RPGWatch Feature - 60 Days of Microsoft Game Pass

Forgottenlor checked out Microsoft Game Pass, spent some time playing games and came back to tell us about his experience.

I have tried all sorts of game platforms. Paradox's Gamersgate was my first digital platform, which I tried out because I was disenchanted with the AAA roleplaying games on the PC in 2011 and was looking for something different. In 2013 I bought my first Steam game, a rather mediocre rpg called Aarklash: Legacy, which I couldn't get anywhere else. Since then, I've bought games on GOG, Origin, Uplay, and the Epic store, resenting each additional launcher I had to install, but not enough to pass up a good deal on a game I really wanted to play. One thing I had been considering awhile was the Microsoft Game Pass. The primary game I wanted to play was The Outer Words. In November, I looked at the platform and saw they had a lot of other games on my Steam Wishlist, including A Plague Tale: Innocence, Mutant Year Zero, Age of Wonders: Planetfall, Bloodstained:Ritual of the Night, Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, and No Man's Sky. Buying all those titles would have cost me a small fortune. So, I took the plunge in November and gave the Game Pass a try.

More information.

If you buy xbox live gold vouchers you can turn it into game pass ultimate for a dollar. I have a 3 year subscription for 130 euro that way (you can go cheaper by buying brazilian vouchers but that is less legal).

I figured that with the outer worlds, wasteland 3, ff15 and a few more i really wanted to play that I already had my moneys worth. The rest is bonus and with Microsoft owning bethesda some good things are to come.

I'm wondering if anybody on the watch is using stadia, shadow or geforce now? These are getting more popular around here.

Almost none of the games I bought the last 2-3 years are included in the pass, so easy choice for me (and when I say "almost", I haven't found any but there are probably a couple I haven't checked)

Some older games are there, but only with a small reduction (like The Witcher 3, go figure…). Same with MSFS, if I ever decide to give it a go, it's only a 10€ discount.

I found two games that were on my wishlist: A Plague Tale: Innocence or Metro: Exodus. But it's more a curiosity thing, and they're on that list because I haven't bothered to delete them yet.

What does MS do about the DRM? For example with Doom: Eternal (only a 18€ discount, but for argument's sake), would have they released it with Denuvo before it was removed?

I'm sort of in the same boat with Forgottenlor on this… good short term value but probably not a long term platform for me. I had Game Pass for 90 days when it was still $5 a month - and the value there was great. I played Gears Tactics, Outer Worlds and Wasteland 3 (and a few other games to a lesser extent). At $11 ($1 for the first month intro offer and $10 for the next two), that was, for me, awesome value.

But having played those games, there wasn't enough left that was compelling enough to pay $10/month for… especially when I've got other unplayed games in my Steam library.

That said, I could see going back to it for a month or two in the future if there are a few must-play games on it I want to play.

Lastly, I think the $5/month was a good price… $10 seems just a bit too much.

Important to mention there is a difference between xbox and pc. The library on xbox is like 10x as big.

There are a lot of rpgs on there:
- The bards tale (new and classic)
- Skyrim
- New vegas
- ff 9, 7, 8, and 15 (other ones are coming)
- warband
- pillars
- outer worlds
- wasteland 1 to 3
- witcher 3
Just to name a few. Admittedly, if you have played most of them on release then game pass is not for you.

Yakuzi 0, Yakuzi Kiwami 1/2, dishonored 2, hollow knight, etc. are also on there but in the action adventure category.

Good write-up. I had what I perceive to be the exact same with this XBox Game Pass. I took it out for a couple of months and played through Gears Tactics and Crusader Kings 3.

I felt a bit like there was a need to rush through and finish games though, and I didn't like that feeling. Like you I tend to play a couple of games at once so this was not conducive to that at all.

I do think it's a really good idea, but the library disappearing randomly is really annoying and makes it into something I wouldn't want to spend money on unless I see a steal.

One thing that is not made clear here is that any game owned by microsoft ie any of their many studios including bethesda will not leave the service…

i think it's fantastic. i might spend a few months with a single game or not even play anything for awhile. the game pass is cheap and it's always there (if u have an active account) to just pick up and play whatever u like. i know there's plenty of rpgs and games that would take me awhile to get through. i recommend it.

I tried it mainly to play The Outer Worlds and State of Decay 2, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

At some point I'll re-join to play Wasteland 3 (I wasn't impressed enough in W2 to be willing to spend real reddies on W3), Doom Eternal, Dragon Quest XI, and a few others.

Originally Posted by Pladio
I felt a bit like there was a need to rush through and finish games though, and I didn't like that feeling. Like you I tend to play a couple of games at once so this was not conducive to that at all.

I do think it's a really good idea, but the library disappearing randomly is really annoying and makes it into something I wouldn't want to spend money on unless I see a steal.

I agree with you 100%, Pladio. Yeah, i've finished Gears: Tactics campaign but meanwhile a lot of games were no longer available for me to play, unless I bought them. I'm still subscribed to the service but I just don't know how long until I cancel it.

Originally Posted by Redglyph
Almost none of the games I bought the last 2-3 years are included in the pass, so easy choice for me (and when I say "almost", I haven't found any but there are probably a couple I haven't checked)

Some older games are there, but only with a small reduction (like The Witcher 3, go figure…). Same with MSFS, if I ever decide to give it a go, it's only a 10€ discount.

I found two games that were on my wishlist: A Plague Tale: Innocence or Metro: Exodus. But it's more a curiosity thing, and they're on that list because I haven't bothered to delete them yet.

What does MS do about the DRM? For example with Doom: Eternal (only a 18€ discount, but for argument's sake), would have they released it with Denuvo before it was removed?

The games I played seemed to regularly require that I be logged into my Microsoft account to start the game. Once started an internet connection was no longer required. I didn't notice any other DRM. I didn't try Doom:Eternal though. In addition to the list in the article I also recently started Gears:Tactics & Alien Isolation.

Originally Posted by ilm
Important to mention there is a difference between xbox and pc. The library on xbox is like 10x as big.

There are a lot of rpgs on there:
- The bards tale (new and classic)
- Skyrim
- New vegas
- ff 9, 7, 8, and 15 (other ones are coming)
- warband
- pillars
- outer worlds
- wasteland 1 to 3
- witcher 3
Just to name a few. Admittedly, if you have played most of them on release then game pass is not for you.

Yakuzi 0, Yakuzi Kiwami 1/2, dishonored 2, hollow knight, etc. are also on there but in the action adventure category.

Of the games you listed only The Witcher 3, Skyrim & New Vegas are not on the pc. Kind of strange, seeing as they were all on the pc first, and Bethesda is now in their possession.

I have always been reluctant to install more DRMs, not only because of the whole principle thing where you buy a game and you don't even own it, you can't share it with neighbours, friends, etc, as it used to be. Also because of convenience, I really wish I could have all my games in one single library. Sometimes I don't even remember in which platform I own a particular game.

However this "Netflix" model for videogames, seems quite appealing to me, because you can sign on for 1-2 months a year, get several hundred bucks worth of games, and cancel subscription til next year, or whenever there is a new batch of games ready to play and you actually have time to play them.

Times change and since now you don't own your fully purchased games anyway (ie, the day Steam goes down, don't think they are going to give you DRM free versions of all the games you own, it even says in the TOS that the games are pretty much treated as "rented"), may as well make the best use of these "passes" which let you play a copious amount of good games at a comparatively low price, ie 1-10 dollars a month.

I just don't trust all of these platforms that seem to almost pop up overnight, similar to the way that I don't subscribe to three hundred different ways of watching television or films. I find one or two that work for me, seem to be anchored and not going anywhere soon, and stick with those. In the computer game delivery service those two are great old games and steam, and if I choose a new service, likely I would depart one of the two that I'm currently using. I do not like to clog up my computer with a lot of junk.

Originally Posted by forgottenlor
Of the games you listed only The Witcher 3, Skyrim & New Vegas are not on the pc. Kind of strange, seeing as they were all on the pc first, and Bethesda is now in their possession.

Bthesda is not in their possession officially yet, it will finalize spring I believe.

Originally Posted by Nereida
I have always been reluctant to install more DRMs, not only because of the whole principle thing where you buy a game and you don't even own it, you can't share it with neighbours, friends, etc, as it used to be. Also because of convenience, I really wish I could have all my games in one single library. Sometimes I don't even remember in which platform I own a particular game.

However this "Netflix" model for videogames, seems quite appealing to me, because you can sign on for 1-2 months a year, get several hundred bucks worth of games, and cancel subscription til next year, or whenever there is a new batch of games ready to play and you actually have time to play them.

Times change and since now you don't own your fully purchased games anyway (ie, the day Steam goes down, don't think they are going to give you DRM free versions of all the games you own, it even says in the TOS that the games are pretty much treated as "rented"), may as well make the best use of these "passes" which let you play a copious amount of good games at a comparatively low price, ie 1-10 dollars a month.

So, this is probably a strange quirk, but whenever I buy a game I write it down on a list, so I don't forget I have it. Then once I play it, I delete it from the list. That way I don't forget that I've bought a game on Origin or Uplay or the Epic Store, since the vast majority of games I own are on Steam though I also have quite a few on GOG.

Originally Posted by forgottenlor
Of the games you listed only The Witcher 3, Skyrim & New Vegas are not on the pc. Kind of strange, seeing as they were all on the pc first, and Bethesda is now in their possession.

Someone is keeping up a master list of all games:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets…ytg/edit#gid=0

There you can see what's on xbox vs pc (or has been). Obviously all EA play titles including mass effect and dragon age (at least for now). In the end, Microsoft wants to have the same offering on xbox and pc I think.

Regarding Bethesda, I don't think the deal has been finalised yet. Should be Q1 2021 and then we can expect a lot more titles on both pc and xbox.

Great article Forgottenlor! I had been thinking of researching this, and now I don't have to.

Overall, this is a great deal with new games coming all the time, first party games staying forever.

To me, this is a no brainer as I have both an xbox series x and a pc….I find that I am buying less games and just waiting for them to show up there, or just play games that are there as there are so many and not enough time.

I've already said if you just want to try games at a low price it's a deal. Though if you want to play DLC and expansions you're out of luck. You need to buy the game then.

Unless the game offered is a GOTY edition our Microsoft includes some DLC.