Update: With the announcement of its next wave of Xbox Game Pass titles, Microsoft has confirmed that the below games will be leaving on January 29th.

Original Story:

Microsoft hasn’t announced the next slate of titles that will be coming soon to Xbox Game Pass (aside from Remedy’s Control releasing for PC subscribers this week). However, some of the titles that will be leaving in February have been revealed. A quick look at the “Leaving Soon” section of the Xbox Game Pass Library page confirms that Final Fantasy 15 Royal Edition on Xbox One will be gone soon.

Final Fantasy 15 Windows Edition is also on the way out along with Gris, Death’s Gambit and Reigns: Game of Thrones on PC. Both platforms will be losing out on Sea Salt, Indivisible and Fishing Sim World: Pro Tour as well. So if you’re looking to try out any of these games soon, they’ll be exiting the Game Pass library “in the next two weeks.”

As for what can be expected this year, Microsoft has confirmed that more Final Fantasy titles will be coming to Game Pass this year. While it didn’t explicitly outline which ones, specific launch dates are on the cards at the very least. In the meantime, stay tuned for more details on Xbox Game Pass’s offerings for February 2021 in the coming days.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 15 may have taken its time to finally release, but it’s the gift that keeps on giving. In August, the publisher confirmed that 7.7 million units of the action RPG had been sold. Today, that number is now at 8.1 million units sold, an increase of 400,000 units since last month. The base game, Windows Edition, and Royal Edition all factor into this number.

That’s not bad, especially since Final Fantasy 15 will be just two years old in November. Square Enix will be celebrating the game’s second anniversary at the Tokyo Game Show, which takes place from September 20th to 23rd. Perhaps we’ll learn more about future DLC at the event as well?

Though Final Fantasy 15 launched in a less-than-desirable state for some fans, Square Enix has been doing its part to update it with both free and paid DLC. If you’re curious about the base game though, check out GamingBolt’s official review here.

Square Enix have released the August update for the Windows version of Final Fantasy 15, and they’ve added several new features to the game. Most interesting among them has to be the addition of avatars, which essentially allows players to create custom avatars to play as in the game’s main campaign.

Another new addition is the ability to share photographs you take in the game. Taking photographs with Prompto’s camera is a cool ancillary mechanic in Final Fantasy 15, and players will now be able to share any pictures they take with other players. As an extension of that, players will also be able to “like” each other’s pictures, and you can also earn rewards based on the number of likes your picture has.

You can now also place treasures on the field to deliver it to other players, and what sort of awards both players receive for this will depend on how much time has passed between the treasure’s placement in the field and someone else picking it up. These will appear in the game as yellow crystals. On the other hand, if you spot blue crystals out in the field, those are official limited time treasures, which you can earn once a day as long as you’re connected to the internet.

Patch notes for the August update are below (courtesy of Reddit). Final Fantasy 15 recently hit 7.7 million units in sales, and has thus become the fastest selling game in the series.

NEW FEATURES

• Alter Noctis’ appearance by speaking to Avatara behind Takka’s Pit Stop among other locations. Restore original look in [Main Menu] > [Online] > [Avatara] > [Restore Original Look].
• If you alter Noctis’ appearance, the avatars of other players will be displayed on the field as a “ghost.”
• New [Online Menu] with [Notifications], [Avatara], [User Photo], and [Play Records]
• Official Treasure: Find Official Treasures, limited-time treasures that all user connected to the internet can acquire, and obtain rare items.
  • You will receive a notification announcing when the treasure is available.
  • There will be an announcement with the Winning Numbers. If the Sequence Number you get when you pick up the treasure matches a Winning Number, you’ll receive a special prize. Even if you don’t win, you’ll still receive a small reward.
  • The treasure notification will include details about which items you can get.
  • Treasure can be picked up once every day during the event period. The treasure location will change every time. Check the treasure notification for information about its location and go searching for it.
• User Photos: You can now share photos you’ve taken with other players via the internet.
  • Shared photos will appear in the locations they were shot as User Photos.
  • Shared photos can be rated and given Likes. Rewards are given based on the number of Likes received. The rewards are determined based on the rewards table this is effective at the time the photo was shared. The rewards table is subject to change.
  • You can share up to 10 pictures at a time. If you are gone over the limit, the oldest photos will be swapped for the new ones selected.
  • Inappropriate photos can be reported by users and will be taken down if Square Enix verifies that the report was justified.
  • It may take time before your shared photos appear online.
  • Your photos may be unshared if you do not log in for a certain amount of time.
• User Treasure: You can now leave out User Treasure for other players to discover under [Item Menu] > [Field Map] > [User Treasure].
  • Treasure you place will be shared with other users via the internet.
  • What loot you get from User Treasure depends on how long it had been left out before it was picked up. When someone picks up treasure you placed, you receive the same loot as them. Rewards are decided based on the reward table that is effective when the treasure is placed. The rewards table is subject to change.
  • You can place up to one treasure box in one day. You will not be able to place any more when you reach the limit. The limit resets at 19:00.
• Adjust online content options in [Pause] > [Options] > [Online Content] > [Online Content Features], [Online Content], [Avatar Names]. Specific online content cannot be turned on or off.

BUG FIXES

• Various bug fixes.

KNOWN BUGS

• After speaking to Avatara, you cannot exit out without creating an Avatar.
• Grammatical error in “User Treasure feature has been added.”

The Inpatient

From the same developer of Until Dawn, The Inpatient looking great seemed to be expected. However, as a PlayStation VR title, it goes even further with its tout facial details, atmospherics and lighting. The textures are also impeccable though this should be considered within the context of the PS VR’s power. It may not be the best looking PS4 game but The Inpatient certainly stands out in the VR space.

Final Fantasy 15 Windows Edition is finally available which brings along big promises such as the ability to play its in 4K resolution and up to 120fps. Final Fantasy 15 on the consoles has been a rather mixed case of technical performance. Last year, we analyzed both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X versions and we found the differences between them to be rather miniscule. To recap, the Xbox One X version ran at 3200×1800 resolution without any sort of checkerboard rendering whereas the PS4 Pro build managed to achieve 3360×1890 through checkerboarding. It was a rather strange case, wherein despite having a more powerful hardware, Square Enix were unable to completely utilize the power of the Xbox One X.

With the PC version now out, we decided to give the game a test run. Interestingly, Square Enix have provided specs for 4K gameplay which requires Intel Core i7-7700 or an AMD Ryzen 5 1600X, GeForce GTX 1080 Ti and 16GB of memory. Our test build includes an NVIDIA GTX 1080Ti, 16GB of GDDR4 memory and a Ryzen 7 1700 CPU, which suprasses the 4K requirement. The game features a rather extensive set of graphical parameters which includes the likes of LOD, Shadow Quality, Ambient Occlusion and Filtering. The game also supports Nvidia Gameworks which includes options for Hairworks, ShadowWorks among others.

As expected the game looks rather sharp compared to its console counterparts. Character models, hair effects, draw distances…all are better on the PC port. The fur effects on monsters look amazing, thanks to Nvidia HairWorks. But for some reason or the other, this upgrade is not consistent across the areas we tested. Not only did we witnessed frame rate drops, we also experienced a rather strange blurring issue for distant objects. Final Fantasy 15 on consoles never really did had a great image quality but it’s suprising to see the image quality suffer in some areas the PC version as well. This is specially prevelant while you are driving your car where the blurring effect is clearly visible along with what looks a buggy implementation of 16 X Anisotropic filtering.

This is quite disappointing as the game should basically have no issues on this kind of hardware. Howevere, from a console vs PC point of view, the difference is quite clear. PC trumps both the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X versions by huge margins in terms of several graphical parameters. There are a lot of things here, that simply don’t exist on consoles and for anyone who has a beefy PC, Final Fantasy 15 is a must play game. Hopefully Square Enix will release a patch or two to address the blurry image and performance issues as it could definitely impact the experience for some players.

Final Fantasy 15 Windows Edition is finally available via Steam, over two years after the long-awaited title hit consoles. It’s a very different game from back then and there’s tons of additional content to dig into as well. Check out the launch trailer below.

Along with every single update released till date – including new story content and fixes – the Windows Edition includes Episode Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignis, DLC packs which follow the perspective of your different party members. The Comrades multiplayer DLC for co-op play with friends is also available along with a new map and story expansion for the Insomniac City Ruins.

Then there’s the new first person mode, Armiger Unleashed which promises more “advanced combat”, the Royal Cruiser for exploring the world more (along with quests for the Reglia Type D Off Roader), weapons/car skins and more. That’s not including support for 8K resolution, HDR10 and higher frame rates on PC. What are your thoughts on the game? Let us know below.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 15: Windows Edition is out next week and it’s quite hefty, requiring 100 GB of space as per Steam specifications. To help with that, the company has announced that the PC version is currently available for pre-loading. Download all that content now and you should be able to hop into the game as soon as it goes live.

Final Fantasy 15: Windows Edition includes the base game along with the various DLC released till now like Episode Gladiolus, Prompto and Ignis; the Comrades expansion pack which adds co-op multiplayer; and all the free updates and story additions released till now. If you buy the game by May 1st, then you’ll receive Half-Life crossover content consisting of a Gordon Freeman suit (along with the trusted crowbar) and customization options.

More updates and DLC content is on the way including the ability to swap characters and an episode focusing on main baddie Arydn. In the meantime, Final Fantasy 15: Windows Edition is out on March 6th.

You can pre-load #FFXV Windows Edition right now so you'll be able to jump straight into the world of Eos as soon as the game launches next week on Tuesday 6th March! pic.twitter.com/N4FgBxBb3c

— FINAL FANTASY XV (@FFXVEN) March 1, 2018

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 15: Windows Edition is still a week off from release. However, for those who want to know what they can expect, at least in the opening hours, there will be a demo going live on Steam, Origin and the Microsoft Store.

The demo will include the first chapter of the game along with the tutorial and different quests. Given the nature of Final Fantasy 15’s story and how it changes course in the third act, the demo is meant more to test your PC’s ability to run it. To learn more about the system requirements, head here.

Final Fantasy 15: Windows Edition will launch on March 6th and includes the base game with all the DLC content (including the co-op Comrades expansion). Purchasing the game before May 1st will net you a special Half-Life crossover outfit and signature crowbar. Those who haven’t played the game on consoles can pick up the Royal Edition on March 6th for Xbox One and PS4.

Square Enix’s Final Fantasy 15 Windows Edition promises to surpass all expectations we had for the game visually. Thus far, it’s doing that really well with 4K resolution support, improved textures and 60 FPS frame rates. However, one additional feature seems to be cross-play support with the Xbox One version.

As per the Microsoft Store listing, buying Final Fantasy 15 for Windows 10 will allow one to play co-op with Xbox One players. This is possible through Xbox Live but it also seems that Achievements, cloud saves and whatnot are also saved between the two. The Steam version doesn’t support this of course. Not a bad incentive, especially if PC players want to team up their console brethren.

Final Fantasy 15 Windows Edition is out on March 6th and includes all the DLC released till now, including the Season Pass; a larger map for Insomnia; some extra side quests and new enemies; and first person mode support.

Metro Exodus

4A Games’ Metro franchise has always offered a less than typical shooting experience with its survival elements and bullet economy. Metro Exodus appears to take the franchise even further, as our hero Artyom seemingly embarks across the country with his friends. The gorgeous landscapes, creature designs and weather effects look as great as ever and we can’t wait to see where Metro Exodus goes.