It’s been a while since we’ve done one of these closer looks at additions to Xbox Game Pass (read previous articles in the series here and here). We’re making up for it with mini reviews for three very different games, all of which joined the subscription service from mid March onwards.
If you’ve been eying them, here’s your chance to find out if they’re worth playing – though a Game Pass sub, or on other gaming platforms via traditional purchase to own.
Tunic
Reviewed by Matthew Figueira
At a glance, Tunic looks like a gorgeous indie clone of any classic Legend of Zelda game. That comparison isn’t far off, at least in the game’s opening hours. You awaken in a mysterious land, sporting nothing more than a very familiar green outfit. What follows, however, is an unforgettable, exquisitely designed adventure that does more than enough to prove that it’s more than a “fox in Link’s clothing.”
Tunic’s combat, for instance, has more depth than one might expect, demanding stamina management, enemy prioritisation with the game’s camera lock system, and just a good general awareness of surroundings. In fact, it’s very easy to draw comparisons to Dark Souls on this front, because routine skirmishes can be challenging, with death one miscalculated roll away. Boss encounters are also presented as grand, daring affairs that are seemingly impossible for our adorable fox protagonist, but not unmanageable.
It’s worth pointing out, though, that infinite stamina and health options are available for those who shy away from challenging combat, because it’s actually a side feature to Tunic’s main attraction – exploration. There are no traditional quest markers so to speak, meaning players needs to organically figure out where to go and what to do next.
But this is where Tunic truly excels. Its level design outshines even what some of the best AAA studios can manage, cleverly funnelling players to their next objective, and regularly rewarding them when they stray from the beaten path with money, upgrade ingredients, and maybe even a new page for the invaluable in-game manual.
The manual takes inspiration from the same packed-in physical game booklets that many gamers pored over in their earliest years. Those tomes were always filled with helpful tips and guidance, and they serve the same purpose here on the screen, offering players crucial information in-game – bites of lore, hints for puzzles, combat tactics, and more. It’s a clever mechanic embedded within Tunic’s DNA, and something that makes it truly unique.
This “small” indie title from Andrew Shouldice will take anywhere from 10- 20 hours to complete. It’s a steal of an experience even at full price on PC and Xbox consoles (as a timed console exclusive). On Game Pass though? There’s no excuse to not don the tunic.
Life is Strange: True Colors
Reviewed by Noelle Adams
You can read our full review of 2021’s Life is Strange: True Colors, but the short version is that this third entry in Square Enix’s popular narrative adventure series is as emotionally involving as its predecessors, while demonstrating some next-gen visual flair.
Made by Deck Nine, the same studio behind prequel Life is Strange: Before the Storm, True Colors centres on Alex Chen, a young woman reunited with her older brother after almost a decade in the foster care system. The reunion takes her to Haven Springs, an idyllic mountain town in Colorado. However, when tragedy strikes, Alex must use her unique ability – she’s an empath able to read people’s emotions as an aura, and sometimes even enter their minds – to find the truth about what really happened.
True Colors isn’t particularly focused on resolving that core mystery, cramming the resolution into the game’s final two chapters with some Dickensian plot twists. However, the game world is so incredibly well-realised and inviting that you’re largely willing to forgive the many leisurely detours (including town festivals and an episode-long LARP). You want to spend as much time in Haven as possible. The ten-hour experience is made all the more immersive by top-tier performance capture, nuanced character writing and a stunning setting.
As with other Life is Strange games, you’ll still be making some very tough choices that ultimately determine which ending (out of six) you arrive at – although True Colors arguably doesn’t pack quite the emotional wallop as the first game in the series.
While not included with the Game Pass edition of the game, we also enjoyed the Wavelengths prequel DLC, which puts fan-favourite LGBTQ+ character Steph Gingrich in the spotlight. For the record, Life is Strange: True Colors is very positive in terms of representation matters.
Life is Strange: True Colours can be played on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.
Lost in Random
Reviewed by Noelle Adams
Of the three games profiled in this article, we’ve spent the least time with Lost in Random – i.e. we haven’t finished it – so a final assessment could change.
That said, from what we’ve played so far, the 15-hour Lost in Random is a surprising dark delight. From Zoink, the makers of Fe, and publisher Electronic Arts, Lost in Random could have been a more conventional action adventure (at least in terms of gameplay), combining exploration, light puzzle solving and good ol’ smack-and-shoot-everyone-to-clear-an-area combat.
Zoink, however, have integrated a deck-building element with the combat. This makes battles more strategic, but can also draw them out as you freeze time to make card choices that will help you overcome wave after wave of enemies in various, inventive ways.
Fortunately, fighting isn’t all there is to Lost in Random. Players may develop an ambivalent attitude to the cerebrally deep and slower combat, but it’s hard not to fall in love with the game world itself, which embraces its “games of chance” theme with every design choice.
Lost in Random feels like the love child of stop-motion animation studio LAIKA, The Nightmare Before Christmas and American McGee’s Alice, with a touch of the most disturbing characters from Studio Ghibli. It’s a dark, darkly comic fairy tale, complete with wry voice-over narrator, that follows young heroine Even as she and creepy-but-cute companion Dicey strive to cross the cursed kingdom of Random. Their ambition is to free Even’s sister, Odd, from a sinister queen who rules over all with her black die.
Unusually, Lost in Random includes a number of side quests, and it’s these interactions with Random’s weird and wonderful inhabitants that add a lot of quirky charm to the game. It feels like Lost in Random slipped a bit under the radar when it released in September last year; now with Game Pass, more people have the opportunity to experience its unexpected pleasures.
Lost in Random is also playable on all consoles and PC.