Weekly Recap – May 9th to May 15th

The news doesn’t stop here at LifeisXbox!

After a busy week for our staff members, there’s a new weekly article for our weekend visitors. We don’t usually publish new pieces or reviews on Saturdays and Sundays (a time we typically spend doing what we love the most: being with our families and playing games!). But thinking especially about you who like to visit us during your weekend, we bring you a Weekly Recap with everything we published during the last seven days and the hot-topics of the Xbox gaming world that were buzzing around in social media this week.

This first article will cover the period between May 9 to May 15.

New releases

This second week of May brought to Xbox players no less than 11 new titles, between indie games, remasters, and AAAs. Here they are:

• Arrest of a Stone Buddha, from yeo. Link
• Death Crown, from CO5MONAUT. Link
• Exodemon, from Kuupu. Link
• Hood: Outlaws & Legends, from Sumo Digital. Link
• Karma. Incarnation 1, from Other Kind Games / AuraLab. Link
• Mass Effect Legendary Edition, from BioWare. Link
• Quantum Replica, from On3D Studios. Link
• Rabisco+, from Green Dinosaur Games. Link
• Retro Machina, from Super.com. Link
• Rift Racoon, from Marcos Game Dev and Ratalaika Games. Link
• Subnautica: Below Zero, from Unknown Worlds Entertainment, Inc. Link

Some of these games are under review by our team, and soon you will get to know more about them.

Older games also received new editions or new content. Check it out:

• Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, from UBISOFT (like if you didn’t already know it), received its first story DLC: Wrath of the Druids. This journey will take you to 9th-century Ireland to gain influence among Gaelic kings. This DLC is included in the Season Pass of the game.
• Apex Legends, from Respawn Entertainment, received a new pack, the Legacy Pack, which includes a new skin and 600 Apex Coins.
• Dirt 5, from Codemasters, received the long-awaited cross-platform online matchmaking, eight new Red Bull liveries, additional Playgrounds options, and ghost lap times. And what makes it even better: for free! Download now your Red Bull Revolution Update!
• Minecraft, from Mojang/Microsoft Studios, received a new update with skins and fire-breathing dragons from Dreamwork’s How To Train Your Dragon! Join Hiccup, Toothless, and all your favorite Vikings in this blocky new adventure!
• From Cryptic Studios, the first MMORPG I played on Xbox One, Neverwinter received a new story update. Sharandar Episode 2: The Soul Keeper is now available for you to explore!
• Gears 5, from The Coalition, has just added some more fuel to the fires of war with Operation 7! This new update brings two new multiplayer characters, new maps, new PVP and PVE mechanics, and a brand new Tour of Duty. You can bet this is where our boss, @Dae_Jim, will spend his weekend.
• Beach Buggy Racing 2, from Vector Unit, received a new package that contains the Hot Wheels™ Booster Pack. If you don’t own the base game, now it’s a great moment to grab it in its Beach Buggy Racing 2: Hot Wheels™ Edition.
• Remnant: From the Ashes, from Gunfire Games, LLC, received a free next-gen upgrade that allows it to run on 4K with 30 FPS on Series X and 1080p with 60 FPS on Series S|X.
• Fishing Planet, from Fishing Planet LLC, has a new Advanced Pack with in-game currency and items. This new pack also composes the new bundle Fishing Planet – Advanced Starter Pack, which is now available.
• Rogue Company, from First Watch Games, has a new Starter Pack for its second season that brings in-game currency, an outfit, and a new weapon.

This week on LifeisXbox

Our editors don’t stop bringing new content to you every week! Here are all the articles published by each member of the team:

Dae Jim

Our Chief Editor reviewed the fantastic (and expensive) Bang & Olufsen Beoplay Portal headset.

Maui

Our Tiny Potato brought us a review to The Wild Case (PC), Heaven vs. Hell (PC), and guess what? She will be on the Belgium Game Awards jury! Such an honor for our marvelous girl!

Mikachu

Mikachu reviewed Beacon Pines (PC) and the promising (but disappointing) Journey of Life (PC).

Rafael

I continued my articles about BIG Festival 2021 with parts 3 and 4 of my coverage. I also reviewed the mysterious Hitchhiker.

Thomas

Thomas, our Certified anime enjoyer, previewed the curious Hoplegs (PC).

Toto

Our Argentinean friend Toto reviewed the interesting Blazing Beaks.

Xen

Xendacine previewed Love Shore (PC) and She Dreams Elsewhere (PC), games featured during LudoNarraCon.

Gamepass Additions

The best gaming service ever created doesn’t stop getting better! This week, Gamepass subscribers received a new batch of amazing games:

• Final Fantasy X / X-2 HD Remaster for console and PCs
• Just Cause 4: Reloaded for Cloud, console, and PCs
• Psychonauts for Cloud, Console, and PC
• Red Dead Online for Cloud and Console
• Remnant: From the Ashes for PCs

Gossip corner

I left a special place to talk about all the rumors about Xbox Studios and all new projects around the Xbox world. Just remember that, since most of the paragraphs here are still rumors, some things may not become a reality.

We have no inside info nor any knowledge about these projects. Our only goal here is to share with our readers the most relevant rumors on the internet. And here are the prominent rumors of this week:

• The Coalition, the studio responsible for Gears 5, changed its engine from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5. It shall take some time until we see any new projects from the studio, but we can already expect that they won’t be available for Xbox One.
• Genshin Impact will come to Xbox. We still don’t know when since it’s not among XboxP3 priorities, but it will come. Eventually.
• Gabe Newell, the ‘father’ of Steam, said that its child will come to consoles until the end of the year during a lecture. We still don’t know how, when, or where, but we know that Microsoft and Steam have a friendly relationship. Could it be a sign that we will get access to Valve games on our Xbox?
• Do you remember CrossfireX, the FPS from Remedy Entertainment? Well, they just confirmed that both the single-player and multiplayer are finished! No release dates have been mentioned so far, but maybe we will see something about it during the next E3. I’m crossing my fingers!
• The IO Interactive Xbox Exclusive Project Dragon has just received a great reinforcement: the senior designer from CD Project Red has been hired to work in this new game.
• New IPs from Arkane Studio and inXile have just been previewed. Arkane’s project is a vampire-themed game by the working name of Omen. inXile’s project is a steam-punk-themed FPS running in Unreal Engine 5.
• Sega announced that they want to bring some old franchises to life again – namely Jet Set Radio and Shinobi among them! As we’ve seen so much love between Sega and Microsoft in the last few months, who knows what can become real from this relation?

Well, that’s it for our first week recap.

Let us know what you think about this initiative and what else you would like to see here.

Have a great weekend. See you next Monday!