Ragnarock Drum your longship to victory

This is a rhythm game built like a race. Every song is a stretch of water, your drumming pushes your longship forward, and the boats beside you are real people doing the same thing. Prefer the couch? Split-screen takes up to four, and DLC songs work in multiplayer too.

You are not just chasing a number. Your best run sails beside you as a ghost ship, so a solo session is still a duel with yourself. String enough hits together and you charge a boost that shoves your boat forward at the perfect moment, right as your rival pulls ahead.

Runes roll toward four drums and you smash them with your hammers, on the beat. It is easy to pick up: three difficulty levels per song, and you never actually fail a track, so a rough run just ends with a worse distance instead of a game over. Getting good is another matter. Above difficulty five or six it becomes a genuine workout, and the medals on every track give you something concrete to chase.

The feel is where it earns its keep. Hits land with a satisfying drum sound you can hear clearly over the music, so you always know how far off the beat you were. There is a real trick to learning a song's tricky middle section and finally nailing that gold medal.

The base game ships with 46 songs, from celtic rock to viking power metal, with bands like Alestorm, Gloryhammer and Electric Callboy. Seven DLC packs add 49 more, including Sabaton, Nightwish and The Offspring. Fair warning: this leans hard into metal, so listen to a track or two before committing.

The stylised Nordic backdrops, inspired by viking mythology, give each track its own scenery, from silly dwarf taverns to runs past enormous god-like figures.