Game Pass gets lit up with five new games today, and they cover pretty much every genre that the Xbox can offer.
On the shooter front, we have CrossfireX: Operation Catalyst (Console), a port of a Counter Strike-a-like FPS that is bigger than Call of Duty in Asia. For RPG fans there is Edge of Eternity (Cloud, Console and PC), which is striving for the highs of a Final Fantasy. Then there’s Besiege Console (Cloud, Console and PC), a Game Preview title that should satisfy RTS and creator fans; Skul: The Hero Slayer (Cloud, Console and PC), which is an action-platform roguelike; and The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom (Cloud, Console and PC), a brawler for kids. Barely a genre has been left out.
CrossfireX: Operation Catalyst is our pick. It seems strange to be playing something that’s considered a phenomenon in other parts of the world when we’ve barely heard about it. But this one has chops, not least because it’s been brought to Xbox in collaboration with Alan Wake and Control maestros Remedy. Choose to play the newly crafted single player campaign for COD-like thrills, or hop into multiplayer for tactical FPS deathmatches.
Edge of Eternity at the time of writing is not on Game Pass yet, but is due later today. You only need to look at a trailer or two to know what this is doing: this is an epic scope JRPG in the vein of Final Fantasy and Blue Dragon (the title art even looks FF-like), with teams of oddballs taking on world-ending forces, this time in the form of a ‘Corrosion’ virus. It’s from modest outfit Midgar Studios and Dear Villagers rather than a AAA studio – but as our review points to, this is one in which big ambitions are realised.
Besiege Console is a Game Preview title which satisfies our long-held desires to build siege engines. From design all the way to construction, you get to form up ballistas, catapults, siege towers and more, before testing them out on various fortifications. Definitely one for the history buffs and fine-tuners of you.
The other two games have been out for a while, and are now getting the Game Pass treatment. Skul: The Hero Slayer is your traditional action-roguelite, but with 90 characters for you to pop your skull head onto and control. We liked this one a LOT, foisting a 4.5/5 on it in review, so perhaps put it near the top of your list. There’s also the mouthful The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom, a spinoff from the Last Kids on Earth animated series. It’s a self-proclaimed semi-open world RPG, and it has you controlling a team of youths as you wade into hordes of zombies. This one didn’t quite reach Skul-heights in terms of scores, but we still thought it had charm.
This isn’t the end for games in the first half of February. On February 14th, we will all be receiving Ark: Ultimate Survivor Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC) and Infernax (Cloud, Console, and PC).
Forsooth, games are also leaving Game Pass this month. Disappearing on February 15th are Control (Cloud, Console, and PC), Code Vein (Cloud, Console, and PC), Final Fantasy XII The Zodiac Age (Console and PC), The Medium (Cloud, Console, and PC), Project Winter (Cloud, Console, and PC) and The Falconeer (Cloud, Console, and PC).
Fancy playing any of February’s games? Let us know by popping a comment below or do the same on social media.
