So am I living under a rock or did I miss  all 10 embargoes today?

I hope that this game goes well for them.

Love my budget Samsung UHDTV. :P

Just finished The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man Of Medan. (spoiler free thoughts:)

Definitely a game I underestimated. I barely heard anything about it until the time it hit Game Pass and I expected it to be closer to the likes of Call of Cthulu (which was an alright game) but in reality it plays more like a Telltale or Dontnod game. While playing, I was constantly thinking about Tell Me Why and how I'm having a far better time playing Man of Medan.

Visuals are very impressive and facial animations, head textures are definitely some of the best in gaming. Only critique I have for the technical side is the streaming of textures, which aren't fully loaded in quite a few occasions.

Story-wise I think I would've preferred if you were able to continue playing as the soldiers from the prologue. Sadly you have this horror cliché of a group of young adults in a tropical location getting into trouble. I wish the story would've encompassed a few more locations. IMO a little too much time was spent on the ship. There's not a lot you can do to make it feel different. Every corridor looks the same.
The game relies on QTEs which obviously isn't a good thing and they should've included some puzzles. The game is basically only about conversations and action-driven QTE scenes with some walking sections in between.
To say something positive, I really like the choices you can make in this game. They feel relevant compared to many other games of its kind. Therefore, I got to see a few different endings but they are all kind of disappointing. Feels like someone wanted to get it done quickly.
Overall, the story could hold my attention throughout. I never felt bored and wanted to see what happens next.
The characters are likeable even when you know little about them. Could've been expanded upon a little further. For example I don't think I even know where there are from exactly, why they chose to go to that place for vacation and what their profession is (with the exception of Brad who I think is in the process of becoming a doctor)

Some other little things I didn't like:
"Running" is really slow. I mean it's probably more realistic but I can barely see the difference between walking and running speed. I already thought The Medium was slow in that regard when Marianne was casually jogging around but this takes it to a new level.

The game uses fixed camera angels (much like The Medium) which leads to the usual problems like not exactly seeing where to progress or getting stuck near doors.

The game is pretty short compared to other games in the genre. I think it can be completed in 4-5 hours and there's not much to extend the length (other than its replay value due to the various decisions you can make).


In conclusion, I enjoyed the game and I look forward to "hope"fully playing the sequel on Game Pass in a few months.
7/10

Hmmm nothing special, at least just one.

Not a lot of diversity in this 1st half of the month but I gotta say the value is still insane.

Football Manager 2021 is a bit over 3 months old.
NBA 2K21 is 6 months old.
Madden NFL 21 is 6 months old.
Star Wars: Squadrons is 5 months old.
NHL 21 will be 6 months old by April.

Did they just ape the the design of Nier Automata's protagonist? 

MSFT honestly ought to get in contact with MSWK at this point. The world pretty much demands Lost Odyssey 2. 

The world pretty much doesn't remember Lost Odyssey lol

In fact, only a few people on the internet even know who the fuck Mistwalker even is at this point.

If there's one series that keeps being brought up from the 360 era, is Lost Odyssey.

Got a bigger following now than it did back in the day. 

Perfect to diversify game pass content.