Revenant Dogma feels like a game of missed opportunities. The story is either much too confusing or later all spoonfed to players. Spelling mistakes and subpar visuals make the game feel too rough around the edges. The characters' conversations only tell, never show and the gameplay soon gets repetitive. For genre-deprived fans, it may be enjoyable enough, but for anyone looking for a great Xbox JRPG, Revenant Dogma falls short.

The central concept is as mindlessly addictive as ever, while the audiovisual update is pleasing to the eyes and ears. Unfortunately the game is let down by being too short and too easy, while some unnecessary platforming gimmicks frustrate more often than they entertain.

Pix The Cat offers some truly frenetic gameplay and finds modest success in being the Snake/Pac-Man crossover as which it's billed. Sometimes the game presents itself as too busy to allow for focus on what you're actually meant to be doing, and when you are focusing, the controls don't always respond how you'd want.

There are a few anti-fun mechanics and sometimes the collision can seem almost random, but it's not enough to totally kill off the fun factor. Like most physics entries, your enjoyment of the game — as well as how much content you're able to squeeze out of it — is heavily dependent on your like or dislike of this style of game, so be sure to know your own preferences before proceeding any further with this one.

Conan Exiles is a game that is rewarding to survive in, considering you start off with nothing at all. Going from an exiled criminal to the owner of a large riverfront property is a great feeling. Learning the ins and outs of how to thrive in the Exiled Lands is enjoyable, especially when doing so with other players. These positives tend to be forgotten though, and can be completely eclipsed by the game’s main pitfalls. The frame rate is unacceptable at times, which then affects the already subpar combat.

The first of three post-launch chapters, Isle of the Dead takes no risks whatsoever, giving players a little bit more of exactly what the game was already. If you want a new level to explore with friends, this will give you that, but if you were hoping to see Strange Brigade in a new light, episode one of The Thrice Damned campaign is not for you. Like the base game, it's a no-frills experience, but this time a few frills would've been welcome.

The campaign is the best part of the game but is halted in its tracks by gates that require players to grind before they can pass. The sole purpose of the game's open world is to be filled with collectibles, while the optional dungeons are inferior versions of their campaign counterparts. Long loading times and other smaller bugs interrupt flow and disrupt the player experience. Then there's the problem of the missing content. If ever a game felt like it was rushed to release, it is this one.

It breaks my heart to criticise Sable so. The first few hours are truly remarkable, packed with moments of beauty, creativity, and childlike wonder, but the more you play, the more the mask slips. Despite the technical issues, it's testament to the abilities of the small team that it has been able to create a world so inventive and interesting, if one whose sparseness starts to work against it once the initial sightseeing tour is over. It's a crying shame, though, that those who want to see everything that this captivating setting has to offer — whether through inherent completionism, chasing achievements, or simply being drawn in by the lush playground itself — are those who will suffer Sable at its worst, even if the highs should still prove strong enough to carry you through the lows in the end.

Young gamers are the target audience of Prospect Games' Unbox: Newbie's Adventure. There's nothing wrong with that, but there isn't much here to appeal to the older and more experienced gamer, something at which other kids' titles have succeeded. The developer holds your hand throughout the adventure, which is annoying unless by chance this is the first video game you've ever played, and Unbox's one-trick combat and easy tasks won't captivate an adult's attention for long. Unless you plan to collect all 800 Golden Tapes, it's also a brief experience, clocking in at roughly 5-7 hours. The graphics are lackluster with a noticeable difference between advertisements of the game and how it actually looks. Provided the developer fixes the broken achievement, the list of 15 achievements is straightforward and simple with not much to it, much like the game itself.

Right now, Battlefield 2042 is offering plenty of new features and gameplay elements that will benefit the series’ veteran players, although I’m not sure if there is enough there to hold the attention of players that don’t already have a vested interest in it, at least while they wait for the various problems to be fixed. That really is a shame because even though the persistent issues are frustrating, unnecessary, and annoying, underneath it all is a game that is brimming with potential, and one that I’m enjoying much of my time with — combat is tense, challenging, and unpredictable, and it offers the very best Battlefield experience in recent years... when it hits right.

Shadowgate is very easy to recommend to fans of the original game or of the early days of point-and-click in general. For modern genre enthusiasts, it may be a tougher sell thanks to basic presentation and lots of opportunities to get a game over. Regardless, this is the best updated version of a thirty year old game that one could hope for, and it should leave nostalgic adventure gamers hopeful for more classic revivals in the same vein.

Spellspire takes a simple word game and spices it up with some interesting RPG elements, adding some tactical thinking to the usual “spell big words to win” formula. Upgrades actually feel useful rather than being tacked on and don't end as an afterthought. Unfortunately there is very little variation in the actual gameplay and the move from mobile to console does come with some drawbacks, mainly when it comes to inputting words quickly and precisely. It is, however, a fun game to play in short bursts; with an entire tower to climb, there is plenty for people to sink there teeth into here.

Monster Energy Supercross - The Official Videogame certainly captures the atmosphere and the essence of the high-adrenaline sport. The arenas are well-crafted reproductions of their real-life counterparts, and out on the track, the bikes and riders look decent. It gets slowed by jarring moments such as strangely routine lag or sometimes frustrating handling and physics. There is a feeling of the game being not quite finished, with a little polishing still needed in places. That all said, when it works, it works well and there is plenty of content to keep players entertained, especially with the advent of community created tracks. In short, it feels one patch shy of being a great racing title.

Anoxemia has a wonderful sense of tension and a dark atmosphere with an interesting enough plot highlighting Dr Bailey's isolation and possible decent into madness, but it begins to lose its charm as you progress. The lack of checkpoints can make repeating the areas very tedious if you die from any of the hazards or from your supplies running out, but the short levels do make up for this. There is some incentive to exploration and it does provide you with some helpful upgrades, but your main objectives rarely differ from collecting a number of items or reaching a specific location. There is enough to keep players entertained for a few hours, but the repetition and lack of variety in objectives holds back what could have been a far more exciting game.

oOo won't appeal to everyone, but for those willing to accept the flaws as well as the challenging nature of the game, oOo can be an addictive experience and a fix for that satisfying, 'just one more go' experience.

Serial Cleaner is a fun stealth game that doesn't hold one's attention for long. Despite the changing environments and balanced approach to ramping up the game's difficulty, the title can become quite frustrating with no checkpoints or ways to save on harder levels when you're sent back to the very beginning, no matter how much work you've accomplished along the way. The 20 challenge modes are more like on/off switches for making the game more challenging in different ways, not really different modes of play. It has a retro 70's vibe with good music and a fun pixelated art style and does a great job of being easy to pick up and play, but it doesn't add enough variety to keep you coming back for more. Bob Leaner is a seemingly cool cat who ends up being a rather boring dude in the end.

2Dark is a mildly interesting stealth-horror fusion sadly dragged down by some bizarre narrative and visual decisions.

Ultimately, GRIP has fun gameplay at its foundation, I'm just not sure this first attempt takes the game everywhere it needs to go.

Narcosis is neither a great nor terrible horror title — it's simply fine. The premise is so strong but the full experience only partially achieves that potential. Its place as a quick completion will attract many of this community, but if you need more than narrative from your games, look elsewhere. It delivers a brief but interesting story with a greatly memorable ending, but in several other ways, most notably atmosphere, Narcosis is dead in the water.

Use Your Words is the latest in Xbox One party games, but it is by no means the best. Its lack of variety makes the experience repetitive and boring after only a few games. Furthermore, while Use Your Words is priced cheaper than other party games on Xbox Live, its competitors have greater variety, depth, and replay value. Unless you're aching for a new party game and have already milked every last drop of fun out of all of the others available, Use Your Words is worth a pass.

Episode 3: More Than A Feeling isn't Telltale's best work. The pacing is poor and the dialogue is a repeat of emotions you've already seen in prior episodes. At least we get an interesting look into Gamora and Nebula's past with Thanos, their now-deceased father. There's also an impactful decision requiring your attention at the end of the episode. Once the whole series is released, Episode 3 won't be memorably bad, but when you've been waiting months to progress Guardians' story, it's a short and disappointing installment at best.

No one said survival would be easy, but since it's still a game, it should ultimately be more fun than it is.

The bright and innocent atmosphere here gives off a walk in the park vibe that is undermined by the game's deceptively challenging puzzles. With seemingly no incentive given to each level's time and unlockable stars, however, Skyling missed out on an opportunity to challenge the player to continually outdo past runs and perfect each level.

Exploring the facility and discovering the nuances of the plot are certainly the highlights of this game, but the lack of direction is a double-edged sword, giving players the opportunity to discover as much as they can but often leaving them unsure of what exactly they are supposed to be doing. The survival elements of this survival-horror also aren't as fully realised as they could have been and only appear during the short second half of the story. With a length of only one to two hours, it’s easy to finish a single playthrough in one sitting and still have plenty of time to go back in for more, but once you have discovered what secrets are lurking in the basement, there is very little to entice you back other than finishing up any missed achievements, of course.

Overall, Somerville has a fantastic and intriguing world that’s begging to be explored from the off. Wonderful art and sound design compounded with excellent character animations really bring this narrative adventure to life, but a smattering of bugs, lacklustre puzzle elements, and an ambiguous story that left me feeling unrewarded after posing so many initial questions, really hampered the experience.

The Ascent is a beautiful and entertaining action-RPG when everything is working as intended, but those moments are sadly much rarer than they should be. We know the team already has several patches planned so hopefully, a lot of the issues we encountered will be ironed out by the time you dive into the game — I'll be keeping an eye on these updates and will look to update and/or modify this review should things be significantly improved, because I'd have liked to have scored The Ascent higher. Combat is frantic and fun, the world is amazing, and there are some really satisfying abilities to bust out against foes, but you need a hell of a lot of patience to put up with all the technical nonsense going on with the game in its current state.

Extinction isn't what it could have been. The story is a complete afterthought but in its throwback sort of way, it doesn't feel out of place. Frequent camera problems get in the way of battling the Ravenii, and overall Extinction fails to deliver on the one thing it must get right, its man versus beast moments. They might be giants, but they're definitely boring.

Tumblestone is a fun game for the first several hours but then it starts becoming tedious from the sheer number of puzzles that you face. For puzzle lovers, the promised 40+ hours of story mode will be a boon. For more casual puzzlers, the hundreds of puzzles that are required to complete the game could be a trial, as well as the difficulty of some of the puzzles.