Phantom_Anima

Mutant: Year Zero is an absolutely brilliant game, so I'm really looking forward to Lamplighters League, although I'm not sure how I feel about the Indiana Jones style setting.

This gameplay trailer has me super excited. Has anybody ever tried Xenowerk Tactics on Android? I sunk a lot of hours into that game, and this looks like a massive console upgrade to that. If it is the case, then I'll be getting this game day one.

@Sol4ris I think I'm seeing double here. 4 Texas Chainsaw Massacre descriptions!

I bought the game on sale with all expansions about a year ago. Unfortunately it was really buggy so I just uninstalled it after a short playthrough.

Fortunately I already played it to death on PS4, which strangely enough, had much less bugs than the Series X. It was actually playable on a previous gen console, unlike the current gen console which was almost unplayable, as it glitches every 30 minutes for me 🤔

I like the sound of Dead Static Drive. Although it sounds curiously similar to Texas Chainsaw Massacre 🤔😄

Playing Wo Long and it's more fun than I expected. I agree with others that it is so much easier after the first boss, but I like it!

I think whereas the environments are a bit dull and the story is painful to watch; what the game does right is the action. The sounds of the clashing of swords really immerses you in each battle, and the pace is incredible once you get into the rhythm.

Additionally I understand reviewers hate for the loot system, which can get overwhelming. Personally I enjoy it - a bit too much loot at times, but reminds me of diablo where the loot can allow you to build a more personalised playstyle.

Currently, I'm at stage 2, and have just defeated the sorcerer boss (not leaving names in case it's spoilerry)

@grumpypotato my first thoughts exactly 😅

I buy the odd game that's not on Game Pass if it sounds special, or a non-game pass game at good discount.

The reality is, games are too expensive now. With bills, savings and holidays, it's hard to frequently justify a £70 game purchase, therefore the subscription service works brilliantly for me.

Just celebrated with my hands in the air upon reading Mount and Blade 2 is coming to Game Pass! I had no idea and its been on my list for a while.

This is the first year I've avoided FIFA, and I'm so glad, because the reviews and comments I've seen has backed everything I thought it was going to be.

Personal opinion but FIFA has been broken for a long time. Career mode has had very little changes for around half a decade now, and with plenty of issues, mainly to encourage people to move on to Ultimate Team. Gameplay is the same fast-pace counter attacking style we've seen for years. Ultimate team continues to be Pay-to-win, with the chances of a good pack very slim unless you pay a lot of money.

Whether true or not, there has been plenty of evidence of scripting in the history of it's games, mainly to encourage people to move onto paying to enjoy the games.

The hardware itself has made me enjoy games a lot more than I used to, particularly the Quick Resume and fast loading speeds.

Game Pass has kept me occupied and I've been enjoying catching up with older games that I've not tried yet, and at a higher resolution.

They need more triple A games soon, but for now, it's a B because I am starting to crave a good AAA game.

A tough choice between VIII and X! I loved VIII when I was younger but I feel it hasn't aged very well compared to X. Loved the card games and story in VIII but loved Blitzball and Music in X (To Zanarkand is my all time favourite FF soundtrack).

In the end, I prefer the smoother graphics of X versus the now highly pixel lated VIII.

I was hoping to see Darkest Dungeon on sale as its such a good game to pick up and play, especially with quick resume.

But since its not I may finally bite on Cyberpunk 2077. It doesn't look like my game, since I prefer RPGs and this one is very light on that, but people seem to love it lately!

1) Grounded
2) Elden Ring
3) Crusader Kings 3
4) Persona 5 Royal
5) Sniper Elite 5

Of course I haven't managed to play everything from the list provided, but of the ones I've played the above are my favourites.

Best. Game. Ever.

@Lup Mutant Year Zero is an amazing game! I'm going to get it too, I finished it a few years ago on the PS4 but been waiting for it to go on sale to replay it on the Xbox.

This game is almost unplayable at the minute, and the new recruitment feature is completely broken. Currently only 2 stars on Microsoft Store, and 2022 version has been removed completely so there's no way of reverting to last year's game.

It's missing match stats at the end of the game, and backing out of the recruitment system takes you to the default recruitment page instead of your last used page (good luck trying to analyse 40 different players per scouting report if you can't get to your previous page easily). On top of that, Scouts sometimes don't create assignments, and when they do, you'll sometimes get 0 player scout reports on a weekly basis, and mostly from players who won't qualify for a work permit. Scouting and Match Stats are almost literally the most important aspects of any football sim.

For those wanting to snap up a controller and seen the price on the article for Amazon, its the same price for the UK Microsoft Store, so you can get the same deal + reward points.

Elden Ring is by far the best game of the year. But a massive shout out to Grounded too. I just can't get over how good the game is, it's so clever and totally unexpected. I delayed playing it because I did not think it'd be my type of game, but right now I'm hooked.

@grumpypotato yeah I really enjoyed Severance and eagerly anticipating the next season. Found all sorts of gems on Apple TV, like Ted Lasso, The Morning Show, and the Shrink Next Door. And the Prehistoric Planet documentary is simply stunning!

Quick Resume in between Persona 5 Royal, Football Manager 23 and Hades. Switching games on the fly is just amazing especially if you're playing a long game and need a breather into something more casual.

Personal Opinion: I always thought the Sony Blizzard deal contention was just a ploy to delay Microsoft from acquiring them, all while Sony releases first party exclusives, frustrating Xbox players and getting them to switch to the PS5. If the deal falls through, then its a bonus to them.

I guess it's working for now, but let's hope Microsoft ups their game in the coming months because I do not want to revert to Sony again 😅. Main reason for me going for the Xbox was Game Pass and State of Decay 3, and with major silence on the latter, I'm starting to lose hope!

I'm not a fan of the Silent Hill games, but The Room will always have an impact on me. The whole idea of being in a room, it was so claustrophobic and eerie, and one of my favourite gaming concepts, especially for horror games.

Although I'm still a little sceptical, I'm very excited for the release of Scorn. If they get the story, music and atmosphere right, it could really lead to one of the biggest sequels, just like how Hellblade 2 is turning out to be one of the most anticipated releases of next gen.

@BBB I wouldn't call it a point of failure exactly. It will deter a percentage, and it will also add more hoops for banned players to jump through, some of which may not have means to access additional phone numbers or access these legal apps (particularly those who do not have bank accounts).

As I say, people will always find a way to exploit the system, just as people will always have ways to exploit in crime. I'm just glad there are steps in place, and the current way may not be the right way, but it shows actions are being done to prevent online gaming being a centre of toxicity.

It won't do much help to me, as I've already lost hope in online gaming due to reasons I've mentioned, but hopefully if I do ever return, there will be better systems in place. For me, these new systems surely can't be any worse than before, as the way it was before has already driven me away from wanting to play online.

@Kaloudz I think it's to do with reducing toxicity and cheating. I know people will still find a way to exploit this as they often do, but it's good to see efforts being made to try reduce it as it was infuriating to lose games because of your own team mates sitting still/quitting early on.

I still likely won't play it though, but that's more to do with the game seemingly leaning further towards microtransactions, moreso than the first.

@djshep1973 Crawley for me, taking them from relegation battlers in League Two to Championship in 3 seasons! 😁

I'm still playing 2022 up until now, can't wait to play the new one 😁

@TheGrimOne I wished I knew this before I got it at the Game Pass discounted rate of £17 😅. Great game though, I never completed it so bought it before it expires.

Last game I pre-ordered was Elden Ring, and that was after all the 10/10 reviews came out. I figured it would be nice to have it with some pre-order goodies. I usually will only preorder for a very special game, which will be very rare.

Thought about Avowed, then also Hellblade. But State of Decay is just one of those games that are so darn addictive, so I had to choose that. Loved the second game, it just needs a little nudge to become the perfect game, hopefully the 3rd will be just that!

Can't wait! Loved Warband so can't wait to see how this one will play.

This looks amazing! Reminds me of some of Androids Baseball RPGs I used to play. Can't wait to give it a try.

I've played 5 on the PlayStation 4 a few years back, and although it's one of the highest rated one, I never really enjoyed it nearly as much as I did 3 or 4. 3 had a dark theme and story, and 4 was just hilarious. 5's style was just upbeat but didn't hook me as much as 3 and 4.

@BartoxTharglod yes likely it is regional locked which is a shame, but I've read an article that Microsoft are expanding their rewards to more countries so hopefully you'll get more opportunities soon.

I've calculated back in January, that on average you can get at least 9490 points per month (UK) if you did every rewards activity (this may have changed since). That equates to about £70 per year via gift card or £95 via Xbox Gift card, and that's only a minimum.

I understand it can be a chore to go through some of the rewards activity, but I don't mind it personally. Most activities on Game Pass takes around 5 mins and allows me to try new games, and on the rewards website on IE or XB takes only 2 mins to do everything and I quite enjoy doing the polls or quizzes. Completely get though why people might see it as annoying, but I can't say no to £100 a year for 5 mins per day.

I'm reading through the comments and I can't seem to see anybody talk about Xbox Game Pass/Microsoft Rewards. Wondering if the fact you can get Game Pass for practically free per month (or use the points to buy other products) is not a strong enough perk of Game Pass, or perhaps not everyone is utilising it? Would be interesting to see how much value the Rewards add to users.

I've activated the punch card, installed Subnautica: Below Zero, found a pod in the ocean, got an achievement, but it did not register on the Reward punch card. Hope it registers eventually..

Sold my XBox One X due to constantly missing out on great exclusives. So I got myself a PS4 pro, and realised there was a lot of little things that bothered me. Their store for example, was not great, and the issues have not been fixed since the ps3 era (I used to have all Sony consoles before the Xbox One X). Other issues like fan noise, controller drift, and interface made me miss my XBox.

Ultimately, it came down to Game Pass though. I just felt Game Pass is just too good an offer and I preferred to play a wide range of games and try out new titles that I otherwise would not have tried if it wasn't for Game Pass.

In FO3, I played a cool and mostly introverted and sadistic anti-villain, who resented ghouls (or "Zombies" as he'd like to call them), but had a soft spot for helping those in need, and ended up having a Ghoul as his evil-fighting partner - and even as far as to say - a close friend.

That is until that fateful day, they both got ambushed by some common raiders, and in the midst of the chaos, a car exploded, and I saw my character's friend's arm fly across the screen. I later found him in the carnage, lifeless, with his arm missing.

It's moments like these that you seldom see in video games anymore, unscripted moments where you truly make a game your own. FO3 FTW.

I have this issue all the time as I frequently transport my Xbox between two locations and networks. Its a little annoying but nothing major, but I would also love to have it fixed.

I absolutely loved Mutant Year Zero so quite excited to check out their other games.

Wow! Did not expect Jurassic World Evo 2 to come on Game Pass. I've been watching videos and reading reviews for a while. Seems it has it's issues and not as in-depth as I'd like so I've been holding off for it to come down in price. So delighted it's on Game Pass!

I've played a lot of This War of Mine previously. Hoping this edition brings a lot of new content, but I'll replay it nonetheless.

@russbeer that's a real shame. I was with Sony for a long time, but incidents like this, as well as persistent PS Store problems and general usability let me down, so I switched to the XBox Series X. I had both a PS4 Pro and Xbox One X, and despite PS4 having the pick of the games, the Xbox was far better in my opinion in terms of user friendliness, maintenance, and just overall experience. Also found online games to be far more toxic with the PS4.

@Kopite one of the reasons I really loved the Vita was playing games like Rogue Legacy or Persona. It was a great device that just didn't get enough attention from Sony.

I loved the original, played it countless times with my other-half at the time, switching turns upon death. This time around, I got it with MS rewards points and playing the game with my nephew. Very addictive.

@Kooky_Daisuke I feel the same. Its a struggle to pick between resolution and frame rate, and I much prefer the comfort of a sofa and a big screen for that immersive experience.

Ultimately I'm glad I didn't get a TV capable of 120hz, due to lack of support (and having to choose between quality and performance), but if I could I'd much rather go for higher end, especially if it was at a reasonable price.

I like the music style. Reminds me of Romance of the Three Kingdoms VII main theme. Also Digimon World was one of my favourite games of the PS1 era. Curious as to how this will turn out.

I don't play online games as much. I used to play Fifa, and now I play Elden Ring. I've learnt to just quit the online games before I finish, and this isn't a big deal considering how well quick resume works for the other games I play.

I guess Quick Resume is still a new feature in gaming, and therefore there will be issues. All things considered, it's been a pretty excellent start so far, and if they can improve upon it, it will be even better. For now, people should try to remember to quit the games for online games - it's quicker than switching the xbox off itself which most of us do on a daily basis anyway.

This is a real nice touch as they don't HAVE to do anything like this. I feel I'm already getting good value with Game Pass and Microsoft Rewards so it's nice to see events like these. Will check my account soon when I am back, but if I get it, will likely use it on Valhalla, or a multiplayer party game.