I thought it looked good, although I rather like the cheap and cheerful aspect of the first two. Hopefully it will still put you in the incredibly desperate situations that they did, most often when you weren’t expecting it or pushed your luck a little too far.
More FH6 at some point, but just chilling with Jurassic World Evolution 3 at the moment. I guess I’m a bit boring, as I do everything I can to avoid the scenarios in the movies - i.e. the dinosaurs get out and start eating people. And I’m too nice to breed a super-vicious T.Rex and unleash it on some placid herbivores. Or am I… 😈
More Forza. I think I need to find a way to make more cash. I had to buy my vintage Lamborghini second hand! I also tried a Honda S800 on a street race. It was an interesting experience getting outaccelerated by a VW bus, a VW beetle, a Fiat 500 and two bubble cars…
Even the biggest games will get blown away by GTA, so until there’s a firm and final release date for that, it seems safer to either wait or go for next year.
I expect I’ll do a bit of driving around Japan. Odd, when I see ‘ghost cars’ they always seem to be blasting around Ferraris, McLarens etc. I’m happy to gently take in the sights in my cherry red ‘53 Corvette, which can easily reach 100mph on a long downhill straight.
I’ll also be looking to finish off Motorslice, where I’m nearing the top of the megastructure. It is veeeery high up now. When I made a mistake the other day, poor ‘P’ fell for nearly 15 seconds before hitting the ground. I’m poor with heights, so even in a game it’s sweaty-palm stuff.
If I find time, I might also give Luna Abyss a try.
Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend (even if their team gets relegated or loses the playoffs!) 🙂
I’ve been playing it and although the beginning is a bit ‘overexcited, hyperactive kids’ TV presenter’, once it settles down it just wants you to have fun and it would be really hard not to like it. 🏎️
I bought JWE3, so it’s not new to me, but it is just as engrossing as the others. Plus baby dinosaurs! Wicked minded people can breed some really nasty ones, but I preferred a happy zoo. 🦕
I’ll be splitting my time between two Game Pass games:
Motorslice - a ‘cute tomboy waifu’ (the developers) must parkour her way up a megastructure fighting construction machinery and falling to her death - a lot. I switched the gore off! Some gigantic boss battles and very satisfying when you get a run right. I’ve rage-quit a couple of times but never rage uninstalled and have kept progressing.
Also Call of the Elder Gods - a puzzle game based on the themes introduced in H.P. Lovecraft’s ’The Shadow out of Time’. It’s an interesting story, although some of the puzzles have seemed quite a bit tougher to me than those in Call of the Sea, sometimes feeling more like those in the Golden Idol games. I’ve used hints a couple of times and then felt bad because they showed I’d been on the right lines to solve the puzzle.
I remember playing Call of the Sea back in the Covid winter 2020/21. Nothing much was getting released so I thought I’d give it a try - enjoyed it, so will definitely give this one a go too.
I really enjoyed it, so did plenty of others. Not sure what the fuss is. I thought there was as much gameplay as - say - What Remains of Edith Finch and that won a ‘best game’ award!
@Bob_Tempura it isn’t the sort of ‘interactivity’ you’d need to play, say, Hollow Knight, but there’s enough of it to be entertaining. I found the mini-games fun (apart from one which is designed to be revolting!) Even the point and click bits are entertaining because the dialogue and execution is so sharp.
Basically, if you’ve got game pass give it ten minutes. You’ll know by then if it’s for you. If not, you’ve lost nothing.
@SigmaTheDJ Yeah, I’m from the 80s-90s too and was worried that the soundtrack would be obvious grungy stuff, but it was a pleasant surprise, like you I hadn’t heard quite a few of them.
I finished Mixtape (it lasts about 4 hours) and now I’m going to play it again. I really enjoyed it, it starts off great and ends up wonderful. I totally recommend it. It should definitely be in the mix (boom boom) when it’s awards time.
I remember on the 360 there used to be a separate tab on your gamer profile showing games where you’d got all 1,000. They should just bring that back. I’m not particularly interested in having badges or trophies or anything like that.
Looks good! I’ve installed it, but I’m really having fun with Motorslice and Trepang2 at the moment so it’ll have to wait. Very pleased with game pass in the last few weeks, a good variety of games.
I’ve been playing Motorslice today, it’s good fun - parkour/climbing/chopping up mechanical diggers. It was kind of the game to point out to me that I had a flashlight after my third sickening plummet into a dark void I hadn’t seen!
After 140 days of survival in The Long Dark, my luck finally ran out and timberwolves got me. ☹️
I fancied a change after that, so playing InKonbini on game pass. You play a night-shift worker in a Japanese convenience store - all pretty chilled out stuff, you stack shelves, make sure everything is in the right sections, talk to customers and generally do things around the store.
I’ve played it a bit today - quite cosy in an Unpacking style. Restock shelves, make sure everything is in the right place, chat to customers. Quite relaxing.
I’ve been playing it this afternoon. It’s okay, mostly Tomb Raider/Uncharted style climbing, but there are irritating tricky parts where you have to keep your balance to walk across an ice bridge. This was fine when the game autosaved right beforehand as it did the first time, but the second time it didn’t. So falling sent you back a couple of minutes, because there’s no manual save. I admit that tried my patience…
Pushing towards 100 days’ survival in The Long Dark. Spending a few more days gathering up supplies in Coastal Highway before heading up to Pleasant Valley, then, all being well, on to Timberwolf Mountain although I’d like to reach 100 days first.
That’s great! I dropped to premium (I’ve just retired and want to manage the pennies) but I’ll go back to ultimate now. I never wanted CoD in the first place!
More of survival mode in The Long Dark. I’ve now stayed alive for 30+ days, most of that without a firearm. Ironically, as soon as I found a rifle, I was attacked by a bear and a wolf in short order and damn near killed. Currently residing in a garage on a frozen coastline.
I haven’t seen anything different. Although one thing I have noticed is that the Game Pass section no longer lists the new additions. If anything is added, you now have to scroll through the full list to find it. 😡
Great game but whenever I played it seemed to be winter! Living in the north of England I get enough winter anyway. It was like looking out of the window…
After completing the story mode (the final episode was a bit linear, but I suppose that was necessary to wrap it up) I’m playing the survival mode of The Long Dark on Series X.
Fortunately, I spawned in a fairly familiar area, but struggled for a few days from lack of a knife or hatchet. I’d just found the latter when I was attacked by a bear! It was only after I made good my escape that I realised I’d dropped the hatchet and my flare gun so I had to go back to get them. The bear was still there, so I built a fire a short distance away and waited for it to go away. However, the fire in fact attracted the bear towards me, so I legged it, then looped round and got my hatchet and flare gun back. Good, ‘emergent gameplay’ stuff, but in future I’m going to give bears as wide a berth as possible.
Avatar: The Burning Earth is my embarrassing one - back in the 360 days we used to pass the disc of it around because you could get all 1,000 achievements in about 2 minutes!
Yes, I remember playing Call of the Sea about the time of the second COVID lockdown when nothing was getting released. I quite enjoyed it - I don’t know how I missed the Lovecraft reference in the title!
Cyberpunk 2077 on Series X. Just finished the Phantom Liberty DLC which I thought was really good, possibly the best thing CDPR have done and totally integrated into the main game.
One thing I’ve enjoyed this time is that they’ve added an auto drive toggle for vehicles. I never cared for the driving so tended to use fast travel. Using it means the vehicle will drive itself to a checkpoint while you get to enjoy the view of Night City.
The Long Dark is well worth a go if you haven’t tried it. I was going to say that they should have finally released the last chapter of the story mode by now, but it turns out they haven’t - it releases tomorrow, nearly 8 years after the first chapter was released! A good excuse to have another go.
Cyberpunk 2077 on Series X. My first playthrough since the game was launched - they have certainly improved it a lot since then and I’m looking forward to the Phantom Liberty expansion.
I’m also very tempted to spend some reward points on Life is Strange Reunion, but I really should get through Cyberpunk first!
Comments 435
Re: Gears Of War: E-Day Releases October 2026, And It's An Xbox Console Exclusive
It looks great, but switching from 5 to 4-player co-op might lead to some painful decisions for established Horde crews!
Re: Senua Brings A 'Different Kind' Of Hellblade Game To Xbox Game Pass In 2027
Very pleased to see this! I like Senua.
Re: Xbox's State Of Decay 3 Returns With A Gameplay Reveal & New Release Window
I thought it looked good, although I rather like the cheap and cheerful aspect of the first two. Hopefully it will still put you in the incredibly desperate situations that they did, most often when you weren’t expecting it or pushed your luck a little too far.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (June 6-7)
More FH6 at some point, but just chilling with Jurassic World Evolution 3 at the moment. I guess I’m a bit boring, as I do everything I can to avoid the scenarios in the movies - i.e. the dinosaurs get out and start eating people. And I’m too nice to breed a super-vicious T.Rex and unleash it on some placid herbivores. Or am I… 😈
Re: Talking Point: What Level Are You In Forza Horizon 6, And How Many Cars Do You Have?
Level 159 with about 150 cars, but I mostly drive the dream cars of my teenage years - Lamborghini Miura, Porsche 911 Turbo, Ferrari Dino etc.
Being levelled up is handy for multiplayer because everyone in the convoy can play all the races you have unlocked.
Re: Xbox First-Party Game 'Tell Me Why' Is Now Free To Claim For Everyone
The bit with the Mad Hunter was surprisingly scary.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 30-31)
@Duck_Farmer If only. My wheel spins always seem to end up with 5,000 points or a novelty car horn!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 30-31)
More Forza. I think I need to find a way to make more cash. I had to buy my vintage Lamborghini second hand! I also tried a Honda S800 on a street race. It was an interesting experience getting outaccelerated by a VW bus, a VW beetle, a Fiat 500 and two bubble cars…
Re: Xbox Delays Fable To February 2027, And It's Basically Because Of GTA 6
@Fiendish-Beaver why would they put FH6 out at the same time as GTA6?
Re: Xbox Delays Fable To February 2027, And It's Basically Because Of GTA 6
I’m sure there’ll be plenty of other good stuff to play this year, which has already been a strong one for games.
Re: Xbox Delays Fable To February 2027, And It's Basically Because Of GTA 6
Even the biggest games will get blown away by GTA, so until there’s a firm and final release date for that, it seems safer to either wait or go for next year.
Re: 'Escape Simulator' Is Available Today With Xbox Game Pass, And Here's What The Reviews Say
It’s there now for me.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 23-24)
I expect I’ll do a bit of driving around Japan. Odd, when I see ‘ghost cars’ they always seem to be blasting around Ferraris, McLarens etc. I’m happy to gently take in the sights in my cherry red ‘53 Corvette, which can easily reach 100mph on a long downhill straight.
I’ll also be looking to finish off Motorslice, where I’m nearing the top of the megastructure. It is veeeery high up now. When I made a mistake the other day, poor ‘P’ fell for nearly 15 seconds before hitting the ground. I’m poor with heights, so even in a game it’s sweaty-palm stuff.
If I find time, I might also give Luna Abyss a try.
Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend (even if their team gets relegated or loses the playoffs!) 🙂
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Smashes Concurrent Player Record For Xbox Game Studios On Steam
I’ve been playing it and although the beginning is a bit ‘overexcited, hyperactive kids’ TV presenter’, once it settles down it just wants you to have fun and it would be really hard not to like it. 🏎️
Re: These 13 Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (May 20 - June 2)
I bought JWE3, so it’s not new to me, but it is just as engrossing as the others. Plus baby dinosaurs! Wicked minded people can breed some really nasty ones, but I preferred a happy zoo. 🦕
Re: New Lord Of The Rings Game In Development By Kingdom Come: Deliverance Devs
More KCD, yes please.
Re: 'Xbox Or XBOX?' - Asha Sharma Hints At Rebrand Based On Poll Results
Oh just leave it as Xbox. My iPad autocompletes ‘xb’ to Xbox, what more do you want?!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 16-17)
I’ll be splitting my time between two Game Pass games:
Motorslice - a ‘cute tomboy waifu’ (the developers) must parkour her way up a megastructure fighting construction machinery and falling to her death - a lot. I switched the gore off! Some gigantic boss battles and very satisfying when you get a run right. I’ve rage-quit a couple of times but never rage uninstalled and have kept progressing.
Also Call of the Elder Gods - a puzzle game based on the themes introduced in H.P. Lovecraft’s ’The Shadow out of Time’. It’s an interesting story, although some of the puzzles have seemed quite a bit tougher to me than those in Call of the Sea, sometimes feeling more like those in the Golden Idol games. I’ve used hints a couple of times and then felt bad because they showed I’d been on the right lines to solve the puzzle.
Hope everyone has a nice weekend!
Re: Three Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 12)
I remember playing Call of the Sea back in the Covid winter 2020/21. Nothing much was getting released so I thought I’d give it a try - enjoyed it, so will definitely give this one a go too.
Re: Xbox Racks Up 2M Views With Comment That Appears To Address Mixtape's Review Backlash
I really enjoyed it, so did plenty of others. Not sure what the fuss is. I thought there was as much gameplay as - say - What Remains of Edith Finch and that won a ‘best game’ award!
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Dev Vows 'Strict' Action Against People Playing The Leaked Version
Oh dear, I hope they don’t reveal any spoilers like ‘It turns out you drive around Japan in a sports car’.
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
@Skinny-Pete Slater’s mum only has a few lines but she cracks me up - ‘Do you kids want margaritas?’ 😂
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
@SigmaTheDJ the ‘French Connection’ achievement was a challenge… 🤢
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
@Bob_Tempura it isn’t the sort of ‘interactivity’ you’d need to play, say, Hollow Knight, but there’s enough of it to be entertaining. I found the mini-games fun (apart from one which is designed to be revolting!) Even the point and click bits are entertaining because the dialogue and execution is so sharp.
Basically, if you’ve got game pass give it ten minutes. You’ll know by then if it’s for you. If not, you’ve lost nothing.
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
@Gunonaboat You’d have to be in a pretty sour mood for it not to put a smile on your face.
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
@SigmaTheDJ Yeah, I’m from the 80s-90s too and was worried that the soundtrack would be obvious grungy stuff, but it was a pleasant surprise, like you I hadn’t heard quite a few of them.
Re: Poll: What Are Your First Impressions Of Mixtape On Xbox Game Pass?
10/10 - loved it. I thought it was a total blast from start to finish, the best thing I’ve played so far this year.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 9-10)
I finished Mixtape (it lasts about 4 hours) and now I’m going to play it again. I really enjoyed it, it starts off great and ends up wonderful. I totally recommend it. It should definitely be in the mix (boom boom) when it’s awards time.
Re: Xbox's First 'Gamerscore Millionaire' Suggests How To Improve 100% Completions
I remember on the 360 there used to be a separate tab on your gamer profile showing games where you’d got all 1,000. They should just bring that back. I’m not particularly interested in having badges or trophies or anything like that.
Re: Mixtape Is Your Latest Day One Game Pass Title, And It's Available Today (May 7)
What a terrific game, it really made me smile 🙂
Re: Roundup: Mixtape Is Getting Some Incredible Reviews As It Rolls Out On Xbox Game Pass
I was going to hold off trying it, but I couldn’t resist. It’s great! Really quite magical. Annapurna can be a bit ‘boutique’, but this is fun.
Re: Roundup: Mixtape Is Getting Some Incredible Reviews As It Rolls Out On Xbox Game Pass
Looks good! I’ve installed it, but I’m really having fun with Motorslice and Trepang2 at the moment so it’ll have to wait. Very pleased with game pass in the last few weeks, a good variety of games.
Re: Two Games Are Available Today With Xbox Game Pass (May 5)
I’ve been playing Motorslice today, it’s good fun - parkour/climbing/chopping up mechanical diggers. It was kind of the game to point out to me that I had a flashlight after my third sickening plummet into a dark void I hadn’t seen!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (May 2-3)
After 140 days of survival in The Long Dark, my luck finally ran out and timberwolves got me. ☹️
I fancied a change after that, so playing InKonbini on game pass. You play a night-shift worker in a Japanese convenience store - all pretty chilled out stuff, you stack shelves, make sure everything is in the right sections, talk to customers and generally do things around the store.
Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!
Re: Forza Horizon 6 Download Sizes Revealed On Xbox & PC, And They're Huge
Oof, that’s big. I’ll have a go, but I lost interest in FH5 quite quickly and didn’t think it was as good as 4.
Re: 'One Of My Favourite Games Of 2026' - InKonbini Arrives On Xbox To Excellent Reviews
I’ve played it a bit today - quite cosy in an Unpacking style. Restock shelves, make sure everything is in the right place, chat to customers. Quite relaxing.
Re: Roundup: Here's What The Reviews Are Saying About 'Aphelion' On Xbox Game Pass
I’ve been playing it this afternoon. It’s okay, mostly Tomb Raider/Uncharted style climbing, but there are irritating tricky parts where you have to keep your balance to walk across an ice bridge. This was fine when the game autosaved right beforehand as it did the first time, but the second time it didn’t. So falling sent you back a couple of minutes, because there’s no manual save. I admit that tried my patience…
Re: These 30+ Games Are Coming To Xbox Next Week (April 27-May 1)
I’m interested in Aphelion, InKONBINI might also be something I like.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 25-26)
Pushing towards 100 days’ survival in The Long Dark. Spending a few more days gathering up supplies in Coastal Highway before heading up to Pleasant Valley, then, all being well, on to Timberwolf Mountain although I’d like to reach 100 days first.
Re: Call Of Duty Titles Will No Longer Join Xbox Game Pass On Day One
Oh dear, I’m so sad about that. 😄
Re: Xbox Announces Price Reductions For Game Pass Ultimate & PC Game Pass
That’s great! I dropped to premium (I’ve just retired and want to manage the pennies) but I’ll go back to ultimate now. I never wanted CoD in the first place!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 18-19)
More of survival mode in The Long Dark. I’ve now stayed alive for 30+ days, most of that without a firearm. Ironically, as soon as I found a rifle, I was attacked by a bear and a wolf in short order and damn near killed. Currently residing in a garage on a frozen coastline.
Re: Xbox's New Dashboard Update Is Now Available For All Users
I haven’t seen anything different. Although one thing I have noticed is that the Game Pass section no longer lists the new additions. If anything is added, you now have to scroll through the full list to find it. 😡
Re: Forza Horizon 4 Is Still Packed With Players On Xbox, And It's Easing The Wait For Horizon 6
Great game but whenever I played it seemed to be winter! Living in the north of England I get enough winter anyway. It was like looking out of the window…
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 11-12)
After completing the story mode (the final episode was a bit linear, but I suppose that was necessary to wrap it up) I’m playing the survival mode of The Long Dark on Series X.
Fortunately, I spawned in a fairly familiar area, but struggled for a few days from lack of a knife or hatchet. I’d just found the latter when I was attacked by a bear! It was only after I made good my escape that I realised I’d dropped the hatchet and my flare gun so I had to go back to get them. The bear was still there, so I built a fire a short distance away and waited for it to go away. However, the fire in fact attracted the bear towards me, so I legged it, then looped round and got my hatchet and flare gun back. Good, ‘emergent gameplay’ stuff, but in future I’m going to give bears as wide a berth as possible.
Re: Xbox Achievements Are Getting A 'Refresh' With Multiple New Improvements
Avatar: The Burning Earth is my embarrassing one - back in the 360 days we used to pass the disc of it around because you could get all 1,000 achievements in about 2 minutes!
Re: Remember Call Of The Sea? Its Sequel Is Launching On Xbox Game Pass This May
Yes, I remember playing Call of the Sea about the time of the second COVID lockdown when nothing was getting released. I quite enjoyed it - I don’t know how I missed the Lovecraft reference in the title!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (April 4-5)
Cyberpunk 2077 on Series X. Just finished the Phantom Liberty DLC which I thought was really good, possibly the best thing CDPR have done and totally integrated into the main game.
One thing I’ve enjoyed this time is that they’ve added an auto drive toggle for vehicles. I never cared for the driving so tended to use fast travel. Using it means the vehicle will drive itself to a checkpoint while you get to enjoy the view of Night City.
Hope everyone enjoys the long weekend! 🙂
Re: Three Final Xbox Game Pass Additions For March 2026 Are Available Early This Week
The Long Dark is well worth a go if you haven’t tried it. I was going to say that they should have finally released the last chapter of the story mode by now, but it turns out they haven’t - it releases tomorrow, nearly 8 years after the first chapter was released! A good excuse to have another go.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (March 28-29)
Cyberpunk 2077 on Series X. My first playthrough since the game was launched - they have certainly improved it a lot since then and I’m looking forward to the Phantom Liberty expansion.
I’m also very tempted to spend some reward points on Life is Strange Reunion, but I really should get through Cyberpunk first!