It’s a little late in talking about what was happening for me in the land of Game Pass for November but I think I can blame Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite multiplayer for that. 😉

This month Twelve Minutes was a nice distraction and it’s a fascinating take on the time loop concept. Set in a small space (an apartment) and backed by the voice talent of James McAvoy, Daisy Ridley and Willem Dafoe it really needed to sell its concept from the start and it mostly succeeds, especially with the subtle details needed to drive forward the story. However having to repeat sequences over and over to scrape together what you need to progress can feel like a grind and acts more like padding as you approach the end game. Despite that I think it works and it’s something I could see being turned into a movie.

With the last batch of backward compatible games rolled out after the 20th Anniversary event I had to dig out Bankshot Billiards and relive some of the old days. Looking back I think the game might have been one of the first Xbox Live Arcade titles I owned when I picked up my first Xbox 360. It’s a game of its time with its top down 2D view evoking similar billiards and snooker games from earlier platforms but I spent a lot of time chilling out to it so being able to revisit it was a great experience.

As much as I’ve been enjoying Forza Horizon 5 it hasn’t all been smooth sailing with a number of bugs impacting the experience as I’ve progressed further into the game. Previous games in the series had their fair share of problems too but this one seems like it’s been compounded by the huge influx of players from the start (10 million!) and the cheating that followed right behind it. It’s still one of my favourite games of the year but maybe now not as clear cut as I was originally thinking. Halo Infinite multiplayer has been a real surprise for me, which it really shouldn’t seeing how much I am a franchise fan, and has rapidly become the game I turn to for online shenanigans, bumping out Call of Duty Vanguard. Both shooters have the official launches of their battle pass seasons around the same time so I’ll see if that changes!

December is going to be starting with the campaign for Halo Infinite and there’s little that will get in the way of that. For long time Xbox fans it’s likely going to be the game most will be playing. Past that I’m trying to convince friends to try a few drunken rounds of Among Us for laughs or if that fails we can try our hand at Bill Paxton impressions in Aliens: Fireteam Elite (“Game over, man!”). However it plays out it all sounds like it’ll involve people in space dying… bit of a morbid theme for the holidays don’t you think? 😉