On April 6th, Double Fine Productions’ Iron Bridge, which mixes tower defense and shooting, will be available for consoles and cloud devices. Ghostwire: Tokyo finally comes to Xbox on April 12th and is also playable on the cloud and PC. Its release coincides with The Spider’s Thread update, which adds a new mode, area, new Visitors to battle and much more.

NHL 23 is coming to consoles on April 13th via EA Play (available with Game Pass Ultimate). April 18th sees the arrival of Minecraft Legends for cloud, consoles and PC. Set in the world of Minecraft, it mixes action mechanics with real-time strategy gameplay and crafting.

In the meantime, the following titles will be leaving Game Pass on April 15th. Play them now while you still can:

• Life is Strange: True Colors (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Moonglow Bay (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• Panzer Corps 2 (PC)
• Rainbow Six Extraction (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Long Dark (Cloud, Console, and PC)
• The Riftbreaker (Cloud, Console, and PC)

It was driven by Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which secured the top spot for the month. Hardly surprising, given that it crossed $1 billion in revenue within ten days of launching. Despite a mixed critical reception, Gotham Knights ranked in second place and debuted as the 14th best-selling game of the year-to-date. Interestingly, October’s top 20 best-sellers were new titles, including NHL 23 in fifth place, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope in the sixth, Bayonetta 3 in ninth, and Star Ocean: The Divine Force in 14th.

Even Dragon Ball: The Breakers secured a spot in 16th place, with Take Two’s PGA Tour 2K23 in 17th. For more details, check out the top 20 best-selling video games for October 2022, based on dollar sales, below.

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In terms of controls, there are two things to keep in mind. Moving the puck to the forehand requires pressing right on the right stick for right-handed shots and left for left-handed shots. Moving the puck to the backhand, you need to shift the right stick to the left for shooting from the right hand. When shooting, move the right stick to the right to shoot from the left hand.

Here are the controls for all the dekes for Xbox and PlayStation, respectively:

• Backhand/Forehand – Right Stick (Backhand control) + Right Stick (Forehand control)
• Forehand/Backhand – Right Stick (Forehand control) + Right Stick (Backhand control)
• Backhand Toe Drag – Press Right Stick/R3 + Down on Right Stick
• Backhand Toe Drag Flip – Press Right Stick/R3 + Down on Right Stick + RB
• Backhand Toe Drag Shot – Press Right Stick/R3 + Down on Right Stick + Up on Right Stick
• Backhand Toe Drag Pass – Press Right Stick/R3 + Down on Right Stick + RT/R2
• Left-Handed One Hand Deke Backhand + LB/L1 + Up and rotate to left on Right Stick.
• Right-Handed One-Hand Deke – Backhand + LB/L1 + Up and rotate to the right on Right Stick.
• One-Hand Tuck (Forsberg) – Forehand/Backhand + LB/L1 (Hold) + RB/R1
• Between-the-Legs Shot – LB/L1 + Press Right Stick/R3 + Up on Right Stick
• Between-the-Legs Pass – LB/L1 + Press Right Stick/R3 + RT/R2
• Between-the-Legs Saucer Pass – LB/L1 + Press Right Stick/R3 + RB/R1
• Slip Deke (Must be performed by boards) – LB/L1
• Touch Deke (Loose Puck Deke) – LB/L1
• Chip Deke – LB/L1 + RT/R2
• Windmill Deke – LB/L1 + Right Stick (Left/Right)
• Toe Drag – Down and rotate to the left on the Right Stick.
• Spin-o-Rama – LT/L2 + Forehand/Backhand
• Drop Pass -RB/R1
• Board-Bank Self-Pass (when near the boards) – LB/L1 + RT/R2
• Behind-The-Net Self–Pass – LB/L1 + RT/R2
• Flip Deke – Backhand/Forehand + LB/L1 + RT/R2
• Lacrosse Deke (Michigan) – Forehand + LB/L1 (Hold) + Right Stick + Down and rotate to the right on Right Stick
• Lacrosse Flip Pass Forehand + LB/L1 (Hold) + Press Right Stick/R3 (Hold) + RB/R2 (Hold) + Right Stick (Counter-Clockwise)
• Stride Deke – LB/L1 + Left Stick (Left)/Left Stick (Right)
• Fake Deke (Kucherov) – Stride Deke (Forehand) + Right Stick (Backhand)
• Backhand Tap Back Deke – Right Stick (Right) + LB/L1 + Right Stick (Left) + Left Stick (Right) + Right Stick (Right)
• Forehand Tap Back Deke – Down and rotate to the right on Right Stick + LB/L1 + Right Stick (Right) + Left Stick (Left) + Right Stick (Left)
• Jump Deke – LB/L1 + Press up on Right Stick
• Flip Shot – Press Right Stick/R3 + Right Stick (Down) + RB/R1
• Skate Kick Deke – LB/L1 + Right Stick (Down)
• Through the Legs Deke – LB/L1 + Down and rotate right on the Right Stick.

Through the Legs Dekes and Flip Shots are good against real players, while Slip Dekes, Touch Dekes, Windmills, and One-Hand Dekes are good against all kinds of opponents. Make sure there’s enough space around when performing a deke since it leaves you quite open.

How to Qualify for HUT Champions

Much like previous titles, qualifying for HUT Champions requires playing HUT Rivals. You must earn 2,000 Points, which are earnable through weekly and daily bonuses. You’ll also get points on the field in a match, and consecutive wins provide even more. Playing more Rivals matches earns more points. Division ranking and a Rival’s rank when the week concludes also determine the number of Points received.

NHL 23 is out now for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5. Check out our official review here.

The series sits on the backburner with EA too, with NHL being the last of its marquee sports titles to adopt the Frostbite game engine, a platform which offers greater lighting and visual effects. Frostbite first came to last year’s title, NHL 22; with this being a year later, there’s an expectation NHL 23 will better harness the technological capabilities afforded by the more powerful game engine. So, does it? Well… mostly yes, it does.

See, most touted of NHL 23’s innovations are improvements to player animations. In fact, EA Vancouver reckons there’re more than 500 new animations, including last chance puck movements, that is, desperation animations, stumbling actions, and loose puck plays for both last ditch passing and scoring. Goalie AI is said to be enhanced with more than 350 new save animations too, anything from snatching a puck mid-flight with finesse to frantically lying backwards in the hopes of trapping a puck slidden out of sight between ice and body.

There’re also upgrades to X-Factor abilities. Most headline-grabbing is Trevor Zegras of the Anaheim Ducks’ lacrosse style “skilled up” flip pass over the net animation and Sarah Nurse’s “relentless” ability, rendering her capable of threading accurate passes and shots even when off balance. AI X-Factor players are said to be capable of better utilising their X-Factors during gameplay as well.

"EA Vancouver reckons there’re more than 500 new animations, including last chance puck movements, that is, desperation animations, stumbling actions, and loose puck plays for both last ditch passing and scoring."

According to EA Vancouver, these individual moments are designed to deliver a greater feeling of authenticity, a more rounded, realistic style of play. Thing is that these moments are so short-lived if you blink, you’ll miss them. Whilst for sure a lot of development work has gone into the sheer wealth of fresh skater animations, they only represent an incremental change over last year’s title as their occurrence is so infrequent.

Most noticeable of the updates though, and where EA Vancouver have certainly succeeded, is in NHL 23’s redesigned crowd behaviour and engagement. As anyone who’s attended an ice hockey game will testify, the atmosphere is oftentimes electric. NHL 23’s updated chants, goal reactions, and newly animated hat-trick celebrations – whereby the crowd riotously throw their hats into the rink – replicates the euphoric feeling of being at the game exceptionally well; the crowd following the on-ice action closer than ever represents a big improvement on past NHL games.

Crowd engagement is tied into pre-match and post-goal arena lightshows too, with Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, for instance, offering an icy-cool blue neon lightshow before the puck drops on a Maple Leafs game night. Again, it must be said these moments are fleeting, for any pre-match lightshow only lasts five-or-so seconds. NHL 23’s presentation provokes a potential adrenaline rush, but as with the headline-grabbing X-Factor abilities and barrage of new skater animations, they don’t have a direct effect on gameplay. They’re cool, for sure, and certainly imaginative, so it’s a shame they’re not massively noticeable. The pre-match lightshows don’t appear at every arena either. And that, in itself, speaks to the root of the issue with NHL 23, and that is, aside from changes to AI and animations, there isn’t a whole lot else new.

Sure, gameplay-wise, again NHL 23 embraces subtle difference. Players feel slightly heavier compared to previous iterations and puck physics feel a little tighter. This isn’t purely an effort towards authenticity and realism as per the slew of animations, but it affords players more control over proceedings. It’s perhaps telling that there’s also an onslaught of visual on-ice tutorials during play; when activated, players are treated to anything from dotted lines indicating available passes, colour-coded targets in nets, or entire portions of ice highlighted in red to indicate offside players, there’re plenty of visual clues to help players fresh to the ice.

"Most noticeable of the updates, and where EA Vancouver have certainly succeeded, is in NHL 23’s redesigned crowd behaviour and engagement. As anyone who’s attended an ice hockey game will testify, the atmosphere is oftentimes electric."

On-ice tutorials surely provide a decent service to rusty players too as they’re immediately intuitive and rarely distracting. Coupled with on-ice stats – percentage of faceoffs won, number of hits, shots on goal, passing accuracy – it feels like NHL 23 is catering to the novice player. If all this visual pizazz is distracting to seasoned players they can be turned off, of course, but as it stands, is this indicative that the most fun to be had with NHL 23 is for newcomers? If a player already owns NHL 22, are the immersive qualities afforded in a wide variety of animations and on-ice stats worth the asking price?

To answer these questions, we can look at NHL 23’s various game modes, but alas, there are no new gameplay modes to shake a stick at. Be a Pro returns, itself a carbon copy of 22’s Be a Pro mode (with NHL 22 being a direct descendent of the mode first introduced in NHL 21), and whilst it’ll always be fun to create your own avatar and rise to the first line of your favourite team, a refreshed script, at the very least, would have been nice. The perennially popular Ones and Threes game modes reappear too, but the biggest changes come to NHL 23’s franchise mode and its daunting amount of customisation options, which EA Vancouver tout as reaching “historic levels.”

There’s newfound ability to craft a league with any number of teams between 6 and 48, there’re salary caps, deeper coaching strategies, with revamped regular season and playoff game formats. It’s a veritable smorgasbord for anyone who’s a fan of franchise mode; 23 offers undoubtably the most control of any NHL game thus far. Plus, it’s now easier than ever to create custom leagues that replicate iconic eras of hockey’s heritage, including the historic original six or the halcyon days of 1980s ice hockey.

Online play revels in minor revamps too; World of Chel’s player-versus-CPU and online head-to-head challenges offers similar arcade experiences as its predecessors, but with refinements in defensive gameplay it’s less likely to leave players frustrated by opponents spamming the right trigger to snatch the puck. Cross-play is a big feature touted for this year’s edition, and whilst it isn’t available at launch, perhaps more disappointingly it appears it’ll be watered-down when it does arrive next month. NHL 23’s cross-play won’t be cross-generation, so players on PS4, for instance, won’t be able to play with their mates on PS5.

"NHL 23 feels best suited to series newcomers. It’s a solid release, with a wealth of fresh animations and finetuned AI delivering a more authentic experience but it’s likely to feel like DLC rather than a new game to players of last year’s edition."

Hockey Ultimate Team’s major revamp is the very welcome fact IIHF Women’s National Team players can be selected to play alongside men in an Ultimate Team mixed line up. This is a historic first, and hopefully the first step of many in the right direction. Still, it doesn’t feel like EA Vancouver have done quite enough to cater for female players in NHL 23. Perhaps, owing to some of the unaltered gameplay modes returning from last year’s edition, there’d have been room to squeeze in a female-orientated storyline.

Elsewhere, Hockey Ultimate Team comes laden with microtransactions once again. Whether that’s a plus or minus for this year’s edition depends on the player; EA Vancouver have promised to make it easier to earn experience and in-game currency via faster weekly rewards and additional reward tiers. In reality though, real-life money will undoubtably be spent to create the strongest line up.

Ultimately, NHL 23 feels best suited to series newcomers. It’s a solid release, with a wealth of fresh animations and finetuned AI delivering a more authentic experience but it’s likely to feel like DLC rather than a new game to players of last year’s edition.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

LEGO Bricktales

While LEGO Brawls was all about combat, Clockstone’s LEGO Bricktales is a more chilled-out experience. You explore gorgeous LEGO dioramas, from deserts and a castle to Caribbean islands, solving puzzles and receiving new skills to spice up your grandfather’s aging amusement park. The main appeal is being given bricks and figuring out the solutions.

It’s an interesting mix of engineering and sandbox gameplay with five biomes to explore, multiple collectibles and side quests and a dedicated Sandbox Mode to tinker around in. LEGO Bricktales launches on October 12th for Xbox, PlayStation, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

Persona 5 Royal (Xbox, PC, Switch, and PS5)

After garnering critical acclaim on the PS4 for two years, Persona 5 Royal is finally coming to Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Nintendo Switch and PS5 on October 21st. As an enhanced version of Persona 5, Royal offers new story events, a new Palace, Ultimate Persona, quality-of-life features, a third semester, and a new party member in Kasumi. All previously released DLC is also included for free, and it’s also launching on day one for Game Pass.

If you’re yet to fall in with the Phantom Thieves and experience one of the best RPGs ever, then Persona 5 Royal is worth a look.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers

Ever wanted to play an asymmetrical, Dead by Daylight title but with Dragon Ball characters, running in fear from overpowered villainous beings? Dragon Ball: The Breakers is your oddly specific ticket, pitting seven ordinary humans against the likes of Frieza, Buu and Cell. Venture to different regions for keys to activate the Super Time Machine and either avoid the villains or use Dragon Change to fight back as legendary heroes like Goku, Vegeta, and Trunks.

The villain’s role is simple: Hunt down the survivors, level up and become stronger, and destroy any means of escape. That means decimating entire parts of the map, wrecking the time machines and beating survivors to a pulp. Dragon Ball: The Breakers is out on October 13th for Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

New Tales from the Borderlands

Gearbox Entertainment returns to the adventure-style format (sans Telltale Games) with New Tales from the Borderlands. Out on October 21st for Xbox and PlayStation platforms along with PC and Nintendo Switch, it features three new characters – scientist Anu, her brother Octavio and Fran, the owner of a frozen yogurt store. Together, they’ll search for a Vault Key while hopefully surviving against Pandora’s various hazards and corporate entities.

As with the first game, quick-time events and dialogue choices can affect the narrative, resulting in different outcomes. Will it have Rhys and Vaughn in cameos? One can always hope.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle was already a stellar title that fused two unlikely intellectual properties together in a strategy RPG bonanza. But Sparks of Hope looks to be even bigger, featuring multiple planets to explore, massively expanded exploration with puzzles, side quests, and secrets, and a new antagonist in Cursa. Combat has been overhauled, doing away with the grid-based movement and adding new abilities along with the Sparks for elemental damage.

If that weren’t enough, new characters like Edge, Rabbid Rosalina and Bowser join the roster for even more unique squads. Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on October 20th.

Gotham Knights

Batman is dead, guys. For really real. As a result, it’s up to the Fumbling Four – er, the Bat Family to protect Gotham in his absence. Unlike the Arkham series, Gotham Knights is an action RPG with four playable characters – Nightwing, Robin, Red Hood, and Batgirl – each with unique abilities and play styles, gear, and stories to experience. As you fight crime, you’ll encounter classic villains like Harley Quinn, Mister Freeze, Clayface, and the mysterious Court of Owls.

Gotham Knights is out on October 21st for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC with support for two-player co-op.

A Plague Tale: Requiem

As the follow-up to Asobo Studio’s breakout action-adventure title, A Plague Tale: Requiem sees Amicia and Hugo on the run again. This time, the siblings must travel to a mysterious island, seeking a cure for Hugo’s disease before it consumes him. Things are far from ideal as mercenaries hunt them, and the plague rats are as hungry as ever.

With new weapons like a crossbow, alchemical potions, and Hugo’s ability to control the rats for devouring any foes, A Plague Tale: Requiem promises a much bigger experience. It releases on October 18th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch via the cloud, along with Game Pass.

Scorn

What do you get when you combine “ick” with a whole lot of “yuck”? Probably Ebb Software’s Scorn, a first-person survival horror title with a biopunk aesthetic inspired by the works of H. R. Giger and Zdzisław Beksiński. Explore fantastical, disgusting structures made of machines and flesh, implant various weapons into your body, and seek answers for this whole mess across a non-linear story.

Scorn may require around 6-8 hours, probably more, on your first playthrough, but there’s nothing like it. It launches on October 21st for Xbox Series X/S and PC, along with Game Pass.

WRC Generations

KT Racing’s final WRC racing game is out on October 13th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5, with the PC version releasing in November. It’s the biggest one yet with brand new hybrid model cars and revamped physics, 37 Legendary Cars, and 750 km of tracks spread across 22 countries. Progression has also been revamped, tracking tasks completed across the game, and the Livery Editor returns with more options and the ability to share your creations with other players. There sadly won’t be any post-launch content, but at least the new Leagues mode should satisfy fans for the long haul.

Dakar Desert Rally

If one rally racing game isn’t enough, there’s Saber Interactive’s Dakar Desert Rally. Promising the “biggest and most epic off-road rally racing adventure ever developed,” it offers 30 stages from the 2020-2022 Dakar Rally races. Players can race across a massive open world with officially licensed SSVs, quads, trucks, and much more while tackling dynamic weather like rain, snow, and the blazing sun.

With a Career mode, online multiplayer events, and four seasons to experience, Dakar Desert Rally launches on October 4th for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5, and PC.

Marvel Snap

Are your current Hearthstone and/or Marvel needs not being met? Worry not, because Marvel Snap releases on October 18th for PC, Android and iOS. Developed by Second Dinner Studios, which consists of Hearthstone veterans, it’s a 1v1 multiplayer CCG with over 150 unique cards to play (and more coming post-launch).

Matches play out in random locations with different effects and players can “Snap” to effectively double down in a match. Whether it overtakes Hearthstone and Legends of Runeterra, the fast-paced gameplay and gorgeous comic book illustrations make Marvel Snap worth checking out.

Overwatch 2

Blizzard Entertainment’s Overwatch 2 finally launches on October 4th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch…as an early access, free-to-play title. It’s pretty much an update to Overwatch 1 with three new heroes – Junker Queen, Sojourn and Kiriko; six new maps; and the new Push mode. Assault is out, and teams now consist of five players with only one Tank. A seasonal model of content releases is also in effect, meaning no more loot boxes but yes to an in-game store and Battle Passes.

Time will tell how it pans out. All players will need to enable SMS Protect while new players have to unlock each hero and play 50 Quick Play matches to unlock Competitive (not to mention unlocking Kiriko and future new heroes in the Battle Pass). But at least it supports crossplay and cross-progression with all Overwatch 1 cosmetics carrying over.

PGA Tour 2K23

Two years after PGA Tour 2K21, the next edition of 2K Games’ golfing simulator will release on October 14th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC, PS4, and PS5. Aside from the usual PGA Tour mode and MyPLAYER (which offers new skills and archetypes), male and female pros are now playable. The Course Designer also returns with cross-platform support and online sharing. With multiple control options, online multiplayer (including Divot Derby) and Online Societies for Clubhouses, it should be a sizable leap over its predecessor.

NHL 23

Also launching on October 14th is EA Sports’ NHL 23. Along with mixed women’s and men’s teams in Ultimate Team mode, the hockey sim offers new gameplay features like Last Chance Puck Movement. It allows for hitting the puck even after tripping, with players taking advantage of new Stumble Actions to score. Enhanced goalie AI, on-ice projections, more customization in HUT to go with new reward tiers in the rotating HUT Rivals playlist, and more also await. NHL 23 will be available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5 at launch.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is IllFonic’s latest asymmetrical multiplayer title, which sees a squad of four Ghostbusters taking on a single mischievous Ghost. As the Ghostbusters, one must explore a map and track down the Ghost, taking care to calm civilians in the process. Meanwhile, the Ghost must terrorize everyone, possessing objects to stay hidden and ultimately evading capture to haunt a location.

With crossplay, original actors like Dan Aykroyd and Ernie Hudson reprising their original roles, and co-op and offline play, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed should be a fun diversion when it launches on October 18th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, and PC. And remember – don’t cross the streams.

Bayonetta 3

The Umbra Witch finally returns as Bayonetta 3 launches exclusively for the Nintendo Switch on October 28th. While the basic hack and slash combat remains, the sequel introduces several new mechanics. Demon Slave allows for directly controlling Infernal Demons to bash giant foes, while Demon Masquerade sees Bayonetta fusing with a demon to gain new abilities. Throw in new weapons, a new playable character Viola, and a multi-world threat in the form of the Singularity, and Bayonetta 3 promises to be the series’ most explosive title yet.

Second Extinction

Systemic Reaction, which has been in the news for its upcoming open-world rogue-lite Ravenbound, will finally release its co-op dinosaur shooter Second Extinction on October 20th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC. The idea is to survive against hordes of dinosaurs with two other players, and there are six heroes, 11 weapons and multiple missions to tackle.

The real twist is War Effort where the threat level of a region increases or decreases based on how the community performs. If you’re still holding out for a new Dino Crisis, then this could make the wait easier.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Along with the campaign, fans can look forward to multiplayer with new modes and weapons along with a revamped Gunsmith. There are also co-op missions for two players and Raids that offer in-depth puzzle solving and firefights for three players. If battle royale is more your speed, Warzone 2.0 will launch just a few weeks later and offer a new Gulag and AI foes.