Video Gamer

A formulaic Metroidvania with satisfying combat and a thick mood in the air, Blasphemous uses its pixel art style and fixation on religious iconography to establish a powerful vision of a forsaken world.

Headspun is intriguing and takes creative risks by blending genres together. It's a shame about those few missing links.

Gears 5 is the accomplished third-person shooter that wants to show you it can be more. It doesn’t always pan out – the open sections are barren, and intriguing plot points have a tendency to peter out – but those incidental interactions between characters on the battlefield are terrific, as is Jack’s influence on the action. And Christ, the detail in its world. Gears 5 is the ultimate showcase for the series; I’m already looking forward to Super Gears of War 2.

Blair Witch is great at building tension and letting you get lost in its unforgiving forest, but sometimes it takes that too literally. It mostly overcomes that, however, thanks to your magic camcorder and superb pooch.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey replicates the fumbling, trial-and-error progress of evolution, which often isn’t fun, but there are monkeys in the game, and that is brilliant.

Man of Medan's story and characters fail to reach the heights of Supermassive's homage to the slasher flick, Until Dawn. The Dark Pictures Anthology isn't off to the greatest of starts.

Control is Remedy at its best: pulpy, weird, and immensely satisfying to play. Its setting is a potent concoction of '60s brutalist style and wacky sci-fi. Performance issues hamper the shootouts, and the characters are a little cold, but it's the setting and atmosphere that win the day.

Telling Lies expands on the concept Sam Barlow created with Her Story, with a web of intriguing characters and mysteries, but the more overblown aspects of its plot detract from the personal drama.

Dry Drowning is surreal and silly; it draws you in with earnest and ludicrous writing, perhaps not in the way the game's developer intended.

Wolfenstein Cyberpilot's formulaic combat and missions underwhelm, but the premise and the novelty are intriguing, offering a fresh slant on a dark vision.

Night call is thick with moody atmosphere and noir style; its writing is hit and miss, but it's tough not to be entranced by the central concept.

A wondrous world and keenly felt themes are slighted by unsubtle writing.

The Sinking City is well worth playing for the initial rhythm of its casework and the freshness of its setting, but its mechanics, like its mystery, end up flooded.

Judgment tinkers with the Yakuza template enough that it provides something for fans, as well as those who have always thought about visiting Kamurocho.

While the rewards in hidden areas aren't as satisfying as you might expect from a game like this, Gato Roboto's tense, creative boss battles with a talking rodent are an absolute delight.

Blood & Truth is an exciting shooter with some deft VR touches; its forgettable plot and characters are made up for by the intricate details of its world.

Layers of Fear 2 is crammed with cryptic messages about acting method: ‘You build one character. You destroy the other. There’s no other way,’ one voice croons early on. But I couldn’t help thinking that, in making a new game, you don’t have to destroy the other. There is another way.

When you and your two pals are sharing item pick-ups, driving in each other’s racing lines, and skimming past one another for a boost, Team Sonic Racing shines. It offers something different in the kart racing genre.

An exquisite atmosphere and fresh premise make up for some slightly obtuse puzzles. Observation brims with ideas and images that fill your head.

The satisfying action and relentless chaos of Rage 2 peppers a formulaic open world with thrills.

A Plague Tale: Innocence has some clunky writing in places, and its play gets stale after a time, but it prevails with a compelling mystery and a beautiful world.

Granted, the chase sequences are frustrating and the story falls a bit flat, but there's some wonderful attention to detail in Close to the Sun's environments, and tension is present even in the game's calmest moments.

Mortal Kombat 11 sees the franchise at its strongest yet, with finely-tuned scrapping and an ample amount of content providing one of the most rewarding fighting games of the generation.

Days Gone is a grim, beautiful B-movie; its action and writing are full of pulpy thrills, and by the end of it, I found myself liking a character called Deacon St. John – an achievement in itself.

Is this Miyazaki’s most enchanting world? You could argue that falling back on the natural beauty of Japan is cheating; then again, the landscape lends itself particularly well to Sekiro – the plated sweep of a temple roof that starts to resemble armour, and the canes of a bamboo forest, rattling like raised spears. No other developer makes places that feel like this, and you realise what FromSoftware must be to other studios around the world: a shadow that keeps coming back.