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Superhot is a groundbreaking idea wrapped in a slick, minimalist aesthetic. Though its gameplay offers little variety, it is fun and truly unique, and comes at a fair price.
The Flame in the Flood's relentlessly real time gameplay combined with an almost exclusive focus on crafting, survival and preparedness makes it a refreshing and unique take on the roguelike. Combined with a low-ploy visual style that's easy on the eyes when it's not downright beautiful, vivid sound design and a mild acoustic soundtrack, this one's got a lot going for it. Be prepared to start over a lot, though.
Ninja Senki DX revels in its own simplicity, distilling the basics of 2D platformers into a single, beginner-friendly crash course in the genre. It's not the fanciest or the most difficult, but every aspect of it is carefully calculated to provide a satisfying experience for players of all levels of experience.
Like Ken in his black training shirt, Street Fighter V offers a different fighting experience without losing its soul and essence. If Capcom can fix the frustrating PC issues with the keyboard, this game would truly be impeccable.
Unravel is artistic to its core; it makes up for its limited complexity by shaping an atmosphere that draws you in and makes you see Yarny as more than just a cute mascot, with music that's both mood appropriate to the game and a relaxing soundtrack outside of it.
By attempting to invigorate a genre which many feel has gone rather stale, Campo Santo has simply reminded us what it is we liked about that genre in the first place. Perhaps in time Firewatch will be considered a forerunner, the one which broke the mould, but right now it manages to only fall painfully between two stools.
An incremental rather than radical improvement, but no less an achievement for that, XCOM 2 irons out flaws you didn't even realise existed in Enemy Unknown. The consequence is one of the best strategy games in years.
This is an intricate, beautiful, masterfully crafted game that surprises and delights on several fronts. Unfortunately, it also becomes incredibly and relentlessly punishing in a way that could put many off.
The Deadly Tower of Monsters is an honest effort to create a good game based around an intentionally bad fake movie that ends up partially successful. It brings some interesting twists to a repetitive formula, but the sparse use of them coupled with its lack of length leads you to believe something important was left on the cutting room floor.
Stylistically, Punch Club is a delightful tribute to '80s pop-culture and underdog sports dramas. At its best it's as exciting as watching a real sporting event and rises, believe it or not, to the level of interactive poetry about the struggles and temptations of everyday life. At its worst, it's a slog and a chore with little to keep you going but abstract icons indicating progress amid frustrating setbacks.
The Banner Saga, for all its visual elegance, stumbles onto the PS4 with a very spare, workmanlike port that falls short not through any single big problem, but from the accretion of smaller issues. from the interface to the controls to the loading times. For all its faults The Banner Saga is clearly a labor of love.
That Dragon, Cancer is an emotional powerhouse that doesn't hold anything back; it's a hard game to get through with dry eyes. Narratively it will please those who are looking for a game that allows the player to explore a game world, linear as it is, that merges together perfectly with the game design.
Amplitude is a labor of love on its creator's part. What it has to offer is a testament to Harmonix's mastery of the genre: Its simple yet deeply challenging gameplay and psychedelic graphics have been honed to near-perfection, and each distinct part of every song carries its own, faithful patterns and challenges. The critical flaw is that there's simply not enough content to go around.
The story's dark undertones are never fully realized, but despite a fairytale ending, King Graham embarks on another worthy adventure filled with clever puzzles and endearing characters.
Balancing demand for careful planning and perfect execution, Nuclear Throne is a frantic funhouse of procedurally-generated carnage.
Family-friendly but not childish, in-depth but not self-obsessed, Minecraft: Story Mode's actual story is consistently stellar, if not spectacular, over all four episodes.
Ubisoft Montreal could have made a bold, brave statement as to what a hardcore, competitive multiplayer shooter should be all about. For all the joy of its exceptional gameplay, Rainbow Six Siege is suppressed by a lack of commitment to what makes it great.
Attempts to break from the mould are met with technical issues, restrictive missions, and a severe lack of respect for your time. There's some genuine fun to be found among the wreckage, but the experience as a whole will likely leave you hungry for more than Just Cause 3 can ever offer.
The Old Hunters is a bit on the short side and doesn't stray as far from the formula as it's proven it can, but what there is of it adds significantly to the depth of Bloodborne as a whole; Definitely recommended, especially for stalwart fans hungry for more, but nothing unmissable on its own.
I had far more fun with Legacy of the Void than I was expecting to. The campaign is excellent, and even as a newcomer, transitioning from the single-player to dabbling in multiplayer was surprisingly smooth. RTS fans past and present should take this opportunity to return to StarCraft, or - even better - join the action for the first time.