Today I wanted to talk about a totally new type of game that’s gaining a lot of popularity. In late 2018, a totally new type of game called I’m on Observation Duty got released on Steam. Recently, these type of games are exploding on Steam. A spin-off called The Exit 8 gave a totally new spin on the formula. The games are actually a scary spin on the spot the difference style of gameplay. But, what does attract players so much into this formula? Let’s talk about a few titles, and maybe we find an answer to that in this article. Now, feel free to leave a comment in the comment section down below with your thoughts and/or opinions on these games, similar games and/or the content of this article.

Two main gameplay styles

There are actually two major styles in this genre. A lot of streamers call, one style Observation Duty and the other style Exit 8. Both styles have the same core concept. You need to first look at a room and then notice if anything changes or anomalies appear. The way how you deal with these anomalies differs in both styles.

In Observation Duty style games, the idea is mostly always that you are a security guard watching camera’s. You have to flip through camera’s and report the anomalies before there are too much present in the area. In Exit 8 type games, you play through them while walking through the rooms themselves. You have to walk one direction when there is no difference and another direction when there is a difference. The difference is that you have to make a certain amount of correct judgements in a row. One wrong judgement and you are sent back to level 0.

The gameplay is tricky to explain in words and in an article. I wanted to write this article several times, but I was unable to describe it properly. The best way to describe it in my opinion is a non casual spot the difference game.

Ever since, “I am on Observation Duty” and “The Exit 8” hit the scene… A lot of horror game streamers played through them. They gained a lot more popularity. A lot of new titles came out in a rapid pace with different spins on the genre and interesting innovations. I think it will become more clear when I talk about the games I played through or watched my favorite streamers play through.

The Exit 8 – The Platform 8

During the summer of this year, Klamath and I streamed through these two titles. The Exit 8 is one of the earliest games to my knowledge in the 3D style.

The idea is that you are trapped in a looping metro hallway where you have to reach the 8th exit. Travelers are advised to continue walking when nothing out of the ordinary happens. But when suddenly a poster changed or something else changed, you need to turn back.

Like I said in the introduction, when you make one mistake, you start at level 0 again. The first passage through the hallway is always safe. After that, you have to do 8 correct answers in a row. Now, at least 8, since if your 8th run has an anomaly, you need to turn back. You can only win if you have a hallway that has no strange thing, and you are above the 8th hallway.

Something really nice that this game does is, it doesn’t repeat anomalies. When you defeat a certain anomaly, it won’t repeat until you see all of them or reset the game. This makes the game more unpredictable and replayable.

The anomalies in this game range from extremely obvious like suddenly the hallway flooding… But others are sneaky, like a camera that moved location to the other side of the hallway. So, it was a puzzle. Is this room really the same, or did something change. Since you couldn’t go back to check. And there were various details that added to the complexity of the game.

In May of this year, we got the follow-up to this game called The Platform 8. If you thought that was more of the same, think again. This time, you are in the actual metro, and you have to survive 8 carts. The big change is that you can’t fail with an anomaly this time around since the exit door is locked if you need to find the anomaly first.

It’s a change that didn’t sit well with me at first, but I totally understand why. This game is now turned into a more tense game where you have to survive the crazy things that the game throws at you. The game is shorter than The Exit 8, but I’ll say… This game had me spooked and jump several times.

That’s Not My Neighbor

At it’s core, this game is an Observation Duty game. But with a big twist. You are a security guard at the entrance of a building. There are imposters out there, trying to look like your neighbor, and you have to keep them out.

This game tests your reasoning skills and tests you if you can look at all the clues. The best I can describe this game is: a mixture between Papers Please, and I am on Observation Duty. The added layer of difficulty is that you have a lot to keep track of. Who did you let already inside? Who is on the list and for who do you better call their apartment first?

This game is getting frequent updates with more lore and more modes. Each time I see this game being played by the streamers I watch, the new update impresses me. And I totally understand why this game got so big.

There is this extremely catchy song by longestsoloever. The amount of times I played it on repeat is just getting silly. Give it a listen if you like electronic music, but I warn you. It’s an earworm.

Confabulation

Confabulation, noun. Confabulation is a memory error consisting of the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world.

This game does a very interesting take on the actual formula. Instead of explaining the differences and anomalies with unexplained events, in this game it’s caused by a mental illness.

The flow of each play trough of this game is the same. But, the puzzles, the changing objects amongst other things are randomized. It’s up to you to make sure that you avoid you going insane and finding the truth of what happened.

This is an Observation Duty style game, but you can walk around in the area instead of watching at camera feeds. There is an extra layer added with the puzzles that add more information and lore of what happened.

I could talk about it more, but I highly recommend you play this game as blind as possible. The story, scares and impact is that much stronger when you don’t know what’s coming and let yourself be surprised. Watch the candles since they give you amazing hints on where to look next.

ATTA -Spot the Oddities in the Strange Hotel-

What if you have to count the amount of differences in a hallway instead of deciding there is a difference or not? Well, then you describe “ATTA, -Spot the Oddities in the Strange Hotel-“.

This game is an Exit 8 type of game with multiple rooms, where you have to count all the errors in a hallway… While various strange things happen. Like a train suddenly appearing and you have to duck for cover.

The atmosphere this game has, where it leaves you with an open ending that raises more questions than it answers, is the cherry on the cake. It’s a more intense game than your usual games. It may be a short run, but it’s a wild and pleasant ride all the way through.

Hospital 666

The final game I want to talk about today is called Hospital 666. In this game, you try to escape a cursed hospital. The first level has you running down a looping hallway. The second level, has one side room open.

Now, an impressive option that the game gives you is that you can choose if you want anomalies in the hallway or not. So, if you are in the second level, you can choose if you want things in the hallway to change or only focus on the new room.

Something impressive that this game does as well, is when you make a mistake, you can go back to the hallway to see what the mistake was that you made. You still start from the lowest floor of that level, but being able to see what got you is amazing. Since this game has very crazy anomalies but also various very sneaky ones. Like one is that some smiles faces appear on the wall.

In between the levels, there is a boss fight/puzzle that separates the floors from each other. They can be a bit janky, but the developer has updated and optimized the game quite a lot, and it is a lot better. Now, he is currently creating a sequel taking place in a school. And as somebody who works in education, I can’t wait to play through that.

Final thoughts

These games are only a handful of games in the genre. I have given a quick rundown of the games mentioned in this article, but if you are interested, I’m willing to talk more in depth about these titles. My intention with this article is to promote these titles.

Each game listed here is between 5 to €10 and is an amazing ride. These games are short little romps but are bursting to the seams with creativity. I always think, now, I have almost seen everything this genre has to offer. But, then I’m surprised with a new gameplay mechanic or a new setting that changes the atmosphere completely.

So, depending on how well this article does… I might write more of these. If you found amazing titles like this, feel free to send them my way or leave them in the comment section down below. But, for now, I’m going to leave you with my usual outro. Thank you so much for reading this article and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another one, but until then, have a great rest of your day and take care.

Steam store page

One of my favorite activities in Minecraft is going deep inside the caves and just exploring them. A few years ago, the developers behind Cave Digger reached out to me and asked me to review their game. Not too long after, the sequel got released and looked like it would be a VR exclusive. Until I noticed that it appeared on the Nintendo Switch eShop. So, I thought, maybe it also released on Steam, since after playing the Switch version, I felt like this game was better played with keyboard and mouse. Now, a non VR version is on Steam now… But is it worth it? Well, after playing the first sections of this game, I want to talk about it. The latest update was on May 28th, 2024 when writing this article. Now, before we dive right into it, I want to invite to you leave a comment in the comment section with your thoughts and/or opinions on this game and/or the content of this article.

Risk of Staleness

In this game, we play as an unnamed miner who is throwing into the deep end, when his digger broke. You arrive at a mysterious valley. In this valley, a hardy explorer once did his research. But why? Which secrets are in these valleys and the accompanying mines? That’s for our miner to figure out. Now, the story is being told by various comic book pages you can uncover and, according to the Steam store page, has multiple endings. I’m quite curious where it’s going to go.

So far, I haven’t gotten too deep into the story. But, from what I can read on the Steam store page, I think it has potential. I have my doubts on how the multiple endings will work. Since comic books mostly have one ending, right? Unless, it all depends on which page(s) you find or in which order or where. That’s something I’ll discover when I’m deeper into the game.

If this game is like the original game, the story overall will take a backseat for the gameplay. And after 5 hours in, that’s the case. The original game didn’t have a lot of story to begin with, but more story in a game like this can be interesting.

There is one voice actor in this game. He does a pretty fine job and brings some life to the atmosphere. I replayed a bit of the first game and I have to be honest, I appreciate the small voice lines during the exploration. Even when you quickly hear every different line, it’s a nice break since they aren’t spammed and don’t appear that often.

One of the biggest changes in this game is that the cave this time around is randomly generated each time you enter. So, this game becomes a rouge like to a degree. But, you can always exit via the lifts to safety. Since, dying in the caves means that at least half of your obtained loot is dropped. The atmosphere this time around is very cohesive. This game presents itself as a sci-fi western game, and it really feels like that. Something I really like in this game is that it doesn’t go overboard in the sci-fi genre and stays grounded. The technology could realistically exist today, apart from the unique enemies in the cave, that is.

With the story taking more of a backseat, it’s quite important that the gameplay loop is enjoyable. The gameplay loop is simple, you have to explore the caves with 4 chosen tools. The three slots above the entrance give you a hint on which tools you will need to bring to gather the most loot. You take the lift down and gather loot, while fighting enemies and avoiding pitfalls to survive. The goal is also to find the other elevator that takes you down to the next level to gather even more valuable ores to bring to the top. You have to fill in the ores you gathered into the grinder to buy upgrades to your tools and environment to progress.

The big risk with this kind of gameplay loop is that this is just a different numbers game. What I mean by that is that, apart from maybe the visuals changing, the core concept is always the same. This risks that the game becomes stale and repetitive. It’s possible that it is just a “me thing”, but I enjoy games like this more when there are some variations on the gameplay or some different puzzles. Thankfully, this game has that. There are a lot of things you can upgrade and improve to make each run feel rewarding, and each type of cave you can visit has different enemies types and unique lay-outs to keep you on your toes. In a way, I dare to compare the idea a bit to Cult of the Lamb in a degree.

The music in this game is also a blast. It fits the atmosphere of each area like a glove. My favorite track is the track that plays in the lake caves. It sounds like you image a typical track like that to sound. And it gets more intense while you are fighting enemies down there. Now, the silent moments when the music doesn’t play feel a bit long, but I always know that there is more music coming and that it fits the atmosphere perfectly and draws me more into the game. Sadly enough, this isn’t the only problem with this game, and I’d like to talk about them.

No feedback

This game has an addictive gameplay loop, and I’m really curious how the multiplayer works. I haven’t tested the multiplayer in this game, but it looks like fun. Now, this game can be played solo perfectly fine.

Now, I don’t know if VRKiwi took the VR version as a base for the non VR version, since I have the impression, that is the case. I especially notice that with the controls in this game. It feels a bit floaty, like you aren’t really connected to the ground. It also feels a bit stiff, like you have to move your mouse like you would a VR headset. You really have to play with the settings until you hit that sweetspot that feels right for you. For me, I had to lower the sensitivity to 80, amongst other things. I highly recommend that you tweak the settings to your liking, since on the Nintendo Switch version, I had to lower the sensitivity to 40 before it felt right.

Still, the character control doesn’t feel right. At first, I thought it was because the controls felt floaty… But, after some testing, I think I found a few other problems with the character control that might cause it to not feel quite right. First, the jump in this game is just silly. You can’t really rely on it, since it doesn’t always trigger when you hit the spacebar, and it’s just a pathetic jump. You can’t even jump out of ankle high water sometimes.

Secondly, there are no sound effects for walking on most floors. You feel like you are floating, and it’s jarring when you suddenly hear a sound effect when you walk over a table or a railway. Thirdly, climbing on ropes amongst other things is just insanely picky. There is also no real feedback or sound to show you grabbed the rope. Fourthly, the scroll order between tools is extremely weird. You get numbers on the wheel counter clock wise. But you go down, right, left, up. Which still confuses me after 6 hours of playing this game.

And finally, some things are extremely picky. For example, there are safe riddles you can solve down in the caves. But to rotate the letter wheels to make pick the right letter is more difficult to do. All of these things give you a feeling that you aren’t always in control of your character and that you don’t get the feedback as a player on what’s happening. Making you unsure what’s happening and doubt if you are doing the right thing.

Prompts like “Use W/S to use the crank” should be “Hold W/S to use the crank”. Since, you need to hold the key instead of pressing it. Small things like that could also improve this game and it’s controls quite a lot. Overall, the controls are good, but they lack feedback to the player sometimes. Either with sound effects or with some visual effects. Like with the hammer, you barely have any sound effects when you use it, and it has some wind up animation, making you unsure if you are using it or not.

That is one of the biggest flaws in this game. The lack of feedback on your actions. Things like not knowing how many bullets are still left in your revolver or a sound effect when you hit an actual enemy. I think if there is one thing I’d use the built-in feedback tool is to report various cases/moments when I expect feedback from the game, like a sound effect or visual effect. Maybe they appear in the form of rumble effects… But, I’m not playing this game with a controller.

When you read this section of the article, I wouldn’t blame you if you think that this game isn’t good. Small bugs like the text of “Press R to reload” when your gun isn’t equipped or the bullets not leaving from the gun but from the player model don’t improve things either. Yet, I find myself looking past these problems since the core gameplay still works. I find myself getting used to the jank in this game and finding a very rough diamond. If the developers keep up with their promise of improving this game, I think that more action feedback will bring a lot to the game and maybe fixing the small bugs like in this paragraph as well.

Things like the animation of the shovel looking weird sometimes. The animation looks like the arms go through each other after a dig. Speaking of the shovel, the last dig is annoying since you have to move a pixel or two for it to count and give you your goodies. But the bug I’d love to see fixed most is the freeze for several seconds when you pick up something new or get a new codec entry. The game locks up like it’s about the crash, but it doesn’t.

What’s next for us?

Usually, I’m not really picky when it comes to the visuals of a game. As long as a game looks consistent, I’m quite happy. It needs to have a certain style so that you can quickly identify what’s what and enjoy the game.

Yet, for this game, I do have some things that I not really like in terms of the visuals. Firstly, the contrast of some ores and the floor isn’t clear enough. Sometimes I was passing up on ores since I wasn’t able to notice them on the ground.

There are also a lot of objects to give more details to the cave, but you can barely interact with them. I’d love to see lilly pads in lakes to move a bit when you walk past them or something more than just being able to clip through them. As well, a sound effect when you hit a wall you can’t mine. You get shouted at when you use the wrong or a too weak tool on something, so when not for the rest?

I think the biggest mistake that the visuals make is that it has an identity crisis. What I mean by that is that it isn’t a cohesive style. There is a lot of shell shading going on, but there is also a lot of details that give off a more realistic vibe. Some textures aren’t detailed enough and strechted too wide giving wrong impression the rest of the visuals that look more modern. The floor textures sometimes suffer most from this issue.

Looking back at this article, I think I’m being very critical for this game. I have played a lot worse and broken games for 15€. But, in this game you even have customisation options for your character and thee developers are extremely open for feedback. This game has a lot going for it. Fun achievements to hunt for, bosses at the end of runs and an amazing auto save system.

Apart from improving the character controls and adding some feedback on actions, I think this game is pretty decent. Yes, there is some polish missing like not having a tooltip with the lever at the cave entrance on what that lever does. I personally feel less conflicted about this game compared to the original. The growth in this title is immense and brings me a lot of hope for either some amazing updates, DLC or a new entry in the series.

The basis of for an amazing title is here and if you look past it’s short comings, this game is a blast to play. Maybe it’s a bit too repetitive for some and can be more fun in short bursts. But, when this game sinks it’s hooks into you, it really clicks. There is some polishing left to do and for a rather new VR focused developer, this is amazing. It’s their second non VR game and it shows a lot of promise.

The game is a perfect relaxing game to wind down, since it isn’t too difficult. The game is rather forgiving. I wouldn’t be surprised that I play this game after work to wind down and try and finish it slowly. Then again, while I’m writing this, I have summer holidays and I wouldn’t be surprised that I finish most of this game during my summer break.

Like I said earlier, I feel less conflicted about this game compared to the previous title. This game has a lot more going for it compared to the original. It’s less repetitive and it has a lot more going for it. It has it’s problems, yes. But, if you enjoy games like Minecraft, Steamworld Dig or Cave Digger, give the demo of this game a chance. The demo gives a very good idea on what you can expect from this game and if you enjoy it, buy the game. I’m enjoying myself quite a lot with this game and I’m happy that I have chosen the PC version over the Switch version since I feel like it just plays better. But maybe, if I get used to the Switch controls, I might enjoy it on Switch as well.

With that said, I have said everything I wanted to say about this game for now. Maybe when I finish this game, I might write a full review with the final thoughts and opinions on this game. But for now, I think the best conclusion for this game is that it’s an amazing step up from the original and besides some unpolished things… It’s a great game and comes recommend from me.

So, it’s time to wrap up this article with my usual outro. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I hope to be able to welcome you in another article, but until then have a great rest of your day and take care.

The idea of experiencing a first-person platformer in VR initially seemed daunting, but in truth, it turned out to be one of the most enjoyable VR experiences I've had in quite some time. Silky smooth framerate, excellent yet simple graphics set in a universe that I would never have visited if the world was flat. Could it truly be as remarkable as it sounds?

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With a little bit of grinding, Massively OP’s MJ was able to make it high enough to finally enter the newest dungeons in AdventureQuest 3D. But just before she could embark on those adventures, something completely new was tossed in her way. Now she wants to investigate a surprise waiting for her in the daily […]

Title: Asphalt Legends Unite (formerly Asphalt 9: Legends)
Type of Game: Racing
Developer: Gameloft
Publisher: Gameloft
Released: February 26, 2018
Platforms Available: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, iOS, Android
Platform Reviewed: PC
Level of Maturity: Everyone 10+
Reading Time: 6 minutes

Arcade Racing Reborn

The era of frantic arcade racing is almost gone by now. Games like Forza Horizon and The Crew Motorfest may have taken the lead in this gaming area. Still, as gamers, we miss the days of sliding our Ferrari F50 around corners at just the right angles, with a first or second-generation Sony console sitting on the shelf next to the TV, pumping blood through our veins under insane pressure, providing the perfect atmosphere. Asphalt Legends Unite, which came out a week or so ago on PlayStation 5, would be criminal to compare to classics of decades past, such as 2006’s OutRun, which I experienced (though certainly not at the original time of release per se). Still, it’s probably the closest comparison I could find to the PS5 of today.

Free-to-Play Frenzy: The Microtransaction Minefield

The first major thing I’d start with is one big and hard-to-overlook negative (unsurprisingly): this is a free-to-play game, so there are loot boxes, card packs, microtransactions, and more at every turn. New cars are unlocked by collecting cards and earning duplicates to increase their stats, like Disney Speedstorm. You’re also limited by the petrol tank, which does regenerate over time. Still, you want to play for a long time. In that case, you need to have more cars because you can’t use the same one over and over, which, of course, also tempts you to pay for some of it from your actual wallet with bonus currency to refill that all-important petrol immediately if you don’t want to wait.

Gameplay That Defies Gravity

Now, on the other hand, for what you will surely enjoy. On the other hand, the gameplay is outstanding, at least by the standards of pure, unadulterated arcades. Tracks like San Francisco and the Himalayas are (in a good way) ridiculously oversaturated, with one race having you sprinting down a mountain. At the same time, hot air balloons fly above you. It captures that beloved nostalgia of “old school” titles. It’s not over the top, but the game won’t leave you sitting comfortably in your chair. Despite including real cars, the game defies physics quite a bit. Double-tapping the handbrake button will allow your car to rotate 360 degrees. You can pair this with a ramp, effectively spinning you in the air before landing. These tricks, including the classic drift, complement the vital turbo that often decides who gets to the finish line first. Tapping the button for a more robust version of the extra power at the right time for “Perfect Nitro” will also add extra speed.

Tracks That Keep You Coming Back

As for the tracks above, while there aren’t many of them, they still manage to keep you entertained over and over again due to the absurd scenes that keep happening and the intense pace of the game. The car upgrade system is traditionally straightforward but adequate for a mobile game. You need to use the car often and gradually grind it out. The career, which is probably the most comprehensive part of the game, is in the spirit of constantly unlocking more and more repetitive race combinations, which are searched in about 10 identical locations. However, this is compensated by the pace mentioned above and the races’ intensity. Again, there’s quite a variety of tricks you’ll be performing across the races on your opponents. The repetitiveness will slap you in the face, but you’ll go through all the amazing action with hardly any real feeling.

Sonic Bliss which Steals the Show

Before the actual verdict, I’d like to mention Asphalt Legends Unite’s soundtrack, which is simply perfect and atmospheric and will suck you into an already frantic pace. Every song in the game is well-chosen and fits the game perfectly. We’re certainly not a fan of music from recent years, but here the music simply suited my taste. Rock, pop, and rap are the most represented here. No one genre overpowers another here; everything is balanced, specifically rap, which I generally don’t like. It was also excellent here, and I enjoyed it. No vulgarisms or anything like that. Just and only decent music. The music has become my favorite aspect of the game, which still keeps me glued to the monitor despite the overall traditional, straightforward mobile game concept, which I’m not used to as a regular PlayStation gamer. It’s a shame that the latest titles in the Need for Speed series don’t have this kind of music. The game world would be a more beautiful place right away.

The Final Lap

The monetization may put off a lot of gamers. Still, the free-to-play format means anyone can jump in and enjoy the sheer absurdity of some tracks and cars. It’s a very action-packed, intense, and utterly absurd gameplay experience with phenomenal music that’s designed to be played in relatively short bursts, so if you’re craving something silly, simple, and utterly over-the-top to play after a grueling day at work, there aren’t many better options on the PS5. Sometimes, all a game needs is simple albeit silly fun, and Asphalt Legends Unite offers precisely that. I was initially going to give the game 70% at best, but the music of this game won me over, so finally, the rating is a little higher. Feel free to lynch me for this, but I stand by it! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will move on.
Rating: 75%

Where to Buy Asphalt 9: Legends

Steam (PC): Available for free. You can download it directly from Steam.

Xbox Store (Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S): Available for free. Check it out on the Xbox Store.

PlayStation Store (PS4, PS5): Available for free. You can find it on the PlayStation Store.

App Store (iOS): Available for free. Download it from the App Store.

Google Play (Android): Available for free. Purchase it from Google Play.

Epic Games Store (PC): Available for free. Purchase it from the Epic Games Store.

Official Page: Visit the official Asphalt 9: Legends page for more information.

Subreddit: Join the discussion on the Asphalt 9 Subreddit.

Weplaygames.net Youtube Channel: Asphalt Legends Unite Camaro LT Spinning

The post Asphalt Legends Unite: Arcade Racing Full of Nostalgia appeared first on WePlayGames.net: Home for Top Gamers.

Unlock Unity DOTS secrets with this free e-book, perfect for advanced devs. 

A deep dive into shader variants, plus some practical tips on how to reduce them to improve project build time and memory footprint.

Unity Muse Chat lets you create real-time 3D experiences within the Editor by assisting with debugging and providing context-aware solutions to issues. Dive into the details of how the LLM pipeline delivers greater relevance and reliability.

Unity 6 Preview (formerly known as 2023.3 Tech Stream) is the last release of our development cycle for Unity 6 and is available for download now.

Pick up 80+ time-saving tips and workflows from across Unity 2022 LTS toolsets and systems with our new productivity e-book.

Gem Hunter Match, a new official Unity sample, shows you how a 2D puzzle match-3 game can stand out from the competition with eye-catching lighting and visual effects created in the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) in Unity 2022 LTS.

Unity Muse users can now use all 5 AI capabilities in the Editor to complement your creative process & streamline development – plus, check out 3 new features.

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The new Shader Graph Feature Examples sample set is now available to import now from the Package Manager to help you create a wide range of effects and techniques using Shader Graph.

It might not be quite the size of Fortnite, CS2, or Helldivers 2, but Duck Game is nevertheless a multiplayer game with a very well-earned reputation. Boasting an ‘overwhelmingly positive’ 97% user score on Steam from almost 25,000 reviews, the indie game about ducks blasting each other with big guns has long been a fan favorite party game to play with friends. Now, after fears that it could disappear from sale amid publisher changes, solo developer Landon Podbielski confirms that Duck Game is “not going anywhere.”

As anyone paying attention to the video game industry will already know, the last couple of weeks have seen a great deal of rumor and speculation as to the state of Xbox-istan. What started as unsubstantiated rumors suggesting that Xbox was about to make some of its Microsoft-exclusive titles crossplatform to other consoles morphed into more outlandish theories that Microsoft was going to stop making Xbox consoles altogether. Xbox chief Phil Spencer addressed the latter of those rumors in an internal memo, alongside a promise to host a “Business Update Event.”

And so that event happened. Was there information in it? Yes! Did it clear everything up? Kind of! Was it yet another example of vague or confusing communication coming out of Xbox’s leadership? How could it possibly be otherwise?

We’ll start with the rumored crossplatform titles. Much of the rumor mill correctly suggested that there would be 4 games that would be going crossplatform soon. And that turns out to have been true! They’re just not the ones people wanted. And you don’t get to know officially which games we’re talking about, either.

After weeks of rumors around its strategy regarding Xbox console exclusives, Microsoft announced today that it is “going to take four games to the other consoles.” The company stopped short of announcing what those now non-exclusive games would be, but it did point out that neither Starfield nor Bethesda’s upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be appearing on other consoles.

All four of the soon-to-be multi-platform titles are “over a year old,” Xbox chief Phil Spencer said in an “Updates on the Xbox Business” podcast video. The list includes a couple of “community-driven” games that are “first iterations of a franchise” that could show growth on non-Xbox consoles, as well as two others that Spencer said were “smaller games that were never really meant to be built as kind of platform exclusives… I think there is an interesting story for us of introducing Xbox franchises to players on other platforms to get them more interested in Xbox.”

Now, on the one hand, more information getting to the public is generally good. And I’m sure there is some sort of business reason why the announcement of what these four games are can’t be officially made, yet. But I also can’t for the life of me understand why this announcement would be made without being able to name the games. This still would typically allow for a lot of rumors to float around, so what was the point?

Fortunately, in this case, journalists did the work and appear to have answered that question for us, such that the speculation will probably be held at bay.

The Verge cites “sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans” in reporting that Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded are the four multi-platform titles Microsoft is referencing today.

“The teams that are building those [multi-platform] games have announced plans that are not too far away,” Spencer said, “but I think when they come out, it’ll make sense.”

But then there was this.

Spencer stressed during the podcast that this limited multi-platform move does not represent “a change to our fundamental exclusive strategy.” He added that “we’re making these decisions for some specific reasons,” citing “the long-term health of Xbox and a desire to “use what some of the other platforms have right now to help grow our franchises.”

To which my immediate reply is: what the hell is your exclusive strategy? Seriously, the messaging on this very important piece of the equation has been all over the damned place. And because of that, someone in Spencer’s position does not get to simply trot this line out there as if everyone in the gaming public is already on the same page as he is. In 2020, Spencer made comments suggesting that crossplatforming titles was not needed for Xbox to succeed with specific game franchises. Then another Xbox executive suggested that games would have timed Microsoft exclusives later that same year. Then, in 2021, Spencer announced that the next Elder Scrolls game would be a Microsoft exclusive. Fast forward roughly one year later and you have Spencer himself stating that exclusive titles were not the future for Xbox, just as Starfield was announced as a, you guessed it, Microsoft exclusive.

It’s in that bowl of tangled informational linguine that Spencer has the gall to state publicly that these latest plans don’t change Xbox’s “fundamental exclusive strategy.” And if you don’t understand why that is so infuriating, you’re lost.

And so this is just more Microsoft. Even attempts at being more open and communicative result in confusion and frustration.

As anyone paying attention to the video game industry will already know, the last couple of weeks have seen a great deal of rumor and speculation as to the state of Xbox-istan. What started as unsubstantiated rumors suggesting that Xbox was about to make some of its Microsoft-exclusive titles crossplatform to other consoles morphed into more outlandish theories that Microsoft was going to stop making Xbox consoles altogether. Xbox chief Phil Spencer addressed the latter of those rumors in an internal memo, alongside a promise to host a “Business Update Event.”

And so that event happened. Was there information in it? Yes! Did it clear everything up? Kind of! Was it yet another example of vague or confusing communication coming out of Xbox’s leadership? How could it possibly be otherwise?

We’ll start with the rumored crossplatform titles. Much of the rumor mill correctly suggested that there would be 4 games that would be going crossplatform soon. And that turns out to have been true! They’re just not the ones people wanted. And you don’t get to know officially which games we’re talking about, either.

After weeks of rumors around its strategy regarding Xbox console exclusives, Microsoft announced today that it is “going to take four games to the other consoles.” The company stopped short of announcing what those now non-exclusive games would be, but it did point out that neither Starfield nor Bethesda’s upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be appearing on other consoles.

All four of the soon-to-be multi-platform titles are “over a year old,” Xbox chief Phil Spencer said in an “Updates on the Xbox Business” podcast video. The list includes a couple of “community-driven” games that are “first iterations of a franchise” that could show growth on non-Xbox consoles, as well as two others that Spencer said were “smaller games that were never really meant to be built as kind of platform exclusives… I think there is an interesting story for us of introducing Xbox franchises to players on other platforms to get them more interested in Xbox.”

Now, on the one hand, more information getting to the public is generally good. And I’m sure there is some sort of business reason why the announcement of what these four games are can’t be officially made, yet. But I also can’t for the life of me understand why this announcement would be made without being able to name the games. This still would typically allow for a lot of rumors to float around, so what was the point?

Fortunately, in this case, journalists did the work and appear to have answered that question for us, such that the speculation will probably be held at bay.

The Verge cites “sources familiar with Microsoft’s plans” in reporting that Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, Sea of Thieves, and Grounded are the four multi-platform titles Microsoft is referencing today.

“The teams that are building those [multi-platform] games have announced plans that are not too far away,” Spencer said, “but I think when they come out, it’ll make sense.”

But then there was this.

Spencer stressed during the podcast that this limited multi-platform move does not represent “a change to our fundamental exclusive strategy.” He added that “we’re making these decisions for some specific reasons,” citing “the long-term health of Xbox and a desire to “use what some of the other platforms have right now to help grow our franchises.”

To which my immediate reply is: what the hell is your exclusive strategy? Seriously, the messaging on this very important piece of the equation has been all over the damned place. And because of that, someone in Spencer’s position does not get to simply trot this line out there as if everyone in the gaming public is already on the same page as he is. In 2020, Spencer made comments suggesting that crossplatforming titles was not needed for Xbox to succeed with specific game franchises. Then another Xbox executive suggested that games would have timed Microsoft exclusives later that same year. Then, in 2021, Spencer announced that the next Elder Scrolls game would be a Microsoft exclusive. Fast forward roughly one year later and you have Spencer himself stating that exclusive titles were not the future for Xbox, just as Starfield was announced as a, you guessed it, Microsoft exclusive.

It’s in that bowl of tangled informational linguine that Spencer has the gall to state publicly that these latest plans don’t change Xbox’s “fundamental exclusive strategy.” And if you don’t understand why that is so infuriating, you’re lost.

And so this is just more Microsoft. Even attempts at being more open and communicative result in confusion and frustration.