Xbox Game Pass |OT| Game Pass and Chill

[pswii60]

Turns out Kyub, which leaves at the end of the month, is freaking *awesome*. I re-subbed with the $2 for 2 months deal to check it out and it is really a fantastic action puzzler. It reminds me of BoxBoy!! and Pushmo, but with some of the tense movement of the gyroscope levels of the GBA Crash Bandicoot games and the music and aesthetic akin to Snake Pass (which is also on Game Pass, and was my GOTY for 2017 and is remarkably fun and cleverly designed, especially once the controls click).

Anyway, enjoying it a great deal and am as pleased as ever with Game Pass's offering of eclectic games like the two I mentioned, Life is Strange, Hue, Gardens Between, and more. All of them wonderfully creative and well worth checking out.

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Yes it is indeed awesome.

 

[Rhaknar]

Welp, RIP HDD, I only have 8gigs left... I might have gone overboard with the downloads lol.

Speaking of, was going to download Ark when I found out my hdd was full because I always wanted to try/play it on PC but then I got to thinking, gamepass isnt the best for that sort of game tbh (same for ESO I guess), its risky to get invested in games that dont "end" since they might get pulled from gamepass (thats how they get ya!). Seems more suited for one and done games, for me at least.

Something like Sea of Thieves should be fine since its first party, those dont leave the service right, much like Netflix Originals?

 

[cyrribrae]

Welp, RIP HDD, I only have 8gigs left... I might have gone overboard with the downloads lol.

Speaking of, was going to download Ark when I found out my hdd was full because I always wanted to try/play it on PC but then I got to thinking, gamepass isnt the best for that sort of game tbh (same for ESO I guess), its risky to get invested in games that dont "end" since they might get pulled from gamepass (thats how they get ya!). Seems more suited for one and done games, for me at least.

Something like Sea of Thieves should be fine since its first party, those dont leave the service right, much like Netflix Originals?

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It's safe to assume that 1st party will always stay on the service, unless there is a huge change in strategy. In my experience, most games stay on for a pretty long time, and many games return again even after leaving. Personally, I don't believe Ark is going anywhere. The more people play, I assume the more they get paid (even though people keep telling me only upfront bounties blah blah blah - I mean they probably know more than I do, but that doesn't mean I have to believe them :p).

Anyway, since it's such a polarizing game, I think Game Pass is perfect for trying it out for a month or two. If you don't like it after that, then you've saved yourself money. If you do still enjoy it, you can purchase the game at a discount before it leaves the service anyway (or at any sale), and your game progress will be saved. I believe it's Play Anywhere as well, so you can even carry it across those two platforms. Either way, it's the same version of the game as if you purchased (unlike traditional renting), so there's really no reason to try it out on GP.

 

[Rhaknar]

so that Batman Asylum+City remaster is coming tomorow (21st), can we expect some unannounced games to also come tomorow since we had that tweet / poll some days ago?

 

[Theorry]

 

[Brass Body Dave]

Hey, I'm up for trying Headlander.

Arkham series did NOT age well so temper your expectations

 

[dreamcast]

Headlander sounds interesting. And I never play Epic Mickey 2, so I might give that shot.

 

[oracledragon]

Alien Isolation, awesome!! Always wanted to try that.

And Akham series is like fine wine ;) I've replayed Asylum a ton, but it's been a long time since I did city, looking forward to giving it another go.

 

[Rhaknar]

bad update for me, already played all that. Might replay Batman tho, maybe.

 

[Don Draper's Hat]

Alien Isolation, finally! Been putting off buying that whenever it's been on sale with the assumption it'd be on Game Pass at some point. Woo!

 

[InfinityDOK]

I am going to guess that we will see walking dead season 3 next month and possibly for walking dead season 4 we could see the same deal that life is strange 2 has

 

[padsports]

Alien Isolation. 2 weeks after I FINALLY bought it. :D

 

[dreamcast]

Epic Mickey 2 is already available to download. Nothing yet on Headlander. But I just watched a vid of it and it looks great.

 

[Fortinbras]

Headlander is amazing. I can't recommend it enough. Even got 1000G in that game and I don't do that very often.

 

[Deleted member 2254]

I still own Alien, barely ever started it. On the base Xbox One I nope'd the fuck out 2 minutes in because there was almost a whole second of input lag, and I couldn't stand it. I'll have to try it on X to see how it runs.

 

[Rhaknar]

Epic Mickey 2 is already available to download. Nothing yet on Headlander. But I just watched a vid of it and it looks great.

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Batman is too if you search for it. It's 2 seperate games too if you only want one of them, or are low on HDD space or whatever.

 

[cyrribrae]

That Xbox wire article is great BTW, if you haven't read it. Looks the game pass twitter people took it over lol. They're offering brownie points if you tweet at them a Haiku of your best explosions in crackdown

 

[Nabbit]

When a game leaves Game Pass, how soon is it taken away from the end user?

 

[JustinH]

Looking forward to giving Headlander a shot, and maybe I'll finally see why people like Alien Isolation so much. Great adds.

Already have the Batman games though, and I'm not a fan of Telltale's games.

 

[RNGesus]

Xbox Games Pass twitter going for that Wendy's style twitter. Is that an official account from Microsoft?

 

[Wanderer5]

Decided to jump on the $2 for 2 months deal. Being PC only, the selection is of course going to be very limited, but that's fine. I was only going to check out like 2-3 games, and it doesn't feel overwhelming to decide! I view it as a nice little taste of this until the full PC service comes around.

Downloading Crackdown 3 Campaign first, cause dat new hotness, and I am actually curious of how much fun I would have with it. After that, I have Sea of Thieves and ReCore in mind. I am tempted by Forza Horzion 4 also, but that is a huge ass download size, so eh. :P Gears 4 seems to be 100GB+, which oh god.

 

[Deleted member 14649]

When a game leaves Game Pass, how soon is it taken away from the end user?

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Isn't it a month later?

 

[unfashionable]

So today wifi went down during a time when I was relaxing, so I thought ok I cant do anything I want to play crackdown 3 (crack)

But because internet was down it would not launch

So is game pass always a "check online for authentication and active status if no internet no game launch"

Is game pass like that for all games? It was annoying since entertainment wise I'm all internet based (no tv) with netflix, youtube, amazon

 

[Adam802]

Alien Isolation is one helluva get, nice!

 

[Zaubrer]

When a game leaves Game Pass, how soon is it taken away from the end user?

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Pretty much immediately at the start of the following month. The "you keep the game for one month if you've installed it" is a myth.

 

[Nabbit]

Isn't it a month later?

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Seemingly not, unfortunately per the post below. Thanks for your reply though!

Pretty much immediately at the start of the following month. The "you keep the game for one month if you've installed it" is a myth.

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Gotcha, thank you. I have a feeling I'll be buying Kyub on 2/28 with its GP discount and the currently running Microsoft Rewards Hot Deal for gift cards.

 

[Rhaknar]

so... y'all got any of dem March announcements?

 

[fenners]

so... y'all got any of dem March announcements?

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They just got done announcing February, give 'em a chance ;)

 

[dreamcast]

Oh my...

I played about a half hour of Headlander this morning. Wow! What a cool game and concept. With the 70s sci-fi feel and the humor in brings to the table, it's quite enjoyable.

 

[Bndadm]

Been really excited to try out the Return to Arkham ports. I can never get enough of those games and so far I can't see any of the artistic changes (City opening eyeglass reflection is there which people said was removed).

 

[Kaz Frankenstein]

Been really excited to try out the Return to Arkham ports. I can never get enough of those games and so far I can't see any of the artistic changes (City opening eyeglass reflection is there which people said was removed).

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Me too. I played City when it came out on 360, bit never played Asylum. I will make amends for that in the near future. Currently playing The Gardens Between, which is a lovely game to play whilst listening to a podcast etc.

 

[Manipular]

I bought Return to Arkham (along with Shadow of the Tomb Raider) during Black Friday, so I already have those, but I was literally going to buy Alien: Isolation last week, but couldn't purchase it due to some sever issue and then I forgot about it afterwards. I'd have been pissed off lol.

 

[Rhaknar]

finding an interesting use of gamepass, trying out games almost like demos:

Tried Ark, which I always wanted to try on PC and almost bought on various sales, deleted it after like 10mins, just did nothing for me, so gladly I never wasted money on it.

Also tried a bit of Graveyard Keeper, and confirmed I will love to play this, but on PC (hopefully it comes to Humble Monthly since I currently have a eyarly sub to that lol), just not the type of game I want to play on a console I guess.

On the actually playing front, also had another first, and it was the first "yeah I cant run this game on my old ass PC, not looking like this at least" game, with Shadow of the TR. Fuck that game is gorgeous holy shit.

 

[Panic Freak]

How far am I in Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Spoiler

I just finished the part where you try to get the box and get attacked by the savages. Btw, what the fuck was up the queen of the savages? 😱

 

[Kaz Frankenstein]

How far am I in Shadow of the Tomb Raider

Spoiler

I just finished the part where you try to get the box and get attacked by the savages. Btw, what the fuck was up the queen of the savages? 😱

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About 3/4 of the way through i would say.

 

[Panic Freak]

About 3/4 of the way through i would say.

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Thanks!

 

[pswii60]

Holy shit Headlander is awesome. Absolutely loving this game. It's totally my thing.

Fucking love Game Pass!!

 

[Lom1lo]

I read that Batman is a disaster on the one x, was this patched ?

 

[Kittenz]

Does anyone have the PUBG controller with the trigger grips? Wondering how those are, if it's worth the extra $6 or if they're annoying. Needing a new controller soon.

 

[Edge]

Watching the Digital Foundry video about Shadow of the Tomb Raider right now.

My god is that game beautiful on the X, it looks so crazy impressive. My screenshot button will bleed.
Weird that I had zero interest to buy it at launch, I'm so exited to start it right now.

 

[DJwest]

Any UK game pass deals?

 

[oracledragon]

Wow Headlander is really good! I've never even heard of it before gamepass, and honestly probably would never have tried it without having seen a few people on the forum comment on how good it was.

If you liked games like Shadow Complex, I think you would enjoy this one. It gives me a similar vibe, being Metroid-y without being quite as obtuse. I'm loving especially the 70's sci fi style presentation on the graphics, music, robots, shag carpets on space stations... really good stuff.

 

[Rhaknar]

some of y'all need to step up your metroidvania game, Headlander wasnt even that good :p

 

[oracledragon]

some of y'all need to step up your metroidvania game, Headlander wasnt even that good :p

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Did it change post release in a patch or something? This is one of the genres I enjoy the most and I've played a lot of them (metroidvania style). I'm not saying Headlander is the best ever, its certainly not displacing games like SotN, Hollow Knight, etc. But it is definitly way better than I had anticipated and been quite an enjoyable experience... I'd definitly rate it a "very good", speaking for myself.

 

[Kaz Frankenstein]

Did it change post release in a patch or something? This is one of the genres I enjoy the most and I've played a lot of them (metroidvania style). I'm not saying Headlander is the best ever, its certainly not displacing games like SotN, Hollow Knight, etc. But it is definitly way better than I had anticipated and been quite an enjoyable experience... I'd definitly rate it a "very good", speaking for myself.

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I started it today and am really enjoying it too. I agree with your comment about it not being too obtuse. Feels like Metroid Fusion in the amount of guidance it gives you. Which I like.

 

[ThereAre4Lights]

Shadow of the Tomb Raider is quite good. I feel almost guilty for a hundred percenting it for $2. Some of those tombs are horrifying and the water tunnels are a claustrophobic's nightmare. The graphics are pretty darn good on the XB1X, but there is something about the NPC character models that makes it look a bit cheap. I don't know if it's the animations or what.

Spoiler

I was initially disappointed that the entire game took place in the jungle, but tombs, crypts and distinct villages made up for it. Also, the Yaaxil are so creepy, especially in that one tomb in San Juan that feels straight out of The Descent movie.

 

[Rhaknar]

since I only started paying attention to Game Pass recently, been googling past months to see what was added each month, especially upfront as the "showcase" games so to speak. Seems Shadow of Lara this month was by far the highest profile (at least the newest) they released, most of the other months was older / lower profile stuff:

January 2019

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Just Cause 3 is pretty old, ARK I guess is the highest profile, at least indie wise, since Life is Strange 2 is just episode 1. Nothing that compares to Shadow of Lara really.

December 2018

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this had back to back announcements and was pretty strong imo. Mutant Year Zero was a day 1 release, Strange Brigade is very recent, Hellblade and Shadow Warrior 2 are high-profile indies, and MKX is pretty big high profile "triple A", even if it was a bit old by then.

November 2018

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This seems like a weaker month, with only Sniper Elite 4 being high profile. Keep in mind I'm not passing judgement on the games themselves.

October 2018

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Back to a strong showing with Forza and Wolf New Order being obvious high profile games, and the Metro Redux (I assume Last Light was also added later in the month since both are on game pass) is also nice. Shantae on the indie side is also on the higher profile spectrum.

September 2018

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Another strong month imo, with Halo MCC, Quantum Break and OnRush being quite high profile (was OnRush a day 1 release?), Snake Pass also a popular and new-ish indie release.

August 2018

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Back to a weaker month imo, Hitman S1 and Ryse being the high profile games but both are quite old, but Dandara at least was quite recent at the time (and its great but again, this isnt about game quality per se).

If we continue to go backwards, the high profile or newer stuff starts to show up less and less, I can only imagine they were still ramping up the service, its only like a little over a year old right? Anyway I was just doing this little exercise to try and "guess" what we could see show up on it soon, here's some of the stuff I would like or could see happen (a lot of it mimicks what I want / expect on humble monthly aswell lol):

Elex - Released in October 2017 and been on sale a few times, and Game Pass is lacking in rpgs.

Kingdom Come Deliverance - Released in February 2018 so around 1 year old now, and has the added bonus of having dlc, I'm sure that much like Humble Monthly, getting the games "free" to push DLC is a big incentive for publishers.

Resident Evil 7 - Released in january 2017 so pretty old now, and would be a nice nudge to push people to buy RE2. I don't actually want this one as I already played it but can easily see it added.

Destiny 2 - Released September 2017 so enough time passed, has a ton of DLC to push, is on sale (and free!) all the time. Seems prime for a Game Pass addtion.

Fallout 76 - lol :(

 

[pswii60]

since I only started paying attention to Game Pass recently, been googling past months to see what was added each month, especially upfront as the "showcase" games so to speak. Seems Shadow of Lara this month was by far the highest profile (at least the newest) they released, most of the other months was older / lower profile stuff:

January 2019



Just Cause 3 is pretty old, ARK I guess is the highest profile, at least indie wise, since Life is Strange 2 is just episode 1. Nothing that compares to Shadow of Lara really.

December 2018


this had back to back announcements and was pretty strong imo. Mutant Year Zero was a day 1 release, Strange Brigade is very recent, Hellblade and Shadow Warrior 2 are high-profile indies, and MKX is pretty big high profile "triple A", even if it was a bit old by then.

November 2018


This seems like a weaker month, with only Sniper Elite 4 being high profile. Keep in mind I'm not passing judgement on the games themselves.

October 2018


Back to a strong showing with Forza and Wolf New Order being obvious high profile games, and the Metro Redux (I assume Last Light was also added later in the month since both are on game pass) is also nice. Shantae on the indie side is also on the higher profile spectrum.

September 2018


Another strong month imo, with Halo MCC, Quantum Break and OnRush being quite high profile (was OnRush a day 1 release?), Snake Pass also a popular and new-ish indie release.

August 2018


Back to a weaker month imo, Hitman S1 and Ryse being the high profile games but both are quite old, but Dandara at least was quite recent at the time (and its great but again, this isnt about game quality per se).

If we continue to go backwards, the high profile or newer stuff starts to show up less and less, I can only imagine they were still ramping up the service, its only like a little over a year old right? Anyway I was just doing this little exercise to try and "guess" what we could see show up on it soon, here's some of the stuff I would like or could see happen (a lot of it mimicks what I want / expect on humble monthly aswell lol):

Elex - Released in October 2017 and been on sale a few times, and Game Pass is lacking in rpgs.

Kingdom Come Deliverance - Released in February 2018 so around 1 year old now, and has the added bonus of having dlc, I'm sure that much like Humble Monthly, getting the games "free" to push DLC is a big incentive for publishers.

Resident Evil 7 - Released in january 2017 so pretty old now, and would be a nice nudge to push people to buy RE2. I don't actually want this one as I already played it but can easily see it added.

Destiny 2 - Released September 2017 so enough time passed, has a ton of DLC to push, is on sale (and free!) all the time. Seems prime for a Game Pass addtion.

Fallout 76 - lol :(

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December and August were particularly good months for me thanks to the indie games. I had an absolute blast with Dandara and Ruiner in August.

For me it's the smaller games that really grab me. Like The Gardens Between in November and Head Lander this month. I realise Microsoft needs the big headliners like Shadow but I hope they continue their investment in cool indies/AA on the service because there are so many great games in that category that otherwise I would have missed. And day one indies is even better. I honestly can't tell you the joy Head Lander has brought me this week - and I'd never heard of it before.

And that reminds me that we'll be getting Void Bastards day one on Game Pass this year too. Oh yes.

 

[Rhaknar]

Again, I'm not passing judgement on the games themselves :)

The Gardens Between was probably my favorite thing on game pass so far for example.

 

[pswii60]

some of y'all need to step up your metroidvania game, Headlander wasnt even that good :p

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It's my favourite genre. Ori, Hollow Knight, Axiom Verge etc. Can't get enough. Still loving Head Lander. It's unique. It doesn't need to be "as good" as those games, it's just its own thing and I'm fine with it :)

Again, I'm not passing judgement on the games themselves :)

The Gardens Between was probably my favorite thing on game pass so far for example.

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Yeah it's so cool. And I see so many talking about it. I bet it would barely have got noticed without Game Pass.

Developers obviously want to make a profit on their games, but I'm sure they love the fact that GP not only allows them an up front sum, but also so much more exposure and has so many more people experiencing the product they've put so much effort in to, which is rewarding in itself.