Benjamin

Yes I did and it’s mechanically one of the best third person shooters ever made.

I love the character designs in Arkane's games. Especially when they appear as portrait paintings in the environment. One of those little quirks that gives Arkane's games a unique signature.

So this is by Arkane Austin, the Prey team, meaning we might not be seeing a sequel to Prey (2017)?

The moment these deals expire Xbox will utilise the CoD franchise however they need to. Game Pass and multi-platform one year, not Game Pass and exclusive the next - if business deems it the right move.

@themcnoisy I agree with your summary of RPGs but I don't think the right reaction is to keep using an inaccurate term. How far do we extend its meaning? - Microsoft Word has essential menus! (half joking)

Some might say, this mistake is so widespread we may as well adopt it. However, language is a communicative tool, which does evolve but sometimes it evolves in the wrong direction and regresses. I think any change that erodes communication should be remedied rather than accommodated.

The term "RPG" is now so unspecific that when used in reference to a game, further information is needed to clarify what "RPG" means, making the term pretty useless.

Also, your Profile Image gif is tremendous and I salute it.

Starfield, Hollow Knight 2 and Stalker 2 is crazy.

ODST for me. My favourite atmosphere in campaign plus firefight and all of Halo 3's multiplayer. Perfection.

@BrilliantBill Staten wrote Halo 2 but the story was pulled apart as levels were cut during development. The original ending to Halo 2 was one of many things cut, it was supposed to be a big reveal.

Staten went away and wrote the book Contact Harvest which hinted at this big reveal. Halo 3 didn't feature Halo 2's scrapped ending but did hint at the same reveal.

However, Halo 3's marketing and everything 343i onwards, took things in a different direction which nullified Staten's ideas and retconned the hints left in Halo 1, 2, 3 and Contact Harvest.

He then created the world and plot of Destiny before it was also ripped apart and repurposed by Jason Jones' decision to make Destiny non-linear from the get go.

So I don't imagine the passion is there anymore.

*The reveal concerns the Forerunners and if anyone wants to know more you can search for Halo 2's original storyboards to see it. Staten has confirmed this since in an interview with IGN.

Looking at his involvement with Halo, I think he may be done with Halo creatively. He was a writer but his story was scrapped during difficult development and then retconned by others. That must have been a big blow. He departed and wrote a book with full creative control and then led ODST with full creative control. That may have been his closure with the franchise, returning to Halo now is returning to a fiction at odds with the one he wrote. So it's likely that joining Infinite was only business.

Or, he will return when Microsoft have figured out what the heck to do with Halo and have studios on board.

Whenever DLC is mentioned prior to a base game's release, I feel a little overwhelmed by the sheer amount of impending content and choice. No joke. Puts me off playing the game. Anyone else?

So what form will this expansion take? FromSoft usually create a brand new area that's warped to from the main game. But as ER is open-world, will they shoot for something different this time?

@Kaloudz They are definitely expansion packs rather than dlc.

@BrilliantBill I really liked the first game's focus on one small scale mission, the backdrop being this larger than life world with a mystery at its core. Gears 2 dropped that for a bigger scale, but my main beef with Ortega is the handling of the Locust origin story and the melodramatic character work. The first game, for all the chainsaws and curb stomps, is understated in some ways whereas the sequels were much more bombastic.

TL:DR
I prefer Gears when its Saving Private Ryan rather than Aliens.

@Sam_TSM Me too but I don't think you play downloaded GamePass games offline. Not much more of a step.

@Sam_TSM What if you could just use the tv. All you need is a controller and the subscription?

I recently tried XCloud on a whim and haven't used my Xbox One since, currently playing Halo 5 and Pentiment via cloud. I'm contemplating playing PS5 exclusives this way without needing the PS5. I'm shocked.

@BrilliantBill I've been saying it since 2008!

Ortega ruined the tone and story of the franchise.

Add Rare Replay to Switch you monsters.

Will it get accolades from Press or nominations at the Game Awards or will it be the elephant in the room all year? Talk about the silent majority...

I watched the first episode and its just as revealing as the Halo 2 making of (which everyone should go watch). Refreshing to see a warts and all behind the scenes.

I voted for PGR because it’s my favourite racing series. I like Hit and Run but it needs a full remake whereas PGR still holds up perfectly.

@BrilliantBill They are both friendly fantasy. Most fantasy settings are violent and more akin to gritty sci-fi stories e.g. Political divisions among factions and creatures, rather than stories of heroes and villains.

The similarity to Fable is the main interest I have in getting it.

Xbox already has plenty at its disposal to compete with Sony.
It also has the jump on every other company regarding game subscription services. This deal will ensure Xbox dominates.

If Microsoft comes into possession of these major franchises they will mismanage and doom all of them, as they've done for every franchise they own bar Forza.

@Wheatly You can get a physical copy for £2.50.

What's the tone of the writing like in this game? Is it tongue in cheek or humour filled? Been playing Fable 3 recently. Any comedic similarity?

Dead Space is definitely a "third-person action game with a spooky setting" and not a "proper survival horror game".

Inventory management is not important and you are regularly well equipped for combat, even on harder difficulties.

Bollocks to that

@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.