It doesn't matter if it's your first time visiting Los Santos or if you're thinking of booking a return flight, we give GTA V our highest recommendation. This is simply a marvelous game.

Elden Ring is a crowning achievement for FromSoftware and undoubtedly the very best gameplay experience they've yet delivered - and that's really saying something given this developer's incredible back catalogue. The Lands Between deftly combine breathless open world exploration, stunning artistry, immaculate world-building and wondrous adventure with classic Dark Souls combat and dungeon-crawling, resulting in not just the best Souls game to date, but a candidate for one of the very best video games ever made.

Vampire Survivors might not seem like all that much to get excited about at a glance, but what it does, it does incredibly well, making it an absolute must-play game, especially for fans of similar titles. It’s ideal for short and longer sessions, is incredibly accessible with simple controls, and there’s plenty of depth once you get familar with each character - with skill combos and weapon evolution that allows you to enhance your character's power in all sorts of exciting ways. Vampire Survivors just might be the indie game of the year and is easily one of the best games you can play on Xbox and Game Pass in 2022 and beyond.

Balatro is an incredibly clever indie gem that uses the bones of regular poker to build an incredibly approachable and fiendishly addictive new experience. There's a wonderfully slick core to this one, building decks and taking on dealers as you add wild special cards and variables to your pack is trance-inducing stuff and, backed by a fantastically understated soundtrack and perfect visuals, it makes for one of the first proper, actual, absolute must-play games of 2024.

One of the best games of the last generation of consoles, and in with a very strong shout as the greatest JRPG of all time, Persona 5 Royal makes for a fantastic new addition to Xbox Game Pass. Atlus has gone to town on reworking and revamping its 2016 classic in this Royal upgrade and it pays off here with the ultimate version of a true all-timer. This next-gen version runs at a velvety smooth 4K/60FPS too, making for a truly unmissable experience that we highly recommend you dive right into. Games don't get much better than this.

Revisiting The Witcher 3 after all the drama with CP2077 takes us back to a time when CD Projekt Red was an unstoppable force. Although we've experienced some minor technical issues with the quality mode on Xbox Series X|S prior to release, overall this free update for Witcher 3 is a fantastic package that makes what was already an excellent experience (with two wonderful expansions) an even better one. If you haven’t played The Witcher 3 already and love action RPGs, now is the perfect time to check it out. It's without a doubt one of the greatest games of all time, and if you’ve already fallen in love with it before, you’ll still have a blast reuniting with the White Wolf in this latest update. Note: This review of The Witcher 3: Next Gen is still "in-progress" as we've suffered a few minor technical issues as part of our review build. As mentioned above, a patch is expected to address these issues in the coming days (potentially before the update's public release), so we'll hopefully be able to return to this review later in the week and provide a final score.

As expected, Hades knocks it out of the park, offering a stellar experience to Xbox players for the first time. It's every bit as incredible as it was a year ago, with punchy combat, an addictive gameplay loop and a cast of characters that prove to be charming and terrifying in the same breath. It's a shame a few frame rate issues sour the experience occasionally, but make no mistake, Hades is absolutely worth your time whether you're a fan of the genre or not.

The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is an excellent expansion of a bonafide classic interactive adventure. We'll admit we were slightly concerned that returning to something so masterful, expanding and adding to such a carefully constructed experience, could somehow dilute the magic, but we needn't have worried. All of the new content here simply embellishes what came before, resulting in a wonderful piece of art that's now better, more ultra and, you might even say, deluxe than ever before. Whether you're coming to this one for the first time or returning to see what's changed, you'll be handsomely rewarded for your curiosity.

Split Fiction raises the bar for co-op adventure games and will surely be in the 'Game of the Year' conversation come the end of 2025. Its increased difficulty will put some players off, but those who relish the challenge will discover a magnificently varied, inventive and ambitious gameplay journey that's bound to stick long in the memory. My wife's already asking when the next one's coming out.

Resident Evil Requiem is another supremely confident survival horror experience from the folks over at Capcom. Whether you like the slower, more puzzle-focused elements of RE2 or the bombastic set pieces of RE4 (or both, if you're like me), you're going to be well-served by this new entry in the franchise. Whilst not the strongest narrative in series history, Requiem does enough to build intrigue throughout its roughly 10-12 hour experience, and the Grace and Leon sections are masterfully intertwined. Capcom really knows what it's doing with Resident Evil nowadays, and that shows in one of the best AAA survival horror games you can play on Xbox Series X|S.

Forza Horizon 5 is an amazing game, don’t get us wrong – if you’re a newcomer to the series you’ll likely have a blast, assuming you like car games. Returning fans though can expect a similar experience to past entries. For some, that’s where driver fatigue may very well set in. After five games, at this point, you could argue the series is no longer doing enough to protect its crown as the top open-world racer. It’s the same process of going to a festival, unlocking cars, racing a lot, levelling up and repeating the whole cycle. And the new additions - such as the EventLab - are more reliant on community efforts. It is mostly a flawless experience, but the lack of evolution is how other franchises like Need for Speed fell behind in the first place. If the Forza Horizon series is to continue, it really needs to push the formula to new horizons. It would be great to see Playground really let loose with a future entry, as it's now getting a little too comfortable with the tried and tested template.

If you were a fan of Braid during the Xbox Live Arcade era, the Anniversary Edition is worth a look for the commentary alone. The additional content and visual improvements only add to this remaster. As for newcomers, this updated version is a great way to experience this important piece of video game history.

Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth takes the fresh start provided by its predecessor and runs riot. This is a gangster epic that sees two fantastic protagonists join forces in a story that delivers the goods in terms of emotion, action, ridiculous revelations and madcap humour. Massively expanded side activities, series-best combat, a fun new location and unexpected adventures around every single corner make for our favourite RGG Studio joint to date. 2024 is barely started and we've got an all-timer RPG to dig into.

Few games fully realize their potential. Thankfully The Swapper is able to execute all of its ideas. The challenging and thought-provoking puzzles are only outdone by the rich narrative which will stay in your mind well after the credits roll. The Swapper is a masterpiece that needs to be experienced.

Metaphor: ReFantazio is the team behind the best of the Persona series at the very top of their game. We were a little concerned we were in for a quick reskin of Joker's past glories, if we're being fully honest (we'd probably still have gobbled that up, let's face it), but what we've actually ended up with is a monumental JRPG. This is a coming together of everything that's been learned, honed and perfected over the years, presented through a phenomenal core narrative that's full of emotion and hope, amazing characters, some of the most warped enemy designs we've ever seen, and enough slick combat and style to do us until they make the next one. They better be making the next one already.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 brings a sumptuously stylish world, intricately woven narrative and top-notch combat to the table, and it's a winner on every level. The additions to combat make for fights that feel proactive, engaging and exciting at all times. The world is a constant revelation of incredible new regions and vistas, and the story will keep you hooked in until its emotional resolution. Sandfall Interactive's debut is a masterpiece, really, an odyssey that'll stick in your mind long after you're done, and one of the most enjoyable and fresh RPGs we've played in aeons.

You can see why it’s taken Blizzard over six years to get this one out the gate when you look at the end product. Diablo 4 is a natural evolution of the series with its new open-world design and gameplay, enhanced social and multiplayer experience, and a live service that promises to keep players returning to the world of Sanctuary for years to come. These strong foundations and scale of the whole experience, combined with the five unique classes and seemingly limitless customisation options for builds, should keep even the most diehard demon slayers busy for a very long time. With all of this in consideration, Diablo 4 is a must-play if you’re a veteran of the series and it's a great starting point for newcomers.

If you stick with it until the end, you'll be blown away by its engrossing world, riveting characters, and deep combat system. It's a crowning achievement from the developers, and it's a definite contender for game of the year.

Resident Evil 4 Remake is a resounding success, taking the 2005 survival horror classic and revamping, reworking and retooling it into a most modern and thrilling action extravaganza. You can feel the care and attention to detail in every aspect of how Capcom has handled this remake. Combat has been improved and expanded without destroying the all-important feel of how Leon does battle, iconic boss fights and locations look and feel better than ever and carefully considered additions to areas allow for more exploration between confrontations without ruining the tight and taut flow of the adventure. It all looks and sounds incredible, performs perfectly and makes for a glorious return to the top for an all-time action great. Welcome back, stranger.

Death Stranding Director's Cut is a phenomenal experience that, five years on, is still as incredible, mechanically, narratively and graphically, as ever. A top-notch cast do their best with what is an admittedly bonkers story (bonkers in all the best Kojima ways, you understand), whilst this incredibly haunting world, this emotional tale and its incredible characters, absolutely hook you in for one of the most memorable journeys of the past few console cycles. It's so good to see this masterpiece finally arrive on Xbox.

Where Alan Wake was a very good idea executed with a few too many flaws, its sequel serves up a survival horror masterclass. Yes, the combat is still not 100% there, but this one slight misstep aside, what we've got with Alan Wake 2 is superlative stuff. This is an incredibly clever, refreshingly grown-up and wonderfully well-made slice of psychological horror. The acting, writing, sound design, graphics... every aspect has been nailed in a game that makes for another addition to 2023's incredibly long list of absolute bangers.

What you're left with is a sequel that players are more likely to stick with, which makes them more likely to appreciate all the other bells and whistles, story aspects, cool bosses and upgrades that have also been packed in here. Yes, Rogue Legacy 2 doesn't fully escape from the repetition and inherently grindy nature of its genre but, in giving players more agency and control over how difficult things are, it's evolved from a somewhat frustrating - and very often rage-inducing - experience into a far more chilled and, in turn, addictive roguelite that we're genuinely having quite a lot of trouble putting down. This one's up there with the very best we've played so far this year.

Hearts of Stone is a full-fledged add-on for a game that probably didn't need to be any longer.

Quake II's remastered release arrives on Xbox consoles in a fantastic package that's been put together masterfully by Nightdive Studios. You've got enhanced graphics and audio, refined AI, brand new enemy animations, the iD Vault, Quake 2 64, a brand new episode from MachineGames and all previously released DLC in the mix here. Add in crossplay support and lots of co-op and competitive ways to play and you've got an absolutely outstanding release that's almost impossible to find fault with. Operation Evil Overlord has never looked, felt or sounded better.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps is another excellent entry in the series that manages to build successfully on everything that made the original such a standout experience. With satisfying platforming, a handful of amazing boss encounters, expanded combat options and a story every bit as tear-inducing as its predecessor's, this is another outstanding effort from Moon Studios – as well as being one of the most beautiful games we've ever laid eyes on and easily one of the best platformers currently available on Xbox One.

Street Fighter 6 feels like a direct and hugely effective response to criticisms over the anaemic state of its predecessor at launch. Capcom has fully loaded three huge modes here, giving wannabe world warriors a veritable feast of fisticuffs to get engage with. World Tour is a great big cheesefest that revels in its madcap style whilst providing a fun story, engaging RPG elements and a great way to learn the ropes all rolled into one. Arcade Mode offers up a solid roster of 18 excellent fighters to choose from at launch, and the all new Battle Hub already looks and feels as though it's gonna be a great place to hang out and challenge other players once multiplayer kicks off properly. It's been a minute since we've had a new Street Fighter on Xbox, and this one's been more than worth the wait.

Monster Hunter Wilds is another step in the evolution of this growing series featuring updates to the combat, world design, equipment and upgrades, and comes loaded with all sorts of quality-of-life adjustments, making it probably the most accessible entry to date. For veterans, it throws more monsters at you to slay and gear to upgrade beyond the story, and after hours and hours of hunts, the gameplay loop remains addictive. Let the hunt begin!

Get busy unlocking new powers, blinking in behind bad guys, stabbing and shooting and skulking around, scouring environments for clues, choosing which lead to follow next as you push and pull and probe every corner, every wrinkle of this labyrinthian puzzle box. And it's on Game Pass too? You're spoiling us, Microsoft.