You’re free to explore and tackle objectives in any way you see fit, or simply ignore objectives altogether. Nothing in Sea of Thieves is stringent, from the loose leveling system to the Tall Tales that make up the campaign. More importantly, the gamification leads to a sense of freedom. From looting unexplored islands to piloting your ship with a group of friends, developer Rare manages to gamify every aspect of Sea of Thieves, making each game task engaging no matter how mundane it may seem. It’s not just an open-world action-adventure game with a pirate skin - Sea of Thieves is a pirate simulator. Sea of Thieves puts you in the shoes of a pirate, and not in the same way as Black Flag does (even though that’s still one of the best Assassin’s Creed games ever). This differs from the PC version, which gets the game in the base subscription too.

Fallen Order does require EA Play, which is only included in Game Pass Ultimate on console, not the base version. However, it’s clear Fallen Order‘s difficulty was tuned against the mainstream video game market, not against solely Dark Souls. Because of that, Fallen Order is an enjoyable romp for Souls-like fans while still being accessible to genre newcomers. It has tight swordplay, with tuned parrying and dodging mechanics. When it comes to gameplay, Fallen Order is like Dark Souls light.

The result is a game that’s thoroughly enjoyable for those who couldn’t care less about Star Wars, but with enough fan service to keep franchise fans hooked. It’s the first Star Wars game in a long time that’s concerned with being a good game, not just a licensed one.

Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order stands apart, though. The list of the best Star Wars games is remarkably small, despite the fact that games bearing the franchise name have been released for decades.

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