Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel’s long-awaited tactics roguelite is here and it may very well prove to be their best work. It looks like a silly little cat game - and it is - but underneath is a staggeringly deep mix of Final Fantasy Tactics-style combat, roguelite progression, cat breeding genetics, life sim management and draft-based build crafting that just keeps opening up the further you go. Every run surfaces new synergies, new absurdity, new reasons to keep breeding nightmare cats. Wildly impressive, insanely moreish. It really feels like the culmination of what a couple of gamedesign nutters have been building towards.

Team Ninja’s return to the franchise is a confident evolution. The dual Samurai and Ninja style system adds real depth to an already unbelievably satisfying combat engine, and the ‘open field’ structure works far better IMO. It is, by a wide margin, the easiest Nioh - which is a little disappointing - but the trade-off is a different kind of fun: less punishing, more expressive, and very hard to put down.

An incremental game about growing berries and feeding them to a hole… and it’s far more compelling than that sounds. The loop is absurdly addictive, the presentation has just enough creep to keep you curious, and the whole thing is over in about 10 hours before it outstays its welcome. Great little game.

Neva: Prologue is a prequel DLC telling the story of how Alba and the wolf cub first met, launching February 19. New enemies, mechanics and locations are promised. Neva was ‘fine’, so a tighter, more focused prologue could work.

Sucker Punch confirmed Ghost of Yōtei Legends launches March 10 as a free update for all Yōtei players. It’s a cooperative multiplayer mode with distinct character classes, three mission types, earnable cosmetics and a Raid coming later. If it’s anything like what Tsushima’s Legends mode became, I’m sure there’s fun to be had.

Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is coming to PC on March 19 via Steam and Epic, with new features and modes arriving on PS5 the same day as a free update. Obviously loved DS2, so glad PC players get to experience it.

An ambitious gacha mixing real-time combat, Satisfactory-like base-building, and a grab-bag of other systems and minigames. The factory sim and automation are what you’d expect (if simplified), the presentation genuinely impressive, but tutorial bloat and predatory pulls may test your patience… and your wallet.

Cairn is a brutal, meditative climb up a mountain that is utterly indifferent to your suffering. Every hold is deliberate, every resource hard-won. Quiet, lonely, and sometimes euphoric - a true strand-type game: walk slow, suffer deeply, and search for meaning in the silence.

Shape of Dreams is a roguelite with MOBA-style combat, sharp progression, and dense buildcrafting. Characters shift drastically depending on your upgrades, and runs snowballs fast. It’s chaotic, stylish, and full of smart mechanical ideas.

Possessor(s) left me conflicted. Its art direction, soundtrack, and emotionally resonant story are all excellent, but the metroidvania fundamentals don’t always support them. Unclear maps, awkward traversal, and not-particularly-satisfying combat sequences weigh down an experience that otherwise shows a lot of care and ambition. Feels like had it had a bit more time, this could have been something great. Worth a look for fans of the genre (or studio) though!