RentedPanda

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

Have not had a chance to watch but from the brief description I am really interested in Sleight of Hand and always glad to hear more cool new things coming to gamepass

@rustyduck cool, hopefully that will serve until the next batch is announced, and brings new hope. As others have said, Control has [really fun] shooting along with the various powers, but not sure if it's what you're looking for.

For shooters, I'm hoping for El Paso Elsewhere (I think). I've heard it is great, but hard, so I'd rather wait to see if it shows up than buy it and find it is not for me

@GamingFan4Lyf Like FIFA for quiddich? It would probably work. They could do a ton of cross marketing with other sports, or like Metaversus. Get LeBron as a seeker, wearing a Chief's jersey? The micro transactions just write themselves.

@abe_hikura am I remembering correctly that this game has some nice difficulty sliders including an invincibility mode? Might get you past a tough boss, unless your pride won't let you 😉 I recall finishing the game after struggling with some sections and then an update brought all the difficulty sliders afterwards

@HarmanSmith I have never played a NMH game. Does 3 require knowledge of 1 and 2 or stand well on its own?

It is the only game I'm thinking I will try from this batch, although Feb added a lot to my backlog, so not complaining.

@rustyduck Warhammer Boltgun arrived today. I have seen it described as a boomer shooter

Are they only featuring games with two names separated by a colon? It's not the worst event theme; I'll check it out

Actually playing The Last Case of Benedict Fox right now. I should finish it next time I play, believe I have completed everything up to the marked point of no return. I had fun with it, playing on the easiest mode

@ZuneTattooGuy I thought the reason for "looking into it" was that MS stated they were maintaining the acquisitions as independent companies (and FTC wanted this in the fantastical, wishful thinking on their part, scenario that the decision is reversed and they could unwind the deal), but then MS gave rationale for cuts as reducing redundancy, in direct contradiction.

Personally, I wish FTC would drop it at this point, seems like a waste of effort. But just commenting that it seems like a pretty different situation

As an aside, I wish there was some way to hold the execs accountable at all the companies laying off en masse (cough, Embracer), but it isn't going to happen

@Sanquine I don't have a link but it was reported (e.g., Triple Click podcast) that a Blizzard "survival" game was canceled and the entire team let go rather than reassigned to a new project. I think the narrative that the cuts were duplicate positions is corporate BS. Obviously, I have no transparency, but the number of cuts doesn't seem like redundant positions. Even the oft cited marketing and HR positions do not make sense to me. Unless MS had an army of people sitting on their thumbs, I find it hard to believe they simply take up all the new work at ActiBlizz. But no matter the reasons, it is awful for those cut, always sorry to hear

And sorry to hear about more layoffs across the industry at Sony and the other recent announcements. So many... : (

@GuyinPA75 I think different studios and games have different situations. Baldurs Gate 3 was in early access for years and the studio was well resourced. For some games and studios, it seems like GP functions like pre-ordering, giving them an up front guarantee payout. Some studios may need this to keep going, especially smaller games without support of big pubs (ie, for marketing) . These are the types of things I have read, anyway, I have no insight into the payment structures and contracts. But it seems like if this is truly the case, some studios will be able to maintain independence and get more pure sales while others take the GP model. Seems like a risk reward balance

@Lostitall it is an interesting question. I like to hope that my downloads and playtime contribute to the success of the games I play on GP, but I don't know if that is how the model works. Otherwise, the impact of my personal buying pattern change is probably nil, as for years I have usually waited for sales. I was a day 1 purchaser for very few games. But this year, GP access to Avowed may cost Dragon's Dogma 2 a full price purchase. Still may shell out for Star Wars Outlaws...

@EvilSilentFrame in the early game there is some reference to the first, but I don't think you need to have played it, from what I've seen. The plot seems self contained, from first couple hours

@Lostitall I am the same way. The last game I bought physical copy of was Dead Island 2, and last major release prior to that was Diablo 4. Both now announced for GP... I still buy some indies, mostly on switch

I love this. If you try hard enough, you can really get upset about anything

Holy wow. So we've got Dead Space, RE2, RE3, now dead island 2. Gamepass is where the zombies are. Fingers crossed for RE4 remake shortly....

I like these. No wows for me, but some fun looking stuff I might not have otherwise checked out. I platinumed Maneater on ps4, but might give it a whirl. Kind of a guilty pleasure game. I almost bought Indivisible a few times but never did. Took it off my wishlist after there was a free trial and I didn't play it - looking forward to finally giving it a chance.

Even the best selling Ubisoft games are only full price for a short time. So, even if it launches at 100, I'm sure we'll soon be seeing this in every sale round up article for years to come

You can play STEAM games on any PC, but people still buy steamdecks

I think you can have timed exclusives, gamepass and a well tuned dedicated box can still sell. Especially something like the Series S. I use mine pretty much like a gamepass box, buying very few other games. And it is great for that, and a heck of a lot cheaper than a gaming PC.

I don't think this is the death of xbox consoles

Sounds interesting. I thought at first this was a game that came out a while ago on switch and steam, that was getting some undertale comparisons, but this sounds more my taste

Not sure if it is their strategy or not, but certainly all eyes are on xbox, and that is going to be one highly watched and reported presser. Whether they open with, not only are we staying with hardware, but here are new SKUs, or, we are bringing x,y and z games to Switch and PS, or whatever it is, everybody who follows gaming will know about it

Go Mecha Ball for me. Just a ray of Arcade sunshine on a dreary winter day

@boatie sure, but do you remember the days when kings and heads of state would pay artists to create, covering all their expenses, for the glory of their realm, with no guarantee of the outcomes? I do, because I am a 2 thousand year old vampire. I forget my point...

I initially misread the headline, thinking it was not launching on xbox, period. Which would have been hilarious 😂

With due respect to the Suicide Squad, I think "the ultimate band of misfits" is Rudolph, Herme the elf, and Yukon Corneleus. I have no doubt those scamps could kill the justice league

Series S is my first xbox machine, so I'm all digital there
I own a couple dozen ps4 games and maybe a dozen switch. Only 1 physical ps5 game. A handful for other legacy platforms
I do still value physical games, especially getting them from my library to see if they are something I want to buy
Like many have posted, I have traded in or donated so many games over the years since the early days of ps2 and pc

I'm going to try to hold firm and keep on my backlog, but reading the reviews of Infinite Wealth, I so want to grab it

None of the gamepass games are on my personal list, but may check them out when they release. I'll most likely pre-order Hades 2

I think Lil Guardsman seems fun, and may pick it up. I got Howl on Switch and enjoyed it - short, fun tactics/puzzle game

I've finished Jusant this morning, my 4th short game of the new year. I think I will get into something a bit longer. Deciding between Dead Island 2, Disco Elysium, Sea of Stars, and Shadowrun Returns.

@Friendly I know, right? I've read a novel in second person, but in that sense most games are about "you" regardless of camera perspective. Something I shall ponder...

I was kind of hoping for second person. I don't believe I've ever played a game with a second person perspective, was hoping this would be the first

@Baler for me, not every game I would like to play is on gamepass, and I do take advantage of sales to get those. Since joining gamepass, I purchase much less than I used to, and I make less impulse buys. I rarely browse sales, but I do check my wish list when there is a sale. For example, I bought Marvel's Midnight Suns almost a year ago (before it was quite so discounted) because it is my type of game, no indication it would be on GP, and I wanted to support the team with a sale. But it didn't mean I feel like GP isn't for me, on the contrary, I feel I get a ton of value from it

Also, if MS took the position that there should be no sales to drive people to GP, it seems like this would poison the relationship with a huge number of customers but also partners who need the sales revenue. MS can't put everything on GP and restricting sales would cut off revenue for those games not on GP for both MS and the devs/pubs