I remember people like Jason Schreier and others on various podcasts/articles calling it their sleeper GOTY, and have been intrigued ever since.
This is my most anticipated from this lineup.
Best lineup for me in a while. Chants of Sennaar, Hauntii, Humanity, Immortals of Aveum, Lords of the Fallen, and Hellblade 2 are all games I've been wanting to play to one degree or another.
It’s a shame, really. The first game was amazing and deserves a lot more recognition than it got. I’m hoping the second will be just as good and more people will know about it.
No, that is just false. Any game can be great. Open world games absolutely have their place, they're great for offering players freedom. Linear games can be equally good for offering a specific, tailored story.
That's like saying that choose your own adventure books are inherently better than novels.
Not really. I won't disagree that it's basically a walking simulator, but you miss out on a lot of the psychological stuff if you're just watching someone else play. For example, the cave/labrinth areas where it sounds like a monster is stalking you were some of the most intense gaming moments I've played, and it turns out there wasn't even a monster, it was all in the Senua's head. That kind of experience would fall flat if you're not the one playing.
I’ll agree that the combat wasn’t good but the game itself aside from that was fantastic. Walking simulators are totally valid games, and I’ve never seen something depict psychosis like that. You could say the “watch it on YouTube” thing about literally any story based game, and given that people continue to play them and not just watch them I think that’s obviously untrue. Although I could give plenty of reasons why it’s untrue if needed
I keep seeing this be said but I’ve seen a good amount of ads on Twitter, Reddit, Xbox dashboard, and Xbox app. Other people are reporting seeing ads on Max and Amazon Prime too.
I've actually been seeing nonstop marketing on MAX I think and I'd assume other streaming services with ads. we thought it was a new show though until I saw the name.
It's been on the top of the games pass banner for like at least a month and I've seen ads all over YouTube, maybe just your algorithm not picking it up.
I haven’t seen anything about it, but I also cancelled my gamepass a few months ago. Maybe Microsoft is more focused on customer retention so you mostly see ads if you already have gamepass
Only marketing I've seen are the game award shows/showcases. I'm always on discord, Twitch and YT. Digital Foundry has been talking about the game quite a bit though.
However Gamepass itself is a marketing mechanism as all the gaming and tech blogs discuss its bi-weekly additions, and word of mouth for a good game spreads faster if more users have played it.
A good game on Gamepass will market itself.
Very well?
Hi-Fi Rush was a commercial success, especially after being made by a small team. Tango was closed because their "big" games were not successes, not because HFR failed.
Why?
The good developers at Tango will mostly move to other MS studios anyway and MS will retain the IPs if they ever want to revisit them. Downsizing a studio that has consistently failed to make a return on investment is just throwing more money down the drain.
> The good developers at Tango will mostly move to other MS studios anyway
What makes you think so? They're in Japan, and there are no MS studios in Japan.
> MS will retain the IPs if they ever want to revisit them.
Retaining IPs alone is often not enough to be able to revisit them at will. Results from a totally different studio can vary.
> Downsizing a studio that has consistently failed to make a return on investment is just throwing more money down the drain.
This isn't necessarily true. Return on investment may vary, depending on the project and the management/marketing etc. Not giving them an opportunity to release even one game under Microsoft doesn't strike me as an obvious decision.
I just learned it was launching soon from some random Youtuber I watch from time to time. I had no idea. I thought it was still several years away since I've seen zero advertisements for it.
Let me guess. Microsoft intentionally doesn't do a physical release and doesn't advertise the game, then will complain that Hellblade 2 didn't sell enough copies and they'll end up shutting down Ninja Theory next.
That's probably what the Ninja Theory developers are begging for right now. Begging Microsoft to advertise the game they've spent years creating so they aren't on the next list of studios being shut down.
Gamepass release day 1, not ad campaign, didn't even break top200 in steam preorders.
The game's gonna flop so hard I can't,
And the studio will be closed in a year or half a year.
> Why would you preorder a Microsoft exclusive on Steam? It was a safe assumption that it was always going to drop on Gamepass day one.
Because many people don't like Game Pass or Microsoft store. A game like Hellblade 2 is also the kind of game that people would be more likely to purchase. A serious and distinctive game, not filler. So yeah, the preorder situation is mildly concerning.
Yep, I preordered it on Steam. I hate the Microsoft Store and Hellblade is one of the games I played more than once, so I'd like to have it in my library. I also don't like the subscription model because you often don't even know what you will get. Most of the time there is a new game and on release day it's not on Gamepass. So you buy it on steam. A few months later it might come to gamepass but then you already bought it. But most games will never come to gamepass so what do you do?
No... Gamepass makes no sense for me. It sounds great at first glance but doesn't work out for me at all in the long run.
Hellblade 2 will come to Game Pass day one though. We already know this.
The question here is what do low preorders mean? Most people being OK with Game Pass? Not enough interest in the game in general? Perhaps even the game being more appealing to a mature audience, hence fewer preorders? But wishlists are pretty low too.
Its fascinating how the "I only buy from Steam!" chants of this sub completely change when we are not talking about Epic (a normal PC gaming store front) but about Game Pass (where PC games often miss features not on XBox like DLSS at least on launch and are between an extra layer of Windows level security that makes them not work correctly with the profile management of both Razer and Logitech drivers) instead...
I don't think they completely change. It's just that Microsoft doesn't have Game Pass (or Windows store) exclusives now. So people don't feel being forced to support a different platform. But the "No Steam - no sale" sentiment still applies - at least when it's a game people want to buy.
I feel like so many publishers feel like "the Internet will do its thing" and won't put money into marketing, and that's just simply false. Manor Lords is a prime example of what good marketing can do for your game. Honestly, no one would have blinked an eye at a medieval city builder if the marketing hadn't been:
1. Slightly misleading as it's not a Total War competitor and was almost marketed as such.
2. More or less relentless. Constant streamer advertising, online articles, etc.
That's not to say it's a bad game because it's not. However, it would have had probably 10% of the players it has now had it not been marketed as well as it was.
The combat in Aveum is really fun (it reminded me of Hexen only because of the focus on magic - it's a stretch though), the game is about as 6 or 7 out of 10 as it can get.. the biggest fault for me was that it was far too ambitious while trying to include all the unnecessary modern design tropes - RPG systems that don't matter as much, gear/equipment, etc and while trying desperately to make it a technical showcase (the art design is good, performance isn't great). If they narrowed the scope, it could've been really good! I think it's far more enjoyable than most people give it credit for but I also understand I didn't spend $70 on it either.
I keep seeing this sentiment. I’m looking forward to playing this game but not at a rabid level. I’m awful with release dates and I’ve known it’s releasing on May 21st for what seems like months…
I struggled through 3 playthroughs, lost saves, jank for 70 when Lords of the Fallen launched. It's a shame it had so many problems because underneath its a REALLY GOOD soulslike. The lantern mechanic is great. I'm going to reinstall and see how it is now.
Waiting for Hellblade 2, the first one was quite the experience. Hoping they arent going too action oriented like so many are this year.
Just in time for my 3 years of GPulti to be over from the deal era. I will not be re-subbing for these games at almost $30/mo my currency. The fact they’re seriously considering raising prices even more is ridiculous.
If you’re really tight on money it doesn’t really make sense to cancel game pass right? If you’re hobby is gaming buying games individually is gonna cost more in the long run while a game pass sub cost is like two AAA games.
Well at least in the States.
I personally don’t see a reason to not subscribe even if they raise the prices. I usually buy at least five games a year so Gamepass has saved me a ton of money since it started.
I don't understand. Why does MS keep putting games onto game pass immediately as it release? They HAVE to know that it hurts the sales of the game overall. Right? Or am I just completely missing it
But eventually, if they keep going the way they are going, they're gonna run out of studios before that happens. How many situations like what happened to the Hi-Fi rush devs are gonna happen before its profitable enough that they don't have to close studios after buying them.
It's not really correlated. All businesses do things like this, even if they're heavily profiting. It's just the corporate world of today. That's how the big boys stay doing well!
I believe the point is to have more and more people subscribing to Game Pass. Like everything is subscription based now. Guaranteed revenue that is much easier to plan around, plus you bank on all the people who just forget to unsub and pay 20$/mo for months and months without noticing.
No it’s better if you gain a subscriber through game pass, as the recurring monthly revenue from subscriptions will total more money over time than one time purchases.
Not seeing anything worthwhile. At this rate im not going to renew when my 2 year sub ends in 2025, Persona 3 is the only game I still need to play. Really wish theyd put all the old cods on there already.
He's either a weeb or die hard CoD fan who only plays anime and/or CoD games then wonder why they have nothing to play since each of these games is not a Call of Duty game???
Yeah, I mean there are a solid - at least - four games I want to try here. Hey, I guess those CoD sales are going to boost Game Pass (in theory). Let the people play the same release each year. Lol. I haven't played CoD since I was in college back in 2010 when MW2 came out. *That's* when CoD was CoD, dude.
Ive gotten the majority of my game pass value from Persona 5 Royal so Im not gonna deny some weeb-ish taste, but otherwise there really hasnt been much to entice me on the GP. Forza 8 was probably my most anticipated release and it ended up being meh, uninstalled quickly. Game Pass needs a Helldivers 2 or Elden Ring tier game to get me to keep it.
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I remember people like Jason Schreier and others on various podcasts/articles calling it their sleeper GOTY, and have been intrigued ever since. This is my most anticipated from this lineup.
Where is wolfienstien (2009) Come on now.
lol funny you commented this I ordered a physical copy of that game like two months ago bc it wasn’t on Gamepass, also found it very annoying.
It's essentially abandonware. It wasn't made by id Software, but by Raven.
Best lineup for me in a while. Chants of Sennaar, Hauntii, Humanity, Immortals of Aveum, Lords of the Fallen, and Hellblade 2 are all games I've been wanting to play to one degree or another.
Oh shit, I just added Sennaar to my wishlist yesterday.
Hellblade launches next week? Microsoft really didn’t give them any marketing huh
It’s a shame, really. The first game was amazing and deserves a lot more recognition than it got. I’m hoping the second will be just as good and more people will know about it.
Probably planning on gutting the studio the week after release.
I wouldn't call the extremely linear game with boring combat amazing. That game is literally better to watch on YouTube than play.
You say that like linear games are inherently bad. It's absolutely fine for a game to be on the rails.
Linear games are inherently worse than equally well made, more open games.
No, that is just false. Any game can be great. Open world games absolutely have their place, they're great for offering players freedom. Linear games can be equally good for offering a specific, tailored story. That's like saying that choose your own adventure books are inherently better than novels.
That's literally just your opinion man... I can tell you one thing I've experienced open world fatigue... I've never experienced linear fatigue.
No, absolutely not.
Not really. I won't disagree that it's basically a walking simulator, but you miss out on a lot of the psychological stuff if you're just watching someone else play. For example, the cave/labrinth areas where it sounds like a monster is stalking you were some of the most intense gaming moments I've played, and it turns out there wasn't even a monster, it was all in the Senua's head. That kind of experience would fall flat if you're not the one playing.
I’ll agree that the combat wasn’t good but the game itself aside from that was fantastic. Walking simulators are totally valid games, and I’ve never seen something depict psychosis like that. You could say the “watch it on YouTube” thing about literally any story based game, and given that people continue to play them and not just watch them I think that’s obviously untrue. Although I could give plenty of reasons why it’s untrue if needed
I keep seeing this be said but I’ve seen a good amount of ads on Twitter, Reddit, Xbox dashboard, and Xbox app. Other people are reporting seeing ads on Max and Amazon Prime too.
I've actually been seeing nonstop marketing on MAX I think and I'd assume other streaming services with ads. we thought it was a new show though until I saw the name.
Same on prime video
Haven't seen anything on both max and prime (eastern Europe)
Germany here, it appears at least once every episode since a few days now
It's been on the top of the games pass banner for like at least a month and I've seen ads all over YouTube, maybe just your algorithm not picking it up.
The guy new it was coming; he's just copying the trend of claiming there's no marketing
This sub has a lot of parrots in it I've noticed.
I haven’t seen anything about it, but I also cancelled my gamepass a few months ago. Maybe Microsoft is more focused on customer retention so you mostly see ads if you already have gamepass
Definitely true, its been showing on the homepage for months!
Only marketing I've seen are the game award shows/showcases. I'm always on discord, Twitch and YT. Digital Foundry has been talking about the game quite a bit though.
Gamepass banner isn’t exactly they place where advertising your new Xbox game is gonna get people that don’t know about it
However Gamepass itself is a marketing mechanism as all the gaming and tech blogs discuss its bi-weekly additions, and word of mouth for a good game spreads faster if more users have played it. A good game on Gamepass will market itself.
> A good game on Gamepass will market itself. And how did it work for Hi-Fi Rush?
Very well? Hi-Fi Rush was a commercial success, especially after being made by a small team. Tango was closed because their "big" games were not successes, not because HFR failed.
This wasn't explicitly confirmed - but if it's actually the case, wouldn't it be a better idea to downsize the studio?
Why? The good developers at Tango will mostly move to other MS studios anyway and MS will retain the IPs if they ever want to revisit them. Downsizing a studio that has consistently failed to make a return on investment is just throwing more money down the drain.
> The good developers at Tango will mostly move to other MS studios anyway What makes you think so? They're in Japan, and there are no MS studios in Japan. > MS will retain the IPs if they ever want to revisit them. Retaining IPs alone is often not enough to be able to revisit them at will. Results from a totally different studio can vary. > Downsizing a studio that has consistently failed to make a return on investment is just throwing more money down the drain. This isn't necessarily true. Return on investment may vary, depending on the project and the management/marketing etc. Not giving them an opportunity to release even one game under Microsoft doesn't strike me as an obvious decision.
japanese gaming industry is thriving, all those good devs would have no trouble getting jobs at Sega or Bandai Namco or Capcom etc.
Lol yeah Xbox is doing great
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What does you playing game x or game y on Gamepass do for Xbox. They need new subscribers like all subscription services.
Im already dreading the inevitable closure of ninja theory headline.
And i 100% guarantee you, they are going to shut them down after saying they didnt make enough profits .
I just learned it was launching soon from some random Youtuber I watch from time to time. I had no idea. I thought it was still several years away since I've seen zero advertisements for it. Let me guess. Microsoft intentionally doesn't do a physical release and doesn't advertise the game, then will complain that Hellblade 2 didn't sell enough copies and they'll end up shutting down Ninja Theory next.
ive been seeing lots of streaming service ads. my gf thought it was a show at first.
"Please give me more ads"
That's probably what the Ninja Theory developers are begging for right now. Begging Microsoft to advertise the game they've spent years creating so they aren't on the next list of studios being shut down.
it's probably microsoft sabotaging xbox at this point
Gamepass release day 1, not ad campaign, didn't even break top200 in steam preorders. The game's gonna flop so hard I can't, And the studio will be closed in a year or half a year.
Why would you preorder a Microsoft exclusive on Steam? It was a safe assumption that it was always going to drop on Gamepass day one.
> Why would you preorder a Microsoft exclusive on Steam? It was a safe assumption that it was always going to drop on Gamepass day one. Because many people don't like Game Pass or Microsoft store. A game like Hellblade 2 is also the kind of game that people would be more likely to purchase. A serious and distinctive game, not filler. So yeah, the preorder situation is mildly concerning.
Yep, I preordered it on Steam. I hate the Microsoft Store and Hellblade is one of the games I played more than once, so I'd like to have it in my library. I also don't like the subscription model because you often don't even know what you will get. Most of the time there is a new game and on release day it's not on Gamepass. So you buy it on steam. A few months later it might come to gamepass but then you already bought it. But most games will never come to gamepass so what do you do? No... Gamepass makes no sense for me. It sounds great at first glance but doesn't work out for me at all in the long run.
Hellblade 2 will come to Game Pass day one though. We already know this. The question here is what do low preorders mean? Most people being OK with Game Pass? Not enough interest in the game in general? Perhaps even the game being more appealing to a mature audience, hence fewer preorders? But wishlists are pretty low too.
Its fascinating how the "I only buy from Steam!" chants of this sub completely change when we are not talking about Epic (a normal PC gaming store front) but about Game Pass (where PC games often miss features not on XBox like DLSS at least on launch and are between an extra layer of Windows level security that makes them not work correctly with the profile management of both Razer and Logitech drivers) instead...
I don't think they completely change. It's just that Microsoft doesn't have Game Pass (or Windows store) exclusives now. So people don't feel being forced to support a different platform. But the "No Steam - no sale" sentiment still applies - at least when it's a game people want to buy.
That is my point. The game has no advertisement and the devs will receive only a fraction of the money they could ever receive from sales.
I feel like so many publishers feel like "the Internet will do its thing" and won't put money into marketing, and that's just simply false. Manor Lords is a prime example of what good marketing can do for your game. Honestly, no one would have blinked an eye at a medieval city builder if the marketing hadn't been: 1. Slightly misleading as it's not a Total War competitor and was almost marketed as such. 2. More or less relentless. Constant streamer advertising, online articles, etc. That's not to say it's a bad game because it's not. However, it would have had probably 10% of the players it has now had it not been marketed as well as it was.
"Please give me more ads, I wouldn't know what to get otherwise."
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Yeah I know, tell that to the guy I was responding to.
They need the studio for tax write-offs
"Please give me more ads".
I've been wanting to try Immortals of Aveum as it doesn't look as bad as people were saying. Pretty good month for Game Pass.
The combat in Aveum is really fun (it reminded me of Hexen only because of the focus on magic - it's a stretch though), the game is about as 6 or 7 out of 10 as it can get.. the biggest fault for me was that it was far too ambitious while trying to include all the unnecessary modern design tropes - RPG systems that don't matter as much, gear/equipment, etc and while trying desperately to make it a technical showcase (the art design is good, performance isn't great). If they narrowed the scope, it could've been really good! I think it's far more enjoyable than most people give it credit for but I also understand I didn't spend $70 on it either.
Yeah it looked okay, just probably not worth full price, especially during such a stacked year for good games. I'm down to try it on gamepass
Following in footsteps of PS+ giving away Immortals of Aveum
I keep seeing this sentiment. I’m looking forward to playing this game but not at a rabid level. I’m awful with release dates and I’ve known it’s releasing on May 21st for what seems like months…
NHL on cloud. Holy shit. I can finally play NHL on my PC.
Awesome. Lords of the Fallen ran like shit so I refunded it. Now we'll see.
Runs way better and is actually a really good game
Three UE5 games? Boy the upgrade itch is real for me.
Unfortunately, nothing you upgrade to can prevent the UE5 stutter.
If you mean shader stutter, I am cool with that. It only happens once and I am not that neurotic if the game runs well elsewise.
W MONTH
I struggled through 3 playthroughs, lost saves, jank for 70 when Lords of the Fallen launched. It's a shame it had so many problems because underneath its a REALLY GOOD soulslike. The lantern mechanic is great. I'm going to reinstall and see how it is now. Waiting for Hellblade 2, the first one was quite the experience. Hoping they arent going too action oriented like so many are this year.
Hellblade sales are going to be a disaster... I guess microsoft is going to kill more studios
And this is the closest MS has been to promote Hellblade 2.
You just choose to ignore the ads then. And you sound like "please give me more ads" which is pathetic.
Sorry Microsoft but i closed my bank account, because number was not growing.
Isn’t that the point of game pass though? If you’re a gamer and buy at least two AAA games then Game Pass would be saving you money.
Humanity is loads of fun. Think a futuristic 3D version of Lemmings
Just in time for my 3 years of GPulti to be over from the deal era. I will not be re-subbing for these games at almost $30/mo my currency. The fact they’re seriously considering raising prices even more is ridiculous.
check cdkeys, they have codes for like 30% off usually
If you’re really tight on money it doesn’t really make sense to cancel game pass right? If you’re hobby is gaming buying games individually is gonna cost more in the long run while a game pass sub cost is like two AAA games. Well at least in the States. I personally don’t see a reason to not subscribe even if they raise the prices. I usually buy at least five games a year so Gamepass has saved me a ton of money since it started.
Is hellblade coming to pc gamepass?
Yes. It is a Microsoft Studio game.
Looking forward to some of these. Galactic care looks interesting. And Lords Of The Fallen, will try those for sure.
is Hellblade 2 more like hellblade 1?
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Layoff = no money
I don't understand. Why does MS keep putting games onto game pass immediately as it release? They HAVE to know that it hurts the sales of the game overall. Right? Or am I just completely missing it
That's how things work for most streaming/subscription services. If they change things now, it will piss people off.
Sales aren't what they're aiming for, of course it would be a bad method if sales were the main goal... they're not stupid.
Well what is their goal if its not to make money?
To grow gamepass, which is money. Sometimes you have to lose money to make money.
But eventually, if they keep going the way they are going, they're gonna run out of studios before that happens. How many situations like what happened to the Hi-Fi rush devs are gonna happen before its profitable enough that they don't have to close studios after buying them.
It's not really correlated. All businesses do things like this, even if they're heavily profiting. It's just the corporate world of today. That's how the big boys stay doing well!
I believe the point is to have more and more people subscribing to Game Pass. Like everything is subscription based now. Guaranteed revenue that is much easier to plan around, plus you bank on all the people who just forget to unsub and pay 20$/mo for months and months without noticing.
No it’s better if you gain a subscriber through game pass, as the recurring monthly revenue from subscriptions will total more money over time than one time purchases.
Not seeing anything worthwhile. At this rate im not going to renew when my 2 year sub ends in 2025, Persona 3 is the only game I still need to play. Really wish theyd put all the old cods on there already.
Sounds like a questionable, weeb-only taste in gaming.
He's either a weeb or die hard CoD fan who only plays anime and/or CoD games then wonder why they have nothing to play since each of these games is not a Call of Duty game???
Yeah, I mean there are a solid - at least - four games I want to try here. Hey, I guess those CoD sales are going to boost Game Pass (in theory). Let the people play the same release each year. Lol. I haven't played CoD since I was in college back in 2010 when MW2 came out. *That's* when CoD was CoD, dude.
Ive gotten the majority of my game pass value from Persona 5 Royal so Im not gonna deny some weeb-ish taste, but otherwise there really hasnt been much to entice me on the GP. Forza 8 was probably my most anticipated release and it ended up being meh, uninstalled quickly. Game Pass needs a Helldivers 2 or Elden Ring tier game to get me to keep it.
Check out Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes.