Shinobi: Art of Vengeance once again puts us in control of the legendary Joe Musashi, and it's a genuine treat. Fast and fluid combat meets slick platforming and traversal, and when you add in the game's stunning art and excellent soundtrack, you're looking at game of the year material.
While fans of the anime will no doubt get the most out of Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening, its engaging mix of run 'n' gun gameplay with platforming and Metroidvania elements make it suitable for all. The unique Psychogun with its guidable bullets is the standout feature here. It's just a shame that the overall experience is brought down a little by some minor issues that can cause frustration.
With Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Konami has achieved what it set out to do: breathe new life into a classic while keeping it as authentic as possible. With that in mind, its only real faults are some mechanics which now feel a little awkward and dated. The visuals here are phenomenal, bringing more nuance to the game's cutscenes, and the new modern play style is great for newcomers and those annoyed by the restrictive camera of the original game.
Available at a budget price, Drag x Drive is a unique sports game that doesn't boast a great deal of content. Still, it's fun to play as long as you can get along with using your Joy-Cons like mice, though performing some advanced manoeuvres can feel a little hit or miss.
This long-lost chapter of the Shantae series provides more of the hair-whipping and belly-dancing action that it's known and loved for. Some might get a little frustrated by the amount of backtracking that's required, though, as well as navigating some of its maze-like locations without a map.
It's not the deepest or most expansive online multiplayer game, but you can have a lot of fun with Midnight Murder Club, especially when playing with friends. Sneaking around a pitch-black mansion armed with just a flashlight and a revolver can be a tense affair. And thanks to the Guest Pass system, just one player needs to purchase this bargain offering to play with up to five others.
Heavily inspired by Streets of Rage and Final Fight, Fallen City Brawl is a retro-styled side-scrolling beat 'em up that has some some unique ideas but ultimately falls short in a number of areas.
A side-scrolling beat 'em up in which it's feasible to simply shoot your enemies rather than actually punch and kick them into submission, Ra Ra BOOM stands out in what is inexplicably becoming a crowded genre. It has some issues that bring it down, though, including poor balancing and some technical woes on PS5 Pro.
Enhanced for modern consoles and PC, Heretic + Hexen bundles together two first-person shooters that still manage to feel somewhat unique three decades after their original release. These truly are the definitive versions of these games, with Nightdive Studios even taking steps to alleviate Hexen's hub level woes.
A roguelike first-person shooter with a brinepunk aesthetic, Abyssus provides a lot of frantic fun, especially if played in co-op. Its progression could do with a little work, though, with you needing to grind Soul Fragments to unlock basic upgrades that feel necessary for your survival, alongside some pesky difficulty spikes.
While the gameplay throughout Mafia: The Old Country is nothing special, generally being a mix of basic stealth and action-packed shootouts, it has some highlights. It's the game's gripping story and sumptuous visuals which will really win most players over, making this one of the most enjoyable Mafia games yet.
Gradius Origins not only bundles together the first three Gradius games and makes multiple versions of them available, it also includes a trio of Salamander games and Life Force. These spin-offs dramatically boost the collection's value, especially with Salamander 3 being a brand new game that's been developed by M2. Add in plenty of options and museum-like content, and you have a genuine treat for shoot 'em up fans.
Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights has all the ingredients to make it an enjoyable cyberpunk-inspired car combat arcade racer, but ultimately it's a let-down. The handling is awkward, there's no real sense of weight or impact, and on PS5 Pro performance is terrible. Things could be turned around with an update or two, but until that happens this is best avoided.
Thanks to its stunning visuals, Wuchang: Fallen Feathers certainly makes a good first impression. Its gameplay is what will keep you hooked in the long-run, though, even if it is perhaps a little too derivative of the early Souls games by FromSoftware. Still, being able to freely respec your character here is a fantastic touch, allowing you to experiment if a boss is proving to be a tough cookie to crack.
9 Years of Shadows isn't the biggest Metroidvania game, but what it lacks in length it makes up for in other ways. Its visuals are sublime, for one, and its gameplay is fantastic, too. Add in a soundtrack which includes pieces by Michiru Yamane, and you're onto a winner.
A short first-person psychological horror game, Dead Take cleverly incorporates full motion video footage to explore the lengths that some will go to in order to achieve success. It's not particularly scary but it does go to some dark places, making it definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Hinokami Chronicles 2 is largely more of the same, but that isn't much of a issue when the first game was already so enjoyable. Story mode here picks up where the last left off and covers three new dramatic arcs, and the gameplay has been refreshed a little with new elements such as Gear. It's the whopping number of characters now available in Versus mode that's the real draw, though.
Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a genuinely challenging action game with lovely visuals and rewarding fast-paced gameplay. It feels a bit rough in places, though, and often borders on being simply too chaotic for its own good. Assist options mean that anyone can see the journey through to its end, but better balancing or difficulty levels would have been preferred.
There's certainly fun to be had with Killing Floor 3. Killing waves of demons is as enjoyable as ever, but some of the changes here are unfortunate, and the new additions don't wholly make up for them. There's some work to be done by Tripwire to allow this game to fulfil its potential, then, and it's up to you if you want to jump in in the meantime.
Available at a budget price, CarX Street is likely to prove to be a nice surprise for open world street racing fans. There are many clubs to join and complete, and you can take the action online if you wish. The only real downer here is that its cars aren't licensed, but you can easily tell what their real-world counterparts are, and you can customise them to your heart's content.