@Medic_Alert Yeah exactly, they could definitely draw some inspiration from Dead Space and Alien Isolation in that regard. And just like @Magabro mentioned, having sections where you're attacked by The Flood would be absolutely terrifying. I mean, they're basically the parasites of Halo that will attack people and turn them into zombies.
I feel like at its core, Halo has always had a horror element to it that just hasn't been fully explored yet.
I'd love to see a horror Halo game. As a kid, I always thought Halo 3: ODST was scary, at least in the beginning sections where everything was so dark. Imagine seeing them go all the way with that, they have the perfect setting for it after all, i.e. space and aliens.
@K1LLEGAL Yeah it's definitely a bummer that previous Horizon games have been delisted as I'm sure there are people who discovered this series with the fifth game and want to play the previous ones now. Imagine if Game Pass had access to all five Forza Horizon games, that would be awesome! But alas, licensing and all that..
It does seem like with the help of Game Pass and all the games being on PC that Xbox IPs are finally getting the attention they deserve. The Forza Horizon games have always been so freaking good but it took five games before the series finally reached a wide appeal. Now I'm curious to see how other upcoming Xbox Game Studios titles will be received, such as the Halo Infinite campaign. I mean, for the longest time ever, Xbox IPs haven't had a wide appeal in general in comparison to Nintendo and PlayStation franchises. Like whenever Nintendo or Sony releases a game, tons of people will get it because they know it will always be good. The brands simply hold a high status that anything they release will be compelling to a lot of people. I want that to happen with Xbox because their IPs have been so under-appreciated ever since the beginning, again when compared to Nintendo or PlayStation. So hopefully Forza Horizon 5 is the start of something good for the Xbox brand.
@RavenWolfe81 PS Now is definitely not a good solution for game preservation as you have to pay to access the games. You don't have to pay if you want to play e.g. Timesplitters 2 on your Series X/S if you already own a copy of it. Not to mention that you can't buy the games individually and have access to them forever just like on PC. For example, if I buy Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time on PS3, I can't play it on either PS4 or PS5. But if I buy Binary Domain on 360, I can play it on Xbox One, Series X/S and all future Xbox consoles because Microsoft is focusing now on creating a universal system just like on PC where your purchased games can be accessed on all Xbox systems henceforth. Naturally, because BC was an afterthought for them, they couldn't add all previous Xbox games but the point still remains that if you buy one of the BC games today, you can keep playing it on all Xbox systems from here on out. That's not the case with PlayStation (although that might be with PS4 and onwards at least but not PS1-PS3) and definitely not the case with Nintendo as there's no BC at all.
I'd say a B overall. It was a bit short as I would've liked some Game Pass announcements as well but the pacing was excellent, great mix of people talking and announcements.
I think the issue was poor communication between 343 and Microsoft. The fact that MS wasn't even aware of the game's poor state just months before its release proves that I think. It could be that MS had faith in 343 since they have released multiple Halo games before without any issues and they thought it would be the same with Infinite this time. But the difference now was 343 going for a different approach with Infinite compared to previous Halo games, i.e. the open world aspect. Creating an open world is a major undertaking and I believe that's why Infinite turned out to be in a poor state. Had 343 communicated better with MS, then perhaps the delay wouldn't have happened so close to release. That could also be the reason for why MS decided to get rid of 343 studio head Chris Lee as he would've been responsible for the poor communication.
I'm sure that Microsoft has updated their procedures now and will thoroughly inspect each of their projects before revealing them.
@Krzzystuff That would definitely make the most amount of sense. It is imperative that Spencer chooses someone who's on the same wavelength as him in terms of where the brand should be heading. We don't want another Mattrick incident after all. In that regard, Sarah Bond seems like the most likely candidate.
Will be playing Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on 3DS and Call of Duty: Black Ops on 360. I'm completely addicted to FE, it's such a fun game. Black Ops campaign is also really good, I'm very impressed by the campaigns of the CoD games on 360 in general. So far I've played Ghosts, Modern Warfare 1-3 and now I'm going through Black Ops and they've all been phenomenal.
@Zag_Man I don't really agree because you have to remember that on top of Bethesda, Microsoft also owns Obsidian and InXile now. Not to mention that we're getting a new Fable game soon, so there's going to be plenty of western RPGs to go around on Xbox.
I don't think there will be anything huge announced at this show. It might definitely be worth watching because of e.g. more BC titles being added or some noteworthy Game Pass announcements such as Persona 5 Royal, you know the standard stuff.
I also kinda don't like overhyping events anymore, for obvious reasons but also because I feel like Microsoft is far away from delivering something grandiose as another acquisition or a huge announcement like Ubisoft+ being added to Game Pass Ultimate. This year has just been way too quiet for MS and I think that's going to continue well into 2022.
Will be playing Quantum Break on Xbox One and Final Fantasy 7 on Vita. Absolutely loving both of these games. I'm actually surprised at how in-depth the story of Quantum Break is. Not only are there collectibles where you can read more about the interactions between other characters, but you can also watch a TV show along with playing the game in order to learn more about what the other characters were doing and it's done surprisingly really well. It's definitely the most ambitious Remedy game I've played so far, I'm really enjoying it!
I think we're reaching a point in the gaming industry where most games are going to feel like "more of the same". When they showed off more gameplay of Halo Infinite a while ago, there were people who compared the game to Just Cause/Far Cry or any other Ubisoft game for that matter. The new God of War looks like more of the same, the new Horizon game looks like more of the same and so on. Even a lot of Nintendo's games are honestly more of the same with the key difference being that they aren't released yearly like Forza. For example, before Animal Crossing New Horizons came out, we haven't had a new AC game for seven years. But when it came out, everybody loved it, even though it's also more of the same. It's been such a long time since a new mainline game had come out that it felt fresh to most people.
Sure there can be ways to reinvent the wheel so to speak. You reboot franchises, one example being the recent God of War game. How do you reboot Forza though? Add more story? But that's one of the criticisms for the Forza Horizon games. Add RPG mechanics? Whenever you drive down a road, a random battle will occur where your party of four super cars have to ram against low-leveled muscle cars and when you win you gain EXP and ability points to level up your car parts. Also, you can summon autobots to help you out in the battles.
I jest of course, but really how do you reinvent the formula for a racing game series? I don't see how you can without diminishing the core gameplay. The only solution then is to release the games less frequently so that people will forget how they played like and when they play them they'll feel like fresh games again. That's what Ubisoft did with Assassin's Creed after all.
But yeah, I'm definitely in the boat of people who have played so many games that very little feels fresh to me anymore. And it's going to get even worse as time goes on since we'll just see more of the same games come out.
It's definitely not as exciting to be a gamer now as when it was during the 90s when video games were still new and everything felt fresh. Don't get me wrong, video games have never been better than they are now. It's just that very few games that come out today feel like brand new experiences, while most games felt like that back in the 90s or even early 00s.
Yeah definitely a tough question as I like The Evil Within, Dead Space, Resident Evil and Outlast a lot. I'm probably going to like Silent Hill a lot as well since that franchise seems like right up my alley, but I haven't played it yet so I can't say anything about it.
BioShock was meh in terms of horror as it started out great but then it became just another standard first-person shooter. I also didn't like the first entry in The Dark Pictures, Man of Medan, but I've heard that the later games are better so I'm looking forward to playing those in the future.
Will be mostly playing Final Fantasy 7 on Vita this weekend. For some reason, I'm not in a mood to play any horror games now. So I'm going to go with something more cheerful. I'll also be checking out Mario Party Superstars with some friends.
Might also play Tearaway Unfolded and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and try to wrap up those games.
@Deadcow Yeah and the thing is that I believe the game becomes scary when you start to lose sanity. But what if you never lose sanity, does that mean the game never becomes scary? Where's the fun in that?
I played an hour of Visage and the game isn't really capturing my interest. Exploring the house feels more like a chore than an actual spooky experience as you have to constantly switch between holding candles and the lighter when exploring dark places. Not to mention that sometimes I could be standing in a perfectly lit place and still lose sanity, which makes it even more annoying to explore the house.
The crazy thing is that the trailer makes the game look so much more compelling, which is why I still want to give it another go down the line. Maybe I just need to get past this annoying part in order to get to the actual good stuff.
I played The Medium through Cloud Gaming on my web browser and overall it ran pretty well with some hiccups here and there. I'm definitely excited to give this a try on my Xbox One.
I do wonder though how games like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 will run via Cloud Gaming on Xbox One compared to their native Xbox One versions. It would be very interesting if the Cloud Gaming versions ran much better than the native versions, given you have a good internet connection that is.
Yeah, this wasn't a good tweet to put out because all companies are guilty of certain things in most people's minds. Even if I don't mind that Microsoft bought Bethesda, it is a fact that future games won't arrive on PlayStation and a lot of people won't like that. Even Sony and Nintendo are guilty of a lot of things and it would not be a good look for them either if they started to tweet things like this.
I mean, imagine if Nintendo decided one day to tweet: "The best place to play Nintendo 64 games is on Nintendo Switch". That's a very controversial statement considering how expensive it is to access N64 titles, not to mention that there aren't any cheaper options like only buying one month of Switch Online. Or imagine if Sony tweeted: "It is important to preserve video games", which is also controversial considering they were about to close down the PS3 and Vita stores earlier this year, and they don't offer PS1-PS3 backwards compatibility on PS5.
The point is that companies like Microsoft should be more careful in the future with regards to what they tweet because they shouldn't be highlighting topics that could be associated with them in a negative way.
Will be playing Last Stop, Visage and Quake on Xbox One, Shenmue II on PS4, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on Xbox 360 and Metroid Prime 2 on Wii U. Lots of different games this weekend!
While I obviously don't want traditional games to be replaced by cloud-based titles, I still think it would be cool to experience games like this in the future. I think the potential is beyond our current understanding, like imagine being able to play in a world that's constantly changing while you're not playing it. That's kinda like how Death Stranding was, i.e. you could be building half-finished roads and the next day you find out that some other people on the server finished the roads for you. The potential is simply limitless and this could pave the way for gaming on a completely different level. I'm definitely going to follow projects like this one with great interest.
Worth mentioning for Game Pass members who have been playing through the Telltale Walking Dead games like I have that The Final Season is now on sale for roughly €12. Considering that it's not on Game Pass for some reason, it's good to know that you can get it for a cheap price for those looking to wrap up this series.
@Tharsman Ok, so their last big move was back in May 2020 with Elder Scrolls Blades on Switch, several months before they were acquired by Microsoft. No other F2P games were planned to come out at that point and we know that because Microsoft doesn't get involved with the existing projects of acquired studios.
I'm not putting too much weight on the reputation thing at all. Do you not follow Microsoft, like at all? They are one of the few companies that are actually trying to establish a good reputation and they have the luxury of doing that because they are one of the wealthiest companies in the world. That's why reputation is a VERY important topic for them, so don't try to downplay that argument.
Again, I'm not putting too much weight on F2P at all. That's what Ubisoft has openly stated, they want to make more F2P titles. They are using the Tom Clancy brand to put out a game like XDefiant, and their next major Ghost Recon game is a F2P multiplayer title. You keep talking about Ubisoft having all these incredible IPs, but then you see them turn their franchises into a shell of their former selves. How exactly is that promising for their other IPs? Why should I want Ubisoft to be acquired just to get more F2P games? It doesn't benefit me as a consumer at all.
@Tharsman Once again, you don't seem to understand the issues that would arise for Microsoft if they acquired a company that has a poor reputation. If they absorb Ubisoft, people will start to associate Microsoft with sexual harassment and toxic culture because Ubisoft is a part of them now. On the other hand, Ubisoft games are already on Xbox. Putting them on Game Pass won't change anything in terms of Microsoft's reputation.
I don't really get your argument with ZeniMax. They "were" headed there, i.e. past tense. They're not heading there now and they weren't heading there when Microsoft acquired them. It's all about how you present your company's roadmap. Right now Ubisoft is basically telling everyone that they want to make more F2P games with their core franchises. So why should Microsoft invest in a company like that? That's clearly not a roadmap that aligns with Microsoft's aspirations, which is to add tons of exclusive games on Game Pass in order to increase its value proposition. If Ubisoft's games are F2P, then what's the point of adding them to Game Pass?
As for roadmaps changing, there's clearly no indication of that right now so you can't really use that as an argument because we don't have any information that they have changed their mind.
Ah yes, some of the biggest IPs turned into F2P games. I'm sure everyone wants that.
As of right now, Ubisoft is not a compelling acquisition due to questionable choices to their software output. It does not benefit Microsoft in long-term to acquire a company that will produce F2P games that add no value to Game Pass, which is the whole point of the acquisition spree if you didn't realise that. The only reason Microsoft is buying up studios is to bolster the Game Pass library, nothing else. If Game Pass didn't exist, Microsoft wouldn't be buying up studios now. So you're telling me that Microsoft is going to buy up Ubisoft and have them make F2P games that you don't need Game Pass to play? How does that make any sense?
On top of all this, there's the issue with Ubisoft's culture and that's not going to change anytime soon. Damaged reputation takes time to repair and because Microsoft is so strict about their reputation, they won't get anywhere near Ubisoft in terms of an acquisition.
@Tharsman The toxic culture at Ubisoft is extensive, there's not going to be any significant changes after only one year. These things take time and acquiring the publisher now would not be a good look for Microsoft. It doesn't matter if you get rid of the managers, the damage to the company's reputation has already been done and it's way too early for Microsoft to want to be associated with Ubisoft like this. A partnership to add more Ubisoft titles on Game Pass is fine, but an acquisition is out of the question.
I don't think you understand the difference between ZeniMax's and Ubisoft's approaches. ZeniMax hasn't turned their core franchises into F2P multiplayer titles, games like Fallout Shelter and Elder Scrolls Blades are side projects. On the other hand, Ubisoft has publicly stated that they're going to focus on making more F2P titles of their core franchises along with the standard AAA games: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2021/02/ubisoft_to_focus_more_on_free-to-play_games_alongside_aaa_experiences
"but going forward [Ubisoft] will be moving away from that model to cater to more free-to-play games, which it believes is a model the gaming industry is heading towards."
In other words, they are taking core franchises like Ghost Recon and turning them into F2P titles. These are not side projects, these are the main games. If this is the direction they're heading, I don't want Microsoft to acquire them just so that we can get more generic F2P games on Xbox. Not to mention that since they are F2P, they wouldn't provide any additional value to Game Pass.
So what exactly would Ubisoft have to offer Microsoft going forward? F2P games? Negative press? I'm sorry, but if I were Phil Spencer, I would steer away from the topic of acquiring Ubisoft as of right now.
@FraserG Yeah, I thought that was the case. For a split second though, I thought you managed to put together an article in just ten minutes after I sent you that tip, lol. I was like wow, you guys work very fast! Haha.
@OliverOwen I also wanted Microsoft to acquire Ubisoft before but not anymore, unfortunately. The primary reason being of course all the negative things going on at Ubisoft, such as the sexual harassment. Microsoft is strongly against these sorts of things and I highly doubt they'd want to acquire Ubisoft now that these stories are out. They don't want to damage their public image, which they care about a lot.
The secondary reason is that Ubisoft is starting to focus more on developing free-to-play multiplayer games rather than actual single-player titles. If we're going to keep seeing games like Ghost Recon Frontline and XDefiant in the future, then I'd rather want them to stay away as far as possible from Microsoft.
I think one of the most interesting things said in the WSJ article is that Microsoft only had five studios before the acquisition spree and now they have a whopping 23. That's just so crazy to me.
In terms of the next acquisition, surely it will have to be another big one like ZeniMax. Hopefully this time around though it's a Japanese publisher, even though I'm fully aware that it's difficult for a foreign company like Microsoft to acquire large companies in Japan. The most interesting ones would be SEGA, Square Enix or Capcom I think. Even though we haven't heard about Capcom wanting to be sold off, there was a rumour earlier this year about Square Enix wanting to be acquired and SEGA has encountered financial issues in the past year so they might also be considering being acquired. Either way, all three publishers have lots of recognisable IPs and most importantly they appeal to a Japanese audience so that would definitely help Microsoft to bolster its offerings on Game Pass.
We've been waiting for so many years to hear what Compulsion is working on next and it's great to finally hear about their next project! A third-person story game honestly sounds great, we definitely need more of those on Xbox. Very excited for this, I might have to give We Happy Few a go soon as well.
@elpardo1984 I have to agree with you. While I personally don't have an interest in Killer Instinct, I think a title that mixes KI characters and other Xbox IPs would be a brilliant idea. It would definitely make me more interested in the series. I mean, just look at how much attention Mortal Kombat is getting due to all the guest characters such as the Terminator or Rambo.
Imagine having Master Chief fight off against Doomguy, Dovahkiin or even Senua. There's so much potential for a great fighting game crossover here!
Wow that's a lot of games from my watchlist that are going to leave. Luckily, I already own Celeste on my Switch so there's no rush for me to play it now.
Has anyone played through Carto and Knights & Bikes and would recommend playing them before they leave? I'm also on the fence of giving the first Five Nights at Freddy's a go since I've never played this series before, but the gameplay just doesn't appeal to me at all. Looks very stressful in fact.
Will be playing Psychonauts 2, Superliminal and DOOM 64 on Xbox One, Team Sonic Racing on PS4 and Metroid Dread on Switch.
I'm nearing the end of Psychonauts 2 so I'm hoping that I'll be able to wrap it up this weekend. On the side, I'll be going through Superliminal, which is a brilliant puzzle game, and resuming my playthrough of DOOM 64. For some reason, I just haven't been in the mood to play DOOM 64 every time I've started it up. But now I'm enjoying it a lot, it's a great game and hopefully I can finish it up soon.
I might also start up other titles on Game Pass, such as Visage since I'm now done with The Evil Within and need another horror game to play.
All things considered, those are some impressive numbers. I'm more interested though to see how many people from Japan are subscribed to Game Pass considering you don't need an Xbox to use the service. I think that would be a better indication of how well Microsoft is faring in Japan.
@BulkSlash Got it, I'll keep a more open mind for the second game then. On a side note, I loved both SR3 and SR4 but SR1 just felt incredibly underwhelming to me.
@Originut I mean, the activities are fun for the first few times but they don't offer enough depth for you to keep coming back and doing them. But you have to do them in order to unlock the next story missions and so it just becomes a needless grind at that point.
@FriendlyOctopus You know what I find funny? I played the first Saints Row a couple of weeks ago and I quit playing it after an hour because it was so boring. You're forced to do repetitive activities in order to gain more reputation and rise up in rank so that you can unlock the next story missions. Then the story missions themselves aren't anything special, they're just more repetitive things to do. On top of that, the characters are incredibly cringey. I genuinely don't see why people would want the series to be more like these first games.
The new game already looks a lot more fun than the first Saints Row and will most likely offer a better story than that game.
@stinkyx Oh for sure, but I don't think Microsoft wouldn't want Tango to make a third game. This is an established franchise and Microsoft is going to need to rely on these in the near future in order to attract a lot of consumers for Game Pass. So when people hear that a third game is coming out and the first two are available on GP, it's going to garner a lot of attention for the service.
@Odium You definitely have to be in the right mood for it. There are so many things that can make it a sour experience: it can be very challenging, it's a very long game (around 20 hours long), the boss fights and certain segments can be frustrating as you can die in one hit during these moments and so on. Taking your time with the game is very important so that you can gather as many resources as possible. Not to mention embracing that it's a slow-paced game so that you don't get impatient trying to reach the end.
If you manage to find yourself in the right mood, then you'll have one of the best survival horror experiences ever. There's so much high quality content here, the gameplay loop is so in-depth and the environment variety is genuinely impressive. Every possible environment that you can imagine in a horror game is here. I'm still amazed at how much great content they put in this game.
I finished the first The Evil Within a couple of days ago and it's become my favourite horror game of all time. I'm currently playing through the DLCs now before putting away this game and they're great as well. I'm very excited to play the sequel down the line.
Microsoft acquiring this IP is seriously a huge win for Xbox owners. Having a phenomenal horror franchise like this exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem is incredible.
I'm fairly certain that Game Pass has already hit 30 million subscribers, Microsoft are just waiting to announce the actual number next month during the 20th anniversary of Xbox in order to tie in this accomplishment with the celebrations.
Man, going through this article really takes me back to the 360 days. I still have tons of games left to play on the system, so I'm not going to run out of titles to play anytime soon!
Will be playing The Evil Within on PS4 and Metroid Dread on Switch, i.e. a lot of scary games this weekend! If I manage to finish up The Evil Within early I might check out some Game Pass titles such as Visage (more horror!) and maybe finish up Psychonauts 2.
@GamingFan4Lyf "Developers can spend more time coming up with engaging content, rather than having to rebuild a whole new world every time."
Exactly! And yeah, I get that a lot of the stuff is reused but there's still a lot of new stuff being added such as the Yokohama district in Like a Dragon. I'm not proclaiming to be an expert on game development but I think it's impressive that they are able to create a new story, add tons of new substories, make new areas and just in general add more new content in such a short time while also working on other games concurrently. I'm certain Like a Dragon and Lost Judgment were in development at the same time, with different starting points obviously.
But yeah, in this day and age where it takes 4-5 years for games to come out, I think it's awesome to see yearly releases from this developer. Not all games need to be crafted from the ground up. By reusing assets, the developer can pump out games faster and give us more of the content that we love.
I'm just amazed at how fast they are able to push out these games. It feels like we're getting a new game from this developer every year since Yakuza 0 in 2017. Like a Dragon came out last year, Lost Judgment came out just a few weeks ago and we're most likely going to get the sequel to Like a Dragon either next year or the following one, which is impressive either way.
This shouldn't come as a surprise though. Didn't Ubisoft state a while back that they were going to focus on making more F2P titles? This is apparently the path they're going to take from here on out with some of their franchises, which is definitely unfortunate.
@Fiendish-Beaver I think it's rather simple. Ask yourself: are you bored of the Far Cry formula?
If yes, then don't play this game.
If no, then by all means give it a go.
It does seem like a lot of the negative aspect stems from experiencing the same formula over and over again, which will happen with any franchise. It's definitely not exclusive to Ubisoft franchises. I've gotten bored by series such as Uncharted, New Super Mario Bros and so on, but plenty of other people like those games. Am I bored of Far Cry? Nope, at least not yet. I finished Far Cry 3 earlier this year and I'm looking forward to playing Far Cry 4 next. For some reason, Ubisoft games don't bore me as much as they do to other people. Maybe it's because the formula resonates with me, I like open world experiences with a decent story and fun gameplay.
I'm definitely looking forward to giving Far Cry 6 a go when I eventually get to that game. From what I've seen, both the story and the gameplay look very compelling to me.
Wow, didn't expect Visage to be added to the service! I've had this game on my watchlist for a while now as I've heard a lot of great things about it. It's apparently first-person psychological horror where you explore a house, kinda like P.T. I'm definitely considering now buying a month of Game Pass on Thursday so that I can play this game but also finish up Psychonauts 2 and play a bunch of other titles as well.
Comments 962
Re: 343 Reportedly Working On New Project 'That Isn't Halo Infinite'
@Medic_Alert Yeah exactly, they could definitely draw some inspiration from Dead Space and Alien Isolation in that regard. And just like @Magabro mentioned, having sections where you're attacked by The Flood would be absolutely terrifying. I mean, they're basically the parasites of Halo that will attack people and turn them into zombies.
I feel like at its core, Halo has always had a horror element to it that just hasn't been fully explored yet.
Re: 343 Reportedly Working On New Project 'That Isn't Halo Infinite'
I'd love to see a horror Halo game. As a kid, I always thought Halo 3: ODST was scary, at least in the beginning sections where everything was so dark. Imagine seeing them go all the way with that, they have the perfect setting for it after all, i.e. space and aliens.
Re: Forza Horizon 5 Celebrates 10 Million Players, Biggest Launch In Xbox History
@K1LLEGAL Yeah it's definitely a bummer that previous Horizon games have been delisted as I'm sure there are people who discovered this series with the fifth game and want to play the previous ones now. Imagine if Game Pass had access to all five Forza Horizon games, that would be awesome! But alas, licensing and all that..
Re: Forza Horizon 5 Celebrates 10 Million Players, Biggest Launch In Xbox History
It does seem like with the help of Game Pass and all the games being on PC that Xbox IPs are finally getting the attention they deserve. The Forza Horizon games have always been so freaking good but it took five games before the series finally reached a wide appeal. Now I'm curious to see how other upcoming Xbox Game Studios titles will be received, such as the Halo Infinite campaign. I mean, for the longest time ever, Xbox IPs haven't had a wide appeal in general in comparison to Nintendo and PlayStation franchises. Like whenever Nintendo or Sony releases a game, tons of people will get it because they know it will always be good. The brands simply hold a high status that anything they release will be compelling to a lot of people. I want that to happen with Xbox because their IPs have been so under-appreciated ever since the beginning, again when compared to Nintendo or PlayStation. So hopefully Forza Horizon 5 is the start of something good for the Xbox brand.
Re: Phil Spencer Calls For Industry-Wide Support Of Emulation To Preserve Video Games
@RavenWolfe81 PS Now is definitely not a good solution for game preservation as you have to pay to access the games. You don't have to pay if you want to play e.g. Timesplitters 2 on your Series X/S if you already own a copy of it. Not to mention that you can't buy the games individually and have access to them forever just like on PC. For example, if I buy Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time on PS3, I can't play it on either PS4 or PS5. But if I buy Binary Domain on 360, I can play it on Xbox One, Series X/S and all future Xbox consoles because Microsoft is focusing now on creating a universal system just like on PC where your purchased games can be accessed on all Xbox systems henceforth. Naturally, because BC was an afterthought for them, they couldn't add all previous Xbox games but the point still remains that if you buy one of the BC games today, you can keep playing it on all Xbox systems from here on out. That's not the case with PlayStation (although that might be with PS4 and onwards at least but not PS1-PS3) and definitely not the case with Nintendo as there's no BC at all.
Re: Poll: How Would You Grade Xbox's 20th Anniversary Celebration Event?
I'd say a B overall. It was a bit short as I would've liked some Game Pass announcements as well but the pacing was excellent, great mix of people talking and announcements.
Re: Phil Spencer Criticises How Xbox Handled The Halo Infinite Delay
I think the issue was poor communication between 343 and Microsoft. The fact that MS wasn't even aware of the game's poor state just months before its release proves that I think. It could be that MS had faith in 343 since they have released multiple Halo games before without any issues and they thought it would be the same with Infinite this time. But the difference now was 343 going for a different approach with Infinite compared to previous Halo games, i.e. the open world aspect. Creating an open world is a major undertaking and I believe that's why Infinite turned out to be in a poor state. Had 343 communicated better with MS, then perhaps the delay wouldn't have happened so close to release. That could also be the reason for why MS decided to get rid of 343 studio head Chris Lee as he would've been responsible for the poor communication.
I'm sure that Microsoft has updated their procedures now and will thoroughly inspect each of their projects before revealing them.
Re: Microsoft Is Pushing Xbox's Phil Spencer To Think About Succession
@Krzzystuff That would definitely make the most amount of sense. It is imperative that Spencer chooses someone who's on the same wavelength as him in terms of where the brand should be heading. We don't want another Mattrick incident after all. In that regard, Sarah Bond seems like the most likely candidate.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 13-14)
Will be playing Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones on 3DS and Call of Duty: Black Ops on 360. I'm completely addicted to FE, it's such a fun game. Black Ops campaign is also really good, I'm very impressed by the campaigns of the CoD games on 360 in general. So far I've played Ghosts, Modern Warfare 1-3 and now I'm going through Black Ops and they've all been phenomenal.
Re: Bethesda Has A Plan For Fallout 5, But Don't Expect It Anytime Soon
@Zag_Man I'm not talking about Fallout, I'm talking about all the western RPGs that are lined up to come out:
Starfield
Avowed
The Outer Worlds 2
Fable
InXile's first-person RPG
Elder Scrolls VI
Microsoft doesn't need series like Fallout to come out more often considering there are already plenty of western RPGs coming to Xbox.
Re: Bethesda Has A Plan For Fallout 5, But Don't Expect It Anytime Soon
@Zag_Man I don't really agree because you have to remember that on top of Bethesda, Microsoft also owns Obsidian and InXile now. Not to mention that we're getting a new Fable game soon, so there's going to be plenty of western RPGs to go around on Xbox.
Re: Rumour: Xbox Fans Will 'Definitely' Want To Watch The 20th Anniversary Show
I don't think there will be anything huge announced at this show. It might definitely be worth watching because of e.g. more BC titles being added or some noteworthy Game Pass announcements such as Persona 5 Royal, you know the standard stuff.
I also kinda don't like overhyping events anymore, for obvious reasons but also because I feel like Microsoft is far away from delivering something grandiose as another acquisition or a huge announcement like Ubisoft+ being added to Game Pass Ultimate. This year has just been way too quiet for MS and I think that's going to continue well into 2022.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (November 6-7)
Will be playing Quantum Break on Xbox One and Final Fantasy 7 on Vita. Absolutely loving both of these games. I'm actually surprised at how in-depth the story of Quantum Break is. Not only are there collectibles where you can read more about the interactions between other characters, but you can also watch a TV show along with playing the game in order to learn more about what the other characters were doing and it's done surprisingly really well. It's definitely the most ambitious Remedy game I've played so far, I'm really enjoying it!
Re: Review: Forza Horizon 5 - An Amazing Game, But One That's A Little Too Familiar
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Re: Review: Forza Horizon 5 - An Amazing Game, But One That's A Little Too Familiar
I think we're reaching a point in the gaming industry where most games are going to feel like "more of the same". When they showed off more gameplay of Halo Infinite a while ago, there were people who compared the game to Just Cause/Far Cry or any other Ubisoft game for that matter. The new God of War looks like more of the same, the new Horizon game looks like more of the same and so on. Even a lot of Nintendo's games are honestly more of the same with the key difference being that they aren't released yearly like Forza. For example, before Animal Crossing New Horizons came out, we haven't had a new AC game for seven years. But when it came out, everybody loved it, even though it's also more of the same. It's been such a long time since a new mainline game had come out that it felt fresh to most people.
Sure there can be ways to reinvent the wheel so to speak. You reboot franchises, one example being the recent God of War game. How do you reboot Forza though? Add more story? But that's one of the criticisms for the Forza Horizon games. Add RPG mechanics? Whenever you drive down a road, a random battle will occur where your party of four super cars have to ram against low-leveled muscle cars and when you win you gain EXP and ability points to level up your car parts. Also, you can summon autobots to help you out in the battles.
I jest of course, but really how do you reinvent the formula for a racing game series? I don't see how you can without diminishing the core gameplay. The only solution then is to release the games less frequently so that people will forget how they played like and when they play them they'll feel like fresh games again. That's what Ubisoft did with Assassin's Creed after all.
But yeah, I'm definitely in the boat of people who have played so many games that very little feels fresh to me anymore. And it's going to get even worse as time goes on since we'll just see more of the same games come out.
It's definitely not as exciting to be a gamer now as when it was during the 90s when video games were still new and everything felt fresh. Don't get me wrong, video games have never been better than they are now. It's just that very few games that come out today feel like brand new experiences, while most games felt like that back in the 90s or even early 00s.
Re: Pick One: Which Of These Horror Franchises Is Your Favourite?
Yeah definitely a tough question as I like The Evil Within, Dead Space, Resident Evil and Outlast a lot. I'm probably going to like Silent Hill a lot as well since that franchise seems like right up my alley, but I haven't played it yet so I can't say anything about it.
BioShock was meh in terms of horror as it started out great but then it became just another standard first-person shooter. I also didn't like the first entry in The Dark Pictures, Man of Medan, but I've heard that the later games are better so I'm looking forward to playing those in the future.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 30-31)
Will be mostly playing Final Fantasy 7 on Vita this weekend. For some reason, I'm not in a mood to play any horror games now. So I'm going to go with something more cheerful. I'll also be checking out Mario Party Superstars with some friends.
Might also play Tearaway Unfolded and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax and try to wrap up those games.
Re: Visage Gets 'Enhanced Edition' For Xbox Series X|S, Now Available With Game Pass
@Deadcow Yeah and the thing is that I believe the game becomes scary when you start to lose sanity. But what if you never lose sanity, does that mean the game never becomes scary? Where's the fun in that?
Re: Visage Gets 'Enhanced Edition' For Xbox Series X|S, Now Available With Game Pass
I played an hour of Visage and the game isn't really capturing my interest. Exploring the house feels more like a chore than an actual spooky experience as you have to constantly switch between holding candles and the lighter when exploring dark places. Not to mention that sometimes I could be standing in a perfectly lit place and still lose sanity, which makes it even more annoying to explore the house.
The crazy thing is that the trailer makes the game look so much more compelling, which is why I still want to give it another go down the line. Maybe I just need to get past this annoying part in order to get to the actual good stuff.
Re: Xbox Insiders Have Started Testing Series X|S Games On Xbox One
I played The Medium through Cloud Gaming on my web browser and overall it ran pretty well with some hiccups here and there. I'm definitely excited to give this a try on my Xbox One.
I do wonder though how games like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5 will run via Cloud Gaming on Xbox One compared to their native Xbox One versions. It would be very interesting if the Cloud Gaming versions ran much better than the native versions, given you have a good internet connection that is.
Re: Xbox's Comments About 'Gatekeeping' Are Met With Heavy Criticism
Yeah, this wasn't a good tweet to put out because all companies are guilty of certain things in most people's minds. Even if I don't mind that Microsoft bought Bethesda, it is a fact that future games won't arrive on PlayStation and a lot of people won't like that. Even Sony and Nintendo are guilty of a lot of things and it would not be a good look for them either if they started to tweet things like this.
I mean, imagine if Nintendo decided one day to tweet: "The best place to play Nintendo 64 games is on Nintendo Switch". That's a very controversial statement considering how expensive it is to access N64 titles, not to mention that there aren't any cheaper options like only buying one month of Switch Online. Or imagine if Sony tweeted: "It is important to preserve video games", which is also controversial considering they were about to close down the PS3 and Vita stores earlier this year, and they don't offer PS1-PS3 backwards compatibility on PS5.
The point is that companies like Microsoft should be more careful in the future with regards to what they tweet because they shouldn't be highlighting topics that could be associated with them in a negative way.
Re: New Halo Infinite Campaign Footage Is Here, And It Looks Awesome
I'm glad that they showed off more of the open world aspect. It looks really fun, can't wait to play it!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 23-24)
Will be playing Last Stop, Visage and Quake on Xbox One, Shenmue II on PS4, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax on Xbox 360 and Metroid Prime 2 on Wii U. Lots of different games this weekend!
Re: Xbox Reportedly Working On Cloud MMO With Developer Mainframe
While I obviously don't want traditional games to be replaced by cloud-based titles, I still think it would be cool to experience games like this in the future. I think the potential is beyond our current understanding, like imagine being able to play in a world that's constantly changing while you're not playing it. That's kinda like how Death Stranding was, i.e. you could be building half-finished roads and the next day you find out that some other people on the server finished the roads for you. The potential is simply limitless and this could pave the way for gaming on a completely different level. I'm definitely going to follow projects like this one with great interest.
Re: Deals: Xbox Shocktober Sale Now Live, 200+ Games Included
Worth mentioning for Game Pass members who have been playing through the Telltale Walking Dead games like I have that The Final Season is now on sale for roughly €12. Considering that it's not on Game Pass for some reason, it's good to know that you can get it for a cheap price for those looking to wrap up this series.
Re: Phil Spencer Again Reiterates That Xbox Is 'Not Done' With Acquisitions
@Tharsman Ok, so their last big move was back in May 2020 with Elder Scrolls Blades on Switch, several months before they were acquired by Microsoft. No other F2P games were planned to come out at that point and we know that because Microsoft doesn't get involved with the existing projects of acquired studios.
I'm not putting too much weight on the reputation thing at all. Do you not follow Microsoft, like at all? They are one of the few companies that are actually trying to establish a good reputation and they have the luxury of doing that because they are one of the wealthiest companies in the world. That's why reputation is a VERY important topic for them, so don't try to downplay that argument.
Again, I'm not putting too much weight on F2P at all. That's what Ubisoft has openly stated, they want to make more F2P titles. They are using the Tom Clancy brand to put out a game like XDefiant, and their next major Ghost Recon game is a F2P multiplayer title. You keep talking about Ubisoft having all these incredible IPs, but then you see them turn their franchises into a shell of their former selves. How exactly is that promising for their other IPs? Why should I want Ubisoft to be acquired just to get more F2P games? It doesn't benefit me as a consumer at all.
Re: Phil Spencer Again Reiterates That Xbox Is 'Not Done' With Acquisitions
@Tharsman Once again, you don't seem to understand the issues that would arise for Microsoft if they acquired a company that has a poor reputation. If they absorb Ubisoft, people will start to associate Microsoft with sexual harassment and toxic culture because Ubisoft is a part of them now. On the other hand, Ubisoft games are already on Xbox. Putting them on Game Pass won't change anything in terms of Microsoft's reputation.
I don't really get your argument with ZeniMax. They "were" headed there, i.e. past tense. They're not heading there now and they weren't heading there when Microsoft acquired them. It's all about how you present your company's roadmap. Right now Ubisoft is basically telling everyone that they want to make more F2P games with their core franchises. So why should Microsoft invest in a company like that? That's clearly not a roadmap that aligns with Microsoft's aspirations, which is to add tons of exclusive games on Game Pass in order to increase its value proposition. If Ubisoft's games are F2P, then what's the point of adding them to Game Pass?
As for roadmaps changing, there's clearly no indication of that right now so you can't really use that as an argument because we don't have any information that they have changed their mind.
Ah yes, some of the biggest IPs turned into F2P games. I'm sure everyone wants that.
As of right now, Ubisoft is not a compelling acquisition due to questionable choices to their software output. It does not benefit Microsoft in long-term to acquire a company that will produce F2P games that add no value to Game Pass, which is the whole point of the acquisition spree if you didn't realise that. The only reason Microsoft is buying up studios is to bolster the Game Pass library, nothing else. If Game Pass didn't exist, Microsoft wouldn't be buying up studios now. So you're telling me that Microsoft is going to buy up Ubisoft and have them make F2P games that you don't need Game Pass to play? How does that make any sense?
On top of all this, there's the issue with Ubisoft's culture and that's not going to change anytime soon. Damaged reputation takes time to repair and because Microsoft is so strict about their reputation, they won't get anywhere near Ubisoft in terms of an acquisition.
Re: Phil Spencer Again Reiterates That Xbox Is 'Not Done' With Acquisitions
@Tharsman The toxic culture at Ubisoft is extensive, there's not going to be any significant changes after only one year. These things take time and acquiring the publisher now would not be a good look for Microsoft. It doesn't matter if you get rid of the managers, the damage to the company's reputation has already been done and it's way too early for Microsoft to want to be associated with Ubisoft like this. A partnership to add more Ubisoft titles on Game Pass is fine, but an acquisition is out of the question.
I don't think you understand the difference between ZeniMax's and Ubisoft's approaches. ZeniMax hasn't turned their core franchises into F2P multiplayer titles, games like Fallout Shelter and Elder Scrolls Blades are side projects. On the other hand, Ubisoft has publicly stated that they're going to focus on making more F2P titles of their core franchises along with the standard AAA games: https://www.purexbox.com/news/2021/02/ubisoft_to_focus_more_on_free-to-play_games_alongside_aaa_experiences
"but going forward [Ubisoft] will be moving away from that model to cater to more free-to-play games, which it believes is a model the gaming industry is heading towards."
In other words, they are taking core franchises like Ghost Recon and turning them into F2P titles. These are not side projects, these are the main games. If this is the direction they're heading, I don't want Microsoft to acquire them just so that we can get more generic F2P games on Xbox. Not to mention that since they are F2P, they wouldn't provide any additional value to Game Pass.
So what exactly would Ubisoft have to offer Microsoft going forward? F2P games? Negative press? I'm sorry, but if I were Phil Spencer, I would steer away from the topic of acquiring Ubisoft as of right now.
Re: Phil Spencer Again Reiterates That Xbox Is 'Not Done' With Acquisitions
@FraserG Yeah, I thought that was the case. For a split second though, I thought you managed to put together an article in just ten minutes after I sent you that tip, lol. I was like wow, you guys work very fast! Haha.
Re: Phil Spencer Again Reiterates That Xbox Is 'Not Done' With Acquisitions
@OliverOwen I also wanted Microsoft to acquire Ubisoft before but not anymore, unfortunately. The primary reason being of course all the negative things going on at Ubisoft, such as the sexual harassment. Microsoft is strongly against these sorts of things and I highly doubt they'd want to acquire Ubisoft now that these stories are out. They don't want to damage their public image, which they care about a lot.
The secondary reason is that Ubisoft is starting to focus more on developing free-to-play multiplayer games rather than actual single-player titles. If we're going to keep seeing games like Ghost Recon Frontline and XDefiant in the future, then I'd rather want them to stay away as far as possible from Microsoft.
Re: Phil Spencer Again Reiterates That Xbox Is 'Not Done' With Acquisitions
I think one of the most interesting things said in the WSJ article is that Microsoft only had five studios before the acquisition spree and now they have a whopping 23. That's just so crazy to me.
In terms of the next acquisition, surely it will have to be another big one like ZeniMax. Hopefully this time around though it's a Japanese publisher, even though I'm fully aware that it's difficult for a foreign company like Microsoft to acquire large companies in Japan. The most interesting ones would be SEGA, Square Enix or Capcom I think. Even though we haven't heard about Capcom wanting to be sold off, there was a rumour earlier this year about Square Enix wanting to be acquired and SEGA has encountered financial issues in the past year so they might also be considering being acquired. Either way, all three publishers have lots of recognisable IPs and most importantly they appeal to a Japanese audience so that would definitely help Microsoft to bolster its offerings on Game Pass.
Re: Xbox's Compulsion Games Is Working On A New Third-Person Single-Player Game
We've been waiting for so many years to hear what Compulsion is working on next and it's great to finally hear about their next project! A third-person story game honestly sounds great, we definitely need more of those on Xbox. Very excited for this, I might have to give We Happy Few a go soon as well.
Re: Rumour: A New Killer Instinct Is In Active Development For Xbox
@elpardo1984 I have to agree with you. While I personally don't have an interest in Killer Instinct, I think a title that mixes KI characters and other Xbox IPs would be a brilliant idea. It would definitely make me more interested in the series. I mean, just look at how much attention Mortal Kombat is getting due to all the guest characters such as the Terminator or Rambo.
Imagine having Master Chief fight off against Doomguy, Dovahkiin or even Senua. There's so much potential for a great fighting game crossover here!
Re: Another Ten Games Will Leave Xbox Game Pass Soon (October 31)
Wow that's a lot of games from my watchlist that are going to leave. Luckily, I already own Celeste on my Switch so there's no rush for me to play it now.
Has anyone played through Carto and Knights & Bikes and would recommend playing them before they leave? I'm also on the fence of giving the first Five Nights at Freddy's a go since I've never played this series before, but the gameplay just doesn't appeal to me at all. Looks very stressful in fact.
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 16-17)
Will be playing Psychonauts 2, Superliminal and DOOM 64 on Xbox One, Team Sonic Racing on PS4 and Metroid Dread on Switch.
I'm nearing the end of Psychonauts 2 so I'm hoping that I'll be able to wrap it up this weekend. On the side, I'll be going through Superliminal, which is a brilliant puzzle game, and resuming my playthrough of DOOM 64. For some reason, I just haven't been in the mood to play DOOM 64 every time I've started it up. But now I'm enjoying it a lot, it's a great game and hopefully I can finish it up soon.
I might also start up other titles on Game Pass, such as Visage since I'm now done with The Evil Within and need another horror game to play.
Re: Xbox Series X|S Has Now Sold Over 100,000 Units In Japan
All things considered, those are some impressive numbers. I'm more interested though to see how many people from Japan are subscribed to Game Pass considering you don't need an Xbox to use the service. I think that would be a better indication of how well Microsoft is faring in Japan.
Re: New Saints Row Gameplay Focuses On High Octane Driving And Fast-Paced Combat
@BulkSlash Got it, I'll keep a more open mind for the second game then. On a side note, I loved both SR3 and SR4 but SR1 just felt incredibly underwhelming to me.
Re: New Saints Row Gameplay Focuses On High Octane Driving And Fast-Paced Combat
@Originut I mean, the activities are fun for the first few times but they don't offer enough depth for you to keep coming back and doing them. But you have to do them in order to unlock the next story missions and so it just becomes a needless grind at that point.
Re: New Saints Row Gameplay Focuses On High Octane Driving And Fast-Paced Combat
@FriendlyOctopus You know what I find funny? I played the first Saints Row a couple of weeks ago and I quit playing it after an hour because it was so boring. You're forced to do repetitive activities in order to gain more reputation and rise up in rank so that you can unlock the next story missions. Then the story missions themselves aren't anything special, they're just more repetitive things to do. On top of that, the characters are incredibly cringey. I genuinely don't see why people would want the series to be more like these first games.
The new game already looks a lot more fun than the first Saints Row and will most likely offer a better story than that game.
Re: Bethesda Celebrates The Evil Within Series’ Spooky Anniversary
@stinkyx Oh for sure, but I don't think Microsoft wouldn't want Tango to make a third game. This is an established franchise and Microsoft is going to need to rely on these in the near future in order to attract a lot of consumers for Game Pass. So when people hear that a third game is coming out and the first two are available on GP, it's going to garner a lot of attention for the service.
Re: Bethesda Celebrates The Evil Within Series’ Spooky Anniversary
@Odium You definitely have to be in the right mood for it. There are so many things that can make it a sour experience: it can be very challenging, it's a very long game (around 20 hours long), the boss fights and certain segments can be frustrating as you can die in one hit during these moments and so on. Taking your time with the game is very important so that you can gather as many resources as possible. Not to mention embracing that it's a slow-paced game so that you don't get impatient trying to reach the end.
If you manage to find yourself in the right mood, then you'll have one of the best survival horror experiences ever. There's so much high quality content here, the gameplay loop is so in-depth and the environment variety is genuinely impressive. Every possible environment that you can imagine in a horror game is here. I'm still amazed at how much great content they put in this game.
Re: Bethesda Celebrates The Evil Within Series’ Spooky Anniversary
I finished the first The Evil Within a couple of days ago and it's become my favourite horror game of all time. I'm currently playing through the DLCs now before putting away this game and they're great as well. I'm very excited to play the sequel down the line.
Microsoft acquiring this IP is seriously a huge win for Xbox owners. Having a phenomenal horror franchise like this exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem is incredible.
Re: Rumours Continue To Suggest Xbox Game Pass Is Nearing 30 Million Subs
I'm fairly certain that Game Pass has already hit 30 million subscribers, Microsoft are just waiting to announce the actual number next month during the 20th anniversary of Xbox in order to tie in this accomplishment with the celebrations.
Re: The Best Xbox 360 Games Of All Time
Man, going through this article really takes me back to the 360 days. I still have tons of games left to play on the system, so I'm not going to run out of titles to play anytime soon!
Re: Talking Point: What Are You Playing This Weekend? (October 9-10)
Will be playing The Evil Within on PS4 and Metroid Dread on Switch, i.e. a lot of scary games this weekend! If I manage to finish up The Evil Within early I might check out some Game Pass titles such as Visage (more horror!) and maybe finish up Psychonauts 2.
Re: Yakuza's Creator Is Leaving SEGA, Like A Dragon Sequel In The Works
@GamingFan4Lyf "Developers can spend more time coming up with engaging content, rather than having to rebuild a whole new world every time."
Exactly! And yeah, I get that a lot of the stuff is reused but there's still a lot of new stuff being added such as the Yokohama district in Like a Dragon. I'm not proclaiming to be an expert on game development but I think it's impressive that they are able to create a new story, add tons of new substories, make new areas and just in general add more new content in such a short time while also working on other games concurrently. I'm certain Like a Dragon and Lost Judgment were in development at the same time, with different starting points obviously.
But yeah, in this day and age where it takes 4-5 years for games to come out, I think it's awesome to see yearly releases from this developer. Not all games need to be crafted from the ground up. By reusing assets, the developer can pump out games faster and give us more of the content that we love.
Re: Yakuza's Creator Is Leaving SEGA, Like A Dragon Sequel In The Works
I'm just amazed at how fast they are able to push out these games. It feels like we're getting a new game from this developer every year since Yakuza 0 in 2017. Like a Dragon came out last year, Lost Judgment came out just a few weeks ago and we're most likely going to get the sequel to Like a Dragon either next year or the following one, which is impressive either way.
Re: Ghost Recon Frontline Is Met With Tremendous Backlash On YouTube
This shouldn't come as a surprise though. Didn't Ubisoft state a while back that they were going to focus on making more F2P titles? This is apparently the path they're going to take from here on out with some of their franchises, which is definitely unfortunate.
Re: Roundup: Here’s What The Critics Are Saying About Far Cry 6
@Fiendish-Beaver I think it's rather simple. Ask yourself: are you bored of the Far Cry formula?
If yes, then don't play this game.
If no, then by all means give it a go.
It does seem like a lot of the negative aspect stems from experiencing the same formula over and over again, which will happen with any franchise. It's definitely not exclusive to Ubisoft franchises. I've gotten bored by series such as Uncharted, New Super Mario Bros and so on, but plenty of other people like those games. Am I bored of Far Cry? Nope, at least not yet. I finished Far Cry 3 earlier this year and I'm looking forward to playing Far Cry 4 next. For some reason, Ubisoft games don't bore me as much as they do to other people. Maybe it's because the formula resonates with me, I like open world experiences with a decent story and fun gameplay.
I'm definitely looking forward to giving Far Cry 6 a go when I eventually get to that game. From what I've seen, both the story and the gameplay look very compelling to me.
Re: These Eight Games Are Coming To Xbox Game Pass (October 5-15)
Wow, didn't expect Visage to be added to the service! I've had this game on my watchlist for a while now as I've heard a lot of great things about it. It's apparently first-person psychological horror where you explore a house, kinda like P.T. I'm definitely considering now buying a month of Game Pass on Thursday so that I can play this game but also finish up Psychonauts 2 and play a bunch of other titles as well.