My earliest gaming memories come from playing Pokemon Crystal on the Game Boy, Kingdom Hearts on the PS2 and most importantly Halo 3 on the Xbox 360. I've pretty much played video games everyday since and still get excited about what's to come.
Snake Pass is a game that dares to be different. It asks players to engage with it in a way that few games do: forget everything you know about any game you’ve played and relearn it to discover something completely new.
We can’t talk about Mass Effect 3 without talking about its polarizing ending. And when I say it’s polarizing, I mean it was pretty much the most controversial thing in nerd culture at the time.
Ghostrunner originally launched in October 2020, but in true parkour fashion this game cannot be stopped, dashing from strength to strength. Ghostrunner’s next dash delivers a hefty next-gen update on Xbox Series X|S and PS5, available today!
A few rough edges do not stop Sable from being a one-of-a-kind adventure about finding yourself while alone in the big wide world. I hope Sable can fix its technical issues soon, because what’s underneath is a game full of discovery, tiny nuggets of wisdom and a plethora of ways to customise your insanely cool hover bike.
After spending more than a year in early access on PC, Slay the Spire fully released to rave reviews in January of 2019. It went on to sell more than a million copies before launching on PS4 in May and the Nintendo Switch in June. But Slay the Spire is finally bringing its incredible mix of card-based action and roguelike progression to Xbox One - today!
Do video games cause violence? We shouldn't even be talking about this in 2019; it's a tired debunked argument. We talked about it in 1994 when Mortal Kombat's pixelated blood led to multiple controversies and even paved the way for the ESRB (the game rating system in the US). We talked about it in the 2000s when lawyer, Jack Thompson, repeatedly brought several lawsuits against GTA developer, Rockstar, claiming the series inspired violent crimes. And we're still talking about it now, in 2019.
There's a reoccurring stereotype about the Xbox ecosystem. The stereotype that Xbox only appeals to people who like hyper-masculine shooters, sports games and racing games. While those games are great I thought I'd shine a light on a different breed of games. Games that focus on their stories.
Whether Playground brings back Fable or another studio does, instead of just drooling over the idea of Fable, let's take the time to go mad with speculation and talk about everything we want from the next entry in the franchise.
There have been a plethora of titles giving gamers a shot of retro nostalgia recently and SolSeraph is next in line. This time around, SolSeraph seems to be taking inspiration from the SNES classic, ActRaiser. But what initially seems to be a sweet homage to ActRaiser, eventually falters, as SolSeraph can’t capture the same endearing balance of action platforming and top-down strategy that made ActRaiser a classic.
Citizens of Space, the sequel to 2015’s Citizens of Earth, has a ton of potential. It takes inspiration from a collection of classic Nintendo RPGs, such as Earthbound and Paper Mario. But ultimately, Citizens of Space fails to live up to its lofty inspirations, despite being a fine children’s game.
Xbox’s backward compatibility program has been unanimously praised this generation for allowing gamers to play and keep games that would’ve otherwise been lost in time. In an age where game preservation is becoming an issue, this was a big win for the Xbox platform and gamers in general. But with over 600 games from the Xbox 360 and original Xbox available, some gems got lost in the shuffle. Whether these games were overlooked at the time of their release or have lost relevance in the years after, here are the most underappreciated backward compatible games on Xbox One.
Xbox One’s first-party situation has been heavily criticised this generation. Microsoft’s existing franchises like Halo and Fable haven’t been in the best position in the Xbox One’s early years and the console has largely failed to launch any successful new IP either. But in the lead up to the next generation, team Xbox has been making some serious power plays by adding 8 new development studios to their first-party since E3 2018. It’s going to be a few years before we see what many of these studios are working on, so for now, let’s take a look at the state of every Xbox Game Studio.
Currently in Early Access on PC, Merge Games have announced the full release date for their teeny tiny open-world multiplayer survival game - Smalland: Survive the Wilds. And as they do so, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 versions are confirmed.
