Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is another fine slice of Yakuza action from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio thart serves up a little bit of everything over the course of 15 or so hours. This may be a shorter affair than usual by quite some margin, but what's here still manages to deliver lots of exciting action, very silly gadgets, drama and deep cuts for the fans. If the intent was to whet our appetites for Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, then consider that mission well and truly complete. Roll on January 2024.

Its slow pace and lack of true action will not appeal to everybody but with popular culture references galore and a cast of heroes that you can't help but develop a fondness for, it's a title that can sit proudly with others in the genre...if it can get away with mocking them all mercilessly, of course.

Company of Heroes 3 survives the jump to consoles pretty much intact. This epic WW2 RTS is still an absolute treat - one that plays well with a controller, and gives you a wealth of modes to dig into in solo, co-op and PvP flavours. The Italian campaign is the highlight here for sure, mixing old-school Company of Heroes with the dynamic map antics of Total War, but a super strong story mode also delivers a more traditional helping of Relic's RTS magic to boot. There are some performance issues to resolve; quality mode stutters whilst performance can look a little underwhelming in places, but overall this is a huge win for console RTS fans and another fine entry in one of our favourite strategy franchises.

Like A Dragon: Ishin finally arrives in the west via a slick remaster that polishes up the visuals whilst also adding some fresh new combat mechanics to boot. This is another super solid entry in the long-running Yakuza franchise, it's perhaps a little more action-focused than usual, a little more on the serious and grounded side in terms of its story, but it also remembers to pack in plenty of the sort of madcap Yakuza substories and side activities that we all know and love. There's an excellent combat system to get stuck into here alongside an epic main campaign storyline that benefits greatly from the game's fascinating historical setting. This one comes highly recommended.

It's great fun in short bursts though and fans of the genre will enjoy the challenges offered by some of the more intense game modes.

This War of Mine: The Little Ones is a fantastically atmospheric, emotional, and compelling game that constantly makes you doubt what you're doing, in a way that feels entirely natural as part of the experience.

Tell Me Why is a thought-provoking narrative adventure that will stick long in the memory, and for the right reasons. It delivers an imaginative and emotional tale that isn't afraid to address mature topics along the way, and does a commendable job of making you care about its characters and remain invested in its conclusion. It won't suit everyone due to its slow pace and lack of action-packed gameplay, but it nevertheless tells a worthwhile story that deserves to be experienced, and we're grateful to have gone along for the ride.

For fans of the Alien series, the films, books, comics, and every other form of entertainment imaginable, Alien: Isolation is simply a must-play, given that it fits so well into the storyline that it nearly seems to be a chapter in it's own right.

The third outing for Frontier's excellent F1 Manager series is the best yet, implementing a series of new features that don't reinvent the wheel by any means, but add up to a more enjoyable and in-depth experience overall. Better yet, it's launching at a price of just £29.99 / $34.99 on Xbox consoles, which makes it significantly cheaper than this time last year! Casual fans may be perfectly happy with F1 Manager 2023 on Xbox Game Pass for now, but anyone who really enjoys this series will want to join F1 Manager 2024's starting grid ASAP.

Road 96 is a masterpiece in storytelling and depending on your own experience, you may even be moved by its through line of hope, loss, and the ultimate goal of personal freedom. Many of the game's themes haven't directly applied to my life, but Road 96 is an education in empathy and it really makes you feel for the folks out there who are scrambling to get their lives in order because of other people's actions. It's not a perfect game — mechanically things could be improved at times — but its story is about as close to perfect as you could ask for, and for that, we recommend it without a shadow of a doubt.

Ultimately then, you're going to need a little bit of patience with Football Manager 2021: Xbox Edition, whether you're brand-new to the series or a PC player looking to transition to console, but once you've spent a few hours with it, the control scheme becomes easier to wield. After that, you're free to enjoy the best sports management sim on Xbox by a country mile, and a game that football fans owe it to themselves to try at least once, especially now that it's available on Xbox Game Pass. Watch out, you might get hooked.

We're pleasantly surprised by FIFA 22 on Xbox Series X. The franchise had a good first outing on next-gen consoles last year, but the gameplay has really been taken up a notch this time around, seemingly proving that "Hypermotion Technology" isn't just another throwaway buzzword. It's not perfect, and there are certain areas off the pitch that we wish could have received even more attention, but this is the best FIFA has been in quite a few years, and we just hope it isn't ruined by unnecessary gameplay patches down the line.

But it's a game that, once it has you hooked, will reel you back in over and over again because you just know you can do better this time, or perhaps you think you've discovered a new strategy - it's all very compelling.

All in all, while EA Sports FC 26 isn't perfect by any means, I commend the development team for providing a more "authentic" style of gameplay compared to what Ultimate Team offers. Combine that with the fantastic suite of modes and excellent presentation as always, and we've got a great and memorable entry in the series this year.

WWE 2K22 isn't going to surpass the likes of "No Mercy" and "Here Comes The Pain" in terms of fan favourite wrestling games, but in our opinion, it's the best WWE 2K game to date. The gameplay is improved, the graphics are improved, and there's enough content here to keep you busy for a long time, even if some of the new modes haven't quite reached their potential yet. There are still some unwanted series staples here, such as clunky collision detection, but for the most part it's obvious how much progress has been made across the board over the past couple of years, and it's now up to 2K to take things to the next level with WWE 2K23.

If you were expecting Watch Dogs to take the genre in new directions then you’re going to be sorely disappointed. With that being said, Watch Dogs is still an engaging and often times surprising action game.

OlliOlli is a fine indie game that will most likely get its hooks into you and not let go.

However, the game itself can be more-or-less completed without additional purchases and is such a wonderfully-crafted and enjoyable experience that even without spending extra cash, it will keep kids (and adults…this reviewer is 33 and has about 25 hours logged so far with a lot more to come) busy for a good long time.

For the younger players especially, bouncing around as a Jedi or flying the landspeeder around the desert is unlikely to get old anytime soon.

The focus is back on single player stealth and freedom, with the final game giving us the feeling that the franchise is absolutely back on track. Excellent fun.

Oxenfree is truly unlike any other experience that you can pick up for the Xbox One right now. While it isn't heavy on gameplay, the narrative and aesthetics really build a superb atmosphere and give a great sense of weight to proceedings. It doesn't necessarily score a direct hit with every story beat and we could definitely live without the crashes.

Midnight Fight Club might drop the ball slightly in terms of its narrative aspects, but it gets the important stuff absolutely bang on. This is a slick and addictive arcade brawler that gives you an expansive arsenal of moves, skills and weapons with which to slink off into the night on a blood-soaked mission to take back control of the city. There's tons of replayabilty here, with S-ranks to chase and leaderboards to climb, impressive variety in level design and a pumping soundtrack to bop along to as you take the fight back to the criminal underworld. This one's another Game Pass indie banger.

While its early difficulty may deter some people, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World: The Game's complexity and how it opens up makes for a highly enjoyable experience. It’s felt like an eternity since we’ve seen this title on our Xbox systems, and having a Complete Edition with touched up visuals and all previously released content is an absolute treat. Whether you’re a fan of the series or a newcomer to the genre, there’s something here to enjoy, and it's a reminder of why so many fell in love with the original game all those years ago.

Ironcast is the very definition of the saying "easy to pick up, difficult to master".

Star Wars: Squadrons combines a solid campaign with a truly fantastic multiplayer element that throws players into an immaculately rendered vision of classic Star Wars action that contains enough depth and detail to satisfy hardcore pilots while still remaining accessible and fun for more casual players. There's not too much in the way of modes as things stand right now, and some players may be put off by the rather bare-bones upgrades and cosmetics on offer, but what is here packs a mighty fine punch, enabling fans of the franchise to live out their fantasies in epic dogfights full of truly iconic moments ripped straight from the classic movies. This is the best Star Wars space-battling action currently available on consoles and a must-play for Force freaks everywhere.

EA Sports FC 24 isn't the big overhaul that some might have expected, but it doesn't need to be. Instead, it makes subtle but impressive upgrades to most areas of the game, especially in terms of presentation, Ultimate Team and the actual action on the pitch. There's an argument to say that FIFA 23 is worth sticking with for another year, but if you're a big fan of the series (and Ultimate Team in particular), we'd say it's worth your hard-earned money.

Little Kitty, Big City is a purrfect addition to Xbox Game Pass and, in our view, is worth checking out if you have a subscription. If we’ve learned anything from our three hour romp through the city, it’s that… we’re glad humans have faces. Also that contributing to a circular economy by recycling cans is important. But most importantly, we affirmed what we thought we already knew: that being a silly cat is very good fun. This is the first ever release from Seattle-based developer Double Dagger Studio, and we think they should feel proud for delivering some much-needed, cat-shaped joy to Xbox.

Even if you’ve been looting and shooting in the Borderlands for the past decade, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is still well worth a look. It’s got fantastic and addictive gameplay, the pacing feels quite good as well, and there are enough new features, enemies, and bosses that will keep you and your friends coming back for more adventures. Tina's fantasy spin-off proves it's more than worthy alongside the mainline entries.