Microsoft Sucks, Not-E3 Reactions and Impressions on What I've Been Playing

Sorry for not posting in a while… again. Genuinely been pretty busy over the past few weeks, but actually had some time off for the first time in months, and with that spare time, I basically did nothing—the perfect holiday. Anyway, there is plenty to discuss, so let’s get to it.

Microsoft Sucks, Continues To Sucks

The Xbox platform has been my platform of choice for three out of the last four generations of consoles. OG, 360 and Series X have been my go-tos, with PS4 beating the Xbox One because that console is not good. I have been an Xbox fan since there was an Xbox, and despite going through the Red Ring of Death and the Xbox One launch fiasco, I can confidently say that Microsoft and the Xbox platform are in its worst place in its history.

Yesterday, Microsoft laid off thousands of people company-wide, with one of the biggest subsections hit being the Xbox division. Studios like Rare, Turn 10, and Raven are suffering cuts, and The Initiative is being completely shut down alongside the cancellation of Perfect Dark and Everwild. Despite that, numerous layoffs and shutdowns have occurred in the last 18 months, including studios like Arkane Austin and Tango Gameworks. Needless to say it has been a complete shitshow over there for quite awhile and the industry is now paying for it.

The health of the Xbox platform is slowly decaying thanks to decisions like these, and even if it wasn’t, the optics on this look like it is, and that’s all consumers will care about. Putting your faith in your platform is hard when you seem to go out of your way to make it seem not worth investing. I was looking forward to Perfect Dark, and the gameplay they showed of it *last year* looked incredibly promising. A spy-themed immersive sim is an excellent idea, but we can’t have nice things.

So what’s the next step? If I were running Microsoft, I would kick Phil Spencer to the curb. He has and continues to fumble the ball. He did some great things running Xbox, like Game Pass, focusing on backwards compatibility and accessibility, but none of that matters if the games are not there. Why should I care about games like the Fable reboot or State of Decay 3 when, in 6 months, the game will be cancelled, and the team will be laid off? Sony had a fucking turd in Concord, and they knew it but they put it out anyway so the few people who wanted it got the chance to play it. Even if Perfect Dark or Everwild was going to be a dumpster fire, at least put it out so people can experience it, even if it's bad. Don’t even try telling me Microsoft would not put out an inferior product because this is the same company that released Redfall, and yeah, they shut that studio down, but at least I got to play it.

Not-E3 Was Not Great

The not-E3 feels like forever ago, and while I reacted to the Sony thing, I have yet to talk about what I saw at SGF and Xbox, so I may as well do that now.

Persona 4 Persona 4 Revival

What the hell was that? I know Persona 3 Reload only just came out last year, but that was the most nothing trailer with actual (?) gameplay I had ever seen. It looked okay, but I expected much more than an environment test and reused music assets. Like, come on, Altus, what are you doing?

Resident Evil Requiem

I wish they had shown us more about the game, but I am still excited about Resident Evil 9. It is great to see a new protagonist and a woman at that! First time since Resident Evil 3 we have had a woman leading a Resident Evil game (yes, I am not including Code Veronica and Zero). I am also happy they are sticking with the moody, close-quarter vibes of 7 and 8. I will quite happy shitting myself in fear playing this.

There Are No Ghosts at The Grand

This was probably my sleeper hit of the week. A cross between House Flipper and a musical sounds so weird that I must check it out. One of my most significant problems with those cleaning games is that the progress and achievement felt hollow. Yes, I power-washed this muddy backyard, but once I finished and left it, it just went to the void, and that felt like I accomplished nothing. With a persistent world, I hope to feel a sense of achievement that sticks with me. Keeping an eye on this one.

I’ve Been Playing A Bunch Of Stuff And Got Impressions On Them

With basically two weeks off, I did some gaming at that time. While most of that has been devouring Death Stranding 2: On The Beach (which I will write a review of one of these days), here are some brief thoughts on what I’ve been clunking away at.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage

From the makers of Life is Strange (the good ones) comes Lost Records: a game about teenage girls discovering themselves through supernatural happenings. You can’t say DontNod don’t have a house style. I enjoyed what I have played of Lost Records; the vibes are immaculate, and the recording mechanics are super fun, but it runs into a problem many games have these days: it’s too long. I’ve only put about 6 hours into the game, yet I still feel like we are in the prologue section. The game continuously tries to introduce the characters to you, but at some point, you need to move the narrative along, which the game just refuses to do. It frustrated me enough that I just gave up and read the plot on Wikipedia. Seriously, it has great story and characters, but you've got to get the pacing right, or it will be for nothing.

FBC Firebreak

I hate to say this, but this is the front runner of Worst Game of 2025 for me. I played exactly two rounds of FBC Firebreak, which was enough to tell me I did not want to play anymore. It has some terrible tutorials, if you can even call them that, and it just dumps you into a bland, boring environment doing objectives every cooperative shooter has done since 2008. The turning point for me was doing the mission where you had to turn off the valves in one area, then the second mission required you to do the same thing in the same area again before moving on. Two games in and already repeating content. That was enough for me. Bleh.

Rematch

On the other end of the spectrum comes Rematch, which is my multiplayer game of the year so far. I’m not even a big soccer fan, but I’ve always enjoyed player-focused sports games. Games where you don’t take control of the team but rather the individual players. Stuff like Rocket League and Deathrow have always been my jam, and I am so happy that a game like Rematch exists. Unfortunately, I suck at it.

Ultima VII: The Black Gate

Thanks to Majuular’s excellent retrospective on the Ultima series, I bought every Ultima game on GOG and decided to play some of them. Ultima VII is probably the most well-regarded in the series, and after playing a couple of hours, I can see why. The scale and detail of the world are a sight to behold. Every little object and piece of furniture has been placed in the world where you can interact with it. This was 1992, a good decade before Bethesda would evolve the format. Unfortunately, modern sensibilities have aged some of Ultima VII's aspects, like the weird perspective and the absolutely god awful inventory management. Still, I would have crushed this game if I were a teenager with a good PC in 1992.