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.

While the story isn't out-of-this-world and the gameplay experience has some annoying flaws, Onimusha Warlords is, at the end of the day, a great game and a true classic that deserved to be brought to Xbox One.

You won't find a tremendous amount of gameplay in Guardians: The Telltale Series. Like most recent Telltale games, it's more of an interactive movie than a traditional game. But that interactive movie is one that Guardians fans should love, at least during this first episode. Hopefully the rest of the series can maintain this same sense of adventure and bravado.

Traditional hack-and-slash mechanics, real-time strategy elements, serviceable writing and excellent visuals and music all come together to create one of 2018's best indie RPGs thus far.

Call of Duty: Vanguard's campaign and multiplayer are serviceable enough, but nothing exceptional for the series, while Zombies is disappointingly limited in scope and ideas.

While Lords of the Fallen and The Surge may have Dark Souls roots, the more I progressed in The Surge, the more I started to see Deck 13 shining. The shadows are falling away, The Surge is miles better than Lords of the Fallen, and some trademark mechanics are starting to creep into the light. Deck 13 has polished and primed The Surge, and it now feels like it's time to stop comparing it to others and let it be noticed for what it is. Calling anything a Dark Souls clone at this point is purely lazy and an insult to the many smaller ways in which they're no way alike.

Despite its flaws, Steelrising will reward those who give it the time. It's fun to explore, with a rewarding combat system and quality-of-life features that'd be welcomed in more soulslikes. While its easier difficulty and rough presentation may drive away some Dark Souls veterans, there's plenty on offer when overlooking its faults.

The final game turned out really well, with tight gameplay and a great selection of characters.

Though the combat is unoriginal and a bit confusing, every other aspect of Nantucket shines brightly and all of it comes together to form a great indie experience unlike any other.

This is a game of running at light speed, double-jumping like crazy, and perilously running across walls and over pits. The levels are just so vast and give you plenty to explore, and the collectables are fun to seek out as well. Throw in an intriguing story and you have one of the best indie 3D platformers in years. If you can withstand a true platforming challenge, don't let this one pass you by.

Though a few aspects of the Turok series' design haven't aged well since original release, these two games nevertheless deliver on an incredibly fun and satisfying experience that all fans of casual shooters should try out.