Xbox Game Pass - GUIDE TO BEST DEAL IN FIRST POST

[Majora]

Enjoying Escape Academy at the moment. Wasn't sure what to expect but it's a lot of fun. Not particularly hard after about 6/7 rooms but, for me at least, it's got the time pressure just about right so I never feel I can rest too much on my laurels. Some of the rooms are more inventive than I was expecting too.

[Wiper]

Yeah, Escape Academy was a delightful surprise; I gave it a half-hearted go when it was added to the service, and ended up completing the whole thing. I'm really excited for the 5 extra escape rooms coming as (paid) DLC, I'll be snapping that up.

[Skull Commander]

On 25/07/2022 at 23:29, Majora said:

Bit surprised there hasn't been much talk around As Dusk Falls. Played Chapter 1 tonight and once I got used to the sightly odd art/animation style (took about 10 minutes) I was completely gripped for the next hour or so. It rattles along at a good old clip and presents you with a series of some of the most engaging choices I think I can remember in these kind of games. Mostly all killer and none of the David Cage nonsense filler, or even a lot of the filler-ish stuff from Until Dawn/The Quarry. Hope it can keep it up.

I've been giving this a shot. Into chapter 2 now and I see I've been making very unusual choices compared the majority of people. I'm guessing the "explore story" option will let me see the alternative paths when I'm done?

 

This type of "non game" isn't usually my thing but I'm quite enjoying it. It's undemanding and easy to dip in and out of for a half hour here and there which suits me fine just now. 

[Rayn]

10 hours ago, Skull Commander said:

I've been giving this a shot. Into chapter 2 now and I see I've been making very unusual choices compared the majority of people. I'm guessing the "explore story" option will let me see the alternative paths when I'm done?

 

This type of "non game" isn't usually my thing but I'm quite enjoying it. It's undemanding and easy to dip in and out of for a half hour here and there which suits me fine just now. 

 

I was trying to be edgy with my choices throughout but it turned out that the majority of my own choices reflected what the majority of players did, until the end that is. For some reason, during the final stretch, I managed to find a lesser travelled road and my ending path was only seen by 2.5% of the players. 

Not a great game but actually really good fun and at times really engaging story. I wouldn't mind to see more releases like this. 

Personally I liked Road 96 better. 

[Skull Commander]

On 28/08/2022 at 21:01, Skull Commander said:

I've been giving this a shot. Into chapter 2 now and I see I've been making very unusual choices compared the majority of people. I'm guessing the "explore story" option will let me see the alternative paths when I'm done?

 

This type of "non game" isn't usually my thing but I'm quite enjoying it. It's undemanding and easy to dip in and out of for a half hour here and there which suits me fine just now. 

Finished As Dusk Falls earlier this evening and while it was fairly enjoyable it ended very abruptly. Felt like there should be another section to come and the last part of the game felt far less engaging overall. Totally glad I went and played through it and was interesting to see how my path differed from others through the percentages.

[Hitcher]

It's officially launched, can't wait get my family all joined up.

 

 

That's less than the price of 2 memberships and if you're game sharing 6 people can have access to GPU.

[Kryptonian]

On 04/08/2022 at 23:42, Kryptonian said:

Without wanting to get a rep as ‘that guy’, if 2 people have the fall guys perk this month but aren’t going to use it (coconut outfit) my boys would be eternally grateful.

 

And to tie in with the above, they both have GPU subscriptions but the perks are age restricted, it’s a blanket ‘not available’ message which is understandable on sub stuff like Disney or whatever where you presumably have to add payment details for after the trial but for DLC tat it’s annoying for them 

 

And I'm here again, cap in hand. Sorry

 

It's some hipster outfit this time, my boys would be grateful again  

[moosegrinder]

I redeemed it because I thought "No-one will want this!" My other half never redeems hers, if noone has got back to you by tomorrow I'll grab her code for you.

[Kryptonian]

Thank you!

[Hawklord]

3 hours ago, Kryptonian said:

 

And I'm here again, cap in hand. Sorry

 

It's some hipster outfit this time, my boys would be grateful again  

PM'd

[James Lyon]

A Plague Tale: Innocence is leaving soon. Not many action adventure games set in a semi-fictional 14th century plague-ridden France, so a good time to get it in before the sequel gets here next month. Thankfully*, I've just got through it as of yesterday. It's a solid eight out of ten for me.

 

Also The Artful Escape, which I haven't played yet, but I've heard is just a few hours long.

 

* I don't know why I said thankfully. I've also got this on Epic and Steam. You know, achievements...

[Mallet]

Is there any way to see what games are leaving 2-3 months in advance?

[Sarlaccfood]

32 minutes ago, James Lyon said:

A Plague Tale: Innocence is leaving soon. Not many action adventure games set in a semi-fictional 14th century plague-ridden France, so a good time to get it in before the sequel gets here next month. Thankfully*, I've just got through it as of yesterday. It's a solid eight out of ten for me.

 

Also The Artful Escape, which I haven't played yet, but I've heard is just a few hours long.

 

* I don't know why I said thankfully. I've also got this on Epic and Steam. You know, achievements...

Oh just downloaded Plague Tale so thanks for the tip I’ll play that next. 

[James Lyon]

45 minutes ago, Mallet said:

Is there any way to see what games are leaving 2-3 months in advance?

 

No, I don't think so. I think games leaving only get announced a few weeks before. However, things like A Plague Tale were added twelve months ago, so you can take an educated guess that most things will last a year unless they're Microsoft-owned games.

 

It could be longer or shorter, though. This is why I'm cautious to start something big if it's been on for a while.

[Mallet]

19 minutes ago, James Lyon said:

 

No, I don't think so. I think games leaving only get announced a few weeks before. However, things like A Plague Tale were added twelve months ago, so you can take an educated guess that most things will last a year unless they're Microsoft-owned games.

 

It could be longer or shorter, though. This is why I'm cautious to start something big if it's been on for a while.

It's a little frustrating isn't it? Microsoft would know when a game is leaving from the moment the contract is signed to bring the game to the service in the first place so I'm not sure why we can't get 2 months notice.

[Sarlaccfood]

3 hours ago, Mallet said:

It's a little frustrating isn't it? Microsoft would know when a game is leaving from the moment the contract is signed to bring the game to the service in the first place so I'm not sure why we can't get 2 months notice.

I bet stuff on there gets renewed all the time and we have no idea. Negotiations probably go right to the wire so it might all be up in the air and they’d rather not have “it’s going! Oh no wait it’s not” all the time.

 

Maybe?

[James Lyon]

It's probably more a case of them showcasing what's on there to get people subscribing. People would be less inclined to subscribe for a game they want if they know it's leaving in two months or so; might as well leave it as long as possible.

 

Games leaving Gamepass does give me a good incentive for playing them, though, if it's something I've been interested in. I think most of the games I've played this year have been ones just about to leave the service. Helps me focus on finishing them rather than leaving them halfway through for something else.

[David Kenny]

It's the single reason why I have had Gamepass for about a year and have only played a couple of games. Every game is caught in a limbo state of being on the list to play later, as there's no urgency to start playing it now, and there being no point in starting it because I won't be able to complete it before it leaves. The normal cycle is that I add it to my play later list, and then delete it unplayed when it's announced that it's being removed. I just don't think subscription services are for me.

[LaveDisco]

42 minutes ago, David Kenny said:

It's the single reason why I have had Gamepass for about a year and have only played a couple of games. Every game is caught in a limbo state of being on the list to play later, as there's no urgency to start playing it now, and there being no point in starting it because I won't be able to complete it before it leaves. The normal cycle is that I add it to my play later list, and then delete it unplayed when it's announced that it's being removed. I just don't think subscription services are for me.

 

Yeah, that and the games I do like, that I would have bought anyway, are going to leave my account, and I'll end up buying anyway. 

 

Once the cheap hack expires, I think I might move to a month here or there instead when the first party games drop.

[Mallet]

Yeah, I have had Final Fantasy Xiii on my to play list for a couple of months but with it being summer outside and a series of books I wanted to read released in the last few months I simply have not gotten around to it.

 

Now I see it is leaving on the 15th of this month and I'm wondering if it is even worth starting it now.

[SMD]

there's no chance of you finishing it by the 15th but you could either buy it now for a discount or see if they bring it back. MS have brought games back onto the service after a period of time, if you want to take the risk and not buy it outright.

[AK Bell]

33 minutes ago, Mallet said:

Yeah, I have had Final Fantasy Xiii on my to play list for a couple of months but with it being summer outside and a series of books I wanted to read released in the last few months I simply have not gotten around to it.

 

Now I see it is leaving on the 15th of this month and I'm wondering if it is even worth starting it now.

What price is it now? I bought it on sale for a fiver a while back in case this happened (and it did, I’m a chapter off finishing) and it’s often been on sale for that cheap since

 

Although, if I were to buy it again I’d be tempted by PC as you can’t  play it on either xCloud or streaming off Xbox 

[footle]

12 hours ago, Mallet said:

It's a little frustrating isn't it? Microsoft would know when a game is leaving from the moment the contract is signed to bring the game to the service in the first place so I'm not sure why we can't get 2 months notice.

Sometimes games get extended for ages - Descenders being a case in point.

[earlymodernsteve]

The most annoying thing is that games that leave often go straight to PS+ (Spiritfarer is the most recent one for me) but obviously you can't transfer progress across. It does mean that I wait to (not) play it on the other service instead.

[footle]

(Obvious) Why not just start playing games when they turn up on the service ?!

[earlymodernsteve]

3 minutes ago, footle said:

(Obvious) Why not just start playing games when they turn up on the service ?!

Bloody voice of reason here. Next, you'll be telling us to actually play the games we buy! 😜

 

I generally do a mixture of playing games as they arrive or as they leave. The enforced deadline can be a good motivator if I didn't get into a game at launch (and there are too many to play them all).

[dizogg]

1 hour ago, Mallet said:

Yeah, I have had Final Fantasy Xiii on my to play list for a couple of months but with it being summer outside and a series of books I wanted to read released in the last few months I simply have not gotten around to it.

 

Now I see it is leaving on the 15th of this month and I'm wondering if it is even worth starting it now.

It’s been out for 12 years ffs! 

[therearerules]

If I didn't play it when I had time I'm not going to rush into it when it's leaving.

[deerokus]

You could just buy the game if you want to keep playing it, crazy idea maybe.

[Mallet]

Yes I could play games when they first launch, I could have played it 12 years ago but that doesn't change the fact that we could be given more notice as to when a game is leaving the service. Gaming is so strange, you can propose a pro consumer idea and people will list reasons as to why you should just accept what the huge multi billion dollar corporation gives you. 

 

Giving the gamepass subscriber a longer notice for when games are leaving the service can only be a good thing for us as paying customers. It certainly won't harm the subscriber.