Diablo 2: Resurrected is a great remake of a real classic. It looks and feels just how I remember it from playing in the early 2000s, but with cooler lighting and sharper graphics. It has a few control issues with when using a controller, but it's still a must-play for anyone who used to play it and misses it, and a strong recommendation to anyone else who likes action RPGs, dark and grim atmospheres, or who just wants to experience a treasure from the now distant past.
There's fun to be had with MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries, but it's probably not for everyone. If the management aspect of the game appeals to you almost as much as using a giant mech to launch a salvo of missiles at a large skyscraper-sized enemy, then you'll likely enjoy MechWarrior 5. There's lots of repetition in the gameplay, but it's tempered a little by the changes it goes through as a result of your growing mercenary outfit. It's rewarding if you put the time in, but it's a shame there's no matchmaking to help alleviate the repetition.
Recompile definitely isn't a perfect game – its combat and platforming have issues and it's easy to miss important things – but if you put the effort in, it's a rewarding and enjoyable experience with stunning visual and audio design and an interesting storyline.
I had a lot of fun with Fracked. There a frustrating enemy every once in a while and it could do with a few more guns, but this doesn't do much to diminish the enjoyment. The novel and clever cover system, great shooting, skiing and climbing all make Fracked a welcome surprise that comes highly recommended for PSVR shooter fans.
Greak: Memories of Azur isn't a bad game, but it is one that's got a few too many annoyances. Between aggravating enemies, the limited inventory, and the almost absent AI of Greak's siblings, it's an experience that is too weighed down by frustration to get a strong recommendation. However, if you like the look of the world and some cheap enemies and awkward controls aren't a dealbreaker for you, Greak is one of the best looking 2D platformers I've ever played and the world is interesting enough to keep you going.
Synth Riders might not unseat the VR rhythm action king, as it doesn't feel quite as satisfying as nailing an extended Beat Saber set, but it's one of the strongest alternatives. If you're looking for something different to musical Jedi training, this is definitely a contender.
Cotton Reboot revives a weird 90s shoot 'em up that's quite fun to revisit. However, it doesn't go far enough to justify the price. The remaster is decent, if not as good looking as it could be, and the game can be finished in an hour. There were sequels to Cotton that could've been remastered and included to justify the £35 price tag, but as it is, this is just the first game.
Despotism3K is full of humour that had me laughing a lot, but the high degree of difficulty and randomisation and arbitrary choices that can end a run in a moment had me swearing at it a lot, too. You end up replaying gameplay that doesn't change all that much between runs. Still, it's a good distraction if you don't want to play a huge adventure game, and instead want to throw some puny humans into a bioreactor.
Stonefly is bristling with creative ideas, but doesn't quite manage to deliver them properly. The world is beautiful, but its design damages gameplay, combat is unique but make it very difficult to manage the amount of enemies required at once, and traversal is interesting but manages to feel unreliable due to its mechanical design. It's a game of missed opportunities, but there's still a number of reasons why you should experience this uniquely designed action RPG.
The ship combat and looting might carry King of Seas' piratical adventure for some, just beware that there's grinding through a bunch of stretched out story missions to get to the heart of the game. It's a game to break out when you're feeling extra piratey, but it has enough flaws that you should weigh them up before getting your cutlass out.
Hood: Outlaws and Legends has some good ideas, but the execution is a little lacking. The one mode here is enjoyable but it gets very repetitive, with the clunky combat, slow matchmaking and poor, though admittedly amusing AI, taking the fun out of it. With more variety, whether in the form of different modes or with each map having its own objectives, this could have been a winner, but as it stands it's got a lot of squandered potential.
I really enjoyed my time Maskmaker. Puzzle games like this can easily lead to frustration, but Maskmaker is a thoroughly inventive VR puzzler that walks the line very well. It's a tad short, but I think it might be better that way as it doesn't outstay its welcome or overuse any mechanics. I'd love to give it a better score and it's an enjoyable VR puzzler, but with a few fiddly bits and some pretty serious bug that forced me to restart the whole game, it's lost a couple of points.
Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is a work of genius. I'm planning to immediately replay it, simply because I don't want it to be over yet. The story is absolutely captivating, the world is filled to the brim with detail, and the characters and their motivations are remarkably well thought out. It made me laugh at absurd moment, made me gasp with the twists in the story, and I've developed an attachment to the main character's partner, Kim Kitsuragi, and his endless patience with me shooting finger guns at him as much as possible. Disco Elysium: The Final Cut is a masterwork and you are doing yourself a disservice if you miss it.
If silly jump scare horror is your thing, you can do a lot worse than Doom 3 VR Edition, but you can also do much better. Its cutscenes are 2D, you get lost a lot, and occasionally you need to waggle your weapon about so it cooperates, but if you can get past these issues it's... a good enough version of the venerable id Software shooter.
The card combat and deckbuilding of Neoverse is incredibly strong and if all you need to keep you entertained is deep card combat, it's got you covered. However, the lack of any kind of context and background to anything, just going from fight to fight, eventually takes the sheen off. The core of the game has benefited from a great deal of attention, care and creativity, it's just a shame it was almost squandered due to the lack of it elsewhere.
We Were Here Together is ultimately a bit of a let down on console. Some of the biggest puzzles are quite frustrating, some of the others rely on a poorly designed user interface, and the ones we most enjoyed were the shorter ones anyway. There are better coop puzzlers to spend your cash, time, and friendships on.
Vigor had a decent idea, but it bungled the delivery in multiple ways. Base building is unforgivably dull and drawn out, while the player count is too low or the maps are too big so you can go multiple matches without encountering anyone. There is more fun to be found with the squad-based deathmatch mode, but not as much fun as you could have in countless other games in 2021.
If all you're looking for is some bridge construction with a zombie theme, then Bridge Constructor: The Walking Dead comes with enough new mechanics to keep you interested for a while. If you're just here because you love the Walking Dead, however, then I'm afraid this probably isn't for you, as it offers little value from that standpoint.
Space Invaders Forever is pretty great for anyone who's a fan of Space Invaders. It offers three games that are very different in approach, one of them with a fresh lick of paint and one focused on local multiplayer for some part cooperative, part competitive Earth defending. It's hard to argue against the variety you get with these three classics.
Although purists may balk at Worms Rumble, I found Team17's reinvention to be a welcome change in direction for the series. Real-time action wrapped around the battle royale genre works a treat here when combined with the zany, explosive world of Worms, but in order to become a multiple mainstay it needs more depth both in terms of strategy and player progression.