Author Profile
PJ is a staff writer across Pure Xbox and Nintendo Life. He's been playing video games pretty much nonstop since the early 1980s, and enjoys boring people with tedious stories about how long ago that really is.
Hands On Atomfall Brings Fun Detective Work & Intriguing Narrative To Xbox Game Pass
Inspector Bads**t
There's something about Rebellion's output that always sucks me right in for the long haul. Games that can be rough around the edges at times, for sure, but also experiences that revel in their wonderful gaminess, maximising the fun of sniping someone in the nuts in Sniper Elite 5, for example, by hamming the entire operation up...
Hands On Assassin's Creed Shadows Feels Like A Timely Refresh For The Series
Shinobi Shuffle
Unfortunately, we haven't had enough time with Assassin's Creed Shadows to put a definitive score on a review - this is a game with a world that's bigger than Origins, after all - but I've personally been using every spare second to jump in and explore where I can over the past week or so. What's struck me most in the opening hours...
Guide Xbox Game Pass: Easy Achievements & Fastest Completions
20+ games with easy Xbox achievements to boost your Gamerscore
What are the best Xbox Game Pass Games for earning quick, easy Xbox achievements? Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass service is on fire these days with a steady stream of AAA big-hitters and excellent indie titles being released on an almost weekly basis. There are, quite literally, too many...
Xbox console exclusive games you can enjoy in 2025
What are the best Xbox exclusives you can play in 2025? The Xbox ecosystem has been home to some truly stellar Xbox exclusives over the years, top-notch titles that you'll only find on Microsoft's family of consoles and PC. What's more, the vast majority of these titles are now available via Xbox...
Guide Best Two-Player Local Co-Op Games On Xbox
Teamwork makes the dream work
When it comes to Xbox games that cater for two-player local co-op between pals, players have a huge array of experiences to dig into - many of which are available to play via the ever-excellent Xbox Game Pass. Whether you're looking to party hard in something like Gears 5 or Halo: MCC, or settle down on the couc
Caution's nothing without charisma
You know, ask any of my mates, and they'll tell you that back in whatever year it was that Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag released, I was constantly telling them, "this is great, yeah, but what it really needs is cheesy karaoke rhythm games, customisable mopeds, Japanese gangsters and 200% more sequins. Oh and a...
Guide Avowed: All Totem & Totem Fragment Locations
Totes helpful
Have a look around any of your Party Camps in Avowed, and you'll find a Totem Shrine. The Totem Shrine is where you'll place the game's Totem Fragment collectibles, in order to make use of the various buffs they provide. Totem Fragments have some of the best perks in Avowed, so it's well worth making sure to nab all the fragments as...
Up ye go, Dorothy
Emerald Stair is the second location in Obsidian's superb Avowed and, in order to keep you right, we've put together this quick guide to all of its most important collectibles and where exactly to find them. We also have collectibles guides to all the other locations in Avowed on the way, including Dawnshore, Scattersharp,...
Guide Avowed: Dawnshore - All Pagrun Cache, Ancient Memory, Strangled Adra & Party Camp Locations
I beg your Pagrun
Dawnshore is the very first location in Obsidian's superb Avowed and, in order to get you started on the right foot, we've put together this quick guide to all of its most important collectibles and where exactly to find them. We also have collectibles guides to all the other locations in Avowed on the way, including Emerald...
So, Eora into action RPGs?
Have we ever told you how much we love The Outer Worlds? There was a little pushback when it launched; some folk thought it was too short, too lightweight and wishy-washy, but we loved everything about it. Obsidian seemed to actively decide to remove itself from what felt like bit of a race circa 2019, to make the most...
The hottest picks for RPG action on Xbox consoles in 2025
What are the best Xbox RPG games you can play in 2025? The RPG genre has exploded in popularity in recent years, edging its way into mainstream gamer consciousness like never before. As a result, where Western RPGs have historically been pretty hard to come by, they're now absolutely...
O Come, all ye (hardcore) faithful
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 is a hard-ass game, no matter how you choose to approach it. It's a hard game to play, to get a footing in and to stick with in its early hours. It's hard, too, in how it refuses to readily explain its myriad of interlocking mechanics and systems, or to help in many of the ways we've...
Resistance is futile, you slags
Have you ever wanted to play an entry in Rebellion's fantastic Sniper Elite series that stars Danny Dyer as the protagonist? Have you ever wanted to give a whole bunch of Nazi slags a right good doing? Well, we reckon you're not alone, sunshine. In fact, we've been petitioning Rebellion for this very thing for years...
Feature 30 Xbox Series X|S Games To Look Forward To In 2025
Hey, backlog, suck on this
Good day to you, future citizen, and welcome to 2025! 2024 was a very, very good year for games, and although Xbox's first-party output dried up at times and perhaps lacked a certain spark overall (at least in this writer's opinion), the likes of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, CoD: Black Ops 6, Age of Mythology:...
Feature Pure Xbox's Game Of The Year 2024
The end of another great circle
2024. You piece of trash. Your time has come. Yes, it's the end of another year on this planet we're all involuntarily stuck to, and it's been another fairly atrocious one all round, truth be told. Whether its within the games industry itself, which is currently being eaten alive by straight-up greed, or on the world...
Nobody trusts anybody now … and we're all very tired
Here's the thing about The Thing Remastered; it's still very much 2002's The Thing. Which is either a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on how much you like your The Thing. 2002's The Thing, you see, which is based on the intensely sexy Kurt Russell movie, The Thing, (itself based on a...
Feature Best Stalker 2 PC Mods We'd Love To See On Xbox Series X|S
Hone your zone
We've had our issues with the launch version of Stalker 2, as our recent 4/10 review made clear. However, we know the long-term way of things with these games, and are in no doubt that GSC Game World has got big plans for the future of this enormous and atmospheric experience. For now though, the PC version — available via PC Game...
Review Stalker 2 (Xbox) - GSC Game World's Long-Awaited Sequel Is A Mess
Zoned Out
There are many reasons why an endeavour as complex as creating a huge open-world video game sometimes doesn't pan out the way it should or could; absolutely millions of things that can and will go wrong at the best of times, no matter how much hard work goes in. Add in the stress of being at war during the development of your project -...
Exclusivity-Endedman
Death Stranding seemed to cause way more division that we thought it would when it released back in 2019. Some folk found it boring and bland, others were confused by the (confusing) plot, nonplussed by the lack of action, whilst more still just sorta thought it was way too long and ponderous. Make no mistake, it still reviewed...
Review Dragon Age: The Veilguard (Xbox) - Bioware Is Back On Form With An Inquisition-Besting Banger
Blight here, blight now
Dragon Age is finally back, and, let's just get it out of the way in the first sentence - BioWare has officially ended its recent poor run of form in spectacular fashion! We feel like we have to say it straight away, after the waiting we've all done. It's been a full decade since the glory of Dragon Age: Inquisition,...
Review Starship Troopers: Extermination (Xbox) - A Schlocky Good Time That Needs TLC ASAP
How'd ya like some bugs with your bugs, trooper?
There's been a lot of interest from console-exclusive gamers in the past 12 months-or-so in seeing Offworld's janky-but-fun Starship Troopers: Extermination make the leap from PC - where it's been in early access since mid-2023. Now, with a full 1.0 release finally in the wild, we've got a chance to...
Review Metaphor: ReFantazio - Atlus Proves It's Still The King of JRPG-Land
School's Out
It seems odd now, looking back, that we hadn't really been particularly excited for Metaphor: ReFantazio over the past couple of months. Maybe it's the fact we've played so many Persona revamps and remakes lately, but something or other has had us feeling as though a return to similar JRPG ground was gonna take a lot of digging in,...
Starship Poopers
Well, this is a bit unexpected. As big fans of Starfield, who had plenty good to say about the base game upon release, we were pretty sure that Shattered Space was going to be a slice of DLC that was right up our intergalactic street. Sure, there were plenty of reasons to be irked with this hugely-anticipated sci-fi universe when...
A bit Lionel Messy, innit
It's EA FC's second season filling a FIFA-shaped hole in our hearts wallets and, after a strong debut that we scored 8/10 last year, we've been feeling pretty optimistic about how this new series could look to cement itself in 2025. As it turns out, it's a new tactical depth, in the form of FC IQ, that EA FC 25 is choosing...
