XboxEra's Scores

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For 738 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 10% same as the average critic
  • 38% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 Senua's Saga: Hellblade II
Lowest review score: 10 Demolish & Build Classic
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 471 out of 738
  2. Mixed: 228 out of 738
  3. Negative: 39 out of 738
756 game reviews
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    • 75 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft
    In the end, Tomb Raider I-III Remastered brings us back to arguably the most exciting era of the franchise, allowing us to revisit with updated controls and graphics these iconic action adventure classics, while also mantaining the smart level designs, puzzles, etc. as they should be – though, for better or worse, without any real attempt to fix any of the games’ shortcomings either. While the game does indeed look and control better, there seems to be a rather heavy-handed use of AI for upscaling textures, with also various locations where the completely different lightning models used drastically alter the atmosphere – often for the worse. There’s also no real new content or updates, making it feel like we’re playing a slightly modded version of the originals. Which, for a Tomb Raider aficionado like me, is absolutely fine – these games still hold up for the most part, even though some of the action-packed sequences and convoluted puzzles of 2 and 3 are a bit over the top.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    KartRider: Drift
    For a full launch, I think there’s plenty of content that’ll keep you entertained. It has a strong driving model with interesting mechanics and plenty of modes to tackle alone, with a pair, or a group of mates. I find KartRider: Drift to be very addicting, seeing as I’ve put well over 50 hours into the game already, I can easily see myself putting more than double over the coming months.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Let Them Come: Onslaught
    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.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Unknown 9: Awakening
    I enjoyed the first videogame of the Unknown 9 universe, and I sure hope it won’t be the last, as I wanna keep going back to this vast fictional world. And while I absolutely want to applaud Reflector Entertainment and Bandai Namco for trying something different, perhaps they stuck a little too close to the action adventure videogame genre’s tropes, in an attempt to better appeal to the masses. Still, it’s a game that has some good ideas and a terrific lore, one expanded upon by all the transmedia products out there. Fans of action adventure games should take this leap of faith into The Fold and give Unknown 9: Awakening an honest shot, with its budget price that should help with pulling the trigger over such an… Unknown quantity.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    KAKU: Ancient Seal
    Colour me impressed. When I think indie, I rarely think “open-world”, but BINGOBELL showed me that’s it’s possible to craft a great and ambitious adventure game without a large body count. KAKU: Ancient Seals is one of the best open-world indie games I’ve ever played and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for their fill of lush environments and challenging dungeoneering.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    The Gap
    For my slights with the overall narrative, however, The Gap offers real problems, giving a more sci-fi glimpse to the world of genetic and neurological disorders and how it impacts dreams, ambitions, and our families. For those that love to delve into the mind and its inner workings (with a bit of stretching done to the science behind it), look no further than here.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    DreamWorks Gabby's Dollhouse: Ready to Party
    In the end, DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party is a fun little adventure that captures the cuteness and charm of the series. It features accessible yet enjoyable platforming, many fun side activities, but also a huge chunk of the show’s big roster of support characters – all dubbed, in fact. The show’s iconic visuals are perfectly recreated, and so are its tunes, turning Gabby’s first proper console release into a great gift to any young fan of the series. It’s a little bit short, and surely it won’t win any awards for originality, but for a licensed videogame of a preschool show, it’s actually quite nice and wholesome. Meow!
    • 77 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Sonic x Shadow Generations
    SONIC X SHADOW GENERATIONS is a good collection of two fun games. Sonic Generations is still a solid romp even if this port adds more issues to the game while Shadow’s offering is action-packed and builds on the former’s strengths. This is the most you’ll ever get of Shadow the Hedgehog for quite a while, so dig in while it’s hot.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy
    Despite a handful of bizarre small changes from the original games, Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy is still quite a riot. Naughty Dog’s iconic “on-rails” 3D platformers, remade from the ground up by Vicarious Visions, is still a lot of fun, with the main character’s iconic spins making for what is still a quite fresh experience that differentiates itself from other titles in the genre. With tons of content and a massive amount of extremely hard challenges to aim for in the search of that elusive 100% completion (and beyond), this is one of those platformers that could keep you coming back for a while – making this a great addition to Game Pass (also on PC and cloud – the first Activision-published game to be playable via cloud on Game Pass).
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Soundfall
    You might think that a music game where the actual rhythm-based segment is not all that memorable is doomed from the start, but this isn’t the case: not in Soundfall’s case, anyway.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Octopath Traveler 0
    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.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Two Point Museum
    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.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Morbid: The Lords of Ire
    While the level design is serviceable and the budget of the game clearly shows in things like the UI, the combat flows very well once you get a hang of it and the game is always giving you more monstrosities to slash into ribbons. Morbid: The Lords of Ire might not be the best soulslike I’ve played, but it’s absolutely one of the better games in the genre. And considering it’s not launching as a full-priced game, it’s hard not to recommend the game for fans of the genre looking for something similar but still fun enough to have a good time.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    TRAIL OUT
    A distinct lack of it’s own identity, a bit of jank, some uneven performance and a lack of online multiplayer perhaps doesn’t make it into an essential buy, but if you’re nostalgic for FlatOut games, or just the arcade racer attitude of the 00’s and are able to put up with some of the jank, you will surely have a lovely time in Trail Out.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Tales of Graces f Remastered
    Playing Tales of Graces f again gives me a chance to reflect on the game’s story, which I enjoyed more so in my last playthrough some eight years ago. But I enjoyed running through the game’s campaign way more than Vesperia’s (which is nothing but a blur to me) thanks to fun cast members with a great English dub and an incredibly fun combat system. Don’t go into Tales of Graces f Remastered expecting deep worldbuilding and level design and I think you’ll have a lot of fun that way.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred
    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.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection
    My verdict? This isn’t just a retro release—it’s a tribute. To the creativity of the 90s, to the risks developers took, and to a mascot who still puts a smile on people’s faces. It may not be flawless—but it is, without question, the purrfect way to experience Bubsy.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Monopoly
    In short, Monopoly (2024) is hardly an essential buy for those who already own other Monopoly videogames. In a vacuum, however, it does most everything right to be a solid digital recreation of this iconic, friendship-breaking board game.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Let's Sing 2024
    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.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Tribes of Midgard
    Tribes of Midgard is a large number of simple systems that work well with their co-op focus. The new survival mode makes solo play a Hel of a lot more appealing, as well. Retailing for a very reasonable $20 US this one is worth checking out if you have a group of friends interested in it.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn
    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.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Ara: History Untold
    There’s a lot to like about Ara: History Untold, even with the rough edges that appear every so often. Barring some performance issues, I’d say anyone even a little curious about the genre should give the game a shot and try it for themselves (especially if you have Xbox Game Pass). As for those of you with hundreds of hours in 4X games? Well, Civilization VII is still months away and Ara is a worthwhile competitor in the space and so I highly recommend playing at least a few games during this wait. Who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself with a new favourite in the genre…
    • 69 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Trepang2
    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.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Loot River
    After a slow start Loot River really grew on me.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    The Knightling
    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.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Star Trucker
    Star Trucker can be as relaxing or sweaty as you like. While the main story’s writing wasn’t the best it was more than made up for by how solid the rest of the title is. It looks great, feels damned good to play, and I could see it easily becoming a new go-to podcast game for millions of Game Pass players.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Shoulders of Giants
    Shoulders of Giants is a wonderful surprise. It’s a third-person action roguelike with a ton of heart. Great gameplay, stylish graphics, satisfying progression, and a killer soundtrack combine to create a game I loved spending time with. I know it’s great solo so as long as the co-op runs well this is a title you and your friends won’t want to miss.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Afterimage
    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.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Atomfall
    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.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Kotama and Academy Citadel
    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.
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