A must-have samurai sandbox title for those who treasure player agency and reactive narrative above high-level production values. WotS 4’s absurdist videogame take on Yojimbo is surreal, funny and magnificent.

Quirky, funny, demanding, and requiring an awful lot of skill: Enter the Gungeon is one of the best action-roguelites in years.

With Souls titles now a pseudo-genre of their own, there’s an inevitable familiarity to the rewarding challenges, deft storytelling, and intricate, shortcut-laden level design of Dark Souls 3. But familiarity alone should not detract from this third title’s fine implementation of ideas and mechanics. The enigma may be waning, but there’s still nothing quite like a Souls game.

Flawed in many, many ways, but none of those ways impact a glorious, emergent, open-world experience.

Eugen have taken the classic RTS formula and created a compelling and fun strategy game. Well worth your money.

A fantastic new addition to the Dirt franchise. Less approachable for new players but clearly the best outing from Codemasters in years.

A concise central mechanic, framed by a clever, form-twisting premise and outstanding design in art and sound. Other games wish they could be this cool.

This new installment from Wargaming is a breath of fresh air. The gameplay may seem slow for newcomers, but in the end you will likely sink hours into this game without even realising it.

This Italian job is another dynamic, and darkly comic, Hitman mission.

Destination one in Agent 47's now-episodic global travelogue shows IO Interactive know how to get Hitman back in fashion. A strong, stylish opening to the new game.

It's a classic that's been lovingly brought back to life by Rebellion.

The White March Part 2 brings this multi-part expansion to a satisfying, and typically well-constructed, conclusion; solidifying Pillars of Eternity as one of the best CRPG titles of recent years.

Eschewing complex 3D flight models for whiskey and galactic broadsides, Rebel Galaxy takes the traditional space trading model, dresses it in spurs, and sets it loose on a frontier that’s dynamic, dangerous and unashamedly fun.

I've made it pretty clear that it's hardly a flawless game, but that doesn't change the fact that The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is something pretty bloody special and you should absolutely play it.

A solid, lengthy, entertaining romp across both tombs and not-tombs, with a quality PC port. If you want more Tomb Raider 2013, this offers improvements on most of that game's mechanics and is unlikely to disappoint.

The fact that it's heavier on combat than stats is sure to annoy RPG classicists, but the fact that the combat is fantastic helps a lot. So, too, does the intriguing world, the excellent characters, the hidden secrets, and the difficult decisions.

Swery does Telltale, by way of an obsessed, time-travelling detective and lots of references to Boston. D4 is as unique and strange as you’d hope; and (unlike Deadly Premonition,) a decent enough PC version.

Put aside any doubts you might have about hex-based wargames, Order of Battle: Pacific’s combined arms operations are an approachable, and rewarding, strategic challenge.

Just Cause 3 pretty much raises explosions and physics-based destruction to the level of an art form, and a few annoyances with gunplay and repetition don't do much to detract from that.

Winter can be miserable, but Snowfall is a worthwhile addition to the finest city builder available.

A beautiful, heartbreaking, and surprisingly dark Telltale-esque adventure that betters pretty much every Telltale-esque adventure that's come before it and has enough twists to make it unique. Life is Strange has a few flaws, but that shouldn't dissuade you from hopping on this emotional rollercoaster. And it's okay: you're allowed to cry.

Syndicate’s amoral corporate violence meets a more lenient version of Commandos’ ability-centric squad tactics, in this on-point cyberpunk sandbox.

XCOM 2 successfully straddles the line between being familiar and being new. A few design choices will divide people, and there are bugs and issues that will need patching or modding, but for the most part it's a sterling return to the gruelling decision-making of its predecessor.

A sturdy conversion of a robust set of board game rules. The top-down, corridor-heavy setting is reminiscent of Space Hulk, but Legions of Steel places more emphasis on equal fire-fights between the competing factions.

Ronin has little plot to speak of, but is focused like it’s own motorcycle helmeted avenger on a tight and tactical turn-ish-based combat mechanic. Looks a little like Gunpoint. Plays like Ronin.

Something of a return to form after 15, but sooner rather than later EA will need to stop re-arranging pieces of their existing code and actually develop a properly new and substantial FIFA engine.

While “one of the most inventive typing games out there” is a summary in danger of being mistaken for faint praise, Epistory’s wonderful, paper-craft design and smart, word-based battle system combine to make it exactly that.

Musou-slashing meets light tower defense and the effortlessly heartwarming world of Dragon Quest; with all the vivid art direction, retro audio, and somewhat repetitive questing that implies.