Of course, Shenmue is showing its age, but both games are still more than capable of capturing attention in a way that many other games simply can’t. Everything from the characters, to the world, to the amazing score and story, is clearly a labor of love. Even if, like me, you still have the old DC copies kicking about, this collection is absolutely the best way to experience these games.

Don’t be fooled by the store’s slick images, Tyler Model 005 is a terrible game. There’s not a single quality that I can praise the game for outside of its somewhat competent upgrade and cosmetic system. This is the very product of lazy, rushed and sloppy development, making for an ugly experience that’s riddled with bugs, poor optimization, frustrating functionality, and heaps of loading screens, throughout.

The story is quite original and kept me engaged just to see what happens next. State of Mind is well written and does have a lot of quality voice talent, despite some audio issues that persist throughout. The technical performance remains very smooth, though its visual details and its intriguing plot is what holds everything together. By and large, this is a game for those that relish single-player experiences.

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.

Socketeer is fun to begin with, I’ll credit it with that. The problem, however, is that the game is littered with cheap deaths and frustrating elements that punish you for merely being curious or even just slightly careless. This is an unforgivable design choice for a game that incorporates perma-death functionality and boasts hidden secrets. Enjoyable in short doses, yes, but even then you’re likely to leave annoyed.

Treadnauts is a fairly passable couch party-like game that houses some interesting ideas and design choices, but is fundamentally flawed as far as varied gameplay content is concerned. This is the definition of fun in short doses, though, tiresome and boring in the long-run. There’s enjoyment to be had through the use of the game’s various modifiers and maps, but that’s pretty much as compelling as it gets.

Despite some very minor issues, F1 2018 is the best of its kind, and certainly the best in the series so far. The high level of visual and audio detail, grouped with the care and attention to authenticity, collectively makes for an experience that’s robust, faithful and deep. Codemasters’ subtle yet noticeable changes over F1 2017 takes an already distinguished racer and makes it bigger and better than ever.

Although many comparisons can be drawn from such games as Stardew Valley, Graveyard Keeper very much stands on its own two feet. This game will not be for everyone due to the play-style, however, if you are partial to the pixelated farming sim genre and have a curiosity for something a little darker, I fully recommend that you consider adding this game to your collection.

Hero Defense’s gameplay systems are serviceable, at best. Credit needs to be given to the game’s decent combat mechanics, which is arguably the game’s strongest aspect. It’s a shame, then, that much of everything else within is either half baked, too basic or fails to fluidly connect to the game’s core foundation. Hero Defense is definitely a lot of fun, but it’s hardly an ambitious, nor deep, adventure.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes takes a simple concept and makes it something that’s hilarious, tense and massively entertaining. It helps that the game is very accessible and easy to understand for both the direct player and the off-screen participating helpers, alike. This is undoubtedly the best party game in recent memory, one in which losing is every bit as fun as winning.

Polygod offers a challenging, randomly generated experience that’s constantly engaging and fun. There’s a lot of variation here across the game’s levels, its enemies and its pacing, which collectively ensures that repetition almost remains completely holstered throughout. There’s certainly a steep difficulty curve to begin with, but its greatly addictive core gameplay loop will keep you coming back for more.

Fall of Light doesn’t quite live up to its inspirational material, but even so, this is well worth your time and attention if you’re a fan of the core “Dark Souls” formula. There’s heaps of weapon, enemy and environmental variation across the board, all of which is tethered to an interesting world that’s full of lore and mystery. Camera annoyances to the side, Fall of Light is one that fans of the genre will thoroughly enjoy.

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.

Airheart isn’t a bad game, but it could have been much more than what it is if the developer had spent more time refining the gameplay’s systems to better feed into one another. The end result makes for an experience that sounds more compelling in description than it actually is in practice. Still, with its difficulty spikes, its squandered potential and its lack of story to the side, there’s some fun to be had here.

An absolutely enjoyable puzzle platformer that has charm, style and enough funny, well written dialogue to propel a simple, yet effective story. Beautiful art and designs round out the package neatly, however, some poor physics-based puzzles and repetitive music lets the experience down a little. That said, it’s certainly worth a play through nevertheless.

Megaton Rainfall is one of those games that clearly houses a great deal of potential, but sadly fails to meet it on almost all fronts. Credit needs to be given to the one-man developer for the sheer amount of ambition here, that much has to be said. However, the end result, despite its environmental diversity and its clever mechanics, makes for game that’s short, sloppy, visually bland and ultimately uninteresting.

Mega Man X Legacy Collection 1 & 2 offers a great blast from the past, complete with new and upgraded features as well as some additional extras, such as the history-rich museum mode, added modifiers and more. The gameplay is solid and is still as hard as ever, offering a real old-school and varying challenge, if you so choose it.

Defenders of Ekron is passable at best. I wont deny that the game shines at its brightest and is at its most exciting when there’s a lot of action on screen, but the moments that lead to that, despite some interesting ideas, often struggle to maintain grip. There’s also a few technical issues and poor design choices to contend with, on top of the game’s play-it-safe story. Fun indeed, but hardly compelling.

With today’s modern additions such as leaderboards and online multiplayer for 16 players, Forsaken: Remastered’s 360-degree movement gives it something unique in today’s crowded shooter market. It might just be the resurgence needed for a game that didn’t get a chance to shine all those years ago.

The Onion Kingdom is bigger, better and more detailed than ever before. Overcooked! 2 takes its compelling concept to the next level through added mechanics, new additions and heaps of clever functionalities. The game’s difficulty may spike from time to time, but nevertheless, it goes without saying that Overcooked! 2 offers a robust co-op centric experience that rarely gets old, with online multiplayer to boot.

Dead Cells is easily the best rogue-lite action-platformer game this gen. Developer Motion Twin’s care and attention to not only the game’s visual and audio detail, but its wonderfully developed multi-tiered systems, goes hand in glove to produce an outstanding experience throughout. The sheer amount of enemy, weaponry and functional variety within is as dizzying as it is impressive. Simply put, Dead Cells is epic.

Maximum Football 2018 is a game you’ll want to avoid for many reasons. Take your pick; extremely dated visuals, daft character animations, puddle-deep gameplay mechanics, graphical faults, technical problems and a complete and utter lack of polish across the board. Sure, the game’s main performance may be passable and it controls well for the most part, but that’s the max limit of the game’s pros.

Castaway Paradise has an obvious comparison to Animal Crossing, but in its current state, it’s a long way off before it’s anything truly alike. There’s an endearing quality to the game, but its repetitive gameplay loop, its bugs, and its basic visuals, ultimately holds it back. That said, this is indeed fun in short bursts and there’s no lack of quests to fulfill and things to collect. Just don’t expect it to meet its inspiration.

One More Dungeon is a basic game that doesn’t even try to evolve its quite frankly dated concept. There are far better roguelike dungeon crawlers available on the market for a similar price, removing much of the appeal that this game clearly doesn’t have to spare. Despite that, if you enjoy simplicity and can forgive the game of its issues and shortcomings, there’s some fleeting fun to be had here.

The Z Axis: Continuum isn’t likely to rock your puzzle-loving world, but it does enough to stand out on the merit of its interesting, manipulative mechanics. The game slowly feeds you into the basics of play before throwing larger, more complex levels your way. It may indeed be lacking in the visual department for more reasons than one, but it still goes on to present a brain hammering challenge nevertheless.

The game remains compelling throughout the entirety of play by introducing new features at a decent pace across its broad content, ultimately ensuring that any sense of repetition is kept at bay.

Jump Gunners’ most alluring feature is that due to its healthy serving of weaponry and its deep pool of destructible maps, the game constantly feels fresh and engaging, despite leaning on the same concept from beginning to end. If you’re on the market for a couch-play game that’s as over-the-top as it is action-packed and diverse, Jump Gunners should most certainly be on your radar.

Don’t be guided by the game’s daunting history. No Man’s Sky is now a near-outstanding experience that sits in a league of its own. Despite some issues with the game’s textures, delayed rendering and some unstable framerates, No Man’s Sky is a diverse, deep and ambitious player-shaped adventure that’s constantly intriguing.