New Xbox game releases — April 24th to 30th

Afterimage is a hand-drawn 2D action adventure that emphasizes fast-paced combat with diversified character builds, non-linear levels, and a gripping story set in the ruins of a fantasy world. Years after a cataclysm brought an end to human civilization, an amnesiac girl embarks on a journey that will inexplicably set into motion a series of events that will determine the fate of the new world.

A heartbroken clown, wayward souls, and juicy mechanical lips. Help the troubled residents of the Habitat and de-mask Doctor Habit... before it’s too late.

Purchase Stranded: Alien Dawn now to receive the early adopter bonus content, this early adopter's bonus will continue until 09 May:

Wooden Planks, a new material which can be used for the construction of floors, walls, doors, roofs and rooms. 

An alternate model for the emergency landing pod at the start of the scenario. 

Brave a new world in Stranded: Alien Dawn, a planet survival sim placing the fate of a small marooned group in your hands. Forge your story through compelling and immersive strategic gameplay as you make vital decisions to protect your survivors from starvation, disease, extreme weather and more. From basic camps to fortified bases, create a stronghold to defend the survivors from attacks by alien creatures that roam an expansive and deadly alien world. Experience an epic and unpredictable journey.

· Discover an expansive, living 3D world with remarkable flora and fauna.

· Manage your survivors’ needs, health and happiness.

· Construct and evolve your own unique base, and devise cunning defences to protect it and survivors from being attacked.

· Plant, grow, harvest and hunt down food. Stockpile useful resources and salvage material from fallen space debris.

· Research technologies to expand your horizons.

· Provide heat, light, devices for relaxation and more to keep survivors on top of their game, ready to face the next challenge.

· React to fluctuating weather and environmental events.

· Learn to play with the integrated tutorial system.

AN UNFORGIVING WORLD
Stranded: Alien Dawn pushes you and your survivors to the brink. Limited resources, unpredictable weather, illness and hostile alien creatures make it hard to establish a foothold on an unforgiving world. The next challenge is never far away, requiring construction of an increasingly robust base using advanced resources and improved defences.

STRANDED SURVIVORS
Ensure your group’s physical and mental wellbeing by providing weapons, medicine, and much-needed entertainment. Every survivor has a unique backstory, varying levels of ability in key skills, and both positive and negative traits. Only by improving their skills and maximising their potential will you survive.

AN UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY
In Stranded: Alien Dawn, every playthrough is unique. Experience a journey driven by random story events, alien wildlife threats and adverse weather. There will be setbacks; devise your own innovative solutions to problems and manage multiple crises at the same time. However, actions have consequences and as you strive to plan ahead, you must make difficult choices to shape the story of your survivors, balancing short and long-term outcomes with risk and reward.

MODULAR BASE-BUILDING
Design and build your base on an alien world and transform it from simple shelter to high-tech outpost. Protect it with perimeter defences, decorate it with furnishings, introduce automated devices such as defensive turrets, and discover new technology to create your own functioning space pad.

Strayed Lights is an atmospheric action-adventure with fluid combat and an intricate world imbued with mystery. You are a tiny, growing light seeking transcendence. Explore a land of otherworldly ruins and glowing trees, where entities of flickering lights and luminescent shadows reside.

Urban Transport comes to life in TramSim: Console Edition! Experience photorealism in two European cities, Vienna & Munich, no matter where you are in the world, and drive realistic trams on a variety of lines. Run to the timetable and face unique challenges, there is gameplay for every taste!

War Mongrels is an isometric real-time tactics game which takes place on the eastern front of World War II. Its story-driven campaign takes inspiration in the grim events that actually took place and the real stories that arose from them. Dive into the dark side of war on your own or in co-op.

A shooty, slashy, RPG-y game mixing retro and modern sensibilities. A blend of influences from Gauntlet & Smash TV to Zelda & Angband, Ampersat is a handcrafted adventure but with appeal to Roguelite fans. Battle ASCII creatures in colorful areas & free letters to return language to the village!

Hard task - high reward

Running an aquarium shop is a real challenge! Clients will entrust you with difficult tasks you have to cope with. In return, a reward awaits you. Intended for business development - buying new fish, exotic plants, a store, or developing skills.

Recycling and ecology
Every self-respecting entrepreneur cares about his business. Refurbishing and processing aquarium components will save you a lot of time and money and it's good for the environment.

Let your imagination run wild
Create an aquarium in which each fish will want to live. Thanks to the variety of objects in the game, you can implement even the craziest ideas! A green, blooming oasis or raw, antique busts? The choice is yours.

Underwater dance
We provide you with many species of fish and freshwater plants. Your task is to create an ecosystem that is balanced and safe for the inhabitants of your aquariums. Remember that a slight deviation from the parameters necessary for the survival of one species may be crucial for the survival of another!

A broad perspective
Run your store the best you can! Take care of the exhibition, sell ready-made projects and carry out individual orders. In the heat of your duties, do not forget about your charges - you are responsible for ensuring their safety, health, and food.

THE PLOT

Create and observe Aqua World! Learn more about fish and their behavior and take responsibility for their lives. Control the temperature, environment, and nourishment to provide a suitable environment. Don’t forget to develop your aquarium and after a while, you will be able to open an aquarist shop!

MAIN FEATURES

Set the aquarium of your dreams - plenty of fish, corals, algae, and decorations to set up a perfect place for your pupils!
Bring it to life - create an ecosystem that is balanced and safe for the inhabitants of your aquariums. A slight deviation from the parameters necessary for the survival of one species may be crucial for the survival of another!
Run your shop - Deal with the clients and difficult tasks to develop your aquarist shop.
Explore nature - learn more about fish and their behavior.

Scurry through the seasons in search of your lost feline friend!

A little kitty’s friend has gone missing, and it’s up to you to guide the frisky feline to rescue them! Presented in side-scrolling pixel art style, Neko Rescue Tale is a traditional action platformer where you guide a heroic cat through seasonally themed stages filled with enemies, traps, pitfalls and more. Run, jump and always land on your feet!

There is a village in the mountains, where pandas live a peaceful life in harmony and joy. However, pandas share their territory with envious neighbors: the monkeys. These creatures usually invade the panda’s village and destroy the entire town. You play as a panda and must protect the village by showing the monkeys who is the boss.

- Build houses, cloth stores, restaurants, weaponry, defenses, and magic towers. Create infrastructure for your panda folks. Be the witness to the development of the village. But remember, monkeys will try to destroy it all!

- Build defense to protect the village from intruders. You can build crossbows, cannons, and catapults.

- Fight against monkeys invading your village and save pandas. But don't worry, you will not be alone. Panda defenders will also help you protect the village.

- You will have access to multiple weapon types ranging from simple wooden clubs to sci-fi slashers

- Your neighbors are knight monkeys, intelligent feces-throwing monkeys, magician baboons, strong gorillas, and fierce orangutans

- Have you heard of fashion? That's right! You can build and visit cloth stores and wear cool stuff. Fashion, baby!

- It is not as easy as you may think. Now it is sunny, but later, it is raining, then it's DARK. Be careful and look out!

Bramble The Mountain King is a grim adventure set in a world inspired by dark, Nordic fables. Explore the beautiful yet dangerous and twisted land of Bramble in your endeavour to rescue your sister. Traverse a wondrous landscape and survive deadly encounters with Bramble's many hideous creatures.

Experience the creepy tension of a Brothers Grimm fairy tale in this puzzle adventure game. Follow the young and brave Lars as he embarks on a dangerous journey to save his sister!

The Creepy Syndrome is an anthology that offers several psychological horror stories, with different pixel art and retro 1 bit, 8 bit, gameboy, etc. styles. Stories of a disturbed mind that intertwine with each other while being analysed by a mysterious psychiatrist.

As a random member of your colony's space program, you leave Mars aboard a large transport ship, only for its reactor to go critical in the middle of your journey to new horizons. All your time spent in the simulator did not prepare you for such a dire situation! Now, drifting in your escape pod, without any FTL capabilities, you realize that an easy way out was not included. Use your own wits to fix systems in a similar way you would fix and build your own PC, by swapping and fixing individual components. With a bit of luck, you might be able to finally find a safe haven

Get your hands dirty!
"What a mess! The oxygen generator refuses to start up...I hope it's just the fuse cutting down the power and not some kind of issue with the atomic pile!".

All the systems inside your escape pod are made up of many different components, from fuses to air filters. They are all interconnected and have their own critical function.

Listen to your body!
"My vision has been blurry for a while now and it's getting worse! I really need to find that leak before I pass out!"

When all your systems are failing, in the dark, only the sound of your heartbeat and your shallow breathing will alert you of your imminent death. O², CO², atmospheric pressure, and temperature are realistically simulated for maximum immersion.

Your life hangs by a thread...don't lose focus!
"These incomprehensible error codes again!? Where is the damn manual? This pod’s a mess! Ah! Here it is!"

The manual inside your pod is filled with detailed information that could very well save your life.
Plan ahead!
"What a view! Is it me or it is getting hot in here, though?"

From asteroid fields to nebulae, these cosmic monsters will wreak havoc on your systems and won’t give you a lot of time to breathe…

Help your little noodle stall by running, jumping, sliding, and teleporting to deliver noodles in this fast-paced 2D platformer. Feel like a speedrunner and discover routes, moves, and dodge traps to beat record times.

“8Doors” is a story-driven Metroidvania-style action platformer heavily influenced by Korean folktales. Play as ‘Arum’, a brave girl that has voluntarily entered the realm of the afterlife in search of her father’s soul and help guide her through the '8 Doors of Purgatory' to solve the mysteries that lie deep within. Defeat wretched wraiths blocking your way and rescue fugitive souls who are in need of your guidance.

Dynamic Gameplay
Explore : Navigate 8 different areas of purgatory and countless dangerous obstacles in your path.
Battle : Use fluid combo attacks and timely dodges to go against more than 36 different types of specters and 21 deadly bosses with unique attack patterns.
Improve : Wield 7 different types of weapons, master various skills and take advantage of passive abilities.

Immersive & Deep Story
Backdrop : The fascinating afterlife of the East.
Story : Based on traditional Korean folktales and featuring many memorable concepts and characters.

Sharp Graphics & Art
Unique Visuals : Only three colors were used to breathe life into the game; Red, Black and White.
Hand-Drawn Animations : All characters were drawn by hand in 2D frame-by-frame animations.

Shovel your way to success: go underground and dig for treasure like a mole on a mission. But don't worry, you won't get stuck in a hole - unless you forget to hire workers to boost your digging empire.

This game is the perfect blend of laziness and ambition. Your job is to sit back, relax, and let your hired diggers do the dirty work while you search for those sweet gems and diamonds. If you become the best miner around, you can even hire more gold diggers to expand your mining tycoon empire.

After witnessing the gruesome deaths of her parents, a peculiar young girl named Fran is imprisoned in Oswald Asylum. To survive the asylum’s cruel experiments, Fran self-medicates, giving her the ability to see a sinister alternate world, the Ultrareality.

Follow Fran on her epic journey through the Ultrareality to uncover who killed her parents, reunite with her missing cat Mr. Midnight, and return home to Aunt Grace, her only living relative.

Hello and welcome to Gematombe! the action-puzzle-vs-game inspired on classic arcades and greek mythology! Challenge your friends or follow pandora and the daemones on their adventures.

Launch the ball to hit and break consecutive gems of the same color to achieve incredible chain reactions! Overwhelm your opponents to CRUSH them or maximize your chain combos and CLEAR your screen area of gems to win with a GEMATOMBE!

Blast through challenging levels and game modes packed with puzzles and action and help Pandora, the All-gifted heroine, in her wonderful adventure to capture all the evils that were released in the world!

Meet lovely characters and see how they interact through Story mode, play through the endless challenge in either the practice mode or survival mode and unlock all the secrets!


Features:
* Story Mode: Campaign with 6 different adventures, one for each character.
* Practice mode: Hone your bouncing and gem breaking skills.
* Survivor mode: Defeat an endless amount of characters while climbing the tower to the sky, if you lose, you start from the beginning!
* Local Versus mode: Play with a friend on the same system.
* 6 Different Characters with different skills + a secret character to discover.

A huge fire is raging and you are sent on the spot to stop it. Business as usual for a highly-trained and experienced firefighter such as yourself. Air dropped right in the middle of this blazing inferno, your main mission objectives are to contain the fire, investigate its causes and look for survivors.

The unexpected discovery of a secret military facility is quickly going to send a monkey wrench in your plans. Unravel the truth behind the existence of Site 16 and A-█████. Access to that information may require authorization clearance ████ and ██ though…

In addition to the game’s main mode, Nuclear Blaze also includes a special Kid Mode created with younger players (aged 3 and up) in mind. This mode has its own specific - and easier - levels, an immortal hero, simplified controls (with auto-aim) and tons of helicopters and trucks! Nuclear Blaze’s console version also includes the “Hold my Beer” Mode which adds hidden areas in all levels as well as new threats that require a more precise and tactical approach. On consoles, gamers will get the complete Nuclear Blaze experience!

Features
-Unique 2D firefighting game
-Smooth controls and gameplay mechanics
-Beautiful pixel art graphics
-Finely tuned difficulty settings
-Kid Mode with special levels and controls created for younger players
-“Hold my Beer” Mode adding hidden areas as well as new threats and tactical elements
-Hidden cats to save

28 years after the events of 'Franko: The Crazy Revenge', titular anti-hero Franko returns to Poland to get his old friend out of trouble. This time also he will not go easy on his enemies...

Now, with help of his pal Skinny, Franko will wreak havoc in the streets of Szczecin once again.

Skinny & Franko: Fists of Violence is an outstanding and brutal 2D beat'em up game. Designed by a creator of cult classics like 'Franko: The Crazy Revenge' or 'Doman: Sins of Ardan' that were popular in the 90's on Amiga and PC.



Features:
- play on 8 intense and packed with enemies and boss fights, hand-drawn main stages with a few bonus levels and secret locations
- dive into the story and find out what happened to Skinny and Franko's friend 'Shorty'
- 30k frames of hand-drawn, old-school animations
- use over 50 different weapons and special attacks to beat your enemies
- fight over 80 different bullies and morons (no reskins!)
- hand drawn and animated characters in a unique, own style
- car driving and shooting mini-games
- tons of humor and bad language in the game
- play solo or in 2-player coop mode



The unique graphical setting, being a combination of a realistic world and satire, create a specific atmosphere, that you will find only here.

Are you ready? They are coming!

Whisk your way to success with Sweet Bakery Tycoon on Xbox! Create and manage the bakery of your dreams as you bake mouthwatering cakes for your clients. Test your skills across 90 scrumptious levels, serving up 60+ cakes and fruit cocktails in 4 unique locations. Personalize your bakery with countless upgrades and unlockable items, and strive for 40 tasty achievements. Get ready to satisfy your sweet tooth!

What really happened at Varney Lake?
1954. During the long, hot summer, Jimmy, Doug and Christine are spending their fourth vacation together at Varney Lake. Teenage crushes, pranks and card tricks, long days of adventure, a pipe dream of saving the local drive-in from demolition; they’re kids, coming of age.

Until they find the Vampire.

1981. Lou Hill, paranormal investigator, has a lead on a mind-blowing case. Will he be able to convince the now 40-something Christine and Jimmy to tell him the truth about that Summer? Do they even know themselves?

And what really happened to Doug?

The follow-up to Mothmen 1966
Varney Lake is the second of the Pixel Pulps; a new series of interactive adventures created by novelist Nico Saraintaris and artist Fernando Martinez Ruppel. Pixel Pulps tell gripping stories inspired by mid-20th century pulp fiction and illustrated by 80s home computer-inspired graphics. The Pixel Pulps Collection comprises three games: Mothmen 1966, Varney Lake, and Bahnsen Knights.