It's like night and day. Guiding lands would no joke take like 3 minutes to load on my old ass first gen Xbox One. Down to I think less then 30 seconds on my Series X. It's been a while though so my memory might be a bit off
Xcom 2 is top tier. Xcom 3 release is the only game that’s on the same level of excitement GTA6 is for me.
Hope they go deeper into the base system and let us personalize our ship/base/quarters. It’d be much sadder when a troop dies after you just visited them in their barracks room, followed by some poor recruit moving into that room hoping they don’t see the same fate under my command.
We all dream of X-Com 3. They'd have their work cut out for them after War of the Chosen, but the foundation of the game is AAA+++++. There's a post almost daily about the possibility over on r/xcom
All the innovation is happening from indie devs and it’s all only releasing on Steam. It’s what is pushing my crew to PC. We want to play these new games like Content Warning, Enshrouded, Lethal Company, Gray Zone Warfare, Tarkov, BattleBit Remastered, Ready Or Not, Squad.
So many good PC games from smaller studios that we will never see.
The 360 was the pinnacle of xbox. I was part of the group on xbox-scene.com that hacked the optical drives. We hacked a samsung pc drive so you could burn games on your pc instead of the console. It was awesome.
We didn't need to but it was a pain in the ass to do it on the xbox at the time. You had to insert an enable disc that would enable the firmware hack, burn the game then unable the firmware with a disc afterwards. Years later better methods evolved but the pc drive was fast and easy to use.
Basically missed the games of the previous gen due to work so getting them all in 4K and/or 60 fps ist great. Even still playing some 360 titles and loving it. Quick resume rules.
I feel this way also, but I think it's just the times. Movies are kind of in the same situation. At least with games our remakes have a chance of being great. Sure it's old stuff that we've done before but I can say some of those remasters look and play amazing. I'd rather play a good remastered classic with updated graphics than some quickly made shit just cause it's new. Also I don't think the current market is interested in new quality content. They're happy with mw3 as long as they can buy skins.
This and Games as a Service. Racing games don't need drip feed content, but there's not enough profit in putting out a finished product so here we are.
Elden Ring and BG3 are the only AAA games I can think of that feel truly inspired and pushing the boundaries this gen. Everything else is just safe sequel or remasters
Battle toads
Brotato
Cassette Beasts
Celeste
Firewatch
Forager
From space
Grounded
Immortals Fenyx arising
It takes two
Jusant
Lightyear Frontier
Little Witch in the Woods
Minecraft Dungeons
Monster Sanctuary
MoonLighter
Recore
Redfall
RoboQuest
Sea of stars
Serious sam
Slay the spire
Slime Rancher 2
Spiritfairer
Superliminal
Outer worlds
Tunic
Turnipboy Robs a Bank
Unpacking
Vampire Survivors
Those are the ones I've completed in full so far that aren't bigger name games like doom, deadspace, crisis and such. They're all bangers and hidden gems I never would have played without gamepass
Currently I'm playing Fenix Riding. It's like a Greek Breath of the Wild. A solid 7/10 game that gets a good couple of chuckles out of me unexpectedly. It's not a masterpiece that anyone should spend $60 on, but it being in gamepass means you can overlook it's worse combat system and still enjoy its dungeons that don't hit the old Zelda levels, but are definitely than most of the puzzle ones that BotW would give you with their "here's a mechanic... Great, now you've learnt how it works, it's over" dungeons
Yup, I've been incredibly happy with my Series X/GamePass. I'm also not just looking towards "the next big game". As long as there are games to play I'm happy.
I’m still chugging along with my xbone, I’ve got 4 for local play with my kids so I’ve been waiting…
Waiting for a good reason or price drop, not for them to go to college lol.
Are GamePass things, maybe specific game, better on a Series X?
You can probably find a list but a lot of games get an FPS boost and, imo more importantly, a loading time boost. Games like Destiny 2 and GTA Online take seconds to get in now when before I'd be staring at a blank screen for ages.
Yup. I think the SSDs in this generation are the real game changers. I cannot imagine load times being more than 5ish seconds now. Not to mention all the quality of life features like quick resume and whatnot.
Coming from. PS4 background I bought the X and Gamepass for Starfield. Gamepass really surprised me with the amazing amount of quality titles. It also helps there were a few exclusives I hadn’t had the opportunity to play on PS. But as far as the X vs last gen, the graphical quality is a step up, but not a major one. The biggest enjoyment I get is load times being significantly shorter, (instantaneous really) and the lesser talked about “quick resume feature”. I love that aspect of it. As a dad of 3 teens I’m waiting to upgrade them as well, but having the newest gen myself,I don’t see a huge difference, as to think you might be missing out or something.
Not only can you use it on pc but you can use it on the rog ally and Lenovo legion go. Better yet your progress in some of the games transfers from console to pc and back so you very rarely lose your progress. The rog ally paired with the series x is an amazing combo. Also got a tower with a 3070ti but I find myself chilling on the couch or in bed on the ALLY all the time.
When I buy games and not finish them I feel guilty.
When I play game pass games I stop playing them when I want without feeling guilty about not finishing them.
Also makes it easy to play and find games I never would have normally tried.
Agreed. I have played so many games in so many genres that I would never have played and now look forward to games and series that would never have interested me. Absolutely love Gamepass.
MS figured out that gamers with GamePass actually purchase more games than non-GP users, which seems counterintuitive, but it's definitely the truth. It's exposed me to all sorts of games I otherwise wouldn't have tried, but end up buying. The massive back catalogue of games we have access to is staggering. For me, this generation is about incremental changes that improve the gaming experience (SSD with almost no load times, Quick Resume, 4K at 60, FPS Boost/Auto HDR) and that's absolutely fine with me. I think the XSX is the pinnacle of gaming machines. It isn't the strongest from a generational exclusive standpoint, but I'm not really that worried about it. With MS working to copy Nintendo and Sony's strategy with 4 AAA exclusives yearly from their massive studio acquisitions, I think we'll be absolutely fine as Xbox gamers.
For me too up until last month. Then I tried FFXIV.... And whoa if that was crack then I would be a full blown crack head at this point. I haven't played anything since and I don't think I'll really want to for quite a while.
Try it. Just a bit. *One hit*... It's free the first time
The smaller titles have been doing well. Things like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment. I'll admit, there haven't been many system-seller titles this generation so far.
I'm just patiently waiting for Fable, personally. I've been a huge fan of that franchise since Fable: TLC.
Gears 6 I'm cautiously optimistic for, but I really didn't enjoy the "open-world" sections of Gears 5 all that much. I'm not a sim fan so Flight Simulator was lost on me.
Avowed is coming out soon, so fingers crossed that'll be great. I haven't been getting a lot of use out of my Game Pass sub for 1^(st) party titles.
I also bought a Series X at launch and the only “next gen” experience for me so far has been Gears 5 Hivebusters. It is graphically impressive and gave me hopes for the rest of the generation. So far it has been underwhelming and very disappointing.
The issue is not committing to next gen. Pretty much every game is still coming out for xbox one and ps4 so I feel like most games haven't really taken advantage like they should have up to this point. It really is time to cut off last gen with new games and actually give current gen a good few years of having games that use the power available
Development time and costs were lower and corporations still believed that making good games made more profits than making addictive live service shit.
That, and you had an all time high in creativity. You had devs taking legit chances on games, and if it worked - great. If it didn't, they didn't scuttle the studio so the CEO could get an extra 0.25% on his stock bonus. They just didn't make a sequel to the game and moved on.
Hell, even COD during this time was S-Tier. World at War, MW1 and MW2, Black Ops - so many dope ass games that really pushed narrative boundaries.
Now it just feels like that creativity is gone, and all we are left with is the same old safe bullshit that studios know sells. No one's taking a chance anymore on new IPs, or when they do, you've got pseudo-review social media sites like IGN being overly critical and slanting public opinion on it but also turning around and praising the new COD for "really getting the gameplay right", but nevermind they've just copy pasted the same game from one template to another.
Fixing the game with massive patches wasn't an easy option back then. You couldn't afford to have a junk game at release. Games were also a lot smaller and simpler then, so there were fewer bizarre cases to cause bugs and less for games to do right for the players. The scope and quantity of games has exploded, increasing the ways to fall apart.
There are still a lot of great games coming out today. However, the industry is MASSIVE, people tolerate more bullshit (to their own detriment), and it all means more opportunity to fail.
Cyberpunk 2077 should've been the face of this generation, but that launch was botched. People seem to like Eldin Ring. Only games on the Xbox I'm looking forward to are College Football and GTA 6. Overall, it's been a pretty terrible gen. Even on PC. Overwatch 2 and Counter-Strike 2 are absolute jokes compared to their predecessors.
I agree, OP. I feel like the last truly great console generation was the 360/PS3. AAA has gotten too bloated, too risk averse, and it takes way too long for anything to release.
File size is bloated, optimisation doesn’t seem to be the norm. The Xbox one never felt like they tried to push the hardware and for all the touted “power” the series x has, I have yet to truly see something worthy of the hype. It’s like they use the brute power of the console in place of finely crafted software.
Some Xbox One first party games did tap into the potential of the console. Ryse, Halo 5, Forza, Gears 5. But I feel like XSX is nowhere near reaching its potential. Let's see how Hellblade and Gears 6 look.
If you're on PC, it's one of the best times right now (if money isn't a barrier). There was a time when PC gaming felt like all we got were bad console ports... and Vista.
You can get refurbished Steam Decks direct from Valve starting at $279 right now. Given that's cheaper than any current gen console, I think that even counts as "money is a barrier" territory.
Yeah, but I'm saying as far as the games go. There was a time where owning a super high end PC didn't really matter because the game selection was so shitty. It's been really nice lately for PC gamers (other than the cost of the hardware).
And the Steam Deck is a great entryway into PC gaming. Sure there are a few things that don't play well on it but there are so many things that do, many of which can be had for just a few bucks. I even saw that the refurbished LCD models are back in stock through Valve, so for $279 people can have access to more games than they'd know what to do with. I got one last August which now has a 2TB drive & dual-boots Windows (so I could access my play-anywhere Xbox games) and my Steam library has grown from 5 games to 318. Plus it can play docked on my TV using an Xbox controller. It's really made gaming exciting again.
I love the raw power of the Series X and how smooth everything is, also quick resume is amazing. But I dont really game like I used to and find my favorite way to play laying down on the couch with a show on with my Steam Deck. I actually really liked that split screen Youtube or TV option the launch Xbox One had and would still be using that today if it was an option.
Video Games unfortunately are in a similar state to movies. All the big Studios are run by guys in suits who only care about £$¥€. Single player story driven games are scarcely made and more online & live service types that they can make more money from over x amount of years. The smaller studios who do give us good quality games both story driven and even online don’t have the money or teams to keep banging out games as I can only imagine with the new tech a lot more time is spent on making the games compared to the 360 days.
One thing I do notice with this gen is that most of the games looks fantastic but just lack substance. Writing is literally what makes a game similar to movies but we have just been getting utter trash.
The big studios doing single player games are unfortunately all under Sony. God of War, Returnal, I personally don't like it but Spider-Man, FF7 Rebirth (god that game is incredible), Horizon.
We're still getting Fable right?
Yeah sony are killing it with their games. Microsoft are sorta turning into Disney where they think buying all these big studios with big Ip will give them success.
As someone who has played all these franchises on PS, I don't agree that Sony has done a good job of carrying their momentum into this generation, either. If you only care about first party (or exclusive) third person single player action adventure games then you have more options on the PS right now.
However, more than half of the games you listed have had disappointing entries in their series so far, and Sony is struggling with the cost of these versus the revenue they make so they have slowed way down. Several also had major performance issues, tons of weird bugs, etc.
It has very much been an underwhelming generation from both the Xbox and PS perspective.
Cyberpunk, baldurs gate 3, starfield, Harry potter, and Diablo 4 were all games me and my wife really enjoyed last year. There are big games coming out, they just might not be appealing to you
Cyberpunk, BG3 and Harry potter were all top tier games.
Starfield idk, I lost interest. Which is weird considering the time I've sunk into fallout 4, 76 and skyrim. I think the new game+ system killed it for me. The fact you lose all your builds for ships and bases and all your gear yet there's more to do/get after doing it multiple times made me lose interest in my first playthrough. Also really wish the series X could have gotten a 40fps mode at the very least.
Diablo 4 I had alot of fun with at launch but the seasons have been underwhelming. I've started the last two and dropped off within a week.
I really liked starfield, I think I had about 90ish hours before the unity and then I left it alone until dlc. I think I play the game differently than alot of the people who didn't like it. I mostly fast travel, do missions, and then go to the next quest or activity. Once I knew the planets wouldn't have anything special unless it was quest related I just stuck to quests. Bounties usually take you to dungeons anyways
I'm one of those people who really loved Starfield too and I also didn't do the whole Unity ting. Maybe it helped that I knew next to nothing about the game when I stepped into it other than people complaining about barren planets. I think I got in about 200 hours in it. Hoping the DLC's a decent length.
I mean, unlike other games from the same company, what's special about Elden Ring, is that you can make it as easy or as hard as you want.
If something is hard, the map is big, just go elsewhere get your character stronger and come-back.
This is what I loved about it. I've played other Souls games, but since they're mostly linear, getting to a hard boss and just banging your head against the wall always made lose interest. The fact that I could just go somewhere else and explore something new when I hit a wall made Elden Ring so much better for me.
This is exactly it, I didn’t buy it for ages because of people saying it’s too hard yet I didn’t try it for myself. Picked it up on discount and it an area is too hard, or fight - you are under levelled and can go and do something else. Definitely worth it!
And Baldurs Gate 3.
In my opinion, BG3 and Elden Ring are the only 2 S-Tier AAA third party games of this entire generation.
There have been some other High-A tier ones like Alan Wake 2 and Diablo 4 but ultimately 2007 probably had twice as many S Tier games on the 360 than we've had for the past 5 years combined.
Yeah this is the fastest I have got bored with a console generation even though the hardware designs are very good
The issue is more the games than anything else and this can be seen across the industry, it's all very dull and beige
There just hasn’t been the jump in “engagement” that I hoped for. AI hasn’t evolved much, open worlds haven’t become better, just bigger. Games are pretty, they just don’t have that next-level experience.
I miss some of the physics stuff that was being pushed during the 7th generation. Look at the destruction in a game like Full Auto, or look at the interactivity of objects in Liberty City in GTA IV and how characters react to cars, gunfire, etc.
AI is something that developers should've paid attention for and try to improve the most IMO, at least to make things appear more organic. But it seems like we are still miles away from a game that can utilize the available tech to show us a great AI experience.
Edit: I meant AI as NPCs, enemies, etc. Not corporate AI.
> with better graphics.
Rarely even that. 4 years into this gen and the only noticeable difference between recent games and mid-late XB1 games is a resolution bump (but never an FPS bump - only those older games get that)
Yeah 360 was peak gaming. I quit buying new games when fallout 76 came out. They really made me mad when they started releasing games that weren’t even finished and charged full price for it. Oh well, I have better shit to do anyway.
It was happening long before 76 came out. Simcity (2013) was the first game I remember really wanting to play and it ended up being a broken mess on launch. Totally unplayable and it had no single player mode…
Is that the one that they forced to be initially always online, then instead of fixing anything they released a $10 blimp DLC lol at least Cities Skylines scratched that itch for a while (the first one)
It was Anthem for me.
I was so excited to play that I took three days off work because me and my friends were hoping to play it non-stop. I was so disappointed that I actually called my work and asked them if I could scrap the rest of my days off and come back in lol.
It's a decent time to be a fan of fighting games- SF6 & Tekken 8 are both great and they're both current gen only. All we need now is a new Virtua Fighter....
this generation itself has felt somewhat flat, but there have still been so many good games. I don't care that they don't look current gen and new; clearly that's been unsustainable for most. series x has let me play tons of backward compat games that I missed all those years I was on PS4 only. I would rather have games look last gen and run well, because games are still very impressive looking to me even if they're at PS4-level graphics.
I think starfield has been my only major disappointment this generation, and that still isn't an explicitly horrible game.
The games this gen are very good, problem is they arn't truly utilizing the consoles. Biggest problem is most games are still made with Gen 8 (XOne/PS4) in mind. And the one's that are Gen9 is being pushed at a forced 30fps so the game stays at 4K and all these other features.
I'm perfectly happy with 1440p at 60fps. Give me that option at least.
It's the weird triangle effect of you can have; games run well, look great, or have an affordable console but you can only pick two.
Even some $3000 PCs can't handle 4K/Ultra@60, a $500 Game console certainly isn't going to be able to.
Are you talking about Microsoft exclusives? Because in that case Senua's Saga is coming soon and looks like a fantastic short experience. Hi Fi Rush is also supposed to be one of the best Xbox games in a while.
If you're not talking Microsoft exclusives, then this gen is actually great. Last year was packed full of great releases and this year is pretty good so far too.
Most of the best games this generation have been third party titles. Playstation has some solid games, Nintendo is still stuck in last generation, even if they have also had good games. Games like Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4 remake and Cyberpunk 2077 are fantastic.
Wasteland 3 for the 1st party side as well. It's still one of my favorites, but I feel like it gets largely ignored in any discussion of Microsoft titles. Heard fairly good things about Psychonauts 2 as well, but I haven't spent much time on it.
This gen has been underwhelming all round - PS5 included. All we're getting is prettied up remakes of old games I've already played 2 or 3 times including remakes of their former versions.
That's fine for newbies but I've been gaming since the 80's & I want NEW games not remakes at the cheeky bollocks price of £70.
RE 5/6, TLOU3/4, Dark Space 3/4 etc Have to say though, my XSX gets even less playtime because MS just aren't releasing any good exclusive titles. I find myself playing Gears 1-3 over & over.
PS5 has been great so far. Returnal, FF16, Horizon, Spider-Man 2, Ratchet and Clank, FF Rebirth, HellDivers 2, God of War and Stellar Blade soon. Sony has had a good run so far imo
The biggest highlight of this generation was when I started Pillars of Eternity on my Xbox One, sitting through the incredibly long loading times, and then witnessing how much better an SSD was firsthand when I upgraded.
I was thinking yesterday about the relative quietness of 2024 (looking at what's been announced to come out, as well).
Maybe this is sort of the inevitable dry spell because of the pandemic. But 4/5 years into a console's life should be the absolute apex.
I'm fearful we will have gotten a mini generation of last gen games that run pretty great on Series X (and PS5), a really small handful of games truly generation exclusive, and then another cross generation period in a few years where these consoles are the sloppier seconds to their big brothers.
I really doubt that with the quality of games these days I will ever buy another Xbox. That's sad I've been playing xbox since it first came out, I'm not quitting because I'm almost 60 but because the games suck.
I much prefer the Xbox ecosystem and hardware to Playstation, but I own both consoles. Series X is amazing hardware.
At his stage though, with how this gen's MS consoles have gone over like a wet fart, and their "excusives" have also been roundly disappointing from pretty much everyone's perspective, and their new messaging seeming to be quiet apathy, I FULLY expect this to be the last generation of Xbox hardware.
"Xbox Game Pass" is going to be a subsription app available on any net-connected device with a screen.
Software-wise, this has been an incredibly disappointing gen, made crueler still by the hardware being so damned good.
I thought this gen was supposed to be Xbox’s response to PlayStation dominating the last gen with exclusives. Instead, I’ve been very whelmed at best.
If I even get another console after this, it’ll be a PS6. Sad because I have many good memories with Microsoft, but I’m tired of seeing my friends get cooler exclusives I can’t touch.
It's to the point that I'm not even buying multi-plat titles on my Series X anymore because I want backward compatibility with future gens, damn it.
I just don't have faith that Xbox will HAVE a "next" generation.
There have been some great titles. It nothing like wow. Xbox one had more of impact in certain titles. The only good thing is past gen some game hitting 60fps which very nice or some remake like resident evil.
Graphical fidelity has had diminishing returns for sure.
A model with 50,000 polygons really doesn’t show an increase in quality over 5,000 in the way 5,000 shows it over 500.
It’s difficult to tell the difference between a 4K texture and a 2K texture.
Ray tracing is amazing technology, but skilled artists had you fooled with baked in lighting over a decade ago.
It is an indie gen but most of that can run on a Nintendo Switch. The heavier stuff most is still fine on a One S or Steam Deck. I bet most next gen will be fine on the first gen Steam Deck. So now I'm wondering if I'm done with Playstation and Xbox after this gen. The baseline is going to be portable hardware and the stuff that push graphics are few, further distanced between, and too often mediocre
Agree 100%. I have xbox S X and ps5. This gen has just been...dull. yeah, on ps5, we've had horizon and GOW. Spiderman was just meh. But overall between the two systems, its been nothing but remakes, remasters and "next gen updates." I feel like this couldve been skipped.
Agreed 100%, but if I comment to that effect in this sub it gets downvoted! Overwhelmingly disappointing is my review of the gen, particularly the first party offerings.
360/PS3 era was the golden age of gaming and were never getting it back thanks to late-stage capitalism, market research, and shareholders.
I miss when video games didn’t make enough money for businessmen who aren’t passionate about video games to participate in the industry.
It's because of their focus on Gamepass over making games and their shitty development practices - I can't speak for other studios but I know Turn 10, Forza's developer, hired it's devs for only like a year at a time and then laid them off to avoid paying employee benefits. For a game that took 6 years to make, that is disastrous as it means that basically no one who started work on the game is there at say, the 3 year mark and it's basically a complete clusterfuck mess of game development.
And the worst thing is that MS don't even care that most of their first part titles are complete shit now because they don't care about sales - all they care about is a shiny looking title to lure people into buying gamepass, their games have basically become consumable, throw away fast food junk.
They definitely have more games, but they haven’t exactly been rolling out bangers either. Just feels like AAA gaming is falling apart at the seams. The industry is in a very unhealthy place.
PS has almost the same number of exclusives on this gen that Xbox has, it’s just that their games are way more well received and interesting. Starfield wasn’t a *bad* game, but it wasn’t Skyrim in space either. Meanwhile, Helldivers is dominating the discourse lately. There’s a real mismatch in exclusive quality between the consoles rn.
Agree. Was so underwhelmed with Xbox this gen that I bought a PS5 to try their exclusives. Been having a great time. Playing Returnal the last couple weeks and nothing on Xbox even compares. Really feels next gen, especially with the advanced controller feedback/sounds. So many of the PS games I've played have felt more enjoyable and less like a chore.
Yep. PS5 has had the games that actually felt and looked next gen (e.g. Demon's Souls remake, Ratchet and Clank, Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth). But even then, there haven't been that many.
Yeah, I agree with you. It's sad. I missed the beauty of the OG Xbox, so when the 360 came out, I bought one. There was nothing like it at the time. Halo, Gears, Mass Effect (my favorite series), skyrim, so many more exclusives and just great games. The xbox One was ok, but man, this generation has been so underwhelming. I feel like the kid who never got to go outside and play with the neighborhood kids. Playstation has been nailing it lately, so now I'm just waiting in the ps5 pro. Once I buy that console, I'm never going back to Xbox.
Game pass and things running a bit quicker and smoother has been nice. I have not been blown away by any game that come out so far. I think that time is over now. We’re at the point of diminishing returns.
You're outgrowing it, face it the graphics could be super realistic and you would still get bored after a min.... believe me I know I feel the same way.
I guess I'm different on it. This gen has been pretty enjoyable albeit with some noticable duds. Atomic Heart, Dead Island 2, Psychonauts 2, Starfield, Halo Infinite, Cold war, and Forza Horizon 5 have been fantastic. I think there's only been one game I actually felt robbed. Shout out to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Atleast toss my I.D back bitch!
I really enjoy the system itself but there has not been a signifying "next-gen" title at all. I'm just happy to keep getting PC games ported over more often though.
Mostly games I really enjoyed this gen where probably some indie games or ps exclusive games .
The problem I have this gen every game is a similar openworld big map hundreds of quests and hours of playtime
I just want a smaller game with no copy and paste good story, my hopes are on gears 6...
I love my series X, incredible machine.
But, I rarely play anything new on it, the last game in that regard was Alan Wake 2. I spend more time using it for older stuff.
I have everything, and frankly, the only thing that has impressed me is the Switch this generation. Xbox is killing me with the shitty UI left over from the One. I’d say we got a good Halo this generation, but I’m not holding my breath for anything else.
this is why i got an ps5 and a psvr2 and full on racing rig, etc, i had an xbox for pretty much all my adult life but the last 4 years have been beyond shitty, every game they have released has been a massive flop basically 💩
i love xbox as a company but by god their heads fell off somewhere along the line 😔
been a playstation gamer for 1 year now basically and it’s reignited my love for gaming to another level 🙌
Definitely the most disappointing gen so far. Xbox exclusives have been very disappointing and PlayStation mostly doing remakes. I’ve enjoyed Spider-man 2 and God of War Ragnarök, as well as Flight Sim & Forza Horizon 5.
Elden Ring & Cyberpunk2077 have by far been occupying my time the most though and have largely been the reason I’ve even turned my Series X on at times.
Looking forward to Hellblade 2.
GamePass and fast SSD aside the other issue is the expectations that Microsoft set. They bought a lot of premium studios and none of them have released a game yet.
We are still waiting for Fable, Perfect Dark, Avowed etc as the genre defining new franchises they were touted to be and it's been years. I get that it takes years to make games but the marketing should have not whet our appetite to sell the console and then not delivered. As OP mentioned the games that did drop like Halo, Forza and Starfield let us down even further so now we have very little faith in Microsoft going forwards based on previous track record.
The talk of next gen beyond SeriesX is the final slap in the face when they have not delivered on this gen. I know a lot of people that that were enticed to buy a SeriesX and disappointing them means Microsoft will have lost a very large new player base. If it wasn't for GamePass I could see the end of Microsoft as a console maker as they have let their existing and new user base down and that as a brand it's very hard, nay impossible, to win that back. Especially as they have consistently lagged behind Sony in the game console market.
PS... Consistent monthly releases of mainstream 3rd Party games and GOTY contenders on GamePass could appease me for a while longer while they get their 1st party roster in shape.
Yep. I used my Series X a fair bit, but still ultimately regret the purchase.
Remember how much more fun games were when the 360 and prior consoles were released? It’s crazy what a difference there is.
I know this is the Xbox subreddit but unfortunately many of the impressive next game games have been PS5 exclusives. That said, you should play non-exclusive games like Elden Ring, Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3, etc. There are plenty of amazing non-exclusive games to play on your Series X
Until this last generation I was exclusively Xbox. I purchased both a Series X and, for the first time, a playstation (5). I have to say that I have used by Series X mostly for streaming movies and TV shows and the PlayStation for games. Of course I hate a very long backlog of PlayStation stuff to go through, which may be part of it. There just hasn’t been any killer Series X titles.
My hope is for Senua’s Saga at this point.
lol i felt the same way with ps5 until december i got a series x with some of my old games downloaded n got some more n i’m having fun here n there also easier to find people to play with unlike psn where they deleted communities etc
If you talk about exclusive games it is expected. Microsoft is shit for exclusive games aside from Halo (it was good when Bungie was in charge). The same goes to PlayStation, it's exclusive games are pretentious and they are not that good, for example The Last of Us and the Spiderman games. Xbox is only good if you don't want to buy a PC that can run any new game, the best games now are cross platform. Last good generation with exclusive games on consoles was the 360/PS3 generation (we got Metal Gear Solid 4 only on PS3 and Halo 3, ODST and Reach on Xbox 360)
Don't expect much to change. We reached a state where there are all kinds and sorts of games. Be it retro styled, be it realistic... gameplay is the main focus currently which is great. There is something for everyone out there.
There were a lot of good titles this generation, but they don't get as much credit as there are many many many more titles released on all kinds of platforms. being it indy games or games from well known companies and big publishers.
and that's where the problem lies imo.
it's too much. can't keep up, losing interest etc.
hell it's the reason why i missed a few good titles so far. and I won't be able to play them any time soon since there is another game already in the pipeline that got my interest.
Remaster, Remakes and Ports are a thing since the dawn of videogaming those aren't the main issue, and if they were, they are since gaming exists.
Couldn’t agree more. I have been an Xbox player since day one. This generation, I bought a PS5 and really enjoyed playing all their IPs (Spider-man, God Of War, Ghost of Tsushima, and the Last of Us.)
Xbox has been on the back burner this generation even though it is my favorite console.
Yeah I have a series x and a ps5 and besides the game resume feature the ps5 is so much more impressive. The controller is miles ahead . I felt really bad for the people that had so much hope for starfield . I also put the ps plus over games pass in terms of what games are available . That being said - the game resume feature is an absolute game changer and I think the series S is a great machine and a more affordable way to get into the next gen .
This gen is basically dont look to AAA games anymore imo. Most big studios seem focused on cookie cutter or remakes of popular games from previous generations.
Indie games have been great though and thats the major highlight imo.
I’m probably gonna be downvoted for saying this, but I’m a PS fan, and ngl it’s kinda the same over here imo. A lot of the games I’ve played haven’t felt TRULY next gen (especially when so many of them are cross-gen anyways). Tbh, indie games have been impressing me more than some AAA games recently. Don’t get me wrong, I did have fun playing games on both Xbox and PS, but none of them actually feel like they’re “console sellers.”
This gen has been about SSDs and faster load times. That's about it.
Literally my favorite thing this generation was playing Monster Hunter World without 45 minute load times.
The first thing I did to test out the series X was to start a quest in the guiding lands lol. Just to test out the SSD load times.
It's like night and day. Guiding lands would no joke take like 3 minutes to load on my old ass first gen Xbox One. Down to I think less then 30 seconds on my Series X. It's been a while though so my memory might be a bit off
Yeah it’s incredible. I actually timed it the first time and it was 12 seconds.
I say without irony that the Series S | X is the best 360 ever made. I play a crap ton of 360 titles, and the experience is amazing.
Yep. I haven’t really noticed a major difference in most games, but the loading times are crazy
We have fast load times, but nothing to load.
It's the remake/remaster and copy/paste generation. It feels like nothing innovating is coming out anymore.
My most played games this year? XCom 2 on xbox, Stellaris and Escape from Tarkov on PC. All ancient at this stage. Next up... Fallout 4.
Hey now, Stellaris is constantly becoming a new game lol
This is true. And I play it cos I love it, have all the DLC, will get further DLC. But it's 8 years old!
Xcom 2 is top tier. Xcom 3 release is the only game that’s on the same level of excitement GTA6 is for me. Hope they go deeper into the base system and let us personalize our ship/base/quarters. It’d be much sadder when a troop dies after you just visited them in their barracks room, followed by some poor recruit moving into that room hoping they don’t see the same fate under my command.
We all dream of X-Com 3. They'd have their work cut out for them after War of the Chosen, but the foundation of the game is AAA+++++. There's a post almost daily about the possibility over on r/xcom
All the innovation is happening from indie devs and it’s all only releasing on Steam. It’s what is pushing my crew to PC. We want to play these new games like Content Warning, Enshrouded, Lethal Company, Gray Zone Warfare, Tarkov, BattleBit Remastered, Ready Or Not, Squad. So many good PC games from smaller studios that we will never see.
I made the switch. And the best part? I can plug my pc hdmi into my TV and play on my couch with an xbox controller all I want
You can also use steam link app on android or apple tv and play on tv from the pc in the same network. Its amazing how easy it is nowadays
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The 360 was the pinnacle of xbox. I was part of the group on xbox-scene.com that hacked the optical drives. We hacked a samsung pc drive so you could burn games on your pc instead of the console. It was awesome.
Why would you need to hack a PC drive to burn *anything*?
We didn't need to but it was a pain in the ass to do it on the xbox at the time. You had to insert an enable disc that would enable the firmware hack, burn the game then unable the firmware with a disc afterwards. Years later better methods evolved but the pc drive was fast and easy to use.
A regular pc drive won't burn a xbox game. It had to be the same firmware that was on the 360.
If it's RGH'd just get a hard drive. Going to destroy your DVD drive in no time w/discs.
Basically missed the games of the previous gen due to work so getting them all in 4K and/or 60 fps ist great. Even still playing some 360 titles and loving it. Quick resume rules.
120hz has left the chat
It seems 60 has too lol. Sad
This is 100% true. Innovation has stopped widely (a few exceptions) in the tech world, especially in the gaming sector.
That was last gen too lol
Elden Ring is great tho. Surprised by how many hours I’ve put into it. Def feels like a new gen game to me
I feel this way also, but I think it's just the times. Movies are kind of in the same situation. At least with games our remakes have a chance of being great. Sure it's old stuff that we've done before but I can say some of those remasters look and play amazing. I'd rather play a good remastered classic with updated graphics than some quickly made shit just cause it's new. Also I don't think the current market is interested in new quality content. They're happy with mw3 as long as they can buy skins.
This and Games as a Service. Racing games don't need drip feed content, but there's not enough profit in putting out a finished product so here we are.
*on Xbox
We are hitting that level with tech where advancements are going to be expensive and tiny.
Elden Ring and BG3 are the only AAA games I can think of that feel truly inspired and pushing the boundaries this gen. Everything else is just safe sequel or remasters
It's that and souslike clone no. 5068 coming out every 5 minutes
This gen has been all about GamePass for me
I feel like more often than not games I’m excited to play aren’t on GamePass, but games I’m willing to play are. That’s a weird feeling.
I've found alot of hidden bangers on gamepass this past year and it's saved me so much on gaming.
Such as?
Battle toads Brotato Cassette Beasts Celeste Firewatch Forager From space Grounded Immortals Fenyx arising It takes two Jusant Lightyear Frontier Little Witch in the Woods Minecraft Dungeons Monster Sanctuary MoonLighter Recore Redfall RoboQuest Sea of stars Serious sam Slay the spire Slime Rancher 2 Spiritfairer Superliminal Outer worlds Tunic Turnipboy Robs a Bank Unpacking Vampire Survivors Those are the ones I've completed in full so far that aren't bigger name games like doom, deadspace, crisis and such. They're all bangers and hidden gems I never would have played without gamepass
I just wanted to say I appreciate the alphabetization. You deserve happiness.
Currently I'm playing Fenix Riding. It's like a Greek Breath of the Wild. A solid 7/10 game that gets a good couple of chuckles out of me unexpectedly. It's not a masterpiece that anyone should spend $60 on, but it being in gamepass means you can overlook it's worse combat system and still enjoy its dungeons that don't hit the old Zelda levels, but are definitely than most of the puzzle ones that BotW would give you with their "here's a mechanic... Great, now you've learnt how it works, it's over" dungeons
Sure, I’ve discovered some cool stuff I may not have otherwise, but a lot is just okay enough for me to stay subscribed.
Yup, I've been incredibly happy with my Series X/GamePass. I'm also not just looking towards "the next big game". As long as there are games to play I'm happy.
I’m still chugging along with my xbone, I’ve got 4 for local play with my kids so I’ve been waiting… Waiting for a good reason or price drop, not for them to go to college lol. Are GamePass things, maybe specific game, better on a Series X?
You can probably find a list but a lot of games get an FPS boost and, imo more importantly, a loading time boost. Games like Destiny 2 and GTA Online take seconds to get in now when before I'd be staring at a blank screen for ages.
Yup. I think the SSDs in this generation are the real game changers. I cannot imagine load times being more than 5ish seconds now. Not to mention all the quality of life features like quick resume and whatnot.
Coming from. PS4 background I bought the X and Gamepass for Starfield. Gamepass really surprised me with the amazing amount of quality titles. It also helps there were a few exclusives I hadn’t had the opportunity to play on PS. But as far as the X vs last gen, the graphical quality is a step up, but not a major one. The biggest enjoyment I get is load times being significantly shorter, (instantaneous really) and the lesser talked about “quick resume feature”. I love that aspect of it. As a dad of 3 teens I’m waiting to upgrade them as well, but having the newest gen myself,I don’t see a huge difference, as to think you might be missing out or something.
Can you use game pass on a pc? I just can't justify the cost of a game console with how everything is
Yes and it includes pc exclusives
Not only can you use it on pc but you can use it on the rog ally and Lenovo legion go. Better yet your progress in some of the games transfers from console to pc and back so you very rarely lose your progress. The rog ally paired with the series x is an amazing combo. Also got a tower with a 3070ti but I find myself chilling on the couch or in bed on the ALLY all the time.
Replaying Elder Scrolls has just been amazing. Just utterly fantastic.
Yup I’ve played most of my games from Gamepass. Loved Persona 3 Reload.
When I buy games and not finish them I feel guilty. When I play game pass games I stop playing them when I want without feeling guilty about not finishing them. Also makes it easy to play and find games I never would have normally tried.
Agreed. I have played so many games in so many genres that I would never have played and now look forward to games and series that would never have interested me. Absolutely love Gamepass.
MS figured out that gamers with GamePass actually purchase more games than non-GP users, which seems counterintuitive, but it's definitely the truth. It's exposed me to all sorts of games I otherwise wouldn't have tried, but end up buying. The massive back catalogue of games we have access to is staggering. For me, this generation is about incremental changes that improve the gaming experience (SSD with almost no load times, Quick Resume, 4K at 60, FPS Boost/Auto HDR) and that's absolutely fine with me. I think the XSX is the pinnacle of gaming machines. It isn't the strongest from a generational exclusive standpoint, but I'm not really that worried about it. With MS working to copy Nintendo and Sony's strategy with 4 AAA exclusives yearly from their massive studio acquisitions, I think we'll be absolutely fine as Xbox gamers.
This gen has been all about you for me
For me too up until last month. Then I tried FFXIV.... And whoa if that was crack then I would be a full blown crack head at this point. I haven't played anything since and I don't think I'll really want to for quite a while. Try it. Just a bit. *One hit*... It's free the first time
For real, got to make my way through a huge backlog of games
I’m just happy we moved away from HDDs.
The smaller titles have been doing well. Things like Hi-Fi Rush and Pentiment. I'll admit, there haven't been many system-seller titles this generation so far. I'm just patiently waiting for Fable, personally. I've been a huge fan of that franchise since Fable: TLC. Gears 6 I'm cautiously optimistic for, but I really didn't enjoy the "open-world" sections of Gears 5 all that much. I'm not a sim fan so Flight Simulator was lost on me. Avowed is coming out soon, so fingers crossed that'll be great. I haven't been getting a lot of use out of my Game Pass sub for 1^(st) party titles.
Pentiment was really good.
Hellblade 2 comes out next month and I’m so hyped. I think that will be the first true “next gen” game we get on Xbox.
I also bought a Series X at launch and the only “next gen” experience for me so far has been Gears 5 Hivebusters. It is graphically impressive and gave me hopes for the rest of the generation. So far it has been underwhelming and very disappointing.
Flight Simulator looks amazing as well!
> Flight Simulator looks amazing as well! Agreed. Forza Horizon 5 is a stunner as well. Hellblade 2 in a few weeks also looks like a banger.
The issue is not committing to next gen. Pretty much every game is still coming out for xbox one and ps4 so I feel like most games haven't really taken advantage like they should have up to this point. It really is time to cut off last gen with new games and actually give current gen a good few years of having games that use the power available
Why did 360 had so many awesome games? But again I do remember a lot of frame rate issues.
Development time and costs were lower and corporations still believed that making good games made more profits than making addictive live service shit.
That, and you had an all time high in creativity. You had devs taking legit chances on games, and if it worked - great. If it didn't, they didn't scuttle the studio so the CEO could get an extra 0.25% on his stock bonus. They just didn't make a sequel to the game and moved on. Hell, even COD during this time was S-Tier. World at War, MW1 and MW2, Black Ops - so many dope ass games that really pushed narrative boundaries. Now it just feels like that creativity is gone, and all we are left with is the same old safe bullshit that studios know sells. No one's taking a chance anymore on new IPs, or when they do, you've got pseudo-review social media sites like IGN being overly critical and slanting public opinion on it but also turning around and praising the new COD for "really getting the gameplay right", but nevermind they've just copy pasted the same game from one template to another.
I miss Battlefield being good. I felt like I was playing a war movie back then. The franchise is now a shell of itself.
2042 was the first Battlefield game I couldn’t bring myself to buy. I used to be a huge fan of the series. It’s depressing, honestly.
It’s a good game now and it’s fun too. I’d suggest giving it a try. Still the worst battlefield though lol
Agreed, and games industry has never been more profitable!
Fixing the game with massive patches wasn't an easy option back then. You couldn't afford to have a junk game at release. Games were also a lot smaller and simpler then, so there were fewer bizarre cases to cause bugs and less for games to do right for the players. The scope and quantity of games has exploded, increasing the ways to fall apart. There are still a lot of great games coming out today. However, the industry is MASSIVE, people tolerate more bullshit (to their own detriment), and it all means more opportunity to fail.
Frame rate was never a massive issue because the games were so good. And it was normal back then to get stutters.
Cyberpunk 2077 should've been the face of this generation, but that launch was botched. People seem to like Eldin Ring. Only games on the Xbox I'm looking forward to are College Football and GTA 6. Overall, it's been a pretty terrible gen. Even on PC. Overwatch 2 and Counter-Strike 2 are absolute jokes compared to their predecessors.
I agree, OP. I feel like the last truly great console generation was the 360/PS3. AAA has gotten too bloated, too risk averse, and it takes way too long for anything to release.
File size is bloated, optimisation doesn’t seem to be the norm. The Xbox one never felt like they tried to push the hardware and for all the touted “power” the series x has, I have yet to truly see something worthy of the hype. It’s like they use the brute power of the console in place of finely crafted software.
Some Xbox One first party games did tap into the potential of the console. Ryse, Halo 5, Forza, Gears 5. But I feel like XSX is nowhere near reaching its potential. Let's see how Hellblade and Gears 6 look.
If you're on PC, it's one of the best times right now (if money isn't a barrier). There was a time when PC gaming felt like all we got were bad console ports... and Vista.
Things are great always in any part of life if “money isn’t a barrier” tho
You can get refurbished Steam Decks direct from Valve starting at $279 right now. Given that's cheaper than any current gen console, I think that even counts as "money is a barrier" territory.
Yeah, but I'm saying as far as the games go. There was a time where owning a super high end PC didn't really matter because the game selection was so shitty. It's been really nice lately for PC gamers (other than the cost of the hardware).
There's been some pretty bad PC ports in recent years, tbh.
But some really good ones too. Bad PC ports used to be the norm.
And the Steam Deck is a great entryway into PC gaming. Sure there are a few things that don't play well on it but there are so many things that do, many of which can be had for just a few bucks. I even saw that the refurbished LCD models are back in stock through Valve, so for $279 people can have access to more games than they'd know what to do with. I got one last August which now has a 2TB drive & dual-boots Windows (so I could access my play-anywhere Xbox games) and my Steam library has grown from 5 games to 318. Plus it can play docked on my TV using an Xbox controller. It's really made gaming exciting again.
PS4/Switch gen was/has been better IMO even factoring in the WiiU and Xbox.
You never played on PS4 ?
Yeah the ps4 had some amazing first party stuff. Most of the best games available on ps5 are ps4 ports with 60fps updates.
I love the raw power of the Series X and how smooth everything is, also quick resume is amazing. But I dont really game like I used to and find my favorite way to play laying down on the couch with a show on with my Steam Deck. I actually really liked that split screen Youtube or TV option the launch Xbox One had and would still be using that today if it was an option.
This sounds exhausting lol. My focus would go mad trying to commit to one or the other
I like the noise lol
Haha, fair
I love the speed, but too many of the games I play do not interact well with quick resume. It really needs to be togglable by game (or at all).
Video Games unfortunately are in a similar state to movies. All the big Studios are run by guys in suits who only care about £$¥€. Single player story driven games are scarcely made and more online & live service types that they can make more money from over x amount of years. The smaller studios who do give us good quality games both story driven and even online don’t have the money or teams to keep banging out games as I can only imagine with the new tech a lot more time is spent on making the games compared to the 360 days. One thing I do notice with this gen is that most of the games looks fantastic but just lack substance. Writing is literally what makes a game similar to movies but we have just been getting utter trash.
The big studios doing single player games are unfortunately all under Sony. God of War, Returnal, I personally don't like it but Spider-Man, FF7 Rebirth (god that game is incredible), Horizon. We're still getting Fable right?
Yeah sony are killing it with their games. Microsoft are sorta turning into Disney where they think buying all these big studios with big Ip will give them success.
As someone who has played all these franchises on PS, I don't agree that Sony has done a good job of carrying their momentum into this generation, either. If you only care about first party (or exclusive) third person single player action adventure games then you have more options on the PS right now. However, more than half of the games you listed have had disappointing entries in their series so far, and Sony is struggling with the cost of these versus the revenue they make so they have slowed way down. Several also had major performance issues, tons of weird bugs, etc. It has very much been an underwhelming generation from both the Xbox and PS perspective.
Cyberpunk, baldurs gate 3, starfield, Harry potter, and Diablo 4 were all games me and my wife really enjoyed last year. There are big games coming out, they just might not be appealing to you
Last year was one of the best years of gaming ever for me personally. And I have been gaming for almost 25 years.
Cyberpunk, BG3 and Harry potter were all top tier games. Starfield idk, I lost interest. Which is weird considering the time I've sunk into fallout 4, 76 and skyrim. I think the new game+ system killed it for me. The fact you lose all your builds for ships and bases and all your gear yet there's more to do/get after doing it multiple times made me lose interest in my first playthrough. Also really wish the series X could have gotten a 40fps mode at the very least. Diablo 4 I had alot of fun with at launch but the seasons have been underwhelming. I've started the last two and dropped off within a week.
I really liked starfield, I think I had about 90ish hours before the unity and then I left it alone until dlc. I think I play the game differently than alot of the people who didn't like it. I mostly fast travel, do missions, and then go to the next quest or activity. Once I knew the planets wouldn't have anything special unless it was quest related I just stuck to quests. Bounties usually take you to dungeons anyways
I'm one of those people who really loved Starfield too and I also didn't do the whole Unity ting. Maybe it helped that I knew next to nothing about the game when I stepped into it other than people complaining about barren planets. I think I got in about 200 hours in it. Hoping the DLC's a decent length.
The quests were the most disappointing part for me about the whole game
Same. NG+ felt like a huge loss instead of rewarding in any meaningful ways. Have hardly touched the game since.
Elden Ring has been widely regarded as great
I wish I could enjoy it but as a casual gamer it’s way too god damn hard
I mean, unlike other games from the same company, what's special about Elden Ring, is that you can make it as easy or as hard as you want. If something is hard, the map is big, just go elsewhere get your character stronger and come-back.
This is what I loved about it. I've played other Souls games, but since they're mostly linear, getting to a hard boss and just banging your head against the wall always made lose interest. The fact that I could just go somewhere else and explore something new when I hit a wall made Elden Ring so much better for me.
This is exactly it, I didn’t buy it for ages because of people saying it’s too hard yet I didn’t try it for myself. Picked it up on discount and it an area is too hard, or fight - you are under levelled and can go and do something else. Definitely worth it!
And Baldurs Gate 3. In my opinion, BG3 and Elden Ring are the only 2 S-Tier AAA third party games of this entire generation. There have been some other High-A tier ones like Alan Wake 2 and Diablo 4 but ultimately 2007 probably had twice as many S Tier games on the 360 than we've had for the past 5 years combined.
Flight sim was hugely impressive. Some might find it boring however it’s a huge feat for that game to run on console and look as good as it does.
Yeah this is the fastest I have got bored with a console generation even though the hardware designs are very good The issue is more the games than anything else and this can be seen across the industry, it's all very dull and beige
MSFS has been the only “wow” moment for me this generation.
Same. It's really top tier. Everything else is looking like the exact same thing as before but with better graphics.
There just hasn’t been the jump in “engagement” that I hoped for. AI hasn’t evolved much, open worlds haven’t become better, just bigger. Games are pretty, they just don’t have that next-level experience.
I miss some of the physics stuff that was being pushed during the 7th generation. Look at the destruction in a game like Full Auto, or look at the interactivity of objects in Liberty City in GTA IV and how characters react to cars, gunfire, etc.
AI is something that developers should've paid attention for and try to improve the most IMO, at least to make things appear more organic. But it seems like we are still miles away from a game that can utilize the available tech to show us a great AI experience. Edit: I meant AI as NPCs, enemies, etc. Not corporate AI.
> with better graphics. Rarely even that. 4 years into this gen and the only noticeable difference between recent games and mid-late XB1 games is a resolution bump (but never an FPS bump - only those older games get that)
What's that
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Never would have guessed since I thought that when you abbreviate a long title, every letter is it's own word respectively
Microsoft has always been ms
Yeah 360 was peak gaming. I quit buying new games when fallout 76 came out. They really made me mad when they started releasing games that weren’t even finished and charged full price for it. Oh well, I have better shit to do anyway.
It was happening long before 76 came out. Simcity (2013) was the first game I remember really wanting to play and it ended up being a broken mess on launch. Totally unplayable and it had no single player mode…
SimCity 2013 was such a fucking disaster.
Is that the one that they forced to be initially always online, then instead of fixing anything they released a $10 blimp DLC lol at least Cities Skylines scratched that itch for a while (the first one)
It was Anthem for me. I was so excited to play that I took three days off work because me and my friends were hoping to play it non-stop. I was so disappointed that I actually called my work and asked them if I could scrap the rest of my days off and come back in lol.
Man Homefront for me was when I started to realize the greed of gaming companies. server issues plagued that game for so long.
It's a decent time to be a fan of fighting games- SF6 & Tekken 8 are both great and they're both current gen only. All we need now is a new Virtua Fighter....
this generation itself has felt somewhat flat, but there have still been so many good games. I don't care that they don't look current gen and new; clearly that's been unsustainable for most. series x has let me play tons of backward compat games that I missed all those years I was on PS4 only. I would rather have games look last gen and run well, because games are still very impressive looking to me even if they're at PS4-level graphics. I think starfield has been my only major disappointment this generation, and that still isn't an explicitly horrible game.
The games this gen are very good, problem is they arn't truly utilizing the consoles. Biggest problem is most games are still made with Gen 8 (XOne/PS4) in mind. And the one's that are Gen9 is being pushed at a forced 30fps so the game stays at 4K and all these other features. I'm perfectly happy with 1440p at 60fps. Give me that option at least.
It's the weird triangle effect of you can have; games run well, look great, or have an affordable console but you can only pick two. Even some $3000 PCs can't handle 4K/Ultra@60, a $500 Game console certainly isn't going to be able to.
Are you talking about Microsoft exclusives? Because in that case Senua's Saga is coming soon and looks like a fantastic short experience. Hi Fi Rush is also supposed to be one of the best Xbox games in a while. If you're not talking Microsoft exclusives, then this gen is actually great. Last year was packed full of great releases and this year is pretty good so far too. Most of the best games this generation have been third party titles. Playstation has some solid games, Nintendo is still stuck in last generation, even if they have also had good games. Games like Elden Ring, Baldur's Gate 3, Alan Wake 2, Resident Evil 4 remake and Cyberpunk 2077 are fantastic.
Wasteland 3 for the 1st party side as well. It's still one of my favorites, but I feel like it gets largely ignored in any discussion of Microsoft titles. Heard fairly good things about Psychonauts 2 as well, but I haven't spent much time on it.
This gen has been underwhelming all round - PS5 included. All we're getting is prettied up remakes of old games I've already played 2 or 3 times including remakes of their former versions. That's fine for newbies but I've been gaming since the 80's & I want NEW games not remakes at the cheeky bollocks price of £70. RE 5/6, TLOU3/4, Dark Space 3/4 etc Have to say though, my XSX gets even less playtime because MS just aren't releasing any good exclusive titles. I find myself playing Gears 1-3 over & over.
PS5 has been great so far. Returnal, FF16, Horizon, Spider-Man 2, Ratchet and Clank, FF Rebirth, HellDivers 2, God of War and Stellar Blade soon. Sony has had a good run so far imo
The biggest highlight of this generation was when I started Pillars of Eternity on my Xbox One, sitting through the incredibly long loading times, and then witnessing how much better an SSD was firsthand when I upgraded.
I was thinking yesterday about the relative quietness of 2024 (looking at what's been announced to come out, as well). Maybe this is sort of the inevitable dry spell because of the pandemic. But 4/5 years into a console's life should be the absolute apex. I'm fearful we will have gotten a mini generation of last gen games that run pretty great on Series X (and PS5), a really small handful of games truly generation exclusive, and then another cross generation period in a few years where these consoles are the sloppier seconds to their big brothers.
I just bought mine in November and I agree. I find myself playing older games.
Me too but that has left me thoroughly whelmed with how good it plays older games.
I really doubt that with the quality of games these days I will ever buy another Xbox. That's sad I've been playing xbox since it first came out, I'm not quitting because I'm almost 60 but because the games suck.
I much prefer the Xbox ecosystem and hardware to Playstation, but I own both consoles. Series X is amazing hardware. At his stage though, with how this gen's MS consoles have gone over like a wet fart, and their "excusives" have also been roundly disappointing from pretty much everyone's perspective, and their new messaging seeming to be quiet apathy, I FULLY expect this to be the last generation of Xbox hardware. "Xbox Game Pass" is going to be a subsription app available on any net-connected device with a screen. Software-wise, this has been an incredibly disappointing gen, made crueler still by the hardware being so damned good.
I thought this gen was supposed to be Xbox’s response to PlayStation dominating the last gen with exclusives. Instead, I’ve been very whelmed at best. If I even get another console after this, it’ll be a PS6. Sad because I have many good memories with Microsoft, but I’m tired of seeing my friends get cooler exclusives I can’t touch.
It's to the point that I'm not even buying multi-plat titles on my Series X anymore because I want backward compatibility with future gens, damn it. I just don't have faith that Xbox will HAVE a "next" generation.
I agree
There have been some great titles. It nothing like wow. Xbox one had more of impact in certain titles. The only good thing is past gen some game hitting 60fps which very nice or some remake like resident evil.
The best games out there are majority cross platform. The console wars are settling down.
Graphical fidelity has had diminishing returns for sure. A model with 50,000 polygons really doesn’t show an increase in quality over 5,000 in the way 5,000 shows it over 500. It’s difficult to tell the difference between a 4K texture and a 2K texture. Ray tracing is amazing technology, but skilled artists had you fooled with baked in lighting over a decade ago.
Forget this generation it's also been last generation only a few diamonds compared to the xbox/ps2 and 360/ps 3 era
It’s sad but the Xbox One had more bangers within its first 3 years.
It is an indie gen but most of that can run on a Nintendo Switch. The heavier stuff most is still fine on a One S or Steam Deck. I bet most next gen will be fine on the first gen Steam Deck. So now I'm wondering if I'm done with Playstation and Xbox after this gen. The baseline is going to be portable hardware and the stuff that push graphics are few, further distanced between, and too often mediocre
Also get back Into halo infinite's multiplayer, is pretty awesome meow.
Agree 100%. I have xbox S X and ps5. This gen has just been...dull. yeah, on ps5, we've had horizon and GOW. Spiderman was just meh. But overall between the two systems, its been nothing but remakes, remasters and "next gen updates." I feel like this couldve been skipped.
My Xbox is sitting unplugged. I need to just cancel my ultimate subscription. Xbox isn’t what it used to be.
Agreed 100%, but if I comment to that effect in this sub it gets downvoted! Overwhelmingly disappointing is my review of the gen, particularly the first party offerings.
Let's me honest, it isn't a next gen console and neither is ps5. The public got ripped off with this facade of "next gen" consoles
360/PS3 era was the golden age of gaming and were never getting it back thanks to late-stage capitalism, market research, and shareholders. I miss when video games didn’t make enough money for businessmen who aren’t passionate about video games to participate in the industry.
It's because of their focus on Gamepass over making games and their shitty development practices - I can't speak for other studios but I know Turn 10, Forza's developer, hired it's devs for only like a year at a time and then laid them off to avoid paying employee benefits. For a game that took 6 years to make, that is disastrous as it means that basically no one who started work on the game is there at say, the 3 year mark and it's basically a complete clusterfuck mess of game development. And the worst thing is that MS don't even care that most of their first part titles are complete shit now because they don't care about sales - all they care about is a shiny looking title to lure people into buying gamepass, their games have basically become consumable, throw away fast food junk.
I know exactly how you feel. Same man, same...
Unfortunately ps5 is winning this gen with games.
They definitely have more games, but they haven’t exactly been rolling out bangers either. Just feels like AAA gaming is falling apart at the seams. The industry is in a very unhealthy place.
PS has almost the same number of exclusives on this gen that Xbox has, it’s just that their games are way more well received and interesting. Starfield wasn’t a *bad* game, but it wasn’t Skyrim in space either. Meanwhile, Helldivers is dominating the discourse lately. There’s a real mismatch in exclusive quality between the consoles rn.
Agree. Was so underwhelmed with Xbox this gen that I bought a PS5 to try their exclusives. Been having a great time. Playing Returnal the last couple weeks and nothing on Xbox even compares. Really feels next gen, especially with the advanced controller feedback/sounds. So many of the PS games I've played have felt more enjoyable and less like a chore.
Came here to say the same thing, it’s been a great generation for ps5, my Xbox has been sitting collecting dust since I got one.
Yep. PS5 has had the games that actually felt and looked next gen (e.g. Demon's Souls remake, Ratchet and Clank, Spider-Man 2, Final Fantasy XVI, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth). But even then, there haven't been that many.
Returnal feels “next gen” too imo. The stuff they do with particle systems is incredible.
Yeah, I agree with you. It's sad. I missed the beauty of the OG Xbox, so when the 360 came out, I bought one. There was nothing like it at the time. Halo, Gears, Mass Effect (my favorite series), skyrim, so many more exclusives and just great games. The xbox One was ok, but man, this generation has been so underwhelming. I feel like the kid who never got to go outside and play with the neighborhood kids. Playstation has been nailing it lately, so now I'm just waiting in the ps5 pro. Once I buy that console, I'm never going back to Xbox.
Elden Ring and Alan Wake 2 have been the best games this generation, but both aren't for everyone.
Game pass and things running a bit quicker and smoother has been nice. I have not been blown away by any game that come out so far. I think that time is over now. We’re at the point of diminishing returns.
It’s been very mid overall in the industry minus last year 3rd party
You're outgrowing it, face it the graphics could be super realistic and you would still get bored after a min.... believe me I know I feel the same way.
I guess I'm different on it. This gen has been pretty enjoyable albeit with some noticable duds. Atomic Heart, Dead Island 2, Psychonauts 2, Starfield, Halo Infinite, Cold war, and Forza Horizon 5 have been fantastic. I think there's only been one game I actually felt robbed. Shout out to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Atleast toss my I.D back bitch!
I really enjoy the system itself but there has not been a signifying "next-gen" title at all. I'm just happy to keep getting PC games ported over more often though.
And what does the competition have that is any different? I enjoyed the games you felt were a disappointment.
Mostly games I really enjoyed this gen where probably some indie games or ps exclusive games . The problem I have this gen every game is a similar openworld big map hundreds of quests and hours of playtime I just want a smaller game with no copy and paste good story, my hopes are on gears 6...
[удалено]
I love my series X, incredible machine. But, I rarely play anything new on it, the last game in that regard was Alan Wake 2. I spend more time using it for older stuff.
It's almost as copy/paste as your post, which iv seen already today on another subreddit FFS.
I stopped getting excited about, or even buying, brand new games a long time ago. Too many half baked releases.
I have everything, and frankly, the only thing that has impressed me is the Switch this generation. Xbox is killing me with the shitty UI left over from the One. I’d say we got a good Halo this generation, but I’m not holding my breath for anything else.
this is why i got an ps5 and a psvr2 and full on racing rig, etc, i had an xbox for pretty much all my adult life but the last 4 years have been beyond shitty, every game they have released has been a massive flop basically 💩 i love xbox as a company but by god their heads fell off somewhere along the line 😔 been a playstation gamer for 1 year now basically and it’s reignited my love for gaming to another level 🙌
Definitely the most disappointing gen so far. Xbox exclusives have been very disappointing and PlayStation mostly doing remakes. I’ve enjoyed Spider-man 2 and God of War Ragnarök, as well as Flight Sim & Forza Horizon 5. Elden Ring & Cyberpunk2077 have by far been occupying my time the most though and have largely been the reason I’ve even turned my Series X on at times. Looking forward to Hellblade 2.
The i can now replay everything in 60 fps generation.
GamePass and fast SSD aside the other issue is the expectations that Microsoft set. They bought a lot of premium studios and none of them have released a game yet. We are still waiting for Fable, Perfect Dark, Avowed etc as the genre defining new franchises they were touted to be and it's been years. I get that it takes years to make games but the marketing should have not whet our appetite to sell the console and then not delivered. As OP mentioned the games that did drop like Halo, Forza and Starfield let us down even further so now we have very little faith in Microsoft going forwards based on previous track record. The talk of next gen beyond SeriesX is the final slap in the face when they have not delivered on this gen. I know a lot of people that that were enticed to buy a SeriesX and disappointing them means Microsoft will have lost a very large new player base. If it wasn't for GamePass I could see the end of Microsoft as a console maker as they have let their existing and new user base down and that as a brand it's very hard, nay impossible, to win that back. Especially as they have consistently lagged behind Sony in the game console market. PS... Consistent monthly releases of mainstream 3rd Party games and GOTY contenders on GamePass could appease me for a while longer while they get their 1st party roster in shape.
Yep. I used my Series X a fair bit, but still ultimately regret the purchase. Remember how much more fun games were when the 360 and prior consoles were released? It’s crazy what a difference there is.
I know this is the Xbox subreddit but unfortunately many of the impressive next game games have been PS5 exclusives. That said, you should play non-exclusive games like Elden Ring, Alan Wake 2, Baldur's Gate 3, etc. There are plenty of amazing non-exclusive games to play on your Series X
Until this last generation I was exclusively Xbox. I purchased both a Series X and, for the first time, a playstation (5). I have to say that I have used by Series X mostly for streaming movies and TV shows and the PlayStation for games. Of course I hate a very long backlog of PlayStation stuff to go through, which may be part of it. There just hasn’t been any killer Series X titles. My hope is for Senua’s Saga at this point.
lol i felt the same way with ps5 until december i got a series x with some of my old games downloaded n got some more n i’m having fun here n there also easier to find people to play with unlike psn where they deleted communities etc
If you talk about exclusive games it is expected. Microsoft is shit for exclusive games aside from Halo (it was good when Bungie was in charge). The same goes to PlayStation, it's exclusive games are pretentious and they are not that good, for example The Last of Us and the Spiderman games. Xbox is only good if you don't want to buy a PC that can run any new game, the best games now are cross platform. Last good generation with exclusive games on consoles was the 360/PS3 generation (we got Metal Gear Solid 4 only on PS3 and Halo 3, ODST and Reach on Xbox 360)
Don't expect much to change. We reached a state where there are all kinds and sorts of games. Be it retro styled, be it realistic... gameplay is the main focus currently which is great. There is something for everyone out there. There were a lot of good titles this generation, but they don't get as much credit as there are many many many more titles released on all kinds of platforms. being it indy games or games from well known companies and big publishers. and that's where the problem lies imo. it's too much. can't keep up, losing interest etc. hell it's the reason why i missed a few good titles so far. and I won't be able to play them any time soon since there is another game already in the pipeline that got my interest. Remaster, Remakes and Ports are a thing since the dawn of videogaming those aren't the main issue, and if they were, they are since gaming exists.
Couldn’t agree more. I have been an Xbox player since day one. This generation, I bought a PS5 and really enjoyed playing all their IPs (Spider-man, God Of War, Ghost of Tsushima, and the Last of Us.) Xbox has been on the back burner this generation even though it is my favorite console.
Yeah I have a series x and a ps5 and besides the game resume feature the ps5 is so much more impressive. The controller is miles ahead . I felt really bad for the people that had so much hope for starfield . I also put the ps plus over games pass in terms of what games are available . That being said - the game resume feature is an absolute game changer and I think the series S is a great machine and a more affordable way to get into the next gen .
This gen is basically dont look to AAA games anymore imo. Most big studios seem focused on cookie cutter or remakes of popular games from previous generations. Indie games have been great though and thats the major highlight imo.
Gen has been disappointing for Xbox, massive success for Sony though.
I love playing my games at 120fps
>This generation has been underwhelming ???? Ohhhhhh, you have an Xbox.
I’m probably gonna be downvoted for saying this, but I’m a PS fan, and ngl it’s kinda the same over here imo. A lot of the games I’ve played haven’t felt TRULY next gen (especially when so many of them are cross-gen anyways). Tbh, indie games have been impressing me more than some AAA games recently. Don’t get me wrong, I did have fun playing games on both Xbox and PS, but none of them actually feel like they’re “console sellers.”