The Last Case Of John Morley Xbox Series X Review 5.5/10 “An interesting mystery that stumbles in the darkness” 🕯️🫆🕵️

The Last Case of John Morley Review – Atmosphere, Intrigue, and a Faltering Middle Act

When Atmosphere Shines but Gameplay Falters

You play as John Morley, a private detective who has recently woken up in hospital. Remembering only a few things, you awake to find you've spent days in the hospital but are now healthy and free to leave. You head back to your office, where almost instantly you have a new client, an older woman who wants you to investigate the murder of her daughter. Decades have passed since the murder occurred – it was originally attributed to a pair of thieves, but she isn't satisfied with this conclusion and offers you an obscene amount of money to investigate the cold case. Liking both money and a good mystery, Mr Morley takes the case and heads to the Manor to begin his investigation.

The 7th Guest Remake Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "Stauf is back!" 🔦🕯️

The 7th Guest Remake Review – Wine, Whispers and the Wonders of Stauf’s House

A Haunting Journey Through a Reborn Classic

I can’t believe that it was back in 2023 when I reviewed The 7th Guest VR, of which this game is a port. Awarding it a 9.5/10, it was one of our highest-rated games ever, perfectly capturing as it does the essence of what makes The 7th Guest such a special game for so many whilst bringing it to the eyes of modern audiences. 

A huge boon here for me is that as much as I adored The 7th Guest VR, I struggle with motion sickness when playing in VR, and so it was tough to get through certain sections, and I had to play the game in bite-sized chunks. 

Whilst the move from VR does leave the cobwebs of some elements that now feel unneeded – such as the ability to pick up everything and rotate it in your ghostly hand – this realisation of Stauf’s manor and the guests and puzzles within is so strong that it feels fickle to focus on those aspects. As above, if you want to know my personal history with this title and get a deeper dive, check out my previous review of the VR version as it covers a lot of this ground.

Letter Quest Remastered Xbox Series X Review 9.5/10 "There are no words for a game this good!" 🔤 @thebaconbandits #IndieGame #GameDev

Letter Quest Remastered: The Undisputed King of Word‑Based RPGs

The Humour, Art, and Personality That Make Letter Quest Shine

Over the years, whenever I cover word-based puzzle games, Letter Quest often crops up as the standard-bearer for quality. It seems unusual to retrospectively cover a game released over a decade ago, but I was sure that I had sung the praises of Letter Quest in an article upon its initial release - I had certainly played it enough! - but I checked during my research for Beyond Words, and no, I hadn’t. So I’m getting to rectify that here.

A.I.L.A Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “An interesting idea that's sadly front-loaded” 📺📼🐈‍⬛ @PulsatrixStudio #IndieGame #GameDev #Horror

A.I.L.A Review – Psyche‑Driven Horror With Big Ideas and Uneven Execution

A Postmodern VR Nightmare That Starts Strong but Loses Steam in the Final Acts

In A.I.L.A, you play as a video game play-tester in a postmodern sci-fi world. You get the new VR gaming system- AILA. It is a brand-new system that uses the user’s psyche to adapt the horror and give a unique experience.

The system uses an AI to guide you through the horror scenarios, the avatar of which is a little girl whom you talk to before and after you play through each of the scenarios, asking questions and guiding you through the experience, checking how you react and how you feel. 

Dread Delusion Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "A Beautiful Misery" 📖⚔️ @DreadXPGames #IndieGames #GameDev

I knew nothing about Dread Delusion before diving in, and what I discovered excited the hell out of me. Dread Delusion is one of those games that aches like it’s the final burst brainchild of a single individual, and – as with all truly great prose - takes a while to get to grips with.

A first-person RPG beginning with your character being tasked with tracking down known sausage Vela Callose (aka - the most wanted person in the Apostatic Union.), your task soon branches out into various side and main quests over the various ‘skylands’ before you. 

Presented in a PS1 visual style with a surprising amount of options as to just how PS1 you want your experience to be – you’ll soon find yourself traipsing around the world of Dread Delusion, accompanied by a beautiful, keening (if slightly repetitive) soundtrack, sparse visuals, and tightly-funnelled game design that feels like a lesson in world-building without waste.

MARVEL COSMIC INVASION XBOX SERIES X Review 8/10 "A vibrant, retro-inspired beat 'em up that channels old-school arcade energy" 💥 @MARVELCosmicInv @Dotemu

Marvel Cosmic Invasion is here: it hits Xbox Series X as a vibrant, retro-inspired beat 'em up that channels old-school arcade energy - think the classic 1992 X-Men arcade game - with the combos, special moves and overall depth we've come to expect from Dotemu, the publisher behind the excellent Streets of Rage 4.

The game follows the Marvel Annihilation storyline, pitting a huge roster of 15 playable characters against the evil Annihilus and the deadly Annihilation Wave. You punch, claw, fly and swing through locations ranging from New York City, through the Avengers Helicarrier, to the depths of the Negative Zone. The excellent pixel art style and fast-paced brawling capture an energetic comic-book feel that is very much in keeping with other Dotemu releases.

Dark Quest: Remastered Xbox Series X Review 6/10 *The boardiest of digital board games* ☠️⚔️ @brainseal #IndieGame #GameDev

I first got on board with the Dark Quest series back in 2023 with the third entry, which was a fantastic isometric title that relied on a blend of chance and memorisation as you delved ever further into its rewarding depths, as a man with a loud voice shouted numbers at you – good! 

More recently, I covered Dark Quest 4, which further evolved the formula with more classes and personalisation options – and so when I had the opportunity to go back to the start of the series and cover this remaster of the original Dark Quest – originally released back in 2015 for PC– I leapt at the chance, as Brain Seal have fast become a personal fave developer of mine – helped along by their recent explosive physics-based title Blow It Up. Although this remaster does feel a bit of a step backwards as opposed to a celebration and re-imagining of an earlier title. In the Brain Seal catalogue.

Thomas & Friends: Wonders of Sodor Xbox Review 6.5/10 "A beautifully realised license frustratingly hampered by technical issues and design choices" 🚂 @dovetailgames #IndieGame #GameDev

I grew up with Thomas the Tank Engine, and now – a full generation down the line – my son has taken up the mantle of enjoying Thomas and his cast of friends making their way around the gentle island of Sodor. 

Developed by Dovetail Games – the folks behind the Train Sim World series of games, they know their way around a caboose! - this is a wonderfully realised world in which the characters are absolutely TV perfect and the voice actor from the show also appears to add class to the game.

There are several modes, with exploration (free roam) mode, and a more mission-centric being the main focus. I was intrigued as to how they would make a game in which you can effectively just go forwards and backwards interesting, especially when the sim element is removed or heavily simplified, but Dovetail Games have really worked some magic here with the chapter stories, voice work, and overall presentation being spot-on.

Monster Train 2 DLC - Destiny of the Railforged Xbox Series X Review 8/10 "Keeping it Rail" 🚂 @TheMonsterTrain #IndieGame #GameDev

The first paid DLC for Monster Train 2 has arrived at the station. The lauded sequel itself only came out in May of last year, and in late 2025 we were blessed with a host of new additions through the ‘Echoes From the Void’ update. Now, only a few months later, we have another, more substantial offering to expand the network in a way that shows HS2 how it’s done (Google it, non-UK people).

Monster Train, for the uninitiated, is a roguelike deck-building game. I won’t go into the mechanics too much as I cover a lot of it HERE. And I didn’t review the Void update, but essentially it offered a bit more of everything. We were furnished with new foes, new weapons and new variants of the Pyre (source of the player’s life and what your monsters protect) to up the ante and keep the train rolling.

Taxi Chaos 2 Xbox Series X Review 7.5/10 *A sequel that steps up to the plate* 🚖🚕 @currentgamers #IndieGame #GameDev

I covered the original Taxi Chaos back in 2021, and whilst the fundamental mechanics and visuals were top-notch; the grating music, irritating voice acting, and repetition of the gameplay loop in such a flat, bland world was pretty wearing, and I awarded it 5/10 at the time. Whilst this sequel doesn’t solve all of those issues, in terms of enjoyment and polish, it’s a far better game, and a worthy sequel to the niche genre of arcade-led taxi driving action.

Beginning with much more of a story than the original – not that a story is particularly what you expect from this genre – you are Vinnie, an old school taxi driver plying his trade in a bit of a junkheap through a futuristic city wherein AI-driven ‘Taxibots’ are taking over from the classic cabbies. 

Determined to prove that humans can do a better job, Vinnie takes it upon himself to pick up the customers scattered throughout the city and surrounding areas, leaping over obstacles, swerving around hazards, taking myriad shortcuts, destroying – or avoiding! – said Taxibots and ensuring his passengers get safely to their destination.

Wreckreation XBox Series X Review 5.5/10 *Burned Out?* 🛻💥 @ArcadeDriving #IndieGame #GameDev

It’s hard to write this review as Wreckreation is clearly a labour of love from some core developers behind the much-loved Burnout franchise, and you can feel where the game could be at. 

Admittedly my personal preferences lay back when Burnout was a more linear experience – I was never taken with the open-world Burnout Paradise - but there are moments in Wreckreation in which great ideas and choices shine through, yet they always seem to either be shot down by heavier duty issues, or design choices that appear to be opposing forces during development.

Mafia: The Old Country Xbox Series X Review 6.5/10 *va bene, va bene* 🍋 @mafiagame

I missed the boat when the original Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven was fist released back in 2002, instead getting hips deep into the sequel released in 2010, of which I have incredibly fond memories of following the trials and tribulations of Vito and Joe as they make their way through the murky underworld of Empire Bay. 

The game had an incredible soundtrack, looked fantastic and had a plot that pulled me in. The sequel – Mafia III (developed by the current team, Hangar 13 – initially impressed with its technological advances, atmosphere and characters – and again, a blinding soundtrack – but for reasons I can’t recall, I sort of…fell off it somewhere along the way.

Blood: Refreshed Supply Xbox Series X Review 8/10 "Blood has been a constant in my life"🩸 @NightdiveStudio #GameDev #IndieGame

Blood has been a constant in my life, never far from my mind when favourite classic FPS titles crop up, and back in 2019 upon the release of Blood: Fresh Supply, a chunk of the team here at GF played through the game in local co-op format on hard mode in a single sesh for the glorious charity Special Effect, and what a bloody good day that was! I’m also personally a big supporter of games lost to the mists of time being released on modern consoles, so this is a great double-hander along with the recent Outlaws.

Once again telling the story of Caleb and his bullet-ridden path of revenge against his previous lord, Tchernobog and the cult of Cabal in his bid to rescue his former associates The Chosen, Blood begins with Caleb rising from the grave, pitchfork in hand to wreak havoc on his quest, which takes him through ghost towns, a circus, the arctic, hell itself, and even France (natch).

This new version features a wealth of updates, including:

• Source Code Rebuild: Built from the original code for greater accuracy and new possibilities.
• Visuals & Performance: 4K resolution, unlocked framerates (up to 120 FPS), remastered cutscenes, and optional weather effects.
• Gameplay Enhancements: Improved enemy behaviours, bug fixes, refined player movement, and support for CD/MIDI music.
• New Content: Includes Plasma Pak & Cryptic Passage add-ons, plus the Marrow episode at launch, with Death Wish planned for later.
• Multiplayer: Rewritten net code for up to 8 players, online/local co-op, and PvP modes.
• Modding & Controls: Extended mod support and fully customizable gamepad/keyboard controls.
• The Vault: A new area with cut content, concept art, unused sprites, and behind-the-scenes material

SUMMARY

The definitive way to enjoy Monolith Software’s classic, hopefully this will get a lot of folks into a game that I spent a lot of my teenage years enjoying.

I can’t imagine that Blood 2: The Chosen will get the same treatment and quite frankly, that’s absolutely fine, because it is – as the Aztecs used to say, “Not very good”.

8/10

🆒COOL🆒

(also available on PC, PS4/5, Xbox One, Switch – Switch 2 in 2026)

Developer / Publisher – Nightdive Studios

Neon Inferno X Box Series X Review 8.5/10 *never reload, never stop shooting* 🏍️🔫 @ZenoviaLLC #IndieGame #GameDev

There are a lot of genres in the world of video games that slide by, or don’t feel like they got as fully explored as they could have at the time of release on whatever systems they found their home on. 

Quite often I’ll go back to one of my favourite consoles and wonder why there weren’t more titles in said genre – Landstalker springs to mind! - as they nail a niche that feels like there are deeper depths to be plumbed. 

Back in 1990, Dick Tracy on the Mega Drive was the first time I played a game that melded both side-scrolling action and gallery shooter mechanics, and despite its flaws it remains a strong title in the MD library for me; not only because of its awesome music, noir atmosphere and presentation, but because it felt truly different on Sega’s awesome 16-bit machine.

Cue Neon Inferno. Yes, there have obviously been other titles in this dual genre over the years, but since the 16-bit heyday, I can’t recall too many games that blended these genres so well.

Borderlands 4 Xbox Series X Review 8/10 *More shooty, less bang bang* 💥

I covered Borderlands 3 back in 2021, scoring it a 9/10 and celebrating the zany world of Pandora and its myriad denizens. Whilst there were hardly any immense leaps in terms of core gameplay between games, the series always delivered mindless blasting action, which ramped up gloriously when playing with friends. 

This newest instalment instead shifts the action to Kairos, a hidden planet run by ‘The Timekeeper’; a masked, golden, and seemingly immortal figure that plants chips in the minds of his subjects allowing him to control their will, or to drive them insane, if he deems necessary…which he does deem quite often, quite frankly.

I was hips deep in the initial unveiling and first couple of hours, everything that I enjoyed about the series had returned, and now it was tied to a story that - although basic - seemed slightly more serious and focused which was certainly refreshing. Starting the game off with an epic prison escape got my engine revving and my guns cocked and loaded.

Dark Quest 4 Xbox Series X Review 8/10 *A Quest Very Much For Heroes* 🎲⚔️🧙‍♂️ @brainseal #IndieGame #GameDev

Dark Quest 3 was installed on my Xbox for a very long time back in 2023/24 when I covered it, and earlier this year I covered Brain Seal’s Blow It Up! Which was also a good time. 

Whilst I haven’t played the first two iterations of the Dark Quest series, I can tell you that whilst it looks the same in trailers, and the artwork and characters are familiar, this is a different beast to Dark Quest 3, moving away from random encounters and luck-based sections, and more towards a style of gameplay that feels more akin to the quest-based Hero Quest board game that Dark Quest gets some of its inspiration from. 

Whilst this does freshen things up, it also feels oddly stripped back, as the mechanics now feel quite bare, and I found myself wishing for a little more depth and camera control, especially in areas where parts of the environment were a mystery to me because of the locked view.

Deathless. The Hero Quest Xbox Series X Review 9/10 "A Deck Builder Based on Slavic Folklore" 🃏 @Deathless_TOR #indiegame #gamedev

I’ve been quite partial to digital card games recently, and whilst I’ve played some corkers over the last year, Deathless. The Hero Quest seems to be pulling me back more than most, it’s blend of beautifully expressive and smooth animations, rousing soundtrack and compulsive gameplay means that I find myself settling down for that golden sense of ‘one more try’.

Set in the fictional fantasy world of Belosvet, the game begins with a number of options to tailor your journey to your specific level of difficulty, as well as letting you decide which hero you will take on this epic quest first, will it be the sword and (surprisingly gun-like) wand-brandishing Alyosha? The towering Dobrynya, an armoured warrior who wields a huge sword and dragon skin covered shield? The sorceress Vasilisa, or perhaps the treasure hunter Varvara who tears into battle with a pickaxe and magic braid? Whoever you choose, fun is certainly imminent.

HELLDIVERS 2 XBOX SERIES X Review 9/10 "A Veritable Cornucopia of War Crime Options" 🦟 @helldivers2

I had had my eye on Helldivers 2 since the PC launch last year, and had been itching for the promised Xbox release for a long time. The release actually got me to pay for an Xbox game for the first time in ages, Game Pass being what it is.

For the uninitiated, Helldivers 2 is a squad-based shooter, where you and up to three team-mates drop onto a planet to achieve your mission objectives before being airlifted to safety. These objectives range from 'take this thing here', 'blow this thing up' or 'defend this bit of ground while a thing happens', through to 'kill as many enemies as you can while staying as alive as you can'. It's safe to say that it's not a story-heavy game. 

However, there is some framing. You are a Helldiver, one the elite soldiers of Super Earth, sent to battle its enemies while championing liberty, spreading Managed Democracy and staying true to the cause. Of course, it's all camouflage over the fact that you fight for a totalitarian dictatorship, with the satire very reminiscent of Starship Troopers.

Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek Xbox Series X Review 7.5/10 "Perfect For The Spooky Season!" 🔦 @PHLCollective @GameMillEnt #IndieGame #GameDev

The newest title from the Philadelphia-based developer PHL Collective, the classic spooky children’s franchise Goosebumps is getting the PHL treatment. 

The last game that I played by this development team was DC’s Justice League: Cosmic Chaos which I covered last year, and much like this one, whilst it isn’t a trailblazer in the genre, the respect for the franchise in hand combined with a high quality presentation means that this is another great game to play with youngsters. 

The main difference being that whilst Cosmic Chaos was an entry towards an ARPG style of game, Goosebumps: Terror in Little Creek acts as a gateway of sorts to the survival horror genre, much as the books will eventually pave the way to Clive Barker et al. Good!

Chronicles of the Wolf Xbox Series X Review 9.5/10 "My New Favourite Metroidvania" 🐺 #IndieGame #GameDev@PQubeGames @Migami_Games @PixelHeart_eu

I was introduced to Migami Games through their 2020 title Wallachia: Reign of Dracula, which I reviewed back in 2021, which was a throwback to 16-bit era arcade action games. They have a rich history with Castlevania fan games, and when this was initially released, it slipped me by due to us having an extremely busy time here at the Welsh branch of GF. 

Re-discovering it recently, it turns out that I was a fool, a damn fool for skipping over Chronicles of the Wolf upon its release back in 2023 as it’s very clearly one of my games of the year, blending as it does nostalgia of the past with an eye on modern design. 

Honestly, I’ll say this at the start of the review, aside from the fact that this leans heavily on Castlevania in most ways, and some people may find this aspect a little too close for comfort (it doesn’t bother me in the slightest), I have nothing at all to critique about Chronicles of the Wolf, it feels like the perfect throwback game in the Metroidvania style.