This often breathtaking game of serial assassination in 16th-century Japan is a treasure chest for players able to commit to learning its secrets
Journey back in time as an online detective policing a compelling parody of the nascent net, with dodgy graphics, tinny music and a host of weird websites to explore
Pure two-wheeled thrills drive this motorbike racing game, as you hurtle over spectacularly wild tracks around the world. Just avoid the acorns
This simple action caper where players liberate a neon-clad city from a sinister megacorp makes 15 hours disappear easily
With straightforward 2D linear play this game can feel anachronistically flat – but chaotic multiplayer action is where the infectious fun lies
With the gameplay of Pokémon Go, this bright and beautiful update welcomes a new generation of trainers to a world of wholesome fun
Total immersion in an astonishingly lifelike world – whether you're outgunning rivals or skinning animals – makes this outlaw adventure a landmark game
You decide the fate of the denizens of Westeros in this Game of Thrones tie-in, which is, appropriately, a bloody riot
This full-throttle trip on iconic British roads is a tourist board's dream, with perfect weather and no nimbys to spoil the fun. Take time to enjoy the views
This game revels in its own beauty, but the plot collapses under the slightest scrutiny
With an odd cast and strange situations, this puzzle game allows you to victimise the users of a donut delivery app by gradually swallowing up all of their possessions
This small-scale game, in which you play a child roaming his house, shows how imagination makes the mundane magical
Kratos returns older and wiser, but exhilaratingly brutal in a story that deftly intertwines family drama and mythological epic
A mission to save the US from destruction by a charismatic leader flits between flamethrowing fun and graphic torture in a tonally unpredictable vision
This 2005 game, remade for the high-definition era, still stands out as a work of extraordinary beauty and quiet profundity
Pitting you against everything from fire-breathing dinosaurs to fluffy bird-wyverns, this is destined to be one of 2018's best games
The things that have been simplified are things that were needlessly time-consuming in the first place...What hasn't changed is hunting monsters with beautifully balanced weaponry, and that was always the point.
Mega Drive graphics belie the brains behind this puzzle-filled 2D platformer in which you play a misfit mechanic dismantling a religious techno-dystopia
A total assault on your ears, eyes and reflexes. Thumper will beat you up, but you’ll enjoy it.
Color Splash is so damned imaginative and beautiful, though, so colorful and confidently funny. Even when it annoyed me, it was only fleetingly. It makes the abstract world of Mario so personable. Its gentle, playful weirdness and irreverence contrast so positively with the prevailing seriousness of fall’s big games