Reward systems in Xbox game design are more than carrot-and-stick mechanics The post How Reward-Style Progression Systems Inspire Better Xbox Game Design appeared first on TheXboxHub.
"We have four tiers to choose from, with various rewards for each".Earlier this year, we highlighted the then-upcoming launch of Wreckreation - an open world driving and building game made by Three Fields Entertainment, which itself is made up of various former Burnout and Need for Speed developers.Unfortunately, the release seems to have gone terribly for them. In a long message shared on social media today, the company's CEO advised that she's placed the entire team on notice of redundancy, ex
"It was fun while it lasted".It's not often we see Microsoft taking action against mods for all sorts of popular games, but clearly the company feels a new Counter-Strike 2 mod overstepped the line, issuing a DMCA notice against something called "Project Misriah".The focus behind this mod was to bring a Halo 3-like experience to CS2's multiplayer, introducing maps and assets from the Halo series in the process. You can see some footage up above, and it certainly looks very impressive.Read the fu
"The primary focus is now Dead Island 3".Developer Dambuster Studios has released its most recent financial statements online, and the documents confirm that Dead Island 3 is now in development - with the team currently targeting a Q1/Q2 2028 release window for its Dead Island 2 sequel.The team teased a new series entry last September, but DI3 wasn't officially named back then, so this is the first time we've heard proper confirmation of the upcoming title. Dambuster says that "all developers ar
"There was no shortage of great games to celebrate".The folks over at IGN have now crowned their best Xbox game of the year, picking from a list of fantastic titles that are said to represent "the five best games that landed on Xbox in 2025".It comes as no surprise that Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 takes the win here, while everything else isn't ranked and is just considered a "runner-up". Here's the full list of five Xbox games:Read the full article on purexbox.com
Say hello to Sea of Sorrow.After waiting years and years for Hollow Knight: Silksong to finally grace Xbox, developer Team Cherry has announced a free expansion for 2026, dubbed 'Sea of Sorrow'.In typically cryptic fashion, you can get a tiny glimpse of Sea of Sorrow in the trailer up above, ahead of its planned release next year. We'll also chuck Team Cherry's short description of what to expect down below:Read the full article on purexbox.com
Christmas gift to yourself?Towards the end of November, Silent Hill 2 finally started rolling out on Xbox Series X|S after a year's PS5 console exclusivity, with a 50% launch discount. This was a pretty generous release offer from Konami, and we weren't sure when it was going to expire - but the Xbox Store is now showing that fans will at least be able to take advantage of it through the new year.Yep, after doing a little browsing on the store over the weekend (for research purposes, of course),
Available now!After confirming a January 2026 release date back at TGS in September, Square Enix has just dropped a free demo for Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Xbox Series X|S; available now for all players!The Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade Demo clocks in at roughly 20GB on Xbox Series X and S, and contains "the entire first chapter - the mako reactor bombing mission". We'll include a direct Xbox Store link to the new demo below:Read the full article on purexbox.com
Frogo Deluxe launches across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Handheld devices, and with Play Anywhere support, offering a familiar but endlessly replayable challenge built around reflexes, timing and that irresistible âjust one more goâ mentality. The post Frogo Deluxe Hops Onto Xbox, PC, Play Anywhere With Endless Arcade Challenge appeared first on TheXboxHub.
There's a new 22-minute documentary as well.Bungie is back today with its latest update on survival extraction FPS Marathon, which now has a release window of March 2025 and has been re-confirmed to release on Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in addition to PS5 and PC.You can get a fresh look at the game in the 22-minute documentary above, and it certainly seems to be shaping up better than before. Here's how Bungie describes the footage:Read the full article on purexbox.com
PAW Patrol Rescue Wheels: Championship is thinner and more charmless than PAW Patrol: Grand Prix but - hey! - itâs got Rescue Wheels in it. It just about, by the skin of its teeth, retains its role as a gateway game for prospective racers. The post PAW Patrol Rescue Wheels: Championship Review appeared first on TheXboxHub.
Over 1,000 games set to be included.We've still got one more massive Xbox sale to come before the end of 2025! Microsoft has confirmed today that the Xbox Countdown Sale 2025 will officially start on Thursday, December 18th, and it'll include over 1,000 games in all.The company has also revealed the first five deals for the Countdown Sale, although as usual they're quite a bizarre selection that almost certainly won't represent the peak of what the sale has to offer.Read the full article on pure
Aery - Winter Wonderland is horribly jarring. âWonderlandâ is not the term we would use. The post Aery – Winter Wonderland Review appeared first on TheXboxHub.
While Too Many Santas! is a cutely ramshackle visual novel, itâs also about as sexy and funny as a Christmas Cracker joke. The post Too Many Santas! Review appeared first on TheXboxHub.
All the players are getting ROG Xbox Ally systems as well.https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G8Lj3O6WMAQyZWr?format=jpgBack at the start of December, it was announced that Xbox and ESPN were joining forces to host the "Xbox Bowl" college football game between Missouri State and Arkansas State, and that game actually takes place this Thursday.Read the full article on purexbox.com
Sheâs Leaving isnât a perfect game; there are some problems with the implementation of the stalking mechanics and some minor pacing issues in the storytelling. But the atmosphere and the general design of the game are top drawer. The post Sheâs Leaving Review appeared first on TheXboxHub.
The post Celebrate the Season with EA Play’s Holiday Picks appeared first on Xbox Wire.
Only 30FPS, too.Last week, we brought you the news that Xbox & Bethesda's latest Switch 2 game was indeed Skyrim (surprise!), with the team shadow-dropping the port on Nintendo's new system with no prior announcement. You'd think a game that has its roots in the Xbox 360 era would run rather well on a 2025 system, but Digital Foundry's early thoughts on the new version compare it to Xbox Kinect from the same era.Yep, you read that right, DF is saying that early input latency tests for Skyrim
The post Countdown Sale: Save $100 on the ROG Xbox Ally, Up to 60% on 1,000+ Games, and More appeared first on Xbox Wire.
As a side-scrolling beat âem up, Terrifier: The ARTcade Game is very generic, with nothing to really shout about. The post Terrifier: The ARTcade Game Review appeared first on TheXboxHub.
StarLightRiders: HyperJump does what it sets out to do - it is a fast paced arcade shooter, and while it is very much a case of âit does what it says on the tinâ, there isnât too much drive to keep plugging away. If you want a rock hard shooter, then have at it, but there are better entries in this genre to choose from. The post StarLightRiders: HyperJump Review appeared first on TheXboxHub.
We think #1 is harsh!It's that time of year again where we not only celebrate the best games of the year, but also look at the worst games of the year â and the latter is exactly what Metacritic has been highlighting over the past couple of days.In their list of the 10 worst games from across the industry, they've picked out the lowest-scoring titles on their platform that have at least four professional reviews. They all have to have released between January 1st and December 31st of 2025, and i
Monster Hunter Stories doesnât really excel at anything, but it doesnât do anything particularly poorly either. The post Monster Hunter Stories Review appeared first on TheXboxHub.
How did The Game Awards 2025 fare? Well never fear, as Gareth, Paul, Richard and Darren are back to unpick this and more in Episode 222 of TheXboxHub Official Podcast. The post Tomb Raider & The Game Awards 2025 â TheXboxHub Official Podcast #222 appeared first on TheXboxHub.
