I'm back with gathering rewards on Xbox. Hopefully the auto-redeem will work at the end of this month. And when retro and GP are done, back to current games. 

Game Pass Games:

Anuchard - This is a neat indie action rpg. I got to the second boss before getting beat. Check it out:

Those Who Remain - A horror adventure, puzzle style game. Like a point-and-click adventure really. I got stuck at the farm house. I got the key to the garage but then couldn't find the darn thing to unlock it. Beware the dark. See here: 

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Interesting homage to Castlevania from Wayforward. This is the second time I've taken a stab at it. I got killed somewhere in the first level. 

Close to the Sun - Now this I started getting into in a more serious way. It's an adventure/puzzler like Those Who Remain, but one I haven't gotten stuck in yet. It has a strong Bioshock vibe using a similar turn-of-the-century (19th-20th) period design and utopia-gone-wrong story. I'm worried it is telling a rather anti-science story, but I'm still only through chapter 2. I'm finding more enjoyment in these rather gentle, story-driven adventure games lately. 

From Today's Critically Acclaimed on Xbox Series X/S:

Forza Horizon 5: Number 8 on Metacritic at a score of 92, this is the highest rated game I have access to right now. It's on Game Pass but I've bought all the DLC. I'm thinking I'll play this until I've exhausted every last thing I can think of to do in it until a higher rated game becomes available to me, which might be Witcher 3: WIld Hunt - Complete Edition at #4, score 94 because it's on sale for under $20 right now (I've seen it get as low at $7!). Probably I'll go for it in March, but who knows what might go on sale or be put on Game Pass by then (or what must-plays come up like the Star Wars Dark Forces Remaster on Feb 28). 

Anywho, I'm going through the Accolades pages in Forza Horzion 5 trying to accomplish everything I can. These are sort of in-game achievements that are sometimes MS achievements as well. They give me some direction since I've completed all the campaigns and side stories already from years of playing this on and off.

I'm really trying to complete everything I can now though. That was part of my new goal with current games: choose one, and master it as best I can. There's no way I'll get 100% completion in this game though because I hate drift challenges and trying to beat unbeatable drivatars (or even highly skilled). What a chore!

I've found I'm just not good at racing S and X-level cars. My sweet spot is B and A level cars that reach a max speed of about 140, kind of like normal cars. I did, however, race an X-level car at well over 200 mph on an oval track, and it really gave me a sense of the kind of speed in real races like NASCAR and Stock Car racing. That was cool. 

Well, more next week.