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Evan’s Remains on Xbox One is a unique platformer with great puzzle design, and an adventure experience driven by a substantial narrative which successfully delivers on its lofty ambitions. With beautiful sprites, simple but charming artwork, emotional music, and a cast of memorable and well-written characters, this is the kind of video game experience that stays with the player years after the credits have rolled.

All in all then, Horizon Chase Turbo is a great game, and one with a massive amount of content to unlock. With 109 tracks, 31 cars to unlock and 12 upgrades to earn, there is enough content to keep you playing for a good long time. The gameplay is smooth and most importantly fun, with the multiplayer being the real icing on the cake. My only reservation is the role that luck plays, and it’s only this random element to the races that stops me giving it a perfect score. However, this is without doubt the best retro ‘90s style racing game available on the Xbox One right now, and it is highly recommended… no matter whether you are old enough to remember the glory days or not.

Ponpu on Xbox is a no-brainer. This is the quintessential multiplayer romp for the 2020 holiday season and is an absolute riot as a 4-player couch experience. Fortunately, there is also a robust online multiplayer option which offers plenty of entertainment as well. With instantly gratifying multiplayer game types and also a substantial single player mode to top it off, Ponpu combines entertaining gameplay with an excellent stylistic presentation like very few games can.

But they’re not even the best bits. What Lies in the Multiverse has such a knack for character and visual comedy that you’ll be in danger of lacking concentration in the puzzles because you’re grinning so much.

I absolutely adore The Eternal Cylinder, even more so now it has been optimised for Xbox Series X|S. Many games attempt to be bold, creative and offer an experience unlike any other. This is a game which does just that. You’ll struggle to find escapism better than this. 

Although there are some slight downsides to combat, the general atmosphere of Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling on Xbox One is phenomenal. The art style is downright lovely and the music feels like something made by Nintendo. “Defiant Root” could be a desert theme from Super Mario, and that’s a great thing. Unfortunately, its biggest downsides are possibly the most unique things about Paper Mario, and perhaps Bug Fables would have been even greater if it took a few more risks. Despite this, Bug Fables is a wonderful, child-friendly RPG with a solid story, great music, and lovely visuals. If you’re looking for something to bring you back to your childhood, this is a must-play.

But what an embarrassment of riches Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway has turned out to be. Previously something of an also-ran in the race to be the best karting experience, it can proudly take its place at the top of the podium on the Xbox – second only to Mario Kart on all platforms. No other karting game can match its depth, and the actual racing is breakneck and fully-featured too. It doesn’t matter if Spongebob Squarepants means nothing to you: there’s enough charm and generosity to make this a winner regardless.

Unusual Findings is distilled ‘80s, served up as a point-and-click adventure, and it’s as rad as it sounds.

Varney Lake is a charming addition to an interesting game franchise. Seeing returning characters come back with a fresh new story to tell, working an X-Files and Stranger Things vibe, isn’t a bad thing at all. You’ll need to be aligned with the genre though and so if you hate stories and don’t like reading then this is far from the game for you. But visual novel fans should definitely add this new one to the collection. 

Nitpicks aside, I truly loved my time with Evil Wizard. If you enjoy classic Final Fantasy or classic Zelda games, Evil Wizard will sing to you (not literally). The only other time I remember a slight twist on the classic style RPG formula was in Moonlighter, the wonderful RPG where you play as a dungeon crawling shopkeeper. Evil Wizard takes twisted humour and easy to learn mechanics to craft a Metroidvania, action-RPG that you should take the time to play.

Nova Lands avoids nearly all the pitfalls of the ever popular sim genre, providing a charming and accessible experience which is hard not to like.

Neon City Riders on Xbox One is a refreshing ‘80s neon interpretation of The Legend of Zelda with plenty of inventive ideas, both in its game design and stylistic presentation. It is certainly not an experience for the faint and impatient, but it may be just the thing for players yearning for those brutal gaming experiences from that decade.

With Aztech, you’ll find a brilliant story backed by brilliant boss fights. You’ll also find a brilliant tool in the Lightkeeper, which is a joy to use no matter what you’re using it for, whether that be smashing minions into oblivion or simply flying around Tenochtitlan. Whilst it carries a rather steep price tag at £24.99, I’d recommend giving Aztech Forgotten Gods a look. 

But that feeling didn’t last for long. Slipstream is full of bad-calories. The too-simple races became repetitious, and the multiple game modes struggled in vain to make them interesting. As a distraction from Hotshot Racing, it was welcome. As a replacement for it? Nah, it certainly has enough speed, but – having exhausted it of its charms – we’ve lost the need to play it.

The retro survival horror tactics of FOBIA – St. Dinfna Hotel are enjoyable enough for the first few hours, as you go about exploring and working out what is going on, all as a strange tale of the supernatural unfolds. It’s only when the combat gets involved and monsters start appearing around every corner that the interest starts to wane, as the threat becomes a bit redundant. 

We wouldn’t go so far to say that Lonesome Village is sensational, or better than the other life-sims that have graced the Xbox over the past year. We’d nudge you over to Ooblets and Disney Dreamlight Valley, if placed in a line-up. But there is certainly something compelling in the simplicity of its loops, and there’s not an ounce of combat or pressure as you enjoy the merry-go-round. This is one for life-sim fans who would rather that things like difficulty didn’t bother them.

Twin-stick shooters and roguelike hybrids aren’t new, and they have been done better elsewhere. But that’s not to say you should ignore Doomed to Hell. It may be simple and concise, but it’s a syringe of adrenaline to the heart, and it managed to perk us up for an evening. It aspires to stick around for longer and ultimately fails, but when the gunplay is this fun, we’ll give it a pass. 

All in all, Clash: Artifacts of Chaos has a lot of good ideas and some well worked execution – it is just that lack of a lock-on that is a glaring omission. If you are looking for a different experience though, then Clash: Artifacts of Chaos is certainly that.

Mirrored Souls does get frustrating at times and it will test your patience with every turn, but there is a lot to love here, helped by the fact that the pretty visuals will be a feast for your eyes. It’s probably well worth getting connected with Mirrored Souls.

Adore is simple by design but this means enjoyment is spread more thinly the longer you play. Its depth of customisation options and range of items to acquire will keep your interest for a while, but before long Adore can feel like a little bit of a grind. 

What this amounts to is a karting game that is less fully featured and gloriously pretty than Disney Speedstorm or Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3. You could almost call DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing plain. But it’s also not mired in monetisation, nor is it overly fiddly, demanding understanding of pit crew or upgrades. It slots in nicely, then: more challenging and deep than PAW Patrol Grand Prix, but without the unnecessary bells and whistles of the free-to-play kart games.

Chessarama won’t make you better at chess, but it may help you to get into the mindset needed to be a Grandmaster. It isn’t afraid to try something a bit different, with puzzles that are unique and intriguing. They don’t all work effectively, but you have to admire the attempt. It packs a lot in too, with plenty of variation between the puzzles and the Battle mode. Then it throws in a traditional chess mode to top it all off. 

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout on Xbox One has an audience, but I can’t imagine it’s a very big one. The title is perfectly serviceable but there are so many options that are of higher quality and more worthy of your time that it’s tricky to want to get involved here. However if you are a fan of this franchise, it will be a fun romp through the world of G.I. Joe; something which is perhaps all it was ever trying to be in the first place. Remember, knowing the score is only half the battle.

The super cheap price tag and intriguing puzzles might just tilt the balance in favour of a Railway Islands – Puzzle purchase. Just be aware that this one is always on the verge of going off the rails.

Overall, you’ll find Cannibal Abduction to be an interesting old-school hit. But I am very glad that the retro control methods used have mostly moved on; they were frustrating back in the day, and they are still frustrating now. However, the narrative and setup of the main game must both be applauded and this means Cannibal Abduction will be of appeal to hardcore retro fans. 

If you have the patience of a saint and some mean platforming skills, then Raccoo Venture may be for you. But if you question your ability in either of those areas, then we warn you: Raccoo Venture can feel like rooting around in the trash, and there’s an awful lot of sharp glass in there.

Give an editor a machete and the opportunity to carve out vast chunks of The end is nahual: If I may say so, and you might have a good game. As it stands, this is a fascinating, unruly mess.

But Flat Kingdom: Paper’s Cut Edition couldn’t help itself. It overburdens itself with different mechanics, and the simple, effective platforming ends up being sunk by its ambition. It is death by a thousand paper cuts.

Mustache in Hell is the very definition of middle of the road. It isn’t the worst twin stick shooter, but it does commit an almost unforgivable sin in the world of video games – it is just bland; it is just some video game, and there is nothing here that will have you hooked or push you to play some more. 

Avatar: The Last Airbender – Quest for Balance tries to do way too much. The gameplay is unfocused, inconsistent, and unpolished. And the refined storytelling that made the original show so beloved is completely absent. Large sections of the show are completely skipped over, with major plot points being summarized by one of the three narrators, if not ignored altogether. Combat and camera mechanics suffer from the same issues – animations are inconsistent, controls are clunky, and the 3D models aren’t expressive.

But against every other metric, Skull Island: Rise of Kong is a turd. It’s a turd the size of which Kong would be proud. And it’s bad in the least entertaining way. It’s an empty series of valleys where it’s easier to get lost than killed. We wanted the kind of bad that is stupid, ridiculous and embarrassing – we might have had fun with that. Dull-bad, though? That’s the worst.