Xbox Game Pass: 10 hopeful games for Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC - Polygon

So what do you play, among all the games offered in Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service, to feel a little hopeful in the meantime.

To get excited about the new year, and get ready for the hard work it’s still going to take before things go back to any kind of “normal”.

Nothing is going to be perfect by the end of 2021, but many things have a good chance of getting a lot better.

Here’s what to play to keep your spirits up and your heart ready for the next step.

Outer Wilds doesn’t seem very hopeful when the game begins.

You play as an astronaut who is about to go on their first mission to space, but something unexpected happens as you begin to explore your home planet: The sun explodes, and you die.

Still, this is a game about the end of the world.

Without going into spoilers, Outer Wilds does a good job of puncturing the idea of getting back to “normal”; in fact, it’s concerned with the inevitability of change — sometimes unexpected, violent change — and what it means for literally everything, not just your life or efforts.

The world that existed inside the game last summer was a weird one, with rivers that crawled up the sides of mountains and textures that cast strange, blurry images across the landscape.

But the developers at Asobo Studio told me early on in the alpha period that they were planning for continuous improvement of the simulation in Microsoft Flight Simulator — which they refer to as a platform, not just a game.

The science fiction setting and somewhat repetitive gaming tasks are just set dressing for the real heart of the game: the love these two adventurers have for each other, and what they’re willing to do to stay together.

“It’s a very interesting game as it’s for me the first roguelite game without actual combat.

It’s a solo or coop game where you explore a planet, find stuff, it’s full of surprises, it’s fun, it’s got super cool funk music.

It’s the sort of behavior that’s almost never shown in games, and it makes Haven an inviting game to play if you’re missing human intimacy.

Celeste, developed by TowerFall studio Matt Makes Games, is a hard, frustrating game.

The player will fail often, but Celeste itself is a hopeful game, one in which failures will eventually add up to success.

Madeline is coping with these feelings, seen literally as she takes on obstacles throughout the platforming game world.

That undercurrent in Celeste, as well as its hard but not punishing gameplay, makes the game feel hopeful — like something you can get through.

Spiritfarer is about death, but it’s also a game that feels comforting.

The heart of the game is found within the characters, who are often flawed and complicated.

If you can’t make space safe, if you can’t fix the things that are trying to kill you, all you can do is learn to talk about what you’re going through, be willing to accept help, and offer assistance yourself when necessary.

Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime is a nice reminder that you may not be able to save everyone, but you can make things better for the people in your immediate circle.

But if you’re careful with the things that can hurt you, listen to those you’re close to, and do your best to help when you can.

It’s up to you to explore, talk to folks, paint the beautiful things you see, and learn more about this place and the humanoid animals who live there.

Which is what makes this game so hopeful.

Combat isn’t inherently good or bad, but it tends to be overused in video games, so getting to play a game in which the only goal is to refill your “inspiration” meter by visiting new places and lining up the best shot to paint feels like a validation that there is more to life than a job, school, and obligations.

If you don’t feed your soul, it’s going to wither.

It’s basically a goofy take on The Thing, but weaponized as a social game with multiple levels of strategy.

There’s something amazing about the idea that there are so many games out there, so many titles across so many platforms, that the near-perfect game for every situation seems to already exist ..

You could, of course, choose to be an asshole, but that’s not how I like to play, and it’s not what got the game on this list