This would have been a thumbs down upon release. Hello Games have since weathered the storm and managed to turn this into a good game. It worries me what other studios will learn from this however.

I had to install this and try to like it five times. I’m sure theres a good game somewhere among the dotted line GPS, braindead quests and interruptions at every turn, but I kinda can’t be bothered finding it.

Rogue-like with satisfying combat and a cool world. Doesn’t have as much content as the big names in the genre, and may not be as challenging, but still fun.

Fun for a while but generally more of the same. Repetitive combat has improved but is still reliant on counterplay of incredibly obvious telegraphs. Overworld plot is so arbitrary IDK why they bother.

Ashen is a refreshing take on the soulslike, capturing all the right things; challenge, exploration and intrigue. Bosses are a bit easy, but still fun. The VA is its only drastic weak point.

Melancholic and visually stunning, GRIS is a relaxed, watercoloured puzzle platformer perfect for the couch on a lazy sunday afternoon.

Celeste is challenging, smart and exceedingly well designed. Its movement is some of the most satisfying ever in a platformer. The great soundtrack supports a surprisingly fresh exploration of mental health, which has traditionally proved difficult in videogames.

From the maker (one person) of Papers, Please comes this brilliant shortish deduction whodunnit with terrific music, great voice acting and uniquely cool art direction. An awesome understated gem of 2018.

A charming and engaging swan song from Runic games. Beautiful stylised art direction paint engaging environments and interesting puzzles.

A respectable idea (‘shooter souls’), but ultimately falls very short, feeling very derivative, clunky, repetitive and… just not very fun.