TrollOfWar

@johnK I usually try to focus on 1-2 games per platform as I want to finish games which I start. On Xbox I created a library group called "Planning to Play" where I prioritize games which I want to play next. I also have a group called "Replay" for old games which I finished before and want to revisit.

Of course this means that I am not playing the newest games released.

Sea of Thieves
Cathedral on Evercade

@kanedase7en

Any others I missed?

The big Call of Duty Black Ops 7 juggernaut underperforming. It's generally a rather poor Call of Duty game, but the strong releases of Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders around the same time amplified the negative impact on Black Ops 7. Since it's not a good Call of Duty people probably also didn't see the point of paying a higher monthly fee for GamePass.

Who cares on which system your going to play it? The most important thing is that you are having a good time. 😉

I think the percentage of people buying consoles with disc drives is actually higher than the percentage of people fully taking advantage of those disc drives for games. It's the same effect as people buying an SUV despite living in a city and not planning to do any off-roading. They like "having the option". They might occasionally use it, but could live without one. Personally I only use the disc drive for watching old movies and TV shows.

Considering next gen, a disc drive will be a less viable option for consoles. High- fidelity AAA games like Call of Duty, GTA, etc. will probably demand more storage space the larger the assets grow. Live service games will demand more storage with each new update. Next gen games might not fit on a single double-layer blu ray disc and 2+ discs raise the production costs too much. Indie developers with budget constraints already adopted the practice of releasing games exclusively digital.

That $70-120 of a blu-ray disc drive could be used by hardware manufacturers to offer a larger SSD storage and design a smaller console, which might also impact the design of the system cooling solutions.

Diablo 2 Resurrected and maybe Cathedral on Evercade.

I managed to finish Death Stranding Director's Cut last year.

It’s beautiful, weird, and exciting. It dares to be different from mainstream games. The open world doesn’t follow the typical Ubisoft-style checklist formula; instead, it makes traversal meaningful. The gameplay is about connecting people, not killing them. The story is complex and often thought-provoking.

But despite all the good things, the game has its flaws. Kojima’s imagination and world-building are brilliant, but his writing can be awkward. The gameplay, which shines in its exploration and atmosphere, eventually shifts toward optimizing delivery routes and hauling cargo with trucks—less exciting and more repetitive.

People have different tastes. Some will see Death Stranding as a masterpiece; others will find it boring. Both perspectives are valid. For me, it’s a game I’m genuinely glad to have experienced.

@FraserG Tahbks for the update on your review.

Question: Did the Windows experience improve or is it still an issue compared to consoles?

Alwa's Awakening
Cathedral
Diablo 2: Resurrected

@Kezelpaso No "Fable Legends" option?

I played the beta, it wasn't that bad. It wasn't that good either... But it had some potential.

Finally back to Essential from Game Pass Ultimate. Now I can work on my backlog. 😆

Surprised to see all Splinter Cell games on the list. I like thwm but I didn't expect them all to be so highly rated.

@Markatron84 People go to where they see an opportunity to make money with the skills they have. Maybe Larry Hryb thought he can have an impact and make some significant changes, but mostly met obstacles and dead ends.

Shawn Layden also joined the Tencent Games as a strategic adivsor in 2022, after he left PlayStation/SIE, and already left Tencent 2 years later.

While "Major Nelson" definitely contributed a lot to Xbox's public success, I wonder if he would fit into the current "Xbox" organization, where Microsoft heavily reduced marketing budget.

I had a promotional Xbox DVD with trailers for games like Ninja Gaiden, Splinter Cell, Fable, Quantum Shift and Mech Assault, which I kept rewatching over and over.

Also, there was a gaming store called Virtua World in my town where you could choose to play Xbox games on a promo Xbox stand with a TV, where I spent lunch breaks during school time playing Halo and Dead or Alive 3. Good memories.

I'm not sure if players want more "Hellblade". Hellblade 2 isn't bad, it's actually technically very impressive, but most people were expecting something closer to the recent God of War games.

Sea of Thieves, Meowsterpiece Museum and Alwa's Awakening.

Stellar Blade maybe? 😅

@themcnoisy I only got into Evercade last April because I wanted to play Tomb Raider on a pocket sized handheld. Now I have 2 Super Pockets (Capcom and Neo Geo Edition), the original Evercade Handheld (got it used fairly cheap) and 24 cartridges. I'd probably have a VS-R by now if my family or friends were more interested in retro gaming.

I'm also very much interested in the Turrican collection.

Evercade has offered me so much fun in 2025. The Gameboy-sized Super Pockets are very affordable and there is already a large offering of games/cartridges on Evercade. Getting into Evercade last year felt as exciting as getting a new console/handheld 20 years ago with a ton of new/fresh games to discover.

It would be cool to see more Microsoft owned games to release on Evercade. The "Collection 1" in the Rare and Activision cartridge titles imply that there might be more. But also the Blizzard Arcade Collection (Lost Vikings, Rock n' Roll Racing, Blackthorne) would be great.

Also @FraserG, thanks for highlighting Crazy Burger in the article. He is creating some really good, informative videos about Evercade and retro gaming.

Square Enix has a public survey on the Final Fantasy franchise for those who care to share their opinion: https://questant.jp/q/6K9FPT4N

My new year's gaming resolution is 3840 × 2160 (4K)

Tomb Raider 2, Final Fight and Alwa's Awakening on Evercade.

@Gabrielmpf

Just looking at the poll results, with so many people willing to spend around $1000 or more, no wonder gaming has becoming so expensive...

Sadly you are correct, gaming is becoming too expensive for many people. Unfortunately these websites like PureXbox, PushSquare, Eurogamer, etc. they attract gaming enthusiasts, who are willing to pay more for their favorite hobby, while the opinion of casual gamers is not reflected on these forums.

Where in the past some people would buy 2 or more consoles per generation as the devices became cheaper towards the end, nowadays many even question the value of current gen consoles.

Personally I can imagine certain future trends which will negatively impact transitions to new "console generations" if hardware and software is becoming more expensive. Many people will stick to their old devices making cross-gen transitions even longer than what we just had. People in countries like China, India, Brazil, Eastern Europe will more likely pirate games as a result of rising game prices. Many will play more free-to-play titles making the case for premium priced games even more difficult. And finally retro gaming will become more popular. For me Evercade as a retro platform currently offers the best price/value, with the entry handhelds (called Super Pockets) costing between £ 35-50 (depending on special offers) and a module with 3-10 games costing around £ 25.

I'd pay 1000 Microsoft points 🪙 😆

I guess it's better than nothing, but given that this is Halo's - one of the most significant Xbox franchises - 25th anniversary this is a very poor offer (3 nameplates, 3 coatings and 1 weapon charm) for the celebration, despite the fact that development support for Halo Infinite has ended.

They could have at least unlocked the content of the first 3 battle passes for everyone, released some of the most iconic Halo multiplayer maps like Blood Gulch, Sandtrap, Valhalla remade in Infinite or or something similar as a "last hurrah". Give a big reason for lapsed and maybe new players to install and play Halo Infinite for one last time.

Oh Anthem. It was a game that came and went. It reached for the stars, but grabbed thin air and fell to the ground.

@Hern4ndeZzz The other games are more of the same. They expand on the ideas of the first game. Some people were a bit disappointed in the familiarity gameplay-wise.

I did like how both Fable 2 and 3 play after Fable 1 where you can see technological advancements in Albion. Though the 3rd game has a bit of an awkwardly implemented "ruler" system.

There are another 2 lesser known Fable games. One was a linear shooter for Kinect, the other one is a collection of fun pub-like gambling gambling games.

Gives players more time to save up the money for the next gen consoles. /sarcasm 😉

@Hern4ndeZzz It's never late to enjoy a great game. Have a great time with it.

NORCO
Tomb Raider 2
1944: The Loop Master
And maybe Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush

@abe_hikura

Yeah, this has to be Warzone, I don't see them putting this much effort into Black Ops 7 after the kicking it got.

Despite Black Ops 7 being one of the worst Call of Duty games, it probably still sold several million units. So, if porting Black Ops 7 to Switch 2 results in another 1-3 million sales, it will totally pay off for Activision. If they are porting Call of Duty, then the whole Black Ops 7 experience technically works on Switch 2. Warzone alone is free-to-play, so it would rely only on micro-transactions for it's revenue.

I'm curios to know how they can implement the whole "Call of Duty" platform, which demands a lot of hard drive space. On other platforms at least you can choose which parts (campaign, multiplayer, zombies, Warzone) you want to install.

@Cikajovazmaj @Brigurugi I think the reason why the player community is less toxic in Gran Turismo is because the game rewards clean racing and punishes mistakes more severely, resulting in players trying harder to avoid collision and cut corners. Forza Motorsport is notorious for the "shameless rammings" in the first corner of a race.

Also Gran Turismo seems to have a somewhat better force feedback implemention for racing wheels than Forza Motorsport dose. Players on GT can achieve faster lap times with a wheel. On Forza Motorsport 7 I rarely felt in control playing with a racing wheel and players with a controller have similar lap times to playing with a wheel. So the better wheel support on GT might attract more racing enthusiasts who enjoy playing with a wheel, who might behave more maturely online.

@Sol4ris Thanks. I'm a sucker for a good story based point & click adventure with decent retro inspired pixelart and I am enjoying NORCO quite. A nice hidden gem.

Mega Man
NORCO
Shy Cats Hidden Orchestra
Earthworm Jim 2

I've been gaming so much on Evercade. It's the best platform ever. 😉👍

I think Microsoft should have allowed this Halo mod to exist, as long as it's not being monetized and the creators don't profit from it.

Having iconic Halo multiplayer maps and content more widely available (via other games) keeps the Halo franchise relevant.

Unless Microsoft wants players to play Halo Infinite instead, but then they shouldn't end the support for that.

@Kezelpaso sorry, my bad then. I quickly scrolled through the article on my phone.

I guess there is probably a plan for 5-10 years for the next Call of Duty games. There are probably several prototypes in work. They cannot drastically change games which are releasing in a year, but 2 years, yes, could be possible.

Personally after having played and finished Black Ops 7, in my opinion the problem is not that it's Black Ops back-to-back or Modern Warfare back-to-back. The problem is with the quality of those games (forced coop mode, bad stories, confusing zombies mode). I also think that many don't associated Call of Duty with sci-fi.

EDIT: And the whole implementation of Black Ops 6 & 7 being "DLCs" for the Call of Duty platform is a horrible mess.

A direct response to Black Ops 6 & 7?

I don't think 2026 Call of Duty's campaign is based on the feedback from Black Ops 7. This is AAA development we are talking about, they cannot shift the concept of a game that quickly.

It was probably already planned to be a new story years ago.

I remember disliking the original Final Fantasy 7 a lot, despite making it to the end.😄

Nice to see the remake becoming more available on additional platforms.

Death Stranding Director's Cut was my personal gane of the year.

Followed by Tomb Raider (1996) on Evercade.

Prehistorik Man on Evercade
And maybe Sea of Thieves and NORCO.

@Sindayl

But her face… She doesn’t look like Lara Croft at all 🤔

Maybe it's like James Bond, where different actors/models have portrayed the character. I believe Crystal Dynamics started doing that for Lara Croft with Tomb Raider Legends.

A different look also signals a different "era" for the games.

A bit late to the party on Xbox.

I enjoyed the game quite a lot, despite the uninspired combat. The story, visuals and the soundtrack are a highlight and it was refreshing to play a linear game again, where most games are open world.

Hopefully the game will find additional fans on PlayStation and Nintendo.

I finished (and uninstalled) Black Ops 7 a few days ago. Functionally it's not bad, but there are so many stupid and conflicting game design decisions. No wonder it sold poorly where you have better alternatives like Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders.

The campaign's plot is just a long drig trip, with many references to previous Black Ops games. The campaign gameplay is supposed to be an online coop experience, but it jumps around between linear levels, the open world map and awkward boss fights. The thing is, the number of enemies scales based on the number of players, so the game is actually easier if you're playing alone. I also hate this RPG trend where enemies and your weapons have a level and enemies are bullet sponges. I don't know, maybe something similar to Ghost Recon Wildlands would have been more fitting for the campaign.

The multiplayer is typical Call of Duty with twitch reactions and sweaty players. It's good mindless fun, works well enough. But I was surprised to already encounter a cheater in my second match giving perfect headshots from behind walls. Luckily other matches weren't so bad. But I guess I would rather play something else like Halo Infinite or Titanfall 2 instead.

I played a round of zombies. It's fine if you have friends to play it with.

All in all Black Ops 7 feels like an unfocused mess. It tries to do too many things at the same time. It also has such a confusing, messy navigation menu, as if it's stiched together from different games. It feels like the game is desperately fighting to stop you having fun.

Interesting interview and great to see thr game becoming more available via additional platform releases.

Claymates on Evercade

I wonder if Back 4 Blood was successful? It had a fairly large hype before launch, but not much of a buzz afterwards. It was a fine spiritual "Left 4 Dead" successor, but it was fairly safe and didn't evolve the formula much (apart from some deckbuilder card modifiers). This would have to be better than Back 4 Blood.

@SigmaTheDJ

If MS had sold more consoles than Sony and Nintendo in the Xbox One generation, they wouldn't be peddling any of the nonsense they're peddling now. When one number looks bad, hold up another number and say "this is the one that matters!".

So you're suggesting what exactly?

1. Should Microsoft/Xbox continue with the same strategy as Sony, make their own 1st party games exclusive and invest an abundant amount of money on 3rd party exclusives for the Xbox consoles, and lose a lot of money along the way while trying to gain back a bit of a market share from PlayStation, even if PlayStation is in a strong, dominant position in the console space?
2. Just say that they lost the console wars, give up and close the whole Xbox gaming branch, including all the studios and games they invested in and maybe let Activision and Bethesda continue as 3rd party publishers?
3. Find a new business strategy which works best for them, like for example putting their games on as many platforms as they can, while they continue with their hardware ambitions and put a positive spin on it?

Of course Microsoft/Xbox would think differently if they were the ones selling the most high-end consoles and had the most console users. And Sony/PlayStation might be talking about how other numbers matter more to them. And the world would look different if Germany had won World War 2. But that's not what happened, so people need to make the best out of the current state.

@Coletrain

I think Xbox becomes a wildly successful publisher and software OS provider in the near future, with hardware being just a little bonus.

I think it's possible that exactly that is Microsoft/Xbox's future strategy, similar to Google Android (vs. Apple iOS). Android currently has a 72.55% of the global mobile OS market share, while iOS has 27.05%. Google also produces and sells their own smart devices (phones, tablets, watches), but their hardware business pales in comparison to other Android hardware manufacturers and of course Apple. Though I fear Microsoft might have a long way to go to get Windows OS into a good shape and get rid off all the bloat, but I guess the new Xbox full screen experience is a step into the right direction.

As for PlayStation, the brand is already on its way to become the trendy Apple brand of gaming.