Well, we’ve entered into the year 2022, and Microsoft continues to maintain both their Game Pass Ultimate and Games With Gold programs, available separately or the more common priced-reduced bundled service. One remains an outstanding value, and the games introduced into the Game Pass library this month only strengthen those impressions, making available both heavy-hitters and indie darlings alike. The other … ? Well, the benefits of Games With Gold continue to center on access to sales and being able to play online with friends, though that’s rumored to be on the chopping block in the near future to make online gaming free for both paid and free-to-play titles. The free titles are a footnote upon a footnote, and continue to become more discouraging with each passing month.

The baseline subscription fee for both Game Pass + Gold is still worthwhile, however, and should be considered the ideal way to be a member of Team Xbox, whereas Microsoft’s making it harder and harder to justify being purely a Games With Gold subscriber. Let’s take a closer look at what’s on offer from both sides, but before doing so, be sure to head over and Grab a 3-Month Subscription to Game Pass Ultimate Card at Amazon so save a few space bucks.  

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – New and Upcoming Titles

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

This year will mark a decade since the original Mass Effect trilogy concluded in spectacular, albeit polarizing fashion. Despite the nature of its ending, the series has maintained a loyal, passionate fanbase who — whether through the good old passage of time, the assistance of end-game mods, or understanding that it wasn’t so bad after all — has come to accept what’s there and clamored for a remastering of the emotive space opera RPG. Years passed without a peep, and then rumors emerged about a new “legendary edition” that would be bringing the games to the new generation of console gaming. Would it just be a simple pass-through remaster to get the visuals up to proper HD strength, or would they be overhauling the gameplay and tinkering with a few things, such as the disparity between the first clunky, RP-centric Mass Effect and the more fluidly engineered third-person shooting of ME2 and ME3. And up until release, this kind of remained a mystery.

The answer, as seen in the Legendary Edition remastered bundle of all three Mass Effect games with every ounce of story DLC included, is something in between. ME2 and ME3 have seen subtle, but noticeable improvements in graphical prowess, environment layouts, character cohesiveness, the morality system’s levels and other aspects, but by and large remain “the same”. Mass Effect 1, however, has been dramatically altered in terms of both impressive visuals and gameplay, yet in such a way that doesn’t stray from the original game’s intentions; weapon access, using cover, squad control and general AI, gunplay accuracy, and enemy vulnerability have all been overhauled. Those looking for a remake with additional content will be disappointed; those looking for a vastly superior upgrade in how they enjoy the Mass Effect universe should absolutely suit up to turn some virtual asses into actual dust.

Gears (of War) 5

While Mass Effect often showed up on short lists for one of those “must play” games for the Xbox 360, it was almost always guaranteed that the original Gears of War would be near the top of ‘em all. Other games did it well enough before, but the sci-fi shooter mastered the art of designing levels and gameplay intensity around cover-based action. Cap that off with an undeniably cheesy ‘80s-movie amount of bravado from the heroes and their thirst for bloody violence, and you’ve got the recipe for a franchise that runs strong for an entire trilogy … and then carries over into less iconic, yet still enjoyable spinoffs and additional games.  Thing is, with both the games outside the original trilogy, it became obvious that both the narrative and the third-person shooter gameplay were starting to show some rust. The excitement’s still there, along with the fanbase, but the series just needed something fresh.

Gears of War 5 makes it clear that they’re getting things up to new standards by dropping the “of War” from the title that so often gets left off anyway in casual conversation, delivering just Gears 5. On top of developing the younger, newer characters from the previous games, game-makers The Coalition also get their hands dirty with semi open-world gameplay concepts and very light RPG aspects for variety and breadth. When adding these things, The Coalition makes sure to preserve – and, in a way, recapture – the bravado of the earlier titles from Epic Games, showcasing a devotion not just to getting back to the series’ roots, but also to spruce them up and make them feel relevant in the new generation.  Both critics and players agree that the craftsmanship was largely a success, praising the campaign and the open-world implementation, even though some feel it retreads old storytelling elements.

Outer Wilds

What started out as a college thesis project made by someone who wasn’t really interested in crafting full video games at the time, soon developed into a fleshed-out, commercial sci-fi exploration experience that shows up on numerous “best of year” lists and even a few “best of all time” lists as well. Outer Wilds – not to be confused with Obsidian’s Outer Worlds, which shares a few similar gameplay and atmospheric elements – takes the player on an adventure through a solar system caught in a time loop.  Every 22 minutes, a star goes supernova and effectively resets the clock, sending our stalwart alien astronaut character back to square one in his search for an answer.  With some help from alien technology, he’s able to remember anything he’s learned in the previous loops, so his objective becomes to explore the galaxy and gather as much info as possible to discover a solution to the supernova.

Outer Wilds relies entirely on the immersion of its exploration, a combination of the general atmospheric intentions and objective-based adventuring of the likes of No Man’s Sky, Mass Effect, and Outer Worlds. The activity isn’t about engaging enemies, though, instead about discovering answers, solving puzzles, and unearthing knowledge at the various points of the solar system to fix the problem. This pieces together into more of an interactive experience than a traditional game, though survival is a concern and death can reset the clock if not monitored carefully.  Both critics and players have heaps of wonderful things to say about Outer Wilds, from the direction and destination of the narrative to the  execution of exploration and atmosphere.

Xbox Games With Gold

The strategy behind the games selected for Xbox’s Games With Gold doesn’t make a whole lot of sense at this stage, unless one applies a simple, pessimistic line of thought to it: they’ve stopped being concerned with keeping their subscriber base satisfied or interested. For the Xbox One, they’ve selected a retro twinstick shooter indie called NeuroVoider (January 1-30) that blends pixel graphics with robotics, as well as a 8-bit sidescrolling building/resource sim called Aground (January 16 – February 15) that shows some clear similarities to Minecraft. Both seem well-crafted and potentially engaging, yet neither have pulled enough attention from critics or players to have much of a reputation, certainly not on the level of the bounty of high-profile titles that Microsoft could theoretically include with the program. This signals de-prioritization.  

The legacy titles are about of the same caliber, though a bit more significant than the Xbox One offerings as of late.  Radiant Silvergun (January 1-15) is a polished “restored” version of a popular late-‘90s arcade shoot-‘em-up featuring futuristic fighter pilots versus alien forces, and is viewed as the precursor to the classic Ikaruga. Space Invaders: Infinite Gene (January 16 – January 31) takes the classic arcade title and spit-shines it for the semi-modern era, capturing a similar tone and excitement to the updated iteration of Tetris or Geometry Wars. These will at least ignite a spark of nostalgia.

Xbox Game Pass, Gold Freebies: Lotsa Sci-Fi For the New Year

November has finally arrived, and with it comes some jockeying between the Xbox camp and other consoles for who’ll come out on top during the holiday shopping rush. Thing is, due to the rampant unavailability of consoles across the board because of supply-chain issues, it’s looking like a complicated month – more so than normal — where folks will be beyond lucky to buy a console of any kind throughout the holidays. There’s a lot of distractions going on right now, but at least Microsoft is stepping up with quality releases through their Game Pass program to help out.

While their Games With Gold titles remain lackluster, they’ve provided some real attention-grabbing titles to their other subscription program this month, from a huge new release and an game-of-the-year contended to a highly popular remastered classic … even though that one’s getting dragged through the mud right now.  Let’s take a closer look at the games, but before doing so, head over and Grab a 3-Month Subscription to Game Pass Ultimate on Amazon for access to these downloads and exclusive deals on their marketplace.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – New and Upcoming

Forza Horizon 5

Playground Games’ Forza series has become appointment-worthy over the past decade of its development, providing some of the clearest examples of how the Xbox console’s graphics and tech are progressively pushed beyond their limits. Starting with the original 360 title and moving to Forza 4 on the One, there’s a clear and observable succession of improvement across the life cycle Microsoft’s last-gen system. From game modes and familiar included cars to the general impressiveness of the graphics, the advancements aren’t of the same caliber as sports games that seem to reproduce largely the same experience year after year. Therefore, it’s no surprise that the company’s first installment designed with the Xbox Series X in mind would be hotly anticipated, and it arrives in style.

Forza 5 takes the action to Mexico, producing an open-world driving landscape that’s been crafted with research and reference from across the range of areas there, a purposeful design choice to amp up the variety in gameplay. That is, if the 500+ cars available in this installment can’t do that on their own, on top of the new dynamic weather system, the car and player-character customization, and the scattering of play modes across the otherwise sandbox environment. Both critics and players alike have had nothing but positive things to say about Forza Horizon 5 up to this point, celebrating both its aesthetic polish and its combo of gameplay variety and arcade excitement.

Grand Theft: Auto San Andreas — Definitive Edition

Enough has been said about the quality of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas over the years that it almost feels unnecessary to mention how thoroughly it impacted the PS2-era of gaming consoles, whose popularity could be attributed to reason we’ve got the juggernaut of GTAIV and GTAV today. Unfortunately, there’s another hot topic going around about Rockstar’s game, notably about the quality of the most recent remastering of San Andreas and its predecessors GTAIII and Vice City, being billed as the “definitive edition” of the trilogy. Most would assume that a company like Rockstar – again, the studio behind both these games and the stellar-reviewed Red Dead Redemption series — would effortlessly produce satisfying, crowd-pleasing remasters of these games, but that’s not quite the case.

Developed by Grove Street Games, formerly known as War Drum Studios and as the folks responsible for other Rockstar ports, these Definitive Editions of the GTA games have been labeled less than stellar for a number of reasons. From sound quality dips and text misspellings to rampant graphical issues related to both character models and the landscape, the grievances have been voiced quite clearly by early players. It’s for this reason that the addition of San Andreas to the Game Pass library should be celebrated, as players are able to try out this remastered iteration for themselves before jumping into a full trilogy purchase; for some, the issues could be overpowered by the improvements and nostalgia factor.

It Takes Two

The title above is a literal expression of what’s required to play Hazelight’s most recent creation: It Takes Two needs a willing pair of gamers to get through it. This can be a hurdle for some players who like to plow through action-platform style games on their own speed, but when it’s from the mind of content director Josef Fares, there’s a sense of confidence in the requirement having enough purpose to justify it. Fares first made a name for himself in the game arena at Starbreeze Studios by developing the under-the-radar hit Brothers, which utilizes siblings with individual strengths to create innovative gameplay situations that are hinged on expressive storytelling. These are aspects he carries over to his own Hazelight Studios in development of the similarly dramatic co-op adventure A Way Out.

It Takes Two transforms those emotional concepts into actual gameplay designs, in which the young daughter of a soon-to-be divorced couple takes doll versions of her parents off to play, then tries to repair their relationship through thrilling adventures in fantasy landscapes. As these Coraline-esque doll versions of the parents – each controlled by a different player – complete tasks in the level design that echo a wide variety of gameplay styles, it brings aspects of their family relationship more into focus as the two characters gain control of new abilities and coordinate them with one another.  Both critics and players have adamantly sang praises for just about everything involved with It Takes Two, from the novel variety of fluctuating genre styles to the visuals and the cooperative synergies.

Xbox Games With Gold

While Game Pass continues to thrive by offering day-and-date megahits and game-of-the-year contenders, Microsoft’s legacy program Xbox Games With Gold maintains its slope in the opposite direction, showcasing little firepower in their monthly included freebies. Let’s start on the Xbox One with a moving simulator … yes, a moving simulator, as in a puzzle game designed around moving out of a house. In the same vein as Overcooked, Moving Out (November 1-31) takes a mundane activity with potential complications and transforms it into a fast-paced, outlandish cooperative experience that’s assuredly more fun than doing the real thing. Also on the current Xbox system is Kingdom: Two Crowns (November 16-December 15), a beautiful 8-bit inspired, side-scrolling fantasy game that combines settlement management with exploration and survival. Critics and players praise the aesthetic, but feel the slower pace and simplicity hold it back.

Over on the legacy Xbox systems, we’ve got a pair of recognizable faces within middle-of-the-road action games that clearly have younger audiences in mind with their inclusion. First, there’s Rocket Knight (November 1-15), an action-platform game featuring a classic Sega Genesis character revived for the current era. While the original Rocket Knight continues to be regarded as one of the better platform titles on the Genesis, this new iteration proves that modern examples of the genre need a little something extra and need more longevity than what it provides. There’s also LEGO Batman 2 (November 16-30), and let’s be real, the LEGO titles are effortlessly entertaining across the board regardless of peaks and valleys in quality, so the inclusion of the Dark Knight in his blocky form will always be welcome.

November’s Xbox Freebies: Game Pass Moving Up, Gold Moving Out

The decision-makers at Microsoft responsible for picking what titles should be available on Game Pass this August were on top of their game this time around.  It’s no secret that the month’s full of distractions, both in terms of real world back-to-school prep and football season revving up and in terms of Madden being the big video game of the season. Instead of resting on their laurels, the Game Pass folks have made available some rather desirable action titles aimed to fill another, different void with whimsical escapism and step-by-step upgrade management.

Are these heavy-hitting AAA titles? Debatable, but not really, and that’s perfectly fine considering the substance of what’s being offered.  From a hotly-anticipated console port of a PC darling to a pair of long-awaited sequels with substantial cult fanbasres, there’s plenty to unpack and enjoy throughout the month. Let’s take a closer look, but before doing so, be sure to head over and Grab a 3-Month Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Subscription at Amazon to enjoy all the titles here.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate – New and Upcoming

Hades

As mentioned in our new video game release coverage for August (click here to read!), Hades has up until now enjoyed a healthy degree of exclusivity for the PC crowd, only moving over to the Switch after leaving early access. The roguelike dungeon crawler has become one of many envies of the big console owners, with them unable to take on what’s been proclaimed as one of the best of the genre, though naturally the difficulty of the title will vary depending on the level of player you’re asking.  Some find it quite difficult and others with genre experience find it more manageable, but both camps agree upon the quality of the storytelling, atmosphere, and addictive repetition gameplay.

Now, the rest of the console crowd will be able to gain control of the Prince of the Underworld as he battles his way through the realm in an escape to Mount Olympus, who utilizes gifts from other godly observers to get through the randomized sequence of rooms and obstacles. Due to the upgrade systems, the revolving nature of the rooms, interactions with characters both in the Underworld and beyond, and the purge-and-try-again nature of the upgrades, Hades delivers a consistent rush of fresh experiences for each beautifully rendered isometric hack-‘n-slash run.

Dodgeball Academia

Dodgeball video games aren’t very common, yet despite the existence of the National Dodgeball League and the memories of countless people who played the game in their youth, there hasn’t been much of a push for it. That’s likely because the mechanics can end up being similar to other sports titles – passing, tossing, or volleying a ball to connect with a target – or even old-school arcade ball-shooting games. Therefore, the dodgeball premise needs an extra hook to make it appealing, like robots on wheels that explode upon ball impact or outlandish obstacles cruising through a circular arena instead of a rectangle.  

Dodgeball Academia goes deeper with its ambitions. While it stays true to the rectangular arena of the sport, the game that exists around it makes the experience something that’s both unique and familiar, incorporating social and role-playing aspects of Pokemon and Rockstar’s Bully alongside the elevated version of dodgeball being played. In the arena, generous powerups and delightfully flashy animations add zest to what’s otherwise a sidescrolling dodgeball experience that’s trying to be as normal as possible under those circumstances. Both critics and players young and old alike have raved about Dodgeball Academia, hinged on a charming RPG storytelling design and sharp arcade gameplay.

Psychonauts 2

As Tim Schafer’s reputation for quirky writing and vibrant, open-audience designs has strengthened through his efforts with the likes of Costume Quest and Broken Age, the demand for a return to Psychonauts has also continued to mount among its fanbase. It’s not on the same mythical level as, say, Half-Life 3 or a FFVII remaster, but this sequel has established a similarly meme-worthy demand among its niche audience that sparked every time the folks at Double Fine would succeed with another project. At long last, folks get to regain control of Raz as the psychokinetic action-puzzle gameplay again delves into themes of anxiety and mental health, embarking on a mission to get the Psychonauts back on track.

Even though it only lasted about two months, the exclusivity window for the original Psychonauts often ties people’s thoughts to it being an “Xbox title”. Because of this, something feels inherently right about the sequel emerging as a day-one offering through Xbox’s Game Pass program, though naturally Xbox Game Studios has plenty of control over that as the game’s publisher. Other consoles won’t be getting the optimized version of Double Fine’s long-awaited return to the Psychonauts universe, though, as that’ll be an exclusive Xbox Series X offering. Psychonauts 2 will be released and available for download through Game Pass on August 25.

Xbox Games With Gold

Xbox One

Surprisingly, Games With Gold shows a bit of a pulse for the month of August, including a significant recent sequel to a popular action franchise.  On the Xbox One side of the coin, Darksiders III (August 1-31) returns to the mythical open-world ambitions of the first two games after a lengthy hiatus, with publisher THQ Nordic passing the baton to the developers responsible for the successful “Deathinitive” remastering of the second installment, Gunfire Games. While Darksiders received heaps of praise for being a one of the best non-Zelda Zelda action games ever created and Darksiders II expanded the concept into a fantastic open-world design, Darksiders III and the introduction of protagonist Fury didn’t strike the same chord, enduring technical glitches and clumsily borrowing from the Souls brand of tough dungeon crawling. The second half of the month gets Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (August 16-September 15), a side-scrolling puzzle platformer featuring an animal duo that’ll stir up some nostalgia for a few classic Nintendo titles.

Over on the legacy console offerings, there’s Lost Planet 3 (August 1-15), the divisive conclusion to EA’s third-person shooter franchise. Critics and players were warm enough to the improvements in shooting and atmosphere that resulted in decent enough action, but were left in the cold by other clunky, repetitive aspects of the gameplay and questionable storytelling choices. Rounding out the month is Garou: Mark of the Wolves (August 16-31), also known as Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves and the last installment in the 2D fighting franchise. Originally released to arcades in 1999, this marks one of many ports across consoles over the past 2 decades, and mostly remains a title for the die-hard fans of the genre and Fatal Fury itself.

August’s Xbox Game Pass and Gold Titles Go Through Hades to Deliver Action