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Arise: A Simple Story on Xbox One is a brilliantly devised game and it’s been a huge pleasure to play. Yes, there are the occasional frustrations with some of the platforming, but you really shouldn’t let that worry you. It’s a splendid wordless story with a perfect amount of gameplay hours for the price, and it’s right up there with the very best games I’ve played this year.

It may not immediately strike as a must-play title, but Immortal Redneck shouldn’t be overlooked. With tons of replayability, tense fast-paced gameplay, fluid controls and enjoyable combat, this is a game that will offer great gameplay for hours on end. To bring things into context, Immortal Redneck is exactly what you could expect to find if you were to blend Serious Sam with Indie 2015 indie hit Ziggurat, and I for one find that to be an exciting prospect.

I’m glad the puzzles were not too difficult and I could simply enjoy the story, the characters, and the copious profanity. Nika herself is a highly likeable persona and I truly wanted her to succeed at her mischievous plan. MechaNika is only a couple of hours long, but at the low price point of £4.99, it is very much worth it. Even if you normally don’t enjoy puzzle games, you might as well enjoy this one. Get it!

Baobabs Mausoleum Grindhouse Edition on Xbox is one of those underground sleeper hits likely to become a future cult classic – if it hasn’t already done so. This release comes packed with all the chapters and other extras, and it is the best way for the uninitiated to jump right in and experience a game world and adventure like no other. With a captivating and bizarre style, and an entertaining blend of different gameplay styles, Baobabs Mausoleum Grindhouse Edition is one of those games you will definitely regret missing out on. If that isn’t enough to convince you, then the idea of being a cigarette smoking FBI agent, who just so happens to be an Eggplant, certainly will grab your attention. 

UnMetal has a whacking-great comedic palette to paint from. It can be surrealist, as the entire game structure gets thrown in the bin, or you suddenly start delivering flashbacks to someone new without context of who or why. It can be broad and rude, with toilet humour taken quite literally (you will be saving at urinals). It can be heavy on game referencing, as Metal Gear Solid, Legend of Zelda, Fallout and many others all get a skewering. But it can also be universal in its humour. We’re confident that anyone playing UnMetal would get their ribs tickled – it’s very democratic.

Treasures of the Aegean is just generally masterful and oozes class, and we can’t wait to put this review away and play it again.

For around a fiver, Tempus – Level Escape will be able to provide you with an experience that is relaxing and intriguing, complete with some brilliantly designed puzzles. Running at just a few hours in length, the visual storytelling is a delight, helped by a concept that is completely original and unusual. Perhaps if you are new to the puzzle scene, this might be too obtuse at times and there may not be enough hints on what to do next. But for me, the varied level design and puzzles make Tempus a game that is extremely interesting. 

If you enjoyed the first Blasphemous, then getting hold of Blasphemous 2 is a given. Everything that was great about the first game has been built on in the second, with nearly all issues addressed.

Ugly may well take you by surprise. It is clever, exciting to play and full of unique gameplay mechanics, brilliant boss battles, and adventure. Taking you on a journey through a narrative of highs and lows, sadness and remorse, this is a visually-told affair that is pretty amazing. Some puzzles might frustrate, but ultimately the challenge is part of the experience.

Is Super Toy Cars perfect? No, far from it. But it’s the best fun filled combat racer that you can play on Xbox One today so grab some sofa friends and settle some scores.

Overall and Project Tachyon is a lovely fireworks display on steroids; an attractive display complemented by some lovely solid gameplay. The omission of a scroll-able leaderboard and full stats page is a big miss however, with the twin stick shooter genre relying heavily on being able to compare your stats to your friends. I’m not overly bothered about the strangers that frequent the leaderboards near me, all I want to see is how I compare to my nearest and dearest, so why Eclipse have not included leaderboard filters or scrolls is beyond me. Similarly, online multiplayer, or at least the inclusion of online co-op, would have been a massive winner.

The Sexy Brutale is definitely one of the more original ID@Xbox games that we’ve seen recently. On one side there is an incredibly dark and sinister side to the game solving, sometimes described in great gory-detail, murders. But then ultimately it is a game of hope as Lafcadio tries to prevent his friends re-living their nightmares day after day. The Majora’s Mask time-inspired gameplay is a very neat mechanic and you get as much out of the game as you are willing to explore. A few technical issues and a lengthy ending stop this from being a truly great standout indie title, but it is easily far better than most.

Overall there is much to love in this amazing little game. The visual tone, soundtrack, and narration of Candle: The Power of Flame, as well as the inclusion of great puzzle elements see it coming across as something with brilliant invention. The downsides are that some of the game mechanics feel a bit off, and a tad annoying, but it isn’t enough to dampen the spirits or ruin the enjoyment of this stunning candle adventure.

So, the big question… now that I’ve played Farm Together for some time, will I continue to spend time tending to my crops?, Well, the answer is that I might just do so. The more you play the more repetitive it seems to get; I already feel that I’ve done most of what the game has to offer and can’t see the thrill of unlocking a new vegetable is going to keep a hold on me for much longer. But popping in every now and then for a walk through the French country garden at sunset or a wade through the piranha pond is still pretty appealing.

What is in place with Etherborn is very good, and if you are after a taxing puzzler which will push and pull the grey matter in ways other games can’t, then you should certainly consider a purchase. Just be aware that you may well be left wanting more as the end credits roll.

There is a lot of imagination and heart gone into the making of Super Toy Cars 2 on Xbox One that oozes out of almost every corner. Career mode is an absolute blast and I will never tire of smashing up opponents – or myself when making a bad judgement on one of the obstacles. The game is slightly let down by only allowing two players locally – four would have made this a gaming night essential – and the lack of modes online, but there is still masses of fun to be had here on your own.

Who said that single player games were dead? Call of the Sea on Xbox was made for Game Pass: a fantastic story stunningly told, full of well-pitched puzzles, with almost zero replayability. It’s one of 2020’s most surprising genre-reboots, taking Myst and transplanting in a heart, and we’re all for it. You’d do well to buy a ticket to its shores.

It may lack originality, but Lamentum is a great example of a retro survival horror game. Those who are fans of the genre will almost certainly enjoy what’s on offer here. It may just win over a few newcomers too.

So what that means is that Aragami 2 is a great game, with issues. The gameplay is immense fun, takes on a whole other level with friends and there is something extremely satisfying about being able to do what you want, when you want it, in order to achieve the mission objective at hand. It isn’t perfect though, and seems to be missing that little bit of polish required to lift it to the top tier of gaming. If you can look past that, there’s a good little game here waiting to be played. If you have Game Pass, its’ a no-brainer, but even if you haven’t, you may find that you wouldn’t have enjoyed a ninja game this much since the original Tenchu. That is high praise indeed. 

The Longest Road on Earth is thoroughly enjoyable; an experience that is capable of sincerely touching the player. The music is wonderful and the whole journey a delight. Granted, many may struggle with the lack of action and others will find the undramatic nature of the narrative hard to take, but there’s a good chance that if you give The Longest Road on Earth a chance, it’s one that you will really like.  

Ziggurat 2 is a really nice surprise; one that is highly recommended for old school Quake fans who have missed that arena-based shooter feel. I warmly accepted the challenge which was presented in-game and look forward to my next run with new characters. That in itself is testament for a genre and type that I would usually avoid.

Clouzy is highly recommended for parents, young folks and anyone looking for something closer to Animal Crossing (in looks) for Xbox or for those who just want to take five, relax and have a break from the barrage of heavy duty games that we have to play this year.

Endling – Extinction is Forever is an important game that tells a tale of the environmental and man-made destruction that is happening around us. It focuses on how our actions affect our animal friends, and the perilous state of balance we find ourselves in. As a game, it’s good and well designed, even though it feels relentless in its outcomes; at times, it’s not an enjoyable game to play. 

If you’re a story lover, then Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo is possibly a must-buy. It’s a unique and individual game, powered by a narrative that has been inspired by the famous director’s classic film. The story is great with a lot going on, the gameplay works well and there are always some intriguing moments to keep your attention and focus. It’s not complicated and you won’t get stuck at any point, but the pacing is a problem at times and it could have possibly been cut by a couple of hours without harm. 

I could’ve done without a water section, but thankfully that is only a small portion of a game that will give you upwards of ten hours of gameplay. That’s a good length too and means that nothing drags on unnecessarily. The world of The Knight Witch is vibrant and well-crafted – if you’re open to a challenge, then it’s worth looking past the few shortcomings.

DE:EXIT – Eternal Matters is a very pleasant surprise. The world on offer is brilliant, rich for exploration and complemented with relaxing gameplay. The story is good too, especially in terms of the writing and brilliant characters. You could also point at the simple yet challenging mechanics. And whilst there are a few minor problems with the camera and accuracy, it doesn’t take away the fact that DE:EXIT – Eternal Matters is such an original piece of work. 

After Us is not only a great experience, but a warning to us and the world we live in. 

Frank and Drake is a unique example of indie gaming at its best, mixing great storytelling, unique artistry, and good puzzles in a delightful combination. Some might find it too slow, whilst others may point to the lack of open-world control annoying. But this is a game that is capable of providing many moments of magic, taking the mundane to the sublime.

Overall and whilst you may find the opening of The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story to be a bit of a slow burn, the more you play the more invested you will become. The controls become more comfortable and the spells are fun to use, all as new combat abilities are unlocked and the story continues to develop. The few shortcomings don’t change the fact that The Mageseeker: A League of Legend Story is a game well worth picking up.

So much care has been put into The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo that we suspect Nacho Rodríguez will circle back and address its bugs and technical hiccups. We hope he does, because this is a game that deserves to be flawless. The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is a free-wheeling, surrealist graphic adventure that’s so beautiful that sometimes we just want to sit back and admire. 

There is a lot to like about Lords of the Fallen. The scope and scale of the two worlds is impressive, whilst the combat is fast and frantic. Even the exploration side of things, while tricky, is rewarding when you manage to pull it off. 

Brilliantly designed with a different slant on the metroidvania genre, Wordless has a unique style and some amazing visual storytelling. Fans of a challenge will relish the combat and the depth it has, whilst the exploration and platforming elements are very strong. On the whole, it is capable of providing a universe that you’ll enjoy spending time in. Maybe some will find it a tad too challenging, but persevere and you’ll find Worldless capable of delivering a stunning time.

Whilst there are restrictions in terms of the gameplay and location, Grotto is one of those most unique of indie experiences. It’s full of strange world building and weird language, but that does mean it comes across as a great experiment, one looking to utilise communication and diviners.

If you’re looking for a bit of a challenge and a thoroughly enjoyable action platformer, for a very reasonable price, then look no further than Unepic – aka Dark Souls 2D.

You see, on the whole Vesta is a lovely little story-filled puzzler that is powered by humour and brings enough thought as to why, what and when at all times. It’s not the most perfect game, and slight control issues, a repetitive soundtrack and massive save problems put a downer on things, but it’s still worth taking a shot at. Especially should the saving bugs get ironed out.

By all means jump into the world of Billy and his nightmares, but you should be aware that the difficulty and horrible screen shake that is on offer may just be seeing you losing some sleep of your own.

Agatha Knife is a strange game. It is sometimes simple and a tad shallow, it’ll offend some and irritate others. It does nothing new for the Point and Click adventure game. But the further I delved, the stronger my resolve to see its conclusion. I cared about Agatha and the struggles she faced. I can’t remember the last time I sniggered so much at a video game. Mango Protocol, a studio of less than 10 people have created a world and characters that I want to see more of. Agatha Knife shows a great deal of innovation over their debut project and I only hope they continue down this path.

STAY is completely different to anything out there at the moment, in a good way, and so it’s definitely worth checking out. Just remember that there are people that can help with those darn puzzles!

It’s competitive, it’s fun, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and so if you’re a fan of local multiplayer titles, enjoy sports games, or simply want something to play with family and friends, then Super Volley Blast is a title you should consider grabbing with both hands.

Super Hyperactive Ninja is a game that will fit in well with those who enjoy a good speedrunning adventure or simply want to find the next challenging platformer. Whilst there may not be much replayability besides going back for the S-rank, there are certainly some bragging points to be earned for anyone who can master this surprisingly difficult adventure. For such a low price, there may well be many who want to give it a shot.

Thinice Games has done a solid job by creating a fun (if slightly bland) platformer. Levels hold enough complexity to keep up the challenge and the sense of progression is balanced very well. Its lack of a story-based campaign is sorely missed and the repetitiveness of the environments is noticeable at times, but despite the infrequent flaws a good time can be found in Twin Robots.

All this comes together to ensure that Colossus Down on Xbox is an interesting proposition, with game-changing choices to be made and an upgrade tree that can well reward multiple playthroughs. The violence is over the top, but awesome, the characters and enemies are well-drawn and designed, and the whole game is fun in short blasts. And therein lies the rub; this is not a game that I can sit down with for an extended period, as mashing X and pressing RB every now and again becomes tiresome. There are however combos to learn and unlock, but you don’t need to use them, and the long and the short of it is that the game does suffer from a feeling of “I’ve seen this all before”. There are flashes of brilliance, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts. If you like side-scrolling beat-em-ups, then this is worth a punt, but if not, well, try Streets of Rage 4 instead!

Altogether, Mail Mole on Xbox does the job of offering a ‘00s-era platformer – nothing more, nothing less. There’s no innovation here, not even capitalising on the fact that you’re a mole, and you may well groan at the landslide of cliches. But as we came to the end of Mail Mole, we kind of dug it. Aside from the odd control molehill, Mail Mole is a smooth ride and it may well scratch an itch that you forgot you had.  

Solo: Islands of the Heart on Xbox One is something of an enigma. The deep delve into the player’s love life is a risky one as many won’t even want to contemplate such thoughts when gaming and so the ‘story’ could be a non-event for some folk. On the plus side though, the visuals, the sounds and the puzzling goes hand in hand to create an experience that’s a challenge, with a fair few intelligent solutions to figure out. If only the block placement and camera angle weren’t constantly at odd with your efforts, then it’d be a far more enjoyable game.

Super Sports Blast, as a package, on Xbox is a lot of fun. I very much enjoyed the volleyball and tennis segments, and whilst the football section doesn’t work for me personally, I feel that you can blame the likes of FIFA for that rather than anything this collection of games does wrong. If you’ve looking for a party game to be added for local multiplayer rotation then this will be a perfect addition, what with its range of competitions and fun, quick gameplay. That said, if you’re a solo player, it’s quite a price tag to invest in, especially when you put it up against other more realistic sports experiences out there. And similarly, if you are a serious sports fan then this is unlikely to be for you. 

If Narita Boy had a better handle on what it did well, and spent less time on the stuff it didn’t, we’d have a hit on our hands. Instead, we have style over substance – a Tron: Evolution rather than Blade Runner, say – when it could have been a bonafide classic.

Overall though, The Last Kids on Earth and The Staff of Doom does enough to warrant interest from those who enjoy the universe via other mediums. The gameplay is straightforward and the arsenal of moves will be exciting from a child’s point-of-view, while the boss encounters are a real highlight. All the favourite characters and a good selection of baddies are present too, with new ones included to add a bit of freshness. That said, the price could be a sticking point for 6-8 hours of content. Also, it falters in the storytelling and the unavoidable horde sections, but worse than that are the darn bugs. You might get lucky and sidestep the biggest bug, and if you do, you’ll find that The Staff of Doom is a decent options for fans of The Last Kids on Earth.

Onirike is a unique action platforming adventure with a great premise and a weirdly wonderful narrative. The platforming is not always the best and having to plant flowers in order to find progress is initially tricky to get to grips with, but the puzzles are inventive and the design of the world is superb. 

Having said all that, the core driving experience found in Super Toy Cars Offroad is fun. It’s fast and hectic, the majority of races will keep you engaged and you will really have to prove yourself to be first across that finish line. Add in some split-screen multiplayer, and you get more replay value. It would have been nice to have the ability to be able to have more players racing, but as an indie title, you have to give Eclipse games a lot of credit for still packing a lot of racing in here.

All in all, Metal Tales: Overkill makes a decent fist of being a good game. The various layouts and bosses you face, along with the decent amount of items and weapons to find, makes each run unique. Add in a decent co-op mode and this is a game that can be recommended to metalheads everywhere. If you don’t like the metal, it is a bit of a harder sell, but is still fun to play. 

All in all, Souldiers does have a lot to recommend. The game is big, the bosses that you meet need some serious planning and pattern learning, and there is a good challenge and learning curve. It’s just the little niggles that spoil the party; the annoying jump delay, the almost ridiculously hard combat. If Souldiers was capable of easing you in, allowing the player to level up a bit before throwing them into fights with unbearably powerful enemies, it would be better. Still, for fans of the genre, this will certainly provide a stiff challenge. 

We have a warmness of affection for Surface Rush, but nothing stronger than that. It proves that you can elevate the coin-pushing games of your youth to a full-blown video game, and it doesn’t skimp on the levels or game modes. But there’s a saminess to the levels that is hard to avoid, and the spiky difficulty – both figuratively and literally – is even harder to dodge. For the £4.19 price, though, Surface Rush is not much of a risk, and if you play it in small, fifteen minute chunks, you will get the most out of this budget puzzler. 

So, if you have a Skylanders itch that Activision refuses to scratch, or have love for the DreamWorks Dragons series, then DreamWorks Dragons: Legends of the Nine Realms takes a bit of a run up and then soars. Just pack in some co-op next time, if you please.

LumbearJack is easy to write off as a game simply for kids. However, give it a chance and you may just learn something as well as having a smashing time in the process.

In all, Astronite is a solid Metroidvania that, whilst having some shortcomings, still manages to play out as a fun game. You’ll probably beat it in three to five hours, more if you work on collecting every upgrade and exploring the entire map, struggling with some sections as you go. 

UnderDungeon is probably unlike anything you would have played this century, and so as a somewhat unique proposition, I recommend you give it a try.

We expected Star Trek Prodigy: Supernova to arrive in a red shirt, virtually dead on arrival. Instead, we’ve got a game with substance and style, and there’s nothing more Star Trek than that.

Oxide Room 104 is a decent little survival horror; one that has some great ideas but falls short in others. The price feels a little too high for what is on offer here, but there is one thing for sure, it’ll certainly make you consider ever stepping foot inside a motel again. 

If you’re a puzzle fan then you’ll enjoy Seven Doors, particularly as it delivers a lovely surprise in the latter parts of the game. The puzzle and mental elements are great, with some brain-teasing tests which are fun to solve and participate in. The more physical side of things doesn’t work as well though; more annoying and – at times – just not fun. But Seven Doors is pretty cheap to purchase and whilst it is unlikely to be troubling your game of the year lists, it’s still well worth a look. 

Still, if you have a pre-teen player who loves gaming but struggles to knuckle down on their maths homework, then MathLand adds up nicely. It’s an entertaining game first, and a maths tutor second, and that makes it more palatable than tablet-based games like Times Table Rockstars. 

Durante la primera hora o así, probablemente adorarás Minabo, disfrutando de su singular premisa y de sus encantadores efectos visuales. Pero después de una o dos partidas, el interés puede empezar a decaer.

You have to send credit the way of the development team for tackling a subject like this, dealing with it in a compassionate and heartfelt way. There’s no doubt that the story of Inner Ashes is very good, with a great representation of the struggles involved in coping with Alzheimer’s. But the pacing can feel too slow at times and if I am being picky there are a few too many Tetris-styled puzzles.

It’s a shame then that the story is poorly told, the platforming side of things occasionally feels off, and hit detection could be better. Yet on the whole, Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is a nice little romp through a neat little world.

You can probably see our dilemma. Disney Speedstorm is a masterful technical achievement and absolutely in the upper echelons of karting games. It just oozes class. But it’s dripfed through a live service that couldn’t possibly let you have everything at once, and a series of currencies and unlocks that seem designed to bemuse. We’re not normally sensitive to free-to-play games with this degree of live service, but even Disney Speedstorm got us hankering for a one-time price tag.

It may not have been the Transformers game that I wanted, but TRANSFORMERS: EARTHSPARK – Expedition surprised at how much of a decent open world title it is. A few more playable Autobots next time around would be much appreciated.

AK-xolotl is a really good little game. There is a decent challenge on offer while the grind is certainly real (buying new weapons seems to cost an arm and a leg, almost literally). That means the urge is there to have just one more run. It isn’t as polished as others, but it feels like the devs are looking to embrace it with new content on a regular basis, so I’m hopeful that over time it will grow and be polished. 

The technical hiccups and the lack of interaction in Bluey: The Videogame caused our four-player team to scream “awwww” in disappointment. But it’s testament to the game’s authenticity that they often wheeled away and played with something else in the world instead. From the art to the voice-acting to the painstaking recreation of the Bluey house: it’s all exactly as it should be. You’re led into the world of Bluey and told to play. For younger players, that will be music to their little dingo ears.

The setup and strange magical story are to be loved in Tenebris Pictura. The characters are intriguing and the gameplay is good, mixing the travel between planes well. Visually it’s all very stunning. But personally, the combat has been hard to get on with. 

In conclusion then, Lords of Exile is a competent action platformer that does what it does with a certain style. The action on offer is fun to play through, and the challenge is quite stiff, which helps keep you pushing on. If you like a platformer with action elements, Lords of Exile will do the business. 

Whilst an entire playthrough of Spheroids will only take you four or five hours tops, and nothing put in front of you is likely to test any of your gaming skills, you’ll probably still enjoy the mindless ball popping mayhem that it brings – whether or not that statement says more about me and my gaming ambitions though is another matter. There are issues – most notably with the ‘shop’ which is fairly pointless, but should you be looking for a fairly cheap, simple playthrough and a whole ton of achievement gathering in the process, then you could do worse.

I have two distinct reactions to my time with Vaccine. The first is hatred of its terrible old control system, changing camera angles and the random generating house of horror. The second reaction though is of respect and enjoyment at the increasing tension of the challenge, while getting better at unlocking the secret of the Vaccine. This is a game that you need to fail at and spend some time with in order to get the best out of it. If you can get past the issues I had at the beginning then there is a good Survival horror game in here, with a neat concept, that will make some classic gamers very happy indeed.

Horned Knight is a strange one. It’s a game that suffers from an extreme lack of variety, story and replayability. It’s a game that becomes repetitive rather quickly. It’s a game that does nothing to set itself apart from the hundreds of games of a similar nature that already exist on the market. And yet at the same time, it’s fundamentally solid from a pure gameplay perspective, with smooth, responsive controls and naturally difficult platforming sections that really test a player’s skill. 

Puzzle games that try something new are pretty rare, so Indigo 7 gets some brownie points. But those points are mostly squandered by too much randomness, duff game modes, a vacuous story and a combo system that files away the fun. There’s a decent multiplayer puzzler tucked away in the corners of Indigo 7: Quest For Love, but this is mostly a failed experiment with only a few interesting findings.

Overall, there’s a quick fix of enjoyment here at most in what is a decidedly average wrestling game. And that unfortunately means that it’s back to the drawing board for 2K as WWE 2K Battlegrounds hasn’t filled the void of the main series.

Put simply, Evil Dead: The Game feels like a missed opportunity from Saber Interactive, which is especially disappointing after the excellent World War Z. There’s frighteningly little content for the price and despite the multiplayer being good fun, overall it feels like style over substance.

The fact that Injection π23 ‘Ars regia’ has been put together by just one person blows my mind so that deserves some credit and it’ll be interesting to see how this franchise progresses in the future. 

Square Keeper manages to create a decent spin on the old dungeon crawler genre, with puzzles at the forefront and a relaxed atmosphere to boot. It’s a nice change of pace to use your noggin to escape the rooms, but you won’t have to ponder solutions for too long and easiness is as much a blessing as it is a curse. Having a few extra card or enemy types wouldn’t have gone a miss either to inject more variation into proceedings. 

Whether you buy Formula Bit Racing DX depends on what you’re after. You see, Formula Bit Racing DX is enjoyable and will help boost your Xbox Gamerscore, but there’s not much challenge to it and you’ll struggle to find a reason to play it beyond an hour.

To get the most out of Frogun, we would suggest that you need to be checking a few boxes. You need to have lived and loved in the peak period of ‘90s 3D platformers. That love needs to be deep enough to ignore some reasonably core control failings. And you have to play in short bursts, as Frogun fatigue is definitely a thing. But reach this point with three checked boxes and we would be happy to recommend Frogun to you. Frogun is deep, charming and podgy with collectibles. Just be aware that this frog is not fit to lick Mario 64’s boots.

I hate to be so critical, especially when the team behind Blind Fate: Edo No Yami obviously have some good ideas. I just wish they could have executed them in a way that would allow for you to want to continue to play. 

Charon’s Staircase can feel a bit like putting on a pair of comfy slippers, sipping some cocoa and kicking back with a good old-fashioned ghost story. But other moments frustrate, with some not-so-fun puzzles, brightness issues, and a familiar last act. The story may hook you and it’s certainly interesting to explore the world of Charon’s Staircase, but this doesn’t quite rise above the other games in this genre. 

A game that does what it needs to do pretty well, Rise of Fox Hero is a good old-fashioned platformer; bright and cheerful, with a good amount of levels and challenge. It helps that it is cheap to purchase and so if you’re looking for something to take a punt on, you won’t go far wrong. That said, it does start to feel a bit bland once you get roughly halfway through, something that is not helped by the lack of variation. 

Booting up Peppa Pig: World Adventures on launch day today, a substantial day-one patch has addressed a few of the glaring issues. But there are still wonkinesses here, particularly in the transitions between scenes. Peppa’s still not cooked: not quite. Which is a shame, because there’s a lot to explore in Peppa Pig: World Adventures, and while the game feels paradoxically more constrained as it goes global, it’s also an experience that had our four-year old jumping up and down on the sofa, singing that flipping theme tune all day. 

Without an overarching theme or framework, these tales of horror need to stand on their own. But mostly they wobble. Lord of the Road is the exception: a confident 2D adventure that feels like the unhinged cousin of the original Legend of Zelda. The rest struggle to bring more than jump-scares and some incoherent storytelling to their short runtimes. 

If you love a challenging puzzler in which you are left to search hard for clues, then After You could be the game for you. I would suspect most will need to rely on a guide, but even then, the story and visuals are both good enough to draw you in. This is a tricky game though, one that could well keep you going for some time, as you try to understand what is needed for progression.

FINIS is a very short experience, yet the price tag manages to justify the content. But it must be said, once you’ve been ‘evaluated’ there’s a chance you’ll be done with FINIS, left to leave it on the shelf forevermore. Perhaps that would be down to the muddled control system or lack of explanation, but if you’re a fan of the genre, you should find something to like in this short experience. 

Stories of Bethem: Full Moon is a retro game, with retro ideas which doesn’t do anything remarkable and feels a little out of place on today’s latest console, despite it being a decent experience overall. Also, the price is reasonable enough for anyone looking for a blast from the past!

Oh My Godheads offers a fun gaming experience for an hour or two at best. Having timed one session, it took just over 16 minutes to play every multiplayer game once, with the most enjoyable ones strangely being those not involving the Godheads. Had this game been priced accordingly I could easily recommend it, but with what you get and the price at £10.99, I would highly suggest looking elsewhere for a local multiplayer fix before considering Oh My Godheads.

So, that is the sum of the experience on offer in Concept Destruction on Xbox One. It’s fun while it lasts, but apart from some interesting achievements to find and unlock, once you’ve done so the urge to play again evaporates like the morning dew in a blast furnace. It’s a fun diversion, but sadly it doesn’t last long enough. I fear this will suffer the same fate as a lot of Ratalaika Games titles – once all the achievements have been rinsed, it’s a one way trip to Uninstallsville. It’s a shame really, as the “Concept” does have legs. It’s just a shame those legs appear to be made of cardboard. 

On Xbox, Oniria Crimes’ greatest successes are in the rich world it’s created, and the uniqueness of interrogating the crime scene to come to a conclusion. But neither are enough: the experience tumbles into a nightmare, as poor controls, bemusing design decisions and bugs overwhelm everything. We’re glad that we experienced its peaks, but we’d suggest that the troughs are so deep that you might not get past them, or want to.

A strong indication of whether I’ve liked a visual novel is whether I am eager to actually see what happened on those different branches. But I had none of that urge with Synergia: A Cyberpunk Thriller Visual Novel. The prospect of doubling my time with this humdrum, navel-gazing cyberpunk visual novel filled me with a slight sense of dread. I wanted to make my excuses, drop down an origami unicorn, and pop out to watch Blade Runner instead.

Cube Raiders on Xbox is a choc-a-block package, with more levels and modes than you’ll possibly need. As sokoban-style crate-pushers go, it’s well-designed too, with a punt at originality by incorporating dice. But it needed way more oomph and variety to break the feelings of repetition. Hundreds of levels won’t mean much when you roll out well before the end. 

Honestly, I really wanted Ikai to be good; like a flashback to the Project Zero games and the way they brought Japanese horror to life. But sadly it stumbles well short of those titles. The action is dull, and while the monsters are nice, you never really feel like you are in any danger; as such the horror part of Ikai falls flat too. There are some good ideas here, and a good atmosphere can be created, but overall it is just disappointing.

There may be a masochist who enjoys the endless running of Running on Magic. It certainly has plenty that’s pretty and charming, particularly in its art and characters. But you’d have to pay us good money to play it again. It’s clumsy to control and has some sloppy level generation that, in combination, makes you feel like you’re being sabotaged as you play. We’d love to say that we just need to get good, but we’ve got a sneaking suspicion that Running on Magic doesn’t want us to play it.

What Bratz: Flaunt Your Fashion amounts to is a static playmat. Your kids can dress up their doll and wander about it, looking for treasure chests, and there’s some enjoyment to be found in that. But once you start engaging with the world around you, talking to interviewees for the Bratz magazine, you realise how flimsy everything is. There just isn’t much to do, and the few interactions are chat, chat, making yourselves the focus of the story, and then more chat. 

So whilst it’s clear that a lot of effort went into Curse of the Sea Rats, the game really needs a significant amount of fine tuning. Similarly, there are a variety of great ideas included within it, but these need expanding on and fleshing out further to ensure this one turns into something that is truly brilliant. At present, Curse of the Sea Rats simply feels unremarkable. 

But as much as Death or Treat wants to fall on the treat side of the equation, we felt tricked. We were completely sold on its charismatic art style, and were prepped for roguelike joys. But the levels are too much of a slog, the enemies artlessly created and – fatally – the combat is limp. There are clearly very talented people at Saona Studios, but Death or Treat needed to bake for a few more months if it was going to feel finished.

n summary, those who have played the game on other platforms will notice that the Xbox version is nothing more than a poor port of the original game, where the only changes are the control schemes which have been adapted to the Xbox controller. Besides that, the game continues to have the same issues that seem to have afflicted the previously released versions and that is something which disappoints me. With a bit work in a bunch of different aspects, this could have been a promising game, but in its current state it’s hard to recommend it as a good game.

This review may seem like a bit of a spanking, but despite all the above, the game is not as bad as I have made out. Sure, a bit of quality control would have been welcome, but it’s clear where its inspiration came from and if you are a fan of early 90’s hack and slash dungeon crawlers, then you will likely see some enjoyment from this. It is very basic and should last no longer than a few nights to complete, but with a price as low as this it is difficult to expect anymore.

With plenty of exhilarating platformers on the market, such as A Hat in Time and Yooka-Laylee, it’s hard to recommend Gigantosaurus: The Game to any age. It’s too easy, repetitive and contains no sense of inventiveness. Younger gamers will no doubt find a slight amount of fun in the experience, but it will fail to push their skills any further or demand a large amount of attention. Gigantosaurus: The Game on Xbox One is a gigantic flop.

For the potential that Super Soccer Blast on Xbox One brings, it consistently fails to deliver, with bugs, glitches and an overriding rushed feeling provided throughout. Even though the in-game mechanics aren’t the best, it could well have still been an arcade football game worth playing. But it comes with a severe lack of game options, zero online capabilities and enough bugs and glitches bubbling around, ready to explode, to ensure that this is one to avoid. After previous success in the sports field – particularly with Super Tennis Blast – I’m sure the team at Unfinished Pixel will be working to rectify the problems that keep cropping up, but in the meantime stick to your FIFA and PES. No matter how much you might complain about them. 

In conclusion, if you are the sort of person who enjoys banging their head on a desk for hours, you may get a little bit of enjoyment from El Gancho. For the rest of us, the slightly shoddy look, poor mechanics and dodgy controls consign this to the “Must not play” pile of games from history. Even the promise of easy achievements won’t be enough to keep you playing, and that is a damning indictment indeed. 

You can’t argue with the price of Touchdown Pinball, but it very much feels like a case of getting what you pay for. There is no multiplayer, there are no bells nor whistles, and even the basics of a pinball game don’t feel right. There is very little to recommend here, aside from some easy Xbox Gamerscore.

From the damn commentator who constantly repeats the same three or four lines over and over again, to the random-filled races, terrible AI, poor visuals, utterly disgusting sound and occasional screen lag, Grand Prix Rock N Racing is about as far from fun as you’re likely to find. It is therefore left in the hands of your friends and family as to whether the multiplayer side of things makes this Rock ‘N Racing title worthy of a one time shot.

Indiecalypse on Xbox One tries many things, but for the most part it fails. Throughout my time with it it has regularly required restarts to fix its minigames, its humour is grating and fails to show any depth, and it only really takes a couple of hours or so to finish. Despite this, the minigames and story aren’t worth the playtime. Indiecalypse is to games what “Epic Movie” is to films – shallow, self-serving and ultimately pointless. If you own any of the games it parodies, just play those instead. 

We were hoping for something like Everybody’s Golf on the Xbox. Instead, we hope that Smoots Golf is played by precisely nobody.

Reviewing Nape Retroverse Collection has felt like running in a really crap marathon. We’re exhausted. None of the four games are good by anyone’s standards, but there’s so much shoddiness crammed into one package that we almost appreciate the effort in producing it. It manages to drain the life out of Megaman, Gradius (twice) and Legend of Zelda II across its four games, so, if you want to preserve your love for any of those games, we would encourage you to avoid handing over the £5.79 for Nape Retroverse Collection.

I don’t think very much of Superola Champion Edition and certainly not enough to put up with the annoying gameplay and stupid premise of jumping and shooting. The era of endless runners is over now, and Superola makes sure it goes out with a whimper. Don’t waste your money is my most honest advice, and certainly don’t encourage other developers to look at this genre and think “We need more of those!”. 

In the past few months, we’ve experienced a traffic jam of top-down racers. And right at the back, way behind the rest of them, is Retro Pixel Racers. It offers no excuses: it flicks the bird as it passes, with no multiplayer, no game modes, no track variation and a top-speed just north of a shopping trolley. This is an aggressively bad racer that doesn’t even offer the courtesy of an easy 1000G. 

The short length shouldn’t put you off though. Hyper Shapes is a great little game, wrapped up in a sleek presentation. It’s difficult on the whole, but it never deviates from its trusted method of giving you a pattern and asking you to use it to overcome a boss. The result? A Boss Rush experience that is fun, rewarding and well worth playing. 

Pushy and Pully in Blockland on the Xbox One is simply one of those games that should be avoided at all costs. Repetitive, fiddly and not sure what sort of game it is, the only thing enjoyable about it is the art style. But even then, all it did was make me long to play those older games again rather than have to sit through any more of this. It’s not really a puzzle game, it’s not really a platformer, it’s just an unfortunately bad game.

DESOLATIUM is an unusual, yet enjoyable, point-and-click adventure that is well worth getting your teeth into. The visuals are very impressive, whilst the atmosphere and soundtrack are equally good. It’s a journey to enjoy, even if I found there to possibly be one character too many included. The mechanics may take a while to get used to, but the puzzles are good, even if they rarely make for a challenge.