I played a lot of new games this summer, fully taking advantage of Game Pass and the time off from work. I was having trouble remembering all of them, so I decided to catalog them along with thoughts about each.
You’ll see an unknown amount of playtime on some games. That’s because Game Pass does a terrible job of tracking it on some games, showing a playtime of zero minutes for some of them.
A Story About My Uncle
Steam, 2.5 hours. First-person platformer with fun mechanics. Finished it just as it was starting to get old.
Ape Out
Game Pass, unknown. Top down action game similar to Hotline Miami. Fun for a bit, but it got frustrating after it ran out of new mechanics and decided to just throw harder and harder situations at you.
Atomicrops
Game Pass, unknown. I can’t understand how this game has near universal acclaim. Too many mechanics thrown at you too quickly with little explanation of what they do. I might enjoy it if I tried it again, but I guess that’s the detriment of Game Pass: plenty of other stuff to play so I’m not going to bother.
Batman: Arkham Knight
GOG, 32 hours. Arkham-style combat is its own genre for a reason. Batmobile mechanics added some nice variety, but got tedious in places. Annoying that you need to 100% the game to get the real ending.
Blood Roots
Game Pass, 2.5 hours. Another Hotline Miami type game, but with an isometric view and platforming. Fun for a while, but I gave up when it dropped combat for platformer challenges.
Children of Morta
Game Pass, 20+ hours. I finished the game, but don’t know if I liked it. There was just enough variety combined with a good story/atmosphere to get me to the finish line, but definitely felt like a grind towards the end.
Darksiders: Genesis
Game Pass, unknown. OK, but dropped it pretty quickly. Story didn’t grab me like other Darksider games and combat got boring quickly.
Dead Space
Steam, 49 minutes. This is a good game, but I don’t do well with horror. I am disappointed in myself.
Death Ray Manta
Steam, <30 minutes. A bullet-hell assault on the senses. No thanks.
Farming Simulator 19
Game Pass, 6.5 hours. Imagine Eurotruck Simulator with unskippable trailer parking and scenery that never changes. I don’t understand how this is a thing.
Going Under
Game Pass, <2 hours. Roguelike with unpleasant controls.
Into the Breach
GOG, 19.5 hours. Fantastic and addictive strategy game similar to XCOM. Still installed since I plan on going back and playing it again.
Katamari Damacy REROLL
Game Pass, unknown. I’m on the fence about this since the controls and camera make it frustrating. I’d probably be done with it already if it wasn’t for its reputation and soundtrack, but it’s still installed and I’ll probably try it again.
Omno
Game Pass, unknown. Maybe I’m just stupid, but I had to go read outside sources to understand the story. It’s doled out in optional collectibles, rendering the ending meaningless if you didn’t pick them up or pay attention to them. I did find most of them, but I didn’t read most of them closely save for the ones in the first few areas. A lot of them were vagueries that seemed to give no new information.
Anyway, I feel like the story could have been delivered in a better way and the puzzles and platforming were fine. I rarely felt challenged and there were times the controls failed to do what I intended. Fine game, but overrated.
Outriders (demo)
Steam, unknown. I picked the ranged class and used the waist-high cover that was littered across the landscape. Apparently that’s not how you are supposed to play it. If it was on Game Pass for PC I’d try it some more, but nothing I experienced was worth shelling out any money.
Raji
Game Pass, 2 hours. Beautiful looking game with a boring story written terribly. Combat was also frustrating with strange hit detection and other annoyances.
Recore
Game Pass, 5.5 hours. Meh. Combat was fun, but not a lot going on. However, there was a lot of walking and enemies that constantly respawned.
Resident Evil 4
Steam, 30 minutes. Fuck these controls. I read defenses of them saying that the tank controls add to the thrill and horror because you can’t react quickly. If that’s the case, just make a game about a person in a wheelchair being chased by zombies. My special-agent character shouldn’t have trouble strafing and turning at the same time.
Slime Rancher
Game Pass, 1 hour. Tedious and doing any of kind of ranching is a pain in the ass with not enough reward to get me hooked.
Snkrx
Steam, 9.5 hours. You move a snake around an arena and each segment attacks, heals or buffs your snake/party. Lots of fun.
Steamworld Heist
Steam, 1 hour. Side-scrolling XCOM. I should have probably played this more, because it was good. Just didn’t grab my attention.
Strider
Steam, 7.5 hours. Metroidvania/sprawler action game. Lots of fun and I ended up finishing it.
The Wild at Heart
Game Pass, 11.5 hours. Pikmin-style puzzle game. Finished and enjoyed it.
Unto the End
Game Pass, 30 minutes. I just looked this up on Steam and was surprised at the mixed reviews. I figured this was another game that was well-received that I just didn’t like because I’m a contrarian prick.
Anyway, beautiful but slow paced along with frustrating combat and movement.
Yogurt Commercial 3
Steam, 6 hours. Puzzle sandbox. I don’t know how to describe this aside from just play it because it’s good.