If you can find four friends, all willing to purchase Fury of Dracula: Digital Edition, who would rather not pop round to play it in person, then we encourage you to sink your fangs in. For anyone else, it’s one to avoid, or one to buy as the board game instead.

Remove the stealth from Clea on Xbox One and you have a delightful little Resident Evil puzzler, hunting for keys, navigating mazes and pushing the right switches in the right order. The story amps the mystery up, and you’ll want to know what Clea’s neglectful parents were thinking. But that wouldn’t be Halloween, would it, so we need baddies to skulk and scare. The problem is that these enemies are more like coming across umpteen traffic lights and diversions on a road you just want to get down.

With a lack of identity often causing confusion about what the game is even trying to achieve, and an utterly disappointing campaign experience, there isn’t much to go on if you want an enjoyable and in-depth story adventure.

Will you have a good time with Music Drive: Chase the Beat? Probably, is the answer, what with its short gameplay loops and old-school polygon graphics.

Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure on Xbox One takes the rotten core of a blockbreaker game and straps on a cracking story, great music, boss battles and some new approaches. But that rotten core still stinks, and you’ll get a whiff every now and again, as the infuriation and the tedium seep through. If you’re a Sacred Symbols fan, or you’ve still got love for games like Arkanoid, it may be just enough to warrant a purchase.

As a free download, if you’re a bit snooker loopy, then consider a download of Snooker Blitz. Just be aware of the microtransactions.

If you are after a game that will prove to be a great distraction between the big open world triple-A games, then NeuroBloxs is for you. It has that fun old-school arcade playability that is so easy to dive into, letting you waste ten or so minutes at a time.

STAR WARS: Episode I: Jedi Power Battles is worth revisiting if you're after a trip down memory lane, however limited improvements prevent it realising its full potential.

It's not the worst game of the year because it's not broken, it all works fine and there is an interesting concept of a show here, even though we may have trodden these boards before. I found the combat sluggish and uninspiring, and some of the nightmare levels can be very generic compared to other games in these genres. But I think Past Cure is probably worth a punt as long as you can grab it in a sale and fancy trying something a bit unusual.

Axobubble is certainly no masterpiece, plagued with occasional bugs, a limited move-set, and narrow minded level design, yet its bubble gimmick can’t help but be viewed as a (much needed) stepping stone for Afil Games to learn from and expand upon in the future.

WWE 2K Battlegrounds on Xbox One brings a fast-paced arcade wrestling game to the market, which features a greatly diverse roster, a decent variety of modes and moves that pack a punch. Sadly, the bulk of the gameplay takes a while to get to grips with and even then, it becomes monotonous after a short length of time. The limited access to the roster doesn’t help in that sense, nor does the utterly bland narrative.

If you’ve a Sokoban itch that needs a scratch, Sokomage will be able to provide it. A cheap enough purchase with a level structure to suit, this is a fairly decent example of a box-pushing genre that has been done to death.

Judging a book by its cover goes both ways: what looks attractive can actually be a dirge, repetitive and depressing in its storytelling, and with caps on the fun you can experience from its combat. Roughly a couple of hours too long, I ended up hoping that the final page of this tale would come earlier, not later.

A decent effort at a lane-based battler, but ultimately the chance to control an insect army in Insectum: Epic Battles of Bugs is pretty unforgettable and far from epic.

There are definitely better co-op games out there, and there are better space shooters for sure, but RiftStar Raiders can still be a fun game.

Struggling is bonkers, disgusting but also different. It’s enjoyable in parts but the frankly exasperating controls take the shine off some innovative gameplay ideas.

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.

There are still several issues that need to be ironed out but GRIP: Combat Racing isn’t a terrible game. In fact, with a few necessary fixes, it could definitely become something rather special thanks to filling the gap left in the genre and providing something a bit different to most other racers. At present though, it’s going to take a bit more variety and polish for this to be a racer we’ll be remembering fondly.

While I cant claim to be the intended audience, at the price of $5.99/£4.99, it’s still a tricky one to recommend, mainly due to the largest issues that stem from the underdeveloped story and short overall length.

There is no denying that OVIVO on Xbox One is a fantastic game to look at and take in. The black and white levels are beautifully designed when you see them in all their glory from a different perspective. When zoomed in, as you control the ball through them though, you miss most of this aesthetic as you try and navigate through basic yet frustrating gameplay.

Approach Cinders on Xbox One with caution. If you like a bit of melodrama in your life, and the prospect of a well-crafted, alternate take on Cinderella sounds appealing, this glass slipper may well fit.

Dustwind - The Last Resort presents a world which intrigues and offers a gritty RTS experience. However, punishing difficulty, gradual pace and repetitive gameplay make it an acquired taste for sure.

You should enjoy BLEACH: Brave Souls, but much of that will be down to the story and being keen to see where it goes next. You see, the rest of the time, the game feels a bit scrappy, a bit of a rushed conversion. There is fun here, but BLEACH: Brave Souls is far from the most polished game you’ll ever play.

Infiltration brings with it an exciting environment full of fresh ideas, such as the use of height and depth, but the opening cinematic really doesn’t help the whole thing feel as free flowing as it should. The gameplay aspect obviously isn’t affected by this and the open areas bring for some great ranged opportunities to take down the masses of enemies, and many will find it as a fairly average DLC offering.

For picking up and blasting through an hour at a time, Ember: Console Edition works. It’s an RPG lite experience that fails to hit the depth and intricacy of a standard RPG, yet it does a good job of providing entry-level genre ideas.

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.

Yes, it’s just a port from a successful mobile game and the controls might work a lot better on a phone, but it does the job intended of it and will appeal to a lot of sim fans.

Swords & Bones has some good ideas, but the execution needs some work and maybe a touch of polish.

Griftlands is the turducken of card games. It’s a deck-builder stuffed with a second deck-builder, inside a faction-management game, inside a single-player narrative game. It’s ridiculously overstuffed and impenetrable, but you’ve got to admire the craft on display. Taken as individual games, there’s some fantastic ideas in Griftlands, but as a single offering, they don’t quite work.

This is not one of Artifex Mundi’s best: it’s a meandering, weirdly earnest story, and the hidden object puzzles are more fiddly than they needed to be. We weren’t exactly ‘bah humbug’ while playing Yuletide Legends: Who Framed Santa Claus?, but we were at least a little crotchety.

If you’re after a zen, chillout game of Carmageddon then maybe Zombie Hill Racing will work for you. For us, it was a bit of an uphill slog.

You’ll enjoy Spot The Differences! Party, at least in short bursts. It’s addictive to see how far you can progress, as you look to improve your score in solo mode, whilst Party mode is a fun way to spend a couple of hours with friends.

I Am the Hero isn’t the best example in the genre, but it isn’t among the worst, either. The story is forgettable, but it compensates with appealing, well-animated visuals and a varied musical score. Combat offers a galore of options, but the overall difficulty is just too low to incentivize their usage.

We suspect that there will be an audience for Seduce Me - The Complete Story. This is a generous visual novel package with some racy scenes, and the incubus/succubus angle is a fresh one. Someone is going to love this. But it rubbed us up the wrong way.

Castle Pals works well as a game that you play when you need to kill a little time when out and about, but sitting down and playing it in one go just isn’t what it was designed for.

CD-RUN on Xbox One is a good solid entry into the party scene. I just wish there was the opportunity to take things online, and to have more to enjoy in terms of game modes.

A bit like BROK himself, BROK the InvestiGator is a bit of a hybrid. It’s a brawler spliced onto a graphic adventure, yet neither half of the gene pool is quite stable enough to support it.

I can’t help feeling that Habitat Shapes is a puzzle-designer short of a really good game. With more finesse in its layouts and the shapes that it offers, it would have been more memorable and stimulating to play.

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.

Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster is one of the seminal JRPGs. It’s just that it has, unfortunately, been outclassed by its own peers.

Battle Axe on the Xbox is fast-food in an action-brawler wrapper. It tastes and looks good in the short-term, full of E numbers and shots of adrenaline. But it leaves you unsatisfied in the long term, leaving you hungry for something more than thirty minutes of easy hacking and slashing. When you’re £25 lighter after the experience, you’d be forgiven for expecting a heartier meal with more courses.

Pikuniku on Xbox One is a tiny little game. It tries to do a whole lot with its short campaign, yet it only does half of it well. Its writing bounces back and forth between being endearingly random and just plain unfunny. The puzzles featured within the campaign and co-operative modes are easily the best part of playing, so it is odd that the game does not focus entirely on those two things.

Cotton games are known for being charming and precise, but Panorama Cotton feels ugly and unwieldy. It’s not the most ideal of trades. ININ Games have done a sterling job of porting this curio, but we warn you: as a modern gamer, it’s a bumpy ride.

There should always be room in our lives for fun, pulpy rubbish. Sometimes you just want a Nic Cage movie, a packet of prawn cocktail crisps, or the works of Limp Bizkit. Video games can definitely be in that category too, and Vera Blanc: Full Moon could be classed as so-bad-it’s-good. In places, it’s in danger of teetering into just ‘bad’.

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.

You may want to switch Injection π23 ‘Ars regia’ off, the lack of direction is a tad annoying and the nostalgic world on offer may feel a bit of a turn-off. But carry on playing through and you’ll realise that the hooks grab you, taking you into a game that is engaging and intriguing throughout.

Ultimately, IIN is a Jeckyl and Hyde platformer. When it’s more on the puzzle end of things, it’s a Jeckyl, delivering fantastic problems to solve with eureka moments. But when it’s more on the platforming side, it goes full Hyde. The puzzle layouts demand that you wrestle with the game’s love of physics, and you have to balance blocks without teetering over into oblivion.

Project SNAQE might be priced low enough to allow you to overlook the drawbacks, but those wishing to rekindle the old Snake flame should be aware that things soon begin to burn out.

I’ve both loved (you wouldn’t necessarily believe that) and hated Adventure Pop in my time playing it. The lovely vibrant colours, the cheerful soundtrack and the bubble popping in general are immensely enjoyable. The sheer number of levels will no doubt tide you over for many hours and the gameplay is kept fresh with new features thrown in periodically. What I don’t like though is the shady hit detection at times, the slowness of shooting during what should be intense and frantic affairs, and the crazily difficult levels which are there to shove you in the direction of micro-transactions.

Ary and the Secret of Seasons on Xbox One is a game that gives you some good content for an alright price. If you have young ones in the house and you want a good family game that will manage to keep them quiet for a good 10 hours or so, this could be it. If you’re a bit longer in the tooth though, or just want to play through something without issue or constant loading screens, then you may well have to seriously consider things before putting in a purchase.

Be prepared for Puzzle By Nikoli W Slitherlink: you will need to be firing on all mental cylinders to get the most out of its Boxes-based puzzling.

The Wreck was such a labour for us to wade through. It’s too structured and symmetrical, making it feel less like a story and more like a syllabus of homework tasks.

If you’re a fan of previous Tonguç Bodur games - the likes of The Redress of Mira and Finding the Soul Orb - then Cions of Vega should be on your list. It's one of his best, with a nicely compact story, some lovely visuals, and a great atmosphere.

With Cube Farmer you reap what you sow in the sense that you can get a cheap and decent puzzler for a cheap and decent price.

Panda Punch is fine, we suppose. If you have a fiver in your pocket, and a love of (red) pandas in your heart, then it will tickle you for the hour it takes to gain its Gamerscore, or the three hours it takes to fully complete. But it’s one of Ratalaika’s more mediocre offerings, as it eats, shoots and leaves you feeling unsatisfied.

To like Metro Simulator 2, you’re going to have to be a massive train sim fan. It has some authentic-looking trains, as well as the locations you would expect from Moscow's massive metro.

The Tower of Beatrice manages to present itself as a cheap and mildly enjoyable point-and-click offering that’ll last a couple of hours.

When considered with other expansions that have added vampires, mystery towns, island getaways and jungles, The Sims 4 Cats & Dogs expansion on Xbox One does feel a bit empty by comparison.

If you are willing to work for some glorious moments, then The Forest Cathedral is a walking sim that delivers. But oof: it demands some extreme patience when the walking starts straying into platforming.

REDEX asks a lot of a player, outside of the cheap entry point. It tutorialises itself poorly and asks you to die, over and over, before you become even barely functional. Later on, it asks you to grind through levels that don’t repay the favour of being enjoyable to replay. There’s an enjoyable hour or two in the middle, but they’re bookended by pain.

RunBean Galactic feels like a toy rather than a game, something you might pick up and dabble with for a couple of minutes before putting it back down. It’s elegant but depthless. When you consider how many ways that RunBean Galactic could have filled out the experience, you wonder why it didn’t shoot for the stars, rather than making do and staying bean-sized.

Rememoried is an artistic experiment that tries to be a game. There isn’t a story to speak of, but rather a collection of thoughts and comments on the philosophy of the soul and/or journey in the universe. It has problems as a game, especially in the platforming sections and it has some very uneven voice work. Visually is where its strengths lie and it does this very well indeed.

Sports games have set such a high bar for themselves over the years and we have come to expect so much of them. This means that when a game comes along and doesn’t reach our expectations we are disappointed. This is exactly the case for AO Tennis 2.

For the Final Fantasy die-hards who missed out on this first time around it may appeal more seeing more of the minor characters from the main game. But to anyone not familiar with the franchise, don’t let this freebie be considered an example of the rest of it.

You’ll have a great time with REKT!... for about an hour or so. After that, it quickly becomes obvious that you would have seen everything the game has to offer. It’s clear that this is a brilliant casual experience, with its strong fundamentals, easy-to-pick-up gameplay and truckload of customisation. It’s simply that with nothing added on top of it, REKT! ends up rather stale.

You’ll be looking at some four or five hours in order to complete Remorse: The List and throughout that time will find a world that is interesting to explore. The combat could be more fun though, and it would have been great to have taken in a few more surprises in its setup. At least the puzzle elements are rewarding though.

Ultimately, Wandersong on Xbox One is worth trying at least. The way it constantly switches up its gameplay and tone can be exciting and refreshing, and I wholly appreciate that Wandersong isn't trying to replicate the ideas or style of any other game.

As a gaming experience it is frustrating, has no variation in pace and I’m not sure how successful its outcome is. There are amazing cut scenes and some good sound work, but I left wanting to find out more about this horrific case and its consequences.

In my review of the previous episode my main gripe was that things didn’t move quick enough and it was obviously a bit of a ‘filler’ episode before things got moving. Well, my hopes were quashed as I starting playing this episode – it got even slower.

That title was always going to be a challenge to shake. With so many good Metroidvanias out there, spilling out of Game Pass on a weekly basis, Clunky Hero can’t help but feel slow and cumbersome in comparison. It’s large, dense, and at its best when you’re exploring but, in every other way, Clunky Hero succumbs to its name.

Despite a few issues, I have had a good time with Newt One. There is no story to be mesmerized with, nor any extremely addictive gameplay, but the inner-collector in you that craves 100%-ing levels and areas will enjoy this short but musical adventure… especially if you’re into old-school 3D platformers.

If you can absorb the physics-related issues, and you can get to grips with what each block means and does, then this is an extremely clever game. It’s not as easy as that cute rat protagonist might lead you to believe. Rattyvity Lab is an utter scumbag, but you have to admire its occasional genius.

One Button Games 5-in-1 vol. 5 is a fascinating exploration of what you can achieve with one button. The result sounds gimmicky, and in a few cases it is. But when it comes off, the result truly scratches the score-attack and achievement hunting itch.

It’s tough to be too critical of Spider Solitaire F on Xbox One, considering it delivers exactly what it says on the tin; it is a prime candidate to pick up for short gaming sessions every so often.

Endurance: Space Action on Xbox is a decent sci-fi adventure, wrapped in mystery and told over a substantial single player campaign. However, partly due to its length, few will feel compelled to see it through to its conclusion.

It’s not realistic, it’s not a world beater in terms of gameplay or likenesses of your favourite players, and it’s not going to challenge FIFA on any level, but as a bit of short-term fun, Legendary Eleven has put a smile on my face.

Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a good game; one that is enjoyable almost despite itself. The visuals are very old-skool - and that’s being kind - the animation is ropey and fights don’t ever feel balanced, but it still provides a decent amount of fun; all helped along by the story that unfolds.

If you are looking for a visual novel that echoes Doki Doki Literature Club, then Cooking Companions should be on your radar. It doesn’t quite hit the heights of the aforementioned VN, but is still able to forge its own identity.

It’s not often that we’d rake a card game over the coals for its controls, but Solitaire TriPeaks Flowers fumbles something as simple as moving left or right. It overshadows a well-presented mobile port that does everything else right, give or take an under-used flower theme. It’s a cheap and generous rose with a particularly sharp thorn, so come with gloves.

If your sensitivities to randomness and procedural generation are anything like ours, then we’d suggest switching back to X-Com. But if you’re less dismayed by the idea, then Fort Triumph might actually live up to its name.

9 Clues: The Secret of Serpent Creek is only for hidden object completionists, then, or for dabblers who want something a bit darker and seedier from their storylines.

Unfortunately, while there seems to be a good base and some heart at the core of Go! Go! Mister Chickums, the repetitive gameplay which is fueled by tedious level design and movement hampering game mechanics, prevent it from being very fun for any prolonged amount of time.

Whilst Anthology of Fear sticks its head above other horror games for a moment, it doesn’t do enough to stay there. Strange combat sections, control issues, and game crashes don't help its cause. But if you can get through those moments, fans of horror experiences will find a lot to like with Anthology of Fear.

I want to like DragoDino more than I do, but the truth of the matter is that even though it’s a well thought out collect ‘em up with some clever ideas, the overall mechanics let it down. A platformer can only be as good as the physics that hold it together and this is a serious problem for DragoDino.

The final episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier ties most of the loose ends up, has a great middle, but is sandwiched by mediocrity at best. ‘From The Gallows’ is only worth grabbing if you’ve made it this far already.

A fun entry into the party games market, with the main selling point being the metal soundtrack and head banging action. Give EleMetals a try if you have a few friends around the place. Just be aware that this is a harder sell to solo players.

If you’re in the market for a first sokoban, or don’t feel like you’ve hit a point of fatigue with sokoban games, then Hummingbird Garden is a fantastic choice. For anyone else, I’m less confident.

You shouldn’t expect great visuals, and please don’t hope that there is a stunning soundtrack to pull you through, because quite frankly there isn’t either of those things. But if you want some quick fun and have got some mates in tow, less than a quid from each of them is never going to break the bank.

Prizma Puzzle Prime does a lot of things right. The levels are nicely judged, getting incrementally harder, and the way the mechanics work is good fun as well. As it is though, with a nine minute 100% completion time if you're only worried about achievements, I’m afraid a lot of people will use this as a cheap way to pad their Gamerscore totals and not play it to conclusion. That is a shame.

For a game that’s just a couple of hours long, and costs less than a fiver to get hold of, it just about caters for those who wish to take a gamble on surviving another zombie apocalypse.

Hidden Legends, perhaps appropriately for a hidden object game, is a mixed bag. There’s a ridiculous amount of stuff for your money, but enjoying that stuff requires a shift in expectations. This is less a hidden object game, and more a glaringly-obvious object game.

I’m torn with Cute Astro. It does its job with radical, early-’90s style, but it’s also a bit hollow. There is nothing wrong with the sokoban puzzling, but there’s also nothing remarkable about it either.

Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunt is very much a game of two halves. The basic idea of hunting dinosaurs is pretty appealing, and doing it in a calm, considered, non-Turok way is quite interesting. On the other side of the scale is the grind required to make progress, the dodgy visuals, the difficulty in finding something the size of a house, and the generally unpolished feel of the experience as a whole.

If you’re after a game that looks fantastic Fade to Silence will certainly prove perfect for some wintry screenshots. However should you be on the lookout for something that provides a fair yet challenging survival experience within a post-apocalyptic setting, then it may not prove quite the fluid and enjoyable experience you’d hoped for.

If you can find a lobby, there is a bit of short term fun to be had with FragPunk. However, the aggressive pushing of the store, the annoying voice overs and the crazy achievement list means there are much better shooter options out there.

We haven’t played many Old Testament platformers with a hint of Altered Beast, so Saga of Sins tops that particular league table. But against all our other criteria, Saga of Sins is merely passable.

If you want anything resembling ambition or innovation then you should probably find somewhere else to unwind. Capy Spa is more of the same, just furrier.

If you’re a fan of the age-old game of chess but don’t have the skills to play on a Grandmaster level, Chess Knights: Shinobi is worth a look. The stages are well-designed and the tactical nous required to find success in the Japanese lands is high. Issues with the camera and control scheme aside, this chess game - without any chess - may be of appeal to some, especially when you consider the low asking price.