XboxEra's Reviews
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii brings about solid 3D brawling combat back to the series alongside tonnes of minigames, fun pirating sections, and intense set piece battles the series is known for. It’s more Yakuza—are you going to say no to that?
Avowed is an excellent game. One major issue keeps it from being an all-timer for me, with the gear progression system being as restrictive as it is at launch. They can patch that, and I hope they do as the rest of the game is excellent. Obsidian’s top-tier writing has finally been matched with gorgeous visuals and satisfying gameplay.
MACROSS -Shooting Insight- may ultimately be a good fan service title, and it has the modes to boot! But too many cardinal sins add that make for a rather frustrating shoot ’em up experience.
The Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection is a must not only for fans of the cross over fighting games, but for any fighting game and Marvel fans. If you can overlook the fairly glaring omissions, there’s still a great collection of classic arcade games with neat unlockables and fun achievements. Glaring omissions you say? Well yeah, as great as this collection is, there are two fairly baffling decisions that have been made that hurt the games online lifespan and cause a fairly significant inconvenience to the user.
The core elements of the game are there, they work and it’s fun to play. The incentives and dynamism that the new approach to Civilization switching with the legacy paths will keep the game fresh both across games and within them. Abandoning games after about 80 turns was a big issue for me in the last few titles. I’ve not had the notion to do that yet.
Big Helmet Heroes is a charming little cooperative beat ’em up that’ll be a delight to smaller family members and parents alike. A lack of unique objectives throughout most of the stages might be a bit of a bore and visibility issues can sometimes frustrate, but there’s enough here for an amusing local coop experience. ∎
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 can be slow and lethargic, sometimes to a fault. It's a game that's more concerned with a villager's plight than a kingdom's saving. And yet it's in those very moments, the conversations in the back of a cart, the early morning horse rides in the brisk, cold air; that the magic, charm, and humanity of it all shines brightest.
a worthy successor to one of the best indie games of the last few years. With it’s addictive gameplay loop, compelling and touching story, great art design, and more, I’d say anyone even remotely interested should give the game a look. Especially considering it’s releasing on Xbox Game Pass, and heck, is one of the best games for cloud gaming there is!
Dreamcore nails most of its goals. It’s an audiovisually captivating journey through liminal spaces, a dream-like experience that masters the concept like few other videogames before. Personally, I absolutely can not wait to play the upcoming levels, because Dreamcore is already an amazing and unique ride. This is one dream I won’t immediately forget.
Eternal Strands is a fantastic first title from Yellow Brick Games. It’s an IP I hope to see more of in the future, as its excellent gameplay felt like a breath of fresh air for the genre. It’s out Day One on Game Pass and even in this bloated 2025 release schedule I wholeheartedly recommend checking it out no matter where you play.
Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter is a thoroughly enjoyable Metroidvania with detailed action-RPG mechanics, that still offers challenging soulslike combat without feeling like a punishing ride on its easiest mode. On it’s normal and hard difficulties, the game offers a grind that will leave you feeling tested at best, and a crying mess at very worst. It’s an extremely well-put-together experience that I can wholeheartedly recommend.
Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is a fun game with some serious looks and performance issues on Xbox Series consoles. If it’s cleaned up at all by a day one patch then it’s an easy recommendation. Available Day One on Game Pass it’s a solid solo title and one that’s a ton of fun with friends.
Sniper Elite: Resistance is available on Day One on Game Pass, and that’s how I’d recommend anyone but the most ardent fan of the series plays it. At $60 MSRP it’s a big ask for something that can be completed in a night or two. While there is some replay value on offer there isn’t enough new here for those familiar with the series to warrant a full purchase. If you love Sniper Elite and want more though, then you’ll find nothing here to displease you.
I ultimately have to wonder – with these flaws, will the playerbase stay big enough to give enough time for developers to fix what’s wrong, and perhaps make SYNDUALITY Echo of Ada truly one of the greats? As with a lot of game-as-a-service titles: time will tell.
Arm yourself with patience, however, as many game mechanics are a bit undercooked and unprecise, with a lot of bizarre level designs and features that didn’t quite receive the polish they needed, and that this remaster hardly really improved upon. As a quite minimal upgrade to a forgotten but solid game, clearly this one’s for the hardcore fans, who can jump back to the similarly flawed but enjoyable prequel trilogy’s beginnings.
Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is bigger and better, giving the player more combat options and opportunities while offering a map full of movement and combat-based challenges. There’s a solid variety of enemies and bosses along with unique scenarios that keep gameplay fresh and you on your toes. Tie it up with great visuals and music, and you have the best sequel to Ender Lilies that could possibly exist. ∎
Eventually, the game evolved to a point that I could say I was having a decent amount of fun. But unless you’re a hardcore idle game fan and need a fix, you can likely this one out, as the first 10-20 hours of this game are easily the least enjoyable part of an otherwise quite okay game.
The developers at Megagon Industries have done a great job on building on their first game by adding a bunch of excellent new ideas, a fun multiplayer suite and what feels like a great, fresh take on skiing with the tight, responsive controls they’re known for. It’s addictive, thrilling stuff and I can’t wait to hit the slopes as soon as I’ve finished writing this. It’s available on Xbox Game Pass and Steam, and I hope you try it out.
Team Ladybug’s latest release is a grand one—the slower-paced nature of the action feels good to play especially as you get a better grasp of Shin and his companion’s move sets. The downtrodden Osaka city landscape has plenty of exploration potential and baddies to encounter, meaning that I can wholeheartedly recommend Blade Chimera to the 2D Metroidvania aficionado and novice alike. ∎
Playing Tales of Graces f again gives me a chance to reflect on the game’s story, which I enjoyed more so in my last playthrough some eight years ago. But I enjoyed running through the game’s campaign way more than Vesperia’s (which is nothing but a blur to me) thanks to fun cast members with a great English dub and an incredibly fun combat system. Don’t go into Tales of Graces f Remastered expecting deep worldbuilding and level design and I think you’ll have a lot of fun that way. ∎