Poor writing and some technical issues are not enough to hold back what is otherwise a blast to play. Solo or co-op if a turn-your-brain-off type of kill-a-thon sounds appealing I think this one is worth it.

If you are curious about this game, I think you should just jump in and experience it. If for nothing else besides going through this surreal and bizarre story.

Unfortunately, for the good that Infinity Strash does for the serialised manga, it shorts itself through poor retellings of the anime episodes, simple but ultimately boring combat, and a Temple system that really doesn’t mesh well with the main campaign. But if you’re a shounen or Dragon Quest diehard, Dai’s adventures are a fun spectacle—but I think I’d rather watch the anime.

Soulstice came out of nowhere for me and it is fantastic. Its mix of brilliant combat, an intriguing plot, great music, and occasionally gorgeous graphics had me hooked instantly. This could be the beginning of a great series and one excellent title you do not want to miss.

The game is impressive and an apt tribute to its cinematic roots. Blood spurts satisfyingly as you strike enemies down, burning arrows soar overhead ominously and supernatural sections are sufficiently eerie yet intriguing.

Unfortunately The game's terrible parry system, lack of variety in its weapons, and incredibly frustrating feather stun move compound into a game that I struggled to enjoy, despite my best efforts.

SAND LAND offers a big beautiful dust bowl for players to explore to their hearts’ content. I found its story and its characters to be the main driver for my playthrough, but the fun vehicle combat went hand-in-hand in my enjoyment of the game. A great adaptation of a legend’s work.

Atomfall is best when it’s difficult. While I had a few issues with the story, my main concern is the crashing I experienced on Xbox. If that is smoothed out this one is an easy recommendation for those with patience. It can be brutal, but it’s oddly endearing and full of intrigue that’s well worth checking out.

Does it make for a compelling videogame? Despite a few shortcomings, I feel that it does, as the game’s excellent graphics and tense atmosphere put a nice little ribbon on the package. But this isn’t a game for everyone, and not just because of the (optional) microphone gimmick, so beware what you get yourself into. I still think it’s one of the most unique and memorable horror games in recent times, which is something that mostly makes up for the other flaws found.

The Invincible is a great game, full of wonderful storytelling and choices that feel impactful. The narrative suffers a bit near the end, but it’s an easy game to recommend to any genre fan. The gameplay is enjoyable, Regis III and everything on it is gorgeously realized, and it is a dream prequel to an excellent book.

Road 96: Mile 0 may be an interesting experience to anyone new to the universe but can hardly be classed as an essential play. Mixing rhythm gaming sections into the standard walking simulator gameplay is somewhat jarring and frankly unnecessary. It may have been a better idea to release a standalone title for rhythm fans than taint the gameplay style that had worked so well previously. This game can easily be avoided without really missing out on anything, especially for fans of the original game for whom the narrative is already flawed.

Solo or with friends it is a hell of a lot of fun, and an easy recommendation to at least give it a try.

Sniper Elite: Resistance is available on Day One on Game Pass, and that’s how I’d recommend anyone but the most ardent fan of the series plays it. At $60 MSRP it’s a big ask for something that can be completed in a night or two. While there is some replay value on offer there isn’t enough new here for those familiar with the series to warrant a full purchase. If you love Sniper Elite and want more though, then you’ll find nothing here to displease you.

A delight for fans of Avatar, this game is so damned good that even one apathetic to the IP like myself couldn’t help but fall in love with it.

NHL 24 is a solid improvement on-ice over last year’s title, with the exhaustion engine adding technical depth that the series has lacked. Outside of that, some minor presentation and control improvements are countered by mostly the same overall package of modes. If you love the NHL then this is the best playing game in the series, but if it’s $70 worth or better over last year’s is tough to say.

This is a well-written and visually impressive game that conveys the developer’s clear love of its cinematic serial-based inspirations. It is a chilled experience and a fairly pleasant way to spend five hours. Unfortunately, the simple control scheme proves to be not up to the standard required for a game in this genre, and after a rather weak ending there is very little replayability for all but the most hardcore achievement hunters.

Alan Wake: The Lake House is a disappointing finale to the game’s content. It was released alongside a solid quality-of-life update, and if you have already spent the extra money on the Deluxe Edition/Upgrade then you might as well check this one out. Just use a guide to keep frustration down.

Formula Legends is a wasted opportunity. A lovely artstyle, an interesting driving model, a lot of love for the history of Formula 1 are felt through and through, but the inconsistent physics, poorly balanced AI, various glitches and a complete lack of multiplayer end up severely hampering the experience. I feel like it’s only a handful of updates away from becoming a truly enjoyable arcade romp, but as of today, I only feel like recommending it to hardcore fans of the genre who can probably close an eye on a lot of issues.

The gameplay and visual variety will have to improve a little bit as the game’s seasons progress, with perhaps some more ambition to be expected in future content updates. Still, the game’s core is already very strong, offering that classic arena shooting experience that even recent titles in Activision’s long lasting franchise seem to have abandoned, in favour of a more chaotic experience – for better or worse that may be. Ubisoft have a great multiplayer first person shooter in their hands: now it’s up to them to make it a mainstay for enthusiasts via a convincing post-launch support. For one, I’ll be here to play for the foreseeable future.

I could barely be happier with the end result, and so even with a few hiccups, LEGO 2K Drive is one of the most fun arcade racers in recent years and already one of my favourite games of 2023, and one that I really hope to see become a long-lasting franchise.

So LEGO: Brick Tales then – a bright, colourful and certainly more creative take on LEGO in its digital form. While there’s some fiddly controls at times, it’s all quite charming and relaxing – and as the rest of the package is so wonderfully put together, it’s hard to gripe too much about a fussy control scheme. Besides, back in my day, I never used a manual to build my spaceship, and had to spend quite some time searching for just the right brick to make the whole thing work. Either way, it was a great dose of nostalgia.

Monster Energy Supercross 25 makes quite the noticeable upgrade to this franchise, as the switch to Unreal Engine 5 gives us better looks, better physics, with even various AI and customization improvements that turn this year’s game the best one in the series yet. With the 2025 roster already in place and various promised new content updates throughout the year, AMA Supercross fans should have their hands full – albeit newcomers might still find this peculiar racing style and some of the jank a bit tough to swallow.

As a remake of a 2006 title is one of the best looking to date. It doesn’t add or change much to the overall package but if you’re looking for some good fun, especially with a friend, then Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed is worth picking up if the price is right.

Layers of Fear (2023) is a solid compilation of two decent horror titles. It is a massive graphical upgrade that uses a new narrative to tie them together in a satisfying way. Releasing at $30 MSRP if you haven’t played the games before and love to get creeped out then this one is well worth checking out.

I’ve rarely been so disappointed in a game. Clash is stunning to look at and listen to. It has excellent 1 on 1 combat set in a uniquely crazy world. The utter lack of care for its player’s time and obtuseness to the point of maddening frustration hold back what should be one of the year’s most compelling titles. If you have the skill, patience, and a walkthrough guide this one may be worth a look at on sale.

It’s a really unfortunate development for me that I just couldn’t find much enjoyment in the simple act of actually just playing this game. It undermined the quality of everything around it and the issue is, gameplay/combat/control is the most important aspect of this genre and if it’s not up to snuff, then the rest falls down around it.

Graphically the game looks average at best. It is a muddy and grimy-looking affair. The lighting system works well for the dark settings but a lot of the texture work for the environment and some of the enemies look last gen.

This game reminds me of another Bandai Namco-published series, God Eater, in a lot of aspects. From mission setup down to multiplayer progression and level design. I think if you like those games, you’ll find fun in BATTLE ALLIANCE. And despite the grinding, there’s enough content to go over for in a single campaign playthrough with a season pass (sold separately, of course) of content that will come later. I liked the story and its original characters, even if I can’t say I enjoy the presentation of prior Gundam events very much.

Minecraft Legends wasn't a game I was particularly excited about, mostly due to its strategy leanings. However, it's always nice to be surprised, and there's a lot of fun to be had, particularly with friends online. The single player can be as chill as you'd like it to be, but PVP is absolute panic-inducing carnage in the best kind of way.

NHL 23 looks great, is fun as hell, features a ton of modes, and will set you back $70 at the time of launch. If you’re a big fan of the sport, and especially if you’re into the Hockey Ultimate Team mode then this latest entry is worth getting. For others, especially on Xbox if you have Game Pass Ultimate, use your 10-hour trial and try before you buy.

I can’t stress enough how close Embers is to something great here. Strayed Lights is just a few design decisions, tweaks and adjustments away from being fantastic. It’s a beautiful world you want to explore, but you just need a touch more guidance to feel less aimless. Even as someone who cares little for story in games, a little something here might help players feel more connected with the world.

And hey, if it wasn’t your cup of tea in the end, at least you’ll have another way to play the original PAC-MAN, which unlocks on story completion.

At the end of each mission/day, it’s hard to tell how much food everyone needs, there isn’t a bar or gauge to let you know. I also ran into the issue where I couldn’t access my crafting tables and machines … half the game is crafting and building your base. If you can’t do that at the end of the day when you get supplies, what’s the point??

Ultimately, Wheel World is a small and charming open world, presenting a stylish look, an enjoyable biking gameplay loop, and various high adrenaline races, up and down the hills of this magic island. With rather formulaic open-world activities and slightly unpolished physics, the game doesn’t quite reach its full potential, but it’s also a pleasant experience that ends before some of its shortcomings could start to bore or frustrate. And, well, it’s out today and is on Game Pass, so it doesn’t cost much to give it a shot yourself. So, hop on your magical apocalypse-avoiding bikes, and let’s roll.

Silt is a rather short, basic to control game. The story was intriguing from the start, and if you can look past how bland and unfun it is to play at times it might be worth checking out. For me though a nice art style and possibly interesting story simply isn’t enough to overcome how poor feeling and frustrating I found everything else.

Spirit Mancer offers a nice variety of cards to build your deck with, both beforehand and on the fly. And the hub has enough to keep you busy for a short while before you jump into the next mission. And though combat does become repetitive not too long into the game’s runtime, Spirit Mancer’s beautiful presentation, co-op mode, and unique take on deckbuilding combat makes it a fun romp within the genre.

Indiana Jones and The Order of Giants doesn’t quite rise to the incredible heights of the original game’s story, but what’s here is more of what I wanted. More incredible locations, puzzles and maze-like tombs, dripping with atmosphere and history. What more could a budding archaeologist ask for?

Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a lot of fun if you engage with all of it. At first, I was flying through the main quest before I slowed down and explored every inch of each map. Once I made that change I went from enjoying my time to loving it. It’s not the tightest game out there, but it has a lot of great ideas that come together for a package well worth experience.

If you like puzzle games with brilliant stories, deviously clever puzzles, an incredible atmosphere, and an emotionally charged soundtrack buy this game. The Entropy Centre came out of nowhere and floored me with its brilliance; the less you know before you go in, the better of an experience it will be.

Alien: Rogue Incursion Part One – Evolved Edition’s name is nearly as long as its runtime on console. I was able to clear the entire game in roughly 3 hours, though I knew where to go and what to do after having played it once in VR. Without that immersive interactivity, what was already a mediocre title is made that much worse.

Don’t Stop, Girlypop! presents a brilliant audiovisual experience, combining over-the-top “girly” Y2K aesthetics with one of the fastest FPS modules on the market. If you’re a fan of the 2000’s pop culture, the high-energy female vocaled pop music of the era and have been dying to dazzle your weapons in a shooter, this game is for you. Those searching for an Ultrakill-tier boomer shooter, however, might walk away disappointed, as underneath it all is a slightly clunky, not particularly memorable sequence of arenas with big hordes of enemies and weak platforming on the side.

RoboCop: Rogue City – Unfinished Business is an expandalone that outshines its original in almost every way. However, better pacing and bigger moments are marred by poor performance, at least at launch. If you can look past that and you already enjoy the first game, then this one is an easy recommendation at only $30.

NASCAR 25 is a great videogame of an entertaining racing series, offering all sorts of thrills online and offline alike. Solid graphics and presentation, satisfying handling, tons of settings to allow every kind of player to find the experience that suits them most. A gripping, if relatively safe career mode is the highlight, but the online leaves me wondering. It can be exhilarating, and the netcode is strong, but the game seems uninterested in punishing unsportsmanship. The result is the most chaotic online racing I’ve ever seen – at least in a game that isn’t supposed to be a destruction derby. It’s a safe, but a quite exhilarating title. Perhaps, with a few tweaks to the online racing, we could have one of the all-time greats for this sport. Definitely one to have for NASCAR fans.

No One Lives Under the Lighthouse is a solid low-budget indie horror that aims a little too high with its gameplay mechanics. They only happen in certain endings, and its short run time means any horror fan will gladly seek them all out. At a $12 MSRP it is a no brainer if you enjoy getting the shit scared out of you.

Despite the lack of quality of life features, however, GRANDIA HD Collection serves as a great way for players to play a set of excellent RPGs on modern platforms. Either games can be played to your liking at anytime and are great fun thanks to a solid combat system and presentation.

Card-en-Ciel is a fantastic card battling title. I didn’t think I’d find myself so enamoured in playing a card game like this, but the plays at hand along with how the overworld plays into the battle system along with daily and weekly battles makes this game a extremely replayable title.

Shadow Labyrinth is a solid 2D Metroidvania and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Its edginess has a lot of spunk and charm, level design is solid, platforming is varied, and progression is paced well. If you dig the idea of PAC-MAN eating people as you explore a world purveyed in turmoil, this one’s worth checking out.

I have enjoyed some action-adventure horror games out there. Limited ammo and health reserves can be a great tool for upping the tension and a great story helps make it worth seeing things through. Scorn has none of that. It is bland, boring, plays poorly, and excels in no areas.

Destiny 2: Lightfall has been a great experience thus far. The gameplay additions, the Quality of Life improvements, and the music and sound design are all best in class. The Lightfall campaign is going to be divisive for a long time to come and I think that’s okay. Its storytelling doesn’t live up to the Witch Queen’s standards, but the level design is top-notch. I loved the characters we met along the way, the post-campaign content, and Neomuna itself. I’m looking forward to the day-one raid coming up very soon and to see what else might happen in this world after it has been beaten by whichever team might be the World’s First. I still have some things I’d like to wrap up in Destiny 2: Lightfall before I deliver my final verdict, but right now, I’m having just as much fun as I ever have in Destiny.

SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada is a strange game for sure. It’s an enjoyable enough mecha-based extraction shooter, with serviceable combat and traversal and with the excitement of this genre’s formula. Said gameplay loop does very little to stand out from the crowd, despite a somewhat unique presentation, and the technical woes and limited content and variety thereof, end up limiting its potential. It’s also a paid game with tons of baffling microtransactions, timers to wait out, massive grinds and glacial progress, which could make you lose interest rather quickly. At its core, Bandai Namco’s latest is a solid extraction shooter, make no mistake. If you’re looking for that, jump in; this is certainly a very solid game in a vacuum, mechanically stronger than my score would imply. Arriving this late into the genre, however, it really should be offering more and better content than it does to really stand out – and it should respect players’ time and effort more.

I’m glad I had the chance to play Digimon Survive, but I’ll just keep playing Digimon World 4 and Rumble Arena for my fill of Digi-goodness.

The Callisto Protocol is a gorgeous mess. I cannot recommend it at the full launch price. The combat is miserable, and the story is simply not interesting. If you are a massive fan of survival horror it lets you down by not being scary either, instead relying on jump scares the entire time. It is highly competent technically though, and I hope the team at Striking Distance gets more time for their next title, which very well could be a sequel to this one.

On the field has seen a marked improvement over last year. The overall presentation is great, but the microtransaction heavy focus still detracts from things for those interested in the FUT mode. Being tied to the online servers for so much of the game’s functionality is worrisome when the servers have been in such rough shape during this launch period. Also, the game is $70 on series consoles which is a big ask for a yearly title. Overall it’s a step in the right direction that I hope carries the franchise back to its once great heights.

Ultimately, Let’s Sing 2024 revamps multiple features of the game, offering a more complete and varied experience. The Career mode functions as a great singing school of sorts, and the new online modes create a sense of community and competition not found in prior episodes. Shame then that the starting list of 20 songs is, for my tastes, not on par with last year’s title, and that the new VIP membership is a step backwards for the game’s monetization. But for fans of karaoke, it’s hard to recommend a better new game on market.

When I found matches, I had some good fun running dungeons with folks. There’s something special about watching twenty people unleash explosions all over your screen, a health bar being whittled down faster than pizza leftovers in a family of six, and callouts coming left and right. SWORD ART ONLINE Fractured Daydream brings about the chaotic nature of MMOs I really haven’t seen in a long time, especially in casual play, and for all its caveats it’s not a bad cooperative action game—but do mind the fractures.

It feels pretty good, looks great, and as long as the price isn’t too bad it’s worth checking out.

Enotria: The Last Song is a beautiful, weird tale that almost nailed the gameplay and customization side of a Soulslike. It is by no means a bad game, it’s just not one I can easily recommend for all but the most ardent players of the genre.

I feel like there’s not a lot to say about TRON: Catalyst. It perfectly captures the essence of the TRON audiovisual experience, without overstaying its welcome, taking me just about 10 hours to finish. It has a satisfying, if rather formulaic, ARPG combat loop – with even the iconic disc-throwing and vehicle usage. The story is sound, and there’s a quality dub underneath it all. It may not reinvent the wheel, nor hit the heights of the legendary TRON 2.0, but it sure reignites my TRON hype, with hopefully the upcoming movie, TRON: Ares, delivering after the many years of delays as well. If not, well, you can always play this really cool game!

If you can handle some curious design quirks, a few bugs, and don’t mind poking around in the dark looking for clues, The Last Case of Benedict Fox might just be a breath of fresh air.

Arcadegeddon might just secretly become my go-to co-op shooter for some time.

Star Overdrive has a lot of great ideas and a beautiful presentation while also being encumbered by frustrating platforming and combat systems. It’s hard to ignore the latter when the game’s best part is frequently put on hold to engage with tedious platforming puzzles and enemies that send out protagonist flying into the sand with no reserve. But this game has some of the smoothest hoverboard play I’ve seen from a game in years and, if you too enjoy the feeling of bursting through sandy dunes while pumping it up with a lovely sci-fi aesthetic, I think you’ll very much enjoy playing Star Overdrive.

Completing the main story in any of the 3 available difficulties is once again a 3-4 hour affair, but the game doesn’t quite end there. If you loved the minigames from the campaign, these can also be played in local co-op up to a combination of 4 human or AI players, either picking specific activities yourself or letting it assign us a random one with combined scores across all of them at the end to declare a winner. As said, these minigames range from decent to poor, with a handful of convoluted rules, unoptimal controls, unreliable hitboxes and so on hampering the experience. It certainly ain’t no Mario Party and it won’t be a mainstay in evenings with your friends, but it can be a decent way to pass the time for an hour or two, adding a bit more meat to the package.

Trepang2 is a title that tries to recapture the magic of the classic F.E.A.R. franchise, managing to mimic certain aspects well, even improving upon them, while also failing to do so in others. The action-packed gameplay is mighty spectacular and incredibly satisfying when fighting against other soldiers, much less so when it’s against generic zombie-like enemies, flying mobs, or bullet sponge bosses, whose mechanics very much negate the perks of the shooting mechanics themselves. Likewise, the game’s execution of a horror mystery is a bit weak, especially compared to the great original F.E.A.R. game, with a very basic execution of horror tropes and no interesting characters to speak of. Yet, with some of the most satisfying shooting on the market and a surprising amount of customization and cheat codes, Trepang2 is still worth a shot, whether you’re a fan of the franchise it’s inspired by or just a fan of exciting first-person shooters.

Floppy Knights is a fun game that is really close to being a great one. Its major flaw for me is how long everything takes. From mission length to waiting on enemy turns, and the slow loading of the menu system it can be a drag.

Outcast: A New Beginning does its best to invoke a sense of wonder as you jetpack 4 feet off of the ground in an occasionally beautiful alien world. Weak writing, terrible performance, and repetitive quest design work together to make it a dour experience in the end.

Scars Above is a good-looking cinematic third person action game with engaging combat, a cool if not particularly original plot narrated via some rather average characters in excellent and exciting locations. As an “AA” release, it cuts some corners compared to the behemoths of the genre to make ends meet, but the end credits roll on a satisfying note before the game’s formula and ideas could become boring or repetitive. Mad Head Games’ first foray into the cinematic third person games doesn’t try to reinvent the formula, yet offers an engaging, memorable and atmospheric adventure that I can wholeheartedly recommend to any fan of the genre who’s able to appreciate the game’s relatively limited scope.

I think it is fair to say that Deliver Us Mars is a frustrating experience and somewhat of a let-down compared to Deliver Us The Moon. While the environmental art style, musical score, platforming and accessibility settings are of a high standard, far too many aspects of the game are poor. This becomes even worse when you consider that this is the glitchiest game I have ever played on my Xbox Series X.

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.

If you’re expecting more action and puzzles, then boy, you might bounce right off this one once you’ve finished gawking at how pretty it all is. My advice? Take it slow, and enjoy every moment with this bizarre and eccentric cast of characters. Games like Harold Halibut don’t come around very often.

Shadows of Doubt should be great. A lack of variety leads to repetition so quickly that I can’t recommend this 1.0 and console release. If the devs continue supporting the game with new content, especially something more directed like the tutorial mission, then it could potentially become an indie classic. For now, though the game is a mere shadow of its potential.

If not for some of the problems I encountered, Little Nightmares 3 would be a rock solid continuation of the franchise from Supermassive Games. While it doesn’t quite hit the narrative and atmospheric highs of Little Nightmares 2, it brings in some smart new ideas, two player co-operative play and makes for another wonderfully sickening time in Nowhere. It’s just a shame it was such a frustrating journey.

Though Sociable Soccer 24 offers fun arcade football action (and with a lot of teams to boot), its slower speed and poor AI makes matches feel samey very quickly. This impacts the progression more than I would have liked, making climbing the ranks very uninteresting. But there’s a solid arcade game in here and I hope to see improvements made to the core gameplay overtime.

It may not be the most polished or spectacular racing game on a surface level, but you get used to its jank, as you fill up its immense sandbox with cool things to do – alone or with buddies – there simply is no racing game with such an exhilarating and creative sandbox out there. This in turn makes me forgive some of its oddities and problems. If the community lives up to the game’s lofty ambitions, we might have quite the game on our hands. I will surely revisit Wreckreation after launch, as I’m very curious to see how it evolves from here. [Review in progress/ Provisional Score = 80]

Ereban: Shadow Legacy is an occasionally pretty, decently fun title. It’s not too long, and if you’re into collecting things there’s a solid reason to replay each chapter. I’m not sure when it is going to hit Xbox but if you have even a decent PC and love stealth platformers then this could be one worth picking up.

Eternal Hope is a beautiful, great-sounding disappointment. Even at its low price, it’s hard to recommend. With a playtime of no more than two hours and seemingly no replay value there are far better options out there for your time and money, but not many that look so danged pretty.

Ultimately, DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing gets the job done without excessive amount of effort. There’s more than enough content, but the quality of the racing and its general balance is just not on par with most of the better Mario Kart clones out there, let alone the last episodes of the Nintendo franchise. A handful of cool ideas such as dynamic shortcuts and the Trolls characters giving special characters give the game a little bit of identity, amid the many design and visual elements that ape Mario Kart way too closely at times. But unless you absolutely need a kart racer with the likes of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda in its roster, this is a fun but ultimately not essential game.

Keylocker is a fun, beautiful turn-based RPG that does a great job of meshing not only a fun combat system but a sleuth of other minigames to keep its journey fresh. If you like rhythm games and an extensive timing-based combat system, look no further than this one.

Kao the Kangaroo is a well-meaning game, and despite some missteps, it is in my opinion one of the better 3D platformers of modern gaming.

Sports: Renovation is a cool take on the cleaning simulation genre. Its love for sports emanates in just about every corner of the game, across multiple levels. It can be clumsy at times, but it’ll eat up your time like no tomorrow. Put on some headphones, learn about sports, and scrub those venue floors clean.

I still think Ruffy and the Riverside is worth your time if you’re a hardcore fan of platformers of the 90’s, especially if you’re still waiting for a proper new Banjo-Kazooie – though I’d argue that Yooka-Laylee does a better job at replicating that style. Ruffy’s adventure has enough spins on the formula to stand out, especially the creative swap mechanic and some ideas beyond the opening levels, but I feel like there’s a lot of unforced errors in this title, which made me not enjoy myself as much as I hoped I would. Maybe it’s just me, because the game definitely oozes charm a lot of the time, but I wish the actual game was as exciting as the ideas behind it.

In Ravenlok’s well-paced narrative and gameplay structure, I’m sad to say that I didn’t find the game to be very compelling. For every fun puzzle there was another quest or dull combat sequence that I button mashed out of with ease. Still, I could appreciate the expectations the game places on the player to simply figure things out on their own and having a straightforward, no-nonsense plot. A lost art in gaming (and arguably other mediums) today.

Slitterhead has a weirdly intriguing plot and cool art design wasted by endless repetition and outdated game design. There’s something here. I found Slitterhead pulling me during the first few hours. It was the last 80% of the game that was a dreadful experience.

NBA 2K24 continues the series’ strong basketball simulation elements, but some egregious monetisation this time around and changes to progression make this entry a little more frustrating than it has to be. Still, the ‘Mamba Moments’ mode is a super cool tribute to an awesome player and for me, quickplay with family is where it’s always at.

Broken Mind can sometimes be a fascinating experience with some interesting story beats and curious playable segments, but it’s sadly hampered by formulaic puzzles, clunky combat and uneven technical polish. The game is still worth a shot for those looking for peculiar horror games.

Atlas Fallen is close to being damned good. It is let down by a lack of variety in enemy encounters, poor side quests, and dreadful writing. Still, the combat quickly becomes damned fun and with the option of co-op, it’s well worth checking out if you want some God of Crackdown-style action platforming adventures.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake is the best SpongeBob game ever. There’s a lot of love that went into this project and you really feel it as you jump, swing, and kick about. A solid pick up for platforming and SpongeBob fans alike, this game is an example of what game software for children (and licensed property) should strive to be.

At launch, I cannot recommend The Lamplighters League on Xbox. It runs terribly, while looking ugly, and is a broken and buggy mess. Once this game is patched up and fixed though, it’s a gem. Great gameplay, a deep meta-game, intriguing story, and one of the best videogame soundtracks I’ve ever heard will be there waiting for you (and hopefully still in Game Pass).

Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is a fun game with some serious looks and performance issues on Xbox Series consoles. If it’s cleaned up at all by a day one patch then it’s an easy recommendation. Available Day One on Game Pass it’s a solid solo title and one that’s a ton of fun with friends.

Spray Paint Simulator is decent fun. I do not know if the devs have any DLC planned post-launch. As is, there is enough here once you’re done, I think most will have enjoyed their time and be ready to move on.

Ultimately, I walk away from Painkiller with somewhat mixed, but overall fairly positive feelings. The gameplay is fast, satisfying, with rock solid peformance and excellent graphics making for a blast of a shooter. It is, however, Painkiller in name only, as not only it loses the series’ core aspects, but also is rather uninspired all around. Very few memorable moments in the raids, generic enemy and arena designs, and not quite the depth needed for such a co-op experience to last you long. Still, if you crave for more shooters in the style of modern Doom, do give Painkiller a fair shot, as it can be a ton of fun both solo and with two allies by your side.

Somerville feels like great ambition being stretched a little thin, and fundamentally, the way it feels to actually play makes me wish it spent a little longer in the oven, refining and polishing the best parts.

Beyond Blue: After the Storm is an enjoyable little underwater adventure that gives insight on man-made disasters along with the lovely living things beneath our feet. Though their importance is stressed, information comes off slim at best and paired with a decent VR experience at the very least makes this game a fun edutainment journey for all ages.

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.

For me, once the novelty of the cuteness wore off, I found the mechanics to be a bit boring, and in parts very frustrating (mostly due to the lack of a map when trying to find items I needed). For veteran players, the only stand-out feature here is the way the game looks and the ‘cosy’ style of play. Does this make Winter Burrow stand out in its genre? I’m not sure that it does, and honestly I’m not sure it has endeared me to this type of game at all.

High On Life is absolutely fantastic, and you should play it.

Raccoo Venture isn’t a chore. It’s beautiful and the music is lovely. I loved the environment design and when you do find challenges, they are fun to tackle. I do think that Raccoo’s jumps get too tight later on, having the player jumping off specific angles to make jumps isn’t fun especially if they’re not part of the beaten path. The game performs amazing on a wide variety of systems, too, and that’s impressive given it’s just one man making this game. Raccoo Venture has its landings, you just need to get used to them.

Sword Art Online: Last Recollection is one of the better games in the franchise’s history. The combat mechanics are solid and questing can be fun, plus it’s good fan service. It’s a bit of a shame every other aspect drags the game down, but that won’t stop you from enjoying Last Recollection especially if you’re looking for a simple, single-player MMO-style experience.

After a slow start Loot River really grew on me.