Brain vs Brain is a very welcome return to a long-forgotten series. While it doesn’t offer anything quite so new besides new mini games and a strong multiplayer mode, it’s absolutely difficult to put down and full of challenging fun.
If you’re a longtime Mario Party fan, you will love Mario Party Super Stars. If you’ve never played a Mario Party, there’s no better time than now to get into it. By yourself, on the couch, or online with friends or strangers, every way to play is a blast and then some. Some menu things are a bit annoying and I wish there was were a couple more characters or stages or mini-games to unlock. But in all, Mario Party is back, baby.
Exploring the seas to find new fish, complete quests, and uncover the game’s overarching mystery is never tiresome as Moonglow Bay’s ambiance and gameplay combine for a relaxing experience. It’s a lovely game all around with a few small but ultimately insignificant complaints that could be lodged. Truly, dive into Moonglow Bay and bask in its sweet serenity.
Riders Republic is an awesome, fresh entry in both the racing and action sports genre.
Metroid Dread is not only an excellent game and return of a beloved franchise, it’s emblematic of everything that defined the genre in the first place in a way that many modern Metroidvanias simply aren’t. Its exploration, upgrading, and re-exploration are never spoonfed to you and feel constantly like great accomplishments with great difficulty scaling and thrilling new mechanics and atmosphere.
Struggling is a very creative and endearing platformer that surprised me with both how much I enjoyed its grotesque universe and how tight its physics-based gameplay is.
Twelve Minutes is a truly phenomenal experience hindered only by forgivable a few gameplay bumps and the immense patience it takes to succeed.
The Wild at Heart is a lovely game altogether. Its story and characters are just as charming as the gameplay is fun. There are a few nitpicks I can make about sound design and the Spriteling well menu having more tabs than it should need to, but they’re just nitpicks. It’s a touching and sharp game absolutely worth the dive into, especially for Xbox Game Pass members where it is currently available.
“Wrath of the Druids” is an excellent DLC. It does everything right in setting the new locale apart from its neighbor to the east while delivering a strong new plot and set of characters. Not every new mechanic feels fully realized, but for what they do offer, I enjoyed them and particularly enjoyed the way they played into the greater mythos and context of the game as a whole. If the remainder of Assassin’s Creed Valhall‘s major DLC—and future Assassin’s Creed stories, for that matter—follow suit, I’ll be very glad for it.
The Unexpected Quest was unexpectedly charming and quite fun to play. Its toybox feel and unique blend of resource management, adventure, and puzzle-solving elements made my time with the game quite fun and enjoyable to look at.
Whether you’re looking for a great adventure or a devastating one, Unsighted is absolutely both and then some.
If you are looking for a new challenging game to take on with a unique take on a tried and true genre, UnderMine is absolutely a must-play. Especially as a day-one Xbox Game Pass release, there is simply no reason not to go spelunking in this well-crafted, deep, and challenging game. With its unique take on roguelike combat mechanics and an array of resources and stats to balance and manage, UnderMine is a great place to start for newcomers to the genre and players looking for a serious challenge alike.
If you have not experienced The Messenger yet, there is no better time than now. Its unique and witty take on a tried and true genre is challenging and fun with nice replayability. Never frustrating and always asking you to improve your platforming abilities, the 2D platformer is one of the best of recent years.