot to keep you coming back, aiming to get that much further each time.