In the deluge of titles available on Xbox Game Pass, it’s easy to miss out on some good games just because they don’t have the usual fancy name. The list in question is made up of different genres, experimental and traditional titles, variable duration and replayability values.
There are many famous indie titles in the catalog that you won’t find in this article to give way to real hidden gems that you can’t help but find.
10/10 SpiderHeck
A delightful and fluorescent local multiplayer where spiders with great combat readiness and incredible fighting skills are ready to fight to the death. Their agility shines in gameplay where mobility is the real core mechanic. Jumps and cobwebs, combined with maps that are as simple as they are functional, help to make the matches strategic and full of suspense where any wrong move can be deadly.
In SpiderHeck, laser swords, rocket launchers, guns, bombs and explosions of a thousand colors, and even mobile elements and improbable elevators, every element of the game can be a double-edged weapon ready to lead you to victory or an embarrassing but always fun defeat.
9/10 Road 96
Road 96 is an experimental title that offers an immersive and partly procedural narrative experience. On a journey to the frontier, several nameless and faceless characters, but with the common goal of changing the sky and their lives, intertwine their lives with 7 NPCs, whose fates and lives are in turn intertwined.
A Tarantino-style story for a story that is a critical portrayal, in the 90s, of a political situation with a contemporary American twist. The budget is a bit limited, but it’s an innovative experience to try. And you can also play “Bella Ciao” on a trumpet.
8/10 Unpacking
Unpacking is a zen game that, despite its brevity, manages to give a satisfying, sweet and carefree experience. The gameplay is instantaneous and consists of unboxing after a move and moving it to the new house.
Unpacking, through its various scenarios made of preserved possessions and abandoned, tells a story through an implicit story that will lead you to get acquainted with the life of the main character, without ever actually seeing him or hearing him talk about himself. Unpack is a title that pays tribute to slow living and meditation without horsepower, scores, or competitions.
7/10 burger sleeper
Citizen Sleeper is an author-stamped narrative role-playing game with unique features and an essence implicitly focused on being faithful to the TTRPGs. Choices really matter and help create unique and diverse story paths.
From the technical point of view and from the gameplay, Citizen Sleeper has an essential and minimalist soul, but the same cannot be said about the graphics embellished and enhanced by the artistic inspiration of Guillaume Singelin who manages to give a strong personality to the post-capitalist sci-fi setting of the game.
6/10 More
Lake is a story-driven point-and-click adventure that is a sweet slice of life that lasts two weeks and is a celebration of the normality and rural beauty of life, as opposed to the stress of social climbing in the 1980s. Providence Oaks , the quiet town that serves as the backdrop to the story, makes you feel comfortable in a sweet work routine.
Wearing Meredith’s shoes and living her short hook of a postman, you’ll be able to take part in a deeply emotional story and shape it with your choices while interacting with the picturesque personalities that populate her hometown. .
5/10 When dusk falls
From veterans of the storytelling adventure genre and former Quantic Dream developers, comes a title that is essential in its gameplay, but experimental in its graphics. On the one hand, there are bare bones and somewhat repetitive Quick Time Events, on the other, the Interior/Night game shines through the combination of digitized actors in the style of an animated graphic novel and beautifully crafted three-dimensional backgrounds.
The story is very compelling and curated, with highly branched choices and a compelling story involving two families whose fates are linked in a 30-year drama.
4/10 Omori
Omori is a psychological horror with RPG elements in pixel art with a never-before-seen combat system based on the influence of emotions such as anger, sadness and happiness. Although Omori presents herself in a vibrant and colorful dress, Omori has a haunted soul that contains disturbing elements ranging from the depressive spectrum to extreme acts such as suicide.
A stunning and functional soundtrack accompanies you on a journey that constantly alternates reality and dream, pleasure and drama, joy and pain in a continuous and unique wave of emotions.
3/10 Monster Sanctuary
A unique adventure that optimally combines different genres and includes turn-based combat with great tactical depth and a Metroidvania-style map. Environmental puzzles and platforming sections combine to provide a delightful exploration experience. Tactical 3V3 combat in Monster Sanctuary requires great acumen, strategy and careful planning.
Combat is intense and places a lot of emphasis on combos and synergies between the different components of the team. The RPG mechanics are deep and each monster has a unique skill tree.
2/10 prodeus
Prodeus is a love letter to the time that was and to the origin and true founder of the FPS genre. The title of Bounding Box Software Inc. takes a new look at video games like DOOM and its most famous clones, modernizes their aesthetics and offers a game that’s fun to watch and incredibly smooth to play.
The demons, historical enemies of the Slayer that inhabit Mars and Earth, are replaced by the Prodeans and the violent forces of Chaos. The game is fast paced as the recent iterations of the same Doom and shredded hordes of enemies are more fun than ever.
1/10 Immortality
Sam Barlow was able to put one more of his gems in the FMV landscape. After Her Story and Telling Lies, he returns with a complicated, fascinating and disturbing story. By revisiting Ambrosio, Minsky and Two of Everything, three incomplete films, you will have to discover the fate of the mysterious actress Marissa Marcel, the protagonist and leitmotif of those productions.
In Immortality, the narration constantly interacts with the player repeatedly breaking the fourth wall, assisted by an excellent performance from its cast. Both fictional films and their behind-the-scenes look are extremely believable, and the thin thread that unites everything is woven elegantly and functionally.
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