Topic: Official Push Square Xbox Thread

Personally I like my series X it allowed me to play Forza horizon 5 and Halo infinite at launch and many other games as well on gamepass.

And most of all i didnt pay a penny for any of it Microsoft Rewards paid for everything and its still earning me money

@LtSarge xbox has a lot of releases coming in the future compared to playstation . they’ve acquired so much as well , and the series X is more powerful and has more storage space before you’d need an expansion .

so the futures looking like it’s in xbox favor so far

Kinda surprised at how positive the reviews are for As Dusk Falls. The game didn't look that interesting to me, but maybe it's better than it looks. Either way, I know what I'll be playing next!

@LtSarge I can understand the art style certainly isn't for everyone. I'm a big fan of those narrative style games so it was always high on my radar. Tough thing is that Stray also releases tomorrow guess I'll have divide my time between both consoles then

@LtSarge Only seen one negative review and that was fairly damning. Seems to be an outlier.

I have no interest in As Dusk Falls as I don't really enjoy these 'interactive' story book experiences. I wouldn't even class it as a game when all you are literally doing is 'choosing' which narrative path the story will show you.

I can understand why this may divide opinion - the fact that the Game-play aspect is pretty 'weak' at best and the artstyle too doesn't exactly need to be 'performant' with its more of a slide show presentation style. Its really whether or not the story itself is interesting and whether or not those choices you make feel impactful - which is 'subjective'.

To me, it seems a bit of an evolution of the Telltale games (Wolf Among Us, Walking Dead etc) - not episodic and with perhaps more impactful choices - as well as making it more into a 'party' experience too with up too 8 players voting on decisions...

Telltale 'experiences' were often popular (at least initially until they seemed to over saturate the market) but were often reviewed positively. To me, this seems like its following in those footsteps and therefore I can see why its reviewing 'similarly' to those and likely to appeal to those that also enjoyed Telltales experiences too. Like I said, they don't appeal to me so even if it was at 100 on Metacritic, I'd still not bother trying it despite having Game Pass Ultimate. There are many other games I would rather spend my time in than this but at least I could try it if I wanted...

cant judge a book by its cover but these days its generally i dont like the way it looks must be rubbish.

As dusk falls has the flow chart at the end of every chapter like Detroit did to actually show you choices and its made by ex Quantic dream devs so im interested

Played the first hour of As Dusk Falls and it's pretty good. The lack of animation does feel a bit jarring but the story became so engrossing that I stopped thinking about that. There are definitely a lot of choices and different outcomes like you'd find in a Quantic Dream title, and the flow chart at the end is neat. Looking forward to playing more of it.

@RogerRoger I think the Series X controller is the best Xbox controller since the 360 one. It's such a massive improvement over the Xbox One controller, which had even worse bumpers. They had a plastic clicky feel to them and it felt absolutely awful pressing them. Not to mention that the bumpers and triggers had a glossy finish to them, while the Series X controller has a matte finish, which is so much better. When it comes to the D-pad though, I find the DualShock 4's and the Vita's to be infinitely better than Xbox's. The face buttons on Xbox are also concave while the ones on PlayStation and Nintendo controllers are more flat, which makes it harder to play games that require you to mash the buttons a lot, such as beat 'em ups or hack 'n' slash titles, on Xbox.

In terms of Game Pass, I think the reason why you find it underwhelming is because the overall quality of the offerings has gone down drastically this year. If you had looked at the output from January this year, it would've looked much more impressive. But sadly, more good games have left the service than have been added since the beginning of the year. It doesn't help either that Microsoft doesn't have many new first-party titles to add to Game Pass this year. But yes, Cloud Gaming is awesome and being able to test out titles before downloading them is such a great feature.

I'm surprised you didn't take a look at Xbox's backwards compatibility of original Xbox and Xbox 360 titles considering you love retro games. I think you would've been pleased with the titles available to purchase, like Sonic Generations (which I believe has 60 fps support on Series X) and Unleashed to name a few. It's definitely one of the better aspects of Xbox compared to PlayStation even though you can play PS1 and PS3 titles now through PlayStation Premium. But at least you're able to play games you already own or purchase them individually on Xbox.

I also would've liked to hear your thoughts on Series X's exclusive feature Quick Resume, which I adore. Not to mention the fast boot-up of the system. I don't even need to put it on rest mode, it boots up so fast and thanks to Quick Resume, I can continue playing right where I left off with up to five games of my choice.

On a side note, I've definitely come to enjoy my Series X more over the weeks since I purchased it. It's nice to have a good Xbox system along with my PS4 and Switch now. Will be playing a lot on all three of them for a long time to come.

@LtSarge i need to get a series X soon , had an S but that obviously ain’t enough

xbox is killing it this gen ; they’ve always been the better brand when it came to software and hardware (minus the RROD debacle ) . my ps5 feels useless , barren & outdated compared to series X . i don’t mean to come off as a fanboy , the ps5 is just really disappointing.

plus they acquired those game studious and all playstation has is …bungie

personally i find the xbox controller fine it works and i like it takes batteries better than internal rechargeable. The user interface is fine and it allows you to do what you need and frankly i think its better than ps5 interface but worse than ps4 interface. I also think gamepass is still great and still years later im never short of something to play its the only way i get my games on xbox

Also and the best thing is microsft rewards an easy £20 a month given you you bargain

@nomither6 Yeah I definitely like the comfort of buying physical and digital games as well as subscribing to Game Pass. Can't imagine being restricted to a digital-only system.

Series X should be more widely available now at normal retail price. Could be worth getting one once more worthwhile titles are added to Game Pass. Maybe this Autumn when Game Pass will get the new A Plague Tale and Scorn games in October.

@RogerRoger Ah I see. Hopefully you get to more freely explore the system if you ever get to test one again.

I picked up a Ps5 recently after gotta Series X in January. I have had an Xbox since late 2014 to fill gaps where Nintendo was lacking. And I was really impressed with the Forza series.

I enjoy all three systems for different reasons. There’s sentimental value with both Sony and Nintendo. I grew up in the 80s and both Sony and Nintendo are iconic brands from that decade, albeit Sony obviously not with video games yet at that time. And while Microsoft isn’t an endearing brand, they are an American company and I like to see them do well.

I am partial to Nintendo if for no other reason I loved Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Junior in the arcades and later the Gameboy and SNES. But I like how Nintendo as a company takes risks with innovation, focuses on fun and generally makes games approachable for gamers of all skill levels. But with the Switch, it’s hard to beat the portable aspect of the system- this is absolutely huge for me, in spite of the system lacking in specs.

Right now, I am ranking Ps5 slightly higher than Series X. Maybe it’s because it’s my new toy and things feel fresh. I personally like Nintendo exclusives better, but Sony’s games are nothing to sneeze at. While I love the extra features and functionality of the Dual Shock, I am not sure a
enough games take advantage of the said features to make a huge difference. Since I missed the PS4, I have a ton of games to choose from. Astro’s Playroom was a really nice freebie with my only “complaint” being that I want more, even if paid DLC.

As I mentioned above, I am a big Forza fan. I find Gran Tourismo Sport to be a more responsive game as far as controls. Thoroughly enjoying and feel as tho the two games somewhat cancel each other out. I have plenty to do before I even think about booting up GT7.

Series X. I find the controller more ergonomic, especially when compared to the elite series. It’s also pretty cool that expanding memory I so simple and it does get some bonus points for having a slightly larger internal drive. Quick resume is really cool. For a casual gamer, which I mostly am in spite of having all three systems, GamePass is a hard value proposition to beat. Forza Horizon 5 is a great mindless escape for me. Not the biggest Halo fan (just not very good at shooters in general), but it’s a cool series to have access to.

I use both systems as an entertainment hub. Since my TV is also a Sony, it’s pretty cool that when I turn on my controller, the TV turns on and goes to the correct input all in one stroke. It’s pretty cool too that Sony gave me six months of Apple TV even tho I already have it. Only downside Is no Paramount app.

At least from my perspective, I don’t think you can go wrong with any system this generation.

@rockodoodle I'm in the same boat as you, have all three systems and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Leave the console wars begind! I'm a big fan of the dual sense when it's used correctly though like in astro or returnal, cracking controller. Id love to see a nintendo take on adaptive triggers for whatever replaces the switch. If you never had a ps4 and you're new to ps5, the spiderman games are some brilliant fun and come in a bundle for 70 I think. Some amazing fun whilst still being pretty amenable to casual gaming sessions. Enjoy your new toys 😀

I made some rookie mistakes buying games, but was able to bounce back at least a little….

1. Bought Ps4 Spider-Man not knowing it was included in the Ps5 ultimate edition
2. Bought games that went on sale about a week or two after I got them.

Thankfully I was able to repurchase and then return to Amazon to recoup some of that $$$. After returning and selling back my Spider-Man from Ps4, I think it came out to $63 with Ultimate being on sale. Also got some $$$ with GT Sport and Ratchet & Clank.

Played half an hour of Scorn, uninstalled it afterwards. Played then half an hour of FEAR and had a blast. Goes to show that even a game that's 15 years old can be more fun than a game that came out literally today.

Like seriously, what an absolute garbage game Scorn is. Was hyped for it for over a year and it turns out to be a convoluted puzzle game that's not scary in the slightest. I'm glad that I didn't pay for it. Hopefully I can get my money's worth out of Game Pass with A Plague Tale next week. Surely that game won't disappoint.

I dont mind scorn its very nice to look at and i dont mind wandering through and solving puzzles

its what i thought it was and thats good enough for me

@AgentCooper Congrats to your new purchase! It's always a great feeling to discover a new ecosystem for the first time. Personally, I've been playing on Xbox since 2010 so I've pretty much experienced most franchises. But you have so much to experience, like Halo, Gears of War, Fable and Forza.

Speaking of recommendations, I'd recommend checking out Halo and Forza first. In terms of which game to start out with, with Forza I'd say Forza Horizon 5. Sadly, these games get de-listed over time due to licensing with cars. So only Horizon 4 and 5 are available on Game Pass. But if there's one franchise you need to play, it's Forza. The Forza Horizon series is the best racing series ever, they're so much fun even if you're not a huge fan of racing.

In terms of Halo, that's more difficult to say because the first game in the series hasn't aged well at all due terrible level design. I want to recommend Halo Infinite, even though it's the most recent entry it's still one of the best in terms of gameplay. First impressions is more important in my opinion. If you don't mind having some trouble keeping up with the story then Halo Infinite is the best one to start out with. But if you're willing, you could always play through the series in order. Just keep in mind the ruggedness of the first game.

Other games that have recently come out or will come out on Game Pass are Scorn and A Plague Tale: Requiem, which comes out on Tuesday. I'll admit, I was a bit too hasty with my judgment of Scorn on Friday but that's only because 1) the opening level is so arbitrary and bad, and 2) I didn't expect the game to be a first-person puzzle game with horror elements. It's actually a good game, so with the right expectations and if you're looking for something spooky to play, then Scorn is a good one.

In terms of story-driven games like Telltale titles or Life is Strange, As Dusk Falls is a good one with an interesting art direction. I've only played half of it but it's pretty dang good. If you're looking for good indie games, then Death's Door and Tunic are great ones to start out with.

Worth mentioning is that you also have access to classic games thanks to Xbox's backwards compatibility feature. You can for example buy BioWare's Jade Empire on the original Xbox for a tenner. There's definitely a lot of unfamiliar games/series for you to discover on Xbox's ecosystem.

Other things to keep in mind: if you want some free games, Crackdown 1 and 2 are free indefinitely on Xbox. Don't forget to utilise the Quick Resume feature of keeping multiple games open at the same time. With Game Pass, note that first-party titles like Halo and Forza never leave the service while third-party ones will eventually leave.

If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up! I've also added you on Xbox Live.

@AgentCooper hey buddy, I don’t own an Xbox personally but will be real interested to hear how you find your entry and first few months into its ecosystem. So I’ll keep an eye on this thread to follow your progress.

Games I’d have some interest in if I were to take the plunge would be the Forza Horizon games, the Ori games, Sable… and I’d at the very least have a look at Microsoft Flight Simulatpr.