2018, in so many ways, is a year marked by controversy. Many great games, mind you, but a level of silliness and backward business practice so astronomically confounding – so very boggling to both mind and wallet – that most of us are still reeling from the impact; or cringing from the taste on our tongues. Luckily then, that particular dumpster fire has more or less sailed. 2019 is geared to deliver a stellar lineup in general. But gaming’s titanic trio in Sony, Microsoft & Nintendo respectively are left in something of an unsure position as they either look to the future, try to find their place in the present or both.

Inch by inch, death by death, progression felt like a path to power that players had to truly earn in From Software’s Dark Souls series. It was well worth it though, as trekking back to locations that you had suffered to survive through many hours before, provided players with a satisfying walk in the park once they’d earned new skills …

Treasure’s esteemed vertical shoot-em-up Ikaruga remains one of my favourite games. Though it, and other games like it have a lineage that’s nearly a straight line back all the way to Space Invaders, Ikaruga’s colour-switching mechanics presented something new to an iteratively derivative genre that mostly saw innovation through added enemies and more on-screen bullets. Rival Megagun, a split-screen competitive …

In the “1-Shot demo,” players step into the boots of rookie police officer Leon S. Kennedy as he arrives at Raccoon City Police Station in the ultimate worst first day on the job. Leon must survive vicious zombies and solve puzzles to find safe passage out of the station. With an entire building of flesh-eating nightmares lurking between Leon and his escape while the clock ticks down, players need to be sure they’re killing more than just time.

The Xbox One has official mouse and keyboard support, allowing those who favour that combination of inputs to play on consoles. Though many USB mouses and keyboards will be supported, the first official set comes via Razer. Released at this year’s CES, the Razer Turret is a mouse and keyboard combo that’s designed for couch play. There’s a slider mousepad that extrudes from the keyboard, while the whole set up is designed to be comfortable sat upon your lap. Razer has also released a list of existing and upcoming games that have full support for the pc-centric inputs.

havent been able to access the backend for about n hour now. presuming the amp dudes are working on it

With a journey that took years to design and craft behind him, God of War's art director Raf Grassetti has been focusing on some more cathartic designs lately, as the master artist has begun redesigning the mammoth cast of Nintendo’s brilliant brawler Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

You can grab OlliOlli on a range of platforms, which includes an additional one this week: Nintendo Switch. Roll7 have bundled up the two brilliant games into one collection, dubbed OlliOlli Switch Stance. It’ll be out on February 14, because nothing is more romantic than failing to land a grind and then finishing a run with your face on the asphalt. NOTHING.