Round 8 sees the surreal horror of Alan Wake 2 taking on one of the year’s game pass surprise hits, as Pinocchio-inspired Soulslike Lies of P. I’m going to have to admit some bias out of the gate here — Alan Wake 2 is my personal game of the year, but I’m already steeling myself for an upset here. Our stats show that not many TA players have picked it up yet, while Lies of P had the huge boost from Game Pass. Not that Lies of P doesn’t deserve praise either — it’s a fantastic entry into the Soulslike pantheon. I’m sure Alan can just rewrite the story if he loses anyway.
In an attempt to be as fair as possible, and to stop two heavyweight titles from destroying each other early into the tournament, we’ve seeded the rounds so that AAA games are placed in the top bracket while smaller indies make up the second tier. Hopefully, this will allow for an upset or two. Additionally, with Baldur’s Gate 3 now on Xbox Series X|S, and having picked up a number of accolades at the The Game Awards (including Game of the Year), we’ll be adding Larian’s RPG towards the end of this first round.
This tournament is just a fun way to build discussions about the year’s best Xbox games, so if you prefer a more traditional GOTY vote, don’t worry, that’ll be coming later in the month.
Alan Wake 2
From the studio that brought you Control comes a psychological survival horror starring two protagonists in two very different worlds. Saga Anderson is a gifted FBI agent called to the small Pacific Northwest town of Bright Falls to investigate a series of ritualistic murders. Alan Wake is a writer who has spent years trapped in the Dark Place, a terrifying alternate reality that can be reshaped by his words. Although they have never met, the two are connected across separate realities, their actions able to change their respective worlds.
Lies of P
Lies of P is a thrilling soulslike that takes the story of Pinocchio, turns it on its head, and sets it against the darkly elegant backdrop of the Belle Epoque era. You are a puppet created by Geppetto who’s caught in a web of lies with unimaginable monsters and untrustworthy figures standing between you and the events that have befallen the world of Lies of P.
