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It’s that time of year when the trees turn golden and the leaves fall in an assortment of fiery shades. Game Pass has been equally seasonal with its autumnal sprinkling of new additions. There’s a cornucopia of games I want to tell you about; all of which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. If you’re on a shoestring budget and want those pennies to go further, Game Pass is bang-for-buck ideal for you.
Gunfire Reborn
This is an interesting one. When I first saw it at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase, I was nonplussed. As with every game that comes to Game Pass, I installed it and gave it a shot. Not only is this another game to add to the burgeoning list of crossplay titles, it’s just as good if you’re playing alone.
Gunfire Reborn is a sweet blend of FPS, roguelite and RPG. You play as one of many unlockable quirky animals and charge through levels that become increasingly difficult and end with a classic boss fight. Guaranteed frustration... I mean fun. The art style is simplistic yet particular and this helps to situate you in a Chinese, martial arts inspired world.
The weapons and abilities are cool to play with and there’s a huge selection for you to try. The upgrades and skills are satisfying to work towards, as are the character customisations. The game plays better with a team as it can sometimes feel quite brutal being a lone challenger.
SIGNALIS
Out of all the games I’m going to mention, SIGNALIS has had the biggest impact on me. It’s an isometric survival horror game with an intense setting and a retrotech score. You play as Elster, a Replika (humanoid android) searching for her lost partner.
Humanity has colonised the solar system but its totalitarian methods – namely excessive surveillance and dull propaganda – have made this small part of the galaxy bland and impersonal. Unfeeling.
What I most enjoyed about SIGNALIS being on the game pass, was the atmosphere, the exploration and the memory games. There’s a map to help you remember the location of task related interests, but I found it satisfying to remember those myself. The areas are never overwhelmingly large and I was surprised by how quickly I could navigate without the assistance of the map.
The horror of the game lies in the execution of an Alien-like world. It’s very techy, but old techy. A lot of buttons and expressive electronic sounds, and yet so sophisticated and advanced. Coupled with the cosmic atrocities that you encounter, the game does a good job of creating a genuinely unsettling world.
Amnesia: Collection
What I’m about to say may constitute sacrilege to some people: I’ve never played Amnesia. Until now. I know it was the game that popularised the ‘let’s play’ movement and helped YouTube personalities like PewDiePie and Markiplier build humungous subscriber bases; but it has never been a game that I thought of playing.
Having now experienced the game, I understand why it was so popular and why it’s so absorbing to simply watch someone else play. The world of Amnesia is highly intoxicating: the locations evoke the mysteries told in gothic literature, such as The Monk. Despite its age, the graphics and the gameplay more than hold up to today’s standards. It’s yet another reminder of how great games used to be. There’s a real sense of ambition in Amnesia, as though the developers were trying to create something that interested and stirred them. Although the direction is an amalgamation of eras, as players we intuitively interpret the tone.
I was hugely impressed by Amnesia, the story and the rewarding gameplay. It doesn’t try to scare without reason, but rather persists with a mood that filters through your pores and into your mind. I was never terrified playing Amnesia, but I was certainly discomforted.
Soma
Soma is another superb game from Frictional Games that I already had the pleasure of playing. I played Soma on release because it struck me as a game that would be my cup of tea, which it was.
You play as Simon Jarrett who bizarrely wakes up at an underwater research facility after an experimental brain scan. The facility has fallen into disrepair and is seemingly abandoned. There’s more narrative in Soma compared to Amnesia and I found that to be rewarding; as I played, I realised I was chasing the ‘what happens next’.
There’s a few twists in Soma and the story is especially thought-provoking. It encompasses the themes of free will, what it means to be human and whether the body and mind are complimentary or restrictive. The gameplay is reminiscent of Alien: Isolation and has the hallmarks of Amnesia. Again, the story and the atmosphere is what make Soma so good.
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Elaborating slightly on the first game, A Plague Tale: Requiem is set in a new location and includes a few new tricks to tackle enemies. The overall quality of the game is obvious: the graphics and intricate level designs are enough to immerse the player in an impressive medieval world.
The story begins where it ended. Amicia and Hugo have fled south to escape the inquisition and to find help for Hugo. They think they’ve escaped the plague but it continues to accompany them wherever they go; are they the culprits?
You can read my full review of A Plague Tale: Requiem here.
Scorn
I’d been waiting a long time for Scorn to make the game pass. A long, long time. Judging by the only trailer I ever saw for the game, I thought it was going to be an FPS, similar – though perhaps less arcadey – to Doom or Quake. I was surprised then to find out that Scorn is a survival horror puzzler. This isn’t a bad thing. Considering the dark magnificence of the art direction, a slower pace absolutely fits the eerily empty world.
I found myself marvelling at what I saw. It unashamedly draws inspiration from H. R. Giger – a Swiss artists who melds the human and the machine in uncanny pictures – and the film Prometheus. The game is sickeningly mysterious. It focuses on the ideas of the interrelation between organic flesh and mechanistic machinery.
The vague storytelling does enough to tell the story within the story, but I’d like to know more about the world. The gunplay and combat can feel awkward and at times it felt as though the game would play better with keyboard and mouse. Nonetheless, an intriguing game.
Chivalry 2
I’ve been having immense fun playing Chivalry 2, which speaks volumes because I don’t play competitive online games. I don’t derive satisfaction from the kill die repeat routine of most fast-paced shooters.
The most refreshing aspect of Chivalry 2 was to find a competitive multiplayer that afforded me some time to make decisions. If you didn’t know, Chivalry 2 attempts to portray medieval warfare and it does so in commendable fashion.
If you’re anything like me, you won’t have the time to master the game. Well that’s irrelevant here, you can quite easily start getting kills immediately. Chivalry 2 can be as energetic or relaxed as you want it to be. If you want to go in swinging for a quick kill, you’ll have some success but will probably be dealt with hastily. If you want to stand back with a shield and spear and wait for the right opportunity, you can find success doing that.
There are 4 classes, each with 3 subclasses. There’s plenty of weapons to choose from and three factions you can fight as. There’s a mixture of sprawling maps that can take 30 minutes to complete and smaller maps fit for brutal deathmatches. The character customisation provides ample glamour opportunity and even allows you to customise the appearance of each of your classes, so you can roleplay 12 different characters if that’s something you enjoy.
What Have I Been Playing?
How kind of you to ask. A friend and I have joined forces to tackle The Ascent. The game can be quite unforgiving and so we had to tailor our no nonsense approach to include a dash of caution. The cyberpunk setting is a joy to play in. Dystopian futures must have serious overpopulation issues, so I was impressed by how lived-in the world feels. The Ascent can be played with as many as 4 people, so do give it a try.
What did you think of the Game Pass this month? Have you been playing anything new, let us know on @zatugames.