End of 2019 we got ourselves our very first console (I had consoles as a child in the 90s ~ 00s, then played only on PC and mobile); and it was a Xbox One that came with a digital copy of this game.

I didn't expect anything, and therefore was really surprised: A fun little game in the Star Wars setting, with a captivating story, likable and interesting characters, and a lot of Star Wars nostalgia.

My only downside - I finished this in a weeks time, my playtime says 35 hours, and that includes a lot of travel time (with no waypoints or fast-travel abilities) and my goal to finish the game 100%. I would have liked much more time with it, to be honest.

Update: I gave the game a second run, and wrote a second and more detailed review.

I remember playing and loving this game on the initial Xbox which I never owned but got to play a bit on when visiting my brother. I really enjoyed the game, the world and the story telling back in the days, and I always thought of playing this game once I had the time and chance. Unfortunately, when trying this out, when it got playable on the Game Pass, it didn't catch me as much as it used to; maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it. After a longer break I had lost all interest and picked up another game...

But I want to get back to this one, someday...

During my quest of playing through all Assassin's Creed games, I stumbled upon this little game on the Game Pass. I had heard of this game from colleagues at work - one of them actually took a month worth of vacation on the release date of the game, and when he was back, he and a colleague couldn't stop talking about this game for months to come.

However, I never looked it up and never even bothered - but when I saw it playable for just a month, for free on the Game Pass, I had to try it out. Oh boy, did I make a mistake there... Who could have known, that this game would keep me busy the next 1,5 years, consuming over 430 hours (or 18 whole 24h days) of my life?

And to be totally open with you: I am no Western fan. Not at all. I've maybe seen 3, and those rather by accident then willingly - I might have started more but stopped right after a few minutes... but after playing this, one of the first things I did was look up lists of movie recommendations for RDR2 players :D This game was so good, that the day it ran out of the Game Pass, I went to the next computer store and bought a copy of it. And this game was so good, that I wanted to explore everything possible: I did every side mission, every story I could find, I collected all the things you could collect, I hunted everything you could hunt, I crafted everything at every store possible - heck I even tried to get all breeds of horses ridden in (I think I did it, but as there is no achievement for this...). And never did I feel bored, or bothered. On the contrary. This is next level game telling - this is better than any movie. This is just incredible. I wish there where more games on this level, and I cannot recommend this enough... unless of course you cannot afford the time this game takes... but even then... And believe me, words don't do this justice. Gameplay videos don't either. You have to experience this for yourself!