Xbox Game Pass adds a new day-one open-world survival-crafting piece that is a 10/10 masterpiece, achieving incredible feats during its tenure on Steam while maintaining Overwhelmingly Positive reviews after 36,000 of them. It’s easily one of the best open-world games on Steam, and now, it’s available on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S (via Xbox Game Pass too, for the latter).
Of course, it’s worth noting that there are also plenty of great open-world games on Xbox Game Pass, but none are quite like this. Fans are no doubt used to the open-world checklists that are everywhere or even the more narrative-oriented open-world games, but the latest has no combat, tons of player freedom, and few typical open-world underpinnings, all while still pulling in tons of praise.
Xbox Game Pass Adds The 10/10 Must-Play Planet Crafter
Alongside its launch on Xbox Series X/S consoles, Xbox Game Pass adds The Planet Crafter as a day-one open-world survival-crafting game. In short, The Planet Crafter flips the usual open-world survival-crafting formula by making the player the architect of an entire planet’s future, using resources to provide for it instead of taking resources to provide for self. After crash landing on a dangerous alien world, players must gather resources, build a base, create machines, and slowly transform the planet from a lifeless wasteland into a place capable of sustaining life. There’s no combat, with gameplay entirely focused on exploration, progression, and evolving the world via oxygen levels, temps, water, and new ecoystems. It’s almost a game like Subnautica but set on a barren planet instead of beneath the sea.
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And while it remains to be seen how the game ultimately lands on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox Game Pass, and of course PS5, it sits at an impressive 95% Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam with 36,000 reviews. Not only could few Steam games hit that volume of reviews, but even less still could do so while maintaining that percentage. Overall, that’s a 10/10 in most players books’ with some nitpicks here and there that obviously do not harm the overall experience. In short, its relaxing gameplay loop, basebuilding, lack fo combat, exploration, and automation game-like nature on Steam were all appreciated by fans.
Xbox Game Pass subscribers get to check the game out at no additional cost than their subscription, so they should be sure to do soon before it’s removed. There’s plenty of time between now and then, but even Xbox Game Pass’ best games are liable to be thrown into a backlog and forgotten about. And removals happen on a periodic basis, with the next removal of Xbox Game Pass games slated for July 31.
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On July 31, Xbox Game Pass subscribers lose Celeste, Crusader Kings 3, Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord, Rain World, and Snipe Elite: Resistance. Many of these games have been on there for years, while one had an 11-month stint, but Xbox Game Pass subscribers should be sure not to sleep on and miss out on The Planet Crafter.