Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is not made for everyone. It’s an odd duck in the way it controls, the way it tells its story and the way it simulates the world, but it truly is a great way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon. Want a conventional strategy game or city-builder? Look elsewhere. Are you in for something executed by a single developer, taking risks and doing something new? Well then – The Ursee awaits.

A new score and weapon mechanic compliments Contra: Operation Galuga’s fun gameplay, but they can’t cover for levels that feel poorly paced and uninteresting enemy design.

For me, for a multiplayer game all focused on replaying levels again and again, the very fact that both my teammates and I were already tired at the mere suggestion of playing through all this snow again, meant one thing. I’m afraid I’m going to have sit this blizzard out.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a fantastic video game. It improves on every facet of the first title. An excellent main quest is paired with Capcom’s best English VO, and some incredible emergent combat.

Alone in the Dark has come a long way from its initial showings. Clever writing, great performances by its two leads, and solid gameplay come together to give the franchise a new life.

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.

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.

Unicorn Overlord is a fantastic strategy game that is both gorgeous as it is fun. Tactics fans are in for a treat, and even those weak to the genre find this game to be a fulfilling experience.

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.

From solid level design and an extremely well-done character controller, this game is an easy recommendation for the momentum-favoured platformer player.

Outlast Trials may not be for everyone, but I feel confident in saying that those that do love it, will really love it, and considering Red Barrels approach to listening to player feedback throughout it’s early access, it’s sure to be a worthwhile investment.

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.

Expeditions: A Mudrunner game looks great and is a more palatable entry in the series. It’s still full of that truck-puzzle maddening charm though, so both new entrants and fans of the series alike have a lot to enjoy in this 100+ hour-long title.

Star Wars: Dark Forces Remastered is a remaster done right. Its main issue is the game it is remastering doesn’t hold up to modern titles well enough. If you have that itch to dive back in and the $30 price isn’t too much then it is well worth the price. If you don’t have those feelings though, it’s tough to recommend.

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.

Return to Grace is a short but sweet narrative adventure game. The puzzles are infrequent and never frustrating, while the storytelling and voice acting do an admirable job in telling this futuristic tale about the hopes and dreams of humanity. I think it’s well worth checking out on Game Pass.

It may not be the “AAAA” game Ubisoft touted, but with a solid enough foundation, a decently planned bevy of seasonal content ahead of it, and the uniqueness of making the ship and gear the focus, it may be finally on the right course after all.

Balatro is my new gaming obsession, I frigging love it. Deckbuilding roguelikes have had some phenomenal games over the years. Balatro reaches the lofty peak of Slay the Spire and has me hooked even harder than that incredible game ever did. You should buy it, now. Buylatro!

Now mind, if you do enjoy the oppressive approach to randomness and lack of resources, Daemonhunters is a great XCOM-like with your favourite band of Marines. Even a newcomer could pick up this game pretty quickly thanks to a solid tutorial and a decent user experience. It’s a blast up until the chaos begins and that just might be a make it or break it moment for the player.

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.

A Little to the Left is at its absolute best when it’s focusing on finding just the right spot for everyday things, and at its worst when it’s operating on its own, chaotic-puzzle logic. Those two worlds and design choices are at odds in my opinion, and collide to unfortunately produce an uneven end result. However, I feel confident in saying any puzzle game fan will find something to like and perhaps even love here, and with it being available to try on Xbox Game Pass, it’s worth a download.

Gunvolt Records Cychronicle works great for what it is: a spin-off game with fanservice to Gunvolt fans, the game including CD versions of the series’ songs and all. But it’s also a fun rhythm game for anyone to pick up and play—it might even be convincing enough for new players to check out INTI’s catalogue of fun action platformers like the Gunvolt series.

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.

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.

It aims to do a single thing, which is being a deep and addictive round-based bullet heaven shooter, with a ludicrous amount of items, weapons and upgrades that allow for quite literally infinite builds. It may lack the variety of Vampire Survivors, the production values of Soulstone Survivors and so on, but Brotato’s short-burst rushes of adrenaline make it one hell of a game anyway. And since it’s on Game Pass and otherwise only costs about 5 bucks… it’s hard not to recommend Brotato to anybody on Xbox.

As disappointed as I was with the first DLC I think I dislike the second one even more. It’s a mishmash of unenjoyable mini-games, and while the music is great the gameplay is not.

For fans of Destiny, The Division, and all the loot-focused games-as-a-service titles, this is a damned good one at launch. We’ll see if they can continue to grow and improve it over time.

The visuals are gorgeous, the pacing isn't overtly stretched out, the combat is fun and fluid, and the story is still great. Anyone can get in on this game's excellent blend of school life and role-playing genres and I can wholeheartedly recommend this game, not just because Persona 3 is a classic for me, but because Persona 3 Reload is genuinely fantastic.