Pure Xbox's Reviews
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a slick and satisfying spiritual successor that gives Suikoden fans a great big dreamy treat whilst updating, modernising and streamlining its most retro aspects into a brand-new and exciting adventure for newcomers. With a timely tale to tell, excellent battle systems, an amazing cast of characters and plenty of experimentation and puzzling in its dungeons, this is a big win for Game Pass, and a fine farewell for one of the industry's true greats. Now, isn't that a lovely thing.
Harold Halibut is a heartfelt and handcrafted tale of human existence, delivering charming, profound, and deeply funny writing guaranteed to put a smile on your face. What Slow Bros has managed to achieve with its visual style is masterful and, for our money, it's now one of the best looking games on Xbox. The gameplay can feel repetitive at times, and the writing can drag in places, but ultimately we had a great experience seeing it through to the end. If you've got a Game Pass subscription, it's worth checking the game out for its aesthetic alone. Harold Halibut won't be for everybody, but for those that resonate with its story, it's sure to stick with you for a long time.
Open Roads, in theory, should be another Gone Home-style success story. However, what we've actually got here feels strangely by the numbers, surprisingly short and very light on actual drama, mystery or thrills that genuinely compel. At around two hours long you won't need a lot of compelling to see it through, mind you, but overall this just feels like retreading the same sort of ground with much less of an effect. There's superb acting and it all looks great, but the narrative just isn't doing it for us this time, sadly.
Dragon's Dogma fans rejoice! This second entry in the series, as much a remake as it is a sequel, absolutely nails everything it sets out to achieve. You can feel the desire to perfect every aspect of the game that we got in 2012 here, with slicker combat, a more engaging pawn system, an incredible world stuffed full of amazing beasties and a general vibe that just begs you to slow down, take your time, and enjoy the majestic adventure ahead. If you're in the market for a fantastic RPG with the power to fully transport you to a world of gritty fantasy and magical friends, we reckon this might just be right up your street.
Alone in the Dark is back, and frankly, it may have been better left alone. THQ Nordic's revival isn't a bad game - we enjoyed chunks of it especially towards the beginning of the adventure - but it doesn't stand out in any meaningful way, and ultimately feels a little pointless in the end. We'd recommend keeping an eye on that launch patch to see how the game is shaping up on release, but it's best not to expect a Resident Evil-level reimagining from this Alone in the Dark reboot - even if it stands as a serviceable third-person adventure.
Taxi Life: A City Driving Simulator is a pretty addictive new addition to the genre, but it's giving us a rough ride at launch. It does the basics well for the most part, and features an impressively large and detailed version of Barcelona to cruise around in, but the unintelligent AI drivers, poor performance and various other irritations are significant drawbacks. This has all the potential to be a good (or even great) game, but it's going to take a few patches to get there.
WWE 2K24 is undoubtedly one of the best wrestling games in Xbox history, but it's also a game that prioritises incremental upgrades over any kind of major overhauls, so casual fans may struggle to justify a full-price purchase. As dedicated wrestling "marks" though, we think the new MyRise stories, superb improvements to MyGM, nostalgia-driven Showcase mode, additional match types and various gameplay adjustments are all worth the price of admission.
The Outlast Trials is a cool idea, a spin-off that funnels players through a gauntlet of twisted levels with a gameshow/Saw movie vibe. However, as good as it all looks and sounds, with plenty of levels and tons of customisation to dig into, the core gameplay here is just way too bland and repetitive, it's in no way scary, and the only real fun to be had is in getting a bunch of pals together to laugh at your misfortunes and all of the violence that ensues.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game shifts the slow-moving action of its predecessors from small scale levels full of straightforward challenges to a set of large open world maps designed specifically for freewheeling offroad exploration. The magic of SnowRunner et al remains intact here, with a gloriously atmospheric bunch of regions to get busy taming as you push forward through swamps, across rivers and over mountains in a game that genuinely feels like Death Stranding in a truck at points. Co-op mode may be missing at launch, which is a real shame, and there's a few graphical issues to sort just now, but we reckon this is still Saber Interactive's best crack at the offroad sim yet, and that's saying something.
Balatro is an incredibly clever indie gem that uses the bones of regular poker to build an incredibly approachable and fiendishly addictive new experience. There's a wonderfully slick core to this one, building decks and taking on dealers as you add wild special cards and variables to your pack is trance-inducing stuff and, backed by a fantastically understated soundtrack and perfect visuals, it makes for one of the first proper, actual, absolute must-play games of 2024.
Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, despite all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth pre-release, has arrived in perfectly fine form. This is, at launch, one of the most polished looter shooters we've played, an action-packed superhero adventure that dishes up top-notch combat, tons of fan-service, excellent traversal (important for superheroes!), addicting loot, and plenty of surprises and shocks to boot. Yes, the story is artificially dragged out, mission types are repetitive and the store is a right royal rip-off, but the writing, the performances, core mechanics and incredible attention to detail here ensure that this is one squad of misfits who've managed to take the heat and survive intact.
Tekken 8 is a little light on single-player content in comparison to some of the other big fighters out there right now, and it does give off the initial impression of being super-slick over strategically balanced early on. Stick with it though, dig down beneath all the fancy new heat moves and screen-shaking rage attacks, and you'll find a classic fighting system that feels better now than it ever has. Once you're in the zone, pulling off Phoenix smashers, dashing fists and sandwich claps whilst side-stepping like a pro, any slight shortcomings this game may have are left at the entrance to the arena.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is a fantastically clever return to the franchise that serves up slick 2.5D action wrapped up in a delightful art style and satisfying story. There's a smart balance here between old-school levels of action and challenge, moreish combat and neat puzzles, mixed with accessibility options and fine-tuning that open this traditionally tough genre up to newcomers. We knew Ubisoft Montpellier was a pair of safe hands, and it's not let us down here, serving up the first must-play of 2024, and we're only just getting started.
Baldur's Gate 3 is a genuine all-timer, this really is as good as RPGs get, and it's an all-timer that's arrived on Series X in fine form aside from a pesky issue with deleted saves. Returning to Baldur's Gate and successfully serving up the best entry in the series to date must have been an absolutely monumental task, but Larian Studios has managed it with style to spare. With top class combat, writing, acting and world-building hiding all of the terrifying intricacies of a refreshed D&D rulebook, letting us players just get on with the fun stuff, there really is no finer adventure to take in 2023. What an absolute belter, and a perfect way to wrap up this most problematic of years in the industry.
SteamWorld Build is yet another triumph from the maestros at Thunderful. Here we have a slick and addictive addition to a wonderful steampunk franchise that manages to meld elements from across the entire series into one cohesive whole. You've got wonderfully detailed city-building, addictive mining action and intense tower-defense aspects all in the mix here, and it tells you everything you need to know about this one that all of these elements work in harmony. Xbox Game Pass just netted itself another banger.
Persona 5 Tactica is another very solid and self-assured spin-off for Atlus' stellar RPG franchise. Placing the Phantom Thieves in tactical turn-based battles works a treat here, with addictive and challenging strategy complimented by a slick sense of style, strong writing and a campaign narrative that will keep fans happy. Whether you're here for Persona specifically or you're just wanting a solid slice of tactical action to dig into, this one has got you well and truly covered.
Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is another fine slice of Yakuza action from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio thart serves up a little bit of everything over the course of 15 or so hours. This may be a shorter affair than usual by quite some margin, but what's here still manages to deliver lots of exciting action, very silly gadgets, drama and deep cuts for the fans. If the intent was to whet our appetites for Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, then consider that mission well and truly complete. Roll on January 2024.
Where Alan Wake was a very good idea executed with a few too many flaws, its sequel serves up a survival horror masterclass. Yes, the combat is still not 100% there, but this one slight misstep aside, what we've got with Alan Wake 2 is superlative stuff. This is an incredibly clever, refreshingly grown-up and wonderfully well-made slice of psychological horror. The acting, writing, sound design, graphics... every aspect has been nailed in a game that makes for another addition to 2023's incredibly long list of absolute bangers.
Forza Motorsport feels like a game that's set up for the future. The technical underpinnings on show in Turn 10's Xbox Series X|S debut are remarkable, and this sort of solid foundation is always a good start. While there's still hours and hours of fun to be had with what is here, genre fans will quickly be reminded of what's missing - making the new FM feel like a launch pad for what's to come rather than a complete experience at launch. When Turn 10 gets around to adding more unique career events, tracks and bonus features, this could become one of the very best sim racers ever to grace Xbox. For now, it's a brilliant effort that doesn't quite finish in first place.
Mortal Kombat 1 might not necessarily be the evolution some were hoping for, but it's still an incredibly polished production. The 'Kombat' is perhaps the most refined it’s ever been in the series' history, Kameo Fighters add a new level of strategy, and reuniting with classic characters in Liu Kang’s reborn universe is an absolute blast. It’s a promising refresh for this legendary series that’s arrived at the perfect time. Here’s to another 30 years of blood, guts and Fatalities!