RentedPanda

@Ricky-Spanish I remember this too, I think it was around SGF when rumors were going crazy about price hikes and COD not being on GP, but, I'm too lazy to Google it

I think when my sub runs out I will take a break and reassess. I have a backlog across systems, maybe I will tackle that for a bit and see if I miss GP

I did not realize Golden Idol was on xbox. I have it on Switch but have not started it. May use GP instead for the rewards points

I had wanted to play Figment 2, but .... backlog. Maybe I'll check it out real quick before it goes. Coffee Talk 2 made me want to try some blue and red teas in a real shop. Still time for that, I suppose

Wow, first Skull and Bones and now this. Good time to be a fan of throwback pirate games with extraordinarily long development time lines

Flintlock is another missed from 2024, unless I'm missing it from the graphic.
I feel like there's not much buzz about it in general despite getting a surprisingly close release date. Maybe I'm alone in thinking it looked cool?
Or is it gamepass but not first party?

Oh, wow! I have been interested in this for a while

@TheGiraffe I think it was 25k units in 24 hours, so, I think off to a promising start. Plus, just the xbox launch numbers - they previously launched on other platforms. But even so, must be hugely exciting for a small team just to see that many people want to play the thing you made

I'm still clinging to the hope that in a surprise twist, your character is converted to Shadow the Hedgehog for the dlc. Until it launches, I assume everything to the contrary is a misdirect

Looks great, cannot wait!

I liked High on Life, but I can no longer go to Applebee's because of it. I liked Bramble ok, for the vibes. I could not get into Bookwalker, the gameplay did not click for me. I had high hopes for it, but not for me

Great month for me in terms of stuff I want to play, but trying to finish some others, so the one I have tried for more than a few minutes is Little Kitty 😺 I need to stop messing with Wartales amd Tsushima and get into some of these

@Decimateh I have not played SMT so take this with a grain of salt but my understanding of previous games is similar pokeman-but-with-demons familiar fighting but less focus on social sim than Persona. And I think the early games were more roam and find dungeons than hub centered. But again, dim memories of reviews and previews, not first hand knowledge

@Lup I played Benedict Fox just before they released a big update for it. Still a fun game when I played it, but hopefully the experience is even better when you check it out, if you find the time

For me the CoD graphic shows up under the Wholesome Games description for some reason, which made me chuckle. Not that CoD is that out there, just not what I would expect as the Wholesome Games poster child.

I look forward to reading recaps of all of these on this site! Plus, there is usually some xbox relevant cross platform news at Nintendo and Sony shows

@Lup F.I.S.T. was still on last I checked. I downloaded and played a couple of hours, but it has been buried under the backlog for a while. Same with Indivisible for me.

I'm interested in Capes, but don't feel the need for day 1 purchase

We'll see. Another price increase might push me to drop it, like I dropped PS plus after their increase. Depends how they implement

I started with Series S. I really wanted to play Psychonauts 2, and a handful of indies I saw going to xbox (Deaths Door, The Gunk) and get a next generation system. At the time ps5 was unavailable, so I thought, I can get a Series S and gamepass (which was always running first month for a dollar at the time), check out Psychonauts 2, use gamepass as an indie arcade machine, and maybe check out all the back catalog I've heard so much about, like Gears.

And it has been great!

@hbkay Chants is new to gamepass. If it looks familiar you may be thinking of Sable, which had a similar art style Or from the screen shots of Chants, it seems to. I have not played Chants yet.

Chicory was great, introduces some fun mechanics over time and I liked the story. Also not very long, which I prize with so many demands on my time

@themightyant
That was pretty much my exact list of interest. Not sure I will have time to play them all.. Hauntii and Hellblade I will definitely play sooner rather than later

Is the reverse of review bomb, review mob? They've been review mobbed!

I hope MS at least continue to fund ID@xbox to put out some interesting things as a PR move / gamepass fodder while they concentrate on the huge cash cows from their studios. I fear for DoubleFine. I hope if it comes to it, DoubleFine get the opportunity to buy their independence again

Disgusting. Also, some of the ActiBlizz merger concerns about negatives of consolidation were proved correct - didn't MS say, don't worry, look, we essentially let Bethesda run themselves.... So disappointing. Similarly disgusted at Take2 shutting studios the other day as they continue to rake in cash from GTA5. Just makes me sad

I guess I need to quit or commit on F.I.S.T. I started it, got maybe 3 bosses and upgrades in, and haven't gone back. I also should start the second Shadowrun game if there is a chance it will leave. I have it loaded and ready.

I'm back into Lamplighters League, which I read has gotten its final patches. Great tactics game! If you like xcom, you will enjoy it! However, I am still hitting some bugs/crashes costing mission progress (about an hour of play) on Series S, so be warned. For me, the gameplay is worth the crash risk

Return to Grace and A Little To The Left are 2 short, enjoyable games I have played recently. I did not 100% them myself. For 100% achievements I think Grace still qualifies but Little would not, as 100% requires a hint free playthrough and daily play for 30 consecutive days (only a few minutes, but not in the spirit of quick and easy points)

Some really great looking stuff, most of which I was not aware of. Thanks for this article! My wishlist grows...

@RIghteousNixon oh, I see. yeah, if anyone is hyping ps 1st party output for this year, .... well, that's a tough position to take. I don't know about last year, I don't recall, but I know I did not buy any 1st party games from Sony if there were any (was there a TLOU remake/update, maybe?)

@RIghteousNixon one can argue that with exclusives like Stellar Blade, FF7 and Helldivers 2, there is less impact of a quiet year of true 1st party. they also have fewer overall 1st party studios, so that may buy them some slack - deserved or undeserved. But how much of the 3rd party to the rescue strategy was planning vs luck, I have no clue. I think these were all planned exclusive so there was some planning, but I do not expect, for example, Helldivers was ever projected to be the hit it became, while FF7 is reported as having disappointed SE with its sales. I have a PS but not interested in any of those 3, I'm spending my game time mostly on xbox.
Nothing leaps to mind being hyped for PS (2nd or 3rd party) in the 2nd half of the year, when all these huge games will drop for MS.

Is there any rumor on Flintlock release window? Is that still planned for 2024, or was that just a vague projection/prediction? Or maybe I am wrong and and it was never in the 2024 discussion.

I never did finish Supraland. That was a fun surprise, had never heard of it when it arrived, gave it a try and really liked it. I bounced off, cannot remember why, and never went back

I liked Pikuniku. I found Ravenlock ok, but never quite as good as I hoped. It was enjoyable enough for me over the short run time. Loot River did not click for me but it seemed cool

I never clicked with the one AC game I tried, but may give this Mirage preview a shot

I picked up Cult of the Lamb, and played through the main story mode (decided not to buy it just to backlog it). Great game, happy with the purchase!

Heist 2 is huge news, that is great!

I used to be conscious of file size due to limited space on the S. Since getting an expansion card, I am less concerned, but I do try to remove games after playing to keep it from becoming a problem again. Starfield is what pushed me to getting the card, speaking of large file sizes

I enjoyed the first, and look forward to this release.
It would be nice press for MS if this becomes a critical hit in the cinematic story telling arena, where God of War and Last of US tend to get all the attention. Although the preview comments about sword combat feeling hefty, etc. have me thinking combat will be improved.
If it doesn't hit for me, back to awaiting Avowed

I might grab Penny's Big Breakaway. Did not expect a sale price so soon.

If anyone has not tried Dredge, it is a really fun game

@Chaotic_Goat
I had the same thought. I wonder if the idea is to say, "hey Epic, hey Valve, etc. come develop a console storefront - you can make your own deals with devs and pubs to use your store to sell their xbox games" rather than just drop the existing storefronts on the xbox dash, which seems like it could not technically work.

I had been doing OK on my 512 Series S, juggling new games on as I finished and deleted others, but then Starfield came out with a huge storage footprint and my son started getting into rocket league, fall guys and eventually fortnight, which are bigger than what he had been playing, so I broke down and got internal storage expansion on sale, 1 TB. Now I am able to keep a variety of games ready to play and tend to run around 40 to 50 percent full

I was thinking about splurging, but got cold feet and may just hang with the backlog until I hear more and figure if this is really for me. The price does not bother me, seems like it would be entertaining enough to justify. Microtransactions don't bother me either. You can choose to ignore them, but the fact that some will buy maybe helps recoup cost and fund the next game. If there were more cosmetic and optional pkay accelerating microtransactions, maybe it would keep overall cost down, so games don't make the jump to 80 too soon

Maybe they were just waiting to see if CoD showed up on gamepass, so they could get it for their sub fee. That's what I do with a lot of games

@Banjo- I like that mapping system, will keep it in mind if I make the purchase

@GuyinPA75 I started the first DI, but never made it far. Enjoying my time with 2.

I'll have to check out Brotato. I saw it joining gamepass, but it wasn't on my short list to try. I just played through Return to Grace. It was entertaining for the short playthrough but more walking sim or visual novel, not much game play to it

Funny timing, I just played through this about 2 weeks ago. I had a good time but didn't love it enough to revisit. Good game to check out on GP, though

I'm thinking about FF15 Royal and Cult of the Lamb. I was tempted as they were both on sale on PS, and was trying to exercise some self control. But I have a gift card on xbox....

@GuyinPA75 snark was intended, but I was trying for overt, rather than passive aggressive I hear you, and there may be some games with issues in the future, but I don't see it
much so far, including, for example starfield, dead island 2, and revenant 2. But I am definitely not a graphical fidelity person, you are right. I'm happy with indie games with simple graphic style (solar ash, good recent example), although I am not into 8 bit, ironically, so I guess I have my limits.

@GuyinPA75 I must be pretty gullible, as I have apparently been fooling myself into thinking I had a nice little affordable entry point into "next gen" which I have been enjoying across dozens of games with no issues for the past few years. But I guess I was wrong

Too bad this particular game has performance issues, though, I had wanted to give it a try