Art direction is the foundation of any game, the blueprint for how it’ll look and perform. These games then, are 2019’s greatest eyeball-popping slobberknockers whose every frame deserves a showcase exhibition in the Louvre.

As we wind back the clock and have a look at what 2019 had to offer gamers, it feels only fitting to start the first of our annual time travel trips to shine a light on the best new experiences that popped up throughout the year. In an industry where sequels dominate and current games are positioned to stretch as much longevity out of a property as is humanly possible, it’s new ideas that are seen as risky business.

Take this with a grain of salt, but would be an absolute blessing after the criminal delisting of PT from the PlayStation Store

It’s going to be another tight race to the top as 2019 was another stellar year for new game releases. The 2019 nominees have been announced for the Game Awards, with Death Stranding unsurprisingly grabbing nominations in eight of the categories.

Tomorrow, Hideo Kojima’s weirdness is unleashed on the world again as Death Stranding, his first game since leaving the employ of Konami. Of course people are eager for it; not many game releases have this level of anticipation to them.

Allow me to do you a public service and reveal five reasons why Metal Gear Survive is the superior alternative to Death Stranding.

Silent Hill fans may still mourn the loss of a Hideo Kojima directed entry in that dormant franchise, but Death Stranding star Norman Reedus reckons that Konami's blunder resulted in the best outcome possible for the video game industry.

While it seems to be a core part of the Xbox strategy, very few of Sony’s first-party games have made their way to PC. That started changing a little when Quantic Dreams went multi-platform, bringing its cinematic, decision-based adventure games – like Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human – to PC. A bigger, yet-to-be-released game that’s making the jump from …