Grand Theft Auto V, Xbox 360 & PS3
Offering an unprecedented level of freedom to perpetrate comic criminality – from petty robbery to gratuitous high-speed traffic offences – GTA V and its slice of faux-Californian larceny is one of the most absorbing games ever made. It also offers an intensely satirical view on the state of the American dream.
The Last of Us, PS3
After humanity is wiped out by a rogue strain of fungus, this road trip through the decaying detritus of civilisation is a perfect stage on which to play out the game's emotional, as well as physical, dramas. Tense, moving and beautiful to look at, it's refreshingly free of the usual glib answers and easy resolutions.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, 3DS
A Link Between Worlds takes the familiar ingredients of a Zelda adventure – an expanding array of equipment, a kidnapped princess and a force of ancient evil that still manages to be cute – and remixes them for greater accessibility and fun. The result is one of the most enjoyable Zelda games for years.
Bioshock: Infinite, Xbox 360 & PS3
Bioshock trades its dank undersea dystopia for a sun-infused cloud city. Its combat may be too simple for some, but the story, which includes well-drawn characters, a proper twist and even a bit of social commentary, more than makes up for it.
Pikmin 3, Wii U
Nintendo's plant creatures and the natural habitat in which they live are in fact a battleground where tiny life-and-death struggles are played out in pursuit of delicious alien fruit. Real-time strategy has never been so affecting.
Device 6, iOS
Device 6 is a story you read and participate in, its prose leading you from room to room, while puzzles gently insinuate themselves into the imagery and layout of the text. Ethereal, elliptical and satisfying when you manage to get past one of its trickier conundrums.
Super Mario 3D World, Wii U
Playing Super Mario 3D World, you realise that this is what Nintendo's cheerful plumber must always have looked like in the mind of his creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. Clean, plump, shiny little worlds that stretch off in every direction, with Mario joyously plundering them.
Remember Me, PS3
Starting in brightly coloured future Paris, Remember Me is a game about the fallibility of memory, breaking up its customisable combo-driven combat with levels where your bio-terrorist heroine hacks into someone's mind to tinker with details of memories until they believe what she wants them to.
Papers Please, Android & iOS
You're in charge of immigration at a border crossing into fictitious Arstotzka. Using the game's simple 8-bit-style interface, you compare increasingly complex details on applicants' passports and paperwork to decide whether they're allowed in. It's utterly addictive, drawing you effortlessly into its moral maze.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Xbox 360 & PS3
Assassin's Creed gets its swashbuckle on in this exquisite blend of naval battles and land-based skulduggery, which sees the game's antihero turn from callous buccaneer to man with a cause, in the process making himself the scourge of a lusciously reimagined vision of the 18th-century Caribbean.
