Rockstar knows quality like no other. Developers across the world will be learning from Red Dead Redemption 2 for a great many years to come. The care and attention to detail within is second to none, and the depth throughout the entirety of the game’s stunning open world, as well as every component that it encompasses, is unrivaled. Simply put, Red Dead Redemption 2 is not just ambitious and revolutionary, it’s a masterpiece.

FromSoftware has combined everything they learned while designing their past games and created something that will stand as a benchmark for years to come. Elden Ring is probably the most accessible game in their Soulsborne series, but it is very difficult. This difficulty and the esoteric nature of their design isn’t for everyone, but if you like fantasy RPGs there is no question as to whether you should give this a try. The amount of enjoyment, excitement, wonder, and reward I have felt while playing this game is unmatched. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like it before. Elden Ring is easily the best game I’ve played so far this year, and I know it’s early but it should be in the discussion when talking about the greatest games of all time.

Surprising no one, Hades II is a stellar example of the roguelike genre, with excellent combat, rewarding loops and progression, and for those that are willing to spend the time a dense and expansive story and lore to dig into.. Packed with more game than meets the eye, Hades II is something we’ll be playing for a long time to come.

Celeste offers a bold and beautiful story that will touch anyone who can relate to its plot foundation. It’s a brilliantly designed and gorgeously presented experience throughout the entirety of play. Perhaps Celeste’s greatest achievement, however, is that it appeals to speedrunners, thrill seekers, and completionists alike. Furthermore, it doesn’t alienate genre newcomers thanks to how accessible it is.

Based on all the praise and awards Hades has received over the past year, the bar was set pretty high, some might say as high as Mount Olympus (I had to include one bad pun, sorry). I’ve tried to set this aside as I played the game and write this review, but it’s been difficult. Hades is a great game, and I feel safe saying that it’s in the upper echelon of roguelike/lite games, but in the end, I think there are a handful of issues that hold it back from being immortal (sorry, one more).

Without wanting to sound preachy, just know that you’ve never played anything like The Stanley Parable, and this Ultra Deluxe edition just expands on that in ways I couldn’t have foreseen. There are a lot of titles that gain short term notoriety thanks to the memes or streamers reacting, but this will outlast anything else that has come before and deserves to be considered one of the very best game experiences of all time.

Split Fiction is a fantastic game, polished to perfection, I can’t imagine how the developers are going to top this.

Whether you’re returning to Raccoon City after a number of years, or, this is your first trip to the ill-fated locale, there’s no better way to experience Resident Evil 2 than this remake. While remaining true to the overall arc of the original game, everything here has been tweaked, updated, and twisted into a truly brilliant survival horror. One that proves that no one does it quite like Capcom. Make no mistake about it, this, is a must-have.

Forza Horizon 4 is the most stunning, deepest and most engaging Forza Horizon game to date. The sheer volume of utterly diverse and wildly interesting content pushes the game’s longevity through the roof. There’s no shortage of activities to take to, set across a sprawling, vividly detailed representation of Britain. Safe to say that if you enjoy the series, you’re going to love this.

RimWorld is a difficult game starting out. Your community will either die from starvation or will be killed by enemy factions or wildlife. That’s normal. It will take an hour at most to get a grasp on what needs to be done and figure out how the controls on the console work. Once everything becomes a fluid motion you’ll feel satisfaction from having your community thriving and surviving. RimWorld Console Edition has a big learning curve and will need players invested if anything is expected to come out of it. Give it the love it needs and players will have a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

Easily the best Resident Evil game in many years, with inspirations from both RE2’s survival horror and RE4’s more action horror. Paced perfectly, and with plenty of surprises to discover, I can’t recommend Resident Evil Requiem highly enough.

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a wonderful sequel and I can’t speak highly enough about how this game looks and plays. The story plays with your emotions like always, but it keeps you enthralled throughout. Even if you want to take it easy the game just can be played for the side activities which can just as easily keep you busy. The fact there is so much content in here is honestly staggering, and I can see players both new and old finding at least something in here to enjoy.

Celebrating the 90’s, excellent music and how it impacts and marks our lives, and the joy of growing up with a few close friends, Mixtape is a stellar experience from start to finish.

If you loved the original form of Shin Megami Tensei V, then Vengeance is a fantastic complement to it, with a strong second story arc, excellent quality of life improvements, and a generally refined and improved JRPG experience fans of the genre will lap up vigorously. Yes, it’s still perhaps existing in the shadow of the Persona series with its litany of similarities, and doesn’t quite have the grace and style of its brethren, but it’s a hardcore RPG that blazes its own path (mostly), and does so with conviction and poise. Vengeance is therefore fully worthy of your attention and the amount of hours you’ll no-doubt pour into it.

The game is marketed and discussed as an evolution of the CRPG, but I think fans of story-heavy adventure games and the old point-and-click classics would also feel right at home in Disco Elysium: Final Cut.

I absolutely adore Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. It’s the first game in some time that I’ve found myself utterly lost in, so much so that I genuinely did not want to put the controller down. Any minor gripes there might be to have (some areas can get a little confusing to navigate at times, though none are so big that it remains a problem for long) are easily outnumbered by the sheer brilliance of the full product from start to finish. Combat, presentation, exploration, story; it’s all so damn good that I cannot recommend highly enough that you go play this game. We’ve still got a long way to go this year, and a few big hitters to come, but man, it’ll take something special to give Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 a run for its money.

Blizzard has proven that AAA games CAN launch in a ready state and be a game of the year contender straight off the bat. It’s going to have to be something special that beats Diablo IV to the top of my list.

Sekiro is quite simply outstanding. It’s stunning, it’s deep, it’s diverse, and it’s wholly engaging across all aspects of play. However, what truly speaks volumes is the developer’s ability to constantly encourage its players’ capacity for improvement. Here, in Shadows Die Twice, due to its punishing difficulty alone, you’re either all in or you’re all out. If you’re of the latter, you’re missing out on what may well be one of the best games of 2019.

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.

The top tier remakes continue to come from Capcom, with Resident Evil 4 taking a beloved classic and modernising it in all the right ways. A couple of small niggles aside, this will go down as one of the greatest games this year, if not this generation.

F1 2020 is easily the best F1 game Codemasters has released. My Team is a great addition to the franchise and could quite have easily been released as a stand-alone title. The racing action is as solid – and good looking – as ever.

Alan Wake 2 masters the art of storytelling, and how that can reshape reality around us and push the boundary of lighting in videogames. The game is physically dark as it is thematically. The story is a lot to grasp, but simple enough with how many times things are repeated, so playing the other connected titles is not required. The developers have already fixed 200+ issues with update 1.0.0.8, most being minor things but some more rare crashes or progression issues. The creators of this game have immense passion for what they do, and it clearly shows in a variety of ways. Onward to the DLC.

Dead Space is back with a fantastic reimagining of the 2008 original. The game plays just as well as it did before, but now comes with a host of visual, audio, and general gameplay improvements that make it one of the best survival horrors out there. Here’s hoping should we get further iterations they use this as the baseline and steer clear of the issues that plagued the series later on.

NieR: Automata is nothing short of outstanding. Its storytelling is deep and engaging, its gameplay is in-depth and remarkably fluid, its design remains innovative throughout and its pacing is second to none. Rarely do we see such a high level of attention to detail in games of this type. Simply put, this is a near masterpiece that more than deserves your time and attention. It’s a truly sensational experience.

Monster Hunter: World effortlessly meets its high expectations and delivers what may well be the best RPG of this generation. The world is as fascinating as it is beautiful, jam-packed with wonders and dangers of equal measure. Each and every system within has been carefully crafted and seamlessly feed into one another magnificently well. The game remains in-depth yet surprisingly accessible throughout the entirety of play, welcoming and uniting newcomers and returning fans alike. It’s a truly breathtaking adventure. Simply put, and I don’t say this lightly, Monster Hunter: World is a masterpiece.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps had some lofty expectations coming into it, and it’s safe to say that it more than met them handsomely, Some difficulty spikes can frustrate, but overall it’s a charming, beautiful, brilliantly fun title. Gamepass subscriber or not, you absolutely need to experience this game.

Curse of the Dead Gods isn’t for everyone but if you’re a fan of combat-focused rogue-lites then this should definitely be on your radar. It has the potential to be in the upper echelon of the genre; in order for it truly get there the developers will need to give the game regular content updates, which seems like the norm for the top games in the genre. Whether they do or not the game has a solid foundation built around a weighty combat system and a slick-looking art style. Even after playing the game almost exclusively over the past two weeks, I’m still staying up way too late saying “oh, just one more level”.

Consider me a Monster Hunter convert. Wilds is a great entry point to the series for someone like me who’s never really gotten into it in the past, but there’s plenty of depth and nitty gritty here that fans will no doubt find enjoyable to get into. A lengthy and enjoyable campaign leads into a vast end-game that will keep me coming back for some time yet.