Alice Bell
Horizon Forbidden West is a great open world adventure, especially as a sequel, with all the slow motion dino hunts you loved last time but bigger, all the noble questing but nobler, and all the high stakes raised even higher.
Open Roads is a well-observed, empathetic story about families and secrets, wrapped up in some lovely art and with barnstorming voice acting performances at the heart of it. It's short but bittersweet.
Last Epoch is a worthy mid-point ARPG that has fun with its fantasy time travelling world, and makes crafting and building towards percentage point increases actually rewarding. Even fun!
Granblue Fantasy: Relink is a slick and colourful JRPG that knows what it thinks is cool. The combat is kind of weightless, but it's layered and fun - if you can be bothered to get to the bottom of it.
Don't Nod's new third-person goth-tragedy action-adventure RPG is full of swashbuckling ghost hunting, bound up in a story unironically about the power of love. Despite some repetition and busywork, it's a great time.
Turnip Boy Robs A Bank is my second favourite Turnip Boy game, but it leans into the lite in roguelite and has a lot of fun with it, even if it lacks a bit of focus.
A Highland Song is a beautiful snapshot of wild places and wild stories, but it stumbles a bit in the process of encouraging you to run into them.
Offering a new take on a classic tale of thrilling escape, American Arcadia has some rough edges but its sleek platforming and art reinforce its story beautifully. And what about those twists, folks!? Are you watching this live?
The Lord Of The Rings: Return to Moria is less frantic than other survival games, and your wins take longer, but despite some charming jank this is a very cosy adventure to take on with friends.
Jusant's tale unravels through concrete, satisfying climbing that contrasts with ephemeral hints at the past, in a game that marries function, form and story in a most beautiful way.
Repetitive combat in World Of Horror can't entirely mar a unique, stylish and layered horror adventure that makes you want to play more the more that you play.
Assassin's Creed Mirage takes some of the best bits from the whole series and puts them together in a smaller, more focused, stealthier package. This is how big companies can make better games.
Station To Station is a short but lovely train-themed puzzle game, perfectly balanced, and you'll play it in pursuit of a more beautiful engine.
Payday 3 has some good, complex levels to do your co-op heisting, but the matchmaking and levelling systems make it harder to have fun with other players.
A genuinely impressive space RPG that ultimately loses some of its Bethesda charm in the vast reaches of its galaxy. It's so big, it feels small, cold and unlived in.
Immortals Of Aveum lacks focus, and the magical shooting is more chaotic and less punchy than I'd like, but it hits fun often enough for me to respect the big fantasy swings it takes.
Larian's RPG is an incredible world to get lost in, and though it may take you 100 hours, you will want to play again. It's the best Dungeons & Dragons game anyone has made, and probably will ever make. Unless there's a sequel in another 20 years.
A town management sim with some good design ideas, but despite trying to make Love a key resource it has somehow pushed me to becoming a joyless optimiser.
Amnesia: The Bunker is a compact, focused and refreshing horror game that brings new excitement to one of horror's modern classic game series.
The Tartarus Key has puzzles so hard it's basically an immersive sim. Puzzle haters will baulk, but for genre fans it's a weirdo breath of fresh air with distinct and careful design.