I know I had some plans in August for what I’d play this month on Xbox Game Pass but I never thought they’d work out as well as they did. At least for me I’m seeing the year closing out really well and I have a feeling I’ll be talking about a lot more games in the near future!

First up for me was the smashingly good Psychonauts 2. I did not expect to fall for the game as much as I did but once I started playing I couldn’t put it down. As far as platformers go – or should it now be called a “third person action-adventure” because that’s the fashionable genre? – it really stands tall with some great gameplay and incredibly creative levels. Even though I finished it a couple of weeks ago I still return to see if I can find the last remaining collectibles and tick off more achievements. Jumping from Psychonauts 2 into The Artful Escape might have been the best decision I made for the month. Though both share their own style of trippy moments The Artful Escape is much more chill and made for an excellent way to wind down at the end of the week which is an aspect of games that I’ve been appreciating much more. And it was just in time for the next Halo Infinite playtest too. 😉

Next month the big one for me is likely going to be Back 4 Blood. It is to all intents and purposes a new Left 4 Dead game (same dev, same gameplay) and it’s been a long time coming. There have been similar games out there such as the excellent World War Z but having such a long wait since Left 4 Dead 2 (2009) makes the more confined and story driven campaign feel fresh again. The beta created a great first impression which helped a lot too. Other games on my download queue are Sable which has a striking cel shaded open world, Breathedge as I can’t seem to get enough of space disaster simulators and Surgeon Simulator 2 because I can play Operation without worrying about losing the plastic organs.