Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles on Xbox Series X|S is a very pleasant experience. It’s a joyful game which will let you wander around to your heart's content, collecting things, talking to things, farming things, and wearing things. The non-threat of death or combat is a nice option to have, and that should ensure that this will make for a brilliant family friendly experience. When you include that the Xbox Series X|S version has the addition of fluid movement and some upgraded visuals over the Xbox One edition, and things get better still.

Ultimately, I had a good time with Twelve Minutes. It's a game that is able to usher forth a great narrative experience and a refreshing change of pace. It's one to give a whirl through Game Pass as while it won't be for everyone, it will connect with a lot of people.

It’s not the best Sam & Max game, or even the second best, but Sam & Max Save the World is a milestone in the series, preserved with love by the best people to do so. If you’ve been looking for a reason to spend time with two of gaming’s best characters on an Xbox, grab it with all four paws.

The music is fun, the art is great throughout, and the general premise is interesting. Then again, none of that is so interesting that it’s worth sticking through the late game combat, yawn-inducing story, and milquetoast characters. Perhaps diehard JRPG fans will find something to love with Dodgeball Academia, but if that isn’t you then this is one you’ll want to dodge.

The Forgotten City is a game that many will thoroughly enjoy. It's got a great story at its centre and keeps delivering a standard of distinction in narrative design and dialogue throughout. The time loop dynamics and puzzle solutions are clever and will always make you smile.

Step back and consider what PAW Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls is offering, and there’s only one conclusion: it’s just not good enough. You will be consistently apologising to your kid that, yes, you will have to reset the whole level and start again, as it’s a festering bin of bugs.

You’re certainly not going to be finding any game changing moments with the addition of the Hot Wheels expansion in Beach Buggy Racing 2, but honestly, the game doesn’t need that. What is here though is well-integrated and gives further reason to spend time racing through the adventures at hand – all with some iconic cars and tracks in tow. In fact, the inclusion of this add-on just seems to fit the overall vibe of the game really well.

Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four is a case of Emperor’s New Cards. It’s one of the finest looking card games out there, but it’s hiding a frustrating, buggy experience and a battle system that leans too heavily on a good first turn. It’s not a complete disaster (or cardaclysm) but these are all avoidable problems that hunt Cardaclysm: Shards of the Four down, like one of its Cursed Beings.

Zoffice is one of those games that needs a warning on the packet. “Extremely short, mostly fun game inside.” Know that you’re getting an espresso of a game, and it might hit the spot. It’s a well-observed smooshing of office culture and zombie movies, a few minutes of exploration and then 1000G shoved into your mitts. But expect value for money or high quality, and you’ll be zunderwhelmed.

With all things considered you're probably best off giving Orbals a miss entirely. The gameplay is frustrating when it should have been fun, the precision is off and the lack of consideration given by the game itself is enough to end what could have been a joyous relationship.

For the concept, Mind Maze is probably the best game on the market. Unfortunately, dots-and-boxes isn’t particularly entertaining. It doesn’t do much wrong, but Mind Maze needs more game modes and variety to really excel. Unless you’ve got a friend to play with, expect only a few games of entertainment out of this one.

At the start of Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure, it’s not quite clear where Bob, the ‘damsel in distress’, went. We can imagine him walking away sheepishly, looking back at the puzzle-platformer he was leaving behind and sighing, sadly. That’s because this arctic adventure is a dismal, weary one, and Bob’s only option was to never think about it again.

Within the Blade has a lot of promise. Sneaking through levels, dispatching enemies silently and then fighting big bosses sounds like ninja game heaven. At least on paper. It’s when that idea is translated into an actual game that the issues seem to have crept in and spoiled the party.

Q-YO Blaster is a game that has a lot going for it. It has multiple difficulties to try your arm at, with an Arcade Extreme mode unlockable in case the regular game isn’t tough enough. There’s a mighty fine couch co-op mode as well. Further, the controls work well, the challenge is high, and above all it’s all damn good fun.

Fishing Adventure is very much on the arcade end of the fishing game spectrum. It looks okay, the fish come across as just about alright and the gameplay is relaxing. The grind is far too real though and whilst the quests are a nice touch, they never have that feeling of jeopardy that you’d want them to be associated with.

Hades is an opus, a delectable action game that rewards your skill and reflexes with a tidal wave of rewards and progression. I can’t recall a game as generous as Hades, in terms of how good it is to play, how much the game changes with each session, with how much it gives you for beating it. It’s a matryoshka doll where every doll holds more awesomeness.

Thanks to creative and inventive storytelling, Doctor Who: The Lonely Assassins offers the best video game experience that the franchise has to offer.

Get Packed: Fully Loaded is lots of fun. Despite not being the most original concept, there’s plenty on offer here for a very reasonable price which should do more than raise a smile.

Fuga: Melodies of Steel is the turn-based RPG that you didn’t know you needed, but most definitely do. Being able to chop and change your team of hearty children makes the action exciting, the harsh difficulty keeps things interesting as you plot a course towards bringing down the Berman Empire, while the ingenious Soul Cannon serves its purpose brilliantly as a last resort.

The fact that a basic cycle of solving puzzles, collecting resources and building stuff is so captivating is a testament to how beautifully immersive the world of Dwarrows and its inhabitants are. With so much to do, so many areas to explore and an entire town to build, it’s remarkably easy to get sucked in. Expect plenty of hours of enjoyment from this one.

A scrolling shoot ‘em up is a great idea for a roguelite, and when’s the next time you’ll be playing as an undead, flame fish? The execution just isn’t enough, though, and Akinofa ends up feeling as pitiful as a fish out of water.

Blightbound is a great co-op experience for dungeon crawling enthusiasts, but if you don’t have anyone to play with, you’re better off skipping this one.

We had a lot of time for Rogue Wizards. It’s unashamedly retro, it’s not the prettiest of RPGs out there, and it has near-gamebreaking faults in its controls and loot. But it’s decided that the best parts of an RPG are in its upgrade systems and randomly generated dungeons, and who are we to argue? Some of gaming’s greatest joys come from diving into a dungeon and emerging twice as powerful as before.

There is a lot of content to go at in Fallen Knight and the platforming action, while not top drawer, isn’t bad. It's just the whole combat loop that doesn’t seem to work as well as the rest of the game, and when you come to market as a bit of a fighter, that's pretty much the kiss of death.

Eldest Souls does what it says on the tin. It’s brutally hard and unforgiving, but play by its rules and learn the cues, and you will make progress. It’ll take you some time to earn all the achievements for beating each boss without taking damage, but it won’t be long before Eldest Souls begins to talk to you, teaching you more as you play.

Worms Rumble is not a badly made game by any means, but it feels like a strange release and may well be a case of being something that nobody has really called for. If you keep an open mind there is plenty of fun to be had here, but whether or not this is able to gather up a player base with enough folk getting ready to rumble is up for debate.

Lawn Mowing Simulator is a brilliantly presented and perfectly designed sim experience. The attention to detail in terms of the vehicles and the varied locations manage to fully complement a solid management experience as well. The problem is that much like most sims, cutting grass day in, day out fast becomes tiresome, especially when you’re always on edge, trying to keep on top of the micromanaging side of things.

Main narrative-wise, Button City is first rate. It’s a charming throwback to cartoons of the ‘90s that kids and big kids will enjoy in equal measure. Both Gobabots and rEvolution Racer are also decent minigames in their own right as well, but there is an over-reliance on fetch quests in order to progress the story. It’s after the linear first hour of Button City where the game opens up, with a lot to explore and fully engross yourself in.

‘Doing the job’ could be Colorful Colore’s mantra. Sliding puzzle games are stale as they come, but Colorful Colore does just enough to liven it up with a central colour-changing mechanic and some unusual blocks and pressure pads. You’d be hard-pushed to fill an hour with Colorful Colore, and even harder-pushed to find a reason to replay, but if you’re in the market for some nostalgia with a few modern ideas, then yep, it does the job.

Cris Tales succeeds in what it sets out to do. It isn’t as good as Chrono Trigger but is still a very good RPG in its own right. I hesitate to call it a JRPG as it doesn’t have that feel, but is still as competent and enjoyable a game as I’ve played in a long time, all helped along by a great art style, enjoyable time-bending mechanics and a story that will keep you hooked.

While it’s lean, it’s certainly mean, and you’ll have plenty of fun sending your friends spiralling down to the ground. Skydrift Infinity is an airborne Blur that’s had most of its content excised to focus on fun, and - as Blur fans - there’s no greater recommendation than that.

Aery - Calm Mind is a pleasant experience for the couple of hours it takes to complete all the chapters. The idea is that you take it in in chunks, and this is probably the best way of tackling the scenarios, especially if you're just using the game as a chill-out mechanism.

Order of Battle: World War II is a rich, detailed and authentic experience suitable for historic strategy fans, with enough DLC to keep them busy for weeks. There’s nothing here to tempt newcomers to the genre however - this is a game solely aimed at its target audience.

There’s an original, fantastic deckbuilder here, surrounded by an even more original, and just as engaging text adventure. But Black Book doesn’t stop there, and adds more and more layers until you’re left with a huge, unwieldy onion. If you can stomach its design quirks and scattershot understanding of what is fun or isn’t, Black Book has some of the best moments in modern card games. Only you will know if you’ve got the patience to get there.

Like any hardcore simulation game, Microsoft Flight Simulator is simply not made for everyone. The lengths to which the game goes to accurately recreate cockpits, dials, and the general controls of aircraft is astonishing and this commitment to realism will hook aircraft buffs. But outside of some occasional digital tourism, more casual pilots might not have much to latch onto here.

Imagine Earth is immensely enjoyable. The game modes on offer are good and the campaign is excellent. But above all else a good sim game should be easy to use, addictive to play, and it should always make you feel like you want to play it more and more. Imagine Earth ticks all those boxes.

You have to admire the dedication and attention to detail of those behind Metro Simulator; a team who obviously love the Moscow Metro. It’s a game which will appeal to train sim fans, alongside those looking to take in all the stations, trains, and route planning that comes with that. For newcomers to the genre though, this might be too tough to take at times, particularly as Metro Simulator feels extremely hardcore and a bit rough around the edges.

Play The Innsmouth Case the right way, and you’ve got a couple of hours of delightfully twisted play here. It feels like it’s written by HP Lovecraft’s saucier, less subtle sibling, and playing hunt-the-ending takes you to some memorable and downright disgusting places. It’s got no substance to it of course - the ‘Case’ in the title mostly gets forgotten about - and what you’re left with is a number of punchlines to bawdy jokes, but sometimes that’s just what a night’s gaming needs.

If you’re someone who likes watching behind the scenes videos and interviews about the creation of games, or you just love seeing the myriad ways in which people express their artistic visions through this interactive medium, Scrap Garden’s massive heart more than makes up for its technical shortcomings.

Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials goes a long way towards scratching a bit of a Metroidvania itch. It’s big, it’s sprawling and there’s a lot to see. With a little more attention to the combat and the jumping, this could well have been a bit of a genre-leading contender. As it is though, Barbarian is a good game, but not a great one.

Set your expectations so they are more aligned with a trip to a gallery than a video game and Cuccchi will often dazzle. This is an exhibition as a magical mystery tour, with Enzo Cucchi’s work whirling and dancing round you. It won’t satisfy anyone who’s looking for a challenge, it doesn’t offer particularly stimulating gameplay, and it’s shorter than a National Geographic special on the artist, but it’s many times more enthralling. Quality soundtrack, too.

Wizodd is a cardboard-fort version of The Binding of Isaac and Legend of Zelda. It looks like them at a distance, but when you actually start playing, you can feel the cheapness and compromises. It gives you cardboard cuts in the form of weirdo design decisions and a slow ramp to being powerful. And as time goes on, the adhesive wears off and the walls fall over, as the game-breaking bugs tear it all down.

Even long after completing the game, you’ll continue to enjoy playing through every level again and again because it is just that much fun. Bloodroots is a triumph and hopefully a sign of more things to come from a wickedly talented studio.

Experiences like The Ascent don’t come along often. Game Pass may well turn out to be The Ascent’s redemption. This is an experience that’s best had in co-op, and a day one launch on Xbox’s service means that almost all obstacles are removed. So, find three friends and take your time with The Ascent, refuse to play in long sessions, and you and your partners will find worlds and gunplay that blow your augments clear off.

Castle of Pixel Skulls is a game that is lacking in almost every department – originality, controls and gameplay. It fails to deliver on its promise of challenging platforming. In fact, the only real battle is dealing with the inconsistent jumping mechanics.

Gaps by POWGI is one of the simplest word puzzlers from Lightwood Games in terms of concept, but this helps it by not overcomplicating things that could potentially draw away interested parties. The puns are back too which is only ever a good thing, as is the very easy Gamerscore.

Despite the name, Freddy Spaghetti 2.0 is a step backwards. It has less ideas, less levels and less ambition than the first game. As a fan of the original, I was hoping for something more from the oddly lovable strip of slinky sentient spaghetti.

Just like actual Japanese food, inbento goes down an absolute treat. With its beautiful aesthetic, touching story and deviously challenging puzzles, there’s something for everyone to appreciate. The game is perfect in both bite-sized chunks and extended sessions, and the gameplay is designed to be challenging but not overwhelming.

It might be easy to dismiss Sable’s Grimoire as a visual novel take on Harry Potter. It’s even easier to dismiss as a dating sim. But it’s laced with teenage anxiety and social commentary, which builds on the Hogwarts foundations and ends up as a dating sim, almost by accident. It’s not without its cliches and melodrama, but Sable’s Grimoire is a rich, effective visual novel that fans of the genre will fall in love with.

Trigger Witch is a love letter to the games of the ‘90s. It’s cute, colourful and surprisingly violent, and with drop in/drop out co-op that works brilliantly, you’ll be able to bring a friend or family member along for the ride. The only slight complaint is that the story feels artificially extended, but luckily the narrative is strong enough to keep dragging you on, twisting as it progresses.

There’s a good chance that you will love Omno just by looking at the screenshots, but get hands on and you’ll very quickly learn why that love is real. Yes there are a couple of niggles, particularly in the accuracy of the gliding, but apart from that this is a gaming experience that is near damn perfect.

With Ice Cream Surfer, we have a case of great concept, poor execution. Taking on Hitler-Broccoli whilst riding a flying ice cream is a plot that is both barmy and strangely intriguing. And it deserves to be backed up by much better gameplay than what is currently on offer. Its issues with the controls and the characters, as well as a general lack of content, quickly sour things and throw almost any element of replayability out of the window.

Blitz Breaker is the archetypical pocket-money platformer. It costs less than a fiver, comes with plenty of content, and its gimmick - a character that can’t walk, but can jetpack its way to the far reaches of the level - is different enough to make it interesting. Just be warned that this is deeply difficult, and failures won’t always be down to you.

Should you want to involve yourself in mass fights, laughing uncontrollably throughout, or wish to get engrossed in the RPG elements of Beneath, you’ll want to put your best fighting shoes on, because it’s time to Paint the Town Red.

Audio repetition aside, Orcs Must Die! 3 is a little gem. The campaign modes are deep and varied, the weekly challenges are full of variety and both the Endless and Scramble options mix up the gameplay just enough to warrant some time with each. Throw in the simple to set up online multiplayer and you've got an extremely accomplished action tower defense brawler that the vast majority of gamers will thoroughly enjoy.

This could have been Life is Strange: London and we wouldn’t have bat an eyelid. And that’s where the greatest disappointment derives from: Virginia was so proudly and ebulliently unconventional, yet Last Stop hues so closely to convention. It’s an episode of The Twilight Zone; a more committee-created Quantic Dream game. There’s no doubt that it’s enjoyable and has wonderful, memorable moments, but its biggest crime is that it doesn’t emerge with a voice of its own.

The challenge is certainly present in MouseBot, but it never feels unfair and with the near instant restarts any failures are forgotten almost immediately, not only as you strive to do better for yourself, but also your little MouseBot too.

Police Stories brings some good ideas to the table but with them comes inconsistent execution. It’s punishing and unforgiving, which will take the fun out of the equation for those looking for a quick blast.

Gameplay-wise it needs more, and a bit of innovation wouldn’t go amiss, but you should be able to get completely invested in the story of the Night Book.

Samurai Warriors 5 is no doubt the best iteration of the mainline series, be it Dynasty Warriors or Samurai Warriors (or even the Warriors Orochi spin-off). As it stands right now, this is as good as it gets for the Warriors series. It has a lot of ideas and systems which integrate in an interesting way, and the core gameplay is as fun as ever. The only caveat here is that the core gameplay loop present feels no different to that which we’ve experienced for the last two decades, and inevitably it will run thin.

Wasteland 3: The Battle of Steeltown is the very definition of “okay”. The story is good, choosing which side to champion does add a bit of replayability, and the weapons are fun to use, if only really relevant in the DLC bubble. The problem is, the bugs that seem to crop up regularly now spoil the taste somewhat. If all you want is more Wasteland 3 story to follow and play through, this is an easy sell, but the rest of us should think a bit more carefully.

On the whole, Dr. Atominus is a very cheap metroidvania style platformer, which is probably best suited to those wanting an entry-level type of instalment. It crams a lot of different features into an adventure that will last no more than an hour and deserves praise for that.

Watch Dogs: Legion – Bloodline is easily better than the main game. Removing recruitable NPCs in favour of established characters means every interaction is more meaningful, both between characters and with the player themselves.

At thirty minutes long, Space Jam: A New Legacy - The Game is closer in duration to a Looney Tunes short than it is a movie. But adjust your expectations down, find a couple of mates, play it for free, and you’ll find a belt-action game that can be fun, and has faint echoes of classic beat-em ups like Turtles in Time, The Simpsons and X-Men.

Where the Snow Settles will happily take you on a wondrous journey from start to the finish, but the problem is, that journey is all too short. The story feels rushed somewhat and there are questions left open that need answering.

Urban Trial Tricky Deluxe Edition is worth a look. If you’ve been harking back to a time when the motocross scene was fuelled by the Trials franchise, or if you’ve recently been kicking around with Tony Hawk, this is going to scratch more than an itch. It’s a game that will be instantly accessible to many, but just be aware that full completion may only be found by those who have utterly mastered the scene.

We never expected metal detecting to be a Michael Bay movie, but we did expect the moment of finding a treasure to feel exhilarating. In Treasure Hunter Simulator, you just toss it onto the pile of identical treasures behind you, and press on with a weary sigh.

Arkan: The dog adventurer matches platforming and puzzling surprisingly well, offering block-breaking thrills without too many spills. It’s worth a look, especially for fans of the classic arcade hit.

All in all though and aside from a couple of little issues Mighty Aphid is a pretty cool game. It has the 1990’s vibe nailed on, comes complete with a very nice chiptune-styled soundtrack and delivers a properly rock hard challenge.

If a short yet emotional narrative is all that you’re after – you’re looking at a maximum of two hours of gameplay here – then Lost At Sea should manage to satiate those needs, but maybe consider waiting for a sale because the price at launch is a little high for the content within.

Escape Sequence should possibly keep you going for longer than it does, even when the asking price is relatively low. Instead it feels like £4.19 is a steep price tag for just fifteen levels of gameplay, and that’ll possibly end up putting a lot of people off. Even so, if you’re in the market for a new puzzle game, I’d recommend giving Escape Sequence a try.

Bai Qu: Hundreds of Melodies is a dull, melodramatic plod of a game, and it’s a textbook example of how to get visual novels wrong. We’re partial to a visual novel, but they do have habits that we dislike, and Bai Qu does its darnedest to exhibit every single one of those habits.

Death’s Door on Xbox is fantastic. Its mysteries are alluring, its world is uniquely sensitive and funny, its combat is harsh and fast. It feels like stepping into a dream space with all of its fantastical designs, elevated by one of the best soundtracks of the year. From almost every perspective, Death’s Door is a game that compels you to keep playing. You’ll be powerless to say no.

The Last Rolling Hero will deliver you some enjoyment for the few hours it will take to complete. It's as cheap as chips, comes with a basic premise, looks okay visually but is never ever groundbreaking. The camera in the cutscenes and some other little bits do seem a bit broken, but gameplay-wise it works fine.

Lost Grimoires 3 is extremely safe, keeping you on a short leash as you explore, giving you few items and fewer places to use them. And while it starts from a new place, giving you the rule of a city and chucking you into a siege, it backtracks quickly to its traditional formula of running after magical beings and their MacGuffins.

Life of Fly 2 is like an incredibly slow bus journey through a bland neighborhood. To make it worse, a stranger sits next to you and spouts waffle that they think is insightful. It’s mercifully short at an hour, and Gamerscore pours out of it, but your time is worth so much more than this.

Crash Drive 3 is a fun little game. There’s not a huge amount of longevity here, especially not once you’ve unlocked all the worlds, yet it’s all good as a quick pick up and play affair, before forgetting about it again. Playing with friends is always better than strangers, but even if no one you know is online, with cross-play support it’s easy to get into quite intense contests.

A Plague Tale: Innocence is superb. If you’ve ever played the PlayStation exclusive The Last of Us, you will feel very at home with A Plague Tale. Already regarded as one of the best games of the last generation, the next-gen improvements solidify it into a must play-title.

Blue Fire is a magpie with impeccable taste. It’s taken some of the best bits from some fantastic games, and it’s hard to to play it without being swept back to the times of playing Hollow Knight, Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Souls-like games. But while it may be familiar, it has panache on tap, and all of these platforming, combat and Metroidvania elements come together to form something slick and enjoyable.

There’s not enough of a difference to materially change the experience that Synchro Hedgehogs offers versus the Butterfly games - it’s more of a slight tweak of the gameplay. As a result, the game has more than a strong sense of deja vu about it.

Should you fancy yourself as a commercial fisherman and want to prove it in the virtual world, Fishing: North Atlantic is the new game of choice. However, this is a very niche genre, the competition isn’t awfully strong, and saying that feels like faint praise.

If you’re looking for a family friendly take on the farming and zombie scene, Farm for your Life may well be of consideration; there is plenty to do and have fun with, both in terms of the story and endless mode. However, the price is a little bit high for what it is and whilst the gameplay all works fine, and the idea is sometimes addictive and rewarding, the controls are awkward and you’ll probably be left wishing for a mouse or touchscreen.

Anna’s Quest is a shrug of a graphic adventure. It goes to familiar fairy tale places for familiar fairy tale stories, but without the wit or edge to make it worth the re-telling. Not even a strong ending and a couple of high-concept digressions can pull it out of its safe rut.

Should you be looking for a simple, casual little playthrough in which interactions are kept to a minimum, the mysterious world of Beasts of Maravilla Island may just about keep you quiet for two hours tops. But don't expect to be wowed by what could have been a magical journey into the unknown.

The double offering of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol makes a lot of sense if you are looking for a retro-styled challenge. It’s able to deliver all the difficulty of old-skool gaming, and all the challenge that entails, but in a modern setting that even allows saves to be made; the best of both worlds.

Despite the bulk of the storytelling being over within six hours, the opportunity to remain in Walden Pond is one that many will accept as they uncover everything this world has to offer. Sure, the survival aspects are a bit of distraction, however they aren’t massively detrimental to the adventure.

Onirike is a unique action platforming adventure with a great premise and a weirdly wonderful narrative. The platforming is not always the best and having to plant flowers in order to find progress is initially tricky to get to grips with, but the puzzles are inventive and the design of the world is superb.

Butterfly 2 brings almost nothing new to the table, providing more of the same platforming action as the first game. However, a lack of appetite to improve and evolve the game is disappointing, and makes it hard to recommend.

Smart Moves 2 serves up a near identical experience to the first game, so if you enjoyed that, then you’ll be happy with what’s on offer here. Conversely, if you didn’t then there’s nothing from the sequel to tempt you in, at all.

On one hand, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! delivers an unbelievably surprising, chilling and suspenseful story. On the other hand, it will be a slog for those who don’t enjoy sifting through dialogue for 3-4 hours. Regardless, this is a story every seasoned gamer should at least try to experience.

Despite its cutesy graphics that hark back to early Game Boy Advance titles, the shallow gameplay of Mina & Michi is rarely nostalgia-inducing. Puzzles are repetitive, enemies lack any invention and Mina is just a bit useless. It is just another game useful for achievement fodder that many will put down as quickly as they pick up once every achievement has been unlocked.

BeeFense BeeMastered is a sturdy, simple tower defense that manages to offer tense moments. But that sturdiness is unremarkable, and you can get by with tower defense strategies from any number of other games. If it was more remarkable, more fun to play, then its biggest flaw - a boring back-and-forthing between the turrets - wouldn’t have stung so much.

MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries is no doubt among the best Xbox platform exclusives of 2021, and a staggering showcase for your console of choice. It manages to translate an ambitious PC epic almost seamlessly into a console experience, where the play mechanics and control scheme are mapped perfectly onto the Xbox controller.

ENDER LILIES: Quietus of the Knights does almost everything right, with varied level design, a multitude of enemies, a good progression system, and a beautiful soundtrack.

The journey, atmosphere, and concept of Spirit of the North: Enhanced Edition are all fantastic, as is the setting and the visuals. It’s a shame that the platforming elements are at times frustrating in regards the accuracy and weight of the fox, and some of the animations don’t work as planned, but this is still a very unique and endearing experience.

For all the visual upgrades, The Persistence Enhanced is still found delivering the same roguelike experience, and that will be the defining point as to whether it attracts players, or puts them off.

F1 2021 is probably the most in-depth, customisable and amendable F1 racer to date, so much so that there’s little that any fan of the sport could ever really want more of. Yes, it would have been nice to see Codemasters go deeper with their Braking Point story, yet it's extremely tricky to find anything too critical of what they've produced with F1 2021. After honing their skills with some glorious F1 racing experiences over the years, once again the latest edition manages to be the finest yet and should be the go-to racer for any fanatics of the sport.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX on Xbox is a fun and charming reintroduction to one of gaming’s oft-forgotten but still influential platforming icons. The game is tough to be sure, and is very old school and dated in some of its design conventions, but the quality-of-life improvements and the visual facelift help modernise this classic platformer.