Xbox Series X|S Game Reviews
Review Alan Wake 2 (Xbox) - Remedy's Best Game Yet And A Big Improvement On The Original
He's still a writer...
Editor's Note: The majority of our Alan Wake 2 review time was spent playing the PC version of the game. We have also tested the Xbox Series X version out for a short time, and have noted our Xbox performance impressions towards the end of the review. Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake is an adventure that this particular...
Review Sonic Superstars (Xbox) - A Modern Take On Sonic's Classic 2D Games
Fun with friends
SEGA is back with a new Sonic the Hedgehog side-scroller and this time it’s having another crack at the “classic” experience reimagined with 3D graphics. The blue blur has been here before with games like Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and even hybrid releases such as Sonic Generations, so how does this new experience hold up? Well,...
Bakumatsu Beatdown
Update: To celebrate the arrival of Like a Dragon: Ishin on Xbox Game Pass, we thought we'd highlight our Pure Xbox review once again - giving you a chance to see whether it's worth a download this week! <related ids="157021"> Original review (Fri 17th Feb, 2023): It’s been something of a golden era for fans of all...
Review NHL 24 (Xbox) - Hopefully The Start Of A New Era For EA's Hockey Games
A meaningful stride forward?
When it comes to EA Sports' NHL series, last year's NHL 23 was one of the biggest disappointments we've experienced thus far. It wasn't a bad game (which is why we gave it a 6/10 here at Pure Xbox), but it still felt like it barely made any strides forward whatsoever, and we ultimately grew tired of it very quickly. NHL...
Review Assassin's Creed Mirage (Xbox) - A Super Slick Return To The Series' Stealth Roots
The Thief of Baghdad
The Assassin's Creed franchise has come a long way since we first got our hands on the fairly disappointing tech demo that was the original experience all the way back in 2007. Yes, pals, that really was 16 years ago already. The core concept behind AC has always a strong one, and the first outing was undoubtedly a real...
Review Forza Motorsport (Xbox) - The Next Generation Of Racing Is Here
All revved up with lots of places to go
It's been a long time coming, but developer Turn 10 has finally rounded the bend to deliver its vision for next-gen racing on Xbox Series X and S - yep, Forza Motorsport is here. We've been waiting for this one since 2017's Forza Motorsport 7 brought gorgeous 4K / 60FPS racing to Xbox One X, but the question...
Review Gotham Knights (Xbox) - A Dark, Dense And Surprisingly Gripping Adventure
The Bat Fam Rises... on Xbox Game Pass this Tuesday!
Update (Mon 2nd Oct, 2023): With Gotham Knights arriving as part of the Xbox Game Pass October 2023 lineup, we thought we'd share our own PX review of the game once again - this is based on the version that launched last year. Gotham Knights has since received a few updates that have improved
Indiana Groans
Seattle-based developer Harebrained Schemes certainly knows its way around a turn-based RPG. The twelve-year-old studio has given us the fantastic Shadowrun series of games, a series which recently made the leap to Xbox consoles, as well as the excellent Battletech which, for now, remains a PC-only deal. With this proven track record...
Review EA Sports FC 24 (Xbox) - A New Era Begins With An Impressive Result
The next chapter has kicked off
This year marks a major milestone for EA Sports and what used to be known as the FIFA series, now adopting the new name of "EA Sports FC" and embarking on a new era in the process. In the case of EA Sports FC 24 though, we're not looking at a massive overhaul compared to last year - instead, it's a subtle but...
Review Resident Evil 4: Separate Ways (Xbox) - Ada Wong Returns In A Dynamite Slice Of DLC
All killer, no filler
2023 has been quite the year for Resi fans, with Resident Evil 4 Remake surpassing all expectations in serving up a revamped version of a stone cold classic that may actually go down as the definitive version in the long run. We certainly thought so here at Pure Xbox, dishing out a perfect 10/10 score in our review, where we...
Review Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty (Xbox) - CDPR's RPG Finally Lives Up To All Of The Hype
Back to the Future
What a rollercoaster ride we've been on with Cyberpunk 2077. After a hugely disappointing experience with the borked original console release, which resulted in a much lower scored review than we ever expected to dish out, we were then pleased to report on patch Hotfix 1.4's litany of incremental improvements that made a notable...
Review Party Animals (Xbox) - Cuddly Carnage Brings Fun And Laughter To Xbox Game Pass
All-out pawfare
What do you get when you mix Gang Beasts (the popular physics-based brawler) with some unbelievably adorable characters, a bunch of unique features, and a day one release on Xbox Game Pass? The answer is Party Animals, which is not only a great and hilarious new addition to the genre, but it's also one of the very best party titles...
Review Mortal Kombat 1 (Xbox) - 30 Years In The Making, But Does It Live Up To The Legacy?
Welcome to Liu Kang's reborn universe
Where do you start with a series as big as Mortal Kombat? The brutal and bloody game has not only popularised and evolved the fighting genre over the past 30 years but also helped transform the video game industry. It had jaws dropping (in more ways than one) during the era of arcade gaming with its unique...
Review The Crew Motorfest (Xbox) - A True Forza Horizon Competitor Enters The Playground
The new motorfest
Forza Horizon has ruled the open world racing roost for years now, subsequently becoming one of the jewels in Xbox's first-party crown as Playground Games has taken the genre to new heights. However, we did feel like 2021's Forza Horizon 5 was a little bit of a drop off for the series, as it — perhaps naturally — started to run...
Review Lies Of P (Xbox) - Dystopian Pinocchio Slashes And Stabs His Way Onto The Best Soulslikes
We're telling the truth
FromSoftware games - especially Bloodborne and the Dark Souls series - are typically hard-as-nails, punishing experiences set amidst Gothic architecture with light horror elements and H.P. Lovecraft-inspired monstrosities for enemies. Non-FromSoft games in the genre often forego everything bar the difficulty, such as the Star...
VATS entertainment
Depending on how much you bought into the hype during the long run-up to the release of Bethesda's Starfield, it's hard to know quite what you might have been expecting when you finally sat down to press the start button and get stuck in. Was this going to be some monumental step forward for video games, a piece of interactive art...
Review Sea of Stars (Xbox) - An Instant Indie Classic Magics Its Way Onto Xbox Game Pass
Total eclipse of our hearts
If you've played Sabotage Studio's rather excellent 2018 effort, The Messenger, you'll know this is a dev team that's a dab hand at revisiting retro classics - in this case the likes of Ninja Gaiden - and updating them into slick and entirely modern-feeling experiences that keep the old-school vibes alive whilst providing...
Mobile Suit Gundaaayum!
There has, understandably, been a whole heap of interest leading into the release of Armored Core VI: Fires Of Rubicon, and certainly a great deal more hype from a much wider range of gamers than is usually the case with this long-running, and rather niche, mech shooter series. Of course that's all down to how FromSoftware's...
Review Immortals Of Aveum (Xbox) - EA's Spellbinding Shooter Packs A Punch
Story ain't this one's strong suit
The scale of EA's 'Originals' program has certainly grown this year with the arrival of Wild Hearts and Immortals of Aveum - two full-priced titles aimed squarely at the AAA gaming market. We've spent this week playing through the latter — EA's brand new magic-based shooter — and have come away largely...
Strog Rock
Almost exactly two years on from Nightdive Studios' phenomenal remaster of the original Quake, old-school FPS fans are being treated to a second helping of revamped retro-fragging action with this all-new enhanced version of iD Software's seminal sequel and, joy of joys, it's only gone and dropped onto Xbox Game Pass. Let’s not beat...
Review Atlas Fallen - AA Adventuring Rises Above Its Flaws With Addictive Action & Exploration
The Essence of Combat
Deck13 has been on a pretty solid run over the past nine or so years, with the likes of The Surge, The Surge 2 and, to a slightly lesser extent, Lords Of The Fallen, seeing the German studio serve up some satisfyingly crunchy AA action of the Soulslike variety. While 2014's Lords of the Fallen was a valiant effort, it had a...
Review AEW: Fight Forever - A Fun Wrestling Game That Doesn't Take Itself Too Seriously
It's Wednesday, you know what that means!
I'll start off our Pure Xbox review of AEW Fight Forever by admitting I'm an absolutely massive All Elite Wrestling fan. I watch all the shows, I buy all the pay-per-views, and I'll be in attendance at the historic Wembley event this August. Therefore, there was a lot of expectation going into this specific...
Wrath of Scan
Dimfrost Studios' Bramble: The Mountain King initially released on consoles back in April of this year and, now that it's headed to Xbox Game Pass, we're diving in for a review of this dark and brooding Limbo-like set within a fantastical Scandinavian fairy-tale world. If you're already au fait with your Nakens and Skogras, Gnomes and...
Review Crash Team Rumble - Toys For Bob Serves Up Another Crash Bandicoot Banger
Wumpa Warzone
When we first got wind that Crash Bandicoot was to star in his very own online multiplayer game, you'll forgive us for not having got all that excited. As much as we love Crash, and as much as we enjoy this genre of game, well, it just feels as though these sorts of online arena-styled efforts come and go all too frequently these days,...
We just got made
If you've ever watched Michael Mann's sublime 90's crime caper Heat, and specifically the famous heist scene within it that ends in a prolonged running gun battle down the streets of LA, you'll know the exact tone and flavour that Czech developer INGAME STUDIOS was hoping to nail with Crime Boss Rockay City. This Payday clone, in...
Review Aliens: Dark Descent - Finally! An Aliens RTS That Mostly Gets It Right, Mostly
Open up, sesame!
The Aliens franchise has charted a fairly choppy course across various mediums throughout its 44 year history. Whether in video game form with the likes of the execrable Aliens: Colonial Marines, or on the silver screen where Michael Fassbender whipped out a flute to put the final nail in the filmic coffin that was Alien: Covenant,...
Review Layers Of Fear - A Gorgeous Take On A Pointless Remake
Too many layers
In the wake of Hideo Kojima's PS4-exclusive 'P.T' demo, Polish developer Bloober Team unleashed its take on a similar concept with 2016's Layers of Fear. At the time, we quite enjoyed our experience with Bloober's slender adventure - its focused nature prevented the concept from getting stale over a roughly four-hour runtime...
Review Dordogne - A Heartfelt Indie Delight That's A Perfect Fit For Xbox Game Pass
Conte d'Eté
Un Je Ne Sais Quoi's Dordogne first appeared on our radars all the way back in 2020 via a delightful gameplay trailer that showcased its charming watercolour style and sun-dappled setting. What we got a glimpse of three years ago has now finally arrived on Xbox, and it's a genuinely touching little journey through long-lost childhood...
Review Diablo 4 - Blizzard's Biggest Diablo Game Ever, But Is It The Best?
The Mother of Sanctuary makes her return
Blizzard Entertainment has an amazing legacy in the games industry, but in recent years the California developer’s public reputation has suffered following a series of controversies, a change of guard across many of its key franchises and certain projects simply not meeting the expectations and high...
Review Amnesia: The Bunker - Frictional's Frightening Follow-Up Creeps Onto Xbox Game Pass
The horrors that lurk below
Frictional Games' Amnesia series has been one of the premier horror franchises in gaming over the past decade plus. The team's first Amnesia game, The Dark Descent, burst onto the PC scene way back in 2010 and is now renowned for being one of the spookiest games out there. We've had a few indirect sequels since, and while...
