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.
Tango Gameworks could've taken the easy route and had The Assignment cover similar ground to The Evil Within. Thankfully, the decision to move the focus from action to stealth has proven to be a smart one. With a more interesting lead character, tighter pacing, and better scares, The Assignment is that rare story add-on that may even be better than the main game.
We Are Doomed makes a good attempt at being a compelling and addictive twin-stick shooter, getting a lot of things right along the way. There are some problems with the basic design though and the very limited amount of modes on offer means that unless you're hooked by beating your own best scores or unlocking the limited (but tough to obtain) number of achievements, it'll be over way, way too soon.
We're still recommending The Handsome Collection because, despite its blemishes and the general shortcomings of the Borderlands formula, it's often an absolute riot of a time – playing with friends, whether local or online, is the way to go.
There's the essence of a good game in here - make no mistake about it - but it really is very, very hard to see it with all the problems in the way. We'd like to think that the development team at Milestone is working on patches for the game, but whether that's the case or not with their next attempt – MotoGP 15 – being released in only two months, remains to be seen.
While we weren't particularly impressed with Battlefield Hardline's multiplayer offering, we did like the intense ride that the campaign took us on. The story might be fairly throwaway, but the environments, set pieces, and the gameplay scenarios you'll often find yourself in are memorable and make up for the clichés and nonsensical plot details.
Episode 4: Metamorphosis has a lot resting on its rotting shoulders and, for the most part, it does an adequate job tying up all the loose ends. The real revelation comes about unexpectedly, in the form of either a good or bad ending. And while we did feel a bit cheated getting the bad ending the first time through, it's hard to fault the rest of the episode for it. If you managed to do everything right, then this finale wraps things up really quite nicely.
It's a half-hearted attempt at bringing the series into the current generation, and is only barely recommended for the absolute die-hard fans of the original. This is a real shame and even if you can get past the bare-bones approach to remastering that Omega Force have taken, you probably won't get past all the bugs.
As penultimate episodes go, Episode 3: Judgment does a rock solid job of keeping players engaged in its story as it leads into the game's final chapter. We're now eagerly anticipating the finale, but we're also a little bit apprehensive about where things will go next. Like all good serialized story-telling, that means the creators are at least doing a great job keeping us invested.
White Night is a great concept with a really nice art style. The atmosphere it provides is incredibly convincing and genuinely unsettling, right up until the time that the perceived threat becomes a reality and things take a nosedive. A tad more polish would have seen this become a real benchmark for the genre, but a number of missed steps mean that it will likely just fade into the darkness.
Shiftlings is a game that will frustrate many people, but ultimately it's one that's worth playing through. Due to the focus being on just a few simple mechanics, puzzles that at first seem impossible can often have a simple solution. These moments of brilliance are what keep Shiftlings a compelling experience and one that continues to test your wit until the very end.
This is a powerful experience that we expect will be remembered for a long time to come, and it's, without question, one of the best games available for the Xbox One. That's a big statement, we know, but Ori's got more than enough spirit to back it up.
There's no doubt that some will be hooked and will love it – it's certainly therapeutic fare – but with the issues it contains, there's a much greater chance that you'll feel the opposite way.
