Next week’s big Xbox Game Pass titles will be dropped

best thing Xbox Game Pass, for my money, is the way it lets you experiment with things in a relatively consequence-free manner. For example, I always thought I’d love Loot River – it’s exactly what I love about jams; roguelite elements, dark pixel art, relentless combat. Thanks to tite on Game Pass, though, I don’t need to drop the full price of a game to find out it’s not for me a few hours later. I may have wasted some time, but I didn’t waste any money. Decide for yourself if this is good or bad.

Next week, I think a lot of you will see this special Game Pass perk surface. Why?Because Rick and Morty co-founder Justin Roiland and Squanch Games are coming high life First day of service. The studio’s take on first-person shooters is obnoxious, loud, rude, and irritating — and some of you will absolutely loathe it. I can’t wait to see the aftermath of it.

It would be different if this was a game that required upwards of $70 to have fun with it; I think it would be a flop. The annoying trailer, the same two voices (read: Rick or Morty) overlaid on everything in the world, the mediocre looking gameplay…many consumers will be put off. This is a risky question. But, in 2022, that’s not our reality – you can gamble with Game Pass for no extra cost… I think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised by that.

And you don’t just have to take my word for it; Alex wrote about it earlier this year, and he left the demo with the same opinion I did: High on Life is actually fun, and when it tends to its very small Games are funniest when the crowd is humorous. The game is self-aware and meta-game (which I can feel has put more people off), and provides commentary on quite a few game tropes in an accessible, sly way.

That’s not to say it’s bad per se: it’s just a lot. Roiland is trying to do what he does best in High on Life, but replace the game’s player-referenced gun with the fourth-wall-breaking mad scientist from his TV show. It’s adult humor in the face, but delivered by colorful characters that look like they were designed for kids. But – for God’s sake – don’t let your kids play with this.

High On Life looks set to continue the rich gaming tradition of being a comedy game that actually contains too much comedy – it didn’t work for Duke Nuke Em, it didn’t work for Deadpool, and it probably won’t work for this one But hey, maybe it will – there’s a reason Rick and Morty has millions of fans around the world, and maybe High on Life wouldn’t have succeeded without Roiland’s partner in crime (and community overlord) Dan Harmon , but maybe it will. Perhaps the game is more Double Fine than Gearbox, more Discworld than Saints Row. We’ll have to wait and see. Great job, we can play all the damn stuff with Game Pass, huh?

From what I’ve played so far, I think High on Life balances the comedy tightrope pretty well. The endless swear words are a bit rote – even during an hour-long demo! – but some of the situations the game puts you in or the lines it provides work well. Alex mentions this guy in his article he plays small talk on loop before you actually talk to him, if you stop and listen, you’ll hear him thinking about his life as a video game NPC, doomed to wait And hang out, performing a mundane task until the player finally comes to talk to him. This is a glib guy who knows how to accept good game conventions.

In this way, “High on Life” is reminiscent of Conker’s Fur Festival, and most importantly: it’s childish and would be hilarious to a 12-year-old, but it also impresses a more adult audience. imprinted.

Actually, this reinforces my point quite elegantly: imagine if Conker’s Bad Fur Day was on Game Pass, that day – it would be popular, and more people would discover and find this strange bric-a-brac The fun is on.

So give it a try when High on Life drops next week: I can think of worse ways to spend a few hours, and if you’re a Game Pass subscriber…you have very little to lose.