It’s a beautiful day in the Maldives, the ocean glitters with a blue hue that defies logic and the sun shines with a warmth that helps sell the idea that heaven is a place on Earth. Right, time to kill some people then.

If you’d told me a couple of years ago that I’d one day take The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt on the road with me and not have to technically justify (the best kind of correct!) that is was a mobile game because I’d hooked up my TV and console to a petrol generator, I’d have laughed in your face. Scoffed even, scoff to the max at the very notion of CD Projekt Red’s fantasy masterpiece being shrunk down to pocket size. But lo and behold, through some sort of sorcery, CDPR has done the impossible.

Episode 4 has some truly engaging moments, but the issues that have plagued earlier episodes persist. By now, it’s likely that only the diehards – those who forked out for a season pass – will see this through to the end.

Link’s Awakening, the first The Legend of Zelda game for a handheld system, first came out 26 years ago. As far as video games go, it’s a relic of a bygone age – but it’s one (especially its 1998 Gameboy colour DX re-release) that’s highly revered by fans of the series. Two and a half decades after its debut, it’s …

Borderlands 3 may be a braindead story of already dead on arrival memes and a cast that is largely forgettable (Save for Tannis, I still love you for being my socially inept spirit animal), but it’s easily the most satisfying power fantasy of the year thanks to its amazingly tuned gunplay and a sophisticated flow of action that picks up the juvenile slack.

For the PES franchise, it continues to feel like two steps forward and three back. The gameplay is undoubtedly the best in any football game to-date once you get to grips with it, but in a world where gamers crave fresh content, it’s sadly lagging the competition. I get why Konami focuses on gameplay, but it does seem to be causing some tunnel vision, and the longer the other elements are ignored, the longer the game will be considered an “also ran”.

At some point, Hollywood costume designers embraced the black suit and tie as on-screen shorthand for simultaneously smart and cool. Turns out, the look is also extremely handy for wannabe cosplayers who want to dress up for a con with little effort required.

We’re winding down on not only another year, but a decade. A decade of highs and lows, of stunning new entries in long-running franchises and the birth of several new contenders in video games who have already made an indelible mark on the scene. The more things change though, the more they remain the same and you only have to …