The combat is the highlight, frantic and cinematic, but Chorus' open-world narrative ambitions let it down.
Its puzzles are simple, but White Shadows offers two hours of creative, chilling designs, joyous musical set pieces and enough screen-shottable sights to fill your hard drive.
A Plague Tale: Requiem is a vastly expanded sequel, for better and for worse. Returning fans might feel that everything here is quite familiar, if only bigger and more beautiful. If the improvements to combat and the uneven story aren't enough to entice you, the relationship playing out between our two central heroes is worth another trek through rat infested France.
Pentiment is mature in a way few games are. It exudes passion for the time period and subject matter, treating every character and issue with respect and reverence. If you want an adventure game that responds to your choices and trusts you to discover its narrative on your own terms, Pentiment is a must play.
Lunistice is a throwback to classic 3D platformers of yesteryear. While not particularly innovative, it's hard not to be charmed by its creative designs, incredible score, and frenetic movement.
Aka is an easy game to be charmed by, with an endearing world and uplifting messages. However, the routine crafting systems and frequent minor bugs lead to an experience that feels more like work than play.
A Space for the Unbound is an ode to teenage nonchalance, and an emotional lesson in learning to let go, all wrapped up in a story about a superpowered calamity. Its disparate parts thoughtfully work together to create a heartfelt story, full of characters you won't want to say goodbye to.
Blanc is a game with heart, and it'll definitely bring you and a player two together. I can't recommend it over some other recent co-op outings, but it's still an experience worth having if you can ignore a couple of issues.
Terra Nil is a strategy game that's devoid of land colonisation, the exploitation of natural resources, or anything else you'd usually associate with a game of this ilk. But it's all the better for it. If you want a tranquil terraforming game, this is a good fit.
A beautiful but rather hollow and one-note trip to a familiar world of wonder and misrule.
A remake that closely follows the original classic, with a slightly different overall effect.
A short, cooking puzzle game that doubles as a touching visual novel about a mother, her family, and the immigrant experience.
Atlas Fallen echoes other mid-00s slashers with fun melee combat and cool ideas, trapped in a run-of-the-mill open world.
Sea of Stars' well-considered inspirations are shot through with smart, modern sensibilities, creating a more-than-welcome addition to the contemporary throwback RPG club.
Violent stakes once again meet zany shenanigans in Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the series' much-improved second RPG.
Reload adds welcome modernisations to the wonderfully deadly coming-of-age story that captured hearts in 2006, though visual tweaks undermine the thematic coherence.
Foamstars is a serviceable paintballer in the vein of Splatoon, lathered with some wild lore and underwhelming hero shooter elements.
Riot Forge bows out with an overly grindy crafting game that annoys more often than it delights.
Berserk Boy is a dashing action platformer that borrows from the greats, and builds frantic, ever-changing movesets on top.
Vanillaware's beautiful art brings to life a staggeringly deep strategy RPG where building units is just as fun as orchestrating battles.