Bartig

And rightly so, the new Trackmania is a treat. I do like Ranked online a lot more than the chaotic, Fall Guys-like, Royal tracks though.

Only $10 a year for huge access to a ton of tracks and extra online races. Best f2p deal right now?

I’ve played games on Game Pass I never thought I will because they surprised me. Norco for instance. Wouldn’t have bought it, but it clicked instantly.

Then there’s games I try, and definitely see what’s good about them, but stop playing because it isn’t my cup of tea - like Genesis Noir.

Somerville, however, was just too much of the same. I already played Inside and had zero feeling that the new game would do something different. This one is on you, developer…

Dordogne! Nice!

After finishing the story, I may do remaining sidequests in Jedi Survivor, and someone convinced me to give Ravenlok another try, so I may do that as well. Finally, let’s fire up The Last of Benedict Fox once more to see if I can move on in the story somewhere. It seems like you’re (well at least, I’m) stuck in that game all the time.

Incredible to see Chasm The Rift making a return on consoles now, 25 years later. I enjoyed the demo back in the days.

I’m keeping my eye open for the reviews on Lego 2K Drive, as I love the concept, but the racing itself seems a bit random and chaotic in gameplay so far.

Otherwise, I’ll just pick up the new Trackmania.

Ok. I'd rather have the newly announced home screen and the return of the friends feed on it.

@BRT15 And how about the Xbox 360 with its Death Ring of Red? Or Chinese media players and wireless earbuds? It’s not limited to games, sadly, but happens in more consumer segments.

If you missed it out on Game Pass and like arcade racers, I can recommend Hotshot Racing. Had some good with fun it, also online!

I’d rather see Microsoft putting effort into brand new games.

Also, I feel that Gears of War overstayed its welcome. Judgement and 4 are dreadful.

@BRT15 I agree about the principle, but what I’m trying to make clear is that in the Quality mode - I like my games to look good - Jedi Survivor never feels like an unfinished product.

Very interesting game with some very neat mechanics, but ultimately this is the type of game I want to play in coop - and that’s not an option here.

@BRT15 I enjoyed Fallen Order on Game Pass so much that I immediately wanted to have this full price upon release - for the first time for a game in ten years or so.

And I loved every minute of it, 41 hours in. It runs mostly great on Quality mode and oh boy, the story, the characters, the action, sense of discovery and platforming are awesome.

To me, the hatehypetrain is incredibly overrated. It’s an awesome game.

Does this install automatically? Because I don’t see it…

Loving it so far, playing on Quality mode on Series X. Runs smooth, looks great.

Nice! I hope they will also reintroduce a Friends feed option on the homescreen. With achievements progress from all friends. Kind of miss that.

@Amigator That's great to read. How are the difficulty options?

Actually two games I'll fire up. Neat!

@Banjo- Thank you for writing this! Your comment made me buy the game and indeed, it’s clever, fast-paced, and fun!

This means it will be added later to Game Pass. After it made the biggest sales.

Right?

I do really want to try this with friends as soon as it releases, but I'm afraid it won't grab me or friends instantly with the new footage shown, and a second play session may be challenging...

It should be out now, right? Your mentioned 11 am ET should translate to 17.00 in Amsterdam - which it’s been now. Still getting the install prompt though… can’t play yet.

Should be out now… but I still only get the Install prompt instead of being able to race there.

Friendly reminder that a little unknown game called Diablo IV will also be free to play this weekend...

Whoah, there's a Klonoa remake for Xbox? I didn't know!

Kart Rider Drift actually is a fun F2P game - I recommend trying it out!

8 out of 10 sleeper hit incoming!

Oh man, I wanted to love Tunic so bad, but the combat is too cumbersome for me. Not missing it...

Definitely not. There should be one focus only: games, games, games.

It's on sale every time, but definitely pick up Lara Croft and the Temple of Isiris for some great couch co-op gameplay.

Oof, I thought this was the girl from GRIS in the picture, a wonderful - WONDERFUL - platformer I just bought. Recommend it to everyone.

Meanwhile, I'll pass up on these two. Really not my cup of tea.

Well, it should be more skill-based than Hot Wheels, thank goodness…

Apart from all the content you’re already getting pre-installed, you can also get way more cars out of the Downloadable Content section for free. Like the game more than I’d thought.

It's got so many character and love put into it - such a delight to see!

It's robot-and-cell-shading-week on Game Pass! Will try this out for sure.

Seen quite a few friends of mine playing this.

You know, it could be back soon, thanks to a new deal with Microsoft, right?

At this point, I'd be happy with anything less dull than the 'just-go-straight-and-you-race-well-enough' Hot Wheels DLC.

But what really would be awesome? A hommage to the fantastic party racing game Blur, and thus Mario Kart, with real cars... and power-ups. Bring it on!

Only thing new I'm expecting is the announcement of the second Forza Horizon 5 add-on.

Which hopefully, hopefully will be better than the incredibly dull Hot Wheels DLC.

I've done three escapes now, but I can't really motivate myself to play more out of it. It feels more like a repeat over and over than a puzzle I want to unravel more of.

Won't miss The Anacrusis at all. Was looking forward to coop shooters, but this easily is one of the worst games on the service.

My prediction is Hogwarts Legacy will be a big letdown, and Atomic Heart the biggest of surprises. It looks so, so good.

Happy New Year - the year in which Atomic Heart will surprise everyone. I just sense greatness in that game.

Finished Jedi Fallen Order on the last day of the year and will continue to complete it as well.

This weekend has been Lego Star Wars for me mostly, but reading your comments, I’ll try Chained Echoes too.

Beacon Pines. Beautiful little story game with lots of charm.

Happy new year!

My two gaming predictions for 2023:

• Hogwarts Legacy will be the biggest letdown of the year; lifeless, stiff and boring - averaging around 77/100 on Metacritic
• Atomic Heart will rank up 10/10’s and will be contender for GOTY

Sad to not see Beacon Pines on the list. Although I’m liking way more, it’s one of the few games which I finished and completed. Lovely stuff.

Tried it twice, but didn’t work for me. Not my cup of tea.

But if you haven’t played Gorogoa, please do. It’s brilliant!

Wave Break looks like a lot of fun actually.

@themightyant The first hour is very chatter-focused, but once you'll get some extra weapons... for me at least, it became much more fun.

@NEStalgia Don't tell me what I should like or shouldn't. Due to the creative weapons with unique ways to blow up baddies, this is the most original and satisfying shooter I've played in quite some time. The platform elements only throw in extra varieties in how to kill bad guys - I really dig it.

It's remarkable, but I never tend to miss any game that's being removed from Game Pass.