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.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a pretty big mess. In its current state, this is a badly-judged game in almost every way. The new zone is incredible to behold at times, for sure, but it's a world at odds with itself; full of gear and guns, but with precious little in the way of enemies that challenge you to use them. The story is terrible, the A-Life system is AWOL, and the acting and writing is atrocious. Stalker 2 is cheap in how it kills without warning, is packed full of bugs and performance issues on Series X, and is devoid of mostly anything that makes it feel worth playing for very long.
Overall then, Black Ops 6 features a really good campaign mode that's certainly worth the download on Xbox Game Pass. The story has a lengthy runtime — roughly eight hours at least — and is crammed full of interesting, varied missions - including one huge surprise that left us with a cheeky grin as we played through it. This is a big step up from the other COD campaign currently available on Game Pass in MW3, and fans of big, bombastic AAA experiences should have a right old blast with the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 campaign.
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead delivers plenty of spooks throughout its roughly eight-hour adventure, but it does run out of ideas somewhat during the back half of that runtime. When called upon, the cast is well-acted (even if the story is quite threadbare) and the whole thing does enough to cement itself as a worthy entry in the 'A Quiet Place' universe, which is a nice achievement for Stormind Games. Some more late-game variety and additional options for dealing with the enemy could have made this a horror great, but as it stands, The Road Ahead is just a decent romp through what's becoming quite a popular movie universe. Horror game aficionados and A Quiet Place superfans should definitely consider this one, but for those less experienced, there are better options out there on the horror game market.
Metaphor: ReFantazio is the team behind the best of the Persona series at the very top of their game. We were a little concerned we were in for a quick reskin of Joker's past glories, if we're being fully honest (we'd probably still have gobbled that up, let's face it), but what we've actually ended up with is a monumental JRPG. This is a coming together of everything that's been learned, honed and perfected over the years, presented through a phenomenal core narrative that's full of emotion and hope, amazing characters, some of the most warped enemy designs we've ever seen, and enough slick combat and style to do us until they make the next one. They better be making the next one already.
Starfield: Shattered Space is a big disappointment in almost every way. We loved the base game, for all its flaws, and we were willing this to be the big, exciting DLC drop that'd make us love it all over again. However, what we've got here is a very average narrative expansion that fails to add any big choices, upgrades, new enemies, biomes, loot or anything that could potentially excite or draw in new players. It's buggy, janky, badly acted in places, and there are a myriad of bugs and performance issues to be ironed out. What a missed opportunity.
We feel like we've only scratched the surface with Ara: History Untold even after thousands of turns and multiple games, but this is a fun take on this type of experience and a great choice if you're looking for an engaging PC game to pull you in. If you don't mind history with a bit of a twist and want a game where you can sink hours into each session as you overcome all sorts of challenges and triumph as a nation, Ara is well worth a look.
The Plucky Squire is a delightful kids adventure with a fun and unique core mechanic that's been realised incredibly well. Jumping in and out of Jot's storybook to explore the "real" world, engage in light puzzles and face off against Humgrump's minions is a constant delight and, even though the game is never as challenging or as devious as we'd have liked, it's got a ton of heart. A must-play for kids, then, and a breezily nice time for any adults playing alongside them.
Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a really tough game to sum up in its current state. The game's vast open world and asphalt driving physics give the title a solid base to launch from, and we definitely think this series still has something to offer that differs from the likes of Forza Horizon and The Crew. However, Solar Crown's issues run deeper than launch-week server load, and the game needs quite a bit of tweaking to feel properly finished. Nacon and KT Racing are intending for this to be an ongoing live service game, and as long as the teams stick with it, we definitely think this new Test Drive game will be hugely improved months down the line. We can't recommend Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown right now, but if you're into your big open world racers, we definitely think this one is worth keeping an eye on as it gets fixed up and improved - you should be able to get it on discount that way as well.Solar Crown is yet another rocky launch for the franchise after similar issues plagued TDU2 back in the day - but that game did go on to become a bit of a cult hit, so there's hope for this Test Drive Unlimited title yet. It just needs a bit more time and attention for its solar crown to start to shine.
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.
