They give with one hand, and they take away with the other. Today, Xbox Game Pass welcomes its latest day-one blockbusters in the form of Evil Genius 2: World Domination (Cloud, Console and PC) and Mind Scanners (Cloud, Console, and PC). But it also pulls a lever and eight other games disappear through a trapdoor.
We remember playing most of these a year ago, when they first arrived on the service. We’re saying goodbye to Call of the Sea (Cloud, Console, and PC), FIFA 19 (Console and PC), Football Manager 2021 (PC), Football Manager 2021 Xbox Edition (Console and PC), Haven (Cloud, Console, and PC), Hello Neighbor (Cloud, Console, and PC), Morkredd (Cloud, Console, and PC) and Va-11 Hall-A: Cyberpunk Bartender Action (PC).
Let’s talk about Evil Genius 2 first, as it’s looking one-million dollars. This is the sequel to the 2004 cult PC classic, and it’s arriving on Xbox after a year of its own kind of domination on PC. It satisfies an urge you never knew you had: to control an evil villain, and have the keys to your very own lair. But you have to hide it too, so you’re also in charge of the ‘front’ that disguises it.
Your lair is your staging point for various nefarious plans, so you best train your evil henchpeople to ensure they pan out how you planned. You’ll need them to defend your base, too, as the do-gooding Forces of Justice are looking to stop you at every opportunity. You’ll have other tools at your disposal, like traps (the venus spy-trap is a classic) and other evil devices. You will need them all if you want to bake Alaska!
Management sims like Evil Genius 2: World Domination aren’t always a perfect fit for console, so we’re curious to see if it’s made the transition in one piece. You can be sure that a review is incoming.
The other newbie is Mind Scanners, which manages to look like a mix of Papers, Please and those Voight-Kampff bits in Blade Runner. You know, when they stare lovingly into your eyes to determine if you’re a replicant. This low-fi indie game casts you as a therapist of the future, and you’re scanning the brainwaves of your patients to determine their major malfunction. By all accounts, it’s a progressive game that takes mental health seriously. We’re confused but curious. Again, a review is incoming.
Alas, the news about retiring Xbox Game Pass games makes the announcement bittersweet. If you have not tried them yet, we thoroughly recommend Call of the Sea and Haven, which both received a hearty 4/5 from the old TheXboxHub. Remember that all games removed from Game Pass are still available from the Xbox Store to purchase, and your progress will continue from when you played them on Game Pass.
So, got any plans for an evil lair? Any animals in particular that you’re going to strap a laser to? Let us know in the comments below. We’re on the usual social channels too.