A truly brilliant successor to the outstanding Breath of the Wild and one of the most ambitious games ever made, were it not for some unnecessary bloat and more than a touch of repetition both as a sequel and standalone adventure it would be even better than its more pioneering predecessor.

It took me over a year to complete this game, such is the expanse of the map which is around 3x the size of Breath of the Wild - and that was by no means small. Unfortunately this is somewhat artificial as the underworld is essentially a gloom infested mirror of the overworld with diminished detail, and the more interesting yet sparser sky islands are appropriately less abundant. That time span is also in part simply the reality of not having as much available to play games now. Usually I would ignore such a gigantic landscape and open world setting due to time constraints but the brilliance of Nintendo’s latest Zelda adventure has me reconsidering that assumption.

I truly loved 90% of my time with this game. It is iterative of course, and directly builds on the much more novel release that was Breath of the Wild, but I think that was a justified decision. The star performance this time comes in the form of your powers inherited from the Zonai (the story is convoluted but also very simply Zelda, so you shouldn’t expect anything drastically new). The Fuse power in particular - which allows you to bond items to weapons, arrows, and shields - drastically alters the way in which you approach fights and how you traverse the environment. Alongside this is the ability to essentially craft vehicles and objects with the correct pieces. This ability completely transforms how you solve puzzles and dungeons. Stupidly I did not seek to complete the quest which provides you with the Autobuild power until I was well into my adventure. I advise completing this quest as soon as possible.

The shrines in Tears of the Kingdom are vastly improved from the previous game. I enjoyed completing every one I found. They adeptly taught you how to utilise these new powers and provided you lessons on how to approach challenges in a more varied way. I only wish the much more box tick element of the light roots in the depths had more of this quality.

Unfortunately I found almost every boss this time round lacking in challenge and not that interesting. It’s true Zelda games vary a lot in this regard but for me this is one of the worst crop in the series. The 5 quests to unlock the Sages which will help you defeat Ganondorf are also not as creative as was the case last time round. I only truly enjoyed the wind and water sage dungeons, the others were a bit of a slog - in particular the Gerudo quest.

The overall similarity of the sage/guardian main quests in the last two games feels a bit jarring generally. During my quest with Prince Sidon I kept feeling a distinct sense of déjà vu, so much so I felt confused as to who was who in this narrative. This is not to say they are not great escapades, it just feels too familiar and lacks the freshness we found in Breath of the Wild.

The staggering conquest of this game arrives when you first leap from a sky island or launch out of a sky tower to the world below and if you wish - through a chasm into the depths. All of this occurs seamlessly in extravagant colour which the Switch handles without difficulty. A wonderful testament to the brilliance of this hardware. Is it disappointing that a new Zelda game looks the same graphically as a game designed for the Wii U from 7 years ago? I suppose a touch, but you hardly dwell on it. This is a verdant and enthralling art style that will stand the test of time.

Tears of the Kingdom is one of this generation’s must play games and I am excited to see what they think of next. You just never get a bad Zelda (well, maybe Zelda II) an incredible consistency that few developers can begin to match.

Might I end by noting my confusion as to why it took so long for a game to realise a power in which you can rise through ceilings would be highly useful. It genuinely is revolutionary.

I do not have a great deal of interest in remakes for the most part. Undoubtedly it's difficult not to play them nowadays as it seems every third release is a remake in one sense or another. Yet, as reinventions of once compelling titles go, this is very good.

The nostalgic hit of youthful memories is provided adequately without resting too much on the laurels of simply putting on a new skin. The gameplay and dynamism of Tony Hawk's original campaigns are recaptured and updated with enough contemporary additions to make the fun feel fresh and exciting.

I am not entirely sure I had any great desire to actually revisit Tony Hawk's Pro Skater but the time I spent with this reimagining was enjoyable and worthwhile. It also reminded me that far too few games just give you simple high score goals anymore - there's a freedom to it that remains captivating.

A beautiful lyrical game, but unfortunately an all too simple and rudimentary one.

I enjoyed my time trotting around the valley playing instruments to the flora and fauna of an evening. It was relaxing, wholesome, and calming. If you find pleasure in such games this will be perfect for you. If you equally are familiar with the characters of this land - even better. The art style is faithful to Jansson’s work and the occasional musical interlude from Sigur Rós is always welcome to my ears. I only wish there was more of it.

The passing stealth levels are as basic as possible. There is no real challenge or alternative way of approaching the task. That is not uncommon for adventure games yet they do tend to have a steeper puzzle element to allow for it. Melody of Moominvalley has none. You are tasked with collecting the odd item here or there but it’s nothing more complex than go to point B and back to point A. I recognise the game is largely for kids however and in that sense it offers a quaint and pleasant experience for the short time it maintains, but there could have been a lot more here. For example, let us read Moominpappa’s manuscript or compose the odd tune ourselves on the harmonica? It’s not a great deal to ask.

Oddly for such a simple game there are framerate issues on the Switch even when docked. This is now so common with every new release I barely raise an eyebrow these days, alas it’s worth noting. Equally I can’t really comprehend why there are so many loading screens - it is far from an expansive map or highly detailed visual experience. Couldn’t you have masked these loading points behind something? It all feels quite unthinking.

If you enjoy the sublime atmosphere of Moomins then you will undoubtedly enjoy your time in Moominvalley, as I did. It’s only somewhat disappointing there really was so little to do. You can finish the entire adventure in 3-4 hours I would imagine.

It’s wonderful to be back, welcome aboard.

I do not hold Monkey Island up as one of the greatest adventure games but it is certainly close, sadly this is perhaps one of its weakest iterations. Despite that it’s a good adventure with all of the wry wit and whimsy you know and love from this series.

All of your favourite characters return and offer layered and humorous interest throughout the well paced plot. You will enjoy this whether you have played previous games in the series or not, but it certainly helps if you have. I imagine in particular some of the puzzles might be oddly impenetrable if you are not accustomed to Herbert’s way of thinking. I admit I did have to delve into the hints section a few times.

The art style is beautiful and unique, it moves with such fluid colour. I never tired of looking at it. The voice cast are just as good as in past games and the music is suitably joyous.

Alas, a narrative game has to cohere to excel and I cannot get on board with the tone or purpose of the ending. I won’t discuss the detail here but meta narratives always strike me as cheap storytelling. I understand what they are trying to get across to the player but it left me cold, which is a disappointing end to a series I have great fondness for.

Of similar quality to Halo 3 but I might even give this the edge.

The more limited abilities and restricted weapon choices allows for more thrilling firefights and a greater sense of threat when your back is against the wall. I had some of the most tactically pleasing fights in ODST I have ever had in this series. You cannot just blast your way through every scene.

Naturally many will deem the campaign too short but I do not think that is necessarily unwelcome in this contemporary age of bloated campaigns that never know when to die.

As I only play single player games largely I found this to be a fulfilling and exciting campaign that delivered on much of the promise that went before it, it's just not particularly new.

Perhaps the lustre of Master Chief has worn off by now however as the repetitiveness of the plot begins to tire. Whilst I enjoy the character's general arc the entire Cortana relationship is simply confused and convoluted.

Shooting and evasion is still as crisp as ever. There remains few feelings as satisfying as a well placed plasma grenade in Halo.

Whilst I accept this iteration does somewhat improve on the original those improvements are minimal and I always felt the writing in the first was sharper, and it is the writing that to this day I find most compelling about GTA.

I actually played the expansion for the original GTA (GTA London 1969) more than this on release, I suppose because I was enamoured with the idea having so rarely seen my own country featured in a game - so I admit of all the games in the GTA series this is the one I remember least.

To think there was a time I picked this game up with a friend (without any parental approval) assuming it was just Micro Machines with guns...

The first iteration of the now genre defining series was considerably less expansive and brilliant than what was to follow but the wit and sheer irreverence of it all was there to see from the beginning.

I absolutely would recommend going back and experiencing it for yourself to see just how many of the now uniquely GTA elements that we know and love were there from the outset.

Pentiment should be roundly applauded for taking on a complex narrative in a unique setting. The wider history unfolding beneath the immediate plot is fascinating and I often found myself delving into the events and characters mentioned in the rich conversations you have around Tassing which are expertly depicted in an art style that is vivid and unique. Truly a one off. I can’t compliment it enough.

The narrative itself is very well constructed with a clear ‘Name of the Rose’ influence, though I would say from my perspective the actual culprits of this sinister plot were telegraphed far too clearly and despite the element of choice afforded to you I don’t think your accusations made any great difference to how the tale played out.

My primary criticisms are focused on pacing , gameplay, and technical concerns. I would have marked this as a 3.5 were it not for the fact I encountered game breaking bugs at the start of the third act. I had to reinstall the game as a result. Technical issues like this are entirely unacceptable two years after the release of a game with a fairly simple design. Furthermore, why is the game visibly loading every room? It even briefly cuts when you engage in a conversation. There were adventure games in the 90s that did not do this. It adds to the general sense everything is moving at a glacial pace. I understand the page turning motif but this loses its novelty quickly.

The larger problem perhaps is that Pentiment isn’t really an adventure at all. There are no puzzles, few different pathways, you only really fail in an objective by running out of time. By the end of my experience I was skipping past townsfolk because I knew their conversation would not further the plot in any way. That is entirely because there was nothing left to challenge me. There’s only so many times you can listen to people detail the delay of the local post.