Want killer console-exclusive titles that will make your PS4-playing friends want to toss their DualShock controllers against a wall? Pick up the Xbox One.
Cuphead is a charming run-and-gun, shoot-’em-up that channels Konami’s iconic Contra series, while also taking heavy inspiration from the rubber hose animation style that was prominent during 1920s- and 1930s-era cartoons. If you’re familiar with the Contra series’ fast-paced gameplay, Cuphead should feel right up your alley: the titular protagonist and his brother Mugman must best a wide variety of perilous stages and bosses to complete their quest.
Cuphead lacks the expansive level design featured in Contra and other genre classics, but the hardcore action game gives you a beefy list of complex and satisfying boss fights to overcome, like you find in Treasure’s Alien Soldier. This console-exclusive game is also available on Windows 10 PC courtesy of Microsoft’s Play Anywhere initiative.
D4, the oddball point-and-click game from the ever-bizarre and lovable Swery, is another reason to own an Xbox One. Drawing from Philip K. Dick’s trippy metaphysics, David Lynch’s surrealism, and LucasArts’ classic adventure mechanics, D4 is a far cry from the usual AAA offerings.
It tells the story of a widower, detective David Young, who is obsessed with unearthing the events that led to the death of his wife Little Peggy. The story involves time travel, a giant, and a woman dressed as a cat who may or may not be real. It’s a good old time.
Dark Dreams Don’t Die is the first part of a multi-arc story; a story that may not see a conclusion due to Swery leaving the developer, Access Games.
Besides Fist of the Northstar and Jo Jo’s Bizarre Adventure, there are few anime properties that are as intrinsically suited to the fighting-game treatment as the Dragon Ball series. Spanning multiple series, movies, and generations of characters, Akira Toriyama’s manga-turned-anime-turned-game series is all about buff monkey men, humans, aliens, and androids trading blows in actual earth-shattering battles.
The series’ latest video game adaptation, Dragon Ball FighterZ, ditches the Xenoverse games’ arena-brawling model in favor of 3 vs. 3 tag-team fighting on a 2D plane. The gameplay shift is just one of the many reasons Dragon Ball FighterZ is being held aloft as one of 2018’s notable titles. Its beautiful design, intense combat, and accessible control scheme add up to a game one that anyone can jump into for Super Saiyan thrills.
The Playground Games–developed Forza Horizon 4 is an open-world racing game that continues the series’ tradition of fast cars, gorgeous environments, and ridiculous head-to-head challenges. This installment, however, adds dynamic, world-affecting seasonal effects, deeper multiplayer integration, and a new progression system that lets you tackle Forza Horizon 4’s challenges as you see fit.
You unlock seasons by earning Influence, one of the two in-game currencies. The other is gear-centric Credits. The XP-like Influence is earned by entering races, finding cars, and successfully completing challenges. In fact, Influence, along with the new My Horizon Life campaigns and fresh customization features, causes the racer to lean into RPG elements more than ever before.
Forza Horizon 4 is also available on Windows 10 PC courtesy of Microsoft’s Play Anywhere initiative.
Killer Instinct isn’t a title that many gamers expected to be an Xbox One launch highlight, but it’s one of the gems in Microsoft’s next-generation lineup. The revived series adheres to the original game’s unique blend of manual and auto-combos, which casual and hardcore players use to rack up ridiculous hit totals with a few well-timed controller or fight stick inputs.
This Definitive Edition rewards those who displayed purchase patience. It includes all 26 characters from Seasons 1-3, and ports of the 1990’s Killer Instinct I & II. It’s a terrific fighting game package.
Killer Instinct also made the jump to Windows 10 PCs as a Play Anywhere title. It can also be purchased in the Steam store.
What exactly is the source of the phantom pain that permeates this game’s multi-layered, but incomplete narrative? Snake’s lost forearm? Mother Base’s destruction? Creator Hideo Kojima’s separation from the franchise that he transformed into a AAA display of excellent game design and ingenuity? Regardless of how you view Metal Gear Solid V, The Phantom Pain’s open-world stealth, army-building, and compelling mysteries, it all adds up to an absorbing experience that will be spoken of for years to come.
Overwatch is Blizzard’s answer to Valve’s classic Team Fortress 2. Boasting multiple game modes, maps, and versatile characters, Overwatch builds on TF2’s established shooter hallmarks and adds a few MOBA-like mechanics to the gameplay. Like most online-only games, the story is bare, but that doesn’t make the cast of characters any less charming or charismatic. Just don’t get caught up in the trappings of this game’s annoying microtransactions.
Last generation, Rockstar Games struck cowboy gold with Red Dead Redemption, an Old West, open-world action game. So, it was inevitable that the developer would produce a sequel, and what a sequel it is!
Red Dead 2 expands many of its predecessor’s gameplay mechanics, including gunplay, hand-to-hand combat, and Honor System. New features let you dual-wield pistols, hunt for sustenance, and swim across bodies of water. If you ever wanted to live the life of a gunslinger, Red Dead Redemption 2 is as good as it gets.
Sunset Overdrive puts you in the role of a downtrodden garbage collector who works for Fizzco, a corporation that launches an energy drink that ultimately turns its customers into mutants. It’s up to you to grind rails, fire wacky weapons, and take down the evil, Umbrella-like company before the mutant-filled awesome-pocalypse becomes the regular, bad kind of apocalypse. This Xbox One exclusive game delivers good, old-fashioned fun filled with fast-paced action, lots of rock and roll, and some good-natured jabs at the video game industry.
