The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is the new RPG by which all other RPGs should be judged. Not only has CD Projekt Red deliverered the largest and most convincing fantasy open-world we’ve ever seen, but a storyline, quests and systems that make it an incredibly compelling place to run, ride and sail around in.
Is this the season's must-have horror game? Nope, but there's a lot here that fans of Lovecraft and Call of Cthulhu will appreciate.
Was Astro Bot Rescue Mission on your radar? No? Me neither, but you ought to put it on there right away. This is arguably PSVR's biggest must-have game experience and a phenomenally good VR platform game.
Dead by Daylight's a little too repetitive to be your next online gaming feast, but it's one hell of a palette cleanser; the game that, when you're grown a little tired of PUBG, Fortnite, Destiny or whatever, you can keep coming back to for new thrills and terrors. There's definitely space for a sequel with a little more depth and substance, but one of the great online games of the last few years still goes from strength to hellish strength, and there's never been a better time to face your fears and break the nightmare.
This isn't a definitive verdict. There's still a whole lot to do and see in Forsaken, and if we've learnt anything from Destiny 2 it's that this is a game that changes and evolves – or sometimes fails to evolve – as you keep pushing through the endgame content. How many of us raved about Destiny 2 in the early days? Yet right now Forsaken seems to be taking Destiny in the right direction, giving us that killer combination of Halo and Diablo that we've always wanted.
Firewall can be an incredible experience – and easily the most exciting and immersive VR shooter that I've played. It's just a shame that there's not more co-op and single-player action, more competitive modes or shorter waits between the game's bite-sized matches. The core action is more than strong enough that anyone with a PSVR headset and Aim controller should buy in, but don't go in expecting perfection – it's good, but not there yet.
Two Point Hospital takes us right back to the nineties glory days of the management sim, with compelling gameplay, eccentric humour and a healthy dose of gently anarchic fun. You might complain about the save games or the fact that it sticks very closely to the old, established path, but few sims of recent years have been this accessible to get into or this interesting long-term. Miss the good old days of Theme Park, Theme Hospital, and The Movies? This enormously lovable sim will more than fill the hole.
Sonic Mania Plus isn’t a vast improvement on Sonic Mania, but given the quality of Sonic Mania, we’ll let that slide. Encore mode extends and expands the appeal – and the challenge – of one of the hedgehog’s finest outings, while the new characters and enhanced Competition mode are fun.
A solid HD/4K update of a solid-gold classic puzzle game. Lumines Remastered doesn't transform the Lumines experience and not all the new additions work out for the best, but who cares when the core game is still so fantastic and the overall audio-visual-sensory impact is so powerful? While we'd love to see an all-new sequel with brand-new skins and tracks, it's good to see Lumines back in action.
Who'd have thought this under-hyped mouse tale would be one of the best VR games around? Moss is brilliant and inventive in the way it applies VR to the 3D platform adventure, crafting something strange and magical out of familiar ingredients. It's short, but beautifully-paced and utterly charming. Whatever VR platform you're packing, you ought to play it.
These are irritants, but not problems on a T-Rex scale. Jurassic World: Evolution is the best kind of management sim, one that wraps challenging decisions inside a slick, fun experience with humour and a little family-friendly gore.
It's a seriously beautiful-looking game, and Q-Games has found ingenious ways to make the translation to 3D work for, and not against, the gameplay. And it achieves all this without losing the heart and soul of the original.
Space Hulk: Deathwing – Enhanced Edition is an improvement on the original version, but still nothing more than a semi-decent co-op shooter chained to a ditchwater dull campaign.
In fact, that pretty much sums up the game as a whole. It's a game of magnificent vistas and embarrassing glitches, epic ambitions and humdrum work. The world is vast and beautiful, yet filled with dumb animals and even dumber enemies. While never less than absorbing, it can be hideously annoying too.
Historical strategy isn't everybody's cup of tea, and this isn't the most broadly accessible historical strategy game. It plays to a niche of gamers who want more realism and in-depth management, and who like wrestling with the politics, warfare and complex challenges of a specific period and place. Even as someone who likes Total War, I wasn't sure whether I was having a good time for the first few hours.
Got a household of bored kids on a rainy weekend? World of Warriors has just enough charm and interest to keep them busy for a day or two. Yet while it has depth and a few good ideas, it's not compelling enough or varied enough to hold their interest for any longer.
It isn't exactly new or original, but Masters of Anima deserves to be a sleeper hit. It's a fun, polished fantasy riff on Pikmin, with the sort of visual style that made the Torchlight games so charming. Well-paced, thrilling and full of heart, this little gem comes warmly recommended.
Some will relish the gruesome spectacle and challenge, but Execution manages to transform giant-slaying into something of a chore.
Does Far Cry 5 escape the Ubigame shadow? At its best, it does tear itself free, with some systems stripped away and others streamlined, plus a greater sense of immersion and discovery than the series has had in years. The Seeds make great Far Cry villains, disrupting the flow when it threatens to grow dull, and there's something familiar and unsettling about the Montana setting that brings the whole game to life.
However, if you're a more casual fan of the series then this is only the fourth-best Assassin's Creed on current-gen hardware, and there are other, stronger open-world games around if you just want more of this kind of thing. It's great to see Rogue return looking so good, but it seems destined to remain a side-story, not a classic chapter in the saga.