Xbox Game Pass for Console, PC, and Android

I love that Game Pass just keeps delivering every month. Not all the games are bangers, but enough of a month (and especially during release seasons), we get some good titles added (or releasing day one!).

I’ve canceled my other system services because the games always felt like an afterthought, and I can’t be bothered to play online.

DeThroned wrote:

NOOOOOOOO! No more games. I can't handle it. I have to beat Ori and the Will of the Wisps before January 14th when God of War comes out. And THEN Lost Ark on Feb 8th.

I mean ... this is a bad problem to have, right? :)

Ori is pretty fun. Get to it.

Max don’t know if this was mentioned already, but: Ubisoft+ coming to Xbox and Rainbow Six: Extraction to Game Pass on day 1…

PC Game Pass as well, fwiw. The value of this service is absurd.

So . . . all of Ubisoft+? I almost picked up AC: Valhalla recently, but, well, if they're just gonna give it to me for free a bit down the road, I could certainly wait a little longer . . .

Yes. It really is kind of amazing.

From what I can tell, the new Rainbow Six is the only thing coming specifically to Gamepass. It's just that if you're already paying for Ubisoft+, it will now also let you play Xbox games. It's not like EA Access where it's included for free with Gamepass.

beanman101283 wrote:

From what I can tell, the new Rainbow Six is the only thing coming specifically to Gamepass. It's just that if you're already paying for Ubisoft+, it will now also let you play Xbox games. It's not like EA Access where it's included for free with Gamepass.

Yes, this appears to be correct.

Thanks to Game Pass (which I had never subscribed to before) I got to dabble with Back 4 Blood, and Microsoft's Flight Simulator, both on Series X. I had been excited to try both of these games. Turns out I did not gel with either, not immediately anyway. I am most disinclined to try again. Considering that I'm not out of pocket (thank you Game Pass) I can shelve these two and move on, to the games which I have found a groove with, and may otherwise not have purchased, either straight away or at all. Forza Horizon 5, and The Gunk. Fantastic. Game Pass is mighty fine.

And now I find out it's bringing Outer Wilds, and Spelunky 2, and Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. Damn. If I can keep pace with both my game commitments and my game trails, this Game Pass will be crazy good value.

I still haven't decided if I'll stay subbed once my 3 months is up. Or outright purchase what I like, say if they're time intensive, and then return to Game Pass when ready for something shiny and new.

Considering Ultimate game pass costs basically $7/month or less depending on if you get it on sale and use rewards points, it's a crazy value.

Flight Simulator was the perfect Game Pass game for me; I don't have the patience to do sim games at this point in my life, and I knew I'd never take the time to really learn the details of flying the different planes. I appreciate the idea of it and am pretty amazed by the level of fidelity and detail in it, but I'm just not going to play it much. I did, however, want to fly around the Twin Cities and find my house. And then crash into it. I mean, I just missed and bounced off the neighbor's yard, but close enough for a first try.

I'd never have spent money on it, and I got "free's" worth of fun easily. I flew around the Twin Cities, northern VA, northern MN, and eastern Iowa, and basically flew planes around all the places I used to live, and then I was done and moved on. Enjoyed the hell out of it, and have zero desire to go back in any way, shape, or form.

My GamePass expired on the 30th December. I bought 3 years worth of Xbox Live Gold, added it to my account, then bbought one month of Game Pass Ultimate and wayhey, back to 3 years of GamePass Ultimate for £100.

That still works?? Crazy!

That Gold to Ultimate thingamajig is most interesting. Thanks!

I'm waiting patiently for the middle of March to arrive so I can let my sub expire and then load up another 3 years with that deal. Hoping it continues to stick around long enough. I should probably be watching more diligently for Gold deals until then.

It's been around since the beginning of game pass, Microsoft know that. I would bet the majority of subscribers don't go down that method, and I think right now, subscriber count trumps maximising income.

Get 'em in, get 'em hooked, then pump up the price

Since I don't have an Xbox, going from the Game pass to ultimate looks like it just gives me the ability to play certain games in the cloud. Am I missing anything else?

Oh, Mass Effect, how I have missed you . . .

Started Mass Effect 1 legendary today. I played 2 and 3 back in the day and loved them. 1…hmm after about 90 minutes. I’ll give it some more time. I noticed most the absence of sound like ambient sounds or other effects that made the world seem quite than more modern games.

Tagging, and questions :

Those reward program with Bing, does it renew every month ?

I think I could snatch a month or 2 from times to time. But I realize, is it mostly action game that are there ?

Is there maybe a permanent, or semi permanent game that is relaxing I haven't found ?

Thanks!

Manach wrote:

Tagging, and questions :

Those reward program with Bing, does it renew every month ?

I think I could snatch a month or 2 from times to time. But I realize, is it mostly action game that are there ?

Is there maybe a permanent, or semi permanent game that is relaxing I haven't found ?

Thanks!

MS Rewards are points you earn daily and have to choose manually when and where to redeem. You have to stay on top of it yourself.

Relaxing game: Townscaper was just added. No clue of it's permanence. Flight Simulator is permanent as any MS game. I don't know, as I don't usually go for 'relaxing' games as that will put me to sleep, and falling asleep is not a challenge for me.

Honestly Games Pass, in conjunction with Epic's free games really killed my Steam purchases. I mean, that's the whole point of digital disruption. There's just a stupid amount of value there - even Minecraft which retails around $30 in Aus is part of the Games Pass.

These days I'm no longer keeping all of my games on Steam. I just use Isthereanydeal to find whoever has the best price plus waiting for either Microsoft to add a game to their library or for Epic to offer their ten bucks coupon.

Unfortunately that means I've got multiple platforms on my PC.

Moving forward the only reason for using Steam, other than activating keys, is when I intend to play multiplayer with one of my kids.

Bfgp wrote:

Unfortunately that means I've got multiple platforms on my PC.

With my PC gaming split roughly in thirds between Steam, Epic and Game Pass, for the reasons you've mentioned, having to manage three platforms seems like an incredibly good value trade-off to make.

It's barely even an inconvenience. Worst case, I can't remember which platform a game is on, but then I fire up Playnite or Gog Galaxy to remind myself. Or, you know, just go check all three that are always open on my desktop anyway.

If you have not tried it already, the GOG Galaxy client does a really good job of collating/syncing other platforms (Steam, Playstation, Epic, Itch.io, Xbox, Ubisoft, EA, Bethesda, Battle.net, Amazon Games, etc.). Some of the services let you integrate your friends list, some not. Not a bad option, especially if you are already part of the GOG ecosystem.

Nimcosi wrote:

If you have not tried it already, the GOG Galaxy client does a really good job of collating/syncing other platforms (Steam, Playstation, Epic, Itch.io, Xbox, Ubisoft, EA, Bethesda, Battle.net, Amazon Games, etc.). Some of the services let you integrate your friends list, some not. Not a bad option, especially if you are already part of the GOG ecosystem.

Fair warning: Having a view of your entire digital library, may cause... feelings and a reassessment of your pile.

Yeah, quote is not edit. But l am leaving it.

I use Playnite and launch all my games from all the services (Steam, Epic, Game Pass, GoG, Ubi, Origin, Blizzard, etc) from there. It detects everything I have. I never have to think about where things are, and I can check my entire library to see if I have something.

Manach wrote:

Is there maybe a permanent, or semi permanent game that is relaxing I haven't found ?

No idea how long it will be part of of Game Pass, but Stardew Valley has been my relaxing game lately.

Nimcosi wrote:

If you have not tried it already, the GOG Galaxy client does a really good job of collating/syncing other platforms (Steam, Playstation, Epic, Itch.io, Xbox, Ubisoft, EA, Bethesda, Battle.net, Amazon Games, etc.). Some of the services let you integrate your friends list, some not. Not a bad option, especially if you are already part of the GOG ecosystem.

I second this motion. They ironed out most of the bugs by now. Xbox games only appear in GOG Galaxy after you've run them by the way.

mrtomaytohead wrote:

I use Playnite and launch all my games from all the services (Steam, Epic, Game Pass, GoG, Ubi, Origin, Blizzard, etc) from there. It detects everything I have. I never have to think about where things are, and I can check my entire library to see if I have something.

This is cool! Installed Playnite, going to give it a try going forward. Aggregating all platforms to one is great as I can never find what I own.

dejanzie wrote:
Nimcosi wrote:

If you have not tried it already, the GOG Galaxy client does a really good job of collating/syncing other platforms (Steam, Playstation, Epic, Itch.io, Xbox, Ubisoft, EA, Bethesda, Battle.net, Amazon Games, etc.). Some of the services let you integrate your friends list, some not. Not a bad option, especially if you are already part of the GOG ecosystem.

I second this motion. They ironed out most of the bugs by now. Xbox games only appear in GOG Galaxy after you've run them by the way.

I fired it up yesterday, and it doesn't seem to know how to show me my games sorted by last played. It has an option for that, but it was entirely NOT in that order when I selected it.

For me, that's a dealbreaker, that's the view I use 99% of the time. And yes, the Xbox app has a similar shortcoming. Which is bananas to me, feels like that's a "YOU HAD ONE JOB" kind of feature.