Author: Jay Allsopp

Android often gets unfairly overlooked as a gaming platform. Many mobile gamers point to iOS as the gold standard when it comes to mobile gaming, but Android has just as many excellent games to offer. Whether it’s the strategy stylings of Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions or the horror puzzle gameplay of Very Little Nightmares, there’s plenty to love on the Android marketplace, and things are only going to improve as 2022 moves forward. So far this year, we’ve seen the release of great Android games like El Hijo: A Wild West Tale, Yu-Gi-Oh! Master Duel, and Puzzle…

Let it never be said that handheld platforms don’t have good horror experiences on them. While some of the best horror games can be found on consoles and PC, there are almost as many terrifying gaming moments to be experienced on handheld platforms like Sony’s PSP (and even the Nintendo DS!). If you’re still enjoying your time with your PSP, you’re not the only one; it’s got a surprisingly full and rich library of games to cater for all kinds of tastes, and yes, that includes some pretty excellent horror titles. Here are the best PSP horror games you can…

Sometimes, you want your games to be all about daring action heroes pushing their way through hordes of the slavering undead or legions of bloodthirsty demons. Other times, you want your games to be about managing a city, watching a restaurant grow, or running a chaotic hospital. That’s what simulation games are all about; they give you a taste of control, an idea of what it feels like to be in a position of power and influence. Xbox Game Pass is full of excellent simulation games, so let’s take a look at some of them. Here are the 15 best…

Who would have thought that the simple act of leaping from one platform to another would be such a fulfilling activity? Ever since Pac-Land originated the platformer genre (that’s right, it wasn’t technically Super Mario Bros), platformers have been a mainstay on every single console generation, often serving as their flagship titles, especially in the case of Nintendo. Luckily, the Xbox and PC platforms are also fertile ground for platformers; there are plenty to play if you love jumping. Here are the 15 best platformers on Xbox Game Pass which you can play right now if you’ve got an active…

The Xbox platform has long been thought of as a poor one for RPGs, but that’s pretty unfair, on balance. Thanks to the Xbox Game Pass service, there’s a huge amount of choice and variety if you’re an RPG fan and you’ve got an Xbox console (or a decently-specced PC, of course). While the PlayStation once ruled the roost for JRPGs, even this genre is well-represented on Xbox Game Pass, so let’s take a look, in no particular order, at the 15 best RPGs on Xbox Game Pass right now. Some of these may no longer be available depending on…

Sometimes, you want to take a break from the high-octane action-packed nature of triple-A gaming. Occasionally, what you want is to sit back and take on a good chin-stroking puzzle game, full of the kind of intellectual challenges that will make you feel like a god-level genius for solving them. Happily, as you might expect, the Xbox Game Pass service is full of them. Some of the greatest puzzle experiences ever constructed have found a home on Microsoft’s subscription service, so without further ado, let’s take a look at the 15 best puzzle games on Xbox Game Pass. 1. Grim…

Here’s a fun fact: the very first video game of all time was based on a sport. Tennis for Two was an extremely primitive oscilloscope-based piece of software that pitted two players against one another in a virtual game of tennis. Even if we fast forward a few years to the first majorly popular video game, Pong, we can still see the influence of sports on the medium. Of course, gaming has grown much more advanced and sophisticated since then, but the popularity of sporting games has endured, not least on PC and Xbox platforms. Here are the 15 best…

Many believe that the first ever first-person shooter was either 1993’s Doom or 1992’s Wolfenstein 3D, but this could be seen as incorrect. Games like MIDI Maze and Hovertank 3D pioneered first-person gameplay before either Doom or Wolfenstein did, although it is fair to say these two id Software games solidified what first-person shooters really are today. Now, the first-person shooter cup runneth over; there are lots of great FPS games and third-person shooters out there, not least on Xbox and PC. Here are the 15 best shooters on Xbox Game Pass. 1. Halo Infinite It’s been a long wait,…

For many, VR represents a genuine step forward for the gaming world. It’s innovative and futuristic technology that feels like it could open doors for new immersive and interactive experiences. 2022 is going to be a great year for VR releases; from major studios to as-yet unproven outfits, lots of developers are lining up to try their hand at this tech, especially now that cheaper alternatives in the form of devices like the Oculus Quest 2 exist. Here are the 22 VR games coming in 2022 we’re most looking forward to. 1. Horizon Call of the Mountain Developed by Firesprite,…

If you haven’t already checked out Bend Studio’s Days Gone, it’s worth a look. While it tells a lacklustre story and doesn’t really offer anything you won’t have seen before, it’s a solid zombie open-world sandbox game with a focus on vehicular traversal and a wealth of content if you do enjoy its core gameplay loop. If you’ve already finished this underrated Sony first-party game, you might be wondering what kind of games like Days Gone are out there to play. Without further ado, let’s take a look at some of the titles you should play if you enjoyed Days…

Ever wondered what the most significant games are in the MMO world? We did some research to find out. Massively Multiplayer Online gaming has taken the world by storm over the last few years. Among those older Millennials who remember the days before the internet, MMO gaming has been the signature style accompanying their gaming life. We remember LAN parties, mobile phones as big as your face, and the earliest MMOs like Neverwinter Nights and Ultima Online. Oh, how times have changed. Scroll down the page to 2022, and you see a massive change in how gaming works. We considered…

There’s something viscerally satisfying about the basic fighting game. Whether you’re battling AI opponents on an arcade ladder or thrashing a friend while they complain that you’re cheating, fighting games are great fun, and they’re well-represented on every major console generation and PC as well. Xbox Game Pass is a slightly less well-populated fighting game repository; while there are certainly fighting games to enjoy, you’ll have to work a little harder than you would for shooters or platformers. Still, there are more than enough to keep fans happy, so here are the 10 best fighting games on Xbox Game Pass.…

It’s fair to say that Red Dead Redemption is an open-world tour de force. Whether you’re a bigger fan of the first game or its maximalist sequel, there’s such a wealth of content in the Red Dead series that you could play for hundreds of hours and never run out of things to do. With that said, sometimes you don’t want to sit in front of your console or powerful gaming rig and get immersed in a Wild West world; sometimes you’d rather fire up your phone and play something for a few minutes to get your cowboy fix instead.…

It’s fun to be in charge. Whether you’re ordering troops around a battlefield or deciding where to put your industrial districts in a city-builder, being the boss is its own reward. It seems the gaming industry agrees; the tycoon genre, which involves managing complex multi-layered organisms like cities or football teams, is thriving. Tycoon game lovers have plenty of choice, and in 2022, even more options are arriving to give you the kick you get out of playing management sims. Here are the best tycoon games (and tycoon-adjacent games) arriving in 2022. Total War: Warhammer III (February 17th) We’re starting…

2022 is going to be an incredible year for games. After 2021 proved somewhat disappointing thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic (and various other delays), we think that 2022 is set to be a truly special time in the world of gaming. With major exclusives from Sony and Microsoft due to arrive this year, as well as indie games and big studio projects galore, there are plenty of reasons to be excited for gaming this year. Here are our top 22 upcoming games for 2022. Pupperazzi (Xbox, PC) – January 20th If you love Pokemon Snap and you love doggos,…

Retro gaming doesn’t just apply to consoles. While consoles and PCs take up the majority of retro gamers’ time, there’s a growing market that wants to experience the world of retro mobile gaming. By that, we don’t mean playing retro games on your modern device, although it’s definitely worth looking into doing that as well. No, we’re talking about revisiting older mobile devices and playing the games that were available on those devices back in the day.  This trend was likely started by people firing up their old Nokia 3210 or 3310 devices and playing a game or two of…

You’d be forgiven for not remembering the MSX. It was created as a joint venture between Microsoft and the ASCII Corporation back in 1983 and was swiftly buried beneath the encroaching avalanche of the NES, which was about to completely dominate the gaming landscape for a number of years (until the arrival of Nintendo’s own SNES followup, in fact). That’s a shame, because the MSX actually has a lot of great games to offer. Many of the franchises you love likely got their start on the MSX, including some surprising ones; Konami championed this machine early, and it gave us…

Say what you will about the Nintendo Wii (and many did), but it was undeniably a rip-roaring success. Many debate whether the PS3 or the Xbox 360 won the seventh console generation, but the simple fact of the matter is that the Wii emerged dominant, although other metrics might crown a different victor. A large part of the Wii’s success was down to the sheer number of multiplayer games it offered, as well as the large amount of control schemes available. If you had a Wii, then you could easily call friends over and be playing something with them in…

The Sega CD is an oft-overlooked little marvel of a machine. You might know it better as the Mega-CD, since that was the name Sega gave to it in many regions around the world. Whatever you call it, the Sega CD is a CD-based add-on for the Mega Drive (or Genesis, depending on where you live) that adds CD functionality, as well as better CPU power and the capability for improved graphics. Some of the best games in the Mega Drive’s lifetime were released for the Sega CD addon. It gave developers new and exciting tools to play with, resulting…

The past two years have been a real rollercoaster. From lockdowns to remote work and adapting to the new (not so) normal, it’s been a wild ride. Now that 2022 is drawing closer, it’s time to relax. And what better way to chill out than by playing some top-rated video games? Video gaming is the ultimate escape, and the good news is that not all games are packed with heart-racing action and violence. Even medical experts recommend certain video games for adults battling with their stress levels. Let’s delve into the best relaxing video games that will help you get…

What can be better than having a huge selection of top-class video games at your disposal? Free games are an excellent way for gaming enthusiasts to tap into tons of awesome gaming content without spending a dime. Aside from getting access to a wide range of games from different gaming genres, free-to-play games allow you to tap into hundreds of hours of gameplay and kill all that spare time you have on your hands. If you’ve always wanted to give some game a try, the chances are that you can give it a go for free. We’ve created this short…

2021 was a good year for online games, but it has left us wanting something spectacular. We saw the release of several huge multiplayer games and a continued massive interest in social gaming but no one game has quite emerged as the new “lifestyle game”. Perhaps most notably, this year saw Amazon release their much-awaited open world MMO New World, and while it hasn’t been without its fair share of issues it still managed to captivate hundreds of thousands of gamers. Yet this player base continues to fall and 2022 might see it fall even further. Similarly, the co-op shooter…

Whatever else you can say about 2021, it’s probably been a slightly better year than 2020. While things have definitely not yet gotten back to normal (and it might be some time before that happens), the world has been slowly approaching a sense of normalcy, and we’re no longer reeling from a sudden, unexpected change of circumstances in the way we were last year. 2021 has also been a slightly better year for the gaming industry, with many companies able to avoid the kind of delays 2020 brought to their work. While the rest of November and December could bring…

World War II is a conflict that sticks indelibly in the popular consciousness. Although this war was arguably just as morally grey as others, it’s clear that the Nazi party and Hitler represent villains towards which the world could unify in their hatred. That probably also explains why there are so many World War 2 games; people want to defeat uncomplicated enemies, and the Nazis are about as uncomplicated as it gets (for the most part, anyway). Here are the best World War 2 games you can play right now. Call of Duty: Vanguard (PC, PlayStation, Xbox) Sledgehammer Games’ latest…

The Best Games on Xbox Game Pass – Titles to Wrap Up Your 2021 Gaming Year Xbox Game Pass is a massive success, the subscription service, along with Microsoft’s xCloud gaming, is reshaping the gaming industry. Gamers can access hundreds of titles, and get day-one access to multiple games. The catalog varies wildly between Triple-A, Indie, Classic and Exclusive games, with an overwhelming amount of content keeping track of what is available and worth playing can be a challenge. As the year rounds up, we at GamerBolt have decided to create a list of titles you shouldn’t miss. Here are…

How many times have you been playing a game and thought to yourself “I could do better than this”? It’s a statement that, for most of us, almost certainly isn’t true; while we like to fantasise about making our own games, the fact is that we don’t have even the most rudimentary knowledge about how to start doing so. Luckily, we don’t need it, because we have games like Game Dev Tycoon to help us get started. If you don’t know it, Game Dev Tycoon is exactly what it sounds like: it’s an indie game that places you in charge…

Here’s a staggering statistic: every year, there can be anywhere from seven thousand to ten thousand games released on Steam. With that many games pouring in (although many of them will, of course, be shovelware to a degree), it’s impossible to play everything, and so the huge, high-profile games often push their way to the fore. However, this means that many gamers miss out on a lot of hidden gems that they may end up loving. Nowhere is this more true than in the PC gaming market, so here are 10 underrated PC gaming gems you need to check out.…

The next generation of console gaming is off to a great start. Whether it’s Sony’s sleek, space-age PS5 or Microsoft’s understated yet immensely powerful Xbox Series X, you’re spoilt for choice when it comes to great gaming experiences. Unfortunately, due to a worldwide chip shortage, it’s been hard for many consumers to actually obtain these machines. If you are lucky enough to own either of them, though – or if you’ve got one of Nvidia’s next-gen RTX 30 chips – you’re in for a treat. Here are the top 10 next-gen games you can play right now. Demon’s Souls…

It’s been a difficult year for the gaming industry. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many upcoming titles to be cancelled or delayed, and even those whose production is forging ahead will have encountered myriad unforeseen difficulties. With that in mind, the return of E3 this year will have been a welcome balm for the worries of many gamers and industry heads alike. It was a somewhat muted show this year, likely impacted by the lack of genuine blockbuster games to show off, but that doesn’t mean E3 2021 didn’t have plenty of great games to see. Here are the best…

Independent games, or Indie games, used to be neglected back in the days. However, since the human world is evolving each day, especially in tech, Indie games have caught sight of numerous players today. Unlike the AAA games, which require a large team and lots of costs, the Indie games are created by individuals or small groups without publishers’ monetary or technical support. In this article, you’ll find the top 5 Indie Adventure Fantasy games of all time that you can play all night long! Realm of the Tempest Realm of the Tempest – free fantasy adventure RPG is an…

Brawler (beat ’em up) games feature hand-to-hand (HTH) combat between a protagonist and a slew of opponents. While most of these games feature revenge and crime-fighting-based plots, some employ fantasy, science fiction, and historical themes. Here is an overview of ten of the best brawlers: Guardian Heroes Developed by Treasure and published by Sega, this 2D side-scrolling brawler game features RPG elements. Guardian Heroes allows you to alter your game’s storyline through your actions. For instance, you can choose between several branching paths that lead to multiple endings, levels, and bosses. The game also comes with a versus mode…