NME

The best instalment since the opening trilogy, Silent Hill: Townfall’s shift to first-person and evocative Scottish setting make for the creepiest and most involving experience of the franchise’s reboot era. By merging the unsettling aesthetic of Silent Hill with the stealth-and-hide tension of Alien: Isolation, and placing it in the realm of retro folk horror, Screen Burn have crafted one of gaming’s most edge-of-your-seat experiences.

A Plague Tale’s latest instalment wears its various influences proudly on its tattered sleeve. The atmospheric adventuring ultimately remains refreshingly singular though. It may lack the series’ signature rodents – and, bafflingly, an actual minotaur – but Resonance reliably scratches that Uncharted itch. If you need a breezy linear adventure to immerse yourself in, you could do far worse than playing this flawed yet intriguing game.

Beast Of Reincarnation is a weak action role-playing game from the same team that keeps churning out Pokémon games. Dull characters, janky graphics and dodgy dubbed voice acting makes the game’s twisting tale about community, perseverance and tech-anxiety tough to engage with, while repetitive combat, samey environments and uninspired sound design turns saving the world into a real chore.

The core, simple and colourful appeal of 2001’s Halo: Combat Evolved – battling your way through chamber after chamber and canyon after canyon of ever-intensifying alien and mutant hordes with zero concern for XP, skill trees or equipment upgrades – brilliantly survives this stunning visual update. The drama and atmosphere of the original is hugely enhanced by its otherworldly textures and cinematic cut-scenes. It’s only let down by old-school transportation mechanics, so unwieldy that they drag you straight back to 2001.

Where 2020’s Sea Of Thieves sets you and your mates up for multiplayer, grog-chugging hijinks, Resynced cements Black Flag’s place as the quintessential story-driven pirating epic. By being a plunder-led adventure first and an Assassin’s Creed game second, it remains a treasure-nabbing triumph, even with a few flaws. Put simply: this rum-soaked remake is a swashbuckling good time.

Mixtape is easy to play – and even easier to fall in love with. Its interactive graphic novel gameplay might put off some diehard gamers but the deliberately messy coming-of-age story and the killer, curated soundtrack will tug at your heartstrings. At £15.99, it’s an all-killer, no-filler experience.

Do a barrel roll! Nintendo’s Switch 2 Star Fox 64 revamp might be creatively unambitious, but it sure is a hell of a ride. From the icy wreckage of Fichina Outpost to Macbeth’s industrial heartlands, every moment of this souped up cosmic expedition will make you want to hoot in delight.

Calling this the best ever James Bond game doesn’t feel like high-enough praise. The story straddles the line between far-fetched thriller and believable spy adventure while the globe-trotting missions leave enough space for you to decide if you want to be the world’s greatest super sleuth or a swaggering bruiser. There are playful nods to 007’s long history but IO aren’t afraid to try something new with this origin tale either.

Broadening the scope of Lego’s licenced games – certainly in the wake of 2024’s half-baked Lego Horizon Adventures – Legacy is a darkly enjoyable plastic romp through Bat-history leaving little out and cramming a huge amount in.

If you liked Returnal, you will love just about everything about Saros. This is a true elevation, with Housemarque confirming their genius in the ‘bullet hell’ genre. As games mature as an artform, there’s a particular joy in following developers so steeped in the medium’s mechanical history. An easy recommend.