That bright, cartoony art style works perfectly for The Big Con’s nostalgic portrayal of the Nineties, and, combines with a touching story and witty dialogue to make The Big Con a very enjoyable adventure to play through. It can be a little easy at times, and I played through it more quickly than I expected, but I had a blast.

Overall, I really enjoyed my time with Aliens: Fireteam Elite and aside from a handful of bugs, the game shows promise of a solid third-person co-op survival game. The rich lore and stunning level design put it on par with other successful Alien titles in terms of presentation (if not in terms of being faithful to the source material with its hordes of papier-mâché Xenomorphs), and although there isn’t anything revolutionary about the gameplay, the experience itself feels well crafted. I hope to see some of the issues resolved in the near future, but can happily say that this isn’t just another game to toss on the Aliens failure heap.

Both as a sequel and as a standalone game, Psychonauts 2 is superb. It's fresh, it's innovative, it's brilliantly presented and delivered, and it genuinely feels like the follow-up the original cult classic deserves. Stages flow fantastically on your first visit, and my only real complaint here would be that some can feel comparably rather bitty or unconnected when you return to them later to mop up things you may have missed, which couldn't really be avoided without forcing full replays, set pieces and all. It's an imaginative adventure that has been well worth the wait, and I'd encourage everyone to give it a go. If you think creativity is dead, you haven't played Psychonauts 2.

Although the main mechanic of the gameplay loop can become a little frustrating and repetitive nearer the end of the game, and the story can begin to feel a little muddled, Twelve Minutes unravels its mysteries so well as to leave you pondering long after you finish the game — I’m still trying to wrap my head around the ending, and I know I’ll be thinking about it for a long time to come.

There's no shortage of great action roguelikes on Xbox, but the arrival of Hades sets a new benchmark for the genre, and sets it high. Artistically gorgeous, narratively captivating, and always a delight to play, Hades goes above and beyond what you'd expect from a game like this, resulting in a unique experience that you'll likely still find yourself diving back into long after the completion is wrapped up. Supergiant has an incredible track record, but with Hades, the studio takes its throne alongside the gods of the indie scene. Cheers, mates.

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.

Omno is a wonderful addition to the platform, puzzle, and adventure genres, even if it doesn’t go so far as to completely reinvent them. If you’ve been feeling a little cooped up over the last few years, you might find that Omno offers some much-needed escapism. It’s easy to get lost in Omno, and what you’ll find is a wonderful adventure into a mysterious world — made even better by the fact that it’s on Xbox Game Pass.

Overall, Dungeons & Dragon: Dark Alliance is a fantastic example of a third-person action RPG, offering a great amount of story and lore through varying missions. With only a few minor setbacks aside, I’d have no problem saying that Tuque Games has brought my Drizzt Do’Urden and companions fantasies to life in all of the best ways. I’ll be seeing this game through to the very end without a shadow of a doubt, and have no issue recommending it to anybody that enjoys action RPGs. Grab some buddies and head to Icewind Dale — you won’t regret it!

Chivalry 2 is a game that thrusts you into the brutality of medieval warfare without remorse and allows you to fully experience the reality that soldiers faced in those bloody times. The rewards come from extended gameplay and mastering your class and weapon choices, ultimately learning how to effectively defend yourself and go on the offensive. This is a must-have for anyone that enjoys melee combat within video games and wants to put their skills to the test. Aside from a few minor issues, the game feels polished throughout, and I look forward to playing it for many, many more hours.

Biomutant really feels like it has so much heart behind it, and that’s more than enough of a pull to keep you coming back for more. You could just focus on those end-game bosses, but it would be a crime to do so — Biomutant’s expansive world offers so much that you’ll lose hours to exploration before even thinking about taking on some of those sidequests. It’s also a breath of fresh air to see the unique combination of inspirations and themes behind the game, which do indeed help it to stand apart as a real mash-up of genres wrapped up in a “post-apocalyptic kung-fu fable.” The only issues are where Biomutant doesn’t quite measure up to the scope and complexity it offers, leaving it feeling as though a little more polish would complete its transformation into a real gem.

Just Die Already is a game that offers you the odd few hours of reprieve from other, more serious experiences, handing you the reins and coaxing you into experimenting with every ridiculous idea that pops into your head. It's fantastic fun in short bursts, silly, but structured well enough to offer you a challenge if that's what you're looking for. I'd recommend grabbing a couple of buddies and seeing what chaotic exploits you can get up to. It's certainly worth the time — especially at the game's price point — even if it's not the kind of thing that you can sit down to play for hours at a time.

An incredible get for Game Pass and a superb game in its own right (issues aside), Outriders is comfortably one of the best games of the year so far, and it's only going to get better as the post-launch polish puts paid to the technical problems that currently hold it back from true greatness.

With Little Nightmares 2 Tarsier Studios has once again dreamt up a wonderfully unnerving world filled with grotesque and fantastical creatures that is a horrifying pleasure to explore. Gameplay is mostly the same as in the original, with the only significant exceptions being the addition of Six as an AI companion and some clumsy combat that actually feels more like a puzzle than anything else. If you enjoyed the first game, and you’re looking for more of the same creepy goodness, you can’t go wrong with Little Nightmares 2. Just maybe sleep with the lights on after you’re done playing.

The Medium is an interesting and enjoyable game, but one let down by some awkward animations that constantly threaten to break the immersion created by an otherwise captivating game world, and those weak stealth sections that Bloober Team can't seem to leave behind. It's very much a one-and-done game — you can easily see everything it has to offer inside of ten hours, so the pricing might be a little questionable for both the quality and quantity of what you get here. Still, price won't be an issue for Game Pass subscribers, for whom The Medium is a unique yet flawed gem that we'd absolutely recommend checking out as part of the service.

All in all, IO Interactive has stuck with what it knows best with Hitman 3: gorgeously crafted open playgrounds for the player to wreak slick and murderous havoc in. There’s not much new here if you’re a fan of the series, but IOI didn’t really need to introduce any new mechanics to what was already a fantastic stealth experience. Agent 47’s final outing of the trilogy is his best thanks to updated and improved visuals, a fitting end to the story, and more superb sandbox level design. Sure, it could have done with maybe a different couple of tutorial missions to keep things interesting for the Hitman vets and the achievement hunting community, but other than that, there’s not much else to fault with the game. Hitman 3 is a must-play for all gamers.

It’s a gorgeous game with a gritty story; sometimes overwhelming or tiring, but nearly always beautiful. It might not reinvent the genre in every aspect, but for a fantastic story, an insanely detailed world, and brilliant dialogue, you’ve got to try it. The achievements will likely take you quite some time, mind: in over 30 hours of playtime, I unlocked six.

It's not the most original of games, with its basis being literally one of the oldest in the book and its gameplay coming straight out of the Breath of the Wild playbook, but there's a degree of creativity displayed in the storytelling and the activities themselves that really does let Immortals stand apart from its inspirations.

The world of The Great Ursee is dramatic and looks gorgeous with its pleasing sunset vistas that really pop thanks to the game’s brilliant use of HDR. However, The Falconeer does fly too close to the sun in some areas. A largely forgettable and at times confusing story will be a disappointment to some, while inconsistent collision detection and a lack of mission checkpoints create frequent disappointing turbulence. Faults aside, for a game that’s been created by one person, and is one of the cheaper Xbox Series X|S launch day titles, you should definitely consider picking up The Falconeer along with your new console.

With a darker storyline and a wonderfully re-imagined London that is the star of the show, the third entry into the franchise feels as if it’s slightly matured from Watch Dogs 2. The new ‘play as anyone’ mechanic is innovative but sadly soon becomes redundant. Numerous bugs and glitches also mar the overall experience. Having the game crash several times and losing about 20 minutes worth of progress each time is not something that should be happening with a big-budget title such as Legion. Even after downloading the latest hotfix, crashing issues still persisted. This will likely be fixed with more patches later on down the line, but it will still be disappointing for those who purchase the game on day one. However, if you can keep a stiff upper lip about some of the bugs, you’ll have a lot of fun with Legion. Even if someone does end up calling you a twatwaffle.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a shining example of how to do a remake properly, and sits in stark contrast to the last woeful effort to revisit these classics, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD. Vicarious Visions demonstrates a wonderful understanding of what needs updating and what should be held sacred, even to the point that the team has bitten the bullet and let the lesser stages (yes, of course we mean you, Downhill Jam) stay bad just so the classics can stay superb without laying a finger on any of the layouts.

It's stylish, it's funny — as in, don't-drink-that-now-or-it'll-come-out-your-nose-too-late-it's-everywhere funny — and it's just such a unique experience that it'd be hard for me to not recommend it.

Tell Me Why has an engaging narrative that will keep you glued until the end. Although it's not as emotional an experience as the Life is Strange series, there's more than enough there for you to care about the character's outcomes and work towards a good ending. The memory mechanic provides for some tough decision making, and the light puzzles break up the heavy dialogue and exploration, which makes for a satisfying gameplay experience. It's just a shame that Tell Me Why is dragged down somewhat by poor facial animations and some shaky voice acting at times, but if you can get past that, there's an intense and enjoyable story here that's been crafted and handled well on several different fronts.

Battletoads was a pleasant surprise for me, and it’s great to see it really lean into the variety angle with so many different kinds of gameplay crammed into such a relatively small package. Presentation is fantastically stylish, with chunky characters and lavish animations, especially for some of the toads’ signature attacks. Combat is fast-paced and responsive, bombastic enough to make the simple act of mashing buttons entertaining yet still just deep enough to keep it interesting in the longer term. Sadly, though, some cool co-op features will be lost on anyone unable to get a same-room gaming session on the go, and it’s that lack of online functionality that ends up hurting the game the most. If, as Battletoads loves to tease, we do indeed see a sequel, a simple improvement there could be all it takes to bump it up to being a truly outstanding game rather than a really good one with several glaring and frustrating issues.

Minecraft Dungeons is a superb dungeon crawler with something for players of all ages. Although somewhat basic in terms of weapons, armour and abilities, there is just enough variety to keep some of the more hardcore dungeon-crawling fans satiated. Surprisingly, the game does offer up a pretty intense challenge, just not so much at first. The enemies are varied in their attacks, and the boss fights are a highlight that will have you gripped until you finally land that killing blow. As long as you're not expecting too much in terms of plot, customisation and stat building, Minecraft Dungeons offers a fantastic gameplay experience that can be enjoyed either on your own or with friends.

Ninja Theory's first multiplayer outing could be something special, but it's a lack of game modes and a dedicated ranked mode stops Bleeding Edge from taking on the other big team-based multiplayer games. However, the game does feature some superb third-person combat and team play. Working together with a group of friends or dedicated players has never felt so satisfying. The varied cast of characters is exciting and fun to play with, while the Mods system adds a layer of customisation to the game. Bleeding Edge is definitely worthy of your time.

The wait for Ori and the Will of the Wisps will most definitely prove worthwhile: Moon Studios has created a masterpiece. The sequel manages to be more beautiful, heartfelt, and challenging than Ori and the Blind Forest. Some of the new changes feel a little superfluous to Ori's world, but only in comparison to everything which the game already offers. Will of the Wisps offers a real challenge and comes with its own share of frustration, but in doubling down on everything players loved in Blind Forest and going beyond it, Moon Studios has achieved a superb sequel.

Lightsaber combat is fluid, providing just enough challenge to entertain while letting players feel like a Jedi. Perfect music composition and top-tier sound design bring the whole thing together in a way that makes us excited for a sequel. There's some significant problems, for sure – especially in level design and signposting – but we're confident that the developers could easily evolve beyond these hiccups in the future. The Star Wars gaming universe is in pretty safe hands with Respawn – provided EA keep giving the studio enough opportunities.

This an experience that makes no demands, and expects nothing from you except peaceful, meditative creativity. It's total lack of meaningful progression won't be for everyone, but if you've been hammering at some stressful shooter all night, we recommend that you boot up a quick session of Tracks before bed to settle your nerves.