Balancing a heartfelt story with over-the-top excessive video game action, Ragnarök is completely self-aware. It improves upon the previous title in all the ways we could have hoped for and delivers a huge experience with stunning visuals, beautiful storytelling and buckets of fun
If you're new to the series, it's an absolute must to experience this wholly unique game, and thankfully there's more than enough excuse for older fans to step foot once more onto the USG Ishimura.
What Capcom has done is less of a re-imagining and more a celebratory culmination of all the series' ideas. Resident Evil 4 is an absolute blast, retaining all its bombastic and over-the-top ideas while injecting some more modern horror and quality-of-life changes. It's a must for any Resident Evil fan, and if you’re new to the series, what a great place to start!
Flush with a gorgeous and uplifting soundtrack, Forgotten Land is a heart-warming and no-stress experience while providing some fun challenges and deeper upgrades should you want them. Either way, this is a must-have game and yet another instant Nintendo classic that's not only warmly familiar, but also subtly inventive in a way that'll keep you hooked until the end.
Alan Wake 2 is a bold and confident follow-up to its original, and worth the wait in every way. Remedy has crafted something timeless that will be talked about for a long time and has unexpectedly become the game to beat in the survival horror genre. Surreal, tense, funny, absurd and nerve-wracking all at once, Alan Wake 2 is a game all of its own and one you really should experience.
Diablo IV is the culmination of everything Blizzard has set up before to make one ultimate experience. The world is stunning, drowned in a beautiful soundtrack that makes even the smallest moments feel epic. With a deep character system, satisfying combat and an endgame that feels like only the start of your adventure, it's hard not to recommend.
Oxenfree II: Lost Signals is as unique as its predecessor and once again shows that Night School Studio is onto something with their 'walk and talk' mechanic. We can't wait to go back and dive in once more, and can't recommend the game enough.
With a deep character-building system and endless possibilities offered thanks to its procedurally generated levels, Remnant 2 is an absolute must-experience — and one we think we'll be world-hopping in for a long, long time.
Lies of P is an addictive Soulslike with a unique take on the genre and is certainly one not to be missed (especially if you have Game Pass).
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is another rich entry in this long-running series, which clearly still has more to offer before it runs out of steam.
With some unexpected twists and turns along the way, plus some confident changes, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is utterly massive and really is the ultimate way to experience this much-loved story. It's a must for PS5 players.
What Sam Barlow has delivered here is an amazingly fresh experience and while from the outside it may seem there's little here to appeal to the hardcore gamer, if you give it a moment, you'll realise just how enthralling being a detective can be.
Minor issues aside, Little Nightmares 2 is a spot-on sequel, delivering more of what made the original so great in the first place, while adding that little something extra thanks to its AI companionship with Six. The story is well paced, giving you just enough of each environment so we weren't left desperate to move on before being whisked to somewhere new and each new creature offered a fresh challenge and opened up new ways to think about the tasks at hand.
If you've experienced the game already, then your mileage may vary, as there's probably around six hours of new content in the expansion. Although there’s something to be said for exploring Tsushima once again with the PS5’s technical prowess elevating the visuals, and the controller's technology adding some subtle, but nonetheless enjoyable, elements to the whole experience.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End and The Lost Legacy are two unmissable experiences for PlayStation players. They're huge, bombastic, and rich stories that go toe to toe with some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters around – and with their upgraded graphics it's hard not to say this collection is worth a look. If you've yet to play either game, this is a must-buy. Ultimately, however, these are a fairly barebones repackaging. So if you've already experienced both games, the high price tag might not be such an easy sell.
While the gameplay develops at a satisfying pace, some fans of the mainline series might find it lacking in some complexity. But with a chance to delve deeper into the Bayonetta world and follow along this coming-of-age tale, it’s hard not to recommend this game to fans of the series and newcomers alike.
It's not perfect and won't change the gaming landscape, but you'll certainly have a blast ripping and tearing your way through sun-drenched Hell-A with more than a few surprises along the way.
Strayed Lights is both a cosy, relaxing experience and an extremely well-crafted Souls-lite adventure game – and honestly, it’s a combination we didn’t even know we wanted. With a lavish world, beautiful soundtrack and addictive combat loop, this is a unique title that's easy to recommend.
2023 has been a banner year for games, and it’s clear that Blasphemous 2 sits in the upper echelons of those releases, a beautifully grotesque Metroidvania that’s deserving of everyone's time. From the gloriously gruesome visuals to its ferociously paced combat and beautiful soundtrack, Blasphemous 2 is an instant classic in the genre.
After 2023, a year in which the games industry saw so many people removed from their jobs due to what can only really be seen as corporate greed and an obsession with profits before people, assets before art, it’s good to see a big studio create something smaller but no less special. And we can only hope this happens more often and leads to a more stable industry for the talented and passionate people that makes these things possible.