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!

PlateUp! is barrels of fun if you’re playing with friends or family. You’ll be barking orders to one-another before you know it. And even if you fail, you’ll find yourself starting another run in this fairly addicting cooking slash restaurant management roguelike.

Machick 2 doesn’t quite reinvent the bullet heaven wheel, but it greatly expands on the already great ideas of the first game. Gorgeous 2D graphics and various unique concepts, such as creating your own wands and hatching chicks to fight for you, turn it into a unique enough experience to bother checking it out among the hundreds of similar titles out there – one that runs very well even on lower end PCs, in fact. Some readability issues and slightly less depth than the genre’s bests perhaps don’t allow it to become an unmissable classic, but fans of the genre should absolutely check it out. And with console releases confirmed to be coming in the future, bullet heaven fans on Xbox should absolutely keep an eye out for this one!

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

NeoSprint is a fun and well-made homage to racing games of old, with a fun and precise arcade driving model from a top-down view. There’s a vast selection of tracks, a solid editor to create and download new ones, various cars and plenty of customization, including several callbacks to other Atari classics, making this game worth the time for racing fans who aren’t afraid of playing something that winks to an era before 3D racers got popular. Lack of proper online multiplayer is a bummer, although leaderboards and downloadable ghosts are in the game. Ultimately, NeoSprint is a retro arcade bonanza that I can see myself coming back to for a while, especially if the community and developers keep the content and challenges coming.

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

Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 – Turbocharged is an extremely safe, but ultimately very fun sequel. The new story mode doesn’t change the formula, but the new game modes, the tons of content and customization on top of an improved core gameplay make this an exhilarating racer for young and old.

Botany Manor is an enjoyable puzzle-focused adventure with an obsession in weird plants and an interesting estate. What might be lacking in overall narrative is made up for pleasant pacing and a relaxing homework assignment at a country side world of plants.

You Suck at Parking is a refreshing addition to the racing genre unlike any I have seen before. The controls are simple and the gameplay is accessible but things soon develop into a far more complex challenge. For those who prefer gaming in short bursts, this could be a popular title far into the future especially as the developers have promised much more content is still to come.

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.

Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition is an eventually great game. It requires a ton of patience to see through, so even though it’s on Game Pass you need to make sure you’re willing to commit that much time because boy does it both start slow and make some head-scratching decisions when it comes to the map and exploration.

Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 can be slow and lethargic, sometimes to a fault. It's a game that's more concerned with the plight of a villager than the saving of a kingdom. And yet it's in those very moments, the conversations in the back of a cart, the early morning horse-rides in the brisk, cold air; that the magic, charm, and humanity of it all shines brightest.

The game’s cutesy style that reminisces perhaps too many forgettable indie games is only a ruse – the game has charming characters, the humor is on point, the amount and variety of content is quite impressive and, most importantly, the gameplay works very well. It isn’t the most complex or riveting gameplay loop, but then again the popularity of titles like Muse Dash show how simplicity and polish walk hand in hand, and now Rhythm Sprout is furtger proof of this. Recommended to all rhythm game fans looking for a more humorous take on the genre.

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.

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.

Teardown is really damned fun. The devs took a solid premise and built a great sandbox around it. Performance on console is better than I could have hoped for, and with proper mod and DLC support it should have tons of content for years to come.

As of this writing, of the 3 new modes in Fortnite’s new metaverse, LEGO Fortnite is by far the most popular, and it’s certainly not only thanks to the behemoth brand that is LEGO. This is a not excessively daring but surprisingly fun, polished and good-looking survival game – a genre often notable for quite ugly, poorly running and janky experiences. All the basics of a good survival experience are there and players have solid freedom in constructing their own LEGO creations or, alternatively, to follow the guidelines and build standard things as suggested by the game. With lots of customization and servers allowing up to 8 players to work together towards a common goal (or to troll each other, if they want to), LEGO Fortnite has the potential to become a mainstay for prior Fortnite fans, offering a new enough experience to perhaps convince newcomers to hop into this title as well. If future updates keep making the game more varied, deep and fresh, we could truly have a near unmissable gem on our hands.

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.

Shin Megami Tensei V: Vengeance is a great refresh of a game that I had gripes with back then. Besides the far more interesting Vengeance route, the additional quality-of-life changes, added mechanics, and greatly improved performance make Vengeance easily the best version of a great turn-based RPG. Great for returning players and an even better deal for new ones.

It's not all that unique, with games like BPM: Bullets Per Minute already "inventing" some of these concepts, but the quality is undeniable, and FPS fans should not skip this one for sure. Especially since it's launching day one into Xbox Game Pass.

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!“?

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.

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.

Cross Tails is a solid strategy title with strong mechanics and plenty of user choice when it comes to unit customisation along with pleasant visuals and music. Despite the small map sizes, the enemy units provide a good challenge that even some lifelong SRPG developers struggle to accomplish. It’s a ‘thumbs up’ from me.

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.

It’s a low-maintenance game with a creative cacophony of ideas mixed with a dab of fourth wall-skirting plays that appeals to a wide-reaching audience of all ages. Where many games opt to host depressing narratives to appeal to their young adult audience, Blue Archive instead plays itself straight—keeping an upbeat vibe with a touch of comic mischief while not being afraid to touch on the “what-ifs” if things all went wrong. It’s easy to pick up and play and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Indika is an odd, wonderful title. Mixing 3D photo-realistic art with 2D-pixel graphics makes some bold choices. Excellent writing and voice acting help carry mediocre gameplay and created an experience I will never forget.

It’s a bit light on content outside of the games, but every option you could want is here, things run great, and the full package is a decent value.