Tarsier Studios have taken their signature DNA and refined it - it's not perfect, but it's a sharp, confident experience. Bleak, beautiful and deeply unsettling - Tarsier certainly haven't lost their touch.

Kotama and Academy Citadel is a good Metroidvania title that does its own thing when it comes to progression. Which is part of why I like the genre so much—the fact that there’s still so many ways to get players engaged with differing approaches to character upgrades, challenges, storytelling, and the like. Kotama’s game doesn’t always nail every aspect that same of the greats of the genre do, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have a solid combat system, boss fights, and excellent visuals and information relaying. This is a solid Metroidvania title to add to your ever-increasing backlog.

It took six entries, but the RIDE franchise has finally graduated. What used to be promising, enjoyable, but ultimately not particularly remarkable motorcycle racers, now gave way to RIDE 6 – a legitimately great bike racing game. Refined graphics, much improved handling, more variety than ever, great customization and a much more coherent presentation turn Milestone’s latest into one of the finest 2-wheel racers out there. If you slept on the RIDE series thus far, start paying attention – RIDE 6 is quite a blast for motorcycle fans.

Cult of the Lamb: Woolhaven is an excellent, pricy expansion. I spent over twenty hours, having an absolute blast, learning the secrets of the mountain. If you have an endgame save, then Woolhaven is absolutely worth the cost for fans of the title.

All in all, the official videogame for Kingdomino is just that: Kingdomino, digitally. It features two artstyles, a strong online module and various settings, but it also doesn’t do anything special or different compared to the board game. No particularly fancy animations, no extra game modes, no campaign to play through. If you want Kingdomino on your device, this is perfect – it’s even a light-weight game that runs on weaker machines, so it’s got very little in terms of downsides.

As it is right now, Xbox is the only platform where you can play every single mainline Final Fantasy game, barring, of course, the sequel to this one: Rebirth. But that’ll come in due time, so the point still stands. What is that point, you ask? Pretty simple, really. Xbox is the premier place to play Final Fantasy on consoles, and Final Fantasy VII Remake is a JRPG worth purchasing for fans and non-fans of the genre alike.

Mysterious intrigue, tight platforming, satisfying combat, and an emotional soundtrack carry you through 20 enchanting hours. It can be overly difficult at times in its optional parts. Whether on Game Pass or a full purchase, MIO: Memories in Orbit is an incredible game and well worth checking out for any action platforming Metroidvania fan.

By the end of the game I walked away a happy camper. I got a fairly good understanding of what people love about VTubers, a bit of terminology in, and all-the-while engrossing myself in an entertaining story with good visuals and music that sadly does have its own set of pitfalls.

Quarantine Zone: The Last Check is a fun, repeatable, relaxing time. Few games let you stare so much before blowing a hot load of lead directly into the target of your gaze.

When I rolled credits for the third and final time, I put my controller down and let my thoughts and feelings carry me. The last third had some of the best moments in the title, and I can confidently say that Hollow Knight: Silksong is better than the first game in almost every single way. More agile, more expressive, more fun, more… everything. Hollow Knight ran so that Silksong could sprint.

Terminator 2D: NO FATE is a gorgeous, fun time, with all the positives and negatives of 90s arcade games. The inclusion of alternate story paths helps the title from feeling too repetitive. Any fan of the franchise would do well to check this one out.

Overall, Thank Goodness You’re Here is an absolute gem of a game full of humanity and fun. Coal Supper really have done an excellent job capturing the heart and soul of the community of Barnsworth, and the game took me nostalgically back to TV I watched when I was young, whilst also making me laugh out loud from the start to the end. If you want something extremely silly, absurd and exceptionally well made to spend a couple of hours with, then you should definitely check it out.

Death Howl is amazing. It takes the deck builder and the Soulslike and makes something I didn’t know I was missing. As a Day One Game Pass title on PC, it’s there and ready if that interests you. The game comes to consoles on February 19th, 2026. It is a 30+ hour playthrough with incredible highs, even at its most frustratingly difficult moments.

OCTOPATH TRAVELER 0 is a damn good JRPG. The world, despite my grievances with the main story, is interesting and fun to explore when the game lets you. Wishvale’s rebirth’s best parts aren’t the uninteresting city building but, again, the stories of the characters within. With great music and visuals accompanying all this, you can’t go wrong with SQUARE ENIX’s latest turn-based title.

DOG WITCH is plenty cute as it is fun. Thanks to the short runs, it’s easy to hop into whenever you need to spend a bit of time without having to overthink on builds and setups. Thanks to a good amount of enemy and equipment variety, you can’t go wrong with this adorable deckbuilder.

SLEEP AWAKE is a game I saw in my email, having never heard of it. I redeemed the key on a whim, and dear lord, am I happy that I did. The four hours I spent in The Crawl as Katja were full of intrigue, some genuine scares, and a hell of a lot of enjoyment.

Chaos Zero Nightmare shouldn’t be this addicting, but I spent a lot of time crawling through the Chaos over the last month. There’s a fair bit of content to trawl through and the bleakness of the world contrasted with the colour anime aesthetics is very interesting, which has kept me engaged with the story thus far. It’s not easy to wrest me away from my other actively played gacha games, but CZN has done it and I can recommend it to anyone who enjoys sauntering through gloomy deckbuilding dungeon crawlers.

In a year full of genuinely incredible games, I’m more than pleased to have found another one that you should immediately look to pick up. I beg you, don’t let Sektori pass you by. This is an utterly mesmerising and innovative twin-stick arcade shooter, packed full of content and modes and with a level of challenge that ticks all the right boxes. Now to take on those harder modes – I’ll see you on the leaderboards!

My biggest hope is that Tribute Games can implement some of the combat tweaks I mentioned earlier to really take this title to the upper echelon of games in the genre because as good as it is, it doesn’t quite stand toe to toe with the greats, but it’s agonisingly close.

SILENT HILL 2 is a fantastic remake. It uses the skeleton of one of the PS2 era’s best titles and improves upon it with fantastic graphics, excellent new voiceover work, and, as an Xbox Play Anywhere title, there isn’t a better storefront to buy it on.

Dave the Diver is an excellent, enormous title that is best left as vague as possible. Go in without looking too deeply into it and be ready for dozens of hours of some of the best that video gaming has to offer.

Monsters Are Coming! Rock and Road is a solid addition to the never-ending bullet-heaven/rogue-lite/survivors-like (yeesh) genre. It looks nice, plays well, and has at least one bopping track to help carry it through a series of runs that are only let down by some punitive progression requirements.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is an absolute riot. It’s not afraid to rely on copious amounts of nostalgia, while also pushing the series forward in the most logical direction. Treyarch have looked back at Black Ops 2 and 3 for inspiration, and have delivered a fantastic Call of Duty, full to the brim of incredible content.

Once Upon A KATAMARI is exactly what I wanted it to be. A game about rolling up the world, bringing people together (in a non-traditional sense), all the while being a treat for the senses. It’s easy to pick up and can be challenging to master as you navigate levels with twists and turns that can be best described as “the world’s messiest rooms”. You can’t go wrong with The King of Love’s latest and long-awaited game, methinks.

Kentum is a rare gem—funny, smart, and mechanically rich. It’s the kind of game that sneaks up on you, then refuses to let go. If you loved Tiny Rocket Lab, this is its chaotic, sarcastic older sibling with a PhD in cloning and a minor in existential dread. Whether you’re here to build the ultimate base, explore a mysterious world, or just laugh at ORB’s one-liners, Kentum delivers.

Let Them Come: Onslaught is a quality bullet heaven experience. It offers a lovely art style, an exciting soundtrack and an intense difficulty with well-designed level progression. It is, however, a bit on the short side, with only 4 levels, 2 characters and not a huge build variety. It’s a game that is quite close to greatness, but it will need a bit more content to truly become an unmissable classic survivors-like experience. I still feel like recommending it to fans of the genre, as its gameplay loop is one of the best ones on Xbox right now.

I haven’t finished my own journey with Egging On, but after plenty of hours with this egg-cellent game, I’m comfortable in saying that this is one Game Pass release Xbox gamers shouldn’t miss out on, and PC and PS5 gamers should consider taking a crack at. It’s unique, egg-ceedingly challenging, and yet, full of fun and good humour. Just like all my egg jokes, it’s cracking stuff.

I think a lot of us often struggle with something, and A Pizza Delivery does itself few favours by stitching together a random set of experiences under self-doubt and confusion. But life really is just a road of things happening until it’s over—self reflection may be in order, but there’s no point wallowing in it. I really liked this game.