Managed to start the year off pretty well, with three (count ’em!) completions. Even more impressive considering since halfway through the month I’ve been knocked out with Labyrinthitis and unable to play much of anything. I expect it’ll be at least mid-February before I get back to any VR.

Games completed this month

Gears of War 4 – Xbox One / Series S

Spoiler for later down the list, but one of the first things I did with my new Xbox was pick up my co-op campaign where I left off with my mate Ross a couple of years ago. Thankfully my Nephew was around to see it through, as Ross has since surrendered his Xbox Gold account. Gears 5 next.

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Mortal Kombat 11 Ultimate – PS4

Played through the main story mode on this, as with the previous Mortal Kombat, and the two Injustice games, the story is really enjoyable and a real masterclass in how to do single player content in a versus fighter. The last boss fight soured the experience slightly, but that’s nothing new for these kind of games. I’ll have a little break then go back and play the single player story from the Aftermath DLC.

This* is the edition I picked up on PS4

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Ori and the Will of the Wisps

First ‘next gen’ game played on my Series S, and I managed to finish it this month too. Although I only have the lower spec Series S Xbox, Ori is a real showcase for it. Was able to play the whole game in 4K with HDR at 60fps. Really great follow up to the first game, even if they have been copying Hollow Knight’s homework. Oh and that’s one ticked off from my playlist for 2021 as well.

Games played during January

Blood & Truth – PSVR

Was progressing quite nicely with this until I got ill. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it off once I’m feeling better.

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Sea Salt – Xbox One / Series S

Only managed a quick go on this on GamePass. I think it’s leaving the service soon so probably won’t manage to get back to it. It was fun though so I may pick it up in the sale later. I was enjoying terrorising a seaside town with my easily describable minions, while playing as Dagon.

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Forza Horizon 4 – Xbox Series S

Of course I’m back on this with the shiny new Xbox. Looks fantastic and is still the best racing game I’ve ever played. Seems to have been quite a few new races and events since I played last too.

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Assault Android Cactus – Xbox One / Series S

I played this through a while back on my PC, not convinced I ever beat the last boss though. While I’ve been enjoying revisiting some of my existing library on Xbox I noticed I’d barely touched it on there. Thought I’d fire it up and see if I can bring myself to finish it this time round.

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Civilization 6 Gathering Storm – Switch

This (and the following 2D games in this list) are all I’ve really been up to since getting ill. Anything in three dimensions is still a no go, but was good to give this a bit of an airing for the first time since I picked up the DLC. Still don’t really know what I’m doing though.

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Parasol Stars – Core Grafx Mini

Possibly the first time I’ve really sat down to play this, and I’ve discovered a bit of a love for it. Also, I’ve mentioned it many times over now, but the Core Grafx Mini is an absolute gem.

As ever, buy one* and it’s even better with this wireless controller*.

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Alien Crush – Core Grafx Mini

Another I’ve spent plenty of time with previously (and discussed on the pinball episode of the podcast), but couldn’t resist getting back on it while I was playing on the mini. I’m also getting over the annoyance when the table flicks between the top and bottom screens.

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Xeno Crisis – Xbox One / Series S

As I’d discovered I could handle 2D games, I figured I’d give this a shot on GamePass. Really good game, pretty difficult though. Very much channels Smash TV, aesthetically, gameplay and apparently also difficulty!

January Pick-ups

Ghost Town Mine Ride – PCVR

This was a pretty low budget pick up. Mostly just wanted something on the PCVR set similar to Until Dawn: Rush of Blood on the PSVR.

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Last Resort (Neo Geo) – Switch

An old favourite Neo Geo game that got ported to the Switch a while back. They don’t go on sale that often, but for £3 this was an easy sale.

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Xbox Series S & GamePass Ultimate

As mentioned above, I picked up the Series S at the start of the year. I know this version has received some flack on social media but I’m very happy with it. I was still using a launch model original Xbox One, so had missed out on any incremental upgrades from the later versions. I’m still going to pick up a PS5 to go alongside my gaming PC to make the most of the latest generation of games. However, the Series S does an excellent job of making my existing Xbox library, including some games from the original Xbox, look great on my 4K TV.

It also serves as a very convenient GamePass box, for playing the games on the subscription service, where it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t have a disc drive. For the price, and quite frankly the small size of the device compared to the monsters that are the PS5 and Xbox Series X, it is a lovely device.

Still quite difficult to get hold of but when Amazon do have them, they’re here*.

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Bezier: Second Edition – Switch

A friend sent me a link to the trailer for this, it was clearly very Geometry Wars in style, so I had to get involved. Didn’t hurt that it was only a fiver at launch too.

Games pre-ordered this month

Bravely Default 2 – Switch

It’s almost four years since I last played a Japanese RPG (the incredible Panzer Dragoon Saga on the SEGA Saturn), so I’m about ready to play one again. Of the 5 I have played before, the original Bravely Default on 3DS was not without issues, but I did have some good fun with it. My friend pointed me to a demo of this new one on the Switch store, which I played around with before putting in my pre-order. I have gone for a physical edition* though, so I can at least trade it in if I’ve made a terrible mistake.

It’s due at the end of February, it could take my mind off trying to get hold of a PS5 for a while. This is just as well, as I’m thinking about putting that back a few months anyway, and diverting funds towards another project. More on that story later.

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*As usual, these links are affiliate ones, which may earn me a small commission if you buy something.