Ho ho ho, here comes Santa Claus! What do you mean, Santa has already been? Did he deliver you a dose of easy achievements? No? Well I, the second coming of Santa, am here to boost your Gamerscore one last time this year with some of the easiest to nab achievements from the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S games that have released in December 2020.
Ruinverse – 10G – Plant Lover
Let’s start this month with an achievement that takes almost no effort whatsoever, making it perfect to unlock after a full belly of leftover Christmas goodies.
Ruinverse is yet another JRPG offering from KEMCO, that all play very similarly – but if you are a fan of JRPGs that’s no bad thing. Sadly, Ruinverse is not one of KEMCO’s finest efforts, but if you are reading this you’re probably not here for good games per se.
One thing that there is plenty of though in JRPGs are cutscenes, and Ruinverse on Xbox is certainly no different. In fact, this achievement for Plant Lover is for watching the opening cutscene. Once it has finished it will pop up a lowly 10G. Don’t worry though, bigger ones are on their way.
Haven – 10G – Healing Hug
Bigger achievements are coming, but this one had to be included. In an age where we haven’t been allowed to have physical contact with our nearest and dearest, a virtual hug is about as good as it gets.
Haven is an action RPG where you play as two lovers – controlled as one however – and is as much a romantic tale as it is a video game. It’s very much an adult romance though, as these two can’t keep their hands off each other. However, if any couple ended up on a strange world free from humans, I reckon many would act the same way.
This achievement is for some body-to-body contact, but nothing explicit. Instead a simple hug will net you 10G. For this to happen though, have one of your couple not be at full health and go idle. After a short wait, the couple will embrace for a hug, heal each other, but more importantly gift you 10G.
Roundout by POWGI – 40G – Oh Grow Up!
This next achievement is for the puerile people out there!
Roundout by POWGI is a crossword puzzle game where each of the crosswords can be completed with just eight letters. It offers a full 1000G that can be completed in just over an hour. Here though, we are focussing on one of the sillier achievements.
From the main menu, scroll to page 3 and choose the second puzzle on the second row. Annoyingly, there aren’t any numbers on the puzzles so that’s the best way to describe it. You’ll know you have the right puzzle if you can make the word ‘Snipe’ from the letters given.
That isn’t the word we are looking for though! What word is an anagram of ‘snipe’?
That’s right, ‘penis’! Input the word into the crossword, and whilst it won’t appear in the crossword itself, you will be awarded 40G for inputting a word for the male genitalia.
When the Past was Around – 50G – Memoir
There appears to be a bit of a resurgence in point-and-click games, as referenced by the fact we even have an end of year list covering some of our favourites. Unsurprisingly, When the Past was Around makes it onto that list, but also our list for providing ridiculously easy Gamerscore.
The list of our favourites includes funny, haunting and emotional. When the Past was Around is definitely on the emotional side of things, dealing with love, loss and moving on. To compensate for that, here’s some easy achievements.
In the first room you start the game in, head to the drawer to open it up. Inside there is a photograph. Click on it to look at it, and then look at your overall Gamerscore total; it will be 50G better off.
Monster Train – 2 for 25G – Is That a Challenge? and You Died!
This next double achievement could go one of two ways; our described way requires much less effort but offers 5G less. Taking the other option requires you to kill a boss; far too long for our list but awards 5G more.
Monster Train on Xbox is a collectible card game in a similar vein to the excellent Slay the Spire. In Monster Train though, Hell has literally frozen over, and you are on a train trying to deliver the Pyre. This will rekindle the flames of Hell. Obviously though, there are those from high above that would rather this did not happen.
For the achievements though, simply start a daily challenge for Is That a Challenge? achievement for the first 15G. Then, die! That unlocks another 10G for You Died!
Morkredd – 35G – Afraid of the dark
No, not the children’s TV horror show – a lesser man’s Goosebumps as well – but Afraid of the Dark is the name of our penultimate achievement this month. And it can be unlocked in no less than two seconds from starting the game!
Morkredd is a co-operative puzzle platformer where your main task is to avoid the darkness. Alongside your companion, a bright ball of light is your best friend as you push it through this world and ultimately discover your fate. For fans of Journey, Inside or Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Morkredd should be worth your attention.
However, remember me saying your main task is to avoid the darkness? For this achievement, ignore that. Simply walk into the shadows all around you and laugh all the way to the Gamerscore bank with another 35G.
Brawl Chess – 50G – First Blood
Our final achievement this month is the kind that we love. By that I mean it is an achievement for literally completing the main objective of the title. It’s the equivalent of earning 50G for scoring a goal in FIFA or riding a horse in Red Dead Redemption 2 – you’re going to do it hundreds of times, and yet get rewarded with Gamerscore for doing it once.
The game in question is Brawl Chess. Chess games are ten a penny on every device capable of gaming, but Brawl Chess tries to make it more accessible to younger crowds with cute animations. Sadly, our review noted that there was not really anything else to differentiate it from the myriad of others.
Except maybe some easy Gamerscore? In Brawl Chess you will be capturing hundreds of pieces. That is chess after all. This particular 50G achievement is for capturing your first piece. It’s a gimme achievement if ever there was one.
And that is our list for December. Admittedly a bit smaller in terms of actual Gamerscore compared to other months, but silly season for game releases is almost over, plus who wanted to release a game in the same month as Cyberpunk 2077? A game which takes about an hour before you unlock an achievement, I’d like to point out!
To all the achievement hunters out there though, Happy New Year. Stay tuned in 2021 for plenty more easy achievements. Let us know in the comments if you have any easier ones!
