The Alters combines a bunch of genres I hate, and somehow makes a game I loved (when it worked).

Rise of the Golden Idol is a fantastic game. It is a brilliant 10-15 hour affair that focuses on your mind instead of your reflexes. While it’s best with a mouse, I wholeheartedly recommend it no matter where you’re playing. It has a thoroughly ridiculous and satisfying story and is a worthy sequel to one of 2022’s best games.

This is easily Gust’s best Atelier game. Offering a fun and relaxing experience for those that want to craft and battle away, this is the best final chapter Ryza could ask for.

The game has a lot of good things going for it. The narrative, puzzles, combat and new game mechanics make for an interesting and worthwhile experience but the extended game length is unnecessary and makes it feel like the story is being padded out to breaking point.

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is fantastic in every way. Excellent gameplay, nice graphics, great sound, and a ton of variety in its objectives mean this absolute gem is one you should look into no matter when you’re reading this review.

TUNIC is both an incredible and incredibly frustrating title. The combat lets down what otherwise is a masterpiece.

Gears of War: Reloaded is a solid graphical update to one of Xbox’s most important games. It is nearly 20 years old now, though, and some of that age is starting to show. With no true gameplay improvements it would be tough to tell Xbox’s hardcore to spend $40 on it. Thankfully it’s both a free upgrade if you ever played GoW: UE and is of course a Day One Game Pass release. For PlayStation and PC players who have never touched the franchise, this classic is still well worth checking out.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is loaded with even more content and more ways to play said content. The changes to the weapons, to the gear and the added variety in both monsters and locale, make this an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys the game and wants reasons to either keep playing or to come back. If you haven’t gotten your fill of hunting monsters yet, Elgado Outpost could surely use your help.

If you want to play games that respect your gaming time this is probably not for you. This game has a lot going for it but at the same time contains many things that diminish its playability.

With a mixture of wit, humor, and above all else heart this game is something no one should miss. Whether a fan of the Visual Novel genre or not this is a damn near perfect follow-up to the original.

Atelier Yumia’s first bout is a fun, open world crafting game that offers more than just clearing icons on a map—its verticality while offering player creativity through movement and housing tools make for a good time. It’s everything its developer has been building towards, and I’ve come away quite impressed with what they’ve got to offer.

Two Point Campus is a robust, accessible and unique simulation game that SEGA and Two Point Studios can be proud of. Two Point Museum is definitely recommended for fans of accessible simulation/management games.

This review might seem a little contradictory, critiquing and then partially absolving those critiques, but this is a review in progress after all. I’m still forming my final opinion of the game as I keep playing it, but what I can tell you now is that if you’re interested in Elden Ring combat and exploration, and also have a couple of friends who are, Elden Ring: Nightreign is a game full of depth and plenty of things to kill and places to explore. That being said, my mostly solo-play experiences were a mixed bag at best, preventing me from praising the game too much or giving a high “review-in-progress” temporary score. [Provisional Score = 72]

Battlefield 6‘s multiplayer is the most Battlefield-coded entry in the franchise in many years, taking us back to the series’ glory days. Tight gunplay, excellent presentation, impressive polish and a surprisingly robust launch arsenal. [Multiplayer Score = 90]

All in all, Forza Motorsport is a fantastic racer, offering its most comprehensive, realistic and spectacular racing experience ever. It was a long wait, but it was absolutely worth it.

Mortal Kombat 1 is one hell of a fighting game, one that I can see myself putting in as many hours as Mortal Kombat 11, if not more, and I’m really excited about its future.

In conclusion, I truly enjoyed playing through the Bloom section of the game. I have played the Life Is Strange games and I might prefer this, but perhaps that’s my 90’s nostalgia speaking! I will replay the game before the second half to get better relationship statuses as it turns out I wasn’t doing as well as I thought with my friendships (and possible relationships). If you are interested in story-driven games, some 90’s nostalgia, and paranormal magic vibes, then I do recommend you check out Lost Records.

Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is experimental Capcom at its best. While some of the fights can teeter on feeling unfair the majority of the game is a glorious mix of hack-and-slash action with a heavy dose of tower defense. It’s launching directly into Game Pass and is well worth checking out for anyone looking for 14+ hours of a damned good time.

Ultimately, F1 23 remains a great racing game, more accessible than ever for newcomers, more authentic than ever, more customizeable, and most notably featuring the comeback of the excellent Braking Point story mode. It is by all means an iterative upgrade with not many standout features, but the unified F1 World experience and various smart changes make F1 23 a worthy addition to F1 fans’ libraries.

NINJA GAIDEN: Ragebound does exactly what it aims to do. It isn’t trying to be a large, 25-hour, big-budget experience. You’ll get a solid 4 to 5 hours of fun combat and platforming the first time through. It’s full of gore, has a decent story, and the graphical splendor on offer, if you’re into pixels, makes it that much easier to recommend if the $40 price tag doesn’t turn you off.

Between the co-op, collectibles, challenges, achievements and upgrades, there’s more reasons to keep going back to Shredder’s Revenge than probably any other game in the genre has ever provided. This is all on top of fun and fantastic combat and a nostalgia overload that most should love. But even those who weren’t necessarily fans of the Ninja Turtles, still have a great scrolling beat ’em up to make their way through.

Cat Quest III is a remarkably simple but fun adventure game for all ages. I enjoyed its numerous pirate, cat, dog, and rat puns all the while taking on foes of all sizes. There’s a good amount of weapon and armour types and the challenges can keep those of all ages busy, be it alone or with a family slash friend. A pirate adventure that is truly fur everyone.

Playing on a Series X, the game ran at 120fps and felt smooth as butter.

Swarm 2 is a ton of fun. You’ll swing around shooting robots in decent-sized arenas until you can barely stand because it feels so damned good. A solid progression system and good looks don’t hurt either.

The game performed well on my Series X, the artwork, music and voice acting is of the usual high calibre and fans of the universe will find this entry as enjoyable to play as any of the others that have gone before it.

These yearly sports title releases can be tough to review. I don’t get to live in them like so many people reading this will choose to do. From someone who has reviewed the last few, this one feels like a solid iteration on what last year accomplished. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel so much as refines it to run more smoothly. WWE 2K25 is a big game, with an enormous amount of content on offer whether you’re into the online part of it or not.

Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is bigger and better, giving the player more combat options and opportunities while offering a map full of movement and combat-based challenges. There’s a solid variety of enemies and bosses along with unique scenarios that keep gameplay fresh and you on your toes. Tie it up with great visuals and music, and you have the best sequel to Ender Lilies that could possibly exist.

Jusant then – a beautiful, relaxing adventure that players can tackle at their own pace. Exploring every nook and cranny of this world, and charting your own path is something that should be savoured, and you should absolutely add it to your download queue via Xbox Game Pass.

Momodora: Moonlit Farewell is a great 2D platformer title that boasts a beautiful presentation and good level design that can challenge but never strangle you. Good narrative pacing and ability acquisitions keep Momo’s game from becoming stale—and don’t get me started on the fun boss fights. A perfect title for the Metroidvania faithful and newcomer.

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.

Prodeus is stupidly fun, looks incredible, sounds fantastic, and is launching into a subscription service many people reading this may have. It’s been a bit of a weird marketing cycle leading up to the launch of the game, but I hope as many people as possible at least try it out. It’s one hell of a love letter to the FPS genre for both the old and the new.

Revisiting the original trilogy is still a blast, especially online, despite many other collections already exploring those games. Padding out the title count with many ports of the same goes is a bit futile, but a good exercise in game preservation.

Stray is a good game, even great at times. It has some very well designed levels, it looks fantastic, it has an intriguing story, and it does a fairly decent job of making you feel like a cat exploring a new world. But while it does those things well, it has many areas that don’t keep up. The strict jumping can often be a disappointment, the puzzles are almost always too simple, and while the game doesn’t overstay its welcome, I found the second half to be significantly worse, largely due to the lack of verticality in the levels, but also for other reasons as well. With all that being said, while I don’t think Stray is great enough to compete with the very best indie games released (both this year and the last), it’s still a good game. And for 30 USD it’s not going to break the bank either. Especially for those wanting a slightly different platforming experience, one without a bipedal at the helm.

Barring a middling ‘middle’ entry, The Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy brings a set of great games from a series I love to the big screen. There’s no beating the bush around this one: this collection does Apollo Justice.

DRAGON BALL Sparking! ZERO is a great 3D arena fighter. It’s got a sizeable roster, huge maps, and a fun combat system that I quite a bit of mileage out of over the weekend. A clumsy user interface and only one splitscreen map does suck the life out of the party a bit, but there’s still a great game here for Dragon Ball fans and arena fighter enthusiasts.

Still Wakes the Deep is a special experience. A brilliant setting for a horror story is matched by quality writing and stellar voice acting.

Crusader Kings III is a phenomenal game that is not for most. If you have the patience, reading ability, and time this is one of the best, funniest, and most varied sim games on the market.

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.

For those wanting a more modern fighting game with a focus on story based single player content, you’ll need to look elsewhere. For fighting game fans who want the simpler more quaint arcade and competitive experience then look no further, Virtua Fighter is back!

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s Campaign is excellent. While the story might not be perfect it was just logical enough to keep me happy. It’s available at launch for Xbox Game Pass Console, PC, and Ultimate members on Cloud, Console, and PC. I’d only recommend a purchase if you’re into the MP and Zombies as well, as $70 is a big ask. Still, if you’re looking to shoot the ever loving shit out of a lot of people, there’s nothing quite like a good Call of Duty campaign. It helps that this one is great. [Campaign Review Score = 85]

Two Point Campus is an improvement over Two Point Hospital. For some people creating a hospital where patients are treated for a wide variety of strange diseases will be more enticing, but Two Point Studios has done a very good job at blending the humour of the previous game with the atmosphere of a university campus. The result is a great simulation game that builds and improves on the strength of the previous title. And by doing so it has nestled itself at the top of the genre.

LEGO Voyagers is a gorgeous, surprisingly emotional adventure about friendship, the joy of pure play and supporting one another. Even the smallest of us can achieve great things.

WWE 2K24 is the best wrestling game that Visual Concepts has made by far. They have a complete package, with a massive roster, and a clear vision. If you’ve held off on upgrading at launch the last few years I think this is the time to jump in.

TEVI is a fantastic 2D Metroidvania. One that is fun to play for just about all levels of gaming ability, but it’s also a replayable one and has plenty of content you can run through, backgrounded by beautiful visuals and fun music. An easy recommendation for the action platformer fan and then some.

Ultimately, CRISIS CORE REUNION is a great game. It lands the story beats, and the combat feels good. Fans of the original experience on the PSP will find themselves right at home here and new players will have a good time, especially if they like Final Fantasy VII as a whole.

Hardspace: Shipbreaker is a damned good game.

As this is the only way to get these games at home outside a Dreamcast, PSP or Emulation I strongly encourage fighting game fans to jump in and absolutely lose themselves in the Power Stone world! Play the other games too…

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 is an amazing, epic ride through a glorious hellscape. Visceral combat is matched by stunning graphics to create a title that never relents in being as over the top as possible. It is one of my favorite titles of the year so far, and one I cannot wait to dive back into as post-launch content starts to stream in.

The Plucky Squire is a game clearly made with a serious amount of love for the wonderful medium of glorious interactivity that is video games. And for it being the first title from development team All Possible Futures, it’s a staggering achievement in art, design and ideas. It’s just a shame the gameplay didn’t get as much attention as the nostalgia it so skilfully indulges.

Ready or Not ushers in the triumphant return of tactical FPS games to console, and I’m all the happier for it. With a decent single player option, plenty of replayability and a multiplayer co-operative mode that absolutely shines, Ready or Not will offer plenty of tactically driven gameplay for those that look for it. If you prefer to run’n’gun, you’d best look elsewhere.

Microsoft has done phenomenal work reviving and revitalizing the Age of Empires franchise and it is an absolutely blessed time for the strategy genre, especially if you are an Xbox Game Pass subscriber who is looking for a new experience. Microsoft has done phenomenal work reviving and revitalizing the Age of Empires franchise. I can’t put the Xbox edition of Age of Empire IV down; I am truly absorbed by the new way to play.

House Flipper 2 is a massive improvement over the first game. While it can have some issues with a controller it’s not enough to keep me from recommending the title. Painting, Planting, Selling, and Flipping has never been a more enjoyably chill vibe than it is here.

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.

Ghostwire: Tokyo is finally on Xbox, and of course, it’s on Game Pass. It features fast and fluid combat, that takes a little too long to get going. The gorgeous recreation of Japan is hampered by severe performance issues in all but the ugliest graphical mode, but the story is interesting enough to push on through. It might not reach the highs of the studio’s title Hi-Fi Rush, but few games do and Ghostwire: Tokyo is a damned fun game in its own right.

Frostpunk 2: Console Edition is a bold and mostly successful attempt to bring a demanding, systems-heavy experience to a wider audience. The game’s moral complexity, ideological tension, and survival mechanics are as potent as ever. Its reworked controls and UI show clear care and understanding of the platform — even if they’re not perfect. This isn’t a game for everyone. It’s dense, demanding, and emotionally draining at times. But for players who want strategy with substance — who like the cold bite of hard choices and the thrill of pulling a city back from the brink — it’s a standout.

F1 25 is a quite small upgrade over F1 24, but the presence of Braking Point 3, content from the F1 movie and improved career options ensure more unique race experiences, especially for solo players who want to do a full immersion of the Formula 1 experience.

There isn’t a ton new about PowerWash Simulator 2, and that is exactly what I wanted. What is improved, from the graphics to the streamlined cleaning processes, makes what was already a serene experience into one of the most chill vibes you can find in gaming.

The Outer Worlds 2 is a confidently made game. It is perfectly scoped, with excellent gameplay, writing, and voice acting. The combat and movement are the biggest step up over the original. Whether you have played that title or not, if you want a choice-heavy, narrative-rich adventure in a far-off solar system, then this game is worth a download or Game Pass or buying outright.

Yearly sports titles tend to be small upgrades. College Football 26 is different, as CF25 set the groundwork after over a decade away. ’26 takes a more-is-better approach and smashes it. This is one of the best-playing and most realistic-feeling college sports titles I have ever played.

Resident Evil Village’s Gold Edition is a solid way to experience the full campaign and all its extra content for newcomers. It’s $50 for the whole thing, or $20 if you already own Village and want the new expansions. RE:Verse is a huge miss, but the third-person camera, expansion, and Mercenaries content more than make up for it.

Game length is about right and although there is very little narrative, the story does come full circle and has a satisfying conclusion. If you are looking for a chilled-out, unusual puzzle-solving game I heartily recommend this one.

Cult of the Lamb is awesome.

Signalis is a rather fascinating adventure with gorgeous retro visuals and excellent audio colluding with an exciting story and lore and great story to offer a world absolutely worth exploring. It’s therefore also a huge shame that it’s let down by repetitive and annoying puzzles that have the player run back and forth in identical corridors, a painfully limited inventory and an unimpressive combat model. Fans of old school horror games and space sci-fi should still find Signalis an interesting experience, and those subscribed to Game Pass can try it day one on the service.

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake is still a journey worth taking, and remains a shining example of how gameplay and narrative can combine to produce something that only this medium can provide. However, fans of the original will find little new here outside of a very nice coat of fresh paint and some easy to obtain achievement points.

Its relatively limited budget is felt in many ways, with various invisible walls, flawed collisions and more to slightly hamper the experience. Yet, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Twirlbound’s open world adventure, as its cute visuals, on point humor, infectious sympathy and solid gameplay loop kept me more than intrigued enough to keep pushing on, with the end credits rolling before the game’s relatively limited scope would start hurting. Keep an eye out for this one, as it’s a pretty fun ride.

Above all, the team at SMG Studios have created a game with all the LEGO charm one would expect, full of the sort of variety only LEGO can bring, and a selection of mini-games that produced all the screaming, laughter, competition and fun one would want from a family-friendly title. Definitely one to break out on game nights.

Voidtrain is a fantastic game in a genre I rarely enjoy. Hypetrain Digital deftly weaves an intriguing, emotional story into a thoroughly enjoyable gameplay loop. It’s launching into 1.0 on Xbox Game Pass, and it is well worth checking out solo or with friends.

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.

Magical Delicacy is a beautiful albeit tedious 2D Metroidvania. It’s fun is hampered by clunky platforming and resource management that get in the way of what I want to be—a witch that can cook, not a scavenger.

Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon is an odd return to what has been a mostly mediocre series. It fixes multiple issues, mainly control-wise from the past titles, without adding much else. It isn’t great to look at, and while it can be fun to play, its poor balance as you progress kills any joy to be found after not too long.

An incredible achievement. Spanning 9 feature-length films yet never feeling like it overstays its welcome while featuring tons of actually funny stupid jokes, solid gameplay, gorgeous graphics, great voice acting, and all the nostalgia you could ever wish for this game is a triumph.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered is about as good a remaster as you could hope for. It doesn’t look to reinvent the gameplay, instead focusing on smart tweaks where possible. What is remade are the graphics, and Virtuous has done a stupendous job keeping the feel of the original while overhauling every single pixel. It’s available on Game Pass, is fully Play Anywhere, and retails for $50 otherwise. Oblivion is an easy recommendation, as one of my favorite games is now that much better.

Syberia: The World Before is a remarkable adventure game that keeps its legacy adventure charm and is a worthy continuation of Ms. Walker’s story. It is a game that all of Microids and B. Sokal can, and should be, proud of.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk is both an excellent unofficial sequel to the classic Jet Set Radio games and a smart evolution and modernization of the formula to better fit modern sensitivities and to offer more variety. Sure, the story could have been better and maybe Team Reptile could have swayed farther from Jet Set Radio… but this is exactly the game fans of the franchise want and deserve.

The brand new Arcade handling model is incredibly accessible and could open up the game to a brand new audience, though it needs some tweaks, as the AI simply can’t keep up with the endless grip of the players’ “cheated” bikes. The presentation has improved, thanks to a revamped UI and the powerful Unreal Engine 5, though Milestone’s visuals here are hardly a screamer (pun intended) at this point. With various other smart additions and changes, MotoGP 25 is the biggest update the series has seen in years, and it’s pretty much all for the better. Maybe it lacks a little bit of that extra coating that characterizes some of the finest 4-wheel racers on the market, but rest assured: if you want to race bikes on traditional circuits, MotoGP 25 is the place to be.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Hinokami Chronicles 2 is about as much of a continuation as one should expect from an arena fighter sequel. You’re here for the spectacle, for Demon Slayer, and a game you can pull out to play with friends on a whim and not much more. The fights are extravagant as they are beautiful and for me, that’s more than enough. And I’m sure anyone eyeing this game feels the exact same way.

Giant Squid have taken a giant leap forward with Sword of the Sea, fusing gameplay, music and art together to form what I feel is their best work yet. Sword of the Sea might be on the shorter side, but through some sublime ‘hover-swording’ and wonderful design, they’ve given us an imaginative skatepark to play in for as long as we’d like. Bitchin’.

It’s the simplicity of the game that makes it so much fun to play—it’s just done so well. The gorgeous visuals, solid score, and strong gameplay system make The Mageseekers: A League of Legends Story so easy to recommend to anyone. This game is way too good to pass up on.

The developers have once again done a wonderful job of bringing one of the classic and legendary games from history to the present day. Are you interested in a strategy game with a twist? Are you tired of the human/historical conflicts exhibited in Age of Empires and the like? Then take a look at the mythical world of Age of Mythology: Retold. I think you won’t be disappointed. If they can fix some of the AI problems and balance issues in future patches, Age of Mythology can truly stand among its peers. It might even become the true fan favorite it was always destined to be. Maybe we should ask the gods for their favor and start praying.

NINJA GAIDEN 4 revives the decade+ dormant franchise with a new developer leading it into an insanely fast, new direction. It’s a fun, occasionally beautiful title with an actually not terrible story, perhaps a first for the series.

I had a good time with Afterimage. Its levels got more and more interesting as you progressed, the characters you’d run into were well-acted and I liked the interactions Renee had with them. There’s a lot of game to go through with Afterimage, multiple endings in fact. And though I spent most of my time cheesing encounters because I could, and I take issues with the game’s presentation, there’s a strong gameplay loop that I think many players, especially those new to Metroidvania-style games, will enjoy in Aurogon Shanghai’s first venture into 2D action games.

Horizon Chase 2 is a brilliant sequel to an already fun retro-themed racer. Gorgeous visuals, much-improved track designs, better handling, a more interesting progression and even a brand new online mode with cross-play to boot. It may lack the cinematic story presentation of the first game’s Senna Forever DLC, but other than that, this sequel is the best the series has ever been, and it’s a pretty much essential buy for fans of old school racers.

WUCHANG: Fallen Feathers understands exactly what makes Soulslikes so good.

Arcade Paradise is a delightful surprise. Full of wit, heart, and damned fun minigames it’s worth a purchase if the thought of an idle-style laundromat management sim full of fun as hell arcade games sounds enticing. It’s a relaxed, radical tubular time and I can’t wait to see what the devs come up with next.

Borderlands 4 is a masterpiece.

Engaging combat is matched with stellar writing, great music, and most importantly it’s just damned fun.

With gorgeous visuals and strong life sim mechanics, Little Goody Two Shoes is a phenomenal adventure game with the perfect creepy backdrop of a disturbed fairy tale. Do yourself a favour and pick this one up, you won’t regret it.

For any fan of Alan Wake 2 and especially those that are invested in the greater Remedy storylines this expansion is a no-brainer. It’s $20 for this and the second release, Lake House, which should hit around October 2024. Do yourself a favor and play this ASAP and with as little info going in as possible. It looks and runs great and adds exciting new branches to the ever-expanding storyline of Remedy’s future titles.

The game is just a blast to look and listen to, which pardons some of the less impressive combat encounters and the play-it-safe game design. It’s not a game that reinvents anything, but it sets out to do specific things, all of which it does pretty well. Fans of third person action adventure games should definitely consider playing Kena: Bridge of Spirits, with accessibility options and a story mode difficulty allowing even newcomers to videogames to enjoy this colourful, cartoon-esque journey.

F.I.S.T. Forged in Shadow Torch is a well-made, beautiful action-focused Metroidvania. The combat starts off slow but when it clicks it is excellent. The traversal and platforming are top-notch, and even though I’m not too much of a furry I grew to enjoy the characters and story quickly.

Vessel of Hatred has a great start, mediocre middle, and frustrating ending. The Spiritborn class is a fantastic addition, along with the new Mercenary system. At $40 if you’re in it for the story you may come out as frustrated as I am, but if gameplay is all you care about then there’s a lot to love.

Codemasters figured out long ago what makes a compelling Formula 1 experience to racing fans, and this year's entry is no exception.

Go Mecha Ball is a fantastic title to get on Game Pass. It looks great and plays incredibly well. The audio package and setup may leave me wanting but I can see this being one I dive back into repeatedly over the coming months to experience its sublime gameplay.

BLACKTAIL is a well-made, highly polished title that is easy to recommend. Make sure you have the time to properly level up and explore. This beautiful, haunting world is one I hope to come back to time and time again.

SteamWorld Heist II is a delight. Brilliant tactical combat is mixed with a clever story, great music, and engaging progression. Whether you’ve played the first title or not if you’re into turn-based, strategic combat then this is one to check out.

While Viewfinder’s story didn’t pull me in or leave me desperate to unravel the narrative threads, the concept, level design and puzzles on offer here are fantastic, filled with clever ideas and creativity. This is pure video game magic, manipulating imagination itself. Is there any better game than one that makes you exclaim aloud – “Look how cool this is!“?

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.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a fantastic video game. It is the type that raises the medium and shows how incredible these experiences can be. The combat is good enough to rarely hinder your enjoyment as you help or harm the local populace. In an era where new single-player IPs are hard to find, this one deserves to succeed.