Good to hear, i have it up there as one of my favourite new IPs last gen. 

Id assume you havnt played Will of the Wisp? If not, its just as good if not better than the first in my opinion.

I have played it and liked it too. But, and you know this is where a certain raccoon and I have a disagreement as well, I actually didn't find the sequel to be entirely as intimate or special as the original, mostly because the plot and themes are so similar and the game play has something of a more action-oriented focus. Essentially to me Will of the Wisps felt sort of like the first game again, "but bigger", which is what most sequels are really and also the reason why I tend to be biased against them. Few sequels are as evocative as the original entry in a franchise is to me, which is why you don't see very many on my list. (There will be one more added yet once I do the top 10, but that's all.)

I connected to Ori and the Blind Forest a lot not only because, ya know, it's a non-linear 2D platforming game with gorgeous graphics and I've always enjoyed those and all that, but also because it's about navigating the loss of loved ones and that's something I've had to do a lot. The larger scale of Will of the Wisps just made it feel a bit less intimate to me and somewhat tougher to connect to emotionally. I don't expect agreement with that.

Here's where I admit that I hardly gave Will of the Wisps a chance. I only got as far as the first bit where a big wolf attacks you through the cave, and it had just introduced some silly currency for progression that I thought had no business being in a game like Ori. Felt like too much of a reset, having lost all your movement skills etc. I should really play it properly but never felt the urge to

Did I read that right? You are a socialist that is enjoying a Microsoft product (who is basically the face of capitalism)?

Then again I'm a libertarian who is also enjoying that product (Gamepass PC) so I guess I shouldn't talk much haha.

Heee! Yeah it's fair enough to say that I strongly value creative freedom for and expression by developers over, ya know, heavy reliance on market testing. My attitude is old-fashioned that way and not very capitalistic. Not much of a supply and demand kinda person. But like I was saying in the OP, while I've been among the many known to harp on Microsoft for seeming to be more interested in just swooping in and cashing in on gaming than on advancing it as an art form in the past...I honestly don't see that as the case anymore today. I mean for example I was shocked to learn that As Dusk Falls is actually a first party game being published by Xbox themselves! When I listed games in the OP, it didn't really capture degrees of interest. I'm more interested in As Dusk Falls than in any and all games that have been announced or released for the PlayStation 5 so far. That's my most anticipated game at present, and it's a first party Xbox game! That's something that's never happened in the past.

Well anyway, if you need the pros of prioritizing the Series X in list form, in my mind those are...

1) it's got better graphical capabilities than PS5,
2) it seems faster than PS5, so far anyway,
3) it's quieter than PS5,
4) it's got superior backward compatibility,
5) it's got Game Pass,
6) it's smaller than PS5,
7) it's gonna wind up with more launch window games of interest to me and my most anticipated games, and...
8) it's the same price as PS5.

The Medium is the next game I'm really forward to playing. Won't be available for PlayStation 5 and the Series X will have the best version. Also not the type of game I'd historically associate with being an Xbox console exclusive type. I historically have mentally associated Xbox with like a jockish, posturing, bilking sort of attitude. Lots of shooters and sports games and racers and those being what people buy Xbox systems to play, monetizing everything to the hilt, needlessly gigantic systems and over-stylization. This Xbox gen seems to be offering qualitatively more diverse, deeper, and more creative games and strikes me as, well, more humble and substantive than what the PlayStation 5 is offering. For now anyway. Just my take.

Yeah, I was going to go get a series X, but then I did some mental calculations and long term planning. My gaming PC is shot, so I needed a new computer anyway and so I just decided to purchase a legit laptop instead of mid range one. Ended up with the Razer Blade Advanced 15 (with am RTX 2080) so I could game, do other non gaming things, be portable, and have an absolutely fantastic screen with refresh rate. This 1080p screen annihilates the quality of my Samsung 4k TV! I just stick with my $10 Gamepass subscription and am good to go! I'm blown away by what this baby can do for long distance scenary, in particular. Assassin's creed valhalla has gorgeous views of the countryside.