XboxEra's Reviews
. It perfectly captures the essence of the TRON audiovisual experience, without overstaying its welcome, taking me just about 10 hours to finish. It has a satisfying, if rather formulaic, ARPG combat loop
FANTASY LIFE i: The Girl Who Steals Time is a lot of fun! There’s plenty of things to do and they all play into one-another quite well. It’s not a slow-life game by any stretch of the mean, but it is a grindy one and any grindy game that manages to actually pull me back in post review obligations deserves nothing more than a hearty recommendation from me. ■
I think Disney Illusion Island is built on a solid foundation, but sadly everything around it (be it level design, art, and objectives) are underwhelming. This is a game for the Disney faithful at best, because even for young children, there are an overwhelming amount of fantastic 2D Metroidvania titles to choose from. Unless you really like Donald Duck (and I solemnly raise my hand for the walking TNT box!), Illusion Island likely isn’t going to be worth your time. ■
This trilogy of somewhat forgotten 90’s platformers are certainly a bit hit and miss – outdated but still often effective humor, a unique but often somewhat clunky gameplay, with even some unexpected narratives and lots of voiceovers and cameos to boot.
Rooftops & Alleys: The Parkour Game is a simple, yet quite effective parkour title. With 6 open-ended maps to explore, do challenges on and play minigames with online folks with, the game’s intuitive yet challenging parkour and combo systems reward mechanical prowess and courage.
The Alters combines a bunch of genres I hate, and somehow makes a game I loved (when it worked).
Lost in Random: The Eternal Die is a short, fun experience. It takes all the classic elements of the roguelite genre and meshes them into this world seamlessly. It’s well worth checking out whether at full price or via Game Pass.
It’s been a while since I’ve had this much fun in a cooperative-focused title, and I think POPUCOM has found a great balance between difficulty and player choice without sticking around for more than it has to. Throw in a lovely presentation, and you’ve got a fantastic cooperative puzzle-platformer that can be enjoyed by all.
F1 25 is a quite small upgrade over F1 24, but the presence of Braking Point 3, content from the F1 movie and improved career options ensure more unique race experiences, especially for solo players who want to do a full immersion of the Formula 1 experience.
Spray Paint Simulator is decent fun. I do not know if the devs have any DLC planned post-launch. As is, there is enough here once you’re done, I think most will have enjoyed their time and be ready to move on.
There’s a lot of that wonderful charm – from its simplistic, bright and colourful presentation, great music and some amusing writing, but it unfortunately outweighs its welcome far to swiftly, even at only 5-6 hours or so in length.
my mostly solo-play experiences were a mixed bag at best, preventing me from praising the game too much or giving a high “review-in-progress” temporary score.
There’s a pleasant puzzler in Projected Dreams, thanks to its visuals, music, and simple game design. Who knew making shadow puppets could make for an enjoyable afternoon? An easy recommendation for everyone.
A short and sweet romp that is an excellent addition to a fantastic game.
Sadly, ca11 me here!’s gameplay is fairly one note. That is, once you’ve played the first round of its minigame, you’ve played the whole game.
Monster Train 2 is excellent. It takes everything I loved about the first game and makes it just a little better. The looks, music, and strategy will have me playing this one for years to come.
I’m torn on Knock on the Coffin Lid. When all elements align, it’s an audiovisually striking turn-based card game with an interesting lore, good player agency, and an addictive combat loop, one that’s easy to understand but hard to master. Yet, a series of difficulty spikes, an obtuse build system,m and a massive amount of repetition ensure that most of the hours spent in the game are wasted behind trial and error and replaying through many times seen before content, with even a handful design oddities that would need a quality-of-life patch or two.
Palia’s multiplayer-based life simulation experience is a unique one, something that sets it apart from other games in the genre. It’s got solid mechanics, an interesting lore, and a welcoming community. It’s a game best enjoyed in short bursts, but that can’t stop you from building the life of your dreams.
A variety of challenges will keep new players in the genre busy and older ones entertained through the game’s mix of comedy and tragedy. Quite literally, a good time for all ages.
Blades of Fire is not going to be a game for everyone. It’s beautiful, runs great, and has some design decisions that made me pull my hair out. It’s incredibly long, and I do not think that it benefits the game in any meaningful way.