While we wouldn’t traditionally pick on a game’s length, thirty minutes is shorter than most demos, and a ‘demo’ is precisely what Kauil’s Treasure on the Xbox feels like to play. Half an hour doesn’t leave much room for the gameplay to shine through, and what’s here is ramshackle, familiar and buggy. There’s certainly some fun to be found by the end of this adventure, but it’s not enough to make the expedition worth it. Dare we say that Kauil’s Treasure is more Crystal Skull than Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Shiny pixels, nice music, and ho-hum gameplay do not make up for the areas in which Habroxia 2 on Xbox falters. Fans of the first Habroxia will likely be upset by the blatant copy and paste content, while anyone who hasn’t played the first could find a more interesting space shooter in many places.

Another Dawn on Xbox is a very strange game; one that could have been a decent survival-based first-person shooter but fast turns into a mess due to bad mechanics and awful gameplay - it goes wrong from the first minute and you’ll need a whole host of willpower to even attempt to carry on past that moment.

I have hugely enjoyed my time playing Little Nightmares II on Xbox. The mature themes and tense moments that made the first game so fun are present in full force, and like the first game there are plenty of secrets to be found and stories to uncover. If you want a good horror platformer, then Little Nightmares II doesn’t disappoint.

Super Sports Blast, as a package, on Xbox is a lot of fun. I very much enjoyed the volleyball and tennis segments, and whilst the football section doesn't work for me personally, I feel that you can blame the likes of FIFA for that rather than anything this collection of games does wrong. If you've looking for a party game to be added for local multiplayer rotation then this will be a perfect addition, what with its range of competitions and fun, quick gameplay.

Slide Stars on Xbox misunderstands everything that makes Trials HD great, producing a play-doh homage without any of the speed, trickery or finesse. Then it ushers in some moderately popular internet personalities, but doesn’t do them - or their audience - the service of including any of that personality.

Royal Tower Defence on Xbox is a game that is greater than the sum of its parts, but if you are looking for a proper challenge, you could do a lot worse. It’s not a looker, but the gameplay shines through and the hook it delivers is certainly real. For the low asking price, it’s worth giving it a try.

Butterfly on Xbox is an average puzzle platformer that doesn’t do enough to catch your eye. It will only set you back a few quid, but doesn’t do enough to stand out from the crowd.

Sword of the Necromancer is a roguelike RPG that is largely experimental, and when all the little parts come together, it’s an experience which manages to standout from so many other procedurally generated indie games on the market.

There isn’t a bad Yakuza game, but Yakuza 3 Remastered on Xbox is the weakest in the series. Its lengthy introduction takes up about a third of the entire story, whilst it also lacks some of the quality of life improvements found in later versions. But it is still a solid entry, and worth playing through to see the foundations of Kiryu’s later life beginning.

Rack N Ruin on Xbox is fairly enjoyable. The storyline is fun to follow, the combat pretty interesting, and apart from it being far too easy to get lost, the design of the world and enemies is pretty spot on. With a better map Rack N Ruin could well have been a star, but frankly that element in itself is enough to bring it down a notch or two.

I’m afraid that Redout: Space Assault on Xbox just isn’t worth it. The game couldn’t be less interesting to play, because it isn’t interested in having you play it. Its story, if one could call it that, is a mindless distraction, and everything feels pointless.

TOHU is a charming little point-and-click adventure on Xbox with its own identity due to the lovely detail in the art and the fitting soundtrack that captures the atmosphere of each planet pretty well. The balance between the standard inventory puzzles and mini-games is ideal for delivering the fun factor, but there’s no fun in game-breaking moments and they really let it down.

Much like it’s prequel, The Dark Eye: Memoria on Xbox feels like you’re peering through a window into the richest of rich fantasy settings. It’s a parade of fabulous characters and scenarios, and the storytelling matches the pace. If Daedalic can untangle the control issues for future titles, and perhaps add an in-game help system (or file off the edges of their more abstract puzzles), then they’re on the way to creating a classic.

I had high hopes going into the first DLC for Immortals Fenyx Rising. A New God on Xbox though feels like a safe entry, and even for a piece of DLC it overstays its welcome with a large number of trials and not much else.

There are B-list joys to be had in Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood on Xbox. At their peak, the levels can be playgrounds where choosing stealth, combat or both puts a wicked grin on your face. But too often you’re confronted with the game at its worst: lethargically plodding around game hubs and the same factory interiors, over and over. It’s not silver that’s this werewolf’s biggest weakness: in Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood, it’s repetition.

Elliot on Xbox may not look like much at first, but if you give it a try you'll find a brutal platformer that can both entertain and frustrate for hours. The levels are massively creative and shockingly well-designed.

Should you be in the market for a retro-styled ninja game, Cyber Shadow on Xbox is quite possibly the game for you. It plays well, it sounds good, and aside from an odd use of powers and damage from knockbacks, there’s not an awful lot missing - just be aware that your controller may come out the other side with more teeth marks in it than when you began.

There are issues, such as the terrible dungeon-crawling, but the solid puzzling and rewarding base-building elements more than make up for it. Tackling three genres is no easy feat, but Caves and Castles: Underworld proves that it can be done.

Balancelot on Xbox has over 50 levels to play through, but there isn’t anywhere near enough differentiation between them to keep players entertained. The tapestry style and Monty Python cues can only carry Balancelot so far, especially when things such as the cutscenes and water effects are so badly ported over, which has to be said is unusual for a Ratalaika game.

Vera Blanc: Ghost In The Castle on Xbox is a spectral shadow of Vera Blanc: Full Moon. It feels similar, but the story is thinner, less threatening, it doesn’t last as long, and the kitschiness is replaced with misogyny.

As a gateway to the wider Dark Eye universe, Chains of Satinav does a bang-up job, and leaves you eager to hop onto the store and buy its follow-up, Memoria. Logic and control issues aside, it’s a higher-tier point and click, and it tells a story that’ll have you cosying up with a blanket and Andergastian tea.

When a title like Shing! on Xbox comes along, I can’t help but feel annoyed. Its uninspired combat system, lack of narrative cohesion, and insultingly crass writing makes the game one that doesn’t deserve to be anywhere near the enormous collection of well-made titles the industry has to offer. If you give Shing! a try, I promise that you’ll be wi-shing! you hadn’t.

SYNTHETIK: Ultimate on Xbox is a great rogue-lite for gamers looking for a solo challenge. There are plenty of quirks to overcome and if you’re not a fan, or are new to the genre, SYNTHETIK: Ultimate probably won’t be the right fit for you. But if you’re patient, enjoy unforgiving gameplay, and love having tons of weapon and ability variety, then this is the game for you.

Nubarron: The adventure of an unlucky gnome on Xbox is a great little indie platformer; one that is perfect for lockdown life. It will transport you to a magical, whimsical world full of colour, delight, and strange angry clouds. Even though it's a short experience, that is truly reflected in the price tag; it will easily provide some entertainment for those long winter days.

Crashlands by Butterscotch Shenanigans is one of those rare games where a whole stack of ideas has been thrown into the mix, yet the result is a beautiful blend rather than a stodgy mess. The story isn't the strongest, but the wish to see what Flux can build next, the need to gear up to beat a boss, the exploring, and the taming of creatures all just works.

I could spend a few hours telling you about the heroic conquests and heartbreaking losses of my merry band of soldiers. Instead, I’ll tell you that if you’re a fan of roguelikes, satisfying combat, and unique game design, then Gods Will Fall on Xbox is one of the best games that you can play. With its beautiful combination of random generation and concrete level design, it sets the bar high for any roguelikes that come after.

Bonkies on Xbox is a charming puzzle game at heart, which is best enjoyed with friends. It’s not without its niggles, however there’s a genuinely enjoyable experience on offer here which will appeal to gamers of all ages.

Project Starship X on Xbox is a surprisingly inventive entry in what is normally a tried and tested genre. Although stirring the pot when it comes to sound shmup design is usually a bad idea, here all of the zany and crazy ideas are fun and entertaining thanks to the sound fundamentals of the core shooting mechanics.

Olija on Xbox is a game to be savoured. Everything about it is rich and expertly crafted, from the slick combat to the world of Terraphage, scattered with secrets. It’s over far too soon, so relish the experience while it’s there, as Olija is an astonishing adventure game that you can lose yourself in utterly.

Disjunction on Xbox is a game that I hadn't heard anything of prior to playing it, and I've been pleasantly surprised by how polished and assured it is. The story is a cracker, getting to know the three main characters and their abilities has been interesting, and all in all it’s provided an extremely enjoyable time. This is helped by an appealing hook and gameplay elements that are strong enough to ensure you keep on playing.

The Medium on Xbox is the game fans have been waiting for. A dark, mature, scary, visually appetizing next-gen delight with a gripping story, it is one to not miss if you are a fan of psychological horror. Above all, this feels like an experience that really shows the chops of the Series X, and will likely serve as a benchmark title going forward, especially if the few remaining technical issues are patched.

Air Bounce – The Jump ‘n’ Run Challenge on Xbox should be avoided at all costs. An already challenging platformer is made unnecessarily difficult with the X and Y axis being far too sensitive, and then made a complete joke with inconsistencies in almost every department.

Perhaps that reliance on simplicity is a bit too much with Loot Hero DX on Xbox. With more to offer or a few more stages, perhaps those shortcomings wouldn’t be too much of an issue. Sadly, the excellent presentation and well-balanced difficulty scaling can’t overcome a fundamental issue of repetitiveness that hurts further playthroughs.

It’s safe to say Oneiros is an interesting first-person puzzler that creates a world you want to explore and discover every little detail about. The majority of solvable problems are cleverly thought up and the inclusion of a bit of platforming breaks up the constant searching for clues. There are moments where things are a little unclear though, and I don’t just mean the narrative.

You end up wondering who Solitaire 3D on the Xbox is made for. If there’s such a thing, there’s a ‘game archivist’ in a university or museum who’s rubbing their hands at the prospect of preserving 100 different Solitaire variants. For the rest of us, you have a monumentally over-priced compendium of games you won’t play, with controls that aren’t optimised, and with features that often don’t work.

If you are after a night of horror and are looking to play something a bit different with unusual gameplay techniques, The Childs Sight might be worth a punt, mainly as it's very cheap to pick up. The sound design is excellent and the concept is unique, but for me the gameplay wanes quite quickly and eventually you’ll become more frustrated than scared.

Charm is perhaps the biggest thing Scott Pilgrim Vs The World: The Game - Complete Edition on Xbox has going for it. Unfortunately, the fighting isn’t quite as tight as it could be and occasionally lets down the wonderful music and great visuals.

If you've played the other two games in the World of Assassination trilogy then you owe it to yourself to finish the narrative in Hitman 3. If not, well, the ability to play all the games in one location makes this an almost essential purchase. If you like sneaking around and playing dress up with guns, Hitman 3 is for you.

It is tough to recommend Hyposphere: Rebirth on Xbox to anyone other than achievement hunters, and even then it is probably best to still avoid it.

Spirit Arena on Xbox will challenge you whilst providing plenty of unlockables to go after, if that’s your thing. This doesn’t stop it from being loads of fun, but it’s all over so quickly. I’m unashamedly asking for more, but right now, there's no reason not to check this one out.

I love quirky games that try something different, especially when they bring storytelling into the gaming arena, and that is the case with Life of Fly on Xbox. It's short, but I don’t have an issue with that as it’s just long enough to not outstay its welcome.

When all is said and done, Iris.Fall on Xbox is over in a flash and doesn’t linger in the memory despite some strong ideas. The monochrome graphical presentation alone will turn some heads, and some of the puzzles can be quite interesting. But once you make your way through the adventure and piece together the mystery, then there really isn’t much to come back for.

Marble Duel on Xbox possesses a clever idea by merging the thrill of matching marbles with the tactical elements brought about by turn-based conflicts. With a huge amount of levels to venture through and a variety of colourful spheres providing different benefits, it should be match-3 heaven. Unfortunately, the nature of proceedings means the further you advance, the more everything seems stacked against you.

Teratopia on Xbox is a gross, poorly optimized, poorly designed, and disastrous product. I regularly have more fun with the mazes on the back of cereal boxes. Maybe if there were some kind of actual direction, it could have been a fun little 3D something. Instead, Teratopia is yet another example of a weird name being tied to a horrendous game.

Unspottable on Xbox does bring some new ideas to the table which work in short blasts, or in longer blasts that are fuelled by social lubricant. But it does get quite old, quite fast. It's not that it is a bad game; it's just that the secondary objectives tend to go out of the window once the sleeves are rolled up, and every match fast turns into a slug-fest.

For the price asked, ADVERSE is good for what it is - a trial action-adventure game for skilled gamers to flourish with. If you hate repeating things, or have nightmares with anything that involves precision platforming, then this isn't the game for you I'm afraid, however if it is, there is plenty to get your teeth into.

The tutorial-focused hands of Summer in Mara on Xbox are where things stumble, offering a game that is unwilling to let you go outside of the strict parameters set before you.

The repetitive gameplay and unrefined controls of Get Over Here on Xbox make it very difficult to enjoy. It’s cheap, and throws a fair bit into the mix, but despite this it will struggle to get its hooks into you.

Skycadia on Xbox is as basic an arcade flight game as they come, and the simple, functional mechanics serve their purpose well to deliver a reasonable score-chasing experience.

TAURONOS on Xbox is a game that I have enjoyed playing, particularly due to its old-school visuals and fascinating take on the old great myth. I like the idea of being stalked by one creature and experiencing a hero’s strange journey to escape the maze. However, some of the traps are utterly unforgiving and having to restart the game from the beginning makes things tiresome.

For anyone interested in the setting, there is a rather good, if flawed, turn-based strategy game out there on the PC which is available to purchase. Otherwise, I’d suggest getting out your D20s and giving the tabletop RPG a go and, sadly, giving Noble Armada: Lost Worlds on Xbox a wide berth.

Being a retro revival of Asteroids isn't the flashiest look for an indie game and I fear Back to Belt on Xbox may suffer for that. But if you have any interest at all in arcade-style, pick up and play games, this one is definitely worth a look. It does not get everything right but there’s a lot of challenge and fun to be had here.

Glitch’s Trip on Xbox is a brilliant platformer that looks the part and plays great. It’s a game that constantly throws unique challenges at you to truly test your mettle, and any fan of hardcore platformers will relish the challenge it offers. It’s fair to say that Glitch’s is certainly a trip worth taking.

Guntastic on Xbox is a well-designed, fun little game, if only for a limited time. However, its hampered replayability along with a lack of depth, put up against a not insignificant price tag, makes it difficult to recommend.

CATTCH on Xbox is the platforming equivalent of a pack of Haribo. It’s colourful and characterful, and you can’t put it down at the start. But chew down on too much at once and you’ll get sick of it.

Jet Kave Adventure on Xbox is something that you’ll begin to enjoy the more you progress. The extra gameplay features that are brought about via the use of the jetpack add a new dimension to the platforming genre and manage to give the game a sense of urgency and speed. However, whilst those elements are good, I could easily do without the chase sequences and the boss fights are quite bland.

The fusion of shooter and match-3 mechanics does work, and while it’s hard to keep on top of the situation, practice certainly helps. What doesn't work so well is the amount of fun on offer as Galacide quickly becomes frustrating. It’s fun for a short blast, don't get me wrong, and if your life has a shooter/match-3 shaped hole in it this will fit perfectly, but at the end of the day the game kind of falls between two stools.

For a few short hours The Pillar: Puzzle Escape on Xbox will completely transport you away. It is easy to get sucked in thanks to the serene environment combined with the first-person perspective. A lack of story does not matter: this is a place begging to be explored.

Spending time in the Bermuda Triangle with Down in Bermuda on Xbox is tremendous. It's a game where you can just kick back and relax, solving puzzles in your own time without anything trying to kill you, or you ever needing to worry about silly time restraints.

MXGP 2020 on Xbox is more than just a rally game for people that like eating mud and wearing leathers. It’s challenging, it’s rewarding, and while I'm still a long way off even finishing a race without falling off, it’s nice to know that there is light at the end of the tunnel. If you know your Honda from your KTM, this is an easy sell, as it is probably as realistic a MXGP experience can be with all your bones intact.

Paw Paw Paw on Xbox is a pretty decent beat ‘em up that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is reasonably priced for the fair few hours it will take to get through. There will be retries and replayability as you come up against some darn tough enemies, but the short levels help alleviate stress.

You should go into PBA Pro Bowling 2021 on Xbox not expecting too much, but even then you will probably find yourself disappointed by what is on offer, alongside becoming pretty bored during events.

BFF or Die on Xbox is clearly best played with friends, but the inclusivity of a single player mode is welcome, despite being less enjoyable. It’s lacking compared to some other party games out there, but it will provide a couple of hours of fun to those prepared to give it a chance.

If the battles were anywhere near as playful as the base-management, then Steampunk Tower 2 on Xbox would be an easy recommendation. Instead, the scaffolding is better than the game it’s supporting, and that’s probably not where you want your game to be. It’s a fascinating experiment for sure - making a console tower defence game that’s both vertical and only on one screen - but ultimately it doesn’t quite succeed.

We need more puzzle games. Batu Ta Batu on Xbox has got me fired up for more games with delightfully addictive mechanics. Though the multiplayer feels out of place, and the additional game modes are ho-hum, the endless mode is so good that it’s reason enough to give the game a go.

Blacksmith of the Sand Kingdom on Xbox is an interesting take on a KEMCO game. It’s more of a management sim than a straight-up RPG, with you having to balance your jaunts to dungeons against the needs of the town for blacksmithed goods. There is a depth that is quite pleasing, but the whole premise seems to be to grind - while there’s fun to be had, it is very repetitive.

Calico on Xbox is a cat café sim where you’ll actually spend more time away from the shop than inside it – rendering the place almost useless. Fortunately, the townsfolk are nice enough to have a chinwag with and have plenty of distracting quests to provide something to do. Sadly, there’s too much back-tracking through a world that isn’t overly pleasant to look at and it’s got a fair amount of bugs.

Although short and simple, Freddy Spaghetti on Xbox is also a bit mad, making it fun to play for the most part. The levels can be hit and miss, however you can’t help wanting to stick with Freddy to see his adventure through to the end.

Shoot 1UP DX on Xbox is a chaotic mess of interesting gameplay ideas and a visual onslaught of sci-fi innuendo. As far as shmups go, it definitely deserves points for originality and for the interesting game design. It does, however, lack the level of polish and thoughtful designs that are evident in some of the best games in the genre.

Drunken Fist is built on a very thin foundation, executed in poor taste, and poorly created in general. It's very much what I imagine a drunken brawl to be like. Slow, painful and not particularly enjoyed by anyone.

Your appreciation of Mahjong Adventure DX on the Xbox will depend on two labels that should have been slapped on the box art: ‘not actually an adventure’ and ‘turns into a memory game halfway through’. In our case, the latter was a dealbreaker: it felt like going for a light stroll but being forced to stop and do push-ups. You come to Mahjong for relaxation, not mental gymnastics.

Ultimately, Neoverse on Xbox is a rather addictive offering within the deck-building genre and will lure you in for session after session. The complex nature of the gameplay is a slight stumbling block, but soon becomes its best asset as you’re stringing combos together and buffing yourself up for the challenges ahead.

If you’re a diehard fan of city-stomping robots, Override 2: Super Mech League’s combat will surely keep your attention for a while. It is a great looking game with some stellar robot designs, but that only does so much. With nothing more than samey online fights again and again, this is a game that will rust up sooner rather than later.

Killer Chambers on Xbox is a brutal teacher, killing you over and over again, splattering the walls with your innards as you learn the patterns of its rooms. But when you do learn and succeed, well, it’s a mighty feeling. It can be added to the ranks of rewarding hardcore platformers, then, just a notch below Celeste and Meat Boy - lofty heights that we never expected from this little pixel-art platformer.

In a world where Cake Bash exists to deliver a multiplayer treat, Beat Me on Xbox is an irrelevance. It's okay in short bursts - and I mean short - and I imagine it would be fun with a group of drunken mates sat around the place, but as we all know, 2020 hasn’t been kind in that regard. That said, this is a game that is hamstrung by its own controls and combat system, and all the clever stages in the world aren’t enough to save it.

Unto The End on Xbox is a game that you're going to either utterly love or will find just too difficult to play. Fans of old school titles like Another World and Prince of Persia will like the tricky elements and challenges that have you trying again and again. But it's a brutal world that brings all this together; one full of traps, death, and mystery, and I would personally have liked to be able to explore a little more without the constant threat of death and danger.

My Hidden Things on Xbox is a decent little hidden object game that’s minimalistic in style and gritty in regards to the storytelling within. It’s a cheap way to spend a couple of hours as you search through more than 25 well designed scenes and hunt for cleverly concealed items.

Cube Raiders on Xbox is a choc-a-block package, with more levels and modes than you’ll possibly need. As sokoban-style crate-pushers go, it’s well-designed too, with a punt at originality by incorporating dice. But it needed way more oomph and variety to break the feelings of repetition. Hundreds of levels won’t mean much when you roll out well before the end.

Colossus Down on Xbox is an interesting proposition, with game-changing choices to be made and an upgrade tree that can well reward multiple playthroughs. The violence is over the top, but awesome, the characters and enemies are well-drawn and designed, and the whole game is fun in short blasts. And therein lies the rub; this is not a game that I can sit down with for an extended period, as mashing X and pressing RB every now and again becomes tiresome.

It might not be the biggest or longest open-world, but Immortals Fenyx Rising on Xbox manages to cram a hell of a lot in. It takes huge swathes of inspiration from Breath of the Wild, almost unapologetically so at times. But by also taking cues from Assassin’s Creed and God of War – plus many more – it carves out a little unique space for itself. Whether it is the start of another franchise from Ubisoft remains to be seen, though the DLC plans would suggest a much wider narrative.

Make no mistake, The Last Dead End on Xbox fails at nearly everything it attempts. It’s a shooter that has no effective guns, a horror game that never scares, and a narrative-based game that makes no sense. At a time when Resident Evil is getting its mojo back, it’s hard to find a reason to play something so rough-edged. The title of The Last Dead End becomes predictably appropriate: you’ll spend most of your time looking for a way out.

Ruinverse on Xbox is very much in that category of “just some JRPG”. It does nothing particularly bad, but it does nothing particularly good either. It has a decent story, but the subtexts are so obvious, and the twist in the narrative can be seen coming from miles away. But still, it gets more enjoyable the more you play through and whilst it’s not going to set the world on fire, give it a chance and you could do worse.

Georifters is fun for a time, and packs in plenty of levels. However, the gameplay shows its hand early on, and struggles to develop from there. It throws in some new bits and bobs as you play, but soon it becomes quite repetitive, and the levels start to feel like a bit of a grind.

Do Not Feed the Monkeys is better played on other systems rather than on Xbox. Without a mouse or touchscreen to move through screens, you’ll find yourselves fumbling through the screens like your dad with a remote, when you want to feel like Tom Cruise in Minority Report. But don’t let it put you off the game as a whole: this is a witty, hugely original voyeurism simulator, and it’s well worth searching out elsewhere.

As you’d probably expect from a budget platformer that features a T-Rex main character, Tiny Hands Adventure on Xbox is awkward, unwieldy, and from a completely different time. If you’re blessed with patience and go all misty-eyed when someone mentions platformers like Croc and Bubsy, then you might find some enjoyment here. For others, it’s probably worth leaving this fossil in the ground.

Regardless of the love you’ll have for Wilmot’s Warehouse on Xbox, it’s a game to admire. It is incredibly minimalist, in its fantastic chillwave soundtrack, visuals and the basic sorting it tasks you with, but that just highlights its elegance. It’s a very original game, but at the same time feels so refined that it could be from a genre that’s been around for decades.

WRC 9 on Xbox Series X|S will certainly appeal to existing WRC fans. It features tricky and technical racing that may be off-putting to others, especially when you consider the likes of Dirt 5 that offer a much more accessible experience. With the free updates and Series X|S optimisations, there are several improvements over the initial launch. But the resolution and frame rate improvements only highlight the differences between the details on the cars compared to the surrounding areas.

Wonder Blade on Xbox is inconsistently fun. The wildly contrasting difficulty and bumpy pacing makes the experience feel slightly disjointed, however it’s all wrapped up in a way that will no doubt bring a smile to the most miserable of faces.

So, Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox. This is a game I had been looking forward to for what seems like a lifetime, and it was never going to live up to the high expectations that CD Projekt Red, I or the world as a whole has been putting on it. It's a great RPG, but at the same time it doesn't do anything grounding breaking in terms of style and gameplay. Yes it has bugs, there is an annoying UI and I can’t ignore the mission stutters, but similarly it's a game that I constantly think back to when I’m not gaming, looking forward to my next deep session with it.

SiNKR 2 on Xbox, much like the original game, is a great time. It is equal parts relaxing and satisfying for the majority of the 87 levels, and the difficulty is pretty well-balanced. Sinking a puck in a hole is just as satisfying as ever, and the low asking price makes the game all the more worthwhile.

Despite its cute visuals and some great moments of exploring the game’s world, Monster Sanctuary on Xbox feels relatively hollow. There is plenty of content to keep the most dedicated of min-maxing enthusiasts busy, especially if one ventures into online battles against others, but the game owes too much of its identity to the past. If it leaned more into the unique metroidvania ideas, had a more interesting story, and felt less like homework, Monster Sanctuary would have been something truly special.

It says a lot about a game when writing its review makes us want to close the laptop, boot up the Xbox and return to play it. So it is with Monster Train on Xbox, which chucks out a lot of Slay the Spire’s baggage to create a ride that’s more breakneck and exhilarating. Monster Train is more-ish to the extreme, and we’d worry about our social lives, if there was any social life to be had right now.

Hivebusters is a great addition to the story content of Gears 5 on Xbox. The same production values, the same great acting, and (whisper it) a better set of protagonists than Kait and J.D., all add up to make this a must play expansion.

Football Manager 2021 Xbox Edition is a very good management sim and a viable option for anyone who spends more time on an Xbox than a PC. Performance-wise it runs well on the Series X and the whole layout is brilliantly designed from a visual standpoint. Unfortunately, it’s a pain to navigate the menus and even after sinking a ton of hours in, it still feels odd. The inclusion of microtransactions leaves a bitter taste too, because they’re just unnecessary.

The opening stages have that gleeful abandon that a lot of mining games have, as our pockets filled with gold and unlocks made us into mining deities. The game kept widening out to add more and more things to do and we were smitten with how generous it was. That generosity had to come to an end, though: as Cave Digger ran out of surprises, the feelings of grinding started to take hold. Treat these feelings as a canary and get out before they choke out the enjoyment, and Cave Digger becomes a glittering recommendation.

Morbid: The Seven Acolytes on Xbox is an excellent Souls-like experience and one that any fan of the genre should play. It’s constantly rewarding and delivers a frantic challenge on the whole. There are some hiccups along the way but it’s not enough to bring down this trip into steampunk nightmares.

So, how best is it to describe Kid Tripp on Xbox? Short, but sweet. It might only be an hour long, but it’s entirely worth it. The gameplay and level design are both stellar, and the game is challenging without being unfair or overly-punishing. For less than a fiver, what more could you want?