Top 7
- Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-
- Backbone
- Halo Infinite
- The Wild at Heart
- Olija
- Unpacking
- The Curse of the Dark Gods
Ongoing Games
- No Mans Sky: Expeditions Revisited
- The Long Dark: Perilous Constraint
- Atomicrops: Reap What You Crow
I didn’t get to finish these, but honorable metions goes to Chorus, Deaths Door and Psychonauts 2.
1.Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth-
Imagine one day you decide to go fishing in Game Pass Lake. And instead of fish it’s filled with beautiful gems, because all Game Pass games are beautiful. You catch a certain rock but you don’t quite know what type of rock it is. Is it the dark and gorgeous Garnet colored “Hades?” No that doesn’t seem to be it. What if instead it’s that astounding type of Opal named “Wasteland 3?” That doesn’t seem to be right either. Instead of tossing it back in the lake you decide to take out your polishing cloth and give it a good rub or two… And what’s this? A shade of yellow that glints so brightly between your cloth that you can’t help but get excited, you polish the rest of the rock before holding it to the sky so the sun hits it at just the right angle. It’s then you finally realize that you had just found the magnificent, absolutely beautiful, gold hued “Record of Lodoss War-Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth!” When I fired up this game I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it was. Everything from the music to the characters movements work extremely well in this game. If you’re someone that likes metroidvanias or were even thinking about downloading it, definitely give it a try! It’s on Game Pass!
2.Backbone
Not sure how long this will be so as a TLDR, loved the game, gave me depression for a week. 10 out of 10!
More like a 7 or 8 out of 10, but I still enjoyed it.
So this game… I greatly enjoyed it’s characters and the story also pulled me in, but it also sits at a peculiar spot with me because it’s not a game I would easily recommend to someone looking for something new to play. For those that heard or played through the game, im sure you understand why. There isn’t a lot of times where I finish a game and feel hollow inside, like a part of me is missing, I want more of this game but there is none left. I remember feeling this way with the first Kingdom Hearts back when I played it on PlayStation 2 and I felt it with this game too. Really, when I first completed the game I wondered what bizarreness did I just witness… But the more I thought about it the few days after playing it the more I missed the characters, the more I missed playing through this game, and I would think to myself, what had I experienced and why did it happen? I want play through this game again, just to understand it more, but there’s also parts I don’t want to experience a second time. I know it’s weird and odd, but honestly after finishing it left me depressed for about a week.
Doing a bit of digging to find answers I had found that some of the dialogue closer to the end of the game was inspired by a therapy journal a dev had at the time. I can’t find the blog post but when asked about the back half of the game they (assuming a different person on the team) replied, “sometimes things just happen.” It might sound like a bad answer, but it can definitely be true. The 8 passengers who died alongside Kobe Bryant being a very good example of that. When a game has an effect on you that lingers after the credits had rolled, when you’re concerned about the characters and what happens to them, that’s when you know the game meant something to you and I genuinely can’t wait for the sequel to release.
Something else on the more personal side that I wasn’t sure I even wanted to bring up is there’s at least one character in the game that’s bisexual. It’s alluded to in a small bit of dialogue but the devs had mentioned on their Twitter that Howard is bi. As someone who doesn’t feel comfortable being open about my bisexuality (Living in a republican state that’s apart of the bible belt/I can’t tell you how many times i’ve felt uncomfortable when an associate catches me with my phone and asks, “Texting your girl?” When in fact im texting a guy), I appreciate how it was handled. It reminds me a bit of the character Kung Jin from Mortal Kombat X. The characters sexuality isn’t what defines them, it’s hardly brought up in the game. They’re just doing what they need to, and it just so happens that Howard is bi, and in Kung Jin’s case, gay. Sorry about the small soapbox. I could probably go on but i’ll digress. Representation is a good way for people to feel “seen.”
Just to be critical, as far as gameplay for this game, it’s pretty bare. XboxEra reviewed this game and I would have to agree with a lot of the points they made. After a certain point the game might as well be called a visual novel, because all you’re really doing is walking a character around while making dialogue choices. Early in the game there’s sneaking and a cool puzzle, but after that you’re doing neither of those things. To be honest, if I made this list solenly on gameplay then this game might not be on it. The graphics and lighting are good though, but it’s a game mostly to be played for its story.
3.Halo Infinite
343’s third attempt at their own Halo game. And much like The Lord of the Rings’ third movie, it could also be subtitled “The Return of the King,” right? Really though, that team deserves a lot of credit for the amount of effort it took to ship this game after the extra year. Not even mentioned releasing the multiplayer early. It really shows how much they care about getting it right this time around when they’re adjusting this game to what the fans want. “The game looks ugly,” lets stick it back in the oven for another year. “We dont gain enough XP,” we’ll adjust that as well. I know im speaking mostly about the MP and I only played a dozen or so matches of it myself, but I do feel like the team deserves more than just one point so I wanted to put it here.
4.The Wild At Heart
I had downloaded this when it first hit Game Pass, forgot I even downloaded it, and then it unfortunately became a casualty when I needed more space. I wish I had played it sooner but at the same time it got a big quality of life update not too long ago so maybe waiting paid off a bit.
This 2D styled Pikmin-like game has a really sweet, magically drawn art style. The characters are charming and I love the deep, magical forest the game takes place in. Being someone that likes to explore the whole map and resource gather, this game makes sure there’s always something on the map to collect.
5.Olija
I don’t always complete games that I start. But this one was interesting enough that I did. It was released early last year but if it wasn’t added to Game Pass recently I would have missed it. It’s a game about a guy who wakes up in a strange, foreign land after his schooner had crashed. I had mentioned this in the Game Pass thread but this game does a very good job in setting the atmosphere and tone for this mysterious, dark place. Making it feel like it’s a place you’re not supposed to be in. Alot of the aspects of this game mirror solo developer Thomas Olsson’s experience moving to Japan, and how alone he felt living there before finding friends. Even feeling a connection with some of the people he met even though they don’t speak the same language.
If this game were released in the late 80’s or early 90’s I think it would feel right at home on the Amiga, as it reminds me of games like “Shadow of the Beast.” Take “Out of this World/Another World,” Give it a more Asian inspired world. Remove half the cinematics (because the game had a lot), and replace the Prince of Persia-like controls with finer combat and gameplay. I feel that’s what you would get when playing Olija.
“I was playing a tune for this lonely tree. I wonder if he’ll ever grow back one day. Be gentle with the trees, my friend. Few men know as much as they do.”
One really neat detail they had put into this game. Every now and then when traveling though an area you might hear an instrument being played, adding to the immersion. Two or three screens later you walk past this guy and the music suddenly stops. “Oh. You scared me,” the guy says. He was the one playing the instrument you were hearing. After a bit of dialogue he’ll continue playing.
6.Unpacking
Simply put, it’s a puzzle game that tells a story as you complete the levels. It’s a really chill game to play on a cozy afternoon.
There was one moment where my jaw had dropped from how clever the storytelling was in this game. When she had moved back into her childhood room after living in the fancy downtown apartment with someone else. There’s a specific picture that you would assume belongs on the bulletin board with the others, but instead goes inside a drawer signifying she had broken up with who she was with. Just something I didn’t expect from a puzzle game like this. Cleverly done.
7.Curse of the Dead Gods
This released sometime before Hades had on console, and I decided to play it in preparation. Playing through Hades though I realized I preferred this game over it. The game and combat feels good to play and there’s more going on with the curse mechanic, along with how vital it is to keep your torch out so you don’t fall into traps, or receive extra damage. I know “Cursed Mesoamerican Temple” isn’t anything new but I really didn’t mind the setting in a rogue-lite.
Ongoing Games
- No Mans Sky: Expeditions Revisited
- The Long Dark: Perilous Constraint
- Atomicrops: Reap What You Crow
I know I had the Outer Wilds and Streets of Rage 4 DLC here, and while I do enjoy both of those games I had these other two sitting in the back of my mind. These are two games that came out years ago with NMS releasing in 2016 and TLD releasing in early access on steam in 2014. These games released over half a decade ago and yet they’re continuing to get support to this day. Both Hinterland and Hello Games never gave up and they’ve never charged extra for their updates. That’s pretty awesome.
With that said, my notable ongoing games would have to go to Outer Wilds and Streets of Rage 4.
But that would kinda remove the whole concept of a Game of the Year…
On Game Pass