Elden Ring is a crowning achievement for FromSoftware and undoubtedly the very best gameplay experience they've yet delivered - and that's really saying something given this developer's incredible back catalogue. The Lands Between deftly combine breathless open world exploration, stunning artistry, immaculate world-building and wondrous adventure with classic Dark Souls combat and dungeon-crawling, resulting in not just the best Souls game to date, but a candidate for one of the very best video games ever made.
Starfield is Bethesda's best RPG to date, an enormous space odyssey that serves up some incredibly evocative and engaging exploration, satisfying combat, and a narrative that had us hooked right to the end. Yes there are issues here with the usual jank, and some very messy and fiddly menus and interactions, but all of these problems feel minor when compared to everything this game gets right. In a year that's been packed full of absolutely essential games, Starfield manages to sit right up top with some of the best of them. After all the hype and bluster, this is just a very, very good RPG and a game we'll be playing and replaying for a long time to come.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions plays the best game of Quidditch we've ever seen in video game form. There's good fun to be had both solo and with other people online, and the customisation aspects are pretty cool too - especially considering there are no paid microtransactions to be found. We have concerns about longevity considering the limited campaign and singular 3v3 multiplayer mode, but the quality of the gameplay should be enough to keep our brooms from getting too dusty in the foreseeable future.
If you've played pretty much any Supermassive game in the past - from Until Dawn to The Quarry - you'll know what to expect from The Casting of Frank Stone. This Dead by Daylight tie-in doesn't quite match the lofty heights of those two games in particular, but it gets pretty close, delivering an engaging popcorn horror experience along the way. We'd have been well up for a few more hours in this universe, which certainly says something, but ultimately results in The Casting of Frank Stone sitting just below greatness.
The third outing for Frontier's excellent F1 Manager series is the best yet, implementing a series of new features that don't reinvent the wheel by any means, but add up to a more enjoyable and in-depth experience overall. Better yet, it's launching at a price of just £29.99 / $34.99 on Xbox consoles, which makes it significantly cheaper than this time last year! Casual fans may be perfectly happy with F1 Manager 2023 on Xbox Game Pass for now, but anyone who really enjoys this series will want to join F1 Manager 2024's starting grid ASAP.
EA Sports College Football 25 makes up for some wonky menus and a lack of tentpole modes by bringing the good stuff where it matters. The gridiron action here is fast and snappy, offense feels fantastically responsive, and defensive plays are easier to read and consider thanks to a combination of clear layouts and more time and space on the ball. It looks great, sounds great, plays great and has thusly become our (American) football game of choice going forward. Madden 25, it's over to you.
By the time we rolled credits, that was the prevailing feeling we were left with. While we found more enjoyment in the latter two thirds of Flintlock than in the initial intro and opening area, we couldn't help but feel let down by Flintlock in almost every way.
Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is a unique strategy experience that draws from traditional Japanese culture to give us an incredibly detailed world to work through, one bite-sized level at a time. The strategy here is tight, the animations and combat look and feel great, and the dancing, music and base-building ensure that there's always something to do in the downtime between Seethe-destroying sorties. Capcom are still on that hot streak, and we are here for it.
Neon White is a welcome addition to the Xbox Game Pass library, serving up a unique and exhilarating indie experience. Its gameplay has a great sense of flow and it does a fantastic job depicting the afterlife. The game does have slower moments in-between levels, but it's primarily about speedrunning and perfecting your runs. As long as you can keep up, Heaven awaits.
Still Wakes the Deep is a tight, narrative adventure dripping in atmosphere and oozing in that sweet Scottish personality we've all come to love (shouting and swearing lots, as it turns out). If you're happy with a total lack of combat and more of a focus on story and exploration, then this one is definitely worth playing through on Xbox Game Pass. We found ourselves rather engrossed with Still Wakes the Deep and its personal tale of loss and family, even if more player agency around the game's spooky oil rig wouldn't have gone amiss. If you've played anything from The Chinese Room before you'll know what you're getting into - Still Wakes the Deep is another successful effort for the British developer to add to its growing repertoire.
Of course, this all relies on you enjoying the repetitive loop that Rolling Hills offers, and if you don't... well, you're not going to stick with it. That's the downside here - it's a game that some people will bounce off very quickly, especially considering it's very easy in the first few hours. However, if you become as enticed by it as we have, you'll be in for a great experience with Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends on Xbox Game Pass.
XDefiant has been built to scratch a very particular online FPS itch, and the more bloated and complex AAA shooters have become, the more we've come to appreciate an experience like this. The game could do with a little more content, and some tweaks to gunplay and progression wouldn't go amiss, but we can't see why XDefiant shouldn't have a bright future ahead of it. Ubisoft has shown us all that it has the patience to stick around with online shooters if they have a solid community - just look at the near decade-old Rainbow Six Siege - so this should definitely be one title worth investing some time into. XDefiant isn't perfect, but this is a very promising start and we're already becoming invested in where Ubisoft's latest Xbox FPS can go.
Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is the best-looking video game we've ever played. It sounds incredible, Melina Juergens acts herself inside out, and on a purely technical level this is just next-level stuff all round. However, we still don't feel as though extending Senua's plight into a Saga is a good idea. We remain unconvinced, and it's because this sequel feels like diminishing returns, as we had worried it might. It's not as vital or as unique in 2024, and it goes for bombast as a means of smoothing things over, resulting in a good game, an interesting eight hour romp, but nothing that screams must-play. Weak combat and dull puzzles are just more salt in these wounds, unfortunately.
If you were a fan of Braid during the Xbox Live Arcade era, the Anniversary Edition is worth a look for the commentary alone. The additional content and visual improvements only add to this remaster. As for newcomers, this updated version is a great way to experience this important piece of video game history.
Little Kitty, Big City is a purrfect addition to Xbox Game Pass and, in our view, is worth checking out if you have a subscription. If we've learned anything from our three hour romp through the city, it's that… we're glad humans have faces. Also that contributing to a circular economy by recycling cans is important. But most importantly, we affirmed what we thought we already knew: that being a silly cat is very good fun. This is the first ever release from Seattle-based developer Double Dagger Studio, and we think they should feel proud for delivering some much-needed, cat-shaped joy to Xbox.
Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a solid debut for Surgent Studios and a genuinely heartfelt and moving piece of art to boot. We love its focus on narrative aspects, and the obvious time and effort that's been put into its characters and dialogue. For anyone who's had to go through the pain of losing a family member there's a genuinely emotional and uplifting adventure to undertake here, regardless of some slight clunkiness along the way.
Sand Land for Xbox Series X|S not only does a great job bringing one of Akira Toriyama's arguably lesser-known works to life, but is also a lovely way to say goodbye to a man who has had an incredibly huge impact on Japan's manga and anime industry as well as the world of video games. Although it's not necessarily an evolutionary experience on the action RPG front, it should still be a fun ride from start to finish for fans of the genre and source material.
