PixlBit

I was going to switcheroo last Monday but, in wrapping up my Xbox Series S, I had to do a few things and that led me to playing several games through Tuesday. I've been all Switch since then, but here's what I did to end my time with Xbox for a while. 

First, I had to lock down my Xbox before popping it in a case for storage. I didn't want to leave it in the state of instant login. That done, I had one $10 gift card to spend from rewards points. These expire in 3 months, and I may not be back on for twice that, so I picked up Cat Quest II for $4 and played it a bunch. Check it out. 

I played it for a exactly 2hrs, 56min (I found a stats page within achievements on the Xbox app). It's a really fun action RPG but can get hard even on the easiest difficulty. I left it when I discovered Assassin's Creed Valhalla was $20. I've been desperate to play the Discovery Mode in that for a while now. So I did and completed every last bit of it in 9hrs 43min (the time may include a demo I played of it a few years ago). There was even a story connected with the exploration making it like a visual novel as well as a learning tool. I loved it and can't wait to play the main game when I return to Xbox. 

Then I got distracted by my friend Mad Krammer playing Unpacking via what used to be Games with Gold and is now Game Pass Lite (or some such title) for people who only have Gold membership. Check it out. 

We both churned through this game and beat it in every way. I spent 7hrs, 30m on getting 100% of the achievements. 

Finally, I heard on Reddit that Halo Infinite's Firefight mode had dropped on Tuesday and had to check that out. I played a round and enjoyed it. I felt my FPS skills had returned very quickly and was proud to support my team well. The level design does feel a bit arena-like though with no real defendable positions, keeping your head on a swivel constantly. I think I enjoyed Halo Reach's Firefight Mode a bit better. So I only played a single round for now. 

Too bad I put my Xbox away then because a Xbox friend, PhantasyStar77, told me Atari 50 just dropped more content. Grrrr! They even added prototype game Save Mary, which I loved in the previous Atari Flashback collection. I'll have to remember to return to it right away when I set it up again, or buy it again on Switch (which I'm not likely to do). 

So bye bye Xbox for a while. I have scheduled to unpack it next September (unless I get a PS5). Will I hold out that long as I do a lot of retro gaming in 2024? Stay tuned to find out.