The outside world has changed dramatically in terms of what you can and can’t do due to the Pandemic Corona Virus (convid-19) and it’s clear to say we are going to be spending more time in our homes for quite some time.
Gaming will offer a release from all the news coverage and the new worries that everyday life will bring. As usual I’ve been chatting to the gaming community and the general feeling is that services such as Xbox’s Game Pass are going to become a way of the life for a gamer.
Games are going to be harder to buy, the closure of shops and businesses will no doubt have an effect on the gaming industry. New game releases will get delayed and the struggle to get hold of a physical disc will become very real. There will be no browsing the shelves for your latest fix, that’s for sure!
It’s a good thing we have the digital world, however that’s not everyone’s favourite choice for buying games, that’s where Game Pass will step in for many.
Below is a collection of 16 games currently on game pass to see you through the new restrictions imposed on us all.
A Plague Tale: Innocence
Follow the grim tale of young Amicia and her little brother Hugo, in a heartrending journey through the darkest hours of history. Hunted by Inquisition soldiers and surrounded by unstoppable swarms of rats, Amicia and Hugo will come to know and trust each other. As they struggle to survive against overwhelming odds, they will fight to find purpose in this brutal, unforgiving world.
Ark: Survival Evolved
Stranded naked, freezing & starving on a mysterious island, you must hunt, harvest, craft items, grow crops, & build shelters to survive. Use skill & cunning to kill, tame, breed, & ride the Dinosaurs & primeval creatures living on ARK. Team up with hundreds of players online or try to survive on your own in offline play.
Bleeding Edge
From the studio behind DmC: Devil May Cry and Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice comes Bleeding Edge, a fast and frenetic 4v4 team brawler where every fighter comes mechanically enhanced for mayhem!
Choose your fighter from a diverse cast of colourful characters from the edges of society: burn rubber as bold and beautiful Buttercup with her detachable saw blade arms, wreak havoc as Black-Metal rocker Niđhöggr with his electrifying guitar solos or slash up the streets as Daemon, New York’s most wanted assassin.
Dishonored 2
Reprise your role as a supernatural assassin in Dishonored 2 – the follow up to Arkane Studio’s first-person action blockbuster and winner of more than 100 ‘Game of the Year’ awards, Dishonored. Play your way in a world where mysticism and industry collide. How will you combine your character’s unique set of powers, weapons and gadgets to eliminate your enemies?
E Football PES 2020
Experience the most realistic and authentic football game with eFootball PES 2020, winner of the ‘E3 Best Sports Game’ award! Play with the biggest teams in world football, featuring Spanish champions FC Barcelona, global giants Manchester United, German champions FC Bayern München and Italian champions Juventus – who feature exclusively in PES!
Forza Horizon 4
Forza Horizon 4 changes everything. For the first time in the racing and driving genre, experience dynamic seasons in a shared open-world. Explore beautiful scenery, collect over 450 cars and become a Horizon Superstar in historic Britain.
So, sit back and take the wheel, as you enjoy the largest and most diverse Horizon car roster yet, with over 100 licensed manufactures too whet your appetite.
Race, Stunt, Create and Explore, in this new open-ended campaign, where everything you do progresses your game.
Now’s your chance to explore beautiful, historic Britain. I promise this is Britain like you’ve never seen it before, discover lakes, valleys, castles and breath-taking scenery in a world populated by real players. When the time of day, weather and seasons change, everyone playing the game experiences it at the same time as you!
GEARS 5
Campaign: The world is crumbling. The Swarm has corrupted the Coalition’s robot army and is descending upon human cities. With danger closing in, Kait Diaz breaks away to uncover her connection to the enemy and discovers the true danger to Sera – herself.
Escape: Outrun the bomb, outsmart the Swarm, and escape the Hive! Escape is a new, aggressive, high-stakes co-op mode featuring a three-player suicide squad that must work together to take out enemy hives from within.
Versus: May the best team win! Rack up points and trade up for superior weapons in Arcade, a frenetic playlist built for jump-in, over-the-top fun. With ten other game types plus new and classic maps, Versus rewards every competitive style, from casual to pro.
Horde: Can you and four friends endure waves of ever-stronger enemies and bosses? Survive using new hero abilities, building defences, collecting power, levelling up your skills and working as a team.
Map Builder: Create custom Escape hive maps and experiences to share with and challenge your friends.
Features:
- Three-player Campaign Co-op: Battle alongside your friends in three-player online or split-screen co-op.
- Tours of Duty: Rank up from new recruit to four-star general in Gears Tours of Duty. Take on new and exciting challenges, earn awesome rewards, and show off your loot.
- Boot Camp: New to Gears or just a little rusty? Bootcamp is a fun way to learn the ropes, from the basics to advanced combat techniques.
- Play as Jack: Play as Jack, your personal flying support bot that can protect allies and damage enemies – perfect for players new to Gears.
- Visual Showcase: Play every mode in 4K and HDR at a smooth 60 frames per second on Xbox One X.
Accessibility: Customise your gaming experience with updated accessibility features, including: full controller remapping, single stick movement, Adaptive Controller support, narrated UI and menus, improved subtitles and more.
GTA V
Experience Rockstar Games’ critically acclaimed open world game, Grand Theft Auto V. When a young street hustler, a retired bank robber and a terrifying psychopath find themselves entangled with some of the most frightening and deranged elements of the criminal underworld, the U.S. government and the entertainment industry, they must pull off a series of dangerous heists to survive in a ruthless city in which they can trust nobody, least of all each other.
Explore the stunning world of Los Santos and Blaine County in the ultimate Grand Theft Auto V experience, featuring a range of technical upgrades and enhancements for new and returning players.
In addition to increased draw distances and higher resolution, players can expect a range of additions and improvements including:
- New weapons, vehicles and activities
- Additional wildlife
- Denser traffic
- New foliage system
- Enhanced damage and weather effects, and much more Grand Theft Auto V also comes with Grand Theft Auto Online, the dynamic and ever-evolving Grand Theft Auto universe with online play now for up to 30 players on Xbox One.
All existing gameplay upgrades and Rockstar-created content released since the launch of Grand Theft Auto Online is available for the Xbox One with much more to come.
SPECIAL CONTENT FOR RETURNING PLAYERS Players returning from the Xbox 360 version get special access to a host of content on Xbox One including rare versions of classic vehicles to collect from across the Grand Theft Auto series such as the Dukes, the Dodo Seaplane and a faster, more manoeuvrable Blimp; activities including wildlife photography and new shooting range challenges, new weapons and more.
Halo 5: Guardians
Halo 5: Guardians delivers epic multiplayer experiences that span multiple modes, full-featured level building tools, and a new chapter in the Master Chief saga. And now with Xbox One X, players can experience enhanced visuals, up to 4K resolution, increased visual details, and improved graphic fidelity that makes the game look better than ever before, all while maintaining a consistent 60FPS for the smoothest gameplay possible.
EPIC CAMPAIGN The Master Chief saga continues, with solo and up to 4-player cooperative experience that spans three worlds. A mysterious and unstoppable force threatens the galaxy. The Spartans of Fireteam Osiris and Blue Team must embark on a journey that will change the course of history and the future of mankind.
WARZONE MULTIPLAYER Play with friends and compete against rivals in three massive multiplayer modes new to the Halo franchise: Warzone, Warzone Assault, and Warzone Firefight.
-WARZONE is a massive-scale multiplayer mode that supports 24-player battles with both friendly and enemy AI constantly dropping in to mix up the experience.
-In WARZONE ASSAULT, it’s 24-player attack-and-defend with the attacking team looking to overrun strategic objectives while the opposing force works to stop the onslaught.
-WARZONE FIREFIGHT is an ambitious new multiplayer experience that delivers the biggest Halo cooperative experience in franchise history. Up to eight players work together to complete five rounds of increasingly difficult, dynamic objectives set against a timer to emerge victorious.
ARENA MULTIPLAYER Halo 5’s Arena multiplayer continues the established franchise legacy of pure, skill-based 4v4 competitive combat. Multiple Arena modes provide endless ways to play and compete, from classic Slayer and Capture The Flag modes, to popular social modes like Infection, Grifball, and the all-new Super Fiesta.
FORGE For years, Halo’s Forge mode has empowered Halo fans to create new maps and game modes that have changed the way people play and experience Halo. Download new levels from the Forge community created on either Windows (using “Halo 5: Forge” for Windows 10) or Xbox One. Customize existing maps or create your own from scratch. Browse, find, and play an endless array of custom games created and hosted by the community.
REQ SYSTEM New to Halo 5: Guardians is the Requisition System (REQ System), which rewards players for their time spent in Halo 5’s multiplayer modes. Players will earn REQ Points after each match in Arena or Warzone which can then be used to purchase REQ Packs containing a variety of REQ items in the form of unlockable weapons, armours, vehicles, stances, assassinations, and more!
PHOTOSENSITIVITY SEIZURE WARNING: A very small percentage of people may experience a seizure when exposed to certain visual images, including flashing lights or patterns that may appear in video games. Visit Xbox.com for more information
Monster Hunter World
Monster Hunter: World introduces a living, breathing ecosystem in which players take on the role of a hunter that seeks and slays ferocious beasts in heart-pounding battles that unfold across the vast ever-changing terrain.
Venture on quests alone or with up to three hunters in a newly designed online drop-in multiplayer system which allows cross-region cooperative play between Japan and the west, uniting the player base for the first time ever.
Monster Hunter: World has sold more than 13 million copies worldwide and now welcomes its massive expansion, Iceborne.
This huge update brings even more quests, monsters and gear to the game. Players will need to own World and have completed the main story to access Iceborne quests and abilities.
Sea of Thieves
A New Golden Age Begins… Sea of Thieves is a multiplayer, shared-world adventure game where the famous ideals of the pirate life – freedom, wild adventure, self-expression and loyalty – live on.
This Anniversary Edition goes even further, presenting an expanded Sea of Thieves with a host of free new content and features released during a prolific first year. This includes features added during major updates such as The Hungering Deep, Cursed Sails, Forsaken Shores and Shrouded Spoils, plus two exciting new arrivals announced on the game’s anniversary, The Arena and Tall Tales – Shores of Gold. Altogether, these bring in new enemies, new activities, new locations, new features and a whole new competitive game mode. This is Sea of Thieves enhanced and packing more piracy than ever before!
Just a few of the extras included in the Anniversary Edition are:
• Immersive new story experience in Tall Tales – Shores of Gold
• Dedicated new mode for competitive play in The Arena
• New fishing, hunting and cooking capabilities
• New multi-functional ship-mounted harpoon
• More Trading Companies and voyage types
• Skeleton Ships and Cursed Cannonballs
• Megalodon enemies and loot drops for creatures
• An expanded world with volcanic natural hazards
• The Anniversary Edition also includes the free Sea Dog Pack Set Sail for Adventure…
Sea of Thieves offers the essential pirate experience, packed to the seams with sailing and exploring, fighting and plundering, riddle-solving and treasure-hunting – everything you need to live the pirate life you’ve always dreamed about. With no set roles, you have complete freedom to approach the world, and other players, however you choose.
This shared-world experience allows you to play solo or form a crew, meeting other players on the seas and choosing to be friends or foes. Will you form a grand alliance, or plunder treasure from the unwary?
Play your own way and create a legend to be remembered. Set in a glorious piratical world of exotic islands, hidden treasures and dangers both natural and supernatural, Sea of Thieves offers something for everyone, no matter how they like to play:
- A world of exploration – set sail upon a vast, open ocean, venturing into new regions and discovering the secrets of unspoiled islands and sunken ships. Hunt for treasure by following maps and untangling riddles, and learn to expect the unexpected…
• A world of excitement – engage in ship-to-ship crew battles with cannon, pistol and cutlass, pursuing rival ships through raging storms. Sail in pursuit of deadly skeleton bounties or ferry cargo through hostile waters where Skeleton Ships and sea monsters await!
• A world we sail together – whether you’re playing alongside friends, matchmaking to find a crew or setting out as a lone wolf pirate, you’ll have hilarious, memorable encounters in a world where any sail on the horizon could be another crew of real players.
• A world of achievement – on your quest to become a Pirate Legend you’ll amass loot, build a reputation and customise your ship (and yourself) with hard-earned rewards.
• A world of surprises – Sea of Thieves now includes all the benefits of the Anniversary Edition, including more enemies, new locations, extra features and activities, enriched storylines and a competitive game mode!
More to Discover…
Sea of Thieves: Anniversary Edition includes all the permanent content released for the game during its first year. Enjoy features introduced in past updates, plus brand new additions such as fishing, cooking and the harpoon. Encounter the fearsome Megalodon, do battle with Skeleton Ships that fire Cursed Cannonballs and explore the treacherous but lucrative Devil’s Roar region!
Also included are The Arena and Tall Tales – Shores of Gold, both debuting as part of Sea of Thieves’ anniversary celebrations. The Arena introduces dedicated competitive play for the sporting pirate who likes to test their skill, whilst Tall Tales – Shores of Gold brings a host of new storylines to the world, delving deeper into the lore of this mysterious pirate paradise.
Includes the Sea Dog Pack!
For the aspiring pirate looking to shape their own legend, the Sea Dog Pack offers an excellent helping hand. Whether you want to show off in The Arena or just be the talk of the tavern, the Sea Dog Pack can make you a picture-perfect pirate with colourful cosmetics and a boost to your in-game currency. The Sea Dog Pack includes the Sea Dog Hat, Jacket, Cutlass, Pistol, Compass, Ship Sails and 10,000 gold!
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
The dead have risen and civilization has fallen. Not even the military could stop the zombies, and now it’s up to you to gather survivors, scavenge for resources and build a community with up to three of your friends in a post-apocalyptic world – a world where every decision matters, and where you define what it means to survive in this ultimate zombie survival simulation.
Upon release, State of Decay 2 became an instant hit with over 6 million players and was quickly defined as the ultimate zombie survival simulation.
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition is an updated and improved version of the popular zombie survival game that’s been redesigned as a new experience to welcome first-time players, yet with new and exciting content for the most experienced survivors.
– The base game and access to all 3 add-on packs released to date:
o Heartland, a massive story-based campaign with 10+ additional hours of a deep narrative in the classic Trumbull Valley map, with new freaks and new challenges
o Daybreak Pack, a test of your teamwork in siege defence
o Independence Pack, a celebration of history that you can blow up…with fireworks
– Providence Ridge, a brand-new map in a rugged logging town
– Remastered graphical, mission, UI and technical improvements based on community feedback
– A new category of heavy melee weapons with new moves to bust zombie heads – A brand-new tutorial and improved controls to help you become the ultimate survivor
– Cross-platform multiplayer so you and up to three friends can survive the apocalypse together With the new Juggernaut Edition, it’s never been a better time to test your survival skills in State of Decay 2.
The Outer Worlds
The Outer Worlds is a new single-player sci-fi RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter a host of factions all vying for power, who you decide to become will determine the fate of everyone in Halcyon. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.
Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later than you expected only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter a host of factions all vying for power, who you decide to become will determine the fate of everyone in Halcyon. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.
Welcome to the future – try not to break it.
- Build any character you want in this thrilling single-player first person RPG – including optional flaws based on your own game experience
- Lead a crew of companions armed with unique abilities that have their own missions, motivations and ideals
- Find your ship and explore the settlements, space stations and other diverse locations in the Halcyon colony
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a story-driven, next-generation open world role-playing game set in a visually stunning fantasy universe full of meaningful choices and impactful consequences. In The Witcher, you play as a professional monster hunter, Geralt of Rivia, tasked with finding a child of prophecy in a vast open world rich with merchant cities, pirate islands, dangerous mountain passes, and forgotten caverns to explore.
Two Point Hospital
BUILD, CURE and IMPROVE! Design stunning hospitals, decorate them as you like, cure very unusual illnesses and manage troublesome staff as you spread your budding healthcare organisation across Two Point County. Two Point Hospital includes two DLC – “Bigfoot” and “Pebberley Island” Design and build your own hospital Build up a hospital from nothing to a masterpiece as you design the most beautiful – or functional – healthcare operation in the whole of Two Point County. Cure unusual illnesses Don’t expect Two Point County to be populated with your usual types of patients. In this world, you’ll experience Two Point’s trademark quirky illnesses; from Light-headedness to Cubism – each requiring their very own special type of treatment machine. The County’s the limit Your first hospital is where it begins, but what next?
World War Z
Humanity is on the brink of extinction. From New York to Moscow and Jerusalem, the undead apocalypse continues to spread. As the end looms, a hardened few bands together to defeat the horde and outlive the dead.
World War Z is a heart-pounding co-op third-person shooter for up to 4 players featuring swarms of hundreds of zombies. Based on the Paramount Pictures film, World War Z focuses on fast-paced gameplay while exploring new storylines from around the world.
Battle swarms of hundreds of zombies – the Swarm Engine™ seamlessly renders hordes of zombies in incredible firefights. Advanced gore systems offer gruesomely satisfying action.
Co-op story-driven campaigns – survive around the world, as unique groups tell their stories of perseverance.
Fight other players for survival – several intense Player vs Player vs Zombies game modes complement the co-op campaigns.
Grow stronger – unlock powerful weapon upgrades and level 16 character classes to take on greater challenges.
Happy Gaming my friends, stay healthy, stay safe, and most importantly follow the advice and stay at home as much as possible.