Death Stranding 2 delivers stunning visuals, refined stealth-focused gameplay, and a richly detailed world brought to life by excellent audio and a memorable cast. It meaningfully evolves the original's mechanics, though its unique style will still divide fans.
Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny offers a solid dose of nostalgia for hardcore fans of the franchise or those who appreciate the charm of its PS2-era roots. However, if you're seeking a timeless experience backed by consistently strong design, this remaster may fall short of expectations.
With stellar combat, incredible weapons, hellish monsters to fight, and excellently implemented gameplay and design changes, DOOM: The Dark Ages delivers an excellent new style of DOOM, while still retaining the series' core strengths.
With an eye catching aesthetic, unique setting, and a refreshing lack of bloat, South of Midnight is an enjoyable narrative driven action-adventure romp of the type we get all too infrequently in the age of live services and open worlds.
Atomfall concocts an engrossing story in a world full of intrigue and whimsy, while delivering a gameplay experience that is defined by strong world design, rewarding exploration, and an impressive emphasis on player agency. Utterly gorgeous and wonderfully eccentric, Rebellion's post-nuclear dystopia is well worth checking out, even with some issues in combat and stealth.
Assassin's Creed rises to the occasion once more with Assassin's Creed Shadows, an expertly crafted entry that blends the strengths of the old and new styles of Assassin's Creed title alike to deliver one of the best outings this long and storied franchise has ever had.
Avowed doesn't reinvent the wheel and it isn't the most deep or complex RPG, but thanks to strong writing, storytelling, world-building, combat, and exploration, it succeeds in delivering an engaging experience that fans of the genre will want to check out.
Boasting a rich and imaginative sci-fi setting, stellar writing and storytelling, and addictive, choice-driven gameplay, Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector improves on its excellent predecessor to deliver an even more memorable experience.
Sniper Elite: Resistance delivers more of the excellent tactical stealth shooting action that Sniper Elite 5 boasted three years ago. It might be a familiar experience, but for genre fans, it's still an easy recommendation.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl masterfully combines multiple genres to deliver an unmissable and entirely open world horror experience. Touting unparalleled emergent gameplay, stellar atmosphere, a captivating story, and gorgeous visuals, this is easily one of the best games available on Xbox Series X/S, even with the technical issues that hamper it.
LEGO Horizon Adventures successfully adapts and abridges Horizon Zero Dawn for a younger audience, delivering a fun, charming, and straightforward experience in a delightful post-apocalyptic world.
Mario and Luigi: Brothership delivers yet another solid Mario RPG outing. Riding high on waves of clever writing, charming humour, engaging exploration, and addictive combat, this is an odyssey well worth undertaking.
Slitterhead's unique premise and experimental mechanics make it a compelling experience, even if it can feel a bit too rough and low-budget from time to time.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is a great excuse to experience the simple, crude, and bombastic joys of a proper cult classic, even if its writing and humour feel thoroughly out of place in today's day and age.
Alan Wake 2 signs off on a typically strong note with The Lake House, which is a strong expansion that delivers an engaging new survival horror chapter while also setting up the future of the Remedy Connected Universe.
Life is Strange: Double Exposure is an excellent sophomore outing for beloved protagonist Max Caulfield. Given how sacred so many still hold the original, it was no surprise that there was some skepticism out there there over whether Deck Nine would be able to deliver a sequel that doesn’t just feel like a cheap, nostalgia-baiting cashgrab, but that is very much not the case. Double Exposure earns and justifies its existence from second one, and tells a gripping tale that will keep you hooked until the credits have rolled.
With an enhanced version of one of the series' best 3D outings to date, as well as a legitimately great brand-new adventure starring a returning fan-favourite, Sonic X Shadow Generations is well worth a look for fans of Sega's platforming franchise.
Shattered Space is a fun and meaty addendum for those who enjoyed what Starfield's base experience had to offer, but those hoping for any significant improvements will be left disappointed.
Though it's hard not to see the validity of criticisms over its pricing and and questions over whether it even needed to be made, the Until Dawn remake is ultimately a solid and enhanced new version of a modern horror classic.
Disney Epic Mickey: Rebrushed successfully improves upon the flawed original in some key ways, thus allowing its strengths to shine much brighter, but significant lingering issues in other areas hold it back from greatness.