Community MetaSteam | March 2020 - Rise and Shine, Ms. Vance, Until It Is Done!

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Aaron D.

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Jul 10, 2019
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Watching other people play sucks, I don't get how it's such a popular thing. When it's someone involved in the making of the game where they share stories about the game's development as they play it can be really interesting. Random people though? Fuck that.
To each their own, as always. I personally find Let's Play streams entertaining as hell. I think a lot of it has to do with connecting with the right personality that speaks to you in some meaningful way. I tend to go with people who are chill in nature and informed on the series/genre.

I've no interest in TV/Netflix-type entertainment at all, sans occasional live sports. But some evenings after work I just don't have the energy to engage in a demanding gaming session. Watching streams of games & genres I love from streamers with personalities I genuinely enjoy is a great alternative. It's nice wind-down entertainment when I just wanna veg-out and watch someone skilled, informed & entertaining playing stuff I really enjoy.

It also helps that my primary diet consists of games that are rarely even mentioned on forums, so seeing others who are passionate about them and have something interesting to say is always a treat.

For example...


Preeetty Awesome

Can't wait.
Ostranauts has been my Most Anticipated title of the year for quite some time now. NEO Scavenger was so damn good.

It's interesting to see Dan's progress updates over the past year. He keeps pushing the game release and commenting on the complexities of the game's goals. Def. sounds like he took on a project in a genre known for its dizzying depth and he's feeling the burn. Not that that's a bad thing, I'm glad he's taking his time with it.

.............................................


Speaking of hyper-niche indie titles, over the past two weeks I've picked up Borderlands 3 (30 hrs. logged), AC: Origins (10 hrs.), and AC: Odyssey (backlog).

Thanks to Covid shelter-in-place I've become everything I despise. But I'm having a blast getting there. :p On the upside I got all 3 on Steam for roughly the price of a single AAA title.

Actually, it's been quite fun digging into some big, dumb AAA titles. Just turning my brain off and enjoying the spectacle. Feels like a good time for it.
 

Myradeer

Rayon de Soleil
Apr 17, 2019
320
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It's a different genre, but I would also like to recommend One Step From Eden which is another recent game with system that kind of integrates cards.
I would say it has potential to reach Slay the Spire level of greatness although its brutal difficulty significantly harms accessibility.
 

OMEGALUL

Junior Member
Apr 15, 2019
222
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This is how the world ends not with with a bang but with me forced to stay to home because a fucking bat eat something wrong in china

FUCK
 
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Dragon1893

MetaMember
Apr 17, 2019
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To each their own, as always. I personally find Let's Play streams entertaining as hell. I think a lot of it has to do with connecting with the right personality that speaks to you in some meaningful way. I tend to go with people who are chill in nature and informed on the series/genre.

I've no interest in TV/Netflix-type entertainment at all, sans occasional live sports. But some evenings after work I just don't have the energy to engage in a demanding gaming session. Watching streams of games & genres I love from streamers with personalities I genuinely enjoy is a great alternative. It's nice wind-down entertainment when I just wanna veg-out and watch someone skilled, informed & entertaining playing stuff I really enjoy.

It also helps that my primary diet consists of games that are rarely even mentioned on forums, so seeing others who are passionate about them and have something interesting to say is always a treat.

For example...



Ostranauts has been my Most Anticipated title of the year for quite some time now. NEO Scavenger was so damn good.

It's interesting to see Dan's progress updates over the past year. He keeps pushing the game release and commenting on the complexities of the game's goals. Def. sounds like he took on a project in a genre known for its dizzying depth and he's feeling the burn. Not that that's a bad thing, I'm glad he's taking his time with it.

.............................................


Speaking of hyper-niche indie titles, over the past two weeks I've picked up Borderlands 3 (30 hrs. logged), AC: Origins (10 hrs.), and AC: Odyssey (backlog).

Thanks to Covid shelter-in-place I've become everything I despise. But I'm having a blast getting there. :p On the upside I got all 3 on Steam for roughly the price of a single AAA title.

Actually, it's been quite fun digging into some big, dumb AAA titles. Just turning my brain off and enjoying the spectacle. Feels like a good time for it.
I get that but even if I'm too tired to play I'm not gonna use time I could be spending watching Stranger Things/Breaking Bad/etc to watch someone else play a game.
My main issue is this: if I'm interested enough in a game to watch someone else play it that means I'll want to play it myself eventually, why spoil it by watching a playthrough?
I'm bringing this up because I'm watching Alyx (unless there's a big unexpected chnage in my life I wont be able to play it for a very, very long time, though I hate the fact that I'm spoiling it) and the dude seems like a great guy but he keeps messing around or making cringy comments and I'm like "move on FFS!". When you're watching a game you're taking away the interactivity and it's a shitty experience imo.

I did watch Nolan North and Troy Baker play through Uncharted and TLOU but not only are they incredibly entertaining, they talked about their experiences while making the games and brought in other VAs and even devs making the playthroughs incredibly interesting and insightful for fans of the games. This is pretty much the only kind of situation where I'll sit through something like this.

Nothing against people that enjoy it of course, please don't interpret it like that. Hell, my son is 8 and he already does it...
 
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Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
3,989
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If the Remedy Epic deal doesn't give me Alan Wake 2, that deal is the worst deal of the century, for me. Alan Wake is one of my favorite games of all time, if an full time exclusive Epic deal is what is required to make AW 2 happen, then Im okay with it.

Better that then Remedy being bought by Sony and only being able to play AW 2 on a PS5.
I'd install EGS on my PC in a heartbeat and let it use my PC as part of a botnet or install a cryptominer on it, if it means I could get my hands on Alan Wake 2
 

BlackRainbowFT

Mouse Accelerated Member
Apr 17, 2019
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I can't say I see the appeal either.
I find it perplexing how some people, not only make a living out of that, but also make more money than all of us combined, doing exactly just that. :eek:

Then again, I'm an old fart. :giggle:
Personally I enjoy a small subset of this type of content and I -never- watch any streamers because there's too much uninteresting stuff. I only watch edited content.

For instance, I really enjoy watching speedrunning videos, especially if there's commentary explaining the glitches, etc. I see it as both fun and educational (a few examples worth watching are either IGN's "Developers react to speedrunning" series or EZScape's channel.... the only unedited content I watch is Games Done Quick videos of games I've played a billion times... like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Spyro, etc.).

This is just an example... but it shows the journey it took to finally be able to pull off a skip that up until then was just a wild theory.
It's more of a documentary that "just people playing", but still...

Other than that, I can understand people getting attached to the streamer because of their personality and finally end up enjoying the content just because of that (see "parasocial relationship").

But, there's also something oddly addictive about watching other people enjoying the same stuff you do, especially if it's relatively niche. For example, I listen to a lot of extreme metal and all of my friends, coworkers and family members (except for my brother) think of it as "just noise". Well, sometimes I get a kick out of seeing people listening to it for the first time and enjoying it... I guess that the same could apply to watching other people playing games.

And yeah, people becoming rich by making this type of content is indeed perplexing... although, if you think about it, not that much if you just consider it just a form of "entertainment". Entertainers in general are way overpaid in relation to what they actually bring to society (I genuinely mean no disrespect, though...).
 

Li Kao

It’s a strange world. Let’s keep it that way.
Jan 28, 2019
7,774
15,693
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I'm animalcrossing now boys, and it's chill as fuck. I needed that.
What do I do to have Meta friends, I don't remember ? Share my friend code ?

And do I use my Nook Pointstm to pay my bill or not ? Are there better use of them ?


Now that I played for some hours on the Switch, totally unused for months, I'm remembered how the little thing can be a purchase magnet. Must be warry, since even grey market is not exactly cheapo. Eyeing Pokemon Sword, another chillax game, right now, must resist.
 

PC-tan

Low Tier Weeb
Jan 19, 2019
3,531
5,755
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28
California
Watching other people play sucks, I don't get how it's such a popular thing. When it's someone involved in the making of the game where they share stories about the game's development as they play it can be really interesting. Random people though? Fuck that.
That depends, I watch people play and a lot of the time it depends on the person's personality and all of that. Sometimes I will do chat stuff but mostly I will watch/listen to them play a game.

As an example I had already pre-purchased Animal Crossing about a month and a half ago and since my copy of the game would not come for another few days I decided to watch some Twitch clips that this one YouTuber does (basically he streams on Twitch and then he does a best of type of compilation and post that on YouTube, that is what I watched). That actually made me more excited to start playing the game.


I'm the type of person that will mostly watch shorter videos so I don't really watch stuff like live streams all that often, and even when I do I will maybe watch it for a bit and then leave. The most recent live stream that I saw that I stuff with till it ended was Porter Robinson's stream of Half Life Alyx. I like his music and I was able to learn more about him will watching him stream. By this point in time I had already seen some other people the game and have gotten to the point in the game where he was at, but I still wanted to keep watching him to see what he would say (even though he was not very good at the game and he even mentioned it in the stream that he was not very good and was apologizing to people about it)



Now would I do something on the regular and just watch people play rather than play the game myself? Not really, or at least not for live streams, but maybe every so often for YouTube videos.
The one type of let's play that I don't think I would really be able to watch would maybe be for a JRPG, the only time I ever watch those is to look at this one part of the game that I am stuck at, but I feel like those types of games are the ones that I would be least interested in watching some one else play. With some exceptions, but for turn base JRPGs with a 100 hour long campaign, ya I'm not watching that.




I'm animalcrossing now boys, and it's chill as fuck. I needed that.
What do I do to have Meta friends, I don't remember ? Share my friend code ?

And do I use my Nook Pointstm to pay my bill or not ? Are there better use of them ?


Now that I played for some hours on the Switch, totally unused for months, I'm remembered how the little thing can be a purchase magnet. Must be warry, since even grey market is not exactly cheapo. Eyeing Pokemon Sword, another chillax game, right now, must resist.
You can add people via freind codes, also it will not be until your second day on the island (unless you time travel) that you can have people visit your island and then visit other people's island and have them visit you. You should install the Nintendo online app on your own real phone to get some other features in the game. You can type faster by either using the app, or by connecting a USB keyboard to your N/S.


The nook points will be used to pay your move in fee, it will cost you 5k points and you can actually get all of that done in the first day. After that you can use the points in the ATM and purchase items, once you upgrade your tent to a house then you will get access to an upper tier of items on the ATM that you can only access if you own a house.

Oh and if you want a lot of money fast, you can travel to other people's island and sell your fruit there (I am not sure if you can sell your fruit in other people's islands but you can give other people fruit and they can sell it for a lot). If you had 5 different types of fruits (10 of each one) that are not native to your island then you can easily make 10k+ of bells from what I recall and it cost about 90k+ bells for the house.


Here is my friend code: SW-3727-0638-3881
 
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Joe Spangle

Playing....
Apr 17, 2019
2,419
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The only playthrough ive watched was called Kay Plays where this lady played Dark Souls and sussed out loads of the lore and stuff which was really good.

Oh and a bit of that Frankie in1080p? The Day Z stuff.
 

Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
4,923
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France
The relevance of streams depends on the games.

In strategy games or card games, watching streams can be a good way to learn before you fly by yourself.

Another case would be linear games. I don't see any issue with watching someone else press the buttons for me in this case.

As far as I could see, Alyx falls in the linear games, so it is fine with me. One can play with the environment and explore the "physicality", but each player goes through the same rooms in the same order, encounters the exact same obstacles, scripted scenes, dialogues, etc. It is a cinematic experience by design, in which the world has been perfectly crafted to provide a similar experience for each player, unlike base-building games. Plus the game is sufficiently rich in terms of visuals that I won't get bored as I would be if I were watching a platformer like Mario.
 
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Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
7,038
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How single player friendly is Destiny 2? Like can I play the main missions with crappy internet?
Hello, I played over 70 hours of content of Destiny SP and had a blast, you can totally beat the campaigns all by yourself and have a good time.
 
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EdwardTivrusky

Good Morning, Weather Hackers!
Dec 8, 2018
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Watching other people play sucks, I don't get how it's such a popular thing. When it's someone involved in the making of the game where they share stories about the game's development as they play it can be really interesting. Random people though? Fuck that.
I watch a lot of Let's Play videos and have done for years but i usually watch the more informative videos and not the Reaction/Shouty type personalities. If it's a game i love i like seeing other people play it and come at it from different angles, i like informative plays where they talk about lore, techniques, dev history, reception etc. There's plenty of games i'm interested in but bad at like Souls games, especially game like Souls where there's a lot of lore and ideas to talk about. SulMatul's Pathologic & KotOR Let's Play series are an excellent example of that. Also, games i used to play but no longer own or retro games can be fun too.
 
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Aaron D.

MetaMember
Jul 10, 2019
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My main issue is this: if I'm interested enough in a game to watch someone else play it that means I'll want to play it myself eventually, why spoil it by watching a playthrough?
I'm bringing this up because I'm watching Alyx (unless there's a big unexpected chnage in my life I wont be able to play it for a very, very long time, though I hate the fact that I'm spoiling it) and the dude seems like a great guy but he keeps messing around or making cringy comments and I'm like "move on FFS!". When you're watching a game you're taking away the interactivity and it's a shitty experience imo.
All good. I understand that the format isn't for everyone.

I find that the types of games I'm into these days are more mechanics driven than anything, simulation/strategy/management genres, so there really isn't much to spoil. Of course I wouldn't watch a narrative-focused Let's Play if I were interested in playing the game myself. But watching strategy veterans like quill18 and DasTactic and KatherineOfSky play through RimWorld, Factorio and EU4 is not only entertaining but also super educational as well. SplatterCat and Nookrium bring the heat for discovering deep-end of the pool niche games. Civvie 11 and GmanLives got you covered on the FPS genre with an impressive eye for historical context both past and present. And Praetorian HiJynx and Tomato's Trash are just super-pleasant streamers, the former a married couple with great chemistry and the latter a funny as hell long-form streamer.

That's just the tip of the iceberg. And the funny thing is that I don't have to worry about cringe comments or moments 'cause none of these streamers are about that. I wouldn't subscribe to their channels if they were. In the end it's kinda sad that the streaming community seems to have this bad rap as being toxic screaming banshees because the few that bubble to the surface of mainstream attention (Dr. Disrespect, PewDiePie, etc.) take all of the oxygen out of the room and become the de facto representation of the medium.

In reality it's more like going to the book store where there's a vast array of experiences on offer. If you dropped by your local Barnes & Noble and browsed the Young Adult or Romance sections, you might think reading is a decidedly shallow affair. But move on over the Literature or Arts & Science and you begin to realize there's content for all ages and interests. When combined with the former creates a wide gulf of entertainment on offer. From the banal & silly to the complex & sophisticated (no judgement on the former).

That's what the world of game streaming is like. Sometimes you just have to dig a little deeper to find the gems (again because Dr. Dis & PDP are getting all the attention). ** tangent rant incoming ** It's really no different than being a post-middle age gaming enthusiast. I'm over 50 and have no gaming friends in real life. I don't bring it up at cocktail parties, not out of embarrassment, but more because of typical misconceptions. If I'm at an office function I'm not gonna breach the topic in casual conversation because I instinctively know that for most of my colleagues modern gaming means those violent shoot-shoot/bang-bang CoD, GTA, Fortnite commercials on TV. And it's simply not worth my time to explain that gaming is also strategy (Crusader Kings, Stellaris), simulation (Euro Truck, Farm Sim), sandbox-sim (Kenshi, Factorio) and management (Two Point, RimWorld) just to name a few...aka like going to various book sections at B&N. Instead I just smile and talk about the Nationals' chances in the NLE division. :p

(Christ I'm bored today, lol.)
 

Alextended

Segata's Disciple
Jan 28, 2019
5,495
8,581
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I watch a lot of Let's Play videos and have done for years but i usually watch the more informative videos and not the Reaction/Shouty type personalities. If it's a game i love i like seeing other people play it and come at it from different angles, i like informative plays where they talk about lore, techniques, dev history, reception etc. There's plenty of games i'm interested in but bad at like Souls games, especially game like Souls where there's a lot of lore and ideas to talk about. SulMatul's Pathologic & KotOR Let's Play series are an excellent example of that. Also, games i used to play but no longer own or retro games can be fun too.
Yeah VR tubers the worst, watching saints & sinners or whatever it's all the same jokes and messing with the ragdolls to make zombies kiss and all that, cringe.

And then you might find one that's uncommented and the guy will be using snap-turning which is fine if you get sick but it's the worst for the viewer like it lags.

I wanted to post videos with just the games, not trying to be funny or anything, just play properly like anyone does @ home, but my PC/net isn't up to the task.
 
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Wok

Wok
Oct 30, 2018
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France
The best part of watching a playthrough on Youtube is that you can play at 1.5x the speed if the player is a bit slow at solving puzzles. It is still possible to understand what he is talking about. That,also means that you can be done with a 10-hour game in 7 hours. Very time effective.
 
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Derrick01

MetaMember
Oct 6, 2018
1,070
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I know pcgamer was drooling over gears tactics (no surprise there) but after listening to the details I came away more skeptical than impressed. It sounds like a very casual friendly xcom style game similar to mario rabbids, which isn't the worst thing in the world but if you're craving something with more depth it's not going to do much for you.

They're emphasizing fast missions and giving each person 3AP per turn with the ability to get even more if you get an execution on an enemy, so this will encourage you to get enemies in a downed state for what will no doubt be repetitive animations after seeing it two dozen times. Squad size appears locked to 4 from what I could tell, maybe I'm wrong there but it didn't look like there's room to add more. And most importantly there's no base or resource management at all. Instead of having that they said they're putting a focus on scripted and linear narrative moments, because that's what we all crave from this type of game lol. So it doesn't look like it'll have much replayability either.
 

Line

meh
Dec 21, 2018
1,558
2,645
113
Hmm.
I'm a bit torn by Gears Tactics because the base stuff is ultimately pretty flat in Xcom&co. And it can be extreeeemely grindy, especially when missions start lasting for a while. Phoenix Point got real repetitive real quick because of it.
And in Xcom it's nothing but a hindrance without the long war mod.

Not sure I care about the story of a gears game though...
 

Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
1,573
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Ostranauts has been my Most Anticipated title of the year for quite some time now. NEO Scavenger was so damn good.

It's interesting to see Dan's progress updates over the past year. He keeps pushing the game release and commenting on the complexities of the game's goals. Def. sounds like he took on a project in a genre known for its dizzying depth and he's feeling the burn. Not that that's a bad thing, I'm glad he's taking his time with it.

.............................................
Yeah when he mentioned combat sort of near the end I wasn't super worried about it because of all the hours I put into neoscavenger. If he implements basically just that or that but 2.0 I'd basically be completely fine with whatever he does.

Definitely going to be cool regardless
 

Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
1,573
5,473
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It's only a day but they're pushing the release forward to monday the 30th with a 10% discount and additional discount%'s if you own the originals

With that in mind, we have decided to make the game available for 10% off for the first two weeks of sale. In addition to this, anyone who owns any previous Mount & Blade title will be eligible for an additional 10% off in select digital stores. Also, you can breathe a sigh of relief because there won't be a delay... In fact, quite the opposite! We have decided to bring forward the release of the game to 10.00 am UTC, March 30th.

 

Madventure

The Angel of Deaf
Nov 17, 2018
1,573
5,473
113
I swear i get most of my game recommendations from this place. Madventure mentioned this game the other day and it looks right up my street. Im not sure it would have crossed my path if it wasnt for MC.
It goes on sale pretty often but Ostranauts is going to be based in the same universe as their original game Neoscavenger which was pretty awesome (If you like turn based roguelikes)

 

uraizen

Junior Member
Oct 7, 2018
698
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Fuckers. I guess it was too good to be true in the end. Thankfully I followed uraizen's advice and bought it before the hike.
Now you can think about whether or not you actually want it near release. I do this all the time for when games are for pre-order at places like GMG with a coupon to make it cheaper than normal.
 

BlackRainbowFT

Mouse Accelerated Member
Apr 17, 2019
506
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Switzerland
Going OT for a bit, but since I know some people here like Nine Inch Nails: new, free, NIN music (Ghosts V and VI) was just released.

Download link:

More information, and tracklists, at:
Thanks!

My favorite NiN album is The Fragile... I remember buying it when I was around 13 years old just because I liked the song Starfucker Inc.
After a full listen I thought I wasted the little pocket money I had... It was too weird, I hated it and I was livid.

Thankfully, after a few days, it started growing on me and then it became one of my most listened albums ever.
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,672
25,926
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Anyone else using game pass just to see if the game is worth buying on Steam and if it's not you actually uninstall it from game pass, because if it's north worth buying, why continue playing?
 

Hektor

Autobahnraser
Nov 1, 2018
5,699
15,564
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it's always a bit maddening to see small studios/publishers like this being capable and willing to go the extra mile while those sitting on tons of cash don't

Anyone else using game pass just to see if the game is worth buying on Steam and if it's not you actually uninstall it from game pass, because if it's north worth buying, why continue playing?
I'm in that weird spot where i completely stopped using gamepass, but still pay for it and just pirate the games i would be playing on it because the platform doesn't work half the time

I should just cancel tbh.
With the low price, i was willing to support it, but it's been months now and the store is still buggy as fuck
 

fantomena

MetaMember
Dec 17, 2018
9,672
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I'm in that weird spot where i completely stopped using gamepass, but still pay for it and just pirate the games i would be playing on it because the platform doesn't work half the time

I should just cancel tbh.
With the low price, i was willing to support it, but it's been months now and the store is still buggy as fuck
I used game pass a lot at first, but now I use it to demo games. Because I don't wanna get too far into a game in case I like it enough to buy it on Steam.

I actually have game pass til june 2022. Got many months for dirt cheap a while back.
 
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