everynowandben

@Dad 1 remake, 2 remake, 4, or 7 are all good starting points. If I had to choose, I'd say 2 remake. Just don't play 3 (or CV) before 2, 5 or 6 before 4, or 8 before 7 and you'll be fine. If you can't decide, just play them in release order but substitute the remakes for the originals (although the remakes of 2 and 3 are significantly different than the originals).

It's a lot of money, but it's also unnecessary. Are people really playing 10-30 games at a time?

Celeste is great, but I wouldn't say it's necessarily a 10/10. I just prefer more of a proper adventure rather than what is essentially a series of challenges.

I only tried the first FNAF but it's pretty fun for a few good jump scares. The concept and gameplay is extremely simple, and runs are super short, so you'll have seen 90% of the game in the first 2 minutes. I recommend taking turns with a friend or partner for maximum enjoyment.

I tried Eastshade for an hour or so and found it to be pretty boring tbh, but I can see why other people might find it pleasant/relaxing.

As a new father with a daughter just learning to speak... this part hit close to home. Easily the most terrified and freaked out I've ever been playing a video game. I will never forget it.

My buds and I are having just as much fun as we did playing L4D and WWZ.

Had a blast playing Back 4 Blood with the guys last night.

Also just reached the final boss in Metroid Dread and will likely finish that off later today.

I'll probably end up finishing off Doom VFR as well and maybe going through Batman Arkham VR. I just got a great deal on an Oculus Quest 2 in anticipation for RE4 VR and have been catching up on some of the VR games I've been missing out on.

A great list of excellent games. I would add: The Darkness 2, Doom 3, Prey, and Shadows of the Damned.

Just finished Procession to Calvary which was hilariously wacky.

The rest of the weekend will be devoted to Metroid Dread but I might take a break here and there to chip away at Ghostrunner a little more.

Dark Messiah
Darkwatch
Deus Ex Invisible War
Fatal Frame
Max Payne
Project Snowblind
Thief Deadly Shadows
Timesplitters
Urban Chaos Riot Response

Heck yes! Super excited to see this on Game Pass

Can you start the DLC without playing the main game?

I see very, very little in common between these two properties. No One Lives Forever and Perfect Dark are much more similar to Bond in my opinion.

Played Splitgate again with the guys last night. This weekend I'm hoping to finish up Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and I also just discovered that the Xbox PC version of The Evil Within is basically a low-key remaster that includes the DLC, so I might dip into that if I have any extra time.

I really, really enjoyed that game. Possibly enough to say greatest of all time. Other possibilities in my opinion: Super Mario World, Tomb Raider (2013), Portal 2.

Great news! Game Pass strikes again! 👍👍

Awesome! This just jumped up my priorities list

Nice! I'll wait for Series X version though

Deep into The Outer Worlds right now. Everything about it is good - nothing is bad, but nothing is great. Still, absolutely enjoying my time with it.

Hoping for a horror game like Infliction or Visage.

Played through Superliminal last night, and unfortunately its not very good. It does have a couple interesting ideas, but I would definitely not recommend it. The story and writing are awful, the mechanics don't iterate to perfection (not even close), the puzzles are very rarely interesting, performance is terrible, and overall its just not very fun to play.

Just started up Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and am mostly enjoying it so far. Hopefully its more interesting than Episode 1.

My top 3 are probably Fire Emblem PoR, Paper Mario TTYD, and Eternal Darkness SR. So many great games on that system.

Yes!! Superliminal! I knew holding out would pay off - Very excited to check that one out. Also Lemnis Gate looks like it could be fun.

Just started Dishonored a couple days ago, and am loving it so far!

Any word on or chance of Deathloop being on Game Pass for PC next week?

Splitgate with the guys again last night. Had a blast playing a bunch of the more wacky Rumble modes.

Dishonored: Definitive Edition - Just finished the 2nd mission. This game is amazing so far. It's like if Thief and Bioshock had a baby.

If you're thinking about Bioshock, and have somehow put it off this long, do yourself a favor and just get it. It is amazing - even in 2021.

Nice, I always appreciate an FOV slider. What number do you all usually go with? I typically pull back to 100 unless it seems like performance is being impacted. Anything less than 75 feels a little claustrophobic to me.

@NotoriousWhiz This is about a $500 setup and its gigantic and unweildy - not even truly portable. Steamdeck has a much smaller screen, but yeah, I'd rather have that than this monstrosity. However, I'd still recommend saving up for a laptop. The higher cost is worth it for a much more versatile and overall better experience than what this setup provides.

Just save up for a laptop

No wireless, no buy

Back 4 Blood and The Gunk

Before Control UE (XSX) came out, I reached out to 505 and asked if my save would transfer from the standard version (XB1) so I could play the DLC with raytracing, they said yes, so I pre-ordered UE. They were wrong, saves do not transfer, I complained, and they eventually made it right with me. Not a great experience, but it turned out okay in the end. And by "okay" I actually mean "okay" as the solution was not ideal, but much more acceptable than the "sorry, too bad" response I got from them initially.

Nearing the end of Cyberpunk 2077 on PC. Did most of the deeper side quests at this point and am ready to cross the finish line.

Probably will play some Splitgate with the guys tonight. Frame it!

Probably just Cyberpunk 2077 this weekend. I'm pretty absorbed into the world right now, which is probably the best thing the game has going for it. I'm playing on PC, and seeing glitches/bugs here and there, but nothing outright gamebreaking - immersion breaking, yes, but I haven't experienced any crashing or anything like that - just graphical oddities, floating loot, unlootable loot, etc. The narrative in general is a mixed bag to be sure, but I'm enjoying it overall.

Great! I'll pick it up at some point soonish

@Luigisghost669
3D Platformers
If you haven't played the classics, check out Banjo Kazooie and Conker's Bad Fur Day.

JRPGs
If you like Paper Mario (64 and TTYD), definitely check out Bug Fables and/or Costume Quest 2 which are both really fun and feature action commands.
Undertale is also excellent, especially if you are into EarthBound
Octopath Traveler is very good as well.

I've never actually played them, but
Dragon Quest Builders 2, Dragon Quest 11, and Yakuza Like A Dragon are all supposed to be great.

Couple others you might like:
Katamari Damacy Reroll
Ori 1 & 2

@Luigisghost669 LOL What were you expecting? Luigi's Mansion 3? Cause... that's not going to happen..

What kind of games do you like and feel are missing? Take another/closer look, dude - there's a very wide variety of high quality games on GP.

Return of the Obra Dinn

Crazy to think the guy who coded a bunch of the emulators on the original Xbox went on to be a senior dev on a first-party Microsoft release.

Xbox Series X: Splitgate, Quake, Doom Eternal, Bug Fables

PC: Cyberpunk 2077

I started chipping away at Quake 2 RTX a couple weeks ago, but I might try to finish the original before I go back to it since I have that now too. I played a bit of it last night, and was having some fun with it. So far the level design is a lot less complex compared to Q2, but the brevity of the missions makes the game feel even more fast paced.

Doom Eternal is very fun, but so intense I have to play other games in-between missions. Last week was Hades, but I've since beaten it (20th attempt). Also, I'm considering 1st time through "beating the game." Doing it 9 more times just to roll credits is ridiculous. The real "true ending" is that I'm moving on because I beat the game. This week it's Cyberpunk 2077 which I've only played for about an hour. It's fine so far. I'm playing the corpo route, and yeah, the narrative/storytelling is honestly pretty poor so far.

Played Splitgate with the guys last night, which was a total blast. Love all the different games modes.

Then finally I'm also chipping away at Bug Fables. It's decent, and very Paper Mario, but without the equivalent of all the cool paper mechanics, it ends up feeling a little basic and hollow - like that "special something" is missing.

@NEStalgia It'd be nice if they left it in the code or whatever so gyro would work if you have an adapter to use a compatible controller. Looks like the PS version also has gyro control.. Personally I think I might go that route to get best of both worlds.

Does anyone know if this has gyro controls? It does on Switch so... I might buy it there instead if this version doesn't support that feature.

@fabio1 Many of the Castlevania games aren't considered Metroidvanias, including Castlevania 64. While I agree that non-2D games aren't typically what comes to mind when the term Metroidvania is used, there are such things in existence, or at least, there are games that some people do consider to be 3D Metroidvanias. Examples include Metroid Prime, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Control, Darksiders 3, and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order.

@TuckNorris85 I bought it on Steam for the RTX mod. It's incredible. Not sure it'd work on this version.

Tried Hades for about an hour last night until my guys popped online and we got into the Back 4 Blood open beta. Pretty fun stuff, but a little anticlimactic. The card mechanic is alright I guess, but the game doesn't do anything super innovative or interesting to tweak the formula, which is fine overall since the main gameplay loop is still as fun as it ever was in L4D.

I'll play through another chapter of Doom Eternal before returning to Hades for the rest of whatever time I have this weekend. Not quite sure I'll stick with it, but I am enjoying it so far. What weapons are you all using? Outside of the sword, I tried the bow and was doing well until I got to one of those big crystals and was completely dominated, so yeah, I went back to the sword for now.

Also, I noticed Cruelty Squad is on sale on Steam - would anyone recommend it?

So far this year for indies on Game Pass I've played through Ori 2, Gris, the Medium, Donut County, Rain on Your Parade, Deliver Us the Moon, Ghost of a Tale, Prodeus, and I just reached the final boss in Cyber Shadow. I'm also maybe 20% of the way through Bug Fables. With the guys, we've checked out Second Extinction and the Ascent as well. Looking forward to Narita Boy and Backbone next, maybe Y2K, too. Saying that Game Pass is a great place to check out indies is an understatement.

@SplooshDmg Haha 😄 Thanks anyway for the thought

Considering getting this for PC the next time it's on sale. If not for the game itself, then as a benchmark for my laptop.

So glad to see this. I miss the days when controllers didn't have lights on them.

It's ray-tracing appreciation week for me: Quake 2 RTX and Doom Eternal.

Not sure what the guys and I will get up to tonight. I'd like to try out The Ascent, but more likely we'll end up playing Sea of Thieves and Knockout City as per usual.

1 Logitech Precision Wireless Xbox controller for the OG Xbox (amazing)

1 generic wired Xbox 360 controller (horrible)

1 Xbox One S controller (excellent)

1 Xbox Series X controller (very good)