Ooo I have been thinking about this a lot actually!
Kameo
Kameo: Elements of Power deserved better than to be forgotten on the 360, and I would love to see a reboot in that world.
I would bring the IP back as a Breath of the Wild-like open world action adventure title. You would play as the titular Kameo, exploring a large & diverse open world. The main loop of game would center collecting the elemental sprites and prepare to save your family from your evil sister and the troll king, Thorn. The sprites would enable Kameo to acces their elemental warrior form at will after she has collected them, enabling some cool dungeon and puzzle dynamics where the ordering of your collection could have some impact. Outside of the main questline, players could interact with NPCs for additional side quests, lore, and minigame activities.
Viva Pinata
This is a pretty obvious choice, in my opinion. Not only do I think that a garden management sim in the vein of the previous game would be a perfect fit for the subscription model of Game Pass, it aligns quite well with having a game that could integrate GAAS-elements without harming the core gameplay.
And, at least in the non-gaming communities I frequent, Viva Pinata is an Xbox 360-era IP that solicits excitement and nostalgia from gamers and non-gamers alike. Another entry would be a great way to bring fans back into Xbox who may have lapsed during the previous generation.
Alternatively, I think you could do a really neat, stylized platformer (2D or 3D) to incrementally bring the franchise back into the spotlight - and I think Dlala Studios would be an excellent fit on that. I think a title of something like “Viva Pinata: Paradise Lost” would be a funny play on words - where you are tasked with saving the party animals and restoring the garden to its rightful owners.
This is all without mentioning the tremendous success of Animal Crossing - I think Viva Pinata could rekindle some of that magic, while also appealing to a similar audience (more family family, etc.) on console, PC, and Mobile.
Crimson Skies
Crimson Skies seems like another obvious one that others may have mentioned already, but a flight combat game would be a great addition to the Game Pass library. I am not quite sure that a dedicated flight combat game would sell amazingly well on its own, but as a component in a larger subscription library? I think it can fill some gaps.
There are probably a couple of different avenues you could take with the IP - most likely, I could see Xbox doing something akin to Sea of Thieves but with planes. This would look like the following:
- Dedicated open world for players to cooperatively and competitively interact with other players in (note: this could feature spontaneous battles with other players, or perhaps locations to trigger dogfights)
- Some sort of hub space where players can walk around and interact with other players and NPCs, all the while acquiring cosmetic gear and other knick-knacks
- More narrative-focused content, or novelty-skins and planes could be distributed over the course of seasons (perhaps you have a Snoopy/Red Baron Crossover, or a promotional event for InXile’s Steampunk RPG.
Alternatively, you could build out some sort of smaller scale, yet focused dogfighting game - similar in scope and scale to Star Wars: Squadrons. I could see an inclusion of a singleplayer mode, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if it was just a MP-focused game.
I’ll write up some other ideas after I eat dinner lol
