I'm sure many of you remember the awesome game that is RollerCoaster Tycoon 2; a game by Chris Sawyer and published by Infograms in which you manage your very own theme park, with all its rides, shops, puking guests and economic fortune. Well you'll be pleased to know that as of just recently you can download the very latest build of OpenRCT2: An open source development which improves the game
Welcome to Next Week on Xbox! In this weekly feature we cover all the games coming soon to Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox on PC, and Game Pass! Get more details on these upcoming games below and click their profiles for further info (release dates subject to change). Let’s jump in!
A new era of survival horror arrives with Resident Evil Requiem, the latest and most immersive entry yet in the iconic Resident Evil series. Experience terrifying survival horror with FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, and dive into pulse-pounding action with legendary agent Leon S. Kennedy. Both of their journeys and unique gameplay styles intertwine into a heart-stopping, emotional experience that will chill you to your core.
Towerborne is an exciting side-scrolling action RPG brawler. Rise again as an Ace, an immortal warrior reborn to defend the Belfry against the darkness beyond its walls. Journey across a crumbling world, uncover the mystery of the fallen City of Numbers, and push back the corruption threatening humanity’s survival.
Tales of Berseria Remastered Deluxe Edition Pre-Order
Engage in the ultimate quest for self-discovery, remastered for the first time. The sacred kingdom awaits the arrival of its savior, and a lone woman named Velvet is marked by traumatic deceit. Join Velvet on her journey for vengeance, along with her cast of eccentric companions, as they sail through the archipelago which comprises the kingdom of Midgand.
Bread & Fred is a challenging co-op platformer where two players must cooperate to jump and climb to the top of a snowy mountain. Play as both Bread and Fred in their exasperating and sometimes maddening climb that requires precision with every jump. Each time you land you’ll be closer to the peak and one step closer to mastering the platforming, but your fall down the mountain will be even farther.
Grab your towels because the chillest capybara in gaming is ready for a soak! In Capy Spa, you help Pipa, a relaxation-loving capybara, push herb buckets into hot springs to prepare the perfect bath. With 30 carefully crafted levels, two charming biomes (Savanna River and Forest Onsen), and a soothing soundtrack that blends with the rising steam, every stage invites calm and thoughtful moves.
Emotional Damage Incoming! The most ridiculously epic Souls-like parody ever created meets outrageous humor in this absolutely insane action-RPG! You’re no chosen one – just a blacksmith with questionable bean-eating habits who accidentally gained ancient dragon powers. Now, you’re humanity’s last hope, and it’s time to show these evil corporations what REAL power smells like!
Again you are alone against the hordes of hostile spacecrafts where you can only rely on yourself. It is the victory or the death! An automatic station deep in space has sent an alarm signal and then the connection is disrupted. Your spaceship set off there to carry out reconnaissance. But all of the sudden you encounter huge forces of an unknown enemy. Now there’s no way back – you either defeat them or die. This game is a vertical scroll-shooter with numerous enemies and a gradually increasing level of complexity.
A squad of mutant kids from the hood is humanity’s last hope in this colorful, humor-packed zombie apocalypse. Blast freaky zombies with ridiculous guns, spray wild graffiti across the city, and face a monstrous Zombie Boss at the end of every mission. Each hero in the squad offers a unique playstyle: choose yours, dig the weirdest guns out of dumpsters, and enjoy the insane headshot animations.
Journey of Johann is an action-adventure platformer with puzzle elements. Make your way through levels and a boss with different challenges and obstacles. Collect goblets and secrets and beat time trials. Use your weapons as tools such as climbing, blocking hits, and defeating enemies. The game was designed with speedrunning in mind.
Pogui – February 25 Optimized for Xbox Series X|S / Smart Delivery / Xbox Play Anywhere
Safely guide a lovable pup through crazy platforming stages so he can get back to his naptime! Pogui is just a little dog who wants to take a nap, but crazy stuff keeps happening around him! Guide the lovable pug through dreamlike worlds and help him get to bed. Pogui is a side-scrolling precision platformer presented in retro pixel art style. Run, jump and dash your way through colorful but hazardous levels!
UFOphilia is a first-person psychological horror game where you explore areas marked by alien phenomena. Use specialized equipment to detect, identify, and photograph aliens, but do so at your own risk… They are watching you too. Equipped with advanced tools, your mission is to detect, identify, and photograph extraterrestrials, each encounter involving unique behaviors and unpredictable dangers.
A small town in the far north goes about its life: preparing for the Festival of the New Star, decorating streets, celebrating. The festival is inseparable from a cycle that repeats month after month. And Sonya stands at its center. She’s part of a story she’s still trying to understand. A kind girl with a sharp mind and countless questions, she searches for answers among snow and lights. Sonya helps friends, makes new ones, explores hidden corners, fights spirits, and solves puzzles. She acts, hoping her actions will lead to understanding.
Buy cooking equipment, prepare delicious meals, and serve hungry customers. Upgrade your setup, read customer reviews, and expand your business to become the top fast-food joint in the city.
Golfing Over It with Alva Majo is a discouraging game about climbing a surreal mountain with a golf ball, a different take on 2017’s hit Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. Experience the challenge of climbing an unyielding mountain without infuriating controls being part of that challenge. Bennett Foddy has played this game and granted it his blessing.
Hunt the Night is a retro-style action-RPG that blends fast, skillful combat with dark fantasy lore. Play as Vesper, a member of the Stalkers, and traverse the ruined world of Medhram on a mission to save humanity from a deadly cycle of annihilation. Endure nightmarish overworlds, slash through horrific dungeons, face brutal bosses, and wield an arsenal of powers in a relentless struggle against the Night itself.
Unleash chaos, control magic, and save the village… with a flute. Manairons is a 3D action platformer game inspired by the legends of little creatures living in the Pyrenees. Help Nai face off against the landowner who has taken control of a charming village using the power of the “canut,” with magic, flute, and plenty of chaos.
Get ready for an underground adventure full of charm and strategy! In Mole Cart Mining, you guide a determined little mole riding a mine cart while rotating tracks on a hexagonal grid to create the perfect route. The goal is simple and satisfying: collect every mineral and reach the exit in style.
No Sleep For Kaname Date – From AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES
Iris has been abducted by aliens?! Finding herself on board a mysterious UFO and tasked with completing a bizarre escape game, Iris knows there’s one person who she can always count on for help: Kaname Date, Psyncer! As Date, conduct investigations, solve escape game puzzles, and Psync into the dreams of potential suspects to help Iris escape and unravel the mystery behind The Third Eye Game!
Sands of Aura is an open-world action adventure with a fantasy setting of a realm in its twilight–a world buried beneath a sea of sand. Sail across the sandseas to return life to a dying world in an unforgettable experience that is equal parts engaging story and unrelenting, souls-like combat.
A total of 300 questions with easy, normal, and hard difficulties have been included. Complete problems to unlock background effects and BGM tracks. There are 3 background effects and 3 BGM tracks. Sudoku allows you to use your brain while also being soothed by the effects and BGM.
The gods of Olympus seek a mortal champion to fight against a rising darkness. Only those who endure their trials may be chosen. In Trials of Olympus, you journey through the realms of Ares, Artemis, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Each god’s domain holds three great trials — vast platforming levels filled with traps, enemies, and divine essences to recover. You cannot fight, for no weapon is yet yours. Instead, rely on agility and wit.
What if you could freely choose another life? WorldNeverland – Elnea Kingdom is a sandbox life simulation game where you can move to a fictional kingdom you’ve always dreamed of and enjoy a carefree life. Why not weave a grand story spanning generations with your own hands?
Aquamarine is a turn-based playable comic book about surviving in an alien ocean. Inspired by the psychedelic sci-fi of the ’70s & ’80s, Aquamarine combines the mystery of old-school adventure games and challenging roguelikes with elements of survival, exploration, and puzzle solving. Journey across a water world reclaimed by nature. Overcome survival and navigational challenges as you discover the planet’s lost history. Master your pod’s controls, study the ocean wildlife, and solve environmental puzzles to help you find your way home.
This game is worth every penny, and you should buy it right now, why? Firstly because the whole story was written during a livestream, which makes the story totally nonsensical! If this doesn’t convince you remember that not only do I have a gun, I also know all your secrets. This is of course a joke, I do not know your secrets, yet.
You’ve washed ashore on a mysterious island where ancient emojis have awakened — and they’re not happy to see you. This rogue-like first-person shooter throws you into wild, fast-paced combat against tiki emojis wearing carved masks and wielding primal powers. Before each run, customize your experience with crazy modifiers: make enemies bounce, wear funny hats, or unleash volcanic chaos for maximum challenge. Choose your arena — from overgrown jungles and hidden beach ruins to ancient temples filled with deadly traps — each location has its own hazards, secrets, and surprises.
Manage your mini racer car shop, sell mini cars and spare parts, and unleash your creativity with custom builds. Test drive your creations on the racetrack before putting them up for sale. Transform your shop into a haven for mini car enthusiasts and build a thriving business in the process!
Showcase your style and become a supermodel in one of the best shopping games! No matter what your fashion style may be, this shopping mall has exactly what you’re looking for! Get a fabulous new hairstyle at your favorite hair salon Chic Cuts, and dress up in the latest hot trends from our stylish shops! It’s Black Friday! The excitement is real as you race to grab the clothes you need before they vanish from the shelves! Dress up in shirts, skirts, shoes, and accessories, or get expert advice from your personal shopper!
Solar Machina is a vibrant 2D pixel art platformer where you control a robot on a colorful journey through tropical landscapes filled with traps and enemies. As you progress, your robotic suit evolves, granting new movement abilities that transform how you play. With smooth controls, distinct biomes, and a nostalgic chiptune soundtrack, Solar Machina offers a satisfying blend of challenge, rhythm, and exploration that keeps engagement from start to finish.
In a realm between life and death, a confused soul seeks redemption and freedom from a past life filled with misguided choices. Playing alone or together via co-op multiplayer, command a soul in search of the exit from this dark and desolate realm. Use the environment to your advantage and avoid treacherous traps to clear 30 challenging levels of hauntingly morose pixel art.
Welcome to the untamed frontier! In Wild West Tycoon you are tasked with transforming the rugged Wild West into a thriving economic powerhouse. This low-poly style simulation game invites you to master the art of frontier entrepreneurship where every decision counts and every enterprise takes you one step closer to building a legendary empire.
Plenty of amazing games go unnoticed and are not played widely, for various reasons. Maybe it’s a diamond in the rough, or the marketing wasn’t there, or it could be a game ahead of its time. For this monthly series, I’ve asked my fellow writers at SUPERJUMP to pick a game they think is deserving of a chance in the spotlight. Please share your favorite hidden gems in the comments.
Josh Bycer
Gemcraft Series
Source: Author.
For this month’s pick, I want to go with an indie series that I’ve hoped could be an inspiration for other developers. Gemcraft started as one of the many online games featured on the site/portal Armor Games, and two of the five in the series are currently available on Steam.
Gemcraft is, to my knowledge, the first tower defense roguelite. The story follows wizards who are doing battle against monsters using magic towers with gems to keep them at bay.
Three main systems make up each game, starting with the tower defense. Your mission is to defeat waves of varying enemy types using the gems and buildings provided. You have almost-free rein to build wherever you want on the map, but you must protect your wizard orb to win. Gems come in different colors that affect their properties, with different gem colors appearing in each game.
The gems themselves are your actual weapons, and can be put in different structures to change their role and be upgraded. Towers are the default structure, while traps do less damage but enhance the special properties of a gem. On many maps, wizard stashes can be opened to provide you with a reward that goes with the other systems.
Winning maps and getting a new high score will reward you with experience that can level up your wizard. This provides skill points that can be applied to unlockable skills, grant passive bonuses, or unlock powerful spells that can be used during a map. Any unused skill points will provide you with bonus mana (which purchases and upgrades gems).
Each game has a “talisman” that acts as the meta progress. Randomly, while playing maps, a talisman piece can drop, and the higher the number, the rarer the talisman. These provide bonuses that affect damage, how much mana you get, and other buffs. But to get the best parts, you have to take Gemforge into overdrive.
Each map can be played three ways – the story mode, trial (AKA puzzle mode), and endurance. Endurance mode is the best way to get high scores and talisman pieces. One of the unlocks you can get is battle traits that can be applied to a map, cranking up the difficulty while increasing drops and experience. The more traits you have, the greater the rarity of the talisman pieces you can obtain. This is when playing Gemcraft almost turns into the game-breaking style of Disgaea.
Knowing how far you can push with battle traits is important, or you end up like me here. Source: Author
Filling out your talisman is going to take a long time, as you need shadowcores to unlock more spaces, and the cost gets progressively more expensive as you get further into it. There comes a breakaway point in every Gemcraft title, where the player goes from barely being able to survive endurance mode to cranking up the difficulty and getting a boatload of cores and powerful talisman pieces.
Learning and mastering any Gemcraft game is going to take some time, and you can easily get dozens of hours in each if you want to do it all. However, when it comes to onboarding and helping the player learn how to improve, the game falls a bit short.
Maps are easy until they’re not. Each wave increases the attributes of the enemies, and the killer of your run at the start will come from a horrible 5-letter word – armor. For each point of armor an enemy has, it will block incoming damage. Pylons ignore armor, and the armor shred gem outright counters it. However, on maps when you don’t have access to armor shred, or the armor shred is too weak, you can go from one-shotting every enemy, to the lightest enemy shrugging off all your attacks.
Talisman pieces get progressively more powerful, and are the keys to the high-end play. Source: Author.
This requires you to build nothing but towers aimed at your pylons to be able to smash through them, up until the point when critical damage becomes the predominant damage dealer. This gets to a fundamental crack in the design and how it scales up. Your ability to deal with stronger and stronger waves is dependent on the skill tomes you find, which affect your viable options. There is a distinct difference in how you approach these maps as a beginner, moderate, and advanced player. While the game offers multiple ways of playing, this comes at the cost that there is often one preferred strategy per map.
Traps are great against slow or medium-speed enemies, but don’t fire fast enough without upgrades to deal with swarmlings. Putting points into your trap skill means that you’ll have fewer points for the skills that give you a base damage increase. I absolutely did not like lanterns, which hit multiple enemies at once, but deal far less damage. If you plan to play multiple games in the series, however, mastering one of the games means you should be able to handle anything that gets thrown at you in the others.
At some point, no matter how skilled you are at maze design or building the perfect choke points, you either have enough DPS to get through the enemy defenses and numbers, or you don’t. The difficulty also gets tuned up when RNG comes into play; while the waves and map are fixed, apparition attacks are not. After you reach a certain map point, the game will start spawning different kinds of ghost enemies throughout the map. The spawn timings are fixed, but what spawns is not. You could get something easy, like a passive specter that flies around, or you could get a demon that summons more enemies, attacks your orb directly, and is just a horrible nuisance.
What I find fascinating about Gemcraft today and why I wanted to talk about it, is that the tower defense genre faced an evolution crisis in the mid 2010’s to remain relevant as the market changed. It could have gone in three directions – following the roguelite progression set by Gemcraft, the character as a tower style of Defender’s Quest and popular mobile games like Arknights, or turning the tower defense itself into a roguelike.
While writing this piece, I managed to beat Frostborn for the first time. Source: Author.
Developers have responded by making their games more like the latter two, and leaving Gemcraft’s design all but gone in today’s market. The series remains an interesting branch of tower defense design, and if you ever wanted to see just how powerful you can make a tower, and have a lot of hours to play, then you need to check it out.
It remains up in the air as to whether we will get another game and a conclusion to the story. The developer sadly developed a rare liver disease, and updates have been sporadic. I’m hoping that they are doing well and that more people hear about this series.
Ben Rowan
Beyond Sunset (2025)
Source: Author.
I grew up on Doom, Quake, and Half-Life, so I’ve been chasing that boomer shooter buzz since way before we called them boomer shooters. I’ve sunk plenty of hours into modern spins like Ion Fury, Dusk, Turbo Overkill, and Prodeus, always hunting for that latest hit of speed, violence, and retro attitude. Beyond Sunset is the most recent one to grab me, and its mix of old-school DNA with modern touches and a slick cyberpunk style certainly helps it stand out.
Developed by an elusive one-game studio, Metacorp/Vaporware, Beyond Sunset is a cyberpunk RPG shooter built on the modern GZDoom engine. It runs incredibly smoothly, even on my ageing MacBook Pro (M1 Pro), and that fluidity matters in a game like this. Movement is fast and responsive, which is ideal for a game where, like the modern Doom reboots, pushing forward into combat encounters is usually the right answer.
In fact, combat is where the game really shines. There’s a wide variety of enemies, and lately I’ve been ploughing through hordes of robots of varying difficulty. Some are clearly designed to be mowed down, and they drop health and ammo generously, which keeps you playing aggressively and staying in motion. You’re not hiding behind cover or aiming down sights here either, you're constantly moving, dashing, and clearing rooms at speed. When tougher enemies show up, like shielded guards, flying drones, or flame-wielding mechs, the level design gives you enough space to reposition, heal up, and swap to heavier firepower.
Source: Author.
The weapons feel great across the board, too. The pistol has a strong alt-fire that’s perfect for cracking shields. The assault rifle is reliable and satisfying, and the shotgun is exactly what you want when a giant robot stomps into the room. And yes, there’s a samurai katana that lets you carve through enemies and even reflect bullets, Jedi-style. It’s the first weapon you get in-game, and definitely the most fun.
Beyond Sunset has more going on than most boomer shooters, adding RPG elements that deepen the experience. You can boost your character’s stats, buy upgrades in shops, experiment with power-ups, and talk to NPCs for side quests. It’s not quite classic Deus Ex, but it has that same sense of a deeper world that rewards exploration. The neon palette and synthwave score lighten the tone compared to Ion Storm’s dead-serious classic, but the intent is similar. This is a shooter that wants you to poke around and engage, not just sprint to the exit.
Source: Author.
Like vintage Deus Ex, level design is ambitious, too; these aren’t straight corridors. They’re sprawling, maze-like spaces with multiple floors and multiple objectives, though sometimes they’re a bit too sprawling, and it’s easy to lose your bearings. But with a little patience, plus help from in-game computer terminals that let you access CCTV feeds, you can usually piece together where to head next.
Beyond Sunset isn’t reinventing the genre, and it doesn’t need to. It’s a solid, stylish boomer shooter with personality that understands why these games worked so well in the first place. Considering how well this GZDoom-based game runs on my Mac, it gives me hope we might finally see the brilliant-looking Selaco land on macOS once it leaves Early Access. For now, I’m genuinely having a great time with Beyond Sunset. It’s a certified hidden gem for anyone who wants that old-school shooter energy with a bit of classic RPG flavour.
Anonymous
Zoo Tycoon (2001)
source: Gamespot
The passing of an ill lion cub was a difficult subject for Lincoln Park Zoo’s communications manager when I spoke to her in Chicago. It stirred a memory I had almost forgotten: my encounter with death in Zoo Tycoon (2001).
Seeing green smiley faces pop up over my pride of lions meant I was doing something right as a kid. I picked the right trees, the right terrain, everything they could ever need. Ever the utilitarian, I let my lions keep their default names: Lion 1, Lion 2, and so on. After a couple of hours, Lion 1 was missing.
The next few minutes of frantic searching confirmed my worst fear: he was dead.
I loved spending time with animals at zoos or with plastic toys at home. In-game, I’d spend hours crafting environments and appeasing guests, often at the cost of profit. The animals’ info panels were a goldmine of real-world facts that made it simple to build habitats and meet their needs.
Once your animals showed their satisfaction with the aforementioned smiley faces, it was the guests’ turn. Attractions and shops kept visitors busy when they weren’t waiting in restroom queues. By getting funds from tickets, concession stands, and donations, you’d earn enough to build your next enclosure.
As a game that promotes animal preservation, it’s ironic that there’s no simple way to play the original Zoo Tycoon. Despite working on a sequel and teaming up with Nintendo for World of Zoo on the Wii in 2009, the studio shuttered in 2011. Zoo Tycoon remains a great tool to explore nature’s ecosystems by raising a zoo of miniature animals.
A Final Message for 2025
This is Josh again. Thank you so much for reading these monthly pieces and enjoying the series throughout 2025. It has been a pleasure giving smaller games a chance to be seen, and I hope that a few of you were inspired to check them out.
