Mixing survival gameplay with a narrative is always a tough task for developers, but it’s one the creators of We Happy Few takes on. I’m 10 hours into their game, which was released yesterday for Xbox One, PS4 and PC, and I’m both charmed and frustrated. The writing is excellent, and the visuals are spectacular, but the clumsy gameplay makes appreciating these things difficult.

I’m a sucker for Flat Heroes’ simple look and how good it feels to bounce around putting off death, but my favourite part of this minimalist Switch platformer is the moment before the levels actually start.

I’ve never enjoyed a single movement in a video game as much as the Mega Man X dash jump. I could dash jump all day — off ledges, up walls, across pits filled with spikes. For all the double jumps, dodge rolls and infinite sprints I’ve encountered since, nothing has filled my heart with so much joy as slamming my thumb across two buttons at once to launch myself across the screen with equal amounts of control and ease.

I’ve always been curious about hunting sims, mostly because I want to vicariously wander around the woods. I’m excited to check out a recent one that just got ported to the Switch, but right now I can’t decide which character to pick.

In Front Mission 3’s 18th battle, I’m on a naval base facing down two giant walking artillery cannons, four Gundam-like mechs, and an apache helicopter. It isn’t the most challenging tactical role-playing game from the PS1 era, but like a lot of games from that era it’s prone to the occasional difficulty spike.

Unlike many other games in the genre though, characters in Front Mission 3 don’t just live or die. They crumble, slowly, under barrages of gun fire and missiles, and I just can’t get enough of it.

Playing a preview build of Body of Evidence, I found myself working against the clock to clean up crime scenes and hide dead bodies.

As I meticulously scrubbed blood out of hardwood floors and tabletops, I felt exhilarated to play a role in a situation I hope I never take part in.

There’s finally a new Star Ocean game after 2016's barebones Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. Unfortunately, free-to-play Star Ocean: Anamnesis, the latest entry, is only on smartphones, and a gacha game to boot.

The first of those would be forgivable if not for the second, but as a slot machine for collecting characters from Star Oceans past it turns the series’ once absurd fusion of medieval fantasy and Star Trek sci-fi into something that just feels mundane.

Last month, snowy survival game The Long Dark got a new cooking system. Like in real life, it requires timing things just right. I couldn’t pull it off in my last game, as well as in most of my own home cooking.

The Witcher came out on PC in 2007. That feels like a lifetime ago. The series is now easily one of my favourites, but a decade ago I, like a lot of people, had no idea it even existed.

That's created a weird dynamic as I play The Witcher 1 for the first time knowing everything that happens in the second two games, like being Michael J. Fox in Back To The Future sent back to Renaissance Poland rather than 1950s California.

Last night in The Crew 2 I drove from New Orleans to Manhattan in about 20 minutes. Behind the wheel of the free, workmanlike 2016 Mazda MX-5 the game gave me to start, I zig-zagged between other cars because one, I was going 240km/h and they were not; and two, narrowly avoiding collisions netted me 10 extra followers on the in-game social media each time I did it.

Exposure is one of the currencies The Crew 2 is built around, used for unlocking new types of events and vehicles. But despite the tens of thousands of made-up people allegedly tracking my progress, I felt pretty lonely.

I'm in a pickle. The new demo for the upcoming JRPG Octopath Traveller lets you play the first three hours of the game a few weeks early. Instead of making three hours' worth of progress, I've spent that time trying to figure out which main character to choose.

You know how you tell yourself you're gonna finally try some new restaurants, then a week later you're back at the same pizza place you always go to? I've been doing that same thing, except with Bloodborne.

The recently released Street Fighter 30th Anniversary collection has led me to playing a lot more Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike. I wasn't expecting this.

Last Saturday, I expected to finally, finally, get through God of War. That was my first mistake.

Most of the time, I want to be gaming. If you're here, probably, you can relate. In the grand scheme of personality traits, that one isn't so bad; just not 100 per cent satiable in every circumstance. Sometimes I find myself in an unfortunate situation involving me, chilling, and several other people who don't play games, also chilling, all in the same room. Like, I wouldn't even pitch Mario Kart  to these guys.

I recently discovered a game for these lamentable moments.

While on vacation last week, I finally finished Far Cry 5. Though I'd already spoiled myself on the ending (occupational hazard), I was surprised by how moving I found it when I finally got there. The end wraps up the game's biggest questions in a satisfying way.

I love video game item shops. Even when I can't afford the curios on display it's always fun to examine them, read the flavour text, and plan a wishlist of future acquisitions. Item shops also often act as respites from a long and tiring video game journey. In the PC game Roulette Knight, though, they're where you go to die.

In most dating sims, it's obvious how to romance your crush. You just talk to them over and over, selecting the nicest dialogue responses until your persistence is rewarded. Monster Prom flips that script by introducing both character stats and a competitive multiplayer component.

At a certain point in Frostpunk you get the option to choose a path: Order or faith. This opens up a new set of laws you can enact, with their own progression. In my playthrough I chose faith. I haven't used it to much practical benefit, but I like having it around.