We hope you’re having fun stacking chips and taking down boss blinds in this month’s TA Playlist feature, Balatro, but it’s time to leave step away from the table for a moment to cast your vote for our April TA Playlist Game of the Month.For April, we’re taking some inspiration from our Community Events team and the current Community Challenge, Boss Rush 2. All of the bosses have now been revealed, and participants have until May 2 to take down as many of the bosses as possible. Given that this event will be running throughout the month of April, we decided to pick four games that feature bosses in the event for the April TA Playlist poll. Which of these big bad bosses do you want to take down during the month of April?Dr. Neo Cortex – Crash Bandicoot N. Sane TrilogyDay 5’s Boss is Dr. Neo Periwinkle Cortex, the mad scientist and recurring nemesis of the Crash Bandicoot series. Starting out as a PlayStation exclusive in 1996, the Crash Bandicoot IP has taken a long and winding road and is now owned by Microsoft following its acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King. For the TA Playlist, we’re going to use the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, developed by Blizzard Albany and Naughty Dog and published by Activision in 2018. The N. Sane Trilogy is available on Xbox Game Pass.Your favorite marsupial, Crash Bandicoot, is back! He’s enhanced, entranced and ready-to-dance with the N. Sane Trilogy game collection. Now you can experience Crash Bandicoot like never before. Spin, jump, wump, and repeat as you take on the epic challenges and adventures through the three games that started it all, Crash Bandicoot, Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back and Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped. Relive all your favorite Crash moments in their fully-remastered graphical glory and get ready to put some UMPH in your WUMP!Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy has an impressive 4.3 rating out of 5.00 here on TA, with over 11,000 tracked gamers playing along. The trilogy offers a total of 77 achievements worth 3,000 Gamerscore, and it’s estimated that it will take 40-50 hours to fully complete the list, which has been accomplished by ~4,900 tracked gamers (~2%).Saren Arterius – Mass EffectBoss #2 for the poll is Day 6’s Saren Arterius, the notorious turian ex-Spectre from the original Mass Effect. Developed by BioWare and published by Xbox Game Studios, the original Mass Effect kicked off one of the most popular RPG franchises of the Xbox 360 generation.You are Commander Shepard of the SS Normandy, an elite agent in humanity’s Systems Alliance Military. Explore the galaxy with your hand-picked squad of combat, tech, and biotic specialists as you race against time to stop a madman bent on galactic destruction.The original Mass Effect has a strong 4.42 out of 5.00 rating on TA, with 320,000 tracked gamers having started the game and nearly 19,000 (~6%) going on to earn all 49 of the game’s achievements, which is estimated to take 60-80 hours. Should Mass Effect win the poll, the ME1 achievements from the Mass Effect Legendary Edition will also count towards TA Playlist participation. The Legendary Edition is available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers through EA Play.Lilith – Diabo IVThe third nominee for April is the boss from Day 7, Daughter of Mephisto, Mother of Sanctuary, Queen of the Succubi, Lilith, one of the primary antagonists of Diablo IV. Developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment in 2023, this Hack-and-Slash action-RPG is currently gearing up for new content when Season 8 rolls out in April.Diablo IV is the next-gen action RPG experience with endless evil to slaughter, countless abilities to master, nightmarish Dungeons, and legendary loot. Embark on the campaign solo or with friends, meeting memorable characters throughout a beautifully dark open world and a gripping story. Dive into an expansive End Game where players can meet in towns to trade, team up to battle larger-than-life World Bosses, unlock robust character and loot customization, and uncover tons more action-packed activities to explore with cross-play and cross-progression on all available platforms.Diablo IV has a current TA user rating of 4.14 out of 5.00, with nearly 216,000 tracked gamers unlocking at least one achievement. The base game consists of 25 achievements, with 10 more included in the Vessel of Hatred DLC and title update. Fewer than 300 tracked gamers (less than 1%) have managed to earn all 35 achievements, with completion estimates in the 500-600 hour range. Diablo IV is available on Xbox Game Pass.Malenia, Blade of Miquella – Elden RingLast but certainly not least, our final nominee is the Community Boss for the Boss Rush 2 event, Malenia, Blade of Miquella, from one of the biggest hit games of the past few years, ELDEN RING. Developed by FromSoftware and published by Bandai Namco, this open world action-RPG – a collaboration between legendary game director Hidetaka Miyazaki and fantasy writer George R. R. Martin – was released in February 2022.Rise, Tarnished, and be guided by grace to brandish the power of the Elden Ring and become an Elden Lord in the Lands Between. Explore a vast world where open fields with a variety of situations and huge dungeons with complex and three-dimensional designs are seamlessly connected. Experience a multilayered story told in fragments. An epic drama in which the various thoughts of the characters intersect in the Lands Between.With a stunning TA community rating of 4.81/5.00, Elden Ring is currently one of the highest-rated games on the site, so while it’s not available on Game Pass or any other subscription services, this is definitely one that is worth the purchase price. To date, over 232,000 tracked gamers have unlocked at least one achievement in Elden Ring, with over 47,000 (~20%) earning all 42 of the game’s achievements.So, which Boss should the TA Playlist focus our collective efforts on during the month of April? And how are you doing taking on all the bosses in the Boss Rush 2 Community Challenge? Place your vote and let us know your thoughts in the comments! As always, if you have any suggestions for future Playlist games or themes, be sure to drop them in the TA Playlist Game Suggestion Thread for possible inclusion in a future poll! And remember, there’s still plenty of time to discuss this month’s featured game, Balatro, in the Spoiler and Spoiler-free threads to earn your TA Playlist badge for this month!Which game should the community play for April 2025’s TA Playlist?
