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.
Thanks to a couple of key improvements and changes, EA Spots FC 25 is one of the better iterations that EA Sports' annual football franchise has seen in recent years.
Astro Bot is a wonderful love letter to all things PlayStation, and an exceptional platformer in its own right. If you own a PS5, you need to play this game.
Brutal action, mind-boggling scale, spectacular set-pieces, and a bevy of content come together in what is one of the best action games in recent memory. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is unmissable.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown doesn't scale the heights of other virtual tourism open world racers in recent years, but it's an enjoyable driving game in its own right, even with its rough edges.
Star Wars Outlaws boasts strong open world design and the swashbuckling and improvisational vibe of a classic Star Wars scoundrel story, but from technical rough edges to some dated design decisions to clunky movement, it's got more than a few significant issues that weigh it down.
Kena: Bridge of Spirits was never a revelation, and it still isn't, but it is, nonetheless, a gorgeous, engaging action-adventure title that Xbox players now have the perfect opportunity to dive into.
The Mortuary Assistant's console re-release is the perfect excuse to dive into what's genuinely one of the scariest horror games in recent years.
Conscript is unlikely to deliver genuine scares, but this old school, atmospheric survival horror romp is still easy to recommend to fans of the genre.
Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn successfully strikes a balance between being a great entry point into the Soulslike genre for those new to the genre, while still largely scratching the itch that genre veterans will be on the lookout for.