XboxEra's Reviews
We Happy Few was originally released in August of 2018 to highly mixed reviews. The game was a mix of its original survival genre roots interspersed with a well-received story. Bugs were frequent and it truly felt like a game stuck between two fandoms. One wanted the original survival game, and the others wanted a Bioshock like narrative-driven title. Two and a half years later has developer Compulsion Games been able to right the ship and deliver on their goals?
Project Winter looks and plays really well. The in-game comms system has a quite different sound design than we are used to these days, and hearing your companions voices fade out as the distance between you grows can induce some mild panic. The game has plenty of depth and detail to make it far more than a one-dimensional experience and is all about team work and communication. This is certainly a great game to play with friends and even people that you do not know as it will not matter so much when you fall out once their treachery and dishonesty becomes apparent. This is not the “Among Us” clone you suspected after all, and I’ve come away impressed with whats on offer here. Unique and surprisingly deep, Project Winter is definitely something you should add to your download queue.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is one of my favorite videogames of all time. It cannot be stated just how incredible the work that 343 Industries and multiple other studios have put into it over the past 5+ years to get it here. Any future compilation of titles should look to this as the benchmark for what a collection of beloved titles should be.
The Medium has a lot of good ideas that come together in a mixed bag of a game. I found the story to be involving and well written; the atmosphere and ambience unnerving. The environments are often hauntingly beautiful to look at, and the soundtrack is a genuine highlight. The good in this game is forced to carry you through the bad, which in some ways, is the gameplay itself, where a lack of challenging puzzles, a shallow yet innovative dual reality mechanic, and an over reliance on exposition pull you out of the detailed and interesting story Bloober are trying to tell. The Medium is then, perhaps, a victim of its own gimmick – a game of two halves, one full of detail and intrigue, the other somewhat lost in the gloom of the veil.
It’s a game I would whole-heartedly recommend to anyone; the remedy to the degenerative AAA condition of exponentially longer and larger games. Clearly ‘Practice makes Perfect’ – Focusing and refining Hitman over the last 9 years has paid off, and IO has earned a Silent Assassin rating.
t’s cute. It’s endearing and somewhat simple. If you are looking for a short, relaxing and visually pleasing game then Donut County is one to try. The humour is on point and the short intermezzo’s of story between levels means both story and gameplay never overstay their welcome. The game isn’t exactly a long affair though, around an hour and 45 minutes long. So, want something short and refreshing to play between the longer games or service titles you’ve been playing lately? Give Donut County a try.
As part of Game Pass for both console and PC, Wilmot’s is an easy recommendation for anyone out there that loves to sort things. The relaxing feeling that starts to take you over as you play isn’t something matched by many other titles. It really is the best of what smaller mobile-style games have to offer.
In conclusion, the game started strongly and is just the type of puzzle game that I really enjoy, the lack of story or purpose did let it down, but I could let that go as it was fun to play up until it hit horror mode and the final level ruined it for me. It really felt like two different games had been welded together at the last moment and totally spoilt my enjoyment of what had gone before. The game had a lot of promise at the start. Hopefully the next release from the developers will stick to the good ideas on display and lose the bad as they clearly have a lot of potential.
Neoverse is an anime-inspired take on the deck-building Rogue-like genre. Featuring bland 3D graphics with stiff animations, forgettable music, and a convoluted UI the gameplay is both too simple and somehow too convoluted for this game to keep up with the big boys of the genre.
After playing all the big open world releases at the end of 2020 I found Immortals to be the best of the bunch. It is by far their most successful balancing of story, combat, and exploration in quite some time. Never once did I feel that a cutscene was too long and the exploration is consistently rewarding. My only question for Ubisoft is, why did you send this incredible title seemingly out to die?
A More Tactical Take on the Deck Building Roguelike That Shines Thanks to Excellent Diversity in How You Tackle the Goal of Re-igniting the Flames of Hell.
Overall, Hivebusters is a short but sweet story DLC. It takes the familiar feeling of Gears 1-4, and adds some fresh new twists in a very focused, well produced package. You don’t need to play Gears 5 at all to enjoy it or understand it. I highly recommend it.
A very unusual Turn Based Combat game then, but one that is well worth spending some time playing.
One of the best open-world RPGs of all-time is held back in part by a rushed release that fails to tap into the full power of the new generation of consoles or perform acceptably on the previous one.
As a genre, walking simulators are not for everyone, but this is a good example of one that works well. If you have ever wanted to experience being alone (or possibly not alone!) in a snowbound hotel, this could the game of your nightmares.
I think Mango Protocol has made a great beat ’em up that continues the story of their previous two games (as far as I am aware at least). If you like the cutesy art style, enjoy a buttload of pop culture references, and are looking for a game to play with a friend this weekend, you would not go wrong with Colossus Down—it certainly made for a fun play session with my family.
If you want to investigate a mystery by exploring a beautiful location and solving puzzles whilst also learning about Polynesian culture this is a good place to do just that. I have played numerous games of this type over the years and this is another that I really enjoyed. I certainly felt a sense of achievement at the game’s conclusion. With sumptuous visuals, a gorgeous soundtrack and some very clever puzzles, you’d be wise to check this game out on Game Pass or via Steam.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a standout in the series, the best game since it adjusted the formula and became more of an RPG than stealth-action game, and a great way to end the Xbox One generation and begin the Xbox Series X|S generation of consoles.
All in all Dustoff Z is a simple, fun and addictive flying shooter. Even though it may not look appealing at first it soon makes a really positive impression and makes it hard to put your controller down. I was not expecting much but it turned out to be a lot of fun. Get involved and build your own Zombie slaying dream team…It is worth it.
Stellar on-court action is slightly brought down by the now-standard obnoxious microtransaction system