Dawnfolk is a brilliant simplification of the city-building genre with satisfying, short scenarios to play through without skimping on difficulty.
Never has putting a family tree together been so much fun. I couldn't put down The Roottrees are Dead once I started playing it, leaving me feeling like a true detective, searching web pages, library archives and more to piece together this intriguing family's history. This is a must-play for any puzzle fan.
An open world sandbox that lets you run free around Bikini Bottom, there's plenty of fun to be had in SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game. It's packed with minigames and activities, but it's just a shame the whole experience feels rather rough.
The Holy Gosh Darn may well be Perfectly Paranormal's best game yet, and it's clear the team has learned a lot from developing Manual Samuel and Helheim Hassle. This is a seriously slick adventure: it looks fantastic, its puzzles are fun to solve and it will have you laughing out loud every step of the way.
We've been absolutely spoiled by excellent platforming games recently, and The Plucky Squire is up there with the best of them. Controlling Jot in this fourth-wall-breaking adventure is an utter delight. It's a shame a few bugs persist, but they're not quite enough to stop The Plucky Squire being one of the highlights of the year so far.
The Casting of Frank Stone has a compelling story, some fantastic acting and some of the best visuals that Supermassive Games has ever delivered. This is an utter success, and welcoming to all players regardless of how well you know Dead by Daylight. Not even the slightly headachy multiverse shenanigans could stop us coming back.
Cat Quest 3's selling point is also one of its biggest detractors, depending how you feel about the series: it's simply more of the same. It looks fantastic, and exploring its cutesy world is a joy, but the addition of sailing a ship isn't enough to make this stand out from its predecessors.
It's been a long time coming to PS5, but Monster Train has been worth the wait. This roguelike card battler is sure to win over fans of the likes of Slay the Spire, but with its own unique twists on the formula, it feels unlike any other game in the genre. Suffice to say, this is one we're going to be coming back to, time and time again.
Beautiful and cleverly designed, Été is a game all about painting: literally paint the world around you, and create works of art for the people you meet. It's held back a little by a few technical niggles, but it's impossible to let them get in the way of how utterly joyful this game is to play.
Mixing puzzles, photography and a touching narrative, there's a lot to love about The Star Named EOS. Its beautiful art style shines over its 3-4 hour running time, and while the ending perhaps isn't as strong as the game's first half, we still wouldn't hesitate to recommend this to any puzzle fan.
Impeccably presented, The Operator leaves you feeling like a real government agent, solving real crimes and becoming embroiled in a real conspiracy. It's not the longest experience, but we were thoroughly engrossed in every minute of it; our only real complaint is that we were left wanting more.
If you like being guided from one objective to the next while playing a game, Magical Delicacy is not for you. But if figuring things out for yourself, exploring a wonderfully designed pixelated world and cooking up some unique delicacies in the kitchen all sound good to you, there's so much to love here. It's a unique blend of crafting and metroidvania, and it works incredibly well.
SCHiM looks absolutely fantastic, and its idea is innovative: you're a shadow who has become untethered from its human. But the goal of reuniting the pair is unfortunately more frustrating than it should be: while there are some enjoyable elements here, ultimately we were relieved when it was over.
Stylish and captivating, The Land Beneath Us is yet another success that should be celebrated in the roguelike genre. This turn-based dungeon crawler has some great ideas, and its sharp, focused gameplay is hard to put down.
Casting players as Sushi-bot, your goal in Rolling Hills: Make Sushi Make Friends is to run the best sushi restaurant you possibly can. This is a thoroughly cosy and relaxing sim where stresses are kept to a minimum — and while it may be simple, we've enjoyed every moment we've spent with it.
Imagine Link to the Past without the combat and threat: that's sort-of what Pine Hearts feels like. There's a lot to like about this cosy adventure set in a colourful world, but a few issues hold it back from being quite as good as it could have been.
This duck-flavoured detective mystery may be short, but it's a great deal of fun. Wonderfully animated and excellently written, figuring out the case of Duck Detective: The Secret Salami might only take a couple of hours, but it's a jolly good way to spend an evening.
Brought to life with gorgeous hand-drawn art, Paper Trail is beautiful to look at. Its puzzles, centring around folding and unfolding paper, are an acquired taste, however, and can quickly grow tiresome. As well-designed and clever as they are, we'd wager some players will struggle to digest more than a couple of levels at a time.
Clearly inspired by Theme Hospital and Two Point Hospital, Galacticare takes humorous hospital management into deep space. Building the perfect hospital and helping patients from a range of species is every bit as enjoyable as its inspirations, and with high production values, there's a lot to like. Some of its humour might not quite land, but we think if you're a Theme Hospital fan, Galacticare is a no-brainer.
Perplexing and often pretentious, yet compelling and wonderfully accomplished, it's safe to say you won't have played anything quite like Lorelei and the Laser Eyes before. Filled with puzzles and mystery at every turn, once you step foot inside the intriguing Hotel Letztes Jahr, you won't be able to pull yourself way.