As I’ve grown older and my hair has become increasingly flecked with grey, the value of simplicity has become clear to me. I’ve yet to reach the point where I’m purchasing uni-taskers for simple tasks but it has become clear to me that sometimes simple is better.

A few years ago I was a hardcore PC gamer. No product announcement slipped past without me spending far too much time than is reasonable pouring over spec sheets and reading reviews. There were weekends where I would tune the performance of my PC to insure I was getting the most frames out of my computer but these days, the little free time I have would be better spent playing games as opposed to fixing the platform I’m playing on.

When the new generation of consoles were announced last year I was intrigued. The promises being made by Sony and Microsoft seemed incredulous. 4K gaming consoles? Not a chance, that will never happen and even if it did, PCs still offered more raw horsepower than any console could.

Yes dear reader, I have since eaten those words and I’m not even ashamed to admit it.

In October of this year Hypertext was sent an Xbox Series X console by Microsoft. The console is being used to review games but quite frankly it’s increasingly luring me away from my PC and this is why.

Centralised updates

Perhaps one of my biggest pain points with PC gaming in 2021 is the fact that there are several platforms available through which you can buy and play games. For example, while Steam is my main hub for games, I also play games from Ubisoft which requires Ubisoft Connect. The same goes for the Epic Games Store and the Blizzard Battle.net app.

The issue here is that if you aren’t launching these platforms and checking for updates everyday, you are bound to fall behind and one day you may wake up to discover you need to download a 76GB update for a game.

With Xbox, everything is centralised to one update menu. Claimed a game from a sale or contest? There is one place to redeem that code and one place to monitor its download and updates.

While this seems obvious for long-time console stalwarts, for a PC gamer this simple feature makes it easier to manage your games and for that I’m grateful.

Quick Resume is a game changer

When I first encountered Quick Resume it was jarring. Essentially the console allows you to switch between games effortlessly. This requires games that support Quick Resume but so far we’ve used it in Marvel’s Avengers as well as Forza Horizon 5.

The functionality is iffy in Avengers but in Forza it works a treat. While starting a race I realised that the final episode of Foundation had been released and so I switched apps and watched the episode. Upon completion I loaded back into Forza expecting to see the home screen but no, I was at the starting point of the race I had entered before watching Foundation.

This is a fantastic feature and makes quick 15 minute game sessions during a lunch break so much easier.

Performance

To be frank, the Xbox Series X is slightly overkill for my needs. I don’t own a 4K TV and as such all of my gaming happens on a 1080p 144Hz monitor. As I said, overkill.

What this means however is that I can demand the world from this console and it will rise to meet the challenge head on. Games run as smooth as butter and I am yet to throw something at the console and have it resist.

With that having been said, the Xbox Series S would likely have been just fine for our needs and if you happen to be a 1080p gamer as well, then it will suit your needs perfectly as well.

Game Pass

Upon receiving this Xbox Series X we had no games to review and as such we owned no Xbox games. That didn’t matter though as with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate we were up and gaming in no time.

Not only are we able to play Xbox original titles on day one, there is a library packed with the best games from Bethesda and its group of development studios.

The only real problem is that you are so spoiled for choice you can start to suffer from decision fatigue. As far as problems go however, we’ll mark this under the “not really a problem” section.

While there is no shortage of free-to-play titles for PC, and PC Game Pass is available, the offering on the console is just better. In addition, Game Pass Ultimate has special offers such as free access to Crunchyroll Premium for 75 days, three months of premium access to Spotify and more.

All we’re really missing is xCloud Gaming but that is understandable given the lack of supporting infrastructure in South Africa.

With the price of PC components climbing higher everyday, if all you want to do is play games, stream content and even chat to your friends, Xbox Series X and Series S are the platforms of choice.

My PC isn’t going anywhere though, since Destiny 2 left Game Pass for the console this month, I need to keep Ol’ Yella around, although it’s increasingly just for work.