It has a Saturday-morning-cartoon plot, script, and voice acting, but its action gameplay is thrilling in a moment-to-moment way that Alan Wake 2 never was. Superb high-tempo electronic guitar music, good graphics (although I can’t help thinking it would be better at 60fps on something more powerful than a Switch) and a unique chain mechanic for you to control your beast buddies. It made me smile every time I turned it on and started bashing enemies.

I played this on Easy difficulty–people who are actually good at this kind of game might want challenge, but I just wanted fun and spectacle. The final boss, however, seemed impossibly hard, and it turns out there is a world of complexity in the upgrade trees and modifiers that I had completely missed in my hammer-the-buttons playthrough. Usually I loathe having to spend time in menus rather than playing the game, but figuring out of a configuration of abilities to defeat the boss made me appreciate just how cleverly assembled this game is.

If the other games by director Takahisa Taura and supervisor Hideki Kamiya are half as good I have many happy hours ahead of me. ★★★★★

The rock musical level of Alan Wake 2 is one of the most enjoyable and creative sections of a game that I’ve played. It’s a shame, then, that I found much of the rest of the game uninspired. Combat feels clunky and does not evolve significantly in the course of the game. The “deduction” mechanics did not make me feel smart. The plot is neither particularly original nor surprising–and the cliffhanger ending filled me with no anticipatory excitement.

To be fair to Remedy, I should say that the audiovisual craftsmanship is highly impressive. The graphics, cut-scene shot composition, sound design, and musical choices make this the closest thing to prestige drama that there is in gaming. It’s stylish. It just wasn’t that much fun to play. ★★★☆☆

The original God of War was released in the ten-plus year period where I didn’t play any games. Playing it for the first time comes for me, then, without any nostalgia for the era or the series.

The major gameplay annoyance is the fixed camera angles–whether that is not being able to see behind yourself, or having to change your stick direction arbitrarily just because the camera decides to shift. I am very glad that gamers have now been entrusted with the right stick to control the camera; it seems strange that anyone thought using both thumbs would be too difficult.

Early 2000s gaming sexism is my other chief problem–the game’s display of female breasts at every opportunity and its ultra-violent, ultra-masculine hero seem to be trying very hard to be adult, but end up seeming juvenile. It didn’t need to be an 18.

The combat is, however, is still engaging and well-designed. Carelessness leads quickly to failure and most battles seem fair; you need to pay close attention to which kind of enemy you are fighting and their attack patterns.

Other games beckon, so I will put this on pause for now, eight hours in. ★★★☆☆

(Played on the PCSX2 emulator, which seemed flawless to me.)

I played Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora when it came out, got about twenty hours in and then moved on to something else. I was wondering last week if I given it short shrift, so reinstalled and played five or so more hours.

It’s certainly beautiful. It’s fun to fly around Pandora. The story is fine. Shooting mech-suited bad humans with a bow is satisfying. When I looked at HowLongToBeat, however, and realised I had at least a dozen more hours to complete the game at my typical slow pace, I realised that I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t want to search for the right ingredient in the forest to craft a better bow. I didn’t want to spend more time get better trousers, or a better harness for my flying buddy, or unlock another research station the same way I unlocked the last five.

It’s not a problem unique to Avatar, as I remember feeling that Horizon: Zero Dawn had outstayed its welcome by about 15-20 hours–although I found that game’s story considerably more interesting so I did push through to finish it. I will not finish Avatar, and so I happily assign it to the never-to-be-finished pile. ★★★☆☆

Age has withered my interest in online multiplayer, so it was the talk of this game’s single-player campaign that attracted my attention. Credit to the designers for aiming to bring in some brief open-world elements to change up the pacing, and even greater credit to them for the Control-influenced supernatural horror sections. It’s not quite as inventive as its influence, but the production design is impeccable and the game is always fun to play (thanks, too, frequent save-points!). This is the game-equivalent of a good Mission Impossible film. Silly, but entertaining. ★★★★☆

I played this in VR (Luke Ross mod) all the way through with the Phantom Liberty DLC.

This beats Half-Life Alyx for me as the best VR experience to be had. Night City’s size and complexity makes Alyx seem a very linear and restricted game in comparison. I don’t care that Cyberpunk doesn’t have VR controls–using a controller with the mod’s gaze-aiming works perfectly.

The main story is, as every one points out, not quite as good as the DLC, but it’s still full of plenty of cool set-pieces and some genuinely different endings. The DLC in VR is just phenomenal.

There is nothing else like this. CD Projekt may have messed up the launch but right now it’s one of the best games ever made. ★★★★★

This is a fantastic game. Tight design means you never feel your time is wasted and you are always learning from each encounter. It is difficult (I played on normal) but fair. The sound is terrifying. The graphics and animation are high-quality throughout, dark but never obscure. Play it. ★★★★★

This would have been a four star game for me if it had finished with Arthur’s death. The epilogue, however, elevated yet another Rockstar game about a gang of thieves into something more impressive. Watching John Marston (Jim Milton!) build his new life on the ranch was the best part of the game by far, and something very special in gaming. ★★★★★

It’s a game about killing large monsters that makes you regret killing the monsters and resent the protagonist. Mood and music are perfect, and the climbing mechanic generally works well. I wouldn’t have minded a few less colossi to beat, as I felt the game was a slog by the twelfth or so, but nevertheless, a unique achievement by the creators and a game that is still well worth experiencing today. ★★★★☆

I loved about 75% of this game–the exploration and gradual increase in your powers is deeply satisfying, and the smoothness of movement and jumping is a pleasure. What brings it down for me are the bosses and the odd section where the difficulty spiked and it wasn’t clear how I should fight certain enemies. I resorted to walkthroughs a number of times to avoid wasting long chunks of time flailing around not knowing how to do damage. It’s a good game, but I’m not desperately waiting for Remastered 2 or Prime 4. ★★★★☆

This was the perfect game to play with my four and half year old daughter. Co-op here is perfect for younger players, as they can’t die or fall behind. Although she wouldn’t be able to figure out the puzzles herself, she could feel she was helping as I bumbled along. Graphics are simple but beautifully animated; music is fantastic classical piano. It’s unique and, dare I say, a classic. ★★★★★