So, we're almost a month and a half into 2022, and we're already seeing a few comments cropping up about the quality of Xbox Game Pass this year — both positive and negative. In our opinion, it's been a fantastic 40+ days so far for the service, with some major titles entering the library, but not everyone is going to be in agreement.
Let's remind ourselves what's joined Game Pass in 2022 so far. In terms of major games, Mass Effect Legendary Edition joined via EA Play on January 6th, Death's Door, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction and Hitman Trilogy all arrived on the service on January 20th, and CrossfireX's "Operation Catalyst" campaign was supposed to release with Game Pass on February 10th, but it ran into a major glitch that's still being fixed.
Elsewhere, we've also seen a variety of highly-regarded indies such as Embr, The Pedestrian, Outer Wilds, Nobody Saves The World, Windjammers 2, Contrast, Telling Lies and much more arrive on Game Pass throughout January and early February.
If you want to remind yourself of the full list, you'll find it elsewhere on Pure Xbox:
With all of this in mind, we're keen to know how you feel Xbox Game Pass has been so far in 2022, and what grade you'd give the selection of titles so far. Impressed or disappointed? Let us know down in the comments below.
Comments 41
I gave it a D, but I really should’ve given it a C. I gave it a low score because Control, The Medium, and FF12 (among others earlier this year) are leaving the service. Those three titles leaving in February are a huge knock to the line-up, in my eyes. The Medium especially is a knock as it’s one of the few current gen titles on the service. For me, Gamepass was building momentum all of 2021 and then, after the Mass Effect addition, it’s felt like the service is losing more good titles than its adding. I hope the line-up strengthens in the spring.
I gave it solid A so far. I waited for mass effect trilogy and hitman was a surprise. Game pass has been the saving grace of my wallet having a few more quid in it. The best subscription service I pay for, with a ton of titles to play. If they leave, sure what harm. More titles will come and you could find your next gem. Looking forward to giving death's door a go and sommerville looks intresting.
January was rock solid. Hitman Trilogy, Mass Effect Trilogy and indie games like Death's Door and Nobody Saves the World were good additions.
The first half of February however was extremely forgettable. I get that they added CrossFireX but that game isn't great. If they can add a few more titles maybe something like Judgement and Dying Light then some indie titles like Little Nightmares 2 or even GhostRunner would make some good additions.
I don’t think I’ve downloaded anything since Halo Infinite. There’s been some big hitters but they just haven’t been for me. E from my personal perspective.
@Fenbops
Same here, until we get a Starfield, gears of war, fable etc etc. The list goes on I’m unsubscribe now.
I like big hitting AAA games be it fps, action adventure, story driven, open world.
For me game pass will probably be dead until we get Starfield, unless we get a surprise.
And I’m hoping Starfield is a big hitting AAA.
FH5 nailed it, but Halo was weak overall for an open world campaign game.
Hitman Trilogy. What’s more to say? My wife has been loving it. Not really played it much myself because I’ve been playing Halo Infinite but it’s great to see her enjoying Hitman.l and playing on the Xbox.
I gave it a C because EA Play (Mass Effect: Legendary) isn't available to 'all' via Game Pass, only those with Ultimate.
Its not really the Fault of the Service that its not really been a 'strong' couple of months as the year itself has been quite 'average' and therefore, they can't exactly offer a great 'Day1' release. Some good 'older' releases have helped of course but compared to Q4 21, Q1 22 is looking quite Average...
Big fan of gamepass but 22 has been very poor so far
Mass effect is really great so far but IMO there haven’t been any notable additions in January and February so far, neither in AAA terms, B tier terms and indie terms. Ofcourse stalker 2 got delayed so that doesn’t help.
Hoping we will be getting lost in random soon through EA play.
I have had GP since December when I got a Series X. At first I loved it and thought it was a great bargain. Now, I think the novelty is wearing off. Too many older or low budget indy games. The future of GP is bright with future Bethesda games and if all Activision games go on the service.
Easy A. It’s reached the stage where I could happily survive just on GP. It’s encouraged the open-minded side of my gaming personality and got me trying stuff I may not have touched otherwise, or certainly wouldn’t have paid full price for.
I’m glad I actually like indie games so I can ignore the people who think it’s been “very poor”. Nobody Saves the World is fantastic and other indies like Death’s Door and Dreamscaper are also great. I feel sorry for people that think only AAA games are good. They’re missing a lot of great games. Keep bring on the good stuff GamePass. You’re making me happy!
I’ve gone B because January was excellent for me, though February has been a bit of a write off. I hope they can bring back the momentum in March.
Mass effect and hitman are the crutches holding it up so far. They will need a couple more heavy hitters like this to make up for the lack of 1st party releases these next few months.
We could have been 2 months away from stalker 2 but now we will have to wait awhile for any 1st party game to release. I'm anticipating more delays for other 1st party games as well. It could be a rough year.
But ME and hitman trilogies are good enough for me to still give it a B minus. This year will need a couple huge 3rd party additions I think.
Bad really, I quite enjoyed Extraction but most of the games added have been really bad objectively and the games leaving are amazing.
Mele being added doesn't change it much as that was an expectation. Looking forward to Lost in Random being added though.
A few of the “really bad” games added to GamePass so far this year:
Death’s Door - 88
Nobody Saves the World - 80
Dreamscaper - 85
Taiko no Tatsujin: The Drum Master! - 85
Dangangronpa: Trigger Happy - 86
Hitman Trilogy - 86
The Pedestrian - 80
Spelunky 2 - 91
Nobody Saves the World has been everything lately.
F for me, but that’s just me. Looks like things are really dry until Redfall/Starfield. I’d unsubscribe but I’ll go back and play some old games with FPS boost.
Who the hells voting A? Come on…have slightly higher standards. You leave no room to go when there are actual decent months.
Mass effect trilogy was a decent get. But let’s be honest the vast majority of the ‘big hitters’ from 3rd party deals this year have missed the mark so far. It’s been poor. Extinction forgettable. Crossfire x offensive. Indies…well at the end of the day they’re indies…as good as wind jammers 2 is it’s not making gamepass have an A rated jan/feb. Feb really does look a bust. And a bust doesn’t translate into an A in anybodies money, so calm your A’s down fanboys. Sheesh
I'm not entirely sure I understand the question you are asking here (or the feedback you're hoping to analyse...I'm not sure you care as long as you generate some engagement tbh, but that's a different story, not complaining, we all need to make a £)...do you mean a) what is your level of engagement with the GamePass subscription service? / how do you feel about the value you are getting from GamePass in 2022? or b) has the 2022 Gamepass offering been compelling enough to make you open your wallet and increase the number of subscribers? They're VERY different questions and a far more complex of set of data than an a-f rating would allow for. In the case of scenario b, in the most pragmatic terms, there are three answers to a simple question...has GamePass offered enough value to make you subscribe in 2022? a) yes its pretty cool, I enjoy being able to explore a bunch of different experiences and try some bigger games at no risk b) I'm already subscribed for an extended period so its just extra stuff I can check out if I feel like it / have the free time c) nope, I'm waiting until there is a solid backlog of decent games before I'm willing to commit to a subscription model.
Might be interesting to reconsider what info you are trying to mine and reframe the question accordingly.
Personally for me its an F in the last 5 months...my sub expired in October last year...ME LE is compelling but I wont be able to finish that in 3 months, it was on sale for £30 but (at MS list) 3 months of GPU goes for £33...makes more sense to buy it...bought Halo Infinite with my MS reward points (£0.00 out of my pocket, and tbh Halo has been the only 'anchor' holding me to Xbox for a while (other than offset thumbsticks))...there are some really cool looking games on GP (Deaths Door etc) but that simply keeps me from working through my backlog that I already paid up front for so why would I consider that a win? Its an interesting question all round but I think it requires a little deeper thought than a simple school style rating
Imagine limiting yourself to tiny handful of AAA games and then having the audacity to tell others they have bad taste. How do you even know what a good game is when you automatically reject 99% of games?
@awp69 I have it a B but I should have given it an A after looking more at that list. From what I’m seeing other people say they’re not happy with some that left. But honestly if you don’t play the game in the first year it’s up, then it’s kinda on you. That right there you put is a good list.
Mass effect trilogy, hitman trilogy and rainbow six extraction are great adds. Outer wilds is back. Lots of indies to try. Great start. I pay game pass with my reward points so gaming pays for itself. I also bought Olli Olli World and High Isle with a year ESO subscription. Super excited for Sea of Thieves updates. Glad I went X series so far this gen.
A - no question. I played Nobody saves…, Pedestrian, Contrast and finished them all with 1000G. I‘m currently playing Hitman 3 and Mass Effect T. Both titles were on my wishlist. Can‘t expect more from GP.
I gave it a B, but I really wanted to give it an A. Based on the games so far (and its not even been 2 months) it's been solid but just short of an A grade.
But as to how I'm finding Game Pass, it's the best thing to happen in gaming. This is my all time fav gen and its because I have all these Triple A titles to play and some brilliant indie games as well (not to mention its practically free if you do most of your daily quests on Microsoft Rewards).
I recently just tried Yes, Your Grace. Pixellated but it's ingenious. Some of the most creative games are indie games and if most people just gave them a try, I think they'd find their own gems.
A+
Windjammers 2 and Telling Lies. That's all I need until the crossover Telling Jammers arrives.
@Royalblues Ratings are subjective, you know? I’d definitely say Gamepass has had A months, but this month and January are sort of whiffs for me, personally. Hitman Trilogy is a fine addition, but, in my opinion, it doesn’t compensate for the titles leaving Gamepass. Death’s Door is arguably the gem of an addition in my eyes, but, for me, I purchased the game months ago, so having it on Gamepass does nothing for me. Literally the only game I’ve played on Gamepass for more than an hour in 2022 is Windjammers 2. I can understand how some might be thrilled with the past two months, but it’s easy to see the past two months as steps down from 2021, at least in my perspective
@Royalblues I had never heard of Windjammers 2 until the above 2 comments and decided to look it up. Looks amazing and I'm going to download it, thanks!
I love it. Mass effect and hitman alone are worth the price of admission. Not to mention access to all of the 1st party MS games. Gamepass is the reason I probably won’t get a PlayStation this gen, I don’t have enough time to play everything I have access to on Xbox, much less a second system.
@awp69 This. I feel like AAA is the fast food of the industry. It’s delicious and convenient (8/10, 9/10 if you drink the hype) but there’s so little nutrition.
Indies at the very least balance the diet and at best are where the real nutrition and interesting cuisine is. Especially at the buffet that is Gamepass.
@RBRTMNZ AAA is a bubble.
Have you ever drank raw milk? It’s so difficult to stomach after all your tastes and conceptions you have from drinking processed milk your whole life. Yet, it tastes exactly like what it is, milk squeezed from a grass eating animal’s warm body.
It goes the other way too... have a taste for raw milk and the processed stuff tastes like watered down paste.
The difference is, one is very nutritious and takes some work, and the other is safe and convenient.
AAA is a theme park with elements of gaming inside. I prefer the raw dope.
@Bleachedsmiles
I gave it an A because of the Indies. The indie scene is where most of the interesting stuff is these days.
I gave it a solid B. My whishlist is allways growing and is currently above 100 while I finish 2-3 games per month on it. Yes, it has mostly raised through indies but that is not an issue in my book lol
I'd say middle of the road for GP. There's been some good brand new game additions like Hitman, but they only get partial credit for Mass Effect as that's EA Play not GP. You don't say that GP had a great month because Adele dropped a new album on Spotify, and you listened through your free trial perk.
There were some good indies, but Outer Wilds (which is one of my favourite games of all time) was on before so I don't count that. There's been some DLC for that, and that could have been on GP as well, but it isn't .
Also they got rid of The Medium which is one of the very few "next gen" exclusive titles on the service, and also Control. You've got to deduct points for that.
A for me. Grear variety of games and some absolute bangers in there.
I have the temptation to write stuff like "they should have added X or Y", but this is an incredible service that I'm glad to pay for and i know that is impossible to get exactly the games that are in my whishlist.
@electrolite77 Thats fine…you enjoy indies so gamepass offerings this year has catered to your needs. But that’s the difference between something being ‘subjective’ and ‘objective’ isn’t it. Subjectively it’s an A in your opinion. Objectively it couldn’t possibly be an actual A grade because their high profile 3rd party day 1 gets have all missed the mark. Their feb big hitter Stalker 2 got delayed. And the rest of this month is looking even more lacking when PlayStation is having one of its big months this year. Remove all bias and that doesn’t translate to gamepass flying at its best.
Gamepass this year so far has been a C at best. I personally gave it a D.
@PhileasFragg They even gave outerwilds away free if you watched E3 via mixer years ago. Damn I miss mixer during E3. They bribed me with the Rare collection too
@Bleachedsmiles
There’s nothing objective about it. To me it’s an A, to you it could be a C or a D or a Z. What you deem objective criteria (re. ‘high profile third party day 1 gets have all missed the mark’) are actually subjective ones. Judging Game Pass by those games is a subjective criteria, as in fact is whether they’ve ‘missed’ the ‘mark’ (whatever the mark is). There may be people entirely happy with those games and happy with Game Pass as a result. You’re confusing your subjective measurements with objective ones.
It’s perfectly OK for you or anybody else to be disappointed, in the same way it is for me or anyone else to give it an A. That isn’t being a ‘fanboy’ or ‘bias’ it’s a valid opinion based on subjective criteria.
@electrolite77 You’ve kinda missed the mark as much as the big 3rd party day 1 deals have so far this year.
Extraction sits at a metacritic of 72.
Crossfire x sits at a metacritic of 41
Now you, I, and your dog, could love both of those games…rate them them 10/10…that does not remove the very probable fact that their metacritic scores are poor and that Xbox would rather have higher rated games on gamepass that they’ve invested in than those hitting 72/41.
Stalker 2 is a title Xbox is pushing as a day 1 get. It’s had a high profile on their e3 conference as well as on the gamepass page. It’s pretty safe to say they hoped it would be out this month. I think seeing as they’ve no other big title announced for this month right now, it not being available this month means this month isn’t as good as it could have been. That’s pretty safe to say right?
This is why I don’t think gamepass is A rated so far as it’s clearly could have been better. Regardless of if I have enjoyed what’s on there the last two months. I can still recognise that if those big hyped day 1 titles had been better received; and stalker 2 not been delayed, it’s offerings could have been better.
@Bleachedsmiles
But Extraction and Crossfire X are of no relevance to me. They may be disappointing and if they’re relevant to you, cool, but they don’t affect the grade I’m giving GP. Why would I mark the service down because of two games I’m not bothered about when so far it’s given me 5 games I’m enjoying playing? Stalker 2 was scheduled for April 28 so it slipping doesn’t affect the grade I’m giving either. It’s all subjective.
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