I'm cancelling my Game Pass subscription because even though it provides infinite video games and costs like, a handful of snacks per month, I have just like, infinite video games to play already (not to mention all the non-playing-games compulsions I have!), and I really can't derive benefit from double infinity, especially when I have no innate compulsion to play the median Game Pass title.
there are so many Games right now! I'm really glad.
I figure I'll resub to Game Pass like, twice a year, in two non-consecutive months, and just use those months to play the everlasting hell out of all the games I missed. seems more efficient
in honor of Game Pass's goodness though, I went and wrote up a list of everything I tried on it that I thought was cool. many of these are available on sale frequently or readily elsewhere, so it's not like it's strictly Game Pass or nothing, but I appreciated having no barrier to entry for things like, say, Katana Zero
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VAMPIRE SURVIVORS: you know this one. the single-input fusion of concentration and chill comes for everyone, the alluring lights that it uses to attract a mate shining ever brighter. the first taste is free on mobile (with ads), and $5 on steam.
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CITIZEN SLEEPER: wonderful TRPG sorta narrative about the little things you can do to build community in a cyberpunk world where the corporate gods have abandoned the unfortunate on a desolate rock hurtling through space. has exactly the right amount of mechanics, playtime, and style.
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KATANA ZERO: i tried to think how to describe katana zero and my answer is "what if single-screen jump-hell game maker games were instead violent, cryptic, and synthwave as hell". this game is just the coolest game possible and I'm not even good at it
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ESCAPE ACADEMY: I haven't played many digital room-escape games, but of the ones I know, this one is the truest to SCRAP's formula of timed escapes with layered, thematic puzzles. a great evening treat
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LAST CALL BBS: my first zachtronics, and it feels like the one I would like the most, trading what I understand is "you need a full 500-page manual and an engineering degree" for slightly lighter minigame-software fare. solitaire and sudokulikes are here, and you can still engineer hard. real nice flavor.
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WRECKFEST: this one doesn't even count because I played it all the way through on PS+ but if I had to pick one modern racing game, it's not forza, it's not gt, it's not any of the great retro titles, it' this. driving vehicles has never been this as funny as this, and it packs a surprising amount of "you actually have to drive" for a game about driving 80s shitboxes around trident from f-zero gx
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FORZA HORIZON 4: forza horizon is still really good tho. not so good that you need to play more than one of them, but horizon is a series where you can simply do just immense amounts of Stuff. it is gamified far, far, far beyond my comforts, but sometimes you just want to let it rip in an open world and then, i don't know, do a fucking battle royale on 4 wheels
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THE PEDESTRIAN: probably my favorite "puzzle game you can play in an evening" type game I've found. it's very stylish and the puzzles are creative without being overly draining. what I'm saying is that I love baba but my brain is small and I'm equally happy playing a game that I can complete in a sitting instead of having to wait for shower revelations
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DICEY DUNGEONS: one of the big names in the turn-based roguelite space IMO. it animates and bops with absolute charm, and the simple gameplay (with lots of layered challenges) is great for sucking you in for one more run. imo the luck factor and choice ceiling start coming in pretty heavy, much more than, say, Slay the Spire, but it's still good fun
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YAKUZA 7: the goat of yakuza games, and honestly, it is not close. the rpg-style gameplay is debatable but I play yakuza games for the story thrills and 7 features a lovable cast, a hot cast, cast that says sex work is valid and homeless people are people, you get to punch some wimpy right wing protesters, everyone from old yakuza games is there, the story arcs make you cry. it's yakuza. it's got it all and iirc 7 is the one that actually has competent chinese/korean voice acting that doesn't sound comically racist
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SPACE WARLORD ORGAN TRADING SIMULATOR: I only scratched the surface of this game as a very viscerally green, pumped-up-on-energy-drinks stock-trading cookie clicker - it apparently has more depth and also Among Us references, but anyway it made me follow Xalavier Nelson Jr. so it has net improved my life. check out this track it's nuts
extra mentions:
- hypnospace outlaw
- superliminal
- yakuza 5
- monster train
- hardspace: shipbreaker
- tunic
- outer wilds
- death's door
- art of rally
- lonely mountains: downhill
- dead cells