Bane

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

178 hours played and I had a (mostly) great time throughout. It's probably my favorite of the last three AC games. I really like the combat in this one. Being able to mix and match weapons and shields in whatever combo you want is a lot of fun. Good story, good characters. Gorgeous on the Series X.

I'm looking forward to the DLC which is taking us to Ireland and Francia.

Skal!

I hope they keep this new January timeframe for their GOTY stuff. It makes a lot more sense to have it then instead of December. It gives them a chance to catch up on their backlogs over Christmas break and to have a chance to play December's releases.

And it lets poor Alex enjoy his Christmas instead of editing a bunch of top ten lists.

I hurt my back in high school playing backyard football with my buddies. The doctor said "This injury will be with you for the rest of your life." He was right! 25 years later and it still goes out occasionally.

A cousin who used to have cronic back issues told me about Foundation Training. I feel like a shill, but in all honesty it's an amazing program. It works wonders for the both of us. They've got a YouTube channel if you're interested.

If I did the exercises every day like I should (like my cousin does) my back would probably never go out (his doesn't anymore), but I don't because I'm dumb.

I hope Forza Horizon 5 does not involve the Horizon Festival. I just don't care about it, never have. They need to come up with something else. Please, something else.

Horizon Zero Dawn (PC)

I know, late to the party. This game is really good across the board. Art direction, technical proficiency, writing, acting, gameplay - it's all really good. I just finished the story (love it) and I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes in the sequel.

I found the combat quite difficult at the beginning, to the point where I wondered if I was meant to avoid most of it. I'm really not a fan of stun-based or knockdown game mechanics. I despise stun lock with my entire soul. But once I got more tools and learned to use them I ended up having a great time dismantling machines.

Hopefully the next one comes to PC, too.

Cyberpunk 2077

I've played through the game twice now and had a great time. There's a lot of great characters and missions, Night City is an amazing place, and I enjoy the gameplay. I'd like to play through it again actually, but I'm trying to wait for patches and whatever DLC is coming.

I feel like I have to say I didn't follow the development at all. I watched the first trailers like seven years ago, the "you're breathtaking!" Keanu presentation, and that's it. I went in oblivious to what CDPR said prior to the release. Apparently that was the right move because it's like I played a different game than the one people are complaining about.

@seikenfreak: Mr. Blue Eyes is The Illusive Man. Reaper indoctrination. Some unknown force controlling Peralez. It's a nice tip of the hat to Mass Effect.

I apologize for not reading most of this thread as I intend to see the other endings for myself.

I played as male nomad V who romanced Panam so I chose to ask her for help because of course. Started as a nomad, ended as a nomad, found love along the way. Without knowing much about the other endings I have to imagine this is the "best" ending there is. I'm perfectly happy with it as the end to my first playthrough.

@gundato: That is awesome to hear! I'm an old Silent Hunter sea dog, and I've had UBOAT on my wishlist for quite some time now. Has there been any indication of a release date yet?

As for what I'm currently playing: American Truck Simulator

They released Colorado not too long ago and it's really good. They also released a new truck, the Western Star 49X, at the same time as Western Star themselves released the real truck. I thought that was neat bit of co-marketing. The truck is quite good in the game, too. It's light on customization (probably because of the release date of the actual truck), but I'm sure they'll add more to it over time.

@humanity Agreed. I thought the card at the bottom of the box was a Game Pass trial, but no. It was just setup instructions.

Also, the background downloads did work, but that wasn't reflected in the Xbox app. As soon as I turned it on last night I got a bunch of notifications that my games were ready to play, and they were.

Hmm, I checked my installed games in the Xbox app and my background downloads aren't working either. Maybe it's a service problem. Xbox Live went down yesterday for a while, and downloads were pretty slow last night.

Don't forget you now have access to EA Play if you have Game Pass Ultimate. There are 80 games in there currently. If you haven't played Mass Effect, Dragon Age, or Jedi: Fallen Order yet now's your chance.