RiverGenie

Pay attention to the shadows as they are not just a visual enhancement and actually serve a purpose which may stop you from dying.

Anyhow I think they nailed the asthetics. I can almost feeI the suns heat through my tv and the sand scratching my skin.

In 70 hours I haven't had any game breaking issues and the only thing I have noticed is an occasional pause when you transition between zones. It doesn't happen all the time but enough that I noticed.

Oh this is on a solo world so I have no clue how the multiplayer is doing.

Another thing added that I personally don't give a hoot for but I guess it will be cool for folks who chase achievements. 🤷‍♂️

So we got 2 hours of game time per year assuming the 20 hours to completion is accurate. Hmm well lets hope its a stunning 20 hours of fun game play with an interesting story.

@Fiendish-Beaver Solo its supposedly 30-50 hours for the main story as a conservative estimate. However that isn't taking into account the survival aspect and that can easily spiral if you make bad choices and things go bad*

(*if you are playing on your own solo world you could make the survival side easier by changing world setting.)

For a completionist 300 hours plus, there is a lot of game here apparently.

@Fiendish-Beaver Usually the early access is a side bonus not the main feature. Pretty much every premium edition i have purchased has had a season pass for future content or cosmetics.

I got the deluxe edition of Dune Awakening as it also comes with all the dlc released on pc prior to the console launch and that was the main value it offered but I am enjoying the early start too.

I hope you enjoy your time in E-Day as much as I am enjoying mine in Dune. Regardless of how folks spend their money that is the most important thing, fun per hour. 🙂

I have no issue paying for an early start and I am enjoying Dune Awakening currently by doing just that. My money and I can spend it as I please.

That said I won't be repeating that for E-Day and will probably be one of the few folks who won't even play it. The franchise does nothing for me and I have better things to do with my time.

I am playing tag with giant worms on a huge beach ... Oh also playing Dune Awakening too 😉

I am having a fantastic time exploring the "beach" in this game and it really sucks you in with just the general atmosphere / world building or was that just the quicksand.🙃

I did that thing yesterday were I had my lunch and said to myself will do a couple of hours of game then the house work. When I next came up for air it was somehow 19:00 in seemingly the blink of an eye. Learned my lesson & did my house work this morning so nothing stopping me for the rest of the weekend.

Well I should get back to the worms they are very clingy & get very grumpy if you ignore them too long.

Hope you all have a good gaming weekend.

I only spent a couple of days playing Dragonwilds as I had already purchased & committed to starting the early access of Dune Awakening.

However I did have a lot of fun playing Dragonwilds just following along with the building / survival progression while exploring. My only real issue was the UI was a bit awkward in combat if you needed to swap weapons.

Other than that I had a fantastic time and fully intend to return to it once I have done playing with the worms in the sand Dunes.

Well I know who Keith Richards is so that is exactly one more than I was expecting 👴

Currently waiting for the early access for Dune Awakening to start. Its one of the few games I have been excited to play and I hope its a good time.

I really don't need any more games but I just watched the trailer for Shape of Dreams and well that is now added to my play later list.

Its nuts there has been nothing I have been too excited for on Xbox for months then the last two weeks of September explode. Now I have more game I want to play than I have time for.

Good problem to have 🙂

@Alucard1337 you need some level of Gamepass / PS Plus if you play on console for multiplayer access. Other than that you don't need to pay any other monthly fee.

It does have an optional subscription that offers some nice perks but you don't need to pay it to play

I enjoy F76 and while it has its rough spots (its Bethesda game so shocker) its certainly improved over the years so fun can be had playing it.

Will be putting some time into this again soonish but right now my gaming calendar is pretty full so I can't jump in right away.

@darylb24 Yup me too & I am glad they added that as an option with the console launch.

Pretty much everything I want to play is in a stacked end of September on gamepass. Without even considering other things like the free remaster / update to existing owners of The Witcher 3 (& new Diablo 4 season or current gen update for Fallout 76.)

Sadly still no news for The Outer World 2 dlc I paid for with premium edition. Will be one year from release in October and I think I have be patient as heck up till now😠

@Fiendish-Beaver Dragonwilds is a time sink game for sure. Lots of skills to level from combat, crafting, building & magic. I am playing solo and expect its going to require a significant time investment.

Spent a bit of time in Runescape Dragonwilds & it has potential to be a fun time. I killed and cooked some rats & built a shack by a pond after chopping some trees down. The building bit was a little awkward but I got it done.

Looking forward to exploring more when I get back home.

(I doubt too many folks will be bothered but Fallout 76 gets its current gen upgrade today. Will check it out eventually but other things ahead of it in my gaming queue.)

No point giving this any attention unless we see something official. So I am going to get on with my day and forget about it.

So Pure Xbox should prep an article about CS staff being let go.

Problem is difficult, time consuming and expensive to solve cut your losses then prep a PR piece about using AI to help staff get better out comes for customers.

Man I woke up cynical today 😐

Probably wouldn't be doing all my gaming on a Series X if I hadn't tested the waters with a Series S first. Was a great introduction to Xbox for me.

@RTGX its been possible to play World of Warcraft on a controller for many years and it works really well.

Back when i played WoW it did require an addon. Then the devs implemented the option to type /console gamepadenable 1 to give controller support to retail WoW without an addon

I guess this is just the natural evolution of that by baking it into the settings for this different version of WoW.

Of course use what ever you are comfortable with but many mmos have native controller support these days for those that prefer it.

@ilyn they still have 3 years or so to fill before D5 so still plenty of room to grow. Now have the target of leading us towards the start of the new game, which will hopefully focus any story or lore.

From what I have seen since the announcement is they don't plan major expansions for D4 but it will still get new content and classes (next one amazon in early 2027.)

What i also expect to happen is they will use D4 seasons to test ideas or systems for the new game which could be interesting too.

I like the Diablo franchise a lot but not really excited by the announcement for D5. Its more a why announce it now if it ain't releasing till 2029 (the Starcraft one even worse.)

Assuming I am still able to play games in 2029 I might be more excited nearer the release but right now not so much.

Nothing really exciting for me in that list but no worries. I will probably still be enjoying myself with the games released in September (Dune Awakening, Minecraft Dungeons 2, Runescape Dragonflight & Witcher 3 Remastered.)

Only thing I am looking forward to in October is the Dark Arisen dlc for Dragons Dogma 2.

(It would be cool if we got some news about the Outer Worlds 2 promised dlc. I mean it will be one year from the game release in October and absolutely nothing about it.)

Don't give a monkeys but if it had use a random startup I would pick that. Honestly though just as long as the xbox switches on & I can get to my game then I am good.

I am looking forward to trying Runescape Dragonwilds. It looks to be a really interesting & fun game that I could see myself playing a long time.

Played through the latest dlc for Borderlands 4 & enjoyed it a lot. Will continue to level the new vault hunter (Loveless the Hacker) as she is fun to play.

I have also been prepping a new character for the new dlc for Dragons Dogma 2 that releases next month & will also continue on with that over the weekend.

I did briefly try to get back into Crimson Desert after all its updates. On paper this game should be perfect for my preferences but it just doesn't sit right for me so I returned that one to the backlog again.

@Nightcrawler71 assuming it's the super deluxe if you haven't played since launch you will have 2 new vault hunters & 2 story packs to dig into plus a ton of other stuff to discover.

Hope you have fun hopefully in B4 but what ever you play if not🙂

@Nightcrawler71 The naming conventions are a bit awkward in B4 so bare with me.

If you have the deluxe edition this content isnt part of that. If you have the super deluxe edition then you do get this content at no extra charge.

Might be worth double checking just to be sure.

Not Xbox specific but for anyone still interested in Borderlands 4 the last announced story pack (FL4K and the Last Resort) & Vault Hunter ( Loveless the Hacker) are releasing later today, 5pm ish BST.

I will be giving both a few hours over the next few days. Hopefully its a fun time

@FraserG This is a good point & I keep forgetting that. 👍

Seen a lot of coverage of Wardogs and it looks excellent even as someone who doesn't really play such games. The devs seem really switched on and are clearly very passionate about it but are also realistic too.

Will be interesting to see if its got the legs or just another flash in the pan shooter.

(The one I would love to see jump to console would be Bodycam. That is a game pushing the boundaries of realism in the shooter genre, its almost too real. There is zero chance that will happen on current gen at least, though one can dream.)

Will be interesting to see how this does if it eventually releases (or maybe Pure Xbox should prep an article on its Xbox cancellation, you know just in case 😉. )

One day they might do one of these with a feature I will actually use but it is not this day

Oh no😮

Anyway on with my day 🙂

Story in driving games is usually really cringe worthy and just tropes layered on top of another, The Faster and the More Furious Part 107.

It will be interesting to see if this game will avoid that trap and try something a bit more unique & still be a fun car driving game.

There is just something I find relaxing about games like this and truck sims are the same. I find them an easy way to wind down at the end of an otherwise hectic day.

While marketed as a sim I don't imagine I would be quite so relaxed if I was doing this irl on the daily to pay the bills. Still as a sim I do enjoy these sort of games.

Pity about the crashing & bug reports I might have dusted off the sim rig and given it a go. Maybe one for a sale I guess as it stands.

I have moved to New Zealand for a number of games I was excited for and have never had any issues personally.

At the moment I am still unsure about buying GTA 6 on any current gen console so I maybe won't be needing to plan another vacation this time.

Non i don't own any so this feature while cool is entirely wasted on me.

Nowt for me to be excited for.

Disney have given me Star Wars (& Marvel) fatigue so it being from that ip isn't a big draw for me anymore.

Might be one to pick up in a sale as I have enjoyed the occasional Xcom session in the past. Yeah not something I am going to rush out & buy though, sorry.

Picking my way through Stalker 2 and just enjoying poking through the ruins with a bit of mutant killing.

I have also given Once Human a bit of play and intend to put a bit more time into it over the weekend. There is a lot to like about the game and it gives me a lot of The Secret World vibes, which is an old mmo I used to play a lot.

It also has some things that I don't enjoy which will stop me playing this more than casually. The forced time gating of quest & progression are the biggest issues for me.

Still fun can be had and it does have a lot to dig into so it has that going for it I guess.

WoW those limits are taking the piss. I couldn't even get a good weekend session out of 15 hours & that's supposed to be per month

Yeah not a good look by any measures 👎

Yeah I would rather play my games than watch any of them. Pure Xbox summaries are the way to go, for me at least.

Good luck with that I guess.

I will hopefully find time to look at Runescape: Dragonwilds but nothing else really leaping out at me in that list. Luckily the latter half of the month is much better for me with games so no worries 🙂

Didn't play a single one of them and a bit of a wasted month gamepass wise as far as I am concerned.

Dune Awakening, Minecraft Dungeon 2 & The Witcher 3 Remastered all released within a week of each other.

Those three will probably see me out for the rest of the year without even considering any other games. Good job there are no big game releases due in the last few months😉

If its a fun & focused 20 hours of good story then all good.

I just started my second run through of the new dlc in Stalker 2 so I can try the other choices you have in its quest. Also going to explore way more as I was pretty focused on just on the main story in my first run through.

I would rate The Cost of Hope dlc a solid 8 / 10 from my first play. Its a good time and tells an enjoyable story for the most part.

Overall I would say the dlc & 2.0 update are an improvement while acknowledging that its not perfect either as it does still have issues folks are experiencing. I didn't run into anything that stopped my own fun or playthrough but I can't speak for everyone in that regard.

Easy no. Too busy shooting mutants & dodging anomalies in the zone of Stalker 2.