Break out your neck braces because Wreckfest 2 – the hard-ramming, door-slamming second coming of the hit 2018 demolition racer from smash ’em up specialists Bugbear – has officially T-boned Steam early access. With some stunning track design, a rich array of sound refinements, and even better handling than the original, the early signs are extremely promising. Early, however, is the operative word here, and my experience of Wreckfest 2 so far has been a little uneven. While I absolutely adore the driving feel, the throaty roar of overworked engines, and the metal-mashing mayhem, what’s currently being sold is very slim in terms of toys to smash together and I have suffered a number of crashes – but not the kind I crave in a destruction derby game.
On Steam, “early access” can mean many things, but most commonly it’s either a very rough draft version of a game that will evolve in major ways over the course of a long development (a la Assetto Corsa Evo), or a rather polished vertical slice that holds back the remainder of the content for its 1.0 launch (such as the surprisingly hefty early access version of Tokyo Xtreme Racer). Like the original Wreckfest’s own early access launch before it, Wreckfest 2 arrives as the former. It’s just a demo, really; the kind of thing that used to have a video game magazine glued to the back of it. Here we get four cars, three environments with a couple of tracks each, and a virtual map full of enormous jumps and stunt props. Long-time fans of Bugbear’s games may recognise some of those from the very first “technology sneak peek” demo for Wreckfest way back in 2013, when it was still under the working title ‘Next Car Game’ and fighting its way back to life after a failed Kickstarter. It’s a cute nod to the origins of the Wreckfest story and good fun to tool around in for a bit, even if the enormous ramps, basketball rings, car crushers, and cannons don’t have quite the same novelty in 2025 as they did just over a decade ago.
More impressive is the new Scrapyard environment, which is incredibly eye-catching thanks to the sheer amount of interesting salvage strewn all over the place, and it’s overflowing with destructible objects. Scrapyard is currently home to two circuits that snake their way through huge mountains of loose tyres and stacked car wrecks. These aren’t just cubes with the texture of a crushed car slapped on it; they’re all individual, stripped-down car shells looming like Jenga towers all over the place. What’s impressive is that there are dozens of them, on top of the two dozen running cars that are already screaming around the course trying to put you into a pole at the first opportunity. Some racing games operate under a strict look-don’t-touch philosophy, with invisible walls protecting the carefully crafted trackside props, and pinballing cars away from having any meaningful interaction with anything located off the main racing strip. That was never Wreckfest – and it wasn’t Bugbear’s original FlatOut games before it – but Wreckfest 2 dials the destruction up several notches. It’s a total spectacle, and it’s quite remarkable how smoothly it runs on my setup (RTX 4080, Intel Core Ultra 9 185H) looking as good as it does. It’s a fabulous looking racer, and how Bugbear maintains this massive level of destructibility without major fidelity sacrifices remains a mystery.
The cars aren’t exactly in concours condition, but they’re still bursting with detail and character. The sophisticated, location-based damage modelling that puts dents exactly where they should be as a result of your reckless driving is obviously still front-and-centre – and it remains what sets Wreckfest 2 apart from its peers. This time around, however, it’s even more nuanced. HUD warnings will let you know if you’ve thrown a tyre off a rim, and they’ll slowly chart the death of your engine after you cop damage to your radiator. That is, once your coolant’s gone you can expect your pistons and bearings to go too, along with your head gasket. On track, this appears to translate to your car belching black smoke. I can’t detect a major car performance hit when that happens, though, and I haven’t hit a point yet where my engine packs it in entirely. Broadly, I’m wondering whether engine rebuilds after this sort of damage might be a feature in career mode in the final game, but right now it’s too early to tell, in part because no car or engine tinkering or tuning is currently possible in this initial build. The original Wreckfest features a great upgrade system so it’s unlikely this will remain absent from Wreckfest 2, but the only thing we can do for now is apply paint.
There is impressive and distinct audio for an aching engine as opposed to a healthy one, and it’s part of an noticeably improved tapestry of sound overall. I particularly love the crackle of Wreckfest 2’s new (and currently unnamed) riff on a third-generation Chevrolet Cavalier (for clarity, it was initially dubbed the ‘Striker’, but following some fixes it’s now just called the ‘American 1’). I did initially have some early sessions where layers of sound would gradually drop out – first the engines, then impacts – until I was racing in silence, but I haven’t been able to reproduce it lately.
The AI is suitably belligerent, quick when they extract themselves from the pack, and prone to unpredictability and mistakes.
The actual racing, fortunately, is great. The AI is suitably belligerent, quick when they extract themselves from the pack, and prone to unpredictability and mistakes. Traditional racing and destruction derby are the only modes currently available, though. That does wear thin fairly quickly, but I can’t wait to see what other modes Bugbear has in tow for the final release. Caravans, please – as long as we’re speaking about towing.
The new off-brand Cavalier is actually my favourite of the four available cars to drive, as its front-wheel drive layout makes it quite stable. It’s also easier to recover from being turned around by aggressive competitors. By contrast, the pair of muscle cars here are a hoot to drift, but they generally just want to rotate the moment the AI starts harassing you. Of course, that is part of the deal of a high-contact racer like Wreckfest 2. You’re not going to get much sympathy for being crashed into.
Unfortunately, the crashing I dohave had a minor problem with was Wreckfest 2 itself crashing to my desktop. I haven’t really been able to pin down what’s triggering it, and it’s been unpredictable. One afternoon I had a whole string of crashes, straight from the middle of races. The next day, not one. Obviously, as an early access project, Bugbear has plenty of scope to iron out such problems – but it’s still a caveat worth considering for those interested in buying Wreckfest 2 immediately in its current (and very much still gestating) form.
Like any soulslike fan, I’m quite accustomed to the process of dying over and over again until I’ve mastered a tough section, but playing through AI Limit was the first time I felt that sense of learned repetition before I’d even died at all. That’s because, aside from its anime-inspired art style and a few minor abilities you unlock throughout the story, this by-the-numbers adventure is without question the most milquetoast and unimaginative game I’ve played in the genre. It pit me against boring and meager enemies, laughably wimpy bosses I was largely able to stomp dead without issue, and a story with almost as little to say as its dull protagonist. In fairness, there’s not much especially awful about what AI Limit is doing (apart from its regular crashes and bugs that send you falling through the floor mid boss fight), but there’s almost nothing worthy of praise across this forgettable journey, either.
AI Limit is set in a vague sci-fi universe where society has collapsed due to mysterious circumstances and is now overrun with a bizarre black mud that is both toxic to all life and a delicious meal you eat to regain your health. As an android called a Blader, you were created for the sole purpose of restoring the world back to balance, which you do by killing almost everything you see. You’ll unquestioningly run around the ruins of a civilization that apparently used a book of genre tropes as a blueprint, complete with a sewer that serves as the tutorial and a poison swamp level that’s mandatorily included per the Miyazaki Accords of 2011 – an actual, legally binding statute that’s so evidently real you don’t even need to bother Googling it. The robotic nature of your Blader also provides a convenient excuse for them to never exhibit even mild character traits as they speak in a monotone voice throughout the 30-hour adventure. Having a hazy setting and a forgettable protagonist isn’t exactly unique to this type of game, but if the non-fantasy setting had you hoping this might be one of the ways in which AI Limit breaks that mold: Nah.
The action is largely an impression of better soulslikes.
The actual action is largely an impression of better soulslikes. You’ll split your time between exploring dark and dangerous places, fending off smaller enemies as you work your way to the next bonfire-like checkpoint (in this case, branches sprouting out of the ground), and confronting big, menacing bosses with long health bars and deadly attacks. But that familiar structure underwhelms almost immediately here thanks to a lack of enemy variety, samey and empty levels, and combat that’s overly simplistic and unchallenging. You’ll swing melee weapons several times larger than your body, loose spells that shoot fire, lightning, and more at your opponents, and, of course, dodge roll and parry to keep yourself alive. But while there’s not much unique to be found in AI Limit’s combat, the few new things it tries are mostly good ideas that make me wish it took more risks.
The biggest of these mechanics is the Sync Rate bar, which fills up as you do damage and is drained when you use spells or get hurt. The higher your Sync Rate, the more damage you’ll do – but if you take too many hits or use too many spells, you’ll find yourself in a weakened state, unable to use many of your abilities until you land some blows. That rewards cautious play and allows you to cut through boss fights more quickly if you manage to avoid damage while you press the attack. It’s also nice to determine how often you can use your spells by how well you play instead of being limited by a mana meter or something like that. AI Limit even ditches the stamina bar entirely (a genre staple I largely find annoying), letting you attack without fear of running out of steam so long as you are paying attention to your Sync Rate.
There’s also a pretty neat system where you unlock four special powers that you can freely swap between in the middle of combat, like turning one of your arms into a shield or switching on an ability that lets you make short, quick dashes from place to place. Unfortunately, the first of these abilities that you get allows you to parry enemy attacks, and there’s almost no reason to switch to any of the other powers once you have it since almost everything can be pretty reliably parried, utterly devastating the enemy. So while toggling between these to do some interesting stuff in the middle of combat is a great concept, fights rarely play out that way.
Bosses only very rarely have interesting designs.
You’ll mostly encounter the same handful of aliens that look like leftover costumes from the monsters in Stranger Things and generic robots with identical attack patterns, all of which are easily avoided or parried with little trouble; plus they almost always come at you one at a time. Boss fights are largely straightforward, too, with extremely telegraphed moves that can (once again) be easily parried, stopping those big bads in their tracks as they forget what they were doing for several seconds while you slash away half their health. Bosses also only very rarely have interesting designs, like one that’s just a flying version of the same Stranger Things monsters you’ve already been fighting, and then many are disappointingly recycled, either by almost immediately being reintroduced as common foot soldiers or when they are just straight up reused in another boss fight later on.
It’s unfortunate, because there are times where AI Limit clearly shows promise, like later in the story when the generic, slow-moving bosses very occasionally make way for engaging battles against fellow Bladers. Their movesets are more interesting and challenging, and they have their own Sync Rate bars that must be depleted through attacks and parries in order to reduce the amount of damage they do and open them up to devastating finishing moves. There’s also one or two encounters where AI Limit tries new stuff, like a fight against a giant robot that sits at the end of the room trying to blast you with deadly lasers, and the only way to defeat it is by destroying the electrical equipment powering it as you cut through its minions. But these fights are few and far between, leaving you to slap around the much less interesting, big, ugly, slow moving enemies that make up the bulk of the boss fights most of the time.
Another thing that holds AI Limit back pretty significantly is how buggy it is. I had at least a dozen crashes, got stuck in the environment in ways that caused me to twitch bizarrely, fell right through the floor during boss fights, and once even continuously respawned over and over again at a save point that threw me through the map until I went to the PlayStation dashboard and closed the app. Some of these crashes happened when I was quite deep into exploring an area and far away from a checkpoint, forcing me to start over again through no fault of my own and lose materials in the process. In fact, nearly all of my most frustrating deaths came from straight up glitches, rather than fighting bad guys. That’s not exactly the kind of difficulty I was hoping for.
Unlike previous entries in the Assassin’s Creed series, AC Shadows does not automatically remove the fog of war when activating Viewpoints. Instead, you’ll be left to manually uncover locations for the likes of all Landmarks, Collectibles, Activities, and even Quests. Thankfully, IGN’s AC Shadows interactive map has you covered and is loaded with thousands of map points plotted and ready to help you on your journey across Japan.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows Interactive Map
IGN’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows interactive map includes filters for the following:
After a whirlwind end to 2024 and a strong start to 2025 that included the best Call of Duty in years, a fantastic Silent Hill 2 remake, a new Dragon Age, a new Assassin’s Creed, STALKER 2, Metaphor: ReFantazio (AKA IGN’s Game of the Year 2024) and a stunningly great Indiana Jones game, among others, it’s about to get a lot tougher to pick your favorite Xbox Series X/S games. Here’s our staff’s list of the 25 best games on the Xbox Series X|S – meaning they were either released directly for this generation of Xbox consoles or have been updated to take advantage of their improved resolution, frame rate, and other features. Note that to avoid the scourge of recency bias, we’ve cut off new additions as of the end of September 2024, since anything more recent than that is still a bit too new to rank. But don’t worry, they’ll be considered for future rankings!
This is NOT an attempt at an “objective” ranking.
But what do we mean by “best?” To be very clear, this is not an attempt at an “objective” ranking that will indisputably line up with the tastes of gamers of all types. That, sadly, can never exist; when one person’s epic RPG masterpiece is another’s boring and impenetrable slog, they’ll never see eye to eye on where that game should rank against others of different genres. Even the personal lists of two people who love the same types of games will rarely line up exactly.
Instead, this is a list of games that IGN’s crew of Xbox gamers recommend as a group, with major re-ranks using our Face-Off tool so that everybody got to weigh in equally on which games they thought should be placed above others. It’s presented in the spirit of recognizing games we love, and encouraging others to try them if you haven’t.
With only 25 slots to fill, there are tons of amazing recent games that didn’t float to the top – but that doesn’t mean we don’t think they’re awesome, too! Everybody who participated in voting has a long list of personal favorites that didn’t gain quite enough traction with the group to make the cut, which is inevitable when there are this many games and so many different perspectives. We encourage you to make your own Playlist of your favorite Xbox Series X|S games and share it in the comments below!
Most recent game updates were made on March 25, 2025.
While the remade version of Resident Evil 4 is the IGN staff’s favorite in the series, Resident Evil 2 isn’t far behind. It’s absolutely gorgeous to look at and contains some of the legendary zombie-slaying series’ best moments to date. This modernization brings all the best parts of classic Resident Evil games to newcomers, letting us experience the original’s characters, enemies, and locations with features like ammo crafting, an over-the-shoulder camera, and expandable inventory slots. For series veterans, it feeds off your familiarity with the iconic RPD and subverts expectations in unique and horrifying ways, plus Easter eggs are sprinkled throughout the Racoon City Police Station. The tension created by Mr. X chasing you is palpable, creating some of the series’s best unscripted scares. His presence alone keeps additional playthroughs from getting repetitive and maintaining the horror.
24. Hitman: World of Assassination
Seeing as it collects all of the deviously designed scenarios from Io Interactive’s recent Hitman trilogy under one banner, Hitman: World of Assassination is too good to pass up. With all of the rich, rewarding, and highly replayable sandboxes at your fingertips, there’s virtually no end to the cold-blooded and often hilarious trouble you can cause as Agent 47. Tracking down a multitude of surprising and imaginative assassination opportunities requires examining every nook and cranny, carefully observing every NPC’s behavior, and making full use of every piece of gear and weapon – and getting away with a perfect hit with no one even knowing you were there is one of gaming’s biggest and most satisfying thrills.
23. Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2
Delivering an unexpected but extremely welcome sequel to Relic Entertainment’s 2011 Warhammer 40K Space Marine, Saber picked up the chainsaw sord and ran with it, smashing through waves of Tyrannid enemies in a highly satisfying way. Its slow but steady third-person action has clear roots in the classic Gears of War games, but this is no cheap knock-off: it makes those ideas its own by facing you and your co-op squad off against enormous hordes of enemies and encasing everything in Warhammer 40K’s distincitive look and feel (which itself influenced just about every power-armored space marine design from the past several decades).
22. Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus
BJ Blazkowitz’s 2017 alternate-history Nazi curb-stomp romp was updated to run in its full glory on Xbox Series X, and it absolutely holds up. Between the giddy joy of blasting away with a machine gun in one hand and a shotgun in the other, some fantastic locations across fascist-occupied America, and an absolutely diabolical villain to go up against – General Engle has some pretty jaw-droppingly sadistic moments – this is an absolutely non-stop shooter the likes of which we haven’t seen in recent years. It doesn’t seem like the kind of game that could have a heart under it all, but the story also does a great job of establishing its supporting cast, and even humanizing even a killing machine like BJ.
21. Unicorn Overlord
The first thing that will stand out with starting Unicorn Overlord is the striking 2.5D art style, with characters appearing to almost float through through storybook backgrounds. While it almost deserves to make this top 25 list on looks alone (shout-out to the best looking food in gaming), it is paired with an excellent squad-based combat system that blends traditional turn-based strategy gameplay and RTS mechanics as you explore a tabletop-inspired overworld, gather resources, and discover secrets to rebuild the war-torn nation. The tactics come in as you decide how to move your squads across some of the best and most creative maps in strategy games and work out what type of squads to create and deploy. There’s a huge amount of build variety available, with 40+ classes and 70 characters to choose from to form your specialized squads. These diverse characters come from a variety of backgrounds and races, from the more mundane humans and elves to werelions, giants, and angels, and that’s the basis for the strongest moments in the story.
20. Marvel’s Midnight Suns
XCOM developer Firaxis’s take on Marvel superhero combat is challenging and refreshing thanks to its deckbuilding approach to turn-based brawls. Crafting a set of cards that allows heroes to work as a team by combining their signature moves and taking down supernatural-infused enemies keeps things fresh, evolving, and unpredictable over the course of an epic-length campaign. It looks great, too, and bashing enemies into things for increased damage is endlessly entertaining. If you’re into the Persona-style relationship-building conversations there’s a lot there for you to uncover as you chat with Iron Man, Captain America, Spider-Man, and many more favorites between battles – if not, you can skip most of that and jump back into the action.
19. Doom Eternal
Is Doom Eternal better than 2016’s Doom? That debate will rage on for eternity, but for this list it doesn’t matter because Doom (tragically) was never updated for the Series X/S. That makes Eternal the champion of this generation by sweet, sweet default. The current standard-bearer for the revitalized first-person space-demon-mulcher series is fast, punchy, gloriously gorey, and easily one of the best single-player shooters in years. Loaded with excellent weapons, abilities, secrets, and enemies, this is a game that continually teaches you how to play faster, smarter, and more efficiently, with lots of options at every step of the way to tailor fights to your preferred slaying style, and it’s an absolute blast along the way.
18. Resident Evil 4
Simultaneously one of the newest games on this list and also the oldest, the 2023 remake of 2005’s Resident Evil 4 took everything that made the original a standout action-horror classic and modernized it to thrill present-day gamers just as much as it had those who always saw it through rose-tinted glasses. Rebuilt from the ground up, it builds tension with high-intensity combat against a ferocious cast of creatures and brings the Resident Evil world to life with rich detail as the story rapidly guides you through a series of unwaveringly impressive action sequences. There’ve been many games that have attempted to evoke RE4’s style over the years, but none that nailed it quite as well as this.
17. Persona 3 Reload
A stellar visual overhaul and countless small changes and additions beyond it leave a significant impact, making Persona 3 Reload a more fully realized version of a beloved RPG. Although still dated in some respects next to Persona 5, quality of life improvements and new features refresh its exciting turn-based combat and add depth to its touching story moments. Through an incredible new voice cast that embodies these unforgettable characters and an endearing soundtrack to reforge its identity, Persona 3 Reload tells a powerful, timeless story of tragedy and hope with sharp emotional sincerity over the course of its meaty 70-hour campaign. This is the kind of remake we always hope for.
16. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
It seems like every other game that comes out these days has at least a bit of Metroidvania design in it, so it’s rare for one to stand out in such a crowded genre. And yet Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown absolutely nails everything you could want in a side-scrolling platformer that has you piling on abilities to reach new areas on a truly massive map. It has all the standard moves and features (double jump, dash, equip-able amulets), plus lots of fun innovative ones – like the ability to teleport across the room to avoid death during the tough-but-fair boss fights. It introduces those moves at a satisfyingly steady pace, so by the time you reach the late-game bosses and teeth-clenching environmental challenges you’re basically an expert, navigating obstacles like a virtuoso playing an instrument and making it all look easy.
15. Devil May Cry 5
Even with all of its imitators, there’s still nothing quite like a Devil May Cry game, and Devil May Cry 5 stands tall not only as not only one of the best in its own series but one of the best character action games ever created – full stop. No other game offers the same level of creativity and expression through its combat, whether you’re playing as Nero and bouncing foes around in the air with your Gerbera Devil Breaker, slashing them while precisely timing revs of your sword to charge up your Exceed meter; or chilling out as V while your summoned familiars fight all around you; or hot-swapping between an entire arsenal of weapons and fighting styles as Dante. The depth of DMC5’s combat is near bottomless and endlessly fun to play around in, with finely tuned difficulty options to meet you wherever your skill level is at.
14. Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Among the three (soon to be four) Xbox Series X-generation Assassin’s Creed games, Assassins’ Creed Odyssey stands head and shoulders above the rest. This epic takes Origins’ combat style and focus on roleplaying, adds some extra ingredients to the mix, then sets it all against the sprawling backdrop of Ancient Greece – a world aflame with the war between Athens and Sparta. It’s an enormous, vibrant game, with some of the most stunning vistas we’ve seen in the series both at land and sea (yes, naval warfare is in the mix, and it’s wonderful).
Its distinctive spin on Assassin’s Creed’s notoriety system sees you hunted across these environments, in a series of cat-and-mouse chases that set a new standard for the series, while the nation struggle system sees you fighting large-scale battles in the name of your chosen faction. It’s also got a relatively compelling story for a game that can take 60-odd hours to beat, with some eccentric sidequests that’re fronted by a genuinely charismatic protagonist (whether you play as the male or female version). Even after you finish Odyssey’s main story, there’s still so much to plunder and discover, and it’s a delight to simply exist in its meticulously recreated historical world.
13. Forza Horizon 5
Forza Horizon 5 isn’t just the best game of 2021 (as IGN’s 2021 Game of the Year winner), it’s also the best car game, period, of at least the last decade. The difference between Horizon 5 and other racing games (not named Forza Horizon) is that it is, in fact, a driving game. And yes, there’s a difference between a driving game and a racing game. Driving can include racing – and FH5 most certainly does – but perhaps the greatest of its many triumphs is successfully tapping into someone’s love for cars. You don’t need to be a gearhead with a nose for adjusting tire temperatures and maximizing downforce, as you do in simulation racers.
Here, there’s quite literally fun around every corner, whether it’s trying to best your buddy’s photo radar speed, busting through one of the countless billboards scattered around Horizon’s gorgeous fictionalized Mexico, entering proper Horizon Festival events, or just doing goofy multiplayer events. Forza Horizon 5 is as chill and casual or as serious and hardcore as you want it to be, and that’s a near-impossible feat for any car game.
12. Alan Wake 2
It took Remedy 13 years to get the sequel of its cult-favorite thrillerAlan Wake off the ground, but it was worth it. Billed as Remedy’s first true survival horror game, the studio best known for its high-concept, cinematic approach to games takes a similarly filmic view to the new genre by creating a terrifying chapter in Alan Wake’s — and new protagonist Saga Anderson’s — stories. Fans of horror will find a tense, scary experience, but those of you waiting to learn what happened to Wake all those years ago will want to check out Remedy’s sequel immediately.
11. Remnant 2
“Dark Souls with Guns” was the theme of the first Remnant, and Remnant 2 doubled down on that idea with more guns, classes, and more enemies to blast to pieces, all while also delivering extremely challenging and rewarding bosses and a major twist to its design. Remnant 2 is different each playthrough thanks to the way it randomizes most puzzles, bosses, and events each time you replay it. And you will probably want to replay Remnant 2 a lot, because sometimes you will need to defeat bosses in multiple ways to get its most enticing rewards. The fact that two players can finish the campaign and fight different bosses along the way (or maybe they see the same bosses but get different rewards) makes it almost as much fun to talk about as it is to play. Since launch, it’s added two sizable DLC packs with more storylines, weapons, classes, gear, and crazier bosses. Remnant 2 is one of those games that always has us coming back for more thanks to its high replayability, creative design, fun gameplay, and ability to easily play with friends.
10. Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Halo: The Master Chief Collection now collects six Halo games all under one digital roof – everything except Halo 5: Guardians. It’s been torn down to the studs and rebuilt in grand fashion, and even better, it’s been upgraded AGAIN for Xbox Series X with support for 120fps gameplay. Crazy to think that these games were 480i/30fps the first time we played them…
See our guide on how to play the Halo games in order before diving into the collection.
9. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor
Respawn’s sequel to the hit Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order continues the journey of Cal Kestis as he makes his way through the galaxy and fights the Empire.Star Wars Jedi: Survivor improves on almost every element of the first, refining the level design and combat to its sharpest point yet. It is also one of the best avenues to explore the Star Wars universe in its latest era. See our list of thebest Star Wars games to see where it ranks.
8. Hades
Hades is the current gold standard of the roguelite genre, and it isn’t even close. From its exhilarating combat, to its incredible soundtrack, to its clever and well written narrative with characters that seemingly never run out of meaningful things to say, all the way to its deep and innovative post game that keeps you wanting to come back for more even after beating the last boss.
It may be incredibly difficult, but it never feels punishing in defeat. Dying is part of the fun, and actually comes with its own rewards in the form of new conversations with its fascinating cast of characters, new opportunities to purchase game changing upgrades, and an opportunity for a brand new run with a completely new set of godly boons that dramatically alter how you approach combat. Hades is a masterclass of roguelite design, and just another example of how Supergiant Games just doesn’t miss.
Hades 2 Early Access is available now.
7. The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt – Complete Edition
One of the greatest RPGs of all time is better than ever thanks to the graphics overhaul fromThe Witcher 3 Complete Edition. While fans of 4K graphics can now play the game in higher fidelity, the performance mode might be the way to go as it smoothes over all the rough frame-rate patches in this massive game, making this 100+ hour adventure as smooth as butter.
6. Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 stumbled out of the gate at launch on consoles specifically. While the RPG has always been a state-of-the-art marvel on PC, it took CD Projekt Red a few years to optimize the game for consoles like the Xbox Series X|S. After cutting out the last-gen systems and a series of free updates, Cyberpunk 2077 and the newly released expansion,Phantom Liberty, finally shine bright on Xbox. With best-in-class presentation, a deep and rewarding RPG system, and one of the best stories CD Projekt ever created, now is finally the time to hack into Cyberpunk 2077.
5. Grand Theft Auto 5/GTA Online
Grand Theft Auto 5’s sprawling yet meticulously detailed map is still the high bar to which most open-world games aspire. Not only is it huge, it’s incredibly dense with excellent content – not just the driving and shooting and three-protagonist story that make up its campaign, and not limited to the numerous side activities, but all the sights, sounds, and bustling activity you’d expect to find in a city teeming with humans – seedy underbelly included. With so much to do, explore, and play with, both as a single-player game and Grand Theft Auto Online, it’s truly amazing on multiple levels.
As for what’s next, Rockstar has officially confirmed GTA 6 will be released in 2025. It will feature a return to Vice City and star the series’ first female playable character in a Bonnie & Clyde-inspired adventure.
4. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
Describing Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth sounds a bit like a fever dream: it’s a collection of minigames stuffed inside of larger activities inspired by classics like Crazy Taxi, Pokémon Snap, Pokémon, and Animal Crossing… and all of that is wrapped up inside of a life simulator, which is itself inside of a 50-hour turn-based RPG. Miraculously, this somehow all works together and balances honoring the roots of the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series while continuing to propel it forward. This can be seen in almost every aspect, most obviously that a huge portion of the story takes place outside Japan, and instead has you exploring Hawaii.
Meanwhile, turn-based combat makes a return from Yakuza 7, boasting even more jobs (tennis ace OP!) and a ton of small refinements that vastly increase the amount of control and customization in combat while remaining true to Yakuza’s traditional beat em’ up style. In a series known for heartfelt stories, Infinite Wealth’s is arguably the most emotional, paying homage to the franchise’s classic characters with a plot driven by the values and actions of the new cast. Mixing the old and new characters is something that often backfires in a long-running series, but RGG Studios expertly blends Kiryu’s and Ichiban’s stories, pulling off one of the best legacy stories anywhere.
3. Persona 5 Royal
Persona 5 Royal would have very little true competition in the contest for the title of best Japanese RPG of all time. Its endlessly stylish art and unforgettable, jazzy soundtrack create a vibe it’s hard not to fall in love with. And that’s before we even get to the cast of iconic, endearing characters and an unexpectedly deep, thought-provoking story that only grows more relevant with every year since it was originally released in 2016. Nobody does this style of turn-based, small-party combat better than Atlus, and P5R is the ultimate refinement of everything great about the franchise’s earlier adventures.
All of that could be said of the original 2016 version, too, but with Royal, just about everything – from the dialogue to the story to dungeon exploration – has been made bigger and better. It’s far from just a remaster with some neat extras; it’s almost like getting another entire game on top of an already fantastic one.
2. Baldur’s Gate 3
Baldur’s Gate 3 is easily the best computer RPG of any generation thanks to its robust storytelling and nearly limitless player freedom. Whether that’s romancing a Mind Flayer or convincing a squirrel to go into battle, the ability to play through the world of Baldur’s Gate on your own terms is the reason why Larian Studios’ latest RPG has captivated so many players.
The cast of characters, in particular, shines in this party-based RPG. Your companions in this game are some of the most fun, fully-realized characters in any RPG and although Baldur’s Gate 3 is already hundreds of hours long, you’ll want to re-roll new characters to try and mine as much as you can from this deeply rich fantasy world.
Winner of multipleGame of the Year awards, Larian Studios has single-handedly revitalized the computer RPG genre and showcased that ingenuity and smart game design can triumph over the mightiest graphics.
1. Elden Ring
Whether you’re a longtime fan of FromSoftware’s notoriously challenging games or intrigued by the constant buzz, Elden Ring is a fantastic starting point for seeing what the soulsborne genre is all about. Its streamlined introduction, versatility in accommodating your choice of playstyle, and open-world design all work to alleviate the “brick wall” dilemma of getting stuck on a difficult boss in Dark Souls games. It’s that elasticity that makes this FromSoftware adventure a (slightly) friendlier one, while still being full of godlike bosses looking to snuff out your life, threateningly large maps, and intriguing NPCs rife with charm, mystery, and tragedy.
It’s since been kicked up a notch thanks to the outstanding Shadow of the Erdtree DLC expansion, which serves as a condensed version of the main game that’s absolutely jam-packed with secrets, valuable treasures, ultra-challenging boss battles, and horrific monstrosities to face of against at every turn. When you stack that on top of the main game, it’s an incredible quantity of high-quality tests of your soulslike mettle.
Upcoming Xbox Series X|S Games in 2025
April 2025:
The Renovator: Origins – April 4
South of Midnight – April 8
Commandos: Origins – April 9
Descenders Next – April 9
Monster Energy Supercross 25 – April 10
Promise Mascot Agency – April 10
Big Buck Hunter: Ultimate Trophy – April 11
Lost Records: Bloom and Rage Tape 2 – April 15
Lushfoil Photography Sim – April 15
Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree – April 17
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – April 24
Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves – April 24
Sunseed Island – April 24
Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade – April 24
MotoGP 25 – April 30
May 2025:
Metal Eden – May 6
Doom: The Dark Ages – May 15
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 – May 16
Fantasy Life i: the Girl Who Steals Time – May 21
Onimusa 2: Samurai’s Destiny – May 23
To a T – May 28
Elden Ring: Nightreign – May 30
What New Games are Available on Xbox Game Pass in March 2025?
On March 18, 33 Immortals (Game Preview) launched on Game Pass. The following day saw Square Enix’s roleplaying game Octopath Traveler II, which our reviewer called “a very enjoyable JRPG sequel that feels a little too safe and familiar,” and Trian Sim World 5. March 20 saw Mythrecked: Ambrosia Island, and the 25th added Blizzard Arcade Collection. On the 26th, Game Pass gets two highly regarded games in Batman: Arkham Knight and Tunic.
Finally, on March 27, Atomfall launches on Game Pass Ultimate. Our reviewer gave it an 8/10, calling it “A compelling post-apocalyptic survival story that satisfyingly bends to your choices and discoveries no matter which direction you take.”
A little over half a year after GameStop shut it down in August 2024, Game Informer is officially back and the whole team is returning with it.
In a ‘Letter From the Editor’ by Game Informer Editor-In-Chief Matt Miller, it was revealed that Gunzilla Games secured the rights to Game Informer from GameStop and that it was planning to bring back not only the editorial team, but “production and beyond.”
For those unfamiliar, Gunzilla Games is the game developer and publisher behind the free-to-play extraction battle royale game called Off the Grid, which is now in Early Access. It is also the developer behind GunZ, the “Layer-1 blockchain ecosystem powering community-driven economies in AAA games,” including Off the Grid. Additionally, District 9 and Chappie director Neill Blomkamp is part of the team as Gunzilla’s chief creative officer and co-founder.
Game Informer is back! The entire team is returning and we can’t wait to reconnect. Come join us to celebrate the best in games, the people who make games, and the people who play games from around the world.
Furthermore, Miller shared that the new owners “insisted on the idea of Game Informer remaining an independent editorial outlet; they felt just as strongly as our team did that the only path forward was with an editorial group that made 100 percent of the decisions around what we cover and how we do so, without any influence from them or anyone else.”
To that end, Game Informer is now operating under a new entity called Game Informer Inc. and the over 30-year history of the website has returned after being shut off in August of last year. The team also chose to not leave a gap in their coverage, so they have “dozens” of new reviews from games that were released during Game Informer’s hiatus and their Best of 2024 awards ready to go.
And yes, Game Informer’s print magazine will also be returning, but at a later date. Miller said the team wants it to be “bigger and better than it was before.” In the coming weeks, Game Informer will also add membership and subscription benefits, an “expanded scope to our video, streaming, and feature coverage,” and a mission to broaden the “range of experts and partnerships we tap to bring you those perspectives.”
If you are interested, you can create a new Game Informer account to stay up-to-date with everything happening at the website. It will also earn you early benefits like access to the Game Informer Magazine Archive, an exclusive weekly newsletter, Dark Mode, and Early-Bird Founder Access.
Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a writer for IGN. You can follow him on X/Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on TikTok.
When I was a kid, The Game of Life was one of my favorite family board games. We had both the tabletop and digital versions and would regularly play together. There was something so intriguing about playing through an imaginary “Game of Life” and all of the challenges that came with it. Now that I’m an adult living through the game that is life, I find myself less entranced by the concept.
Which is probably why this collaboration with Jurassic Park exists in the first place. The Game of Life Jurassic Park Edition is less about living your best life and more about holding onto it. The overall theme of this board game is really quite interesting, and with the price reduced under $20 for Amazon’s Spring Deal Days Sale, it’s definitely worth considering adding to your collection.
The Game of Life Jurassic Park Edition Is On Sale Today
With the Amazon discount, the Jurassic Park edition of this game actually drops below the price of the original. At just under $20, it’s a great price for an officially licensed board game. While this isn’t the lowest price we’ve ever seen on this board game, it is the lowest price we’ve seen in 2025 so far. If you have $20 burning a hole in your pocket and are looking for a fun family game to play, this is a great option.
The general theme of this game is very different from the original Game of Life. The goal is to hop into your all-terrain vehicle and race your way around the island collecting dinosaur eggs and park rangers before the hurricane hits. Instead of normal life obstacles, you’ll be faced with hungry dinosaurs scattered across the board. The first one to make it all the way around the island and escape wins, and the rest are left to get eaten.
Similar to the original Hasbro board game, the Jurassic Park version is meant to be played with 2-4 players. It also has a suggested age rating of 8+, likely because of the whole getting eaten by dinosaurs aspect of the game. To see a full list of instructions, check out this online manual for details.
Five years ago, when Mike and Amy Morhaime founded Dreamhaven, I spoke with several of the founding members about their vision for the company. In our interview, they told me about wanting to build a sustainable publishing and support pillar for game studios, both the two they were founding at the time (Moonshot and Secret Door) and other partners they chose to work with.
At the end of our interview, Mike Morhaime shared a rather bold goal for the new company:
“We want, if I may be so bold as to say, to be a beacon to the industry,” he told me, referring back to the company’s lighthouse logo art. “There’s a better way of approaching the business of games and the operation of a game company that can produce great results, both in terms of products and financial reward and work environment, and that maybe can help elevate the entire industry.”
Around the time Dreamhaven was founded, studios spun up by former AAA leaders wanting to build something better and more sustainable were cropping up everywhere with bold promises for the future. But in the years since, the industry has weathered a global pandemic and economic instability, mass layoffs (still ongoing), studio closures, and project cancellations. Many of those visionary studios have shut down before they could release anything at all, or deferred their dreams years down the road.
Not Dreamhaven. Today, Dreamhaven partnered with The Game Awards for its first-ever showcase, in which it presented not just one or two games, but four. Two are internally developed: Sunderfolk, a turn-based tactical RPG with couch co-op is coming out on April 23, and newly-announced Wildgate is a crew-based first-person shooter about performing space heists (we previewed it, by the way!). The other two games are developed externally, but are being published and supported by Dreamhaven: one is Lynked: Banner of the Spark, an action-RPG from LA-based developer FuzzyBot that’s already out in early access and is getting its 1.0 launch in May. The other, Mechabellum, is a turn-based tactical auto-battler from Chinese studio Game River that looks exactly like the sort of thing a bunch of former StarCraft developers would be into. Mechabellum released last September, but with Dreamhaven’s assistance, Game River hopes to keep it updated and fresh long-term.
That’s a lot going on all at once for a fairly new games company! But that’s not all Dreamhaven’s up to. The company is supporting ten other external studios – several of which are similarly started and staffed by ex-AAA developers – in various ways, including investments, consultancy, and fundraising support. Sometimes it involves publishing support, but not always. Speaking to Mike Morhaime at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) last week, he tells me that from the start of Dreamhaven, its leaders have wanted to form a “net” of sorts to “capture some of this great talent that was dispersing” across the industry.
“We saw all these studios starting up and we have a lot of relationships,” he says. “We knew a lot of the folks starting up and we wanted to create a structure that allowed us to be helpful and root for these studios, and so we created a structure that allowed us to provide guidance and advice to some of these studios and be incentivized to want them to be successful.”
All week at GDC, I’ve been hearing discussions of the ongoing industry crisis, and the role in which prioritization of profits over all else has played in the wave of cancellations, shut-downs, and layoffs. I ask Morhaime how he feels about the tension between craft and business, but he doesn’t think the two are mutually exclusive. But he does believe you can’t make a good game if occasional failure isn’t an option.
“I think in order to create an environment that allows for innovation, you have to have a certain amount of safety and a certain amount of space to be able to experiment and try things,” he says. “We’re certainly not against these products being successful and making a lot of money. I think it’s about the focus. What are these teams focusing on? And they’re not focusing every day on how they maximize profitability at every step. They’re trying to make the best experience possible, which we think in the end it’s the right business strategy anyway and positions us better to be successful in the long run. There’s so much competition, you know this. There are so many games that are released every year. I think the really only way to be successful is to stand out with something special.”
With Dreamhaven and many of its partners largely staffed by AAA veterans, I ask him a two-sided question: what’s the biggest lesson he took away from his time at Blizzard, in AAA? Morhaime responds that while there were many, one of the more important was the necessity of an “iterative” game development process.
“It was never linear. It was never this straight line where you have this perfect plan and you execute the plan and everything goes according to plan and happiness and success follows. We always encountered obstacles and things that didn’t work the way we thought, and we had enough flexibility and adaptability to address those things along the way. So, I think just approaching everything with that kind of perspective where we want to be experimental, we want to try things. If things aren’t working, we want to be able to go back and fix them so that we end up with something that we’re very proud of.”
On the flip-side, then, what’s the biggest difference between how he used to work at Blizzard, and how he works now? In a word: agency.
“Probably the biggest difference, this is such an experienced team, and so we’re structured in a way that really gives a ton of agency to our leadership teams in the studios,” he says.
“And so, it’s I think just a very unique environment in terms of the relationship that our studios have with the central company. The central company or the central teams are really there to support the needs of the studio, and our studio heads and leadership, they’re also founding members of Dreamhaven. So, it’s really more of a partnership.”
Our discussions turn to new technologies, wherein lies another ongoing tension in the games industry: generative AI. Though the technology is unpopular among gamers and nerve-wracking to many developers, many AAA gaming companies are beginning to implement it behind the scenes…or even out in the open. Dreamhaven isn’t shying away from the idea, Morhaime says, but so far his company’s use has been quite cautious and limited to research on best practices or internal policy drafting. It’s not being used in Dreamhaven’s games.
“On the one hand, I think it’s super exciting, as a technologist, as someone who just loves what technology can do. This is starting to happen in our lifetime. I think we’re very privileged to get to see the birth of something so fascinating. Just a couple of years ago, I’d never imagined that generative AI would be able to do some of the things that it’s currently doing. There are a lot of complexities around it, legal, ethical, it’s also super hard to extrapolate out what this means to the way we live. I think it’s undeniable that it will impact all of us in all sorts of ways that we can just speculate on now. I think a lot of those ways are going to be very positive, and some of them are scary, but I also don’t think you can just shut it off and put it back in a box. And if you try to do that, it’s not going to slow down, it’s not going to stop. But I think the people who ignore it and pretend it’s not there will be at a huge disadvantage.”
Okay, what about a less controversial new technology, the Nintendo Switch 2? Sunderfolk and Lynked are both coming to Switch, and while Mechabellum can be forgiven for being Steam-exclusive given its genre, the Switch was notably absent from Wildgate’s otherwise multi-platform announcement. Morhaime isn’t saying any more about that, but he does offer commentary on the new console generally:
“I think console transitions can be very disruptive, but they can also be very invigorating and helpful for the games industry,” he says. “As a gaming startup, I think console transitions are a positive for us. If you already have games and you’re selling, then there’s some disruption maybe to worry about, but we don’t have that problem. And as a gamer, I think console transitions are exciting.”
As we wrap up I ask Morhaime if he feels Dreamhaven has succeeded in the mission he laid out for me five years ago? Is Dreamhaven a “beacon to the industry”? Morhaime doesn’t think so…yet. They still need to release some games, and see what the response is from players and the industry at large. “We have to put out some games that people love and we have to be financially successful, because if we aren’t either of those two things, nobody’s going to look at us as a beacon for anything,” he says.
“Really what I want to see happen is for Dreamhaven to build a reputation with gamers that the brand stands for something, a seal of quality, hopefully, that hopefully there’s some trust that we’ve built up where players know that if a game is coming from Dreamhaven, regardless of genre, that it’s going to be something very special and they’ll want to have the curiosity to check it out.”
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
It’s a somewhat smaller delay following years of schedule changes that was tucked into a recent game update video uploaded by publisher Paradox Interactive and developer The Chinese Room. It’s a few months later than the previous plan to see the long-awaited sequel arrive in the first half of the year, but it at least comes with the promise that the game itself is finished.
“The status of the game right now is that the game is done,” Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodline 2 Executive Producer Marco Behrmann explained. “We are currently focusing on bug fixing, stability, and performance so that we can deliver the best experience to you guys once it releases.”
Although today’s schedule change is another disappointing moment in the long list of delays fans have endured through the years, the minute-and-a-half video does come with some positive updates. The Chinese Room says it’s added more content, narrative depth, and character development since its last major update while also promising that players can expect to see Fabien have an “evolved role” in the storyline when launch arrives. Unfortunately, while various dev diaries have helped keep players in the loop during development, a post from the official Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 X/Twitter page revealed that updates would be less frequent going forward.
Even those peripherally aware of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 will know that the narrative-driven vampire game has suffered more than a few setbacks throughout the last decade. It was revealed all the way back in 2019 as the next game from developer Hardsuit Labs with a launch window of Q1 2020. It was hit with a delay to late 2020 later that same year, and although similar shifts are far from uncommon for games of this scale, this first delay was only the beginning.
At this rate, there’s no telling if the sequel to the 2004 cult-classic vidoe game will manage to sink its teeth into players this fall, but the team at The Chinese Room at least appears confident for now. In the meantime, Paradox has said that, if Bloodlines 2 manages to see a successful release, players can expect “someone else” to tackle the development of Bloodlines 3.
Michael Cripe is a freelance contributor with IGN. He’s best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
The Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase for March 2025 aired earlier this morning, detailing news about the upcoming Title Update 1 and teasing a bit of what’s in store for Title Update 2. In that small sliver of footage, fans saw signs that the much-sought-after return of Lagiacrus could be happening.
Right at the end of the Monster Hunter Wilds Showcase, over the Title Update 2 text, we hear some aquatic sounds, followed by a telltale clawed foot and scales. The signs feel fairly obvious that this is going to be Lagiacrus, a monster that hunters have been eager to fight again for quite some time.
Introduced in Monster Hunter 3, a.k.a. Monster Hunter Tri, Lagi was the “flagship monster” for the game, which meant it appeared on the box art. Alongside being the posterboy for Tri, the monster was fairly unique for one key reason: it incorporated underwater fighting. Submerged bouts were a big thing for Monster Hunter Tri, and Lagi was the prime example of that. Later versions in Monster Hunter Generations moved the fight back onto land, and the monster has been largely unseen since.
Still, the time spent apart has not dulled players’ love for Lagiacrus. For some, Monster Hunter Tri was a big entrance into the series. And this fight, with its fairly unique look and mechanics, the possibilities for a Lagiacrus fight are simply exciting. As one user pointed out several years ago in a thread asking why people are so excited for Lagi, “People who wish for Lagiacrus to return generally mean for underwater combat to return also, it’s sort of a package deal.”
Unique mechanics aside, Lagiacrus has remained popular in its own right. The leviathan came in third in a popularity poll for Monster Hunter’s 20th anniversary, beaten out only by No. 2 Nergigante and No. 1 Zinogre. One of its variants, Abyssal Lagiacrus, also came in 12th, beating out Monter Hunter Wilds’ Title Update 1 addition Mizutsune at 14th.
In 2022, speaking to IGN, Monster Hunter producer explained why Lagiacrus wouldn’t see a return in the current game at the time, Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. Though the producer acknowledged the “desire is definitely there,” the technical implementation is difficult.
“Unfortunately Lagiacrus is just a very technological…difficult monster to implement. It’s very snake-like, its parts are all kind of touching the ground at different moments,” Tsujimoto explained at the time. “So it’s very like a writhing sort of ground-based monster.”
Yet now, Capcom has elected to bring the writhing monster back. Whether this is a solely land affair, a new variant, or we see some sort of implementation of water mechanics all remains to be seen. Fans, however, are certainly enthused. Refrains of Lagiacrus being “peak” and patient fans celebrating their apparently successful manifestations litter the comments sections.
We’ll get more details as we move past Title Update 1 and on towards the summer window for Title Update 2. But yes, it looks like Lagiacrus is going to lead the summer festivities in Monster Hunter Wilds, and that’s some very exciting news for hunters new and old.
The Premium Edition of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle comes with some nice extras alongside the main game, including The Order of Giants Story DLC (which will be available once it’s released), a digital artbook, and Indy’s Temple of Doom Outfit alongside two day early access to the game.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Preorder Bonus
No matter which version of the game you decide to preorder, you’ll get some fun bonuses to enjoy. The preorder bonus is called ‘The Last Crusade Pack’, which comes with the Traveling Suit Outfit and Lion Tamer Whip that are featured in The Last Crusade. You can get a good look at those items below.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Trailer
What Is Indiana Jones and the Great Circle?
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is set between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade, following Indy on a global adventure to uncover the mysteries of the Great Circle. Our review from IGN’s Luke Reilly had a lot of praise for it. He said, “With a host of gorgeous and lavishly detailed levels, satisfying combat hinged on jawbreaking haymakers, and a focus on slow-paced exploration, platforming, and puzzle solving (interspersed with a handful of high-voltage action scenes), The Great Circle is an irresistible and immersive global treasure hunt for Indy fans who’ve felt underserved by the likes of The Dial of Destiny and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
More Preorder Guides
If you’re itching to preorder some more exciting games coming out this year, we’re here to help. Have a look through the preorder guides below to start building up your physical library, from Death Stranding 2 to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4.
Hannah Hoolihan is a freelancer who writes with the guides and commerce teams here at IGN.
