Of course, that’s just the regular subscription price. Microsoft is also offering an introductory bonus for PC Game Pass, where your first three months will cost only RM5. So you can give the service a try at a heavily discounted rate, and then decide if it’s something you want to continue paying for.
All that being said, is this a subscription service that’s worth your money, on top of all the other subscriptions that you may already be paying for? We asked ourselves the very same question, and this is what we’ve found.
The Good
You’ve probably heard – or read – plenty of people sing praises for PC Game Pass. If you have, then you’re probably aware of these positive points that we’re about to bring up. If not, then these are the most obvious benefits of the subscription service.
Day One Access
Following the announcement from the recent Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase, we know that PC Game Pass will be welcoming quite a substantial list of games this year and with the subscription, you can have access to new Xbox Game Studios releases on day one. Here are some of the upcoming games that we’re looking forward to most:
As Dusk Falls
As Dusk Falls is the debut game of INTERIOR NIGHT, an indie studio consisting of former devs from Quantic Dream and Sony Interactive Entertainment. And as you’d expect from the Quantic Dream pedigree, this game is an interactive drama, exploring the story of two families across thirty years. This one is due to be released relatively soon, with the exact date being 20 July. And when it does, PC Game Pass will allow you to play it on the day itself.
Scorn
Picture a first-person shooter with a grotesque, Lovecraftian twist, with a touch of body horror. That’s basically what Scorn looks like, though the devs at Ebb Software say it’s more of an adventure game than a shooter. While the game is open-world, each region has its own character, so to speak. Scorn will be available on 21 October. And with PC Game Pass, that’s when you’ll be able to download it and play,
Pentiment
The studio behind Pentiment is Obsidian Entertainment, which should need no further introduction. As for the game itself, this is a historical mystery RPG which sees the player’s character getting caught up in a series of murders in a town that span over 25 years. As you’d expect from Obsidian, the story is choice-driven, and each one you make will have consequences that affect the town for years to come. For now, the game has a not-too-concrete release window of November 2022, barring any unexpected delays. But when it does, you’ll get access to it via PC Game Pass on the day it releases.
A Plague Tale: Requiem
Asobo Studio’s anticipated sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence, A Plague Tale: Requiem continues where the first game left off. Amica and Hugo have left their homeland and travelled south, where they try to start a new life. Naturally, nothing goes as planned, and the pair of siblings have to flee again, this time to an island. While not an Xbox-made or published game, A Plague Tale: Requiem is still among the ones that will be available on PC Game Pass on day-one. It is set for release on 18 October. Going further into 2023, there are a good number of heavy hitters that are coming day-one to PC Game Pass on their respective release dates. These range from Bethesda’s Starfield and Arkane’s Redfall to the latest entry into Microsoft’s own racing sim series, Forza Motorsport 8. Among the third party big-name titles to also be available on PC Game Pass on release day includes Studio Wildcard’s Ark 2, starring Vin Diesel. Of course, these are just a small number of games coming in the next 12 months. If you’re looking for games that have already been released, there’s a whole catalogue with hundreds of games that you can get access to.
More games than you can play
The whole idea behind PC Game Pass is to be the Netflix of video games. And for the most part, this is true. At the time of writing, there are 416 PC games that are available via the subscription service.
And that’s definitely more games than you can play at any given time. Even if you can manage to squeeze in 30 hours of gaming time a week (two hours every weekday and a mad 10 hours on weekends), you can maybe finish a single short game in that one week. Which translates to between four or five games a month. And you’re only paying RM15 a month for that.
Try games you normally wouldn’t
Having access to this many games for a subscription also means that you can get to try games that you don’t normally play. Chances are, there are a couple of games that caught your eye, but since there’s no demo or trial version, you end up ignoring it.
Being subscribed to PC Game Pass though, makes this a non-issue. This lets you sidestep having to pay prices that can vary between RM100 to RM300 just to risk trying a game that you may end up not liking. This also gives you the opportunity to do this for any number of games that’s available in its library for only RM15 a month.
Great value for money
Both of these points highlight the extremely good value for money that PC Game Pass is as a service. To reuse the examples above, you can potentially effectively only pay RM3.50 for a game, or try any number of full games as if they were free trials.
The Not So Good
Now, hearing the good stuff about anything is not surprising, and it’s no different for PC Game Pass. But having tried it, here’s what we found lacking with the subscription service, despite its great value for money.
Patchwork library
While the 416 games on PC Game Pass make for an impressive number, there are certain parts that are not as impressive. One is the fact that you can’t reliably expect every entry of a franchise to be present. Heavy hitters like the Dragon Age and Dishonored series, sure. Others, not so much. For example, if you were a fan of Warhammer 40000, you’ll be glad to know that the upcoming Darktide is coming to the subscription service. That being said, when you look up Warhammer in the library, there are only two titles available, at least at the time of writing. One is Total War: Warhammer III, and the other is Warhammer 40000: Battlesector. The recently released Chaos Gate – Daemonhunters is not here, neither are the two Vermintide entries, the Warhammer Fantasy equivalent to Darktide. There are other games available for purchase, like Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, but they’re not available as part of the subscription.
Check it out: https://t.co/kS1apQZXfM | #WarhammerSkulls pic.twitter.com/z4z43eJ3mO — Xbox (@Xbox) June 3, 2021 Granted, this is in no way the fault of Microsoft, as the decision to put games on PC Game Pass is on the publishers. But it’s still something to keep in mind.
Rotating availability
While it’s not our intention to make another Netflix for games comparison, it’s especially apt in describing this potential con. Like the movie and TV streaming service, the available games on PC Game Pass gets shuffled and rotated every once in a while. Which means that games that you are currently playing may not necessarily be available a few months down the line. If you’re playing a one-and-done title that’s as short as 30 hours like the example above, then sure, that’s not a problem. But if you’re playing a long game that has endless replayability, like Assassin’s Creed, Dead by Daylight, or Dragon Quest XI, then that could be bad news if it gets rotated out. Microsoft usually announces these library shuffles, so at least you’ll be notified ahead of time. It’s worth noting that Bethesda or Xbox Game Studios titles are highly unlikely to ever be rotated out. All that being said though, these are no issues that are exclusive to PC Game Pass. In fact, it’s probably fair to say that this is a near-universal issue for most other subscription services. But on the flip side, it is the only one of its kind, at least for PC gamers, allowing you to access a vast library of games for a really affordable monthly fee, as well as a promo price of RM5 for the first three months. If all these sound good to you, you can sign up via the official PC Game Pass page here. This article is brought to you by Microsoft.
