Although I’ve played video games for decades, I’ve rarely been as down on the hobby as I have in recent years. Critically acclaimed titles such as Metaphor: ReFantazio require more time than my lifestyle permits. Many small indie games I appreciate like Dungeons of Hinterberg come and go without sufficient recognition. Conversely, big budget releases often stick to safe formulas, leading to underwhelming gameplay.
But over the past month, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector have rekindled my optimism. Despite differences in budget, genre, and creative intent, both games are exceptionally well crafted narrative experiences.
At first glance, Indiana Jones follows a familiar AAA adventure template: high quality motion capture, lush soundtracks, expansive locations, and detailed production design that suggests Machine Games spent extensive time and budget on their game. I anticipated gameplay similar to The Last of Us (linear stealth action) or Machine Games’ own Wolfenstein reboot (guns blazing shooter).
But after a few hours of playtime, it’s apparent how Indiana Jones employs a novel approach to its mechanics and story pacing. There’s far less combat than I originally expected, almost all of which leans on avoidance and stealth based melee attacks (Indy can only take a few hits before going down.) Gunplay is usually a choice of last resort. Most gameplay takes place on large maps that allow for open ended exploration, supplemented by a variety of puzzle and platforming challenges. Unlike many adventure games that save their high quality video cutscenes for level transitions, Indiana Jones integrates them more democratically, including a refreshing amount of cutscenes for side missions.
I’ve written here about film’s changing cultural cache and the evolution of what it means to be a devoted cineaste in 2025. But the subject extends far beyond film. In the on-demand attention era, with its endless variety of entertainment, audiences are fragmenting, widening the gap between casual fans and hardcore enthusiasts.
To predict the future of any media form — TV, gaming, music, movies — one must examine what’s most convenient for the casual audience to adopt, along with the depth and availability of content available for enthusiasts. (I hesitate to use the word ‘content’ given its tendency to devalue or anonymize artistry, but it’s the most concise way to describe such a wide variety of entertainment.)
Let’s break this logic down further. Time and money have always distinguished newcomers from superfans, from NFL football to indie horror movies. Someone dabbling with dance pop listens occasionally to Charlie XCX on a mixed playlist, while the obsessive house head buys a crate of DJ sets on vinyl.
It’s unsurprising to see Xbox fully embrace a multi-platform strategy. Lagging behind Sony and Nintendo in hardware sales and user base, Microsoft can ensure far larger revenue streams by porting its first party games to PS5 and Switch. It’s a strategy that reflects broader industry trends, as escalating development costs and a stagnating console market push publishers like Square Enix and even PlayStation away from long term exclusivity.
However, Microsoft’s Xbox ecosystem — comprising Xbox hardware, Game Pass, and the Windows PC Xbox app — is where they generate maximal revenue and retain full editorial control. Intra ecosystem Xbox keeps the full share of revenue from their own products, while taking a 30% cut from every non-Microsoft purchase. It’s also for now the only space where Microsoft can sell Game Pass and have the technical leverage to integrate a cloud centric, cross platform solution to suit their needs.
Yet the Xbox ecosystem itself feels increasingly under threat. Game Pass subscribers have plateaued, and Xbox Series S and X hardware sales are dropping precipitously.
It’s been another year where my gaming tastes fell out of sync with the critical consensus. While sprawling RPGs like Metaphor: ReFantazio and Black Myth: Wukong dominate end of year lists, their lengths don’t align with my lifestyle. Instead, my gaming focused on quirky indie titles with unique narratives and puzzle elements, alongside evergreen simulators perfect for pairing with a podcast. More so than past years, no individual game I list here has universal appeal, but for those passionate about the respective genre, they are well worth your time.
In spite of Xbox undergoing what will be one the hardest strategic pivots in gaming history, under the stewardship of one of the most valuable companies in the world, the venerable gaming brand can’t sell (or settle on) a cohesive, long term vision to save its life. Paired against the backdrop of few Xbox first party releases, Microsoft in 2024 has found itself in a PR vacuum.
In its wake, there has been a drip feed of negative or otherwise confounding news stories. The year started off with the Xbox “business update” in February, where Microsoft heads hemmed and hawed about the reasoning behind four of its exclusives heading to Switch and PS5. In May, Microsoft shuttered multiple game studios including Tango Gameworks, with unclear reasons from studio chief Matt Booty. July saw price hikes on Game Pass and a new “standard” tier that removed day one games, the defining feature of the service. Then, in August, as part of Gamescom, Xbox showcased previews of their flagship holiday game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, only to reveal the game would also be heading to PS5 next spring.
The consensus view across the Xbox faithful and larger enthusiast gaming community hasn’t been positive, with some considering recent actions a betrayal. I find a lot of this anger misguided, deriving from a dated console warrior mentality that champions exclusives to prove one platform is somehow better than others.
My time and energy spent on cutting edge, AAA gaming has plateaued. Four years into a console generation, the graphics, audio, and gameplay of most games I play are indistinguishable from the experience six years ago. Over 2024, I only spent a fraction of my gaming time with Hellblade II and Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the two games that taxed my Xbox Series X this year. The rest of my play has been with small indie games (e.g., Balatro, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Star Trucker) or evergreen GAAS like Fortnite and EA FC that are generally playable on 2013-era console hardware, my aging MacBook Air, or even my smartphone.
I used to rationalize my shift away from tech heavy gaming as a personal outlier. As my tastes moved from mega AAA twitch action games and RPGs toward the quirkier indie space, my hardware needs lessened accordingly. Alternatively, one could argue high end hardware is “held back” by many new games still releasing on last gen consoles. But the more I look, the more I suspect I’m part of a trend towards smaller, less graphically intense games derived from indie studios.
When I listen to enthusiast gaming podcasts, among a crowd that may play hundreds of games a year and spends thousands on gaming hardware, the conversation focuses heavily on the PC indie space (e.g., Lethal Company, Phasmophobia) and small niche titles on the console. Across Reddit, ResetEra, and other gaming-focused social media, discussion for a tiny retro poker strategy game like Balatro may run as long as a big budget Black Myth: Wukong or Dragon’s Dogma 2.
Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II (HB2) is one of the most fascinating games of the year. At its core, it’s a linear “walking simulator” like Everyone’s Gone to the Rapture, made with AAA levels of polish. Creative dissonance between initial expectations and the final product has fueled a polarized reaction to the game across reviews and social media.
A debate over HB2 felt inevitable with how fundamental gameplay is to most games and how strongly HB2 deemphasizes traditional gameplay mechanics. Pick any title at the top of sales charts; gameplay elements are almost always pivotal to their success. Elden Ring has best-in-class action RPG controls. Fortnite allows high degrees of player customization while providing many game variations, from battle royale shooters to Lego building and car racing. The Last of Us is best known for its post-apocalyptic storyline but is also lauded for its stealth action combat.
However, HB2 takes a deliberate approach by limiting gameplay options to focus on characters, setting, and mood. The majority of HB2’s runtime is spent guiding the protagonist Senua through an environment, allowing players to absorb the scenery and engage with the dialogue. There are no fail conditions or choices, just a linear journey from point A to B lasting about six to eight hours. While combat battles and puzzles exist, the action is straightforward (some argue outdated), repetitive, and easily skippable.
According to The Verge, Microsoft is debating on whether to add the new Call of Duty on Game Pass. It’s a no-brainer: COD would easily be Game Pass’s most high-profile title, giving a potential injection to growth to its otherwise plateaued subscriber base.
Opting out COD from Game Pass will effectively end the service as Xbox’s final differentiator against PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam. A case by case treatment of “our games will come to Game Pass day one” will annoy existing subscribers. Nor is there any clear criteria – budget, branding, genre – to distinguish what enters Game Pass day one in a way that’s satisfactory to both Microsoft corporate or the Xbox player base. Even with clear messaging, in losing some day and date first party titles, a weakened Game Pass no longer properly distinguishes itself from PS5’s competing PlayStation Plus service.
Admittedly, corporate accounting will provide insight that I can’t speculate on. Maybe Microsoft ran the numbers, and a game of COD’s stature on Game Pass is simply too big of a sales revenue hit to ever swallow. Perhaps Game Pass’s long-term fiscal sustainability is long past the expiration point, and this is just the first in a line of walkbacks to slow the burn rate down.
It’s sadly easy to become numb to the news of more layoffs in the gaming industry, given its frequency over recent months. But Microsoft’s shutdown of four Bethesda studios stands out for its blatant reversal of Xbox’s purported post acquisition, Game Pass-centric future. The about face erodes trust in the Xbox brand and questions whether there’s any coherent first party strategy.
The shuttering of Tango Gameworks was particularly galling. The studio’s latest release, Hi-Fi Rush, exemplified the independence, creativity, and high quality that Xbox leadership claimed their first studios should aim for. Hi-Fi was a critical darling, landing on many critics’ top 10 lists, won a BAFTA, and was Xbox’s highest first party game of 2023 on OpenCritic. It also was a creative risk for Tango Gameworks, a bright, colorful throwback to the Dreamcast era for a studio that built its reputation on survival horror games.
Hi-Fi’s excellence also leveled up the value of Game Pass, Xbox’s greatest differentiator against the competition. It’s a draw for the service on its merit and the kind of high quality gem that can serve as an effective gap between some major AAA releases on Game Pass to minimize customer churn.
Fortnite is a gaming success story that is paradoxically underreported, underrated, and misunderstood by the many new games as a service (GaaS) that try to emulate its feature set. Mainstream hype about Fortnite (e.g., billion dollar Disney investments, musical collaborations with Lady Gaga) obscures a primary reason the game continues to crush virtually every would be competitor in its path: it nails its fundamentals beautifully.
Every time I boot up Fortnite, I have enormous flexibility to play how I want. Within its multiplayer shooter core, there’s an immense variety of skins and other customization options. The artistry isn’t always for me, but the cosmetics set a consistently high quality bar. When I start a multiplayer match, I can chase the XP goals I’m in the mood for, whether combat-focused, exploration, or a mini battle pass narrative story. Skill based match making strikes a good balance; I can challenge myself by purposefully landing in frenzied hot zones or begin a match far away from the action to take things at a slower pace.
Fortnite also respects my money and time. Its battle pass doles out decent, reasonably varied rewards at a faster clip than most of the competition. Even half finished, I end up earning enough V-bucks to allow me to buy a future battle pass at a reduced rate. The time to kill is reasonably high compared to other popular shooters like Call of Duty or Apex Legends, which gives me a competitive opportunity to react and fight back against better players. Matches rarely last longer than twenty minutes.