Dredge is an absolute gem. It features a rich, compelling narrative alongside an excellent gameplay and upgrade loop. It doesn’t overstay its welcome and has an excellent narrative. It is a game that you should not miss.

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.

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.

Compared to the recent Security Breach and Hello Neighbor, Bendy and the Dark Revival succeeds at being the better game by having proper level design and, for the most part, proper enemy encounters. It’s a shame it falls flat in so many regards because had it not been for the clumsier BioShock-like gameplay and the port being a spot of frustration, Bendy’s latest retreat could’ve been a solid adventure title. Still, the groundwork is present if not a bit misguided and it’s a good canvas as any to ink future entries onto. Which I approve of! I find this style of bedroom horror more interesting than the thirteenth billion zombie shooter anyway.

After I completed the game, I couldn’t wait to start it over again, and I never thought that with any of the previous action-oriented RE titles. Whether you’re a fan of the original or tend to gravitate towards the non-action-oriented games in the series, I think Resident Evil 4 Remake is well worth your time.

Defend the Rook is a solid roguelike-tower-defense-tactics game. It’s a unique spin on a handful of genres that I like, but it has some control and difficulty issues that hold it back.

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.

In the end, emoji Kart Racer is an extremely basic kart racer with not enough content compared to the competition: 16 tracks ain’t bad, but with no online, no arenas, no time attacks, a low variety of karts, an even lower selection of power-ups, 30 Euros is just a bit too steep. And while some of the level design is visually pleasing, with the technical aspects of the game being surprisingly decent for a budget title like this, the actual design of the courses ranges from passable to annoying, with neither the driving model or the physics proving to be deep or reliable enough to bother coming back for more past the quick, 5 hours or so 1000G of achievements you get by completing the 3 cups and little more. Unless you feel the desire to try every single kart racer on Xbox, you are safe to skip this one and go towards the dozens of better alternatives on the market.

Zombie Derby: Pixel Survival is one of the better Time to Money to 1000g games I’ve played. It’s not offensively bad, nor will it take up much of your time or money.

WWE 2K23 continues the series’ upwards trajectory. It’s a massive package full of different things to do. The roster is enormous, the microtransactions seem egregious in familiar “yearly sports title ways”, and the in-ring action almost nails riding the line between sports sim and scripted tv show. There is a love of the genre on display here and for any major or minor fan of sports entertainment, this year’s entry is worth checking out.

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.

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.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is a fun romp through old fashioned Japanese horror. The atmosphere is lovely, the story is interesting, and though the gameplay might wear down a bit over time, it’s a unique survival horror game that I can recommend to anyone.

Dragon Blaze is a nice-looking, decently fun 23-year-old arcade port. It’s overpriced and the achievements are a real p.i.t.a. to get. If you have a co-op partner and a vertical monitor though there are worse ways to spend your money.

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is the dream DLC I never knew I wanted for one of my favorite games of the past decade. It’s full of content that is all of supremely high quality. Whether you own the game outright or play it on Game Pass if any of this sounds the least bit appealing then spend $10 on this expansion. It is phenomenal.

In a vacuum, Pinball FX is for the most part a sensational pinball game, and to be fair the closest competition is Zen Studios own fantastic pinball games themselves – who, for yet another installment, remain the kings of pinball in videogame form.

For $6 the ratio of time to earning all 17 achievements isn’t bad at all, and while it’s not fun per se it isn’t the pure torture that some recent titles I’ve reviewed have been.

Dead Cells: Return to Castlevania is the dream DLC I never knew I wanted for one of my favorite games of the past decade. It’s full of content that is all of supremely high quality. Whether you own the game outright or play it on Game Pass if any of this sounds the least bit appealing then spend $10 on this expansion. It is phenomenal.

It frustrates me that I have to leave Blood Bowl 3 with a middling review, but despite the solid core gameplay, everything around it frustrates me too much for me to continue playing. These issues may be fixed in the future, but at the moment I struggle to recommend this game to fans of Warhammer, strategy, or possibly even the more hardcore Blood Bowl fan.

The Redress of Mira is an oddly titled, terrible experience. It never plays well, and never looks good. It will, however, get you a lot of achievement points in a relatively short period of time.

Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is an epic ass-kicking time. Featuring ridiculously cool characters, stunning music, and a deeply engaging combat system, this one is an easy recommendation for purchase or downloading on Game Pass.

Accident doesn’t look good, runs poorly, controls even worse, and feels like it’s in bad taste more often than not. The basic premise makes little sense, but it does have an excellent soundtrack of all things. If you’re feeling morbid and want to rescue breath a 13-year-old whose mom is dead in the front seat then get help and still avoid this game.

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.

Chef Life: A Restaurant Simulator is the best kind of laidback experience you could ask for. Being able to cook meals at your own pace as well as making the restaurant your own space feels cathartic and you could spend hours unlocking and upgrading meals. Not to mention how you decorate your restaurant to appeal to certain crowds, building your own wardrobe, etcetera. A Michelin-star worthy game.

There is a lot in Remoteness that could have worked out well on paper, but the game’s good ideas clash with a disastrous execution where even the basic controls are nearly unusable and almost all elements of the game are severely unfinished and often straight up not working, making it near impossible to even aim and shoot at enemies. That should be the absolute bare minimum a shooter should deliver, but alas, Remoteness fails even at that. As such, I can’t recommend this game to anybody in this state.

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a good action platformer that comes together remarkably well. Another score for Inti Creates’ catalogue of fun 2D platformers.

Atomic Heart is an excellent game, and it’s an incredible debut title from Mundfish. Clever storytelling, massive set pieces, fun combat, and more make this one easy to recommend.

Like A Dragon: Ishin! deserves its acclaimed reputation and can only have been improved by this modernising makeover. The story, visuals, sound design, and game mechanics are all top-class. Complexity is the name of the game as usual, but fans of the series will have no complaints about what has been delivered here. Everything that gamers love about the series has been included and improved upon to freshen things up. Even the use of familiar faces feels right when it could have seemed very wrong.