Game Pass is a phenomenal value, with hundreds of titles available, and new games coming all the time. Recently, I've played through Resident Evil 2, as well as devoted many hours to Vampire Survivor and Lies of P, not to mention titles like Cocoon, Halo Infinite, and Sunset Overdrive. If you're the sort of compulsive consumer who likes to try something out and then bounce on to the next dopamine hit, then Game Pass is right up your alley. I have to admit that I'm trending this way, even though I get a lot of satisfaction out of completing a game. There are so many great games released every year, and so little time to play them all that the cards are stacked against you. Still, in a world that seems to value attention less and less by the second, I'm not sure if the Game Pass mentality is healthy. If you have 60 or 70 bucks invested in a game, you're more likely to stick with it and give it the time it deserves. Sometimes, art is initially difficult or complicated, but by investing your attention, you are able to wring out meaning and value that you would never obtain through more simple, accessible media. Also worth mentioning is the subscription hellscape that Microsoft would like us to embrace. As primarily a PC user, I already don't really own my games--I own them as long as Steam is around--and it sucks that we're moving toward a diskless future on console. I remember buying Dishonored 2 on disk, and being disappointed that I had to download nearly the entire game. Big tech would love us to forfeit the idea of ownership, because they'll have all the power in such a relationship. So even though Game Pass is a great value, I'm canceling my subscription, for the sake of my attention span and as a rebuke of the whole idea. I'm sure the suits at Microsoft will really notice, heh.
Anyway, here are a few mini reviews of what I've been playing.
Resident Evil 2 Remake: a really great survival horror experience, and probably my favorite of the series so far (I've only played RE:Village and the RE:3 remake). Steering Leon Kennedy through Raccoon City's police station and its underworld is tense. The unkillable Mr. X might pop out of any corner, or you could run out of ammo after attracting a Lurker's attention, or you might not have had the foresight to keep that wheel in your inventory so that you could fit it on a valve and turn off that wall of steam blocking your path. Inventory management, when to shoot and when to run, and hunting down codes for upgrades forms the bulk of RE:2's gameplay loop, and it is simply fantastic pretty much the whole way through. It's also not a ridiculously long game, clocking in at about 12 hours or so. One of the best games on Game Pass.
.png)
Vampire Survivor: This goofy little roguelike is like crack for your brain. You proceed through a variety of open, randomly-generated stages, focusing on obtaining weapons (Santa Water and the Whip are two of my favorites) that your character automatically shoots in whatever direction you are facing. Your aim is to evolve your weapons into their final form, and to last as long as you can until the 30 minute time limit is reached, and death spawns to shuffle you away. It doesn't sound particularly compelling, but I've spent nearly 20 hours in Vampire's pixalated nightmare, and that's more than most roguelikes get out of me.
Lies of P: A day one Game Pass title, Lies of P is a really good Soulslike that I just couldn't finish. Laxasia, one of the final bosses, did me in with her second phase, and I'm a real hater of two stage fights where it takes a long time to get to the second stage. Still, it's a really cool game with excellent combat and unique enemies (puppet monstrosities and mutated monsters) set in a memorable dark fantasy version of Pinocchio. I wish there was multiplayer summoning like in From Soft's games, because I probably would've been able to beat the game had that been the case. I don't have time to git gud anymore, folks.
No comments:
Post a Comment