Little Nightmares is an effective little thriller that provides a breezy four or so hours of gameplay and some of the most intense scares of the year, high praise in a year where Resident Evil VII and Outlast II have also released. This short length might be a bone of contention for some but it ensures that the game is succinct and free from filler and doesn't run the risk of wearing out its welcome.
Butcher never demanded too much of me, which is something I can't say about many games these days as responsibilities pile up alongside the years. Perfect for quick bursts of gaming, Butcher worked best for me as a palate cleanser between other games.
I really, really enjoyed Prey. A pitch perfect marriage of Science-Fiction and Horror, Prey is close to what I imagine a modern, FPS Dead Space would be like, with a liberal helping of System Shock sauce sprinkled on top.
I initially mentioned my affinity for games like Ico and Journey earlier in order to quickly paint a picture in the reader's mind of what kind of game Rime is. Using comparisons is a simple, if somewhat lazy, way to easily convey a genre or narrative direction of a game, and, much like those games are their own entities, Rime shares as much in common with those titles as it does its own thing.
Although the often grimdark narrative could have done with the insertion of some levity, one has to admit that the team behind Dreamfall Chapters have a solid grasp on the art of storytelling, even if the game is steeped in seventeen years of history that's almost impenetrable to newcomers.
For the first time in nearly a decade it feels like the Tekken series has undergone an evolution of sorts, with the Rage Arts and Drive mechanics making for a decidedly different feeling game. Your mileage may vary in regards to these changes but to be fair you're never forced to employ Rage Arts and can elect to continue to duke it out old school if that's more your speed.
Although I had a ton of fun with Dead by Daylight, I have to admit that playing as a survivor did become repetitive far quicker than I expected. Whether or not this is just fatigue from playing through another similar title in such close proximity, I'm not sure there's enough on offer in this category to maintain my interest for the required levelling up of each character.
Unlike some who may be considering picking this up, I was a fan of the original release of Patapon and, as such, found that despite my initial misgivings playing Patapon on the PS4 is generally just as fun as it was in portable format.
For me, as great and occasionally teeth grindingly frustrating an experience that Matterfall was, it was a one and done experience and I have no desire to come back to the game in its current state.
With 9 different endings and playthroughs taking anything from 10-12 hours for your first time, plus multiple difficulty levels that crank up scares that are unique to that mode, there's a lot of content here for horror fans to sink their teeth into.
Despite its shortcomings, I enjoyed my time with Agents of Mayhem. I would love to see a patch in the future that would allow online cooperative play, but I can also understand why Volition elected to focus on making this a single player experience first and foremost.
Although not as impenetrable to newcomers as earlier entries, F1 2017 in some ways falls victim to the curse of annual releases; with such a rigid release schedule in place the opportunity to meaningfully expand upon last year's effort is reduced and often the best you get is possibly a new mechanic and a whole heap of fine-tuning of established mechanics.
Ark: Survival Evolved has more bugs than the grill of a Mack truck and your first introduction to the game can feel akin to the sensation of being hit by aforementioned truck, but peel away the layers of abstruse game mechanics and you'll find a strangely compelling game that'll make you feel like the Pope of Dino-Town at times and want to open a vein in a hot bath at others.
Besides the visually overhauled campaign, there's also a Raid mode where players can return to campaign levels that have been altered slightly and play through using different characters, allowing for online co-op. This mode also features an entirely new chunk of content dubbed Ghost Ship: Chaos, which may or may not be enough to entice players to return to the game once again.
I didn't delve into the level of customisation available or the immense amount of loot you'll encounter as you grind your way through the levels, although I think that most familiar with this type of game will already have a rough idea of what elements such as these have to offer and nobody wants to read a two thousand page revew.
The black sheep of the PlayStation-era Final Fantasy behemoths certainly deserves attention from those who have somehow avoided playing it in some form or another over the last seventeen years and feels like slipping into a worn but comfortable pair of slippers for any returning players.
As a newcomer to the Ys series, I couldn't recommend Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana enough. Touted as being twice as long as previous instalments, the fast pace of the combat system and bountiful questlines available makes for a consistently entertaining experience with little in the way of grinding.
John Johanas has masterfully taken up the directorial reigns and given us a game that, while it shares many trace elements of DNA with its predecessor, has more than enough of a distinct identity in order to separate it from the pack.
Call of Duty: WWII is precisely what fans have been clamouring for over the last few years – A return to traditional boots-on-the-ground gameplay with an increased focus on skill and I have no doubt that it will resonate with fans in a way that the last few games have failed to manage.
It's great to see developers, particularly smaller ones, not only support VR gaming but also expand upon it in a meaningful and, most importantly, fun way; the central mechanic of using your microphone in order to see fosters constant engagement between the player and the game and is a large part of why this charming little indie effort stands out so far from the pack, for me at least.