In the end, My Friend Pedro's two halves of the banana reveal the perilous balancing act of game design. The first half is a stellar example of how to build an action game, of how to engender a sense of creativity through the player's toolset, and how to bake seamless flow into complex and challenging environments. The second half isn't quite the opposite of that, but it tries much too hard to be clever, with humour that's less goofy and more edgy, and level design that's too exacting in its structure.
Sega's spin-off has a few ideas of its own as it takes a detective's perspective on Kamurocho, though it all ends up feeling a little flat.
Kunos delivers a frequently brilliant take on the Blancpain GT series - but it's beset by a feeling of being unfinished.
A venerable template comes alive in this beautifully compact adventure.
There's a twofold joy to Outer Wilds - the thrill of discovery itself, as you slowly decipher the variables that swirl around each not-so-distant world, and of seeing that thrill reflected in a phrase scribbled centuries ago by some castaway alien boffin.
Guns and gangsters make for a silly delight in this PSVR caper.
A slick psychological horror plagued by poor pacing and infuriating instakills
A promising conspiracy that's over before it's begun.
A smart sci-fi that isn't without problems, though they're balanced out by an incredible amount of style.
Beneath the bland mascot lurks a decent arcade game.
Sumo Digital ditches the wider world of Sega for its latest kart racer, but for all that's lost a new focus and inventiveness is found.
So much of this promising collaboration between id and Avalanche is unremarkable - but it's salvaged by bloody, brilliant combat.
Ambitious and sometimes overwhelming, Three Kingdoms does a great job of capturing the complexity of China's vivid past.
Children band together against the darkness of a collapsing France in this bleak and beautiful if somewhat rickety medieval fantasy.
A brisk free-roaming action game with a clicker-ish heart.
There's a lot to love about Mortal Kombat 11. The grind, though, can do one.
Aggelos treads a path many others have followed in recent years, but it does it all with a charm of its own.
A co-op shooter that's an unashamed throwback to Valve's all-time classic, complete with a few quirks of its own.
Stylish and punishing, this is a darkly compelling treat.
The systems run as deep as ever in Paradox's latest effort, though the personality isn't quite there.