Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a super solid debut for Ember Labs that serves up an enchanting atmosphere, slick and challenging combat and some very cute companions in the form of the ROT. It does all feel a little muddled in who it’s trying to attract at times, with simple puzzles and streamlined upgrade options attached to combat that pulls no punches. However, a respectful run-time, stellar visuals and a procession of very decent boss scraps ensure that this one still manages to find itself on our recommend pile.

More than two decades later, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a tough one to recommend. If you do have fond memories of this game, you might be more forgiving of its dated design and gameplay, but ultimately there are much better Star Wars offerings out there. Aspyr hasn't changed much beyond adding the modern controls and camera, so unless that's a big enough reason for you to return, this might not necessarily be the Bounty Hunter game you’ve been looking for.

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.

Nobody Wants to Die's short announcement-to-launch window and its ambitious concept made us cautious, but that caution was unnecessary in the end. It's a tight, gripping adventure that knows exactly what a great sense of place can do for an experience like this, and we had no trouble blasting through the game in one sitting. A little more gameplay depth wouldn't have gone amiss, and Nobody Wants to Die is overall quite a short game - but it's one that's definitely worth picking up if the visuals and themes on show here speak to your gaming sensibilities. Now, we need to see some sunshine after blasting through this one.

EA Sports College Football 25 makes up for some wonky menus and a lack of tentpole modes by bringing the good stuff where it matters. The gridiron action here is fast and snappy, offense feels fantastically responsive, and defensive plays are easier to read and consider thanks to a combination of clear layouts and more time and space on the ball. It looks great, sounds great, plays great and has thusly become our (American) football game of choice going forward. Madden 25, it's over to you.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a hugely stylish and hipster-cool action-RPG that does a fantastic job in building a world that feels worth exploring, replete with dungeons that require effort whilst remaining fittingly chilled out. This is a puzzle-orientated affair more than an action-heavy thing, and that's a wise choice, as the puzzles here easily trump the fairly average fighting. Make peace with some naff dialogue and simplistic but likeable social aspects, and you've got yourself a unique and addictively atmopsheric adventure that puts vibes over violence.

By the time we rolled credits, that was the prevailing feeling we were left with. While we found more enjoyment in the latter two thirds of Flintlock than in the initial intro and opening area, we couldn't help but feel let down by Flintlock in almost every way. It's still a competent action-RPG that you can have fun with, and the pieces of the experience have been stitched together decently - Game Pass is a great way to check it out. However, so much here feels underdeveloped or half-finished that Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn was likely most damaged by its ambition when the project was in its early days. Now, in July 2024, upon the game's release, we get the sense that the ammo in the development chamber simply ran out.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a unique strategy experience that draws from traditional Japanese culture to give us an incredibly detailed world to work through, one bite-sized level at a time. The strategy here is tight, the animations and combat look and feel great, and the dancing, music and base-building ensure that there's always something to do in the downtime between Seethe-destroying sorties. Capcom are still on that hot streak, and we are here for it.

Just keep in mind before you make a purchase that none of the other chapters exist yet on Xbox, and depending on how difficult you find it, Chapter 1 could take you less than an hour. We still don't think it's particularly bad value considering the low price point, but you're not getting much longevity here. Hopefully Chapters 2 and 3 will arrive on Xbox in the near future, but until then this is still a decent buy if you're interested. Just don't blame us if you have a nightmare or two.

All up, Gold Road offers another familiar slice of adventure in the land of Tamriel. If you are going in expecting big things for the 10th anniversary, try to temper your expectations. We've enjoyed our time with the story and what the rest of the expansion has to offer so far, and we're looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Elder Scrolls Online.

Neon White is a welcome addition to the Xbox Game Pass library, serving up a unique and exhilarating indie experience. Its gameplay has a great sense of flow and it does a fantastic job depicting the afterlife. The game does have slower moments in-between levels, but it's primarily about speedrunning and perfecting your runs. As long as you can keep up, Heaven awaits.

For the asking price, this 20th anniversary remaster of Beyond Good & Evil is a great experience – with respectable visual upgrades, sound enhancements, some quality-of-life improvements, and bonus content to top it off. While the gameplay, mechanics, and environments don’t always feel quite as fresh as they once did, Jade’s story is still as charming as ever. Now, about that next adventure…

Still Wakes the Deep is a tight, narrative adventure dripping in atmosphere and oozing in that sweet Scottish personality we've all come to love (shouting and swearing lots, as it turns out). If you're happy with a total lack of combat and more of a focus on story and exploration, then this one is definitely worth playing through on Xbox Game Pass. We found ourselves rather engrossed with Still Wakes the Deep and its personal tale of loss and family, even if more player agency around the game's spooky oil rig wouldn't have gone amiss. If you've played anything from The Chinese Room before you'll know what you're getting into - Still Wakes the Deep is another successful effort for the British developer to add to its growing repertoire.

There's a charming art style and wholesomeness to Rolling Hills that's immediately captivating, and we've been pretty surprised by the level of depth that it provides - it's still a simple game, but the ability to explore beyond the confines of the restaurant was something we hadn't expected, and various aspects of the gameplay continue to evolve over time as well. The loop of serving customers, buying new ingredients and decorating your restaurant is an addictive one, and it's all backed up by a superb soundtrack that's become firmly stuck in our heads.

Late last year, Alan Wake 2 surprised us by how different a take it was from the first Alan Wake, and Remedy's venture into the true unknowns of the universe is carried on here with Night Springs. You'll have to wade through some of the team's weird multiverse stuff, which isn't always the easiest to understand, but that hasn't hampered our enjoyment of recent Remedy titles - and it doesn't here, either. Buckle up Alan Wake 2 fans, you're in for yet another wild wide with Expansion 1: Night Springs.

F1 24 gives fans of cool dad energy another superbly polished racer to indulge in for the upcoming season of loud car driving. The new "dynamic handling" system makes things feel nicer whilst using a gamepad, and Challenge Career feels like a genuinely great addition that we'll continue to play over the year. It looks and sounds as good as ever, there's plenty of fun to be had in co-op and online modes, and if you dig deep you'll find a fiendishly exciting and incredibly fast racer that can test your skills to the max if you let it - whilst remaining welcoming for newbies who need to tone things down a bit. That's pretty much all we could have asked for.

Hypercharge: Unboxed delivers fantastic first and third-person shooting across a good variety of maps and modes, and we've been genuinely impressed by how this indie shooter feels on Xbox with a gamepad in-hand. Sure, outside of the novel theme Hypercharge doesn't really do anything truly unique as a shooter, but that theme is refreshing enough on its own to make this a worthwhile endeavour. Adding in some real-life co-op buddies will likely extend the game's shelf life quite a bit, but even as a solo player we can still recommend Hypercharge: Unboxed to any shooter fan. Now, go forth, and reclaim that spare bedroom!

If you liked Horizon Chase Turbo as much as us, then this speedy sequel is an easy recommendation. We'd have liked a bit more meat on Horizon Chase 2's bones, but what's here is undeniably fantastic fun, and we've loved experiencing the series' sense of arcade racing wonder once again. The graphics are gorgeous, the gameplay is slick and satisfying, and despite a relatively short runtime you just can't go wrong with this one. Horizon Chase 2 is a virtual world tour that's well worth heading out on.

XDefiant has been built to scratch a very particular online FPS itch, and the more bloated and complex AAA shooters have become, the more we've come to appreciate an experience like this. The game could do with a little more content, and some tweaks to gunplay and progression wouldn't go amiss, but we can't see why XDefiant shouldn't have a bright future ahead of it. Ubisoft has shown us all that it has the patience to stick around with online shooters if they have a solid community — just look at the near decade-old Rainbow Six Siege — so this should definitely be one title worth investing some time into. XDefiant isn't perfect, but this is a very promising start and we're already becoming invested in where Ubisoft's latest Xbox FPS can go.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is the best-looking video game we've ever played. It sounds incredible, Melina Juergens acts herself inside out, and on a purely technical level this is just next-level stuff all round. However, we still don't feel as though extending Senua's plight into a Saga is a good idea. We remain unconvinced, and it's because this sequel feels like diminishing returns, as we had worried it might. It's not as vital or as unique in 2024, and it goes for bombast as a means of smoothing things over, resulting in a good game, an interesting eight hour romp, but nothing that screams must-play. Weak combat and dull puzzles are just more salt in these wounds, unfortunately.

System Shock Remake is another sublime piece of work from Nightdive Studios. This is a return to a seminal classic that studiously retains everything that's so beloved about the 1994 original whilst giving modern gamers an experience they can comfortably play and enjoy. It nails the remit of making this space survival masterclass vital once more, and it's a must-play all day long when it's looking and playing as beautifully as it does on Xbox. If it wasn't for some braindead enemies we'd be looking at a perfect score, but hey, this'll do nicely too.

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.

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.

Sand Land for Xbox Series X|S not only does a great job bringing one of Akira Toriyama’s arguably lesser-known works to life, but is also a lovely way to say goodbye to a man who has had an incredibly huge impact on Japan’s manga and anime industry as well as the world of video games. Although it’s not necessarily an evolutionary experience on the action RPG front, it should still be a fun ride from start to finish for fans of the genre and source material.

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a solid debut for Surgent Studios and a genuinely heartfelt and moving piece of art to boot. We love its focus on narrative aspects, and the obvious time and effort that's been put into its characters and dialogue. For anyone who's had to go through the pain of losing a family member there's a genuinely emotional and uplifting adventure to undertake here, regardless of some slight clunkiness along the way.

Top Spin 4 was so good that it continued to thrive for 10 years past its sell-by date, and TopSpin 2K25 feels just as enjoyable to play in 2024. Sure, the character models don't look great, and the game could do with a few tweaks and additions in certain areas, but the key thing is that developer Hangar 13 has nailed the gameplay. We've been waiting such a long time for a tennis title to really grab our attention like Top Spin 4 did back in the day, and we're pleased to say that TopSpin 2K25 is comfortably the best tennis game we've played in over a decade.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a slick and satisfying spiritual successor that gives Suikoden fans a great big dreamy treat whilst updating, modernising and streamlining its most retro aspects into a brand-new and exciting adventure for newcomers. With a timely tale to tell, excellent battle systems, an amazing cast of characters and plenty of experimentation and puzzling in its dungeons, this is a big win for Game Pass, and a fine farewell for one of the industry's true greats. Now, isn't that a lovely thing.

Harold Halibut is a heartfelt and handcrafted tale of human existence, delivering charming, profound, and deeply funny writing guaranteed to put a smile on your face. What Slow Bros has managed to achieve with its visual style is masterful and, for our money, it's now one of the best looking games on Xbox. The gameplay can feel repetitive at times, and the writing can drag in places, but ultimately we had a great experience seeing it through to the end. If you’ve got a Game Pass subscription, it’s worth checking the game out for its aesthetic alone. Harold Halibut won’t be for everybody, but for those that resonate with its story, it’s sure to stick with you for a long time.