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.

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.

While it’s general gameplay may be far from great, the world is unique and best experienced rather than explained.

You’ll have an absolute blast with Nightmare Reaper - at least for the first couple of hours. The retro style is fun but original and there’s some serious addiction found in the whole 'what weapon will I get to play with this time' feel.

It’s hard to be critical of Brotherhood United on Xbox One and its many bruised edges. Sure, it looks like a knock-off, and the platforming stinks, but it sets such a low bar that it clears it. It wants to give you three hours of no-nonsense action, switching out difficulty for a sense of momentum, and it does it all for a budget price. It’s more Seagal than Stallone, then, but some days are Under Siege days.

With multiple different Kaiju to master, Gigapocalypse will keep you playing for a while. It is in no way an essential play, but you’ll no doubt find yourself firing it up for a sneaky ten minute bash.

Completing the puzzles in A Little to the Left does provide some enjoyment, and we have always wanted to return to the game each time to tackle more. However, it does not offer the relaxing ‘switch off your brain’ kind of experience that you might expect in a self-titled cozy game.

Dojoran is a minimalist but hardcore platformer. While it has stripped out a lot, it’s retained the right bits: patient, precise platforming and a frog that will shake its head disapprovingly whenever it dies. The charm can’t quite carry it over the full runtime, but there’s a raw challenge on offer here that we suspect a lot of players will gobble up.

Delivery of Us is one of the better sliding puzzle games we’ve played, but it’s also one of the shortest. It’s very much a small parcel rather than a large letter. You might need to ration yourself a few levels a day to spread the experience out a wee bit.

Infinite Adventures does enough to distinguish itself from other RPGs on the Xbox One, as it isn’t quite like anything I’ve played before on this platform. While the graphics are largely static, and the voice acting quite often veers over to the cheesy side, there is personality in the character portraits, and the sight of a team of largely dead people does soon start to make you care about your team’s fate.

As long as you’re willing to put up with samey battles, Taurian Defense is an ambitious compendium of dogfighting games, and we’re all in for celebrating that ambition.

If you enjoyed the subversive type of psychological horror from Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, then Moving Houses on Xbox will be right up your street.

We wanted more edge and interest from Teacup, and certainly a longer game for the price. But we’re confident that it does what it sets out to do: to relax and consign the world to a drawer, if only for an hour or two. And we suspect that’s plenty of people’s cup of tea.

There is a high chance that the initial few missions, as players get to grips with the touchy controls, depth of the mechanics and difficulty of the war, will turn many casual gamers away. And that would be a shame because once you get past the opening segments, and really get to grips with what Bomber Crew is all about, will find a rather fun management style affair that brings much joy.

If you’re in the market for a Telltale-like episode of narrative goodness, then take a bow, SOPA - Tale of the Stolen Potato. This is not long, difficult or ambitious, but it never fails to be charming.

Oaken just can’t capitalise on that good work. It’s too convoluted as a turn-based strategy game, it takes too much time to assess any given situation, and restarting a run takes far too long. The ivy crawls around Oaken and drags it down, when it should be shooting up into the sky.

Gravity Heroes on Xbox manages to bring a few good ideas to the table, and does just enough to allow it to be something to recommend - no matter whether you are alone or if you have a few friends around.

If you’re a deckbuilder convert who is looking for a fun distraction, a throwaway riff on your favourites, then you could do much worse. Rise of the Slime has some quirks in the side-scrolling and character movement, and just enough newness in the pet system. Just don’t be fooled by the presentation: it may look like this slime has its own personality, but most of it has been absorbed from other games.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance doesn't ever feel like it is doing anything particularly new and the whole setting, concept, and world just seems a bit tired at times. But that said you’ll have some decent fun here, particularly with the story, the hack and slash gameplay, and solid mechanics. If you find yourself playing alone, it might get a bit stale, but with friends behind you, you’ll have a great time.

Once Upon a Puppet provides an enjoyable journey through a theatrical world, working nicely in terms of character integration and overall gameplay experience. However, there is no wow factor and it’s all too easy to get lost with what you are doing, unaware of any purpose.

With a bit more care, a bit more testing, this could have been a real contender for one of the best shooters of the year, but the annoyances, while not game breaking, do add a slightly bitter taste to proceedings. Rigid Force Redux is a good game, that so easily could have been great.

Somber Echoes fits well into its Metroidvania category. It has an explorable map with secrets to find, fast platforming, and hard combat. It also has some great mechanics in terms of the way you can traverse the levels with the ball of light, and how that ability evolves.

Death Relives is a well-put-together and intriguing game with some original ideas in terms of its story and setup.

It's always tricky to write about a game like Hanoi Puzzles: Solid Match because if you hate puzzles or brain-teasers, then there won’t be anything for you here. But if you like the little puzzle games that have been appearing on Xbox over the last couple of years - ones that are cheap and an enjoyable diversion - then this game could be for you.

Ord. on Xbox One is a game that I hugely enjoyed spending some time with. The concept and execution are highly original with a great take on the ‘choose your own adventure’ theme. You won’t mind dying here either, because you’ll always be left with a smile on your face. With five different story arcs to play through, all very different in their themes and scope, there’s plenty to get involved in and these make up for the simple visuals.

When S.P.E.A.R. gets even remotely difficult, it can feel like you’re not just fighting giant, flying eye bosses: you’re fighting the engine, too.

If you know nothing about Motocross but would like to start getting into the sport, this might be the perfect time to give MXGP 2021 a go. If you’re a grizzled veteran, go crack open a can of Boomer Juice, whack on some Powerman 5000 and rev that engine!

If you’re in the mood for some twin-sticking and have cash burning a hole in your camo trousers, then HellGunners will do a dumb job.