Jordan Campbell's Reviews
Ruffy and the Riverside is an enjoyable experience and clearly draws inspiration from platformers from the early ’90s and beyond. With its unique SWAP mechanics and neat presentation, featuring hand-drawn visuals, this platformer caters to gamers of all ages and skill levels. The game is surprisingly deep with a lot of NPCs to engage with, plenty to collect and lots of puzzles that’ll see you clocking around 10 hours of gameplay. For the reasonable price of £16.99, it’s well worth the cost for the amount you’re getting in return.
Deadzone: Rogue is an incredibly moreish rougelite shooter that I can’t get enough of. So much so that I’ve played it for a week straight at every opportunity I could get, and I still want to keep playing. The game features exceptional gunplay and cross-play co-op, allowing players to drop in and out with randoms. For the reasonable price of £19.99, it is well worth it
Cronus: The New Dawn is a challenging slog of a game, but if you’re determined to get through the tough times within the game, it is fantastic. If you’re into your survival horror titles, then you won’t be disappointed with how this game plays. They have nailed the atmosphere, audio and strategic combat throughout. As someone who isn’t too fond of challenging experiences, this was just on the edge for me. Bloober Team have certainly delivered with a beautifully polished and presented adventure that easily nestles amongst the best titles in the genre.
Cyber Clutch: Hot Import Nights is a decent competitive racer that isn’t going to break the bank. During the early hours of the night, I had difficulty finding races with human opponents, so I do have some concerns about its longevity. Overall, though, for its price point and the fact that it features crossplay functionality, it can be an absolute blast, and I had a great time with it. If you’re into racers that are quick, short and snappy with a quick adrenaline rush, then I do recommend you check this one out. Especially if you’re into some of the older arena racers such as Blur, Wipeout or even Mario Kart.
There aren't many free-to-play titles that have wanted me to keep playing and be my go-to game. Delta Force is far from perfect, but it gets the key ingredient right, and that is fun and engaging gameplay. As you'd expect with any game that has no entry cost, it is riddled with opportunities to spend cash. However, it is all cosmetic-based, so you have peace of mind that no one will have the upper hand on you unless they are cheating. I've poured in excess of 30 hours into Delta Force in the first week on consoles, and I would highly recommend anyone to try it. It'll be a game that I'll keep dipping into if they keep the content fresh and exciting, which I'm sure they will. It's hard to tell if it will be a gap filler for me until Battlefield 6 arrives, but I know this will always be here if I need to switch. Don't hesitate, get it downloaded!
Shinobi: Art of Vegeance becomes yet another classic game that has been exceptionally well recreated. I had no doubts that Lizardcube would do great work, given their success with Streets of Rage 4. It retains what made the original games so memorable and becomes a well-polished experience. It’s visually stunning, combat is super satisfying, and the story is well told. There is plenty of bang for your buck here as well, depending on how much you want from the game. If you want to achieve everything on offer, then you’re easily going to push 30-40 hours of gameplay. But if you’re just after ticking through the levels and seeing out the story, then you’ll still have a reasonable 15-20 hours. They say it’s all about quality instead of quantity, but here you get both with a big green tick. This is a beautiful game and will be one of my most memorable of 2025 for sure. A must buy!
If you’re a fan of the cosy simulation genre, then Discounty offers a 20+ hour experience that is fun to engage with. It’s charming, colourful and well designed. Nothing is ever too complex, and despite a few moments where controls are a little fiddly, on the whole it’s an excellent indie title. It takes a lot for this type of game to keep me invested all of the time, but Discounty hooked me from the start.
A Dream About Parking Lots is a truly unique game that is one of the shortest experiences I’ve played, one that you can finish in under an hour. I can’t describe this as a video game if I’m honest, it is more of an interactive process of thought with minimal gameplay. That said, I admire that the development team at Interactive Dreams has pushed out something that is a little out of the ordinary in the gaming space. At just £4.19, it isn’t going to break the bank, and if you fancy a casual walking sim that brings thoughts and feelings lost to the forefront, then it may be worth having a short blast with this.
It’s worth noting that Mafia: The Old Country won’t demand hundreds of hours of your time. I clocked it in just shy of 12 hours, doing so in about four short sessions. The game features an exceptional storyline that is well-told through its structure, with a strong emphasis on story over substance. If you’re after an open-world style experience like GTA or Saints Row, then sadly, this won’t be what you’re looking for. However, if you’re after a well-executed and rich story with beautiful visuals, fantastic voice acting, and you aren’t overly bothered about a linear structure with fairly shallow mechanics, then you’ll love it. It is a good Mafia game, but I don’t feel it’s the best out of the bunch so far.
Cook, Serve, Forever is a fresh experience that I wouldn’t personally classify as a direct sequel to the others. For me, it came across as a far more accessible title in comparison with some great storytelling with incredibly vibrant and polished visuals. Essentially, what you’re getting here is more of a rhythm-based button-pressing game than a dash attempt to serve several food items at once in a successive order. For those who loved the formula of the Cook, Serve, Delicious titles, you may not enjoy this one as much. But I admire the way Vertigo Games has attempted to try something new. I do think the game is a little pricey for £24.99 on Xbox, especially since there is probably only around 5-10 hours of gameplay involved. It’s a short but wonderfully illustrated and crafted journey, though one that even casual players may love.
Achilles Survivor is an exceptionally polished and moreish title that nestles in with the likes of Vampire Survivors and other popular roguelikes in the genre. This one has some unique aspects, including building structures that assist you in the heat of battle. It blends tower defence strategy with fighting hordes, which I haven’t yet seen with any other similar experiences. For the same price as the average pint of beer here in the UK, it is well worth a punt for several hours of fun.
I was pleasantly surprised by Rally Arcade Classics, and I’ve had a ton of fun dipping into the huge feast of content on offer. If you’re a fan of older rally games such as V Rally or Colin McRae, then, like me, you’ll enjoy your time with this.
Spirit Of The North 2 builds upon the goodness of the first outing, improving the experience by offering a larger world and extended playthrough. If you played the original and loved its calm nature, the compelling storyline, and the gorgeous worlds, then you’re in for a treat and will love this adventure
Star Overdrive is a unique title that is fantastic fun and compelling enough to see through to the end. I can’t fault the ambition of the development team in creating something that feels enjoyable to play and explore. It misses the mark in some areas, but the core gameplay loop and cruising around on the hoverboard kept me engaged from the start.
Admittedly, dating sim-style games aren’t usually my thing, believe it or not. However, as a reviewer, I like to approach experiences open-mindedly, as you never know if they’ll take you by surprise. Date Everything! is probably one of the most wacky and unique games you’ll ever come across in this genre.
Rematch is mechanically solid with an addictive gameplay loop, and it looks great too. I can see myself pumping hundreds of hours into this one, and it’ll be one of those games that will always have a special place on my hard drive. If you have an Xbox Game Pass subscription, then it will be available to everyone on Thursday, 19th June 2025 and is well worth your time.
Cookie Clicker works well with a controller on the Xbox family of consoles and becomes a moreish experience if you’re into your idle clicking titles. It’s the perfect title to leave running in the background whilst listening to a podcast or doing something else. The majority of my playtime with this one was dipping into it every half hour and expanding everything whilst writing other game reviews. You can go and play this for free at any time from anywhere in the world in any internet browser. But playing it on the Xbox family of consoles gives you access to those precious achievements and the ability to save the game and pick it up later. For that reason alone, I’d recommend it at its low price of £4.29, which wouldn’t even grab you a decent cold pint in the UK.
For its reasonable price point of just £14.99, Cattle Country is worth every penny in the return you’ll get from it. There is tons to do and I’ve invested a good 20+ hours just sifting through the first year of the game and I’ve loved exploring every nook and cranny and ticking off as much as I can, making friends, protecting the community, and just losing hours gathering resources and taking in the gorgeous graphics. Not only does it bear many similarities to indie greats like Stardew Valley and Graveyard Keeper, but it puts its cowboy hat on and goes down as a must buy for 2025.
Spray Paint Simulator provides tens of hours of content if you’re happy with the repetitive nature. For Power Wash Sim fans out there, this scratches the same itch with the same satisfaction. I’ve exhausted all the campaign missions now, and there are options for co-operative play, but sadly, they are limited to the free-spray mode for now. I’m sure as time passes by, the development will add more content and future updates to the game. I’d love to be able to run through the campaign with a friend eventually, but it’s great that the foundations are there for even more. I spent nearly 30 hours with this one, and it is well worth checking out with your wallet or even through Xbox Game Pass.
Roadcraft takes the same formula as the Mud/Snowrunner titles and makes things slightly different. It’s hard to tell you how many hours are in this one, as there are eight different maps and campaigns. I didn’t manage to see everything on offer, but it took me almost 20 hours to see everything on the first map. Based on how skilled you are at the delicate moments this game has to offer, you have the potential for tens, if not hundreds, of hours of gameplay. The online co-op aspect of introducing friends or even randoms into the mix brings longevity and replayability to the table. I didn’t like the fact that you can’t refuel, take damage and load certain resources like sand. But this may be more accessible and appealing to some of the more casual crowd. The hardcore lovers of the previous games may dislike this as well, but I feel that we have to remember this is a game that looks to stand alone in its experience. Either way, it is a fantastic game with loads to do, see and become frustratingly addicted to, with or without your friends.