Xbox Series X|S Game Reviews
Review Nobody Wants To Die (Xbox) - An Immersive Outing That Nails Its Cyberpunk Aesthetic
The price of eternal life
Nobody Wants to Die has sort of come out of nowhere, hasn't it? The brand-new IP, developed by an entirely new studio, has largely been kept under wraps since its initial announcement earlier this year - and in truth, that had us a bit worried about what we were in for. Well, that worry was needless; Nobody Wants to Die is...
All the right moves
If, like us, you're the sort of Gridiron gaming fan who loves to run the offense, but hasn't got a clue what all those silly pictures mean on defence, we reckon EA Sports College Football 25 might just actually, finally, teach you something...even if it's just a little...about what on earth is going on during those parts when you...
Good, or a load of Herzwaffeln?
Dungeons Of Hinterberg is a very, very good name for a computer game. It has a vibe, the word Hinterberg, you see, a very specific sort of vibe that Microbird Games has absolutely nailed. When you say Hinterberg to us, we sense adventure, we demand mysterious mountains and picturesque (but very weird) villages. We...
Review Flintlock: The Siege Of Dawn (Xbox) - New Game Pass RPG Hurt By Its Own Ambition
Ran out of ammo
Back in December 2018, A44 Games released Ashen. With a striking art style, gorgeous atmosphere and great combat, it is still an indie gem of the soulslike genre. Now, five and a half years later, the team is back with Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn, which is a soulslike far greater in scale than the small adventure Ashen was...
Dancing Machine
Is it just us, or has Capcom been on some sort of record-breaking streak of fantastic form since around about 2016? The Resident Evil 2 Remake upped the game for revamps in general, Street Fighter 6 is the best the series has been since Street Fighter 2 Turbo (fact) and the likes of Monster Hunter and Devil May Cry are enjoying more...
Review Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1 (Xbox) - A $5 Game That'll Give You The Creeps
Cheap thrills
Poppy Playtime: Chapter 1 was always destined to be a hit on Xbox. You take a game with Five Nights at Freddys inspirations, slap a ridiculously cheap £4.19 / $4.99 sticker on it, and it's bound to wind up in the "Top Paid" Xbox charts before long. That's exactly what's happened within its first few days on sale, but is it any good?...
Review The Elder Scrolls Online: Gold Road (Xbox) – 10 Years Of Tamriel With A Trip To West Weald
Eight chapters and counting
The Elder Scrolls Online might have started its life a lot later than certain other MMORPGs, but that hasn’t stopped it from making a name for itself over the past 10 years. Since its initial launch in 2014, which was propelled by the popularity of Bethesda’s solo adventures, it has evolved in all sorts of ways, and...
Review Neon White (Xbox) - A Speedrunner's Heavenly Delight, Now On Game Pass
Look into the light
Neon White isn’t your average first-person shooter. It incorporates elements of speedrunning, parkour, card games and even some basic aspects of the visual novel genre to create a stylish single-player experience where you must kill every demon in sight to secure your spot in Heaven. You’ll take control of a demon-slaying...
Review Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition (Xbox) - Ubisoft's Classic Revitalised
Jade is finally back!
It feels like we've been waiting forever for Beyond Good & Evil 2 to show up, and to tide us over until then, Ubisoft has now released a new remaster of the original outing – this time celebrating the game’s 20th anniversary. Yes, this year marks two decades since the original title debuted on the first Xbox (which was...
Review Still Wakes The Deep (Xbox) - Nautical Narrative Adventure Perfect For Xbox Game Pass
Swearing like a sailor
If you've played any of The Chinese Room's past games you'll have an idea of what to expect from Still Wakes The Deep; something short, sweet, dripping in atmosphere and with a laser focus on the overall narrative. Well, we're here to report that despite some behind-the-scenes changes at the British developer, Still Wakes the...
Review Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends (Xbox) - A Wholesome Game Pass Gem
Don't let this one pass you by!
Amidst all the craziness of the Xbox Showcase and everything else over the past few days, it may have completely passed you by that Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends launched on Xbox Game Pass earlier this month, and after spending plenty of hours with it between all of these major events, it's proved the...
Review Alan Wake 2: Night Springs (Xbox) - Weird & Wonderful DLC That Oozes Remedy Style
Embark on three wild episodes of Night Springs
Alan Wake 2 was big, bold, stylish and just a fantastic rollercoaster ride from start to finish last year, so you can bet your bottom dollar that we've been all over Alan Wake 2: Night Springs since it was basically shadow-dropped right after Summer Game Fest 2024. Night Springs brings together three...
Review F1 24 (Xbox) - Codemasters Delivers The F1 Goods. Again. And Again. And Again.
Lick the stamp and send it
There's something very "wannabe cool dad energy" about F1 as a sport. It's just one of those things. For every spectacular crash, breathtaking win or undeniable display of driving greatness... there's still a wrap-around shades sort of a vibe, a sort-of neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard aspect to the whole thing that it...
Review Hypercharge Unboxed (Xbox) - A Slick, Silly Shooter That Stands Out From The Pack
Charged chaos
We've been hearing about Hypercharge Unboxed eventually coming to Xbox for bloody ages at this point, and the day is finally here for us to live out our childhood toy soldier dreams. Make no mistake, this is a bit of a silly shooter at heart, but it's one that definitely has its place on the market amongst a sea of beige, realistic...
Review Horizon Chase 2 (Xbox) - Gorgeous Graphics Turbocharge This Speedy Arcade Racer
Redlining it
After a short period of time on other platforms including Nintendo Switch, the sequel to 2018's fantastic Horizon Chase Turbo is finally coming to Xbox. Yep, Horizon Chase 2 is almost here, and we've been well up for this one ever since it was announced for the platform. The good news is that this high-speed sequel largely delivers on...
Review XDefiant (Xbox) - Classic COD In A Current-Gen Frock
Getting back to basics
Xbox 360 era Call of Duty was a special time for Activision's long-running FPS franchise. Call of Duty 4 burst onto the scene with unprecedented popularity back in 2007 — pairing smooth, fast-paced gunplay with a deep, addictive progression system — and most of the series' Xbox 360 follow ups built on the formula fairly...
Review Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 (Xbox): An Incredible Spectacle That Lacks An Essential Hook
Diminishing Returns
If we cast our minds all the way back to 2019's The Game Awards, all the way back to that very first reveal for Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2, it's a strange thing that, amidst all of the next-gen hype and excitement of that specific time, we still clearly remember considering a sequel to Ninja Theory's 2017 tour-de-force a weird,...
Review System Shock Remake (Xbox) - Nightdive Does It Again With Another Superbly Studied Remake
Nice jump...insect
System Shock is just one of those games innit. It's one of those "classic" computer games that the old folk tell you about. You know those old folks, the ancient gamers (not me, obviously), just constantly yammering on at bus stops about System Shock and "oh, you shoulda seen SHODAN" and you're like "I did see SHODAN" and then...
Review Braid, Anniversary Edition (Xbox) - XBLA And Indie History Remastered
Wind back the clock
Braid is not only an important part of Xbox Live Arcade's history, but it’s arguably up there as one of the most significant indie game releases of all time – illustrating on debut the appetite for more niche and artistic experiences in a market that was at the time booming with blockbuster franchises. With this in mind,...
Review Little Kitty, Big City (Xbox) - A Purrfect Addition to Xbox Game Pass
Cats are cute, Humans should have faces.
Little Kitty, Big City is the inaugural release for indie developer Double Dagger Studio. It’s a fun and silly venture centering around a mischievous little kitty trying to find their way back home. We were interested to understand where the makers of such wholesome content had been, and let us tell you, we...
Review Sand Land (Xbox) - A Classic Manga From Dragon Ball Creator Akira Toriyama Revived
Tank beats everything!
The resurgence of Sand Land is very much a bittersweet moment for fans of the legendary manga artist and character designer Akira Toriyama, after he passed away at the age of 68 in early March 2024. While he was best known as the creator of Dragon Ball around the world, he also cont
Bay'ek, it's good
Abubakar Salim, yes the coolest Assassin's Creed protagonist from the best AC game, created quite the stir at The Game Awards back in 2021 when he announced his directorial debut with Tales of Kenzera: ZAU. Here was a Metroidvania with a very personal premise to back up it's action, action that takes place within a vivid and vital...
Review TopSpin 2K25 (Xbox) - A Worthy Sequel To A Legendary Tennis Game
13 years later, it's finally returned!
When it comes to tennis games on Xbox, it's been a pretty rough decade on the whole. The likes of AO Tennis 2 and Matchpoint: Tennis Championships have tried to fill in the void left by Top Spin and Virtua Tennis back in the Xbox 360 era, but the reality is that none of them have managed to replicate the...
Murayama-san's final game makes for a fine farewell
As you boot up Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes for the first time, it briefly displays a simple message of appreciation "to all JRPG fans". It's nothing out of the ordinary, just a nice touch, indicative of the warm and welcoming RPG adventure you're about to embark on, but it's also got us...
Review Harold Halibut (Xbox) - A Heartfelt & Handcrafted Narrative Adventure
For the love of bluglglgl
German developer Slow Bros has certainly lived up to their name: it’s been fourteen years since they gathered for dinner and serendipitously decided to make a game! Despite lacking the technical knowledge to actually make one, they set out to create a cinematic narrative adventure. Well, where most saw barriers, Slow Bros...
Review LEGO 2K Drive (Xbox) - An Open World Racer Where Side Missions Shine
It's the taking part that counts
Update (Wed 3rd Apr, 2024): LEGO 2K Drive is now officially part of Xbox Game Pass, so we thought we'd re-share this review from last year so you know what to expect. If you have any questions, drop them in the comments below! <related ids="164277"> Original review (Wed 17th May, 2023): When 2K first...
A surprisingly ineffective road trip
Open Roads has been described as "an interactive movie mystery thriller", one that plays out in the form of a deeply personal roadtrip. Of course, this particular roadtrip happens to be the creation of the devs behind the fantastic Gone Home, so it feels as though a good old mystery filled with plenty of thrills...
Review Dragon's Dogma 2 (Xbox) - Capcom's Cult Classic Makes A Triumphant Return
Hardcore Pawn
Twas during a routine outing to gather Wakestone shards in the Echoing Depths north of Bakbattahl that we first realised just how "down bad" we are for everything Dragon's Dogma 2 has been chucking in our general direction over the past week or so. This particular routine outing, you see, ended in Cas - our strongest fighter-class...
Review Alone In The Dark (Xbox) - Classic Horror Reboot Misses The Mark
Better left alone?
We've been rather excited to get our hands on Alone in the Dark since THQ Nordic announced the series' revival back in late 2022, and after a few delays it's finally coming to Xbox this week. The team at Pieces Interactive has re-imagined the IP, taking elements of the first three games in the franchise and combining them with a...
This is where the fun begins...?
Star Wars has had plenty of notable video games over the years, and two titles that continue to hold a special place in fans' hearts to this day are the Battlefront games. They first debuted on Xbox and multiple other platforms in 2004 and 2005 and were praised at the time for allowing Force-sensitive individuals to...
