Tag: Cocoon

The best Xbox Game Pass games that you can play now

The best Xbox Game Pass games you can play now, from the latest releases of this year to timeless video game classics.

One of the great gifts of this Christmas has been the Xbox. Whether it’s the Series X or the Series S, this has been a year where, thanks to the offers and a catalog that is settling, it begins to shine on its own. But let’s not fool ourselves. A good reason to switch to Xbox is GamePass. But it can be intimidating. There are many games. Too much to choose from. Where to start? Well, here we make a selection of the best games to jump into right now so you don’t have to navigate for hours without knowing what to play.

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A Short Hike

Sometimes you feel like playing a simple, sweet game that makes you feel comfortable and warm. A Short Hike is exactly that. An adventure of reaching the top of a mountain by the route that seems most suitable to us. With a simple open world, many possibilities, and never forcing us to go on a specific path or even reach the top, it is a game that encourages us to simply live in the moment.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

Sometimes you feel like playing a simple game, sometimes you feel like embarking on a dozens of hours epic where you can get lost and feel like you will never get out of there if you don’t want to. That’s what Assassin’s Creed Odyssey offers you, a huge game, full of collectibles, mysteries and most importantly: a great story and even better characters. The best Assasin’s Creed to get into today, and it’s even available on GamePass.

Cocoon

During this year that is ending in Xbox Game Pass, some great games have appeared. One of them has been Cocoon. An excellent third-person puzzle game created by the designer of Limbo and Inside. It lasts only five or six hours, but it is designed with an absolutely insane finesse. And if you want more, you also have Limbo and Inside on the platform.

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GoldenEye 007

Although nostalgia is a trap, sometimes you can make a burrow in the trap. That happens with GoldenEye007. The version available on Xbox Game Pass not only serves to check how shooters have evolved in the last twenty-five years, but also to enjoy a game that you may have enjoyed during your childhood. The first shooter that, for many, was the excuse to get together with friends and shoot each other.

Hi-Fi Rush

Although surprise releases are becoming more common, surprise announcements and releases are still extremely rare. Even more so in a game the size of Hi-Fi Rush. But it turns out that this game from Tango Gameworks, a mix of action and rhythm game, is an absolute delight. Fun, clever, and very dynamic, it’s the perfect game to spend a weekend laughing and rocking out.

Jusant

Sometimes all you need is a game with excellent mechanics and a carefully crafted environmental narrative. Although we could be talking about a game from From Software, we are actually talking about a game from Don’t Nod. Because Jusant perfectly accomplishes both things: introducing perfect climbing mechanics that make you want to keep going forever, and a delicate and well-thought-out narrative that rewards paying attention and taking your time with the game. A delight that you shouldn’t miss.

Lies of P

Talking about From Software games, this year there has finally been a studio capable of making a Soulslike that can satisfy us. And its name is Lies of P. With an extravagant reinterpretation of Pinocchio’s story, it builds a very satisfying Dark Souls-style game that has its own twist based on those foundations. Adjusted through patches, it is still not as good as From Software’s games, but it is almost as good as them. And that’s not saying little.

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Starfield

Although it hasn’t turned out as we expected, Starfield is a very interesting game if you are a fan of Bethesda games. Although “Skyrim in space” is a title that is too big for it, it is true that, after 40 hours of story, a universe of very interesting possibilities opens up in a game that is somewhat lacking in all its aspects. Bad? Not exactly. But even more than Skyrim, it is a game that you have to discover how to find fun in it. And if you are capable, it can be fun like no other.

Wolfenstein: The New Order

We live in a problematic world in certain aspects, so it’s okay to be able to immerse ourselves in power fantasies that allow us to do what we can’t in reality. For example, Wolfenstein: The New Order. A game where we embody a soldier who faces the Nazis after they have won the Second World War. In this game, MachineGames managed to perfect a heavy and brutal shooter style that, even today, remains extremely satisfying. That, and killing Nazis, is clearly the ultimate power fantasy for 2024.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon

The Yakuza saga has gained a lot of popularity in recent years. The problem is that knowing where to start can be very complex. We’ll make it easy for you: play Yakuza: Like A Dragon. That will leave you ready to play the next installment of the saga, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, and jump into the previous titles of the franchise. All of them available on GamePass, so you can immerse yourself in literally 200 or 300 hours of an epic yakuza epic, if that’s what you want. Or just stick with the new ones, because they are semi-independent.

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These have been the best indie video games of 2023 according to the critics

The world of indie video games is vast, but critics have sifted through to determine the best ones, and we bring you a list of them for you to enjoy.

It is undeniable that during 2023 an obscene amount of great games have been released. That’s why it has been impossible to keep up with everything. Even more so if we talk about such a complex space to navigate as the indie scene. That’s why we made this list. To tell you which are the best indies of the year, in our opinion, and the reasons why you shouldn’t miss them.

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A Space for the Unbound

Indonesia is far away from us, but A Space for the Unbound does the impossible: it makes us feel like we have lived there in a rural area in the late 90s. With fabulous art, beautiful music, and a story that touches delicate themes with immeasurable grace, A Space for the Unbound is one of the games that has gone unnoticed the most and deserves all its accolades. A small masterpiece that proves that gems are made in every part of the world. Not only in Europe, the US, and Japan.

Cocoon

Jeppe Carlsen, designer of two authentic wonders like Limbo and Inside, decided to take his time to make his magnum opus. And it has been worth it. Cocoon is a delicate, intelligent and extremely polished work. Its puzzles may seem simple at first glance, but they hide multiple layers and extreme delicacy behind them. And like the other great puzzle games of this year, a narrative much deeper than it seems.

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Humanity

From Tetsuya Mizuguchi, creator of Rez and Tetris Effect, we expect nothing less than excellence. That’s why we weren’t surprised when Humanity offered us exactly that. Putting ourselves in the skin of a shiba-inu, we must guide humanity through its destiny, giving them directions on the ground so they know where to go. Easy to understand, not so easy to complete, and very difficult to fully conclude, it is a prodigy of puzzle design and, although it may not seem like it from the outside, one of the most heartfelt games of 2023.

Mediterranean Inferno

Visual novels have an unjustified bad reputation. Mediterranea Inferno proves it with an adventure about millennial anxiety, the consequences of confinement and the pandemic, and what it means to grow older in a society obsessed with youth. All with excessive imagery, heavily inspired by Dario Argento’s giallo, and LGBTQ+ culture. Do you need to be a millennial or gay to enjoy this game? No. Because even those who are not, will find something true resonating in the heart of Mediterranea Inferno.

Pizza Tower

Intense, complex, and for a very specific audience, Pizza Tower is the spiritual successor to Wario Land that we were all waiting for. As if a cartoon character were having an anxiety attack and decided to avoid it at all costs, everything in Pizza Tower is aggressive and hilarious. And at the same time, it is perfectly designed. An example of prodigious design and how a great game can be made that simply isn’t for everyone.

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Pseudoregalia

Although platform games are still being made, a certain type of games in this genre were only made for a very short period of time. For example, Super Mario 64-style games were only made for a few years. That’s why it’s amazing to see a game like Pseudoregalia, which rescues that kind of design and takes it to a level where we break it with combinations of insane jumps. A prodigy that no lover of the early 3D platformers should miss.

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood

The latest game from the Spanish developers Deconstructeam is probably their best game to date. Playing as an exiled witch on an asteroid, we will have to predict the future of other witches using tarot cards that we design ourselves. All of this leads to a stunning story, accompanied by amazing art, writing, and music, which speaks to both the game and the player.

Void Stranger

What starts as a simple game of pushing boxes to reach the stairs and keep going down, soon becomes something more. The puzzles become stranger, the narrative becomes obscure, and everything we took for granted becomes complicated. Throw away all the expectations you had before playing Void Stranger. Do you like puzzle games? Then play this game without knowing anything else. You won’t regret it.

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