January has typically been a quieter month after “silly season” in terms of games released, but that doesn’t mean there has been a shortage of easy Xbox achievements and Gamerscore to be had. And we are here once again to highlight to you any that may have been missed from those Xbox games that launched in January 2021. This month we feature the easiest achievement we’ll likely ever have in our lists, as well as a full 1000G that can be earned in less than 20 minutes. Let’s dive straight in, then shall we?
Air Bounce – The Jump ‘n’ Run Challenge – Level I – 50G
The way to get this achievement is already incredibly easy, but it popped for me even quicker than that. How quickly I hear you ask? So quick in fact that I had not even confirmed which Gamertag was signed in on my Xbox Series X.
Air Bounce – The Jump ‘n’ Run Challenge is a first-person platforming game but may already be a contender for one of our worst games of the year. If that doesn’t put you off, then there is some easy Gamerscore to be had.
It is so easy in fact, that you only need to start the first level for this 50G achievement to pop – you don’t even need to finish it. Which, due to the horrendous sensitivity on the controls, is unlikely to happen first time around anyways. You may get lucky though like I did, and the achievement may pop for you before you even need to start the level. A 50G achievement on offer and you don’t even need to press a single button? Sign me up!
TOHU – Credits Bug – 25G
TOHU on Xbox is a 2D puzzle platformer with delightful hand-drawn visuals that looks to have come straight out of a children’s story book. It features a tale fitting of the look and feel as well, as you explore these weird and wonderful fish planets to find out the truth of the protagonist’s mechanical alter-ego. Full of colourful characters and made up words that kids love in stories, it is a game that can be enjoyed by all ages.
Oh yes sorry, the achievement! Simply view the credits from start to finish. You can do that at the end of the game, but that isn’t the way we like to do things here. You can also access them from the main menu at any time. Once they have finished rolling, 25G will be yours. Or your child’s.
Immortals Fenyx Rising: A New God DLC – Better Luck Next Time – 50G
It isn’t all that often that we get to include DLC achievements in these monthly rundowns, but when it’s a game we are loving at TXH Towers, we will use any excuse we can to talk some more about it.
The first DLC for Immortals Fenyx Rising has just released and A New God can be played at any point, regardless of whether you have completed the main campaign or not. I would strongly advise doing so first as it contains major plot spoilers, and also requires a lot of knowledge of Fenyx’s various powers.
A New God plays out as a series of trials for Fenyx to overcome, in order for them to complete their ascension into The Inner Circle of the Pantheon. Not sure if all that needs capitalisation, but it sounds like it should. Anyways, Hermes grants you the first trial you must complete before the rest of Olympos opens up.
If you struggle with this, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of the DLC, which gets a lot harder. On the other hand, the first time you plummet to your death in this trial will award you 50G, so it’s swings and roundabouts really.
Marble Duel – New Achievement – first duel – 50G
We’re offering up some big numbers this month; plenty of 50G offerings. But you haven’t seen anything yet.
And no, that isn’t a typo in the title, this next achievement really is called ‘New Achievement – first duel’.
I’m not sure how best to describe Marble Duel, except it is a turn-based version of classic XBLA game Zuma. And if you never played Zuma, it basically consists of matching coloured marbles together to remove them from the ever-moving trail.
Conveniently though, how exactly to play the game is explained in a tutorial level, if my explanation proves inadequate. It takes only around 30 seconds to complete, and as an added bonus you unlock ‘New Achievement – first duel’ and 50G to boot.
Balancelot – THE FULL 1000G!
Normally we would highlight only one or two achievements that were easier than most to unlock. However, this is not a normal situation we find ourselves in. Balancelot may take a bit of time to explain, but you can unlock the full 1000G in about 20 minutes.
Balancelot on Xbox is a humourous physics-based 2D platformer. As a jouster without a horse to joust on, you find another mode of transport in the form of a unicycle. Armed with this and a joust, you must control your character through several levels. We, however, will only need to focus on two.
In total, you will have 11 achievements to unlock. From the main menu, select Spooky Island then choose any character. Choose the first available level, and the first enemy you encounter will be a lion. Give it a prod with your joust for the ‘Lion’ achievement and 100G.
Then, go back to the main menu and select Play. Again, choose any character and then select the first level. After the cutscene, simply play the level and you are guaranteed to unlock at least ‘It’s Save Time’ for reaching a checkpoint and ‘Learning’ for completing the tutorial. Both these award 90G a piece.
If you prod the giant snails throughout the level you can also unlock ‘Small Job’, ‘Middle Job’, ‘Cleaning the Kingdom’ and ‘Snail Killer-Machine’ for killing one, three, five and ten snails respectively. Again, each of these are for 90G. You can also reload checkpoints by falling or losing your balance; doing this repeatedly also unlocks achievements. ‘Small Mistake’, ‘Wet Floor’ and ‘Purple Heart’ are all 90G achievements for falling off your unicycle once, ten and 20 times respectively.
Finally, there are stars to find in each level. The first time you collect one you unlock the ‘Star’ achievement and another 90G. If you are finding the one in the first level a bit tricky to reach, there is one at the beginning of the second level you can find by simply dropping down the first hole that is much easier.
And with that, there is the full 1000G for Balancelot! Simple stuff.
The Pillar: Puzzle Escape – Intro – 20G
Our final easy achievement for this month pales in comparison to Balancelot, but is just too easy to ignore.
A first-person puzzle game, The Pillar: Puzzle Escape will remind players of Myst or The Witness. As you explore this ethereal world solving some not-too-tricky puzzles, you experience a zen-like calmness. It’s a great game to unwind on an evening with.
And also a great game for achievements: the first one you will unlock is for completing the tutorial level, which if you follow the instructions on screen will take less than a minute. Seriously, the on-screen prompts even give you the solution to the first puzzle. The rest of them however, you’re on your own for.
And that’s this month’s list of super easy, super quick Gamerscore and achievement hits from the Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S games that have released in January 2021. My worry is that we’ve peaked by giving an entire 1000G solution within our monthly offerings! Next month is unlikely to offer anything as good as that, but you will be reading it anyways in the off-chance that it does, won’t you? See you then!