Despite the occasional framerate stutter and character pop in, Samurai Warriors 5 manages to be a solid hack and slash experience with an interesting — albeit slightly predictable — narrative.

While Quantum Break exposes the Xbox One's technical limitations, Remedy has crafted a masterpiece that earns its place among the best that the console has to offer. Quantum Break is the first thoroughly unmissable, truly unique console exclusive the Xbox One has.

Despite a few shortcomings, Back 4 Blood is nevertheless an excellent and fresh take on the beloved Left 4 Dead formula.

Party Animals' adorable, floppy characters and variety of maps should make for an easy win. However, awkward mechanics and sluggish controls can make the game very frustrating to play.

Darksiders Genesis is a great top-down action game despite some minor issues.

The end result is a lightning-fast, bloody action combat game that anybody can enjoy.

The gameplay is so good, with intuitive controls that never get in the way. The fanciful courses are a joy to experience, and there's an endless supply of them to boot. Despite the room for improvement, the core game is good enough to make this an easy recommendation for fans of arcade-style golf.

The amount of single-player content feels light too, compared against the robust packages offered by Injustice 2 and Mortal Kombat X. Perhaps we'll get a new mode as DLC eventually, as Marvel vs. Capcom 3 once did. Still, multiplayer is the final destination for most fighting games, and Infinite doesn't disappoint on that front. Good online options and genuinely fun gameplay mean that series fans will have plenty of incentive to keep fighting each other in the months to come.

Scarlet Nexus looks and performs really well, especially on next-gen hardware, but its gameplay is noticeably last gen. While it doesn't do anything new, it also doesn't screw up the basics either and should please Xbox fans looking for an anime fix.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is an intriguing investigative thriller where players weave elemental magic against angry apparitions in a Tokyo-inspired limbo spirit world.

The real star of the show here is the stunning facial animation which captures every detail of an actor's face.

Crimson Desert is the kind of game that usually only comes along once in a generation, so singular in its ambition that it will define the gaming conversation for weeks, if not months, to come. Despite granular misses, Pearl Abyss has showcased what gameplay freedom truly means.

We can't get enough of wanton 4-player zombie slaughter, and Zombie Army 4 sits among the best of them.

Timelie is a great puzzle game for any kind of player to enjoy. It allows you to control time as you maneuver a cat and a girl around dangerous robots. The puzzles are challenging, the art style is beautiful, and the game builds to an intriguing ending.

With so many twin-stick shooters on the market, they often tend to blend together. Ruiner stands at the top of the field, thanks in large part to its ultra-cool presentation. The visuals and sounds are amazingly slick for an indie game, the sci-fi story and setting evoke the best cyberpunk stories like Ghost in the Shell and Blade Runner, and the gameplay has more depth than your average shooter. If you can handle some serious challenge (and a whole lot of the color red), Ruiner certainly won't ruin your day.

As a longtime fan of beat ‘em ups, I absolutely adored Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons. The combat system is extremely in-depth and addictive, the huge roster of characters is fun to play with and the roguelike elements massively improve the replay value. I highly recommend this game if you’re a fan of Double Dragon or beat ‘em ups in general as this is one of the best examples of the genre.

Compulsion Games has crafted a love letter to Southern Gothic with its third-person action-adventure game South of Midnight. The characters feel larger-than-life and intimately relatable all at once, while the narrative doesn't shy away from the brutal nature of the South's history. Combat is fun, though limited enemy variety does drag toward the end of the game. Overall, it's a story that feels intimate and uncomfortable, and one I hope others experience.

Soul Hackers 2 is a wonderful JRPG that features an intriguing story, a cast of likable characters, and addicting gameplay that is both welcoming to newcomers and challenging for veterans. While the beginning can be slow, and some of the dungeons can be cumbersome to trudge through, the rewarding payoffs are worth the effort.

Star Wars Outlaws is a fun single-player open-world RPG that allows players to take part in the criminal underworld. Being able to decide which syndicates to work for and who to betray during each quest adds a level of strategy hereto unseen in previous Star Wars games. Infiltrating restricted areas, exploring familiar locales, stealthily taking down enemies, and hacking into terminals adds to the scoundrel experience. The unique Abilities skill tree also makes character progression feel far more natural than many other games. That said, the story isn't the strongest and there are a few bugs that need to be worked out. Otherwise, this is a fun game for any Star Wars fan.

Warhammer: Vermintide is an amazing cooperative game. It takes the base formula created by Left 4 Dead and improves upon it with a better mission structure and loot system. Tastes will vary, but I find the Warhammer: End Times dark fantasy setting and Skaven enemies far more appealing than a typical zombie outbreak scenario. The Xbox One version looks and runs great, so much that it could almost pass for a $60 game (this one costs $40).

The photorealistic visuals stand the test of time and even in 2018 it looks absolutely breathtaking. It's definitely one of the best looking games on console with an equally moving story.

The $10 game is a relatively short jaunt with an enjoyable story, and it is challenging, with the right blend of atmosphere and solid combat.

Harmony: The Fall of Reverie immediately won me over with its beautiful art design, skillful writing, and high-quality voice acting. While the finished product doesn't quite reach the same level of magic, this is still an incredible choice-based, narrative game of hope, loss, love, and humanity.

The Big Con delivers a heartwarming story set in an iconic time period filled with beautiful characters and stunning environments.

While the second half of this adventure falls short of the first, As Dusk Falls delivers a captivating story full of drama and consequence that feel true to its American setting.

Star Renegades blends everything we know about rogue-lite and pours it into an old-school RPG mold, creating a unique and very accessible tactical RPG.

Between the intuitive crafting and strong gameplay design, Mothergunship's successes heavily outweigh its problems. It's definitely worth checking out.

Embers of Mirrin delivers the best of platforming games and puzzle games in a single fun package. With brain teasing puzzles, platform jumping action, and gorgeous graphics, this game is great for anyone who wants a platformer built for current consoles.

Zau's journey with grief is compounded by his desire to be a valued member of his society, and to fill the empty footsteps left behind by his father's death. Surgent Studio's efforts to twist the heartbreaking experience of a son mourning his father with metroidvania style gameplay gives homage to how one person's time with grief is not always linear. Just as grief presents new challenges, we learn new tools to cope with the obstacles. It is an excellent juxtaposition that is marred with some frustrating technical issues and the need for just a bit more polish.

The campaign brings enjoyable new mechanics to the formula but multiplayer and Zombies both fall short of expectations and needed performance, with weaker gunplay and an unstable framerate respectively.

Airborne Kingdom breathes new life into the city-building genre with its unique concept, innovative mechanics, and enjoyable exploration. Together with the gorgeous visuals and awesome music, these features allow Airborne Kingdom to soar above the rest of the genre.

Saints Row: The Third Remastered is a quirky and addictive action game that's one of the best remasters on Xbox One.

Combat and platforming controls remain unchanged, which benefits Soul Reaver 1 but hinders Soul Reaver 2 and its clunky movement tweaks. Both games flaunt lavish character upgrades and stunning re-renders of the original's cutscenes. Still, environment texture upscales are often unnoticeable, and the lack of video options is a sore point, especially as the all-new map screen misbehaves on 16:10 screens at launch.

Wizard with a Gun from Devolver Digital and Galvanic Games successfully builds an enthralling apocalyptic world with unique time and magic-based mechanics to power its addictive, roguelite gameplay loop. Some rough performance and visual edges detract from the magic, though.

Great looks, improved physics, dynamic weather, and a more in-depth career mode mark a positive step forward for the WRC franchise.

While it's not perfect, Mortal Shell is nevertheless an impressive snack-sized Soulslike that's fun, polished, and unique, providing an experience that Souls fans will love.

Persona 5 Strikers delivers the meaningful story, relateable characters, and complex mechanics fans expect from mainline games but switches the gameplay up to focus on action over time management.

The combat is wildly different and the tone varies, but the characters here are the same vital, meaningful core that BioWare is known to deliver. While far removed in many ways from the fantasy franchise I grew up loving, Dragon Age: The Veilguard takes its place by prior adventures in Thedas with pride. Like the Hero of Ferelden, Hawke, and the Inquisitor before them, Rook shows that Dragon Age isn't out of tricks just yet.

Initially, I was concerned Dying Light 2 wouldn't find its own voice in a world crammed with shallow open worlds designed for busy work rather than fun, but the more I played, the more I found that wasn't the case. Dying Light 2 truly shines with its high-stakes nighttime gameplay, which turns the modern and tired open-world formula on its head. While some of the writing isn't the best and next-gen console performance is a bit disappointing, Dying Light 2 offers a tight experience that builds on the original.

Plants vs. Zombies: Battle for Neighborville offers fleeting enjoyment, but the foundation that it's built on is solid and can be improved with the proper support.

Despite performance issues, stiff animations, and a general lack of real difficulty, RoboCop: Rogue City succeeds at being a faithful adaptation of the movies. It's packed with fun action sequences and amusing dialogue with an entertaining storyline that makes you feel like you have stepped into his world. It's a must-buy for RoboCop fans while being a decent weekend romp for casual FPS fans.

A vibrant and saccharine sweet world of possibilities awaits where you can manage every minute detail of your theme park to your liking without being burdened by everyday problems like gravity and public safety. Limbic Entertainment and Bandai Namco presents a world where you can create the theme park of your dreams—or nightmares—via the power of impossification.

Criterion has managed to create a vibrant, beautiful, high octane Need for Speed entry that dares to breathe new life into a franchise that desperately needed it.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance's large open world is packed full of things to do in a setting many can relate to. It's by no means perfect, which is unfortunately down to the sheer scope of the project for such a small team of developers. Still, you're going to get many hours of entertainment from this game. It's available now for around $60.

Ghost Recon: Wildlands is a solid sandbox adventure for groups of up to four friends. In solo play, Ghost Recon: Wildlands loses a bit of its mojo, but the game's unprecedented scale and piles of content should prove euphoric for fans of open world games.

Resident Evil 4 is an atmospheric thriller that will recapture the hearts of old fans, but may be problematic for folks who are new to the game.

There's a lot to like in Twelve Minutes, but when you start to get into the puzzles at the core of the game, things begin to get bogged down.

Persona 5 Tactica is an enjoyable Strategy RPG spin-off romp despite featuring a relatively run-of-the-mill 'good versus evil' storyline. The tactical gameplay elements are filled with exciting and engaging ideas alongside welcome quality-of-life improvements. If you're a die-hard Persona 5 fan who enjoys strategy games, you absolutely will get a kick out of Tactica. However, those looking for a serious challenge will likely find they breeze through the mostly undemanding combat.

Age of Wonders 4 is the first entry in the mainline series I've ever played, and I had little to no idea what to expect. Age of Wonders 4's stunning high-fantasy tapestry immediately captured my imagination, and it wasn't long before I was creating my own personal undead army and marching across the land, leaving chaos and decay in my wake. Despite the game's complexity and depth, the biggest hurdle for me was its performance on Xbox Series X. However, it's by no means unplayable, and I suspect I'll find myself playing it for many dozens more hours before I get tired. This is a stunning 4X game that Civilization fans will most likely adore.

Cronos: The New Dawn feels like an amalgam of a broad variety of horror greats in the best possible way — paying homage to the giants of the past while carving its own twisted niche steeped in psychological sci-fi horror. Tricky and panic-inducing combat meets stunning environmental design, atop mind-blowing sci-fi vistas complemented by bubbling body horror in ways that feel like they shouldn't work — but inexplicably do. Cronos: The New Dawn leaves you completely in the dark both figuratively and literally throughout its beefy campaign. Bloober masterfully makes you feel like an unwelcome visitor in this game's strange timeline, hitting the next level with confidence. Cronos: The New Dawn is the best horror franchise debut in over a decade.

Hunt: Showdown is a great shooter that needs stronger single-player support.

It is a shame that Wild Hearts launched in the state it is in. The gameplay loop of hunting monsters and using their parts to create gear is addictive, the weapons are entertaining to use, the Karakuri system is deep and filled with secrets, and the world of Azuma is beautiful and immersive. Yet the horrendous optimization issues bring down the experience and, in worst cases, render the game unplayable on certain platforms.

After Us features a sprawling, desolate world painstakingly crafted to show the destruction wrought by human greed, but its camera controls and level design make the platforming awkward and often frustrating.

If you're a fan of city-building gameplay Surviving Mars is a must-buy title. Even if you prefer a more creative experience you can tailor the difficulty to that end, or ramp up the scarcity for a true survival experience, where battling the elements almost feels more like a real-time strategy. I leave this review excited to get back to watching my swarms of drones scurrying around, and look forward to see how Haemimont will evolve the experience in the coming months.

This is by far the least optimized, most buggy entry in the series. The sheer volume of glitches, animation problems, frame rate issues, and weird hitching lag plagues the entire experience, and it's a damn shame.

While Crawl is a very good local multiplayer game, the single-player experience doesn't quite measure up. You can play against one to three bots (the fewer bots, the easier) and select the difficulty of the bots. Competing against ghost bots is fun for a while, but given the short nature of each run, repetition sets in eventually. You should consider Crawl a maybe if you mostly play by yourself, but it's a must-buy if you have friends or family to bring along on your crawls.

Journey to the Savage Planet is full of breathtaking alien environments that you're encouraged to explore. I loved solving all of its puzzles and scanning each new flora and fauna I came across, but the shooting mechanics and world-building could use some more work.

Immortals of Aveum provides a great deal of first-person spell-slinging fun, but writing and balance issues keep this new adventure down from what it could have been.

This game looks excellent, conveys a fantastic sense of speed, and doesn't get too complicated to slow down the fun. With a good variety of races, great track design, and both local and online multiplayer, this is the start of a series that deserves to continue long into the future.

While the game has an intriguing premise, an attractive art style, and sits at a breezy length, it doesn't do enough. It wants to fly close to the sun, but it can barely get off the ground.

While the comparisons to Super Smash Bros. are impossible to ignore, the team at Player First Games has quickly established MultiVersus as a platform fighter that's a force to be reckoned with in the competitive community. The title’s focus on gripping 2v2 matchmaking that rewards careful collaboration elevates MultiVersus above nearly every other sub-genre contender.

Though the gameplay does suffer from feeling too easy at many points, the depth of the game mechanics and excellence of the visuals help carry Thrones of Britannia to greatness.

If you enjoy space games, exploring the unknown, establishing communications with potential allies and enemies, as well as shooting stuff out of space, you'll enjoy Star Control: Origins.

Code Vein is a great game, but needs more polish.

If you're looking for something easy and simple to pick up and play with your friends, Strange Brigade is definitely worth considering...However, if you're interested in something more challenging and intense, or simply want something with better presentation, Strange Brigade isn't the title for you.

We Are OFK offers a spectacular audiovisual experience for music lovers, with a stunning art style and charming voice acting. The choices don't have as much influence over the events as I would've liked, but the execution of the game's episodic nature made for a touching yet thrilling narrative.

The gameplay itself is engaging and invigorating, perfectly capturing the tone of previous entries in the series. The current package is significantly lacking, but regarding gameplay, Hitman is shaping up to be one of the best games to date. Sadly numerous performance issues hinder the game's potential, but never affect gameplay in a significant way.

Homeworld 3 offers the experience of handling a full fleet with aplomb through tactical gameplay options that live up to and build on the systems of its predecessors. With gorgeous atmosphere and crisp audio design, it's a game that asks big questions of its new cast of characters with some solid writing. Not every narrative decision lands, but Homeworld 3 stands on its own feet as a worthy new entry in the long-running franchise.

While the AI can be a little too exploitable sometimes, and the stuttering can often be really annoying, these are problems people can mostly overlook. The frustration I feel from these issues is a tiny fraction of the joy and love I feel for the game.

Despite its positive attributes, Far Cry New Dawn feels more like the endgame to Far Cry 5. It's almost like an epilogue that should've been included with the base game, maybe as part of the season pass. In order to properly conclude the story started in Far Cry 5, you have to play Far Cry New Dawn.

Though some of its gameplay can feel overly repetitive, Night in the Woods soundly delivers a relatable, impactful narrative that will keep players attached for the ride, from start to finish — all held together by beautiful stylized graphics.

The update seems to have quite a few bugs, with A.I. behaving strangely, and for large empires, the micromanagement for planets might simply be too much. Additional resources to look out for, some that are planet specific, are laborious to learn, and even more so to acquire at times, with the galactic resource trading system feeling a little basic. Overall, though, I'm still loving Stellaris, and I eagerly anticipate where it'll go next.

Drake Hollow's overall gameplay and presentation make it a joy to experience, though the balancing for the endgame is in need of serious work.

UI anomalies and enemy pathing issues aside, Evil Genius 2 is a deep and addictive simulation strategy game that will satisfy your inner desire to, you know, take over the world.

After nearly a decade since the launch of the original Lords of the Fallen, CI Games and HexWorks deliver a reboot that exceeds all expectations. With responsive, precise, and challenging combat, innovative twists, stellar grimdark presentation, and more, it's one of the best Soulslikes I've ever played.

The Little Acre is a delightful throwback to classic adventure games. The puzzle solutions never get too tough, unlike, say, Machinarium, so players shouldn't need a guide to reach the end. Adult players will love the narrative's core mystery, while children should enjoy the antics of Lily and her friends. The whole thing is both sweet and bittersweet, which you can't say for many games nowadays.

Niggles aside, Renegade's lengthy Career Mode and local and online multiplayer support all make for a robust package. Factor in the low price of ten bucks and full Xbox Play Anywhere support, and you have a must-buy for arcade racing fans.

Aside from the annoying lack of matchmaking, Full Metal Furies' excellent co-op gameplay, charming visuals, and kickass score make it more than worth your time.

Endling - Extinction is Forever gives a cold hard look at what pollution and human cruelty are doing to the environment. The message is driven home as you fight tooth and claw to raise your fox cubs while navigating a dangerous world. Exploration and survival aspects make for a unique experience, but if your pups die it can be heart-wrenching.

If the idea of racing pint-sized cars around on gigantic-looking tabletop tracks sounds like a good time, you'll probably get more than your money's worth from Table Top Racing. With a launch price of $14.99, it packs plenty of bang for the buck.

Chernobylite's great survival horror gameplay, top-notch atmosphere, and excellent audiovisual presentation make it a must-play title for any fan of games like STALKER.

The trial and error methodology to creating something that doesn't blow up on the launchpad means you're actually learning real lessons, even if it's something simple like overloading the weight on one side making it fall over.

Black Desert is a great MMORPG, but it needs more technical polish on Xbox One. Even on Xbox One X, it's far from perfect due to its lighting and performance problems. Unfortunately, it also lacks a lot of the content found on the PC version. Pearl Abyss has promised a series of updates which will bring over new regions and features, but it's unclear how long that will take.

A charming, alcoholic romp through Hell that suffers from technical issues.

Prison Architect is an engaging experience, adding personality to a genre that's failed to evolve in years. Between a range of interlinking mechanics and ingeniously portrayed narrative, the game sits among the best management simulations on the Xbox One. While the game has its downfalls following a port from the PC, the game still performs amazingly on Microsoft's flagship console.

Smart and much-needed changes bring Age of Empires III to a new level, providing a quality strategy experience newcomers and lifelong fans are both likely to enjoy.

If you're a fan old school RPGs with unconventional gameplay, I would recommend Echo Generation. If you didn't grow up with those sorts of games but enjoy mysteries involving cosmic horrors like Stranger Things and Gravity Falls, I would also recommend this title. It's certainly a worthy addition to the Xbox's extensive library of great JRPG-styled indie games.

Iron Harvest offers a strong, story-driven campaign split into three interwoven parts. However, its core RTS mechanics leave something to be desired, and some common RTS features are lacking or missing.

Dead Island 2 is everything a Dead Island fan could ask for. Between its addicting combat mechanics, excellent character and gear progression systems, hilariously satirical writing, and goretastic presentation, this long-awaited sequel has proven it was worth the wait.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a hack and slash adventure with a few platforming elements. If you like taking on punishingly difficult hordes of enemies and proving your fighting prowess, you'll enjoy this game.

Tropico 5: Penultimate Edition gives you new maps, and hours upon hours of gameplay. It's the next version of the same fun city builder that we've been seeing for years.

Many factors make Carrion exceptionally fun to play, and hardly any that don't make it a gorily great way to spend eight hours. It's atmospheric in presentation and sound production, creating a complete package that feels like you're playing the origin story of a creature like The Thing.

Ara: History Untold is challenging the heavy hitters in a very competitive genre, but stands out thanks to its unique approach to 4X grand strategy and innovative mechanics. It's a gorgeous and polished turn-based strategy game that hooks you with "one more turn" and keeps you hooked with its flexible and varied strategy gameplay.

Project Highrise is an excellent skyscraper-management game that challenges the player with deep strategy and rewards them with gigantic, gorgeous looking buildings. Additionally, since the game caters to casual players as well, Project Highrise can be fun for everyone, not just strategy fans.

The Thaumaturge's gritty, demon-taming take on the monster collecting genre is a welcome twist. Taking place in 1905 Poland, there is certainly some language and actions in the game that can feel uncomfortable, but it all works with the overarching theme of struggling with mental health and personal flaws. Despite the sensitive nature of the story, Fool's Theory does well to not over sensationalize traumatic story beats. Gameplay is simple and engaging, and the combat is easy to learn but can be challenging on higher difficulties.

For what it lacks in scope, Bad North makes it up with an addictive, rewarding roguelike strategy gameplay layer.

Total War: Pharaoh introduces a number of great new systems and mechanics for the long-running strategy franchise, and there's plenty of fun to be had staving off an ancient apocalypse, but a large number of bugs bring down the experience.

Though Moonlighter has several problems that prevent the game from truly achieving greatness, the excellent art and music and the fun gameplay experience make it worth a try if you enjoy roguelikes and want a new title to play.