Half-Life: Alyx

 

Half-Life: Alyx

Okay, so maybe a VR game wasn’t what we all had in mind when Valve announced its first new Half-Life game since the long-abandoned Half-Life 3, but Alyx isn’t just an incredible Half-Life game. It also – finally – validates the years of VR hype.

The scope is certainly smaller than the main Half-Life games, with missions in Alyx often taking place in a single building. The level of interaction available to you in these small levels, however, far exceeds that of the core Half-Life games. Whether that’s in flashy moments like using a wooden beam to play baseball with enemy grenades or simply sweeping clutter off shelves searching for extra ammo. It has that good game feel, just like a shotgun blast in Doom, but this time, it makes you feel as much a part of City 17 as the looming Combine ships. You can read our full Half-Life: Alyx review here in case your mind’s not made up yet.

Best PC games - Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Miles hanging from the side of a building in the snow

Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

The first of Insomniac’s Spider-Man games introduced us to frantic combat and rapid web-swinging through the bustling streets of Manhattan that we’d never seen before in videogames, and the Miles Morales sequel is essentially more of the same but improved in every way. Side filler missions like sneaking through an art gallery as MJ is gone, combat abilities and skills have been given more gusto, and the story is a little shorter to ensure it never dips in quality at any point.

What’s even better is that while Miles Morales is technically a spin-off and, as a result, it uses the same map of Manhattan, it’s set during the festive period, so it automatically becomes one of the best Christmas games, with snow and festive decorations everywhere. The story is all about Miles proving himself as Spider-Man while Peter’s taken a leave of absence, and it’s certainly one of the best superhero games, if not the best.

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