Benjamin

@Nintendo4Sonic I also thought Rare Replay would be updated to include a page for Goldeneye. Seems like it was miscommunicated.

Jet Set Radiooooooooooo!!!!

Jet Set Radio Live is a very cool digital radio station people should check out.

It doesn't stand alongside the Banjo and Perfect Dark remasters and it wasn't added to Rare Replay. BUT, getting it at all is better than not and for free (with Rare Replay) is amazing.

It looks fun but the Director previously directed Evil Within 2, which was a bold, and confident 3rd person narrative action game. Xbox needs more of those so I hope TEW3 is on its way.

It was a bit up it’s own arse. C.

A Gears Collection seems unlikely as the games have been remastered vis Backwards Compatibility.

There will be a Gears 6 that wraps up the story and I can imagine Xbox trying a free-to-play multiplayer mode again, despite Halo Infinite.

@dreadful There isn't any moral posturing from them. Squanch's statement makes no judgment, it's a very plain. Overtly a self-preservation move for the company.

I really hope Tango get to continue with The Evil Within. The second game ended up being one of my favourites of the generation.

We can safely say Forza, Redfall and Starfield are releasing in 2023. That's great. Three big, next-gen and exclusive games, right on time.

I'm glad they've stopped talking about games that are more than a year out. Here is the situation with the other big announced but currently MIA games:

Fable: As of 2022, still hiring people to develop "storytelling mechanics & systems".

Avowed: Currently a mystery but Obsidian are turning out games so I assume development is going okay.

Hellblade 2: The last update from their Twitter showed off their realistic bird poop simulation. Not a joke. (2026?)

Perfect Dark: The Initiative (Ti), formed in 2018, lost 'Design Director' Drew Murray 2021. That year Ti partnered with Crystal Dynamics and Daniel Neuburger took up the Director spot. He then left in 2022. By Nov 2022, Xbox was 're-building' the studio.

Everwild: Development began in 2014. Announced in 2019. Rebooted internally when Creative Director Simon Woodroffe left in 2021. Team is targeting 2024.

Didn’t click with me when announced. It’s bland in all departments.

Whether something new or a reshuffled 343, Microsoft needs to enable a studio who can deliver the following:

• Get rid of the narrative leads and find staff who understand what worked in Bungie's Halo games.
• Tell single-game stories. Each 343 game has abandoned the prior game's plot. Just tell one good story.
• Do not produce misleading marketing.
• Limit the scope of the project to something like Halo Reach.
• Have a campaign up to the standards of prior games. 8 to 10 big levels worked.
• Remember that Halo is a party game not an e-sport. Use Bungie's matching-making lobbies, have co-op, support custom games and forge at launch.
• Have original music and not rely on remixing Marty's themes. They did it with 4.

Seeing 343 being hit hard is a bit like watching a ship sink long after it has been wrecked. Look back at the last ten years of Halo under 343, iceberg after iceberg.

@NEStalgia Okay that makes sense. I was hoping for some exploration through environments akin to old FF games. Leaving town to do a side-quest that isn't a static dialogue scene. Might come back to it another time.

Mortal Shell was recommended to me by a big Souls fan.
Monster Hunter Rise looks awesome. (but I want some story)
Age of Empires 2 is my jam.
Lies of P looks absurd and I'm all for it.
Didn't get round to Tunic so will give that a go.

That's more games than I get round to in a year so a good haul.

Do the Persona games open up? I started P4 and the first few hours were scripted dialogue scenes with little to no exploration other than the TV dungeon realm. Is that the entire game?

Weirdly, High on Life is fulfilling some of the promise of that cancelled Prey 2 game; bounty hunting in outer space. It really does play out like a long episode of Rick & Morty. Got a few laughs out of me in the first hour or so. The knife is annoying and the game is a bit bugged. But it's fun.

Mirror's Edge is fantastic on Series S|X. I'll vote for Dead Space 2 and Lost Planet as well.

VIII for life.

Quiet, isolated and melancholic exploration of far away places both beautiful and dangerous. If they can capture that, huzzah.

@Broosh Marble Blast Ultra was great, what a throw back!

This is a mighty fine list. I would add:
Catherine, Dead Rising, Geometry Wars, PGR3,
Mirror's Edge, Pac-Man CE and Splinter Cell Double Agent.

I've been eyeing up Dragon Quest XI since it released but didn't even finish the demo. The only JRPGs I've played start to finish are Final Fantasy VIII and Chrono Trigger. (+Pokemon Blue and Ruby but I don't think they count). Not sure why the two I played worked for me where others didn't.

It took some getting used to but I think the XB1 and Series S/X controllers are better.

That's a great price to get in on next-gen. But there are so few next-gen only games I don't see the worth in upgrading my Xbox One S just yet. If you've not got an Xbox though this deal is a no brainer.

Gears of War Ultimate Edition

@Tharsman Don't rule out the appeal of form factor.

@bpomber No way. It's what people buy when they see no reason to spend more on the Series X. It's nearly 2023 and no Xbox exclusives have made the Series X a compelling option.

Remove ads and fix the achievement system.

Yikes... not a very compelling round-up

Most of these games aren't really role-playing games. An RPG needs, a degree of choice and decision making which shapes the story, and for those choices to be informed by a characters attributes. Without that you aren't really playing a role.

I prefer the Playstation approach. Clean with no advertising.

The remaster team for Crash Trilogy and Crash Racing should be kept together. They really nailed the look of those games.

I would prefer a new game that tries to evoke the atmosphere of the old games. Quiet, isolated locales and a rare enemy encounter. Minimal character drama. More about exploring mysterious forgotten places.

And... it's cross gen. It looks amazing on Series X and I can play a reduced version on XB1. Impressive.

Played the third person demo and wasn’t blown away. Lots to like but I’d rather replay 4 or 2make or the original RE instead.

1 and 2 are enduring classics, fresh and original when released. All of the other games have been a retread of the first two’s iconography atmosphere and stories. Voting 2.

I'll give Soma or the new Amnesia a go. Craving a horror game.

Nuts & Bolts all the way. Proudly part of the 2%.

Not sure how 343 went from Halo 4 and 5’s polished campaigns and meaty multiplayer offerings to this. Those games weren’t quite to my tastes but they were of high quality at release.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating.

@Trmn8r Yeah very common. I think it developed like this:

"Did they like the food I cooked?"

"Yes, it's going down well." - (root phrase, no idea of origin, possibly all food related in origin)

Something being "a treat" meaning "good" (self explanatory)

Which leads us to "It's going down a treat."

I would love a PGR 5 with new and classic tracks and that distinct PGR style, Cool and Fast.

After 10 years, Halo 4 is still 343's best effort. The melodrama between UNSC side-characters was a misstep, but the core story of Chief losing Cortana worked well. The Didact was a great villain too. I prefer the original style of writing, sound and visuals but Halo 4 certainly had it's own identity in those departments. An emphasis on the expanded lore was also a clear narrative direction. They should have maintained course with a sequel that continued to explore the expanded lore with the same writer, composer and director.

I would love to see more of The Evil Within and Prey. Something new would be even better. But I don't want them to announce things that are more than a year out.

Releases matter, announcements don't. Xbox is really good at one of these things.

An option to turn all the icons off would be cool. An update to the achievement system is still top of my wish list.

@Carck Developers don’t sign NDAs and are free to express their opinions on their work and that’s a good thing. Co-workers are free to tweet some positive comments.

They have made a multiplayer game that caters to micro-transactions more than a creating a compelling, atmospheric world. There's nothing wrong with micro-transaction filled multiplayer games but they are typically free to play for that very reason. The price is a joke.

@Carck If they are revealing that the game isn't what the marketing would like you to believe it is, I support them whistleblowing.

Might give Inside a play.