Mass Effect 3

Bring up the topic of video game endings, and Mass Effect 3 will undoubtedly be mentioned. As the grand finale of a trilogy that honored hundreds of player decisions, Mass Effect 3’s outro felt incredibly lackluster and underwhelming. Heck, many 10-hour games contain more branching conclusions than ME3. But ME3 has a heart of gold that can get overlooked. Some of the most memorable highlights in the entire saga take place within the third game. Mordin has perhaps the most heroic moment of the series, and a hefty amount of story threads get a satisfying resolution. For players who were appalled by the simplistic ‘crayola coloring’ endings, it really is the journey and not the destination that makes Mass Effect 3 so spectacularly special.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

Serving as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain released the year after, two-hour long Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes introduced fresh stealth and traversal mechanics, manoeuvres that became staples in MGSV’s proper release. Set a few months after Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in 1975, Ground Zeroes follows Snake’s infiltration of American black site Camp Omega as he attempts a daring rescue. Renowned for presenting newfound immersion to the series, the main complaint with Ground Zeroes is it was just too short.

With production values ramping, it’s interesting how Remedy has drawn inspiration from Naughty Dog of The Last of Us fame. This isn’t a recent development either. Alan Wake 2 director Kyle Rowley said in the Behind the Voice podcast that he brought this up while working on Quantum Break.

“When I came to Quantum Break, I was excited about working on something that had… One of my favorite games at the time was Uncharted… And I remember discussing it with our lead animator. I was like, ‘We should be aiming to kind of be like the European version of Naughty Dog.’

“That would be cool if we could get that same level of feel, and that was the type of game I like to play. I was excited about working on it.” Given the success of Alan Wake 2, which sold over 1.8 million copies as of November 2024, it’s safe to say that Remedy has achieved a similar expertise in crafting memorable narratives.

Alan Wake 2 is available for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC. Check out our review here, where we gave it a nine out of ten.

THE SABOTEUR

The definition of a cult classic, Pandemic Studios’ 2009 World War 2 stealth action game is one that deserved more praise than it got back in the day. Though it certainly had issues, it had more than enough strengths to make up for them, from an incredible visual aesthetic and an atmospheric setting to excellent open world action and much more.

Resident Evil 2 (2019)

Like the original, the time required to beat the Resident Evil 2 remake can be deceptive for first-time players. You can easily breeze through a single character’s story in ten hours, six if you’re good enough. However, getting the entire story requires playing as Leon and Claire, complete with exploring both routes. Still, if you want an incredible survival horror with great gunplay and visuals, this is more than a given.

Signalis

Known for its cryptic story-telling, Signalis from rose-engine is a survival horror throwback, with players investigating a strange facility for answers. Despite the overhead perspective, it has manual aiming, plenty of back-tracking and a retro aesthetic that’s gorgeous to behold. Perhaps best of all, you can finish it in less than 10 hours, though there are some additional extras and endings.

Sunset Overdrive

Before Insomniac Games became the Marvel’s Spider-Man game studio, it released Sunset Overdrive. The bombastic art style, the approach to movement and style over straightforward third-person shooting, and best of all, the enjoyable setting all made for an incredible experience. You’ll want to complete the story for its set pieces and boss fights, but there are tons of optional challenges, side quests, and collectibles in Sunset City.

Cuphead

Studio MDHR’s Cuphead is the perfect mix of challenging and run ‘n’ gun action, replete with memorable bosses. Each has unique hooks and mechanics, whether you’re fighting Grim Matchstick through the skies or experiencing Sally Stageplay’s lethal drama. It’s all brought to life by the rubber hose-style visuals rife with details and an incredible old-timey soundtrack. Even if you ignore all the secrets and Expert Mode, it’s a tough but worthwhile action platforming journey.

Mafia Definitive Edition

The Mafia series faced scrutiny when 2K Games released Definitive Editions for the second and third games, effectively introducing new bugs and worse performance. However, Mafia Definitive Edition is a proper remake that added motorcycles, a rebalanced difficulty (and Classic for those who wanted it closer to the original), and Free Ride Mode. Don’t go into this expecting a Grand Theft Auto-scale adventure, and the narrative should more than carry you through.

Metro: Last Light Redux

Before Metro Exodus offered bigger levels with crafting on the go, Metro: Last Light Redux built on what the first game did best: A post-apocalyptic setting with tout pacing, terrifying mutants and excellent gunplay. As Artyom, players are caught up in a civil war weeping the metro and must sneak, assassinate and slay their way to survival. Be careful, though, as a morality system will influence the ending.

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

MachineGames’ sequel to Wolfenstein: The New Order has some nagging concerns with its level design, but the story-telling, characterization and gunplay are fantastic. The campaign sees B.J. Blazkowicz on a journey, once more, to battle the Nazis by unloading copious amounts of bullets into their foot soldiers (whether you play stealthy or not). From Manhattan to Venus, there’s much to see in this epic campaign. Perhaps the only real downer is that it’s followed by Wolfenstein: Youngblood.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder

You can complete Nintendo’s acclaimed Super Mario Bros. Wonder within 10 hours or so, and that’s very much intentional. The side-scrolling platformer is rife with incredibly designed levels and excellent new power-ups like Elephant Form and the Drill Hat, while the Wonder Flowers dramatically change levels in trippy and exciting ways. Still, those who want more can collect all the Flower Coins, Wonder Seeds, and more while experimenting with different Badges.

Gears of War 3

Gears of War 2 was beloved but came dangerously close to jumping the shark at many points. Gears of War 3 brought things back on track while introducing new mechanics, weapons, enemies and impressive set-pieces to set up the potential end of the world. If you’re only in it for the story-telling, there’s more than enough great content. However, the revamped Horde Mode and its tower defense-like mechanics also provided plenty of reason to stick around.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

From a confused project under Kojima Productions to one of the most beloved hack-and-slash titles under PlatinumGames, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is unmatched in many ways. The boss battles, the characters, the story, the memes, the parry mechanics and Blade Mode allowing players to dismember enemies – it all came together so well. Its length was criticized, but those who want more nowadays can pick it up with all the DLC and armor sets for even more fun.

Dishonored

Dishonored is Arkane Studios at its finest. An imaginative setting with astounding visuals rife with political intrigue and betrayal, not to mention a plague threatening to overtake it all – perfect for a supernatural assassin. As Corvo, the framed bodyguard to the slain Queen of Dunwall, players were tasked with discovering the truth. It meant lots of sneaking and slaying, but you could get creative with your approach, acting chaotically or bypassing missions without ever being seen. It’s an essential title for stealth fans that’s as tightly paced as they come.

Ori and the Blind Forest

As beloved as games like Hollow Knight can be, it’s nice to have options that don’t demand around 30 hours to experience the story, like Ori and the Blind Forest. Of course, it also doesn’t hurt that the aesthetics and music are simply awe-inspiring or that the level design is meticulous and the controls responsive. Whether on a mission to restore the forest or going out of your way to unearth all its secrets, Ori and the Blind Forest is a tight-knit journey.

Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice

With Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 being about as long as the first game and promising a focused narrative, it’s easy to forget just how great Senua’s Sacrifice is. Roughly six years later, it still boasts cutting-edge visuals and facial expressions with an emotional narrative centred on Senua’s tortured state. Hellblade is precise, unforgettable and powerful, telling its story without overstaying its welcome.

Batman: The Enemy Within

Before its bankruptcy and eventual reformation, Telltale Games’ titles varied in quality. Batman: The Enemy Within is a standout though, improving on the first season’s writing, narrative and decision-making. Its take on the Joker is surprisingly refreshing as he works with Batman as a vigilante, depending on the player’s choices or against him. The gameplay may still feel more rigid compared to some more contemporary narrative adventures, but Batman: The Enemy Within is still worth playing.

Quantum Break

Will a standard playthrough of Quantum Break offer all the answers for its time-bending adventure? Probably not, but it’s an enjoyable journey regardless, backed by Remedy Entertainment’s penchant for gorgeous graphics and an immaculate presentation. Opinions are mixed on the TV side of the story, yet the third-person combat and abilities are on point. It’s not Remedy’s finest work, but it still provides an intriguing narrative with some solid performances by Aiden Gillen and Shawn Ashmore.

Halo 3: ODST

The Halo games have continued to be system sellers for Microsoft for generations at this point, but Halo 3: ODST always ends up being one of the more under-appreciated games in the franchise. And that’s a shame really, because ODST had some really interesting ideas that were executed reasonably well – including but not limited to large open environments and a setting that didn’t rely on Master Chief or Cortana. It’s a unique game that has a lot to say, and fans should definitely give it a try.

Quantum Break

Quantum Break was an ambitious project from Remedy Entertainment, and it sought to combine elements of a TV show with a game. Sure, some of its concepts didn’t really stick the landing – but Quantum Break is an extremely fast and frenetic shooter that features some interesting time-based abilities and a story that’s about as weird as one would expect from the developer. It’s easily one of the more underrated Microsoft exclusives, but one worth trying out nevertheless.

Sunset Overdrive

Sunset Overdrive comes from the now Sony-owned Insomniac Games. It’s a post-apocalyptic adventure game where you grind on rails, jump on bouncy surfaces, and use a vast array of weapons to gun down waves upon waves of enemies. It features a colorful open world with likable characters and quality writing, but the game wasn’t really able to make an impact in the end. Sunset Overdrive is emblematic of the developer’s biggest strengths, which makes it a really underrated game that deserves a lot more love and credit than it gets.

Mafia 1

The original Mafia was a game that was well ahead of its time. In a market where every developer was trying to copy Rockstar’s formula of an open world, Mafia provided its own take with a more realistic world that operated on brutal rules and a story that was a complex tale with plenty of loyalties and conspiracies. It was a special game that unfortunately never got the audience it deserved, most likely due to its demanding gameplay – which is honestly a shame.

The Saboteur

Developed by Pandemic Studios, The Saboteur thrusts players into a beautifully realized rendition of 1940s Paris. You play as a racer-turned-rebel who embarks on a quest to prevent evil schemes from happening, and that story remains engaging from start to finish. But what’s more impressive is the set of mechanics that beautifully combines social stealth elements with action gameplay in an open-world setting, and it’s honestly a surprise as to why such a special game went unnoticed by the masses.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is developer Ninja Theory’s take on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, and it tells the story of two people who must work together to ensure each other’s survival. The game uses a simple but fun combat loop for its gameplay, but what makes it special is the interesting scenarios it keeps on creating at every turn – which makes it such an engaging experience.

Vampyr

Vampyr is all about a doctor juggling his personal life at a hospital and his struggles with turning into a bloodthirsty vampire. The combat is all about balancing stamina and dishing out damage to your opponents, and the game does a great job of creating a well-knit set of systems that beautifully interact with one another to create a fully realized world. There are a few rough edges here and there, but it is a game that’s worth trying out.

As Dusk Falls

As Dusk Falls is a narrative adventure that starts out simply with a family embarking on a road trip, but that soon evolves into something greater. The art style here is fantastic, and the story is pretty engaging from start to finish. It’s a simple game that does just enough to keep you entertained for its runtime, and sometimes that’s all you need.

Gears of War Judgment

The Gears of War series has continued to be one of the most valuable first-party games for the Xbox platform, and almost every mainline entry has been showered with great critical and commercial reception. Gears of War Judgment stands out as an exception, not because it suffered from bad reviews – but that not many people actually played it. And this is a shame because this prequel provides a ton of context to the events of later entries – and that information will be highly appreciated by fans of the franchise.

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct attempted a shot at revival in 2014, which ended up receiving a rather tepid reception from fans. While it wasn’t on par with contemporaries like Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter, Killer Instinct was certainly a quality first-party game from Microsoft that never really got the love and attention it deserves.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is widely considered to be one of the best games in the long-running series, and a lot of that praise can be attributed to the game’s excellently crafted story. Crimes and Punishments never fails to keep you guessing, and the writing is also quality stuff. The gameplay revolves around carefully assessing clues and deducting solutions to these cases, and that provides a very distinct fantasy of being a great detective.

Gears Tactics

Gears Tactics does a great job of translating the series’ signature third-person shooting to a top-down tactical game without losing the game’s identity in that transition. The resulting product is a game that shouldn’t work but somehow feels like a natural evolution of the franchise. It constantly ramps things up with new kinds of obstacles and more complex levels, and that keeps you engaged for a long time.

Wanted: Dead

Wanted: Dead takes inspiration from multiple action adventure classics like Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, and crafts an experience that feels equal parts a glorious homage and a fresh experience. Wanted: Dead features a solid combat loop where you can effortlessly switch between slashing your foes with a sword and gunning them down with weapons – and that foundation of ideas rarely gets stale.

State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition

State of Decay 2 didn’t launch in the best of states, but over the course of multiple major updates – the developers were able to not only fix the game’s technical issues but also realize its potential with new content changes and mechanic overhaul. But for many fans, the boat had already sailed by then – and State of Decay 2 became an underrated game only appreciated by a small group of people. If you are one of those who gave up on the game, give it another try – and you might be surprised.

Metro 2033

The Metro series came into the limelight with Metro: Last Light and recent entries such as Exodus are widely praised for their brand of survival gameplay. As a result, Metro 2033 ends up being a rather underrated game in the series – which is a shame because many of the ideas that we have come to associate so dearly with the series were actually founded in Metro 2033. It’s a really well-made game, and more people should give it a shot.

Well… it’s sort of impossible, again based on current understanding. See, theoretically, something as powerful as the gravitational field of a black hole may be enough for people to move backwards in time, but this is pure speculation, and it’s never really explained beyond surface level in Quantum Break, although wannabe tech bro and ultimate antagonist to the story Paul Serene does mention black holes when activating his ill-fated time machine.

Instead of an overly simplistic explanation of space time continuum – think Weir’s pen and folded paper explanation for the Event Horizon’s gravity drive, for instance – Quantum Break relies on schlocky terms such as chronon particles. How does our protagonist gain time bending superpowers? Why, chronon exposure of course. Remedy may as well have said player character Jack Joyce becomes a magician, for all the believability chronon particles offer.

Still, time travel narratives make for engaging, mind-warping stories. And Quantum Break’s portrayal of lifelong friends locked in a time travelling tug of war, each pulling for their opposing perspective, believing their solution to dealing with temporal apocalypse the correct one for mankind, certainly makes for suitable entertainment throughout the game’s campaign. There’re ideological themes of prophecy alongside familial repercussion adding somewhat more grounded elements to the story too. In short, despite the whacky time travelling shenanigans, both Quantum Break’s main characters behave believably with each of their points of view and motivations understandable to players.

What isn’t as easy to understand is Remedy’s decision to marry narrative gameplay with linear storytelling, the latter delivered in four 20-minute blockbuster TV episodes segueing the campaign’s five playable acts, told from the side of the evil overarching Monarch corporation. Was this transmedia delivery a success? Well, depends on who you ask, but consensus amongst reviewer-ship is that Remedy’s attempt to unite two disparate mediums into one entity doesn’t really work. The TV episodes – starring the same ensemble cast as the gameplay sections, albeit in live-action glory – are middling at best. It’s well produced TV for sure, but it’s of the variety that plays in the daytime on those random TV channels that sit somewhere in the middle of TV channel listings, after terrestrial TV but before news and sport. Crucially though, it begs the question of why; why did Remedy feel the need to do this in the first place?

Anyone who’s played a Remedy title will be well used to heaps of endless lore and worldbuilding. The delivery of Quantum Break’s backstory – as complex as it is – is largely done in the same method as their other games. That is, through environmental collectibles – think: corporate emails, wallcharts, audio logs, that sort of thing. It’s an established video game trope but for a narrative dense with tough to understand concepts, it’s arguably a bit of a misstep. Worse still, these collectibles are entirely missable, leading to the very real possibility of playing through Quantum Break without the faintest idea of what the hell is going on.

This decision was presumably taken to avoid overloading players with cutscenes. Who wants to sit through endless cutscenes when they’ve got a 20-minute live action sequence to come after the current action’s chapter concludes? Remedy felt the answer to that question is no-one, hence the questionable delivery of Quantum Break’s story concepts.

This again harkens back to chronon particles and other some-such; Remedy may as well have portrayed Jack and Paul’s time-bending powers as magic because there’s no way they could be sure players will have read every email – some pushing 2,000 words – on every computer they stumble across. Were these concepts delivered in cutscenes or NPC dialogue, or just by means unmissable, perhaps Quantum Break’s time travelling hijinks wouldn’t have seemed so fanciful. Instead, Quantum Break is a disjointed experience, suffering from severe pacing issues hampering what would have been an otherwise enthralling narrative where it not for the 20-minute episodes.

On the flipside, Remedy should be lauded for their ambition. Whilst not an entirely novel concept, fusing multimedia in this way is rarely attempted, but to be fair it hasn’t been attempted since either. Perhaps therein lies the reason for the lack of a Quantum Break successor – it’s simply too complicated to tell this story in the way Remedy wants to. Also, cries from Remedy fans have been unignorably loud for an Alan Wake resurrection – of which 2021’s remaster paved the way for the upcoming Alan Wake 2 – and a sequel to 2019’s telekinetic action-adventure Control, with two follow-on titles in the pipeline, one of which likely a sequel with the other appearing to be some sort of co-operative PvE game set in the Control universe.

Were Quantum Break revisited in a successor though, there’s plenty here to make that follow up worthwhile. Principally, the game’s shooting and time-warping mechanics are oftentimes visceral, exciting, and always entertaining. Jack’s abilities flit between enveloping enemies in stasis bubbles before spraying a shower of air hanging bullets, short distance teleporting to swiftly outmanoeuvre opponents, utilising time shields to hasten the travel of oncoming enemy fire or slowing down time for real granting Jack power to sprint lightning fast between boundaries of opponent heavy arenas. Encounters are fast-paced, with a flow unique amongst third-person shooters once these time shifting abilities are mastered. Of note too, is Remedy’s choice to bestow the player with these superpowers within the first hour of gameplay, so it’s not long before players are combining Jack’s time-stretching abilities in super creative ways on the fly to alter the field of battle. Maybe a sequel could provide deeper power upgrades as the story progresses, as the one drawback to granting an arsenal of superpowers early on is combat encounters can quickly become stale or repetitive.

Exceptional too is Quantum Break’s graphics. Utilising a middleware physics engine known as Digital Molecular Matter Quantum Break elicits eye-popping destruction and deformation effects, superbly selling the notion of a timeline glitching into oblivion. The environment regularly rips and tears apart, with triangular fragments warbling wavelike, pieces of earth and concrete fractured in suspension, recombining both beautifully and haphazardly. Imagine how visually arresting a Quantum Break sequel would be on modern hardware, seeing as it still looks fantastic now despite releasing in 2016 to last generation’s Xbox One.

Again, Remedy should be applauded for their ambition in Quantum Break. It’s a shame all that was good about the game was marred by narrative and structural choices; every element stuffed into the game diluting each other. Is there scope for a sequel? In fact, is there even an appetite for it? Who knows? For now, it appears any notion of a Quantum Break sequel is firmly on the side-lines, what with Remedy’s other projects in the works. Should Quantum Break 2 ever see the light of day, there’s no doubt Remedy will tweak the transmedia formula for the better, it’s just questionable if they’ll ever get round to it.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

Redfall

Arkane has cemented itself as one of the top names when it comes to creating highly dynamic sandboxes with the likes of Dishonored and Prey, and the studio is definitely one of the crown jewels of the Xbox Game Studios roster post the Zenimax acquisition. Fans were understandably excited about Arkane’s Xbox exclusive project Redfall, a co-op game that blends the developer’s signature ability-based gameplay into the core gameplay loop of looting and shooting that had the potential to be a smash hit.

But in actuality, Redfall is anything but. It’s a painfully generic looter shooter that’s subject to a bevy of gameplay and technical problems. Repetitive content, dull gameplay, and an uninteresting story are just some of Redfall’s issues that get compounded with a wide variety of technical issues to make for a consistently frustrating experience. It’s obviously a big shock for fans of Arkane’s works, and there’s no doubt the developer has heavily fumbled with this project.

Superliminal

Superliminal encourages players to reconsider how they perceive reality, effectively rewiring their brains to make sense of its gluttony of optical illusions and forced perspective puzzles. Except, each scenario in Superliminal doesn’t have to make sense; in combining 2D shapes to make 3D objects, and in twisting perspective to manipulate the size of said objects, Superliminal is a more dreamlike affair, and, just like dreams, leaves a surreal lasting impression.

As it turns out, it wasn’t off Game Pass for long. Taking to Twitter, Aaron Greenberg, who’s the VP of Xbox Games Marketing, recently confirmed that Quantum Break has officially returned to the Game Pass lineup across all platforms and is also back on sale, which means its licensing issues (whatever they were) have presumably been sorted out.

The game spent less than half a month off Game Pass, so fans and subscribers will be pleased that whatever its issues were have been quickly addressed.

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