Earlier this year, Designed for Xbox​ and​ our friends at Backbone launched ​the​​ ​Backbone ​One – Xbox Edition. Now they are back with ​their next generation controller, redesigned from the ground ​up to let​ you access your favorite games on mobile, PC, smart TV, and beyond.

Meet the Backbone Pro – Xbox Edition, a great gaming experience, now designed for almost any screen you own, whether you’re on your phone, tablet, PC, TV, or streaming device.  Every detail, from the precise placement of the full-size thumbsticks to the laser-etched grips and Hall Effect triggers, is the result of relentless optimization.

Backbone Pro offers two ways to play: Handheld Mode, where your phone is physically connected via USB-C for low latency and no charging required; and Wireless Mode, connecting via Bluetooth Low Energy for gaming from a distance.

Backbone Pro – Xbox Edition Features 

• Play Anywhere: Built-in battery, USB-C, and Bluetooth​ Low Energy​ unlock gaming across ​​devices.  
• Pro-Grade Control: Full-size ALPS thumbsticks, ​laser-etched ​textured grips, Hall Effect triggers, and rear buttons for precision and comfort.  
• Jump Into Xbox Cloud Gaming and Remote Play:​​ Includes one month of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to explore a growing library of games.    

​Seamless Play with the Backbone App  

​​Personalize your play with custom profiles, button remapping, and effortless device switching – all within the Backbone App. Switching between phone, PC, and TV is simple, with FlowState – just a tap moves your controller from screen to screen. The Backbone App also supports Apple Arcade, Steam Link, and other controller-friendly mobile titles, so you have gaming options in addition to Xbox. ​​​​​ 

Backbone Pro vs. Backbone One  

Not sure which controller to snag? Here’s an overview of both controllers at a glance: 

• Backbone Pro – Xbox Edition: ​​All-new​​​​ ergonomic design for comfort and precision, Bluetooth and hardwired play, full-size ALPS sticks, Hall Effect triggers, two customizable back buttons, profiles and remapping, and built in battery.    
• Backbone One – Xbox Edition: Ultra-mobile, hardwired plug-in design optimized for portability, classic inputs, and quick jump into the Xbox app on your mobile device, to access features including Xbox Cloud Gaming and Remote Play with the Xbox button. Compatible with USB-C devices only. 

Available Now

The Backbone Pro Xbox Edition launches today. It’s available for $179.99 USD ERP through Backbone.com, xbox.com, and Amazon, with Best Buy floor placement in the US beginning November 30. Worldwide shipping is supported.

Brace yourself for a relentless alien assault in Let Them Come: Onslaught – launching today on Xbox Series X|S – where bullet heaven gameplay collides with the gritty spirit of retro sci-fi classics.

Each run challenges you to create the perfect build from an arsenal of over-the-top weapons and explosive upgrades, shredding alien hordes in a display of retro-fueled chaos. And to give you the upper hand on this hostile alien world – where even the planet is trying to kill you – we’ve collated some top tips to ensure victory for Xbox players everywhere.

Outlast The Onslaught

Offense Is King: In order to not get overtaken by the swarm, you must make sure your damage output is growing steadily throughout your run. There are also many offensive options to upgrade in the Armory between runs to make sure you have the firepower needed to survive.

But Don’t Neglect Defense: Although offense should be prioritized, defense is also essential in the long run. The Shield that can be equipped when leveling up will protect you from one hit and reactivates after a cooldown. Combining the Shield, Health Regen and Armor Plating can drastically extend your lifetime.

I-Frames Are Your Friend: There are a few ways to get invincibility frames: after taking a hit, after a Super Shield runs out, or after using the Soldier’s dash ability. Get used to how long you have invincibility so you can sneak through enemy waves and reposition.

Chaining Up Dashes: If you have multiple dash charges available, you can chain them in quick succession to get through huge waves of enemies. There are enough invincibility frames for you to stay untouchable as long as you chain dashes.

Hunting For Health Packs: Health packs can sometimes drop from mini bosses, but the most reliable way to find them is in common crates. It’s worth exploring the level and breaking them to heal steadily throughout a run.

Emergency Healing: When leveling up, you’ll sometimes be offered an option to increase your Max HP by 150. Selecting this option will not just increase your max health, but also heal you by that amount. When you are close to death, it can be a life saver.

Not All Enemies Hit as Hard: Bigger enemies tend to deal more damage than small ones or enemy projectiles. If you are surrounded and you know you can’t avoid taking damage, try to get hit by a small Spiderling to limit the damage received and use the invincibility frames to flee through tougher enemies.

Hunting For Credits: Credits are also primarily found in common crates, but they can be awarded from completing specific missions as well. A great way to earn more credits is to purchase the Extermination Contract upgrade in the Armory – this will randomly give you more credits for killing mini bosses. After killing the main boss of a level, you will be rewarded with a bonus enemy wave that drops credits. Finally, did you know that completing a level gives you a bonus multiplier on the credits earned? And playing on Hard Mode will also reward you with an additional credit multiplier!

Missions or Supply Drops? During runs, bonus missions and supply drops can trigger at the same time, and you’ll have to make a choice on which one to go to. There are a few factors that can help you make that split second decision.

With missions, you can see what the reward will be in the upper right corner of the screen. If you like the proposed reward, you should prioritize doing the mission first, because with Supply Drops you never know what the reward is until you break it.

Missions also usually show you how far you are from the target. So if you are about to run out of time and the mission is still too far, it’s better to change your priority and go get the supply drop instead.

Weapon Of Choice

Weapon Balance: Different weapons serve different roles. Some are good to push back enemies, but will deal less damage. Some can be aimed to target specific enemies while others attack randomly and work better when the screen is full of enemies. Some damage enemies near you while others have longer reach. The key to a successful run is to experiment with weapon combinations and find the style that fits your needs.

Invest In Your Weapons: Many weapons begin to show their potential at Level 3. For example, the Shotgun gets Double Shot, the Electric Grenades are now fired in batches of two, and the Flamethrower will make enemies catch on fire. If you find that your build is struggling, it might be because you have too many weapons under Level 3.

Shotgun Versus Repulse: Both of these weapons are specialized in pushing back enemies. Repulse is better when it comes to pushback in general because enemies get pushed all around you, but the Shotgun deals more damage and can cripple enemies, reducing their movement speed. If you have issues surviving the enemy hordes, you could try using both, but you might have trouble defeating the boss at the end of the level due to limited damage output.

Autogun Versus Blaster: Both of these weapons have low cooldown and automatically aim for the nearest enemy, making them easy to use. The Blaster requires more skill, however, because you’ll need to stand still to increase the firing speed. At low level, this weapon is a bit underwhelming, but at high level it’s a great tool to focus on bosses with nonstop damage output.

Electric Grenades Versus Rocket Barrage: These weapons share a lot in common. They both fire in random directions and deal lots of damage in a large area. The biggest difference is that the Grenades attack close to you while the rocket barrage fires further away. Depending on your build, you might want to prioritize one over the other. Or get both for huge damage output, but you’ll be relying on RNG to hit the right targets.

Let Them Come: Onslaught blasts its way onto Xbox Series X|S on November 11, 2025. Now you’re fully prepared for the horrors that await you on this hostile alien world. Happy hunting!

Let Them Come: Onslaught

Digital Bandidos

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

Brace yourself for the explosive action of Let Them Come: Onslaught, a fast-paced roguelite shooter where survival means adapting, upgrading, and unleashing devastating firepower. Battle relentless alien swarms across procedurally generated stages, unlocking new weapons and stacking brutal upgrades with every run. Whether you’re clearing the screen with flamethrowers, orbital strikes, or Photon Sabers, the power is in your hands. Experiment with different loadouts, refine your strategy, and master the retro-inspired bullet heaven loop. With an original synth-driven soundtrack by Cartridge 87 and escalating waves of enemies, this game will push you to the limit.

Are you ready to set foot on Mars for the very first time – again? Welcome to Surviving Mars: Relaunched, a new way to play our colony-building management game for a new generation of spacefaring strategists!

When we launched Surviving Mars originally, we wanted to give gamers an experience that was grounded in reality and science, easy to understand, and built towards an ambitious future, and that was what we delivered. The heart of the game remains the same as always: from initial surface scans and deployment of drones, you will start building the critical infrastructure needed to support human colonists, including water systems, supply extraction, and environmental domes.

Once people start showing up, you can undertake more complicated tasks and developments to expand and maintain your colony, until your colony is sustainable without aid from Earth.

Since then, Surviving Mars has explored a number of new ways to bring efficiency, change, and even cute animals to the red planet. We released expansions that added Terraforming (Green Planet), Subterranean Mining (Below and Beyond), and Rival Colonies (Space Race) to the game. When we made the decision to come back to Surviving Mars and begin developing even more ways to play, we realized that there was an opportunity not just to share our ideas with our original commanders, but with a whole new crew as well!

That’s what brought us to Surviving Mars: Relaunched, a new version of our game that gives everyone lots of new features to try. For starters, we’ve upgraded the graphics, reworked the UI, and improved controller support, all to ensure the game looks and plays its best, especially now that it’s coming to Xbox Series X|S.

Next, we’ve included everything that was ever added to the original game – so players of Relaunched get access to features like Terraforming and Trains that were originally DLC with the base game, which means we can deliver updates and content based around those features, going forward. We’re also adding new features that have never been included in any version of the game before now, including factions and political management for your colonies!

We’re also giving all Martian Managers access to new ways to expand and play our game created by other players, with in-game mod support. You’ll be able to browse and install mods without leaving the game, allowing you to add community-made buildings to your planet, or explore new end-game mysteries.

With the most comprehensive version of Surviving Mars in your hands, all of us at Haemimont will have an ideal launch pad to bring more new content to the game from here on out. We’re already working on a new expansion for early next year, “Feeding the Future,” which will add new production systems and food options for your colonists to help add to their comfort – and sanity! We have another expansion, “Machine Utopia,” in the works after that one as well, which will allow you to colonize, optimize, and industrialize. It’s exciting to get to work on what feels like an all-new game for us, and start bringing life to all the ideas we’ve had, and still have!

Whether you’re about to experience Surviving Mars for the first time or whether Relaunched is the next chapter in your journey to the stars, we’re excited to keep growing alongside you and your colony, starting today. See you on board the rockets!

Surviving Mars: Relaunched

Paradox Interactive

☆☆☆☆☆

★★★★★

Get it now

See the Red Planet like never before, land for the first time all over again, and discover some brand-new secrets.

Welcome home! The award-winning sci-fi city builder is back – remastered, expanded, and more stunning than ever. Your mission: colonize Mars and survive the process, from exploration and infrastructure to welcoming human colonists and achieving long-term stability. There are new challenges to overcome, new strategies to plan, and now with an upgraded look and feel for a new generation of explorers.

All you need for this relaunched mission to create a thriving Martian settlement is a steady supply of resources, oxygen, decades of training, experience with sandstorms… and a curious attitude to discover the purpose of those weird black cubes that appeared out of nowhere. With a bit of sprucing up, this place is going to be awesome!

Surviving Mars: Relaunched brings together the original colony management game from Haemimont Games, its entire catalogue of expansions, improved and reworked, from major expansions to cosmetics and radio stations, as well as the all-new Martian Assembly update. Upgraded graphics together with updated UI will give veteran players the definitive Surviving Mars experience, and provide an ideal launch point for new commanders as well.

Are you ready? Mars is waiting for you.

The Dream of Martian Independence

The new Martian Assembly brings an expanded endgame challenge never seen in the original. Shape your Martian society through laws. Balance the needs and demands of your colonists, keep the peace and develop a long-term plan for Mars – up to and including independence from Earth!

Realistic Sci-Fi City Building

Building a thriving colony on a planet not fit for human life brings its own challenges. Construct life-support systems, power grids, domes, and supply chains, and keep them running, because blackouts on a planet without oxygen are never a good idea. And you’re not alone. With the included ‘Space Race’ expansion, rival colonies backed by competing sponsors add even more pressure as you fight for resources and the future of Mars.

Manage Resources, Survive Mars

Balance critical resources like oxygen, water, power, and food to keep your colony alive. Drones build and maintain your infrastructure, while the revamped ‘Martian Express’ adds trains that move people and supplies across longer distances. Every colonist has their own needs and behaviors and smart management is essential for their survival.

Discover, Research, Expand

Advance your colony through a deep research system that unlocks new buildings, production methods, and essential upgrades. Discover breakthroughs, resources, and hidden secrets reaching ‘Below & Beyond’ the Martian surface. With randomized maps, varied sponsors, and unpredictable Mysteries, every playthrough offers new challenges, and every decision shapes your story of survival and growth on Mars.

The Future of the Red Planet is Green

Terraforming is no longer a distant dream, it’s your next challenge. With the included ‘Green Planet’ expansion, you can engineer Mars into a more habitable world. As the environment transforms, introduce animal life with ‘Project Laika’, bringing the first creatures to thrive alongside your colonists. The future of Mars isn’t just survival, it’s building a self-sustaining, living planet.

Brawlhalla, the free-to-play platform fighting game, is celebrating its 10th anniversary since launching its open beta in 2015. What started as an indie game with five playable Legends has grown into a pillar of the fighting game community, with 67 playable Legends; a plethora of maps and biomes; crossovers with popular IP such as Star Wars, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Halo, among many others; and over 125 million lifetime players.

Each year, around its anniversary, Brawlhalla celebrates in two ways: an in-game anniversary celebration, and the in-person Brawlhalla World Championship Expo (BCX). BCX 2025 is taking place at the Gateway Center in Atlanta, GA from November 21-23, and will feature world-class competitive Brawlhalla, announcements of what’s coming in 2026, and an expo packed with dev panels, cosplay, and more.

The in-game anniversary event runs now through December 3: a month-long celebration of Brawlhalla featuring new content, community events, rewards, and surprises. The festival introduces a new Legend – a cleric named Lady Vera – as well as the long-awaited Guild feature, which allows players to build community in new and exciting ways. Whether you’re a seasoned competitor or a new player, Brawlhalla’s 10^th anniversary is the perfect time to log in, join a Guild, and brawl it out in the arena.

Zeke Sparkes is Brawlhalla’s managing director, and he’s been a developer on the game since its inception. We spoke to him to learn more about Brawlhalla’s beginning, how it’s continued to grow over the past decade, and how the team kept the player community at the core of the game’s vision.

What can you tell us about Brawlhalla’s early days of development and the vision for the game?

It was exciting because we realized pretty early on that we had something that had legs, but we didn’t know how far it could go. So, we poured our hearts into it and built really strong ties with the community early on. We knew, especially being free to play, that we had to be talking and listening and adapting based on what the community was saying. And so, we put ourselves out there and it’s been a wild ride seeing how far we can go.

Has the approach to development changed in the last decade?

I’d say the mentality is still the same. It’s a team that loves the game – everybody is here because they want to be working on Brawlhalla, and we are connected to the community. We’re constantly finding new ways to listen to the community and figure out what we can do to tweak the game, keep people interested and excited, see what things we’re doing that are working well, and what things we’re doing that aren’t working so well that we need to update. We’ve had a constant commitment to that.

Over the years, we’ve gone from launching just on Steam, where we could patch two, three, four, five times a week – really, really fast – to being on every major platform. That adds a layer of logistics we didn’t have early on; we have to plan a bit further ahead. So, the processes changed a little bit, but the heart and mentality are still the same.

As you’ve mentioned, community is a huge part of Brawlhalla, and being connected to the community has been the plan since day one. How did you build that community relationship? Was there any surprising feedback?

One of the first things we did was stream the game on Twitch, even before we really understood what Twitch was or how to do a good stream. We knew that it was going to be important, and it was one of the first times you could get real-time feedback from players as a developer, which was really exciting.

Because of that connection, we had a really big change early on. Originally, the game wasn’t character-focused; you would build an avatar and then spec out exactly how you wanted your character to be based on the weapons we dropped for you during gameplay. The early feedback told us the prototype was cool, the combat’s fun, but characters were missing. That’s when we started to think about pivoting to a character-centric game and started figuring out what archetypes we could add based on what we had made. We started with five Legends and released the 67^th this month.

Now, we’ve got a full-on livestream studio with a set and awesome production values and motion graphics, but the core of the experience is still there, where it’s us talking to the community about what we’re doing, what’s going on, seeing how they react to stuff, and listening to the things they want to see in the game. That’s how we keep Brawlhalla moving forward.

Brawlhalla’s World Championship Expo (BCX) is taking place November 21-23 in Atlanta. What can fans expect this year?

That is the place to tune into. You get the best Brawlhalla gameplay in the entire world, and it just gets better every year. It’s incredible – the atmosphere is amazing, and it’s where we make some of our biggest announcements and reveals. We’ve got some really good ones lined up this year (I’m thinking of a couple now that are going to make people go crazy), so make sure you tune in on twitch.tv/Brawlhalla.

Any reflections on the past decade you’d like to share? What’s up next for Brawlhalla?

Lady Vera, our 67^th Legend, is out now. She’s a cleric with some really interesting signature moves, and you can do some pretty fun stuff with her. She has a lot of radial skills, so depending on where you are when you do the move, the direction that your opponent goes can change pretty dramatically. So, if you’re creative, this really is a character for you. We’ve also just released phase one of our Guilds feature, which is a long-time player request. You’ll be able to build your community of players around a Guild that works across all different platforms, and that’s just phase one. We’ll continue to add cool, new, engaging mechanisms to Guilds as we move forward. Tune into BCX 2025 for more specifics of what’s to come!

I’d also like to say that building Brawlhalla with this team and with the community has been amazing. Over the past decade, players have shaped this game’s direction, fueled its esports scene, and fostered a welcoming space for brawlers of all backgrounds. The Anniversary Event is as much a celebration of the community as it is of the game itself. It’s exactly what we love to do and we’re so thankful for everybody that’s been on this journey with us whether you’re brand new today or you’ve been playing Brawlhalla since the closed alpha. We’re super excited that there’s a community of people that love the game and love what we’re doing.

Brawlhalla is free to play on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One.

Brawlhalla

Ubisoft

☆☆☆☆☆
1014

★★★★★

Get it now

Xbox One X Enhanced

An epic platform fighter for up to 8 players online or locally. Try casual free-for-alls, ranked matches, or invite friends to a private room. And it’s free! Play cross-platform with millions of players on PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, iOS, Android and Steam! Frequent updates. Over fifty Legends._x000d_
_x000d_
The Legend Rotation of nine free to play characters changes every week, and you can earn gold to unlock more Legends by playing any online game mode. _x000d_
Includes: Orion Legend unlock, Dark Age Orion Skin, Thumb’s Up Emote, Trident Weapon Skin._x000d_
_x000d_
Brawhalla will always be 100% free to play with no pay-to-win advantages.

What if every puzzle you solved revealed another hidden layer beneath? Boxes: Lost Fragments invites players into a world of intricate mechanisms and mesmerizing mystery.

Hi everyone, we are Big Loop Studios – the creators of Boxes: Lost Fragments.

We have made many puzzle games before, but when developing Boxes: Lost Fragments, we decided to double down on intricate and satisfying mechanical designs, sensible puzzles, unexpected quirks, and a bit of surreal surprises. This game is for players who like tinkering with multi-component, beautifully crafted puzzle boxes at a relaxing pace.

Concept & Development

We wanted each puzzle box to hold many layers of hidden mechanisms, riddles, and surprising revelations waiting to be uncovered.

The entire development took around 30 months – way, way longer than initially planned. But this extended period turned out to be a true blessing. As time passed, many ideas evolved naturally into better versions of themselves, and some were completely replaced. For example, the tower-like upward progression of the game was introduced in the last three months of production. Talk about last-minute…

If we have to share another peculiar detail, the initial release had a different ending that players did not like. So, thanks to our fans, we created an even better game.

Visuals & Atmosphere

It was essential for the game to draw you in with its sheer atmosphere even before the puzzles begin. All puzzle boxes needed to be highly detailed and beautiful to just observe. In other words, a triumph of the visual crafts, combined with polished animations, effects, and audio.

We approached each box like a piece of art, carefully considering how each part connects to the whole, how each level transforms and evolves as the player solves different puzzle pieces, and how sound cues could build atmosphere and immersion. The result is a cohesive blend of visuals, animation, and audio designed to draw players deeper into the world without overwhelming them.

The load on our artists and designers was immense compared to previous projects, and they did an excellent job. So prepare to get mesmerized.

Puzzles & Gameplay

Boxes: Lost Fragments rewards logical thinking, careful observation, and a willingness to experiment. The puzzles are varied, from clue finding to mechanical inventions and multi-step challenges that unlock new layers of intricacy. Striking the right balance between difficulty and flow was one of our primary goals. We will let you decide for yourself how close we got to this goal. If you ask us, we think the result leans more towards “enjoyably puzzling” than “brain-meltingly hard”.

Bringing Boxes: Lost Fragments to Xbox allows us to showcase every polished animation and detailed mechanism in full fidelity. The tactile feeling of interacting with the puzzle boxes using the controller’s precise feedback feels especially satisfying on Xbox Series X|S.

Boxes: Lost Fragments launches today on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One. Dive into a beautiful detailed world of puzzle solving today!

Boxes: Lost Fragments

Snapbreak Games

☆☆☆☆☆
1

★★★★★

$14.99

$13.49

Get it now

As a legendary thief, your next assignment lures you into a grand and lavish mansion. There you find a series of puzzle boxes, designed for an unknown purpose.

Suddenly, you realize that this is no ordinary building and that you are no longer in control of what is unfolding, and perhaps never were. What should have been a quick in-and-out, turns into your own harrowing struggle for freedom and answers.

Inspired by the cryptic atmosphere, intricate machinery, and smooth controls of the best room escape games, we have created a diverse set of original puzzle levels that will test your resolve and skills to navigate this mysterious and compelling journey. Each level is beautiful, unique, and a true delight to explore and figure out.