Sakisa

I’ll check it out on gamepass, but they won’t see a single cent from me for DLC or actually purchasing the game.

Won’t elaborate but it shouldn’t be hard to know why.

Avowed or Outer Worlds 2.

The only two Xbox studios I trust wholeheartedly are Obsidian and Double Fine, so the two Obsidian titles in development take it by default.

Omori

One of the best games on gamepass this year and seldom anyone here acknowledges it. Didn’t even appear in the end of year polls.

Don’t let this one pass you by people!

Hardware = A
Gamepass = A-
Games = B-

If I cared more about the spectacle over substance games they peddle over at Sony it’d be lower, but luckily I have better taste than that.

Of the ‘big’ games, I only have any interest in Redfall really. Hoping for some surprise smaller titles though, that’s the stuff I like. Pentiment was easily one of the best games this year.

Lots of people still don’t seem to understand that the actual creative and fun games largely aren’t in that AAA space anymore.

But yeah, stuff like Omori, Signalis, Vampire Survivors, Tunic and Shredder’s Revenge are top tier game releases this year.

Around 30-40 games would be my guess.

All digital. Though it’s worth noting that I buy all my multiplats on Xbox. My PS5 and Switch are only for exclusives.

Justice for Omori. It’s been omitted twice from these end of year polls.

Anyways

5 points: Grounded 1.0
4 points: TMNT Shredder’s Revenge
3 points: Other (Omori)
2 points: Pentiment
1 point: Vampire Survivors

Lots of dirty laundry from both Sony and Microsoft are probably going to be revealed over this ABK battle.

@GamingFan4Lyf Sony will never be willing to sell Spider-Man. It doesn’t matter how much Disney wants to pay, it’s still the most lucrative Marvel IP. Wish they never gave Disney the cartoon rights honestly…it cost us the best Spidey cartoon.

But yeah, I would imagine it’s referring to Starfield, Redfall, and Indiana Jones.

Ended up getting Blasphemous, Pac-Man World remake, Soul Hackers 2, and Them’s Fighting Herds in the sale.

As a One Piece fanboy with turn based JRPGs among their favorite genres, this game looks exactly like my jam! Can't wait.

Not gonna list Sonic Unleashed? The difference is night and day between the 360 original and how it runs on Series consoles!

IX is the last time a mainline Final Fantasy game was great imo

It’s also my favorite Final Fantasy so that

Anything after XII is a stain on the series and you won’t convince me otherwise

1. Grounded
2. Omori
3. Sonic Frontiers
4. Pentiment
5. Cult Of The Lamb

Honorable mentions to Vampire Survivors, Tunic and Shredder’s Revenge.

@NEStalgia To be fair, Grounded 1.1 is a fantastic update 😉

Sounds like your mileage will vary depending on how you gel with Roiland’s humor. I enjoy it sometimes and the mechanics sound serviceable, nothing more, nothing less, so it should at the very least be a decent time I hope. Got it pre-installed and ready to go.

More people really ought to ignore or block uptownsoul, just a disingenuous troll and Sony fanboy.

The hell happened in this comment section?

Anyways if this gets blocked, just means Microsoft needs to play Sony’s game of timed exclusives. Maybe start locking Yakuza or Non Sony Marvel games up for timed exclusivity or something.

Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but it seems to be what their options would be if this merger is blocked.

Hades 2, Armored Core VI, and Bayonetta Origins.

Also glad to see a bit more of Replaced.

@CunningPig I absolutely LOVE Obsidian under Microsoft's umbrella.

Grounded 1.0 is legit tied with Triangle Strategy for GOTY for me, and Pentiment is a triumph of storytelling. I know it may take a while for the ABK merger to really produce creative results outside of the box (Which Playstation was good at before a Mr. Jim Ryan took the helm) but I am hopeful.

@Tharsman I’ll admit that’s most likely wishful thinking on my part, but it’s a genuine waste of platforming talent that could be used for Spyro or Crash or hell, even Banjo.

I do hope at the very least MS disperses talent wisely while not being as draconian as Activision was with their employees.

@Snake_V5 It’ll be good for Playstation and only Playstation. Not the various creative teams thrown in the COD mines like Toys For Bob or Vicarious Visions, not Nintendo who now stands to gain a franchise on their systems, not the employees under Activision that have been used and abused and will continue to exist that way should the company remain ‘independent’. Hell, not even Activision as a whole which wants to sell.

Why don’t you go back to Push Square, seems like that’s more your speed.

It’ll go through, regardless of how Sony debases itself with their whining and hypocrisy.

Looks great, and I will get it eventually, but it’s sandwiched between One Piece Odyssey and Like A Dragon Ishin, and those take priority for me.

LEGO Star Wars The Skywalker Saga and Marvel’s Midnight Suns for me.

Tin Hearts is the one that catches my eye the most here. I’ll give the demo a whirl when it drops for sure.

@Tharsman It's gonna leave gamepass eventually so i'm not too bothered buying it for 30 bucks. It's pretty damn fun. Just kinda funny to see it happen so soon after I bought it.

Glad I bought Dragon Quest XI S in a sale on Xbox on top of having the Switch cartridge. Honestly the best JRPG on the console imo, shame to see it leave gamepass, but it doesn’t surprise me.

Eastward is fantastic! Don’t let that gem pass you by folks.

That game I picked up in the Black Friday sale? Yeah that’s about right lol.

Some REALLY nice QOL features here. I still feel the itch to play this game despite getting the golden ending. Glad they’re still making some smart tweaks, though that extra backpack row would’ve been nice to have earlier…

Oh neat, I’ll play more Sonic Frontiers when this stuff comes out.

I’ll believe it’s good when I see it. Bethesda RPGs are pretty much always overrated and undercooked. InXile and Obsidian are far better WRPG developers under the Xbox banner.

Nessward knows what’s up, the Xbox Series Sonic Unleashed glow up is real.

@Dezzy70 I think Starfield is dead on arrival and Forza will be boring since it’s Motorsport instead of Horizon.

I have some faith in Redfall, but that’s down to its developer. Once again though, I have a low opinion of most AAA games and will always be on stand by to say that when you or others tout it as the one and only thing that matters.

@Dezzy70 The big three being Silksong, Replaced and Stalker 2? Because I know it ain’t Starfield or Forza.

Anyways, Nintendo understands AAA is far from the only thing that matters and they court smaller projects all the time. Sony could learn to do that, they actually did try at one point.

@awp69 Atomic Heart also looks quite good.

Silksong is my top game release period of 2023. No other game even comes close, the original game clowns on all the AAA releases of the past decade. Will be playing it on Gamepass until the inevitable physical collector’s edition pops up online.

I have an interest in Redfall and very little faith in Starfield. Maybe they’ll prove me wrong, we’ll see.

Deserved. Grounded is an amazing game.

Grounded 1.0. I’m kinda stunned by how much I like this game since survival games usually aren’t my thing, but it really got its hooks in me.

Omori and Shredder’s Revenge are up there too though

Mick has receipts.

Bethesda has accusations, a sketchy history, jack, and $@&*.

I know who I believe.

Was planning to tackle this one after Pentiment and still will, but sounds like it might be underwhelming to me since I’m also mostly a fan of Limbo and Inside due to the puzzles. Ah well.

After beating it last week I think it’s about a 7/10 for me, but definitely had a solid foundation to build something better.

You’re kidding.

There’s no way the developers of Pentiment made a better game than the developers of Grounded!

Will give this a shot for sure. Like these kinds of games sometimes and Obsidian absolutely has the storytelling chops to pull it off.

@Dr_Luigi Oh, him getting off scot free sucks, but at least he won’t be in a position to allow abuse to happen on this scale again.

We sadly don’t live in a world of ideals where unionization in the game industry is a sure thing. It should happen but leeches like Kotick will fight against it with every fiber of their being.

@Dr_Luigi Considering Kotick is a vile man who allowed sexual and physical abuse to happen under his watch to such an extreme degree it resulted in a suicide…

Yeah. I would like to see him gone. I also doubt MS could do worse than what I listed above but you’re free to think Xbox enables sexual predators if you want.

@Dr_Luigi And I see you bending over backwards to invalidate the reasons myself and others may care about this deal after you said ‘I don’t get why people care about this deal.’

Getting Kotick out is a good thing. Getting more variety and stability afforded to these dev teams is a good thing. It doesn’t NEED to be MS for me to care, but they’re the only one in this industry with a checkbook big enough to buy this publisher and get rid of blood sucking Bobby.

@Sebatrox Doubt SEGA is selling.