Honestly, mate, it's needs must when the devil drives around here. 'I know I'm playing this wrong,' says Devox. What should be the game's crowning feature is instead reduced to an undeserved supporting role, like an exquisitely carved plinth groaning under the weight of a gaudy bronze bust of an elven wraith who's looking very, very serious indeed.'

As fun as the core is, however, it is often overshadowed by an onerous and self-indulgent story. A lot has been added in order to scale it up for a full blown sequel and much of it has been implemented with style and aplomb. What we said: 'And so Shadow of War ends up the very epitome of the difficult second album. Apologies BF! Every five o'clock we are asleep in the conservatory so you can kill us then and be done with it. BF also wrote 'cleverly' as 'cleaverly', which, given the murderous nature of the game in question, may have been a pun that we have just ruined. 'A cleverly crafted puzzle with story and atmosphere to match captivated me like no other game in long time,' writes BF. 'It's a close one but the 80's retro isometric gameplay, great story, gameplay that builds on itself and a brilliant alternate ending makes this the sleeper hit of the year,' says Tmcd35, kicking us off with style. But it's a dazzling show of how a game can benefit from taking time seriously, and a tale of bloodshed that is as gripping as it is ghastly.' What we said: 'The Sexy Brutale isn't quite an unqualified triumph - the puzzles are a bit too gentle towards the finish, once you've got the layout down pat, and the story ends with a slightly graceless dollop of extended exposition. Developer: Tequila Works, Cavalier Game Studios.Happy New Year, everyone! We have high hopes for 2018, and happily it's starting well with this, a list of the top 50 games of 2017 as decided by you.

These were the best games of 2017