A decent plot mired in game-breaking bugs and a tedious, repetitive time-loop, In Stars And Time is more frustrating than it is fun.
Its focus on balancing your economy's scales rather than turning a profit means the stakes are never that high in SteamWorld Build, but this is still a strong and distinctive twist on the upstairs/downstairs loop that made SteamWorld Dig so enticing a decade ago.
A short and sweet turn-based RPG that has a lot of bite to its story and whose music will have you harking back to the Final Fantasy glory days, but its battles are too much of a cakewalk to leave much an impression.
It won't challenge you in any shape or form, but Loddlenaut is a feel-good, low-stakes ocean clean-up adventure that scratches that PowerWash itch with charm and characterful precision.
The next great roguelike deckbuilder has arrived. Cobalt Core takes everything you love about FTL, Into The Breach and Slay The Spire and blends it all into a moreish, tactical puzzle loop that just keeps on giving. It's wonderful.
Reprising its engrossing mix of chewy puzzles and deep philosophising about the nature of human experience, The Talos Principle 2 raises the bar yet again with its playful approach to problem-solving, and asks how we fit into the wider machinations of the world at large.
Alan Wake 2 is a stylistic tour de force and one of the most unique and confident horror games in recent years. It might not hit every beat perfectly, but Remedy's daft and over the top sense of humour help bring much-needed levity to its genuine thrills and jump scares.
A heartfelt, winsome platformer that doesn't require any knowledge of League Of Legends to enjoy, Song Of Nunu is a simple, but pure kind of delight.
A charming mash-up of golf and pool that's stuffed with great ideas, but is a touch slow in revealing its best to keep you coming back for more.
A small but perfectly formed puzzle game about building tiny cities on even tinier boards that keeps you coming back for more.
A beautifully written tale about loss, friendship and the ties that bind us together, set in a sumptuous oceanic post-apocalypse. It might not quite stick the ending, but it's the many journeys you'll take getting there, not the final destination, that really make Saltsea Chronicles sing.
Tedious crafting, soulless resource gathering and one long spiderweb of dull, interlocking fetch quests make Mineko's Night Market even less fun than paying off your Tom Nook mortgage loan.
An intriguing blend of Persona, coffee brewing and reverse tower defence dungeons that doesn't quite cohere into a tasty whole.
A beautifully made retro-inspired RPG that will instantly transport you back to the 16-bit golden years, for better or worse.
A crowning achievement of open world stealth puzzling, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is fiendishly good fun. Easily Mimimi's best stealth strategy game yet.
Not much of an upgrade over the HD remaster, but Might & Magic: Clash Of Heroes is still one of the most unique strategy puzzle RPGs around. It's also one of the hardest strategy puzzle RPGs around, and your fun mileage may vary.
A short but challenging adventure about taking back humanity's freedom from an evil AI, Full Void is a beautifully crafted cinematic platformer that owes as much to Another World as it does Inside.
Superbly presented with oceans of strategic depth, Let's! Revolution! is a spirited fantasy roguelite that gives Minesweeper a vibrant new lease of life.
A beautiful remaster of one of the greatest murder mystery puzzle games of the last two decades, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective feels every bit as fresh and lively today as it did back in 2011.
A simple, but sweet natured story about a young girl finding her feet and trying to do what's right to fix the rifts in her family. Dordogne doesn't demand much of you, but it luxuriates in the details that make life so special.