Bartig

I was sucked in (hehehe) The Gunk. It starts off as a sweet adventure with some discovery, but does eventually throw a bit of challenge in. Finished it and enjoyed my time with it. Love the musical score as well.

Tried ArchVale and while this is a game I will end up stuck in because a boss will be too challenging for me, it plays like a charm. Great little game.

And ended the weekend with another online coop session of It Takes Two. Original, wonderful, joyful.

FH5 is something I truly wanted to experience with friends, and I anticipated it so long... to find out it was riddled with online connection issues. It kind of lost the momentum, and FH5 isn't the online games with friends it should have been.

Still had three full days of fun with it though.

Yes, Hades plays like a charm, but unlike so many of those review state, it doesn't make me love roguelikes or roguelites. I loathe the lazy game design, I loathe repeating everything again and again - and Hades doesn't change that.

From the PureXbox GOTY poll a few days ago, I see I'm not the only one with this opinion. It's a runner-up at best on this site.

I loved the playthrough of the frist two chapters last night. It has this beautiful, compact world with just enough sense of exploration - filled with nice interaction between the two main characters and lovely laidback action that controls great.

I WANT IT SO BAD!

It needs to come with the option to select and replay chapters, and I expect it will to make playthroughs doable. It could also mean collecting all the audio logs and extras will be more convenient in coop.

@Kienda 'Finish him' gave me a chuckle.

I'll be trying The Gunk, maybe even Race with Ryan, and Lake. If the latter is any good will depend heavily on the writing... it can either be a total drag or super emotional.

Traffic and multiplayer convoy issues fixes? Alright, let's give it a new try. Again.

It's hard to fully 100% support one game to be the best, as I think all of them have some meh-things about them. Forza has too many online connectivity problems, and as satisfying as Halo Infinite plays, it misses a bit of creativity. So my top 5 would be:

1. It Takes Two
2. Halo Infinite
3. Forza Horizon 5
4. Psychonauts 2
5. Twelve Minutes

I too recommend Firewatch to anyone who likes story-driven games, and if you haven't played What Remains of Edith Finch, please do - it's brilliant.

I will be trying out The Gunk and Lake - even though it may be a little too slow for me. Lodoss War isn't my cup of tea and must be one of the worst gaming titles ever, but looks like a very well executed Castlevania-like!

Oh and one more thing: Race for Ryan looks better than the new Hot Wheels game.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite looks interesting for sure, hope I can gather some friends to play this with - I only could make one of them interested in Back 4 Blood.

Elsewhere in the game there's posters of him giving a musical performance. Must be... rock.

This really is an advice for every game, isn't it? I lost millions, a house and a couple of cars in Forza Horizon 5 after a quick resume as well...

Space Organ rigth after Mind Scanners?

I think some games actually ARE too weird for me.

Whoah, Transient looks pretty good. And so does Wytchwood.

@Magabro Hmm, maybe, although I haven't seen many separate scores for the multiplayer, perhaps becuase it was 'soft-launched' with a kind of beta-vibe.

@Magabro By pulling the online multiplayer loose in a separate F2P entry, I don't think the multiplayer scores count here...

Glad to read! Very curious how it will perform on Xbox One.

A Team Slayer playlist would already be so valuable to me, that I don't really care about the rest.

@Phostachio Yes, Arcade is so hard! You can't finish the third part, if you complete the second one already, that is.

I've had multiple problems with the online multiplayer - hope to gather some friends and seen if they're fixed this evening!

I don't even remember TimeSplitters 2 having a single-player mode and from what I can see, I've never played it. The splitscreen multiplayer modes made this game - brilliant fun!

Back 4 Blood, Alien Fireteam and now Generation Zero! I wish I had more friends into coop online shooters - great stuff!

This looks a fantastic online coop game.

@Microbius Oh that's good to know, time to save some GB's.

Good, but this is merely a sideline for me. Where's the Team Slayer playlist online? I really only want to play modes like Capture the Flag with friends - not with random players.

Interesting. Liked Yes, Your Grace, so will definitely fire this up.

Shame I didn't get to finish Morkredd. Maybe I shouldn't have fired up It Takes Two the last time, that pushed this sweet little coop game away.

If you haven't done so, I wholeheartedly recommend playing Call of the Sea. It's brilliant.

Kingdom Come Deliverance is a unique deal now. That could be worth picking up.

I love Forza Horizon 5, and I think I learnt to play it much better and much more efficient than Forza Horizon 4. I think I bought about 30 cars from the Car show and Market, but I already have 180 cars in the 28 hours I played it.

I feel like I almost finished the game in these 28 hours; opposed to 200 hours in Forza Horizon 4.

Oof, these games were so hard. So hard.

Totally justified to put The Gunk in the spotlight. Looks nice!

Xbox is doing a phenomenal job on compatibility. Not just backwards, but also when it comes to cloud gaming and supporting both current and next-gen platforms.

Mortal Shell looks incredible, much cleaner than the Souls games. It won't be for me I'm sure, as I'm too easily stressed out from hard games, but let's give it a try...

LEGO's Builder's Journey looks great too, by the way, but I found the game to be very boring on Apple Arcade. Placing bricks to get from one point to another is just a bit... cumbersome.

@Medic_Alert Yes! Well, and add some extra lines then. The Bass Arena dude eating his food he ordered during the Skill Song... over and over again.

Not much for me this time, but ey, Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite are still on.

@gollumb82 And yes, this too. I've already heard all the songs on all different radio stations too many times!

The worst part is in the stories, like the Vocho story for instance. They. Just. Take. So. Long.

There's another weird thing with the stories by the way; in half of the challenges, you can just take a totally random route and get there on time minutes ahead of the target.

This is a tough proposition in between COD Warzone and... well... Halo Infinite.

I get that they want to make players really invested in getting rewards and the Battle Pass program, but it feels too much for me. The door is open to a blatant cash grab.

I think it's safe to say that with Halo and Project Gotham Racing, the original Xbox still has the best launch lineup of all. :-X

Also really digged Call of Duty 2 - still the best splitscreen multiplayer shooter on the 360 in my book.

The first and still very best memory of Xbox is getting together with 4 to 8 friends every freaking Saturday. Two Xbox consoles, two tv's, two teams.

Hours and hours of Halo Capture the Flag on Blood Gulch, 4 vs 4 via System Link. So tactical, so ever-surprising, so tense, so much fun.

Can I vote for Forza Horizon 5 multiple times? I'm putting so many hours into it, it hardly compares to other Xbox and Game Pass games.

Level 79 now, 108 cars, entered the Horizon Hall of Fame, finished all road races, almost all roads driven and boards smashed... yeah, I'm enjoying myself quite a bit.

Just my nickname. SCARBIR. There you go.

I love the Anna function when you're looking for barns. Anna will suggest to ask 'Do you know a bar nearby?'

I've already had nearby players pointing out the route to the barn for me, showing me the way. A super nice little interaction with other players.

By the way, tip for everyone: select Auto Lock-Off in the Difficulty settings for more realistic breaking and much more difference in between the handling of cars. Big boost for me!

I checked if the full add-on bundle would grant me early access and when I saw it did, I immediately bought it. Like Forza Horizon 4, I just know I will spend a ton of time in the game and I know it will be well worth the money. And yeah, it is a blast!

Did have some severe connection issues on Saturday though, including one where I lost quite a bit of progress. So when I came back, I had to buy a house again, lost a couple of cars and had to unlock a festival site again. Does anyone else experience this?

@antstephenson Yes please! A Blur-like power-up addition would make a fantastic second expansion!

Amazing review, thank you. I haven't played it myself yet (of course), but it does write about some of the fears I have with FH5, after spending tons of hours into the fourth game.

Love to see you so enthousiastic about the game after finishing it, even with these previous flaws. Will really have to start it sometime soon.

Amazing. I would imagine myself spending some time with Football Manager...

... but not in a month when It Takes Two and Forza Horizon 5 launch. Awesome!

I have a big tv now, but can already see the text is too small and will cause a headache.