Richard Seagrave
Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon is an open-world action RPG that fans of the likes of Skyrim are likely to fall in love with. It has some technical issues and bugs that can annoy, but they're easy to overlook thanks to its enjoyable and rewarding gameplay systems as well as a genuinely interesting story with important choices to be made.
An adventure game with puzzle, stealth and horror elements, The Midnight Walk isn't all that complex mechanically. Its dark, intriguing world will grab your attention, though, and you'll soon come to love your companion, Potboy, making you want to see your journey through to its end. If you have the required hardware, you can play in VR, too, which is a nice touch.
Copycat is a game that tackles some serious issues, but its characters are hard to warm to and will make you angry at times. Still, being a cat and doing cat things can be fun, despite clunky controls and uninspired gameplay.
Spray Paint Simulator is rewarding and relaxing in the same way that PowerWash Simulator is, with you bringing new life to a range of objects and locations. Some jobs are better than others, though, and it can be finicky when it comes to completing some smaller part of jobs, but it's still thoroughly enjoyable on the whole.
There's fun to be had with Elden Ring Nightreign, especially if you're a skilled Elden Ring player who loves a challenge or can get a good team together, but it does have a range of issues. The fact that there's only one map means repetition quickly creeps in, for example, and the Relic system simply doesn't feel as impactful as it should. Being a multiplayer-focused game, the lack of cross-play is also egregious.
EA sports F1 25 features the usual iterative improvements when it comes to visuals and physics, and LIDAR technology has been used to make a number of tracks as accurate as can be. But it's the return of Braking Point as well as a substantial overhaul of My Team that really makes this an impressive package, and a must-have for both casual and ardent F1 fans.
Take God of War, Dark Souls and Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, put them in a blender along with some new elements such as being able to craft weapons and target specific body parts, and you have Blades of Fire. Its map design can be devious at times, and its enemy placement a little questionable, but overall it's an engaging, and rather epic, adventure.
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny is a bold sequel that adds RPG elements into the mix and has more of an action focus. Awkward fixed camera angles add unwanted frustration to combat, though, and the new weapon switching mechanic is troublesome to use in the heat of battle.
An isometric action game set in a highly destructible world, Deliver At All Costs puts you in the shoes of a courier and tasks you with completing a range of chaotic and often challenging delivery missions. It's good fun, but it doesn't quite fulfil its potential, thanks to annoying loading screens and a range of other issues that spoil the experience to some degree.
The combat of Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is enjoyable enough, and it's great that there are three unique playable characters, each with a range of weapons to unlock. A lack of variety when it comes to stages and enemies really hurts the game's longevity, though, as the story at the heart of this adventure isn't enough to carry it.
While Super Racing GT Turbo SPEC promises a fun arcade racing experience with its colour visuals and top-down viewpoint, it ultimately disappoints thanks to providing little excitement and having a serious lack of content and features.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 bundles up another eight classic games from the developer's back catalogue, and while some have aged worse than others, there's still plenty of fun to be had overall. Highlights here include Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 and Power Stone 2, but it's just a shame there's still no crossplay.
If you fancy fighting crime in an open world instead of perpetrating it for a change, The Precinct might just be the game for you. Completing shifts and collecting evidence to progress the story forward can become a little repetitive, but ultimately you're free to take things at your own pace while unlocking new options and equipment to play with.
When it released in 2006, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was an excellent game. Nearly 20 years on, it's still good — but it's certainly showing its age. This remaster makes it look incredible given how old it is, but its antiquated gameplay and numerous bugs still exist.
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an astounding debut title from Sandfall Interactive. Its compelling and emotional narrative is backed up with one of the best turn-based combat systems around, even though it perhaps feels a bit too focused on you performing parries and dodges at times. Add in stunning visuals and a fantastic soundtrack, and you have a JRPG that's not to be missed.
Not only does Monster Hunter Wilds introduce meaningful new mechanics and features that improve the already stellar core gameplay, it presents players with an assortment of new and interesting monsters to do battle against. And thanks to its changeable environments, it feels more dynamic than ever. Without a doubt, this is the best entry in the series yet, and an early contender for 2025's Game of the Year.
It's Goro Majima's time to shine, and shine he does in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. This ridiculous adventure has the typical Like a Dragon gameplay you've come to expect, as well as fast-paced real-time combat that's more electrifying than ever. Add in being able to sail across numerous maps, engaging in naval battles and disembarking to plunder legendary treasures, and you have the most varied entry in the series yet.
As a sequel, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 doesn't reinvent the wheel. It does improve on the formula of the original game in various ways, however, and features a story with more impactful choices. Only some troublesome stealth sections and the odd bug bring it down a little, but it's still a fantastic experience overall.
It's short, but Threshold will capture your attention straight from the off and keep you gripped until you reach one of its multiple conclusions. It can be repetitive at times, but the desire to unravel its mysteries will undoubtedly pull you through.
Available on their own or as a double feature, RetroRealms: Ash vs Evil Dead and RetroRealms: Halloween both provide fun old-school platforming experiences reminiscent of classic Castlevania titles. There are some unique mechanics and features, however, such as being able to switch between realms and using playable characters in any RetroRealms games that you own.