If you’re planning to visit one of the 11 most popular national parks in the U.S. — two of which are in California — staff might ask a question that could be disquieting: Are you an American citizen?
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior said that the question is being posed only to confirm whether the visitor will have to pay a nonresident fee — which is hefty.
The updates to visitor verification and fees was announced in November by the Trump administration, which said that beginning Jan. 1 it would implement “America-first” entry fee policies.
“U.S. residents will continue to enjoy affordable pricing, while nonresidents will pay a higher rate to help support the care and maintenance of America’s parks,” according to the announcement.
When you present your pass, or if you purchase one at a park entrance, staff must ask for your identification and determine your citizenship status.
According to an internal National Park Service directive obtained by the Washington Post, staffers are instructed to ask visiting groups, “How many people visiting are not U.S. citizens or residents?” The document also stated that “the fee collector does not need to check the identification of every visitor.”
The Times reached out to staff at Yosemite and Sequoia & Kings Canyon national parks for comment; both parks referred questions to the National Park Service.
When is Park Service staff checking a visitor’s citizenship status?
You will only be asked your citizenship status, by way of ID verification, when buying or using an annual pass, officials say.
“National Park Service staff are not checking immigration status, citizenship, or residency beyond what is necessary to confirm eligibility for a specific entrance fee or pass,” said Elizabeth Peace, spokesperson for the office of the secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Peace told The Times in an email that the Park Service had “long required staff to confirm that the name on the interagency pass or fee-based credential matches a valid photo ID.”
The agency’s updated policy is that all digital-pass holders must show a photo identification matching the name on the pass. Acceptable forms of ID include:
U.S. passport
U.S. state or territory-issued driver’s license
state ID
permanent residency card
You can only use a U.S. birth certificate to validate your identity for an Access Pass, which is for residents who have a permanent disability.
Visitors who do not have a U.S. government-issued ID will be asked to purchase a nonresident annual pass, Peace said. Those passes are much more costly.
How much do the passes cost?
The cost of an annual pass, which covers entrance to thousands of recreation areas but not other amenities including camping and parking is:
$80 for U.S. residents
$250 for nonresidents
If a non-U.S. resident is looking to purchase a day-of entrance, it will cost an additional $100 on top of the regular admittance fee, which is $20 to $35.
The increased fees have sparked controversy. The National Parks Conservation Assn. said it backs efforts to increase funding that will support parks but doesn’t want fees to become a barrier “that keeps people from experiencing America’s most iconic places.”
“Charging international visitors more is not uncommon globally,” said Theresa Pierno, president of the association, in a letter to the Department of the Interior, “but any such policy must be designed thoughtfully to ensure it doesn’t cause barriers or even longer lines at entrances.”
In its report, the Post noted that the fees had resulted in longer lines at parks.
Another concern Pierno voiced was how the verification process would affect an already understaffed workforce.
The National Park Service staff has been reduced by 24% since January of last year, which means fewer fee collectors and IT specialists who she said are needed as the new fees are implemented.
Which parks are affected?
The 11 parks that are subject to additional fees for those who are non-U.S. citizens include:
An interstellar comet first spotted passing through our solar system in July is beginning its departure from our corner of the universe — but first it will fly by Earth, and scientists are capturing stunning new images during its approach.Related video above: Why asteroid 2024 YR4 is unlikely to hit Earth in 2032Known as 3I/ATLAS, the comet will make its closest pass by us on Friday, coming within about 167 million miles (270 million kilometers) of our planet, but on the other side of the sun. For reference, the sun’s distance from Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).Comet 3I/ATLAS won’t be visible to the naked eye and the optimal viewing window, which opened in November, has passed. Those hoping to glimpse it will need an 8-inch (20-centimeter) telescope or larger, according to EarthSky.The Virtual Telescope Project will share a livestream of the comet at 4:00 a.m. UTC on Saturday, or 11 p.m. ET Friday, after cloudy weather prevented a Thursday night streaming opportunity, said Gianluca Masi, astronomer and astrophysicist at the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and founder and scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project.The comet is expected to remain visible to telescopes and space missions for a few more months before exiting our solar system, according to NASA.Astronomers have closely tracked the comet since its initial discovery over the summer in the hopes of uncovering details about its origin outside of our solar system as well as its composition. Multiple missions have observed the object in optical, infrared and radio wavelengths of light — and recently, scientists captured their first glimpses in X-rays to and discovered new details. The ingredients of an interstellar cometComets are like dirty snowballs left over from the formation of solar systems.A comet’s nucleus is its solid core, made of ice, dust and rocks. When comets travel near stars such as the sun, heat causes them to release gas and dust, which creates their signature tails.Astronomers are interested in capturing as many observations of the comet as they can because as it nears the sun, material releasing from the object could reveal more about its composition — and the star system where it originated.“When it gets closest to the sun, you get the most holistic view of the nucleus possible,” Seligman said. “One of the main things driving most cometary scientists is, what is the composition of the volatiles? It shows you the initial primordial material that it formed from.”Scientists have used powerful tools, such as the Hubble Space and James Webb Space telescopes, along with a multitude of space-based missions, such as SPHEREx, to study the comet.The SPHEREx and Webb observations detected carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide and water ice releasing from the comet as it neared the sun, according to the ESA.Preliminary estimates indicate that the interstellar comet is 3 billion to 11 billion years old, according to a study coauthored by Seligman and Aster Taylor, a doctoral student and Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellow at the University of Michigan, in August. For reference, our solar system is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old.Carbon dioxide turns directly from a solid into a gas in response to temperature changes much more easily than most elements — which means the comet has likely never been close to another star before its brush with the sun, Seligman said.All eyes on 3I/ATLASThe interstellar comet faded from the view of ground-based telescopes in October, but it remained in sight for missions such as PUNCH, or Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, and SOHO, or the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The object also made its closest approach of Mars on October 3, coming within 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) of the red planet — and the spacecraft orbiting it.While the government shutdown has prevented data sharing from any NASA missions that have observed the comet since October 1, the ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter attempted to capture views of 3I/ATLAS in October.The cameras aboard those missions are designed to study the relatively close, bright surface of Mars, but ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter managed to observe the comet as a fuzzy white dot.“This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,” Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the orbiter’s camera, said in a statement, noting the comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times “fainter than our usual target.”ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, will also attempt to observe 3I/ATLAS in November using multiple instruments despite the comet being farther from the spacecraft than it was when observed by the Mars orbiters. But astronomers don’t expect to receive the observations until February due to the rate at which the spacecraft is sending data back to Earth.“We’ve got several more months to observe it,” Seligman said. “And there’s going to be amazing science that comes out.”X-raying an interstellar visitorComets that originate in our solar system emit X-rays, but astronomers have long wondered whether interstellar comets behave the same.Although previous attempts to find out were made as two other interstellar comets passed through our solar system in 2017 and 2019, no X-rays were detected.But that all changed with 3I/ATLAS.Japan’s X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, observed 3I/ATLAS for 17 hours in late November with its Xtend telescope. The instrument captured X-rays fanning out to a distance of 248,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from the comet’s solid core, or nucleus, which could be a result of clouds of gas around the object, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. But more observations are needed to confirm the finding.X-rays can originate from interactions between gases given off by the comet — such as water vapor, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide — and the continuous stream of charged particles releasing from the sun called solar wind. Comets, which are a combination of ice, rock, dust and gas, heat up as they approach stars like the sun, causing them to sublimate materials. XRISM detected signatures of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen near the comet’s nucleus. The European Space Agency’s X-ray space observatory XMM-Newton also observed the interstellar comet on December 3 for about 20 hours using its most sensitive camera. A dramatic image released by the agency shows the red X-ray glow of the comet.The X-ray observations, combined with others across various wavelengths of light, could reveal what the comet is made of — and just how similar or different the object is from those in our own solar system.
An interstellar comet first spotted passing through our solar system in July is beginning its departure from our corner of the universe — but first it will fly by Earth, and scientists are capturing stunning new images during its approach.
Related video above: Why asteroid 2024 YR4 is unlikely to hit Earth in 2032
Known as 3I/ATLAS, the comet will make its closest pass by us on Friday, coming within about 167 million miles (270 million kilometers) of our planet, but on the other side of the sun. For reference, the sun’s distance from Earth is about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers).
Comet 3I/ATLAS won’t be visible to the naked eye and the optimal viewing window, which opened in November, has passed. Those hoping to glimpse it will need an 8-inch (20-centimeter) telescope or larger, according to EarthSky.
The Virtual Telescope Project will share a livestream of the comet at 4:00 a.m. UTC on Saturday, or 11 p.m. ET Friday, after cloudy weather prevented a Thursday night streaming opportunity, said Gianluca Masi, astronomer and astrophysicist at the Bellatrix Astronomical Observatory in Italy and founder and scientific director of the Virtual Telescope Project.
The comet is expected to remain visible to telescopes and space missions for a few more months before exiting our solar system, according to NASA.
NASA/ESA/David Jewitt (UCLA) via CNN Newsource
Hubble captured this image of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS on July 21.
NASA, ESA, STScI, D. Jewitt (UCLA), M.-T. Hui (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory), J. DePasquale (STScI) via AP
This image, provided by NASA, shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on Nov. 30, 2025, about 178 million miles from Earth.
Astronomers have closely tracked the comet since its initial discovery over the summer in the hopes of uncovering details about its origin outside of our solar system as well as its composition. Multiple missions have observed the object in optical, infrared and radio wavelengths of light — and recently, scientists captured their first glimpses in X-rays to and discovered new details.
The ingredients of an interstellar comet
Comets are like dirty snowballs left over from the formation of solar systems.
A comet’s nucleus is its solid core, made of ice, dust and rocks. When comets travel near stars such as the sun, heat causes them to release gas and dust, which creates their signature tails.
Astronomers are interested in capturing as many observations of the comet as they can because as it nears the sun, material releasing from the object could reveal more about its composition — and the star system where it originated.
“When it gets closest to the sun, you get the most holistic view of the nucleus possible,” Seligman said. “One of the main things driving most cometary scientists is, what is the composition of the volatiles? It shows you the initial primordial material that it formed from.”
Scientists have used powerful tools, such as the Hubble Space and James Webb Space telescopes, along with a multitude of space-based missions, such as SPHEREx, to study the comet.
Gianluca Masi
This photo provided by Gianluca Masi shows the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it streaks through space, 190 million miles from Earth, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, seen from Manciano, Italy.
The SPHEREx and Webb observations detected carbon dioxide, water, carbon monoxide, carbonyl sulphide and water ice releasing from the comet as it neared the sun, according to the ESA.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the interstellar comet is 3 billion to 11 billion years old, according to a study coauthored by Seligman and Aster Taylor, a doctoral student and Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Fellow at the University of Michigan, in August. For reference, our solar system is estimated to be about 4.6 billion years old.
Carbon dioxide turns directly from a solid into a gas in response to temperature changes much more easily than most elements — which means the comet has likely never been close to another star before its brush with the sun, Seligman said.
All eyes on 3I/ATLAS
The interstellar comet faded from the view of ground-based telescopes in October, but it remained in sight for missions such as PUNCH, or Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere, and SOHO, or the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The object also made its closest approach of Mars on October 3, coming within 18.6 million miles (30 million kilometers) of the red planet — and the spacecraft orbiting it.
While the government shutdown has prevented data sharing from any NASA missions that have observed the comet since October 1, the ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter attempted to capture views of 3I/ATLAS in October.
The cameras aboard those missions are designed to study the relatively close, bright surface of Mars, but ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter managed to observe the comet as a fuzzy white dot.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This diagram shows the trajectory of interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS as it passes through the solar system. It made its closest approach to the Sun in October.
“This was a very challenging observation for the instrument,” Nick Thomas, principal investigator of the orbiter’s camera, said in a statement, noting the comet is around 10,000 to 100,000 times “fainter than our usual target.”
ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, or Juice, will also attempt to observe 3I/ATLAS in November using multiple instruments despite the comet being farther from the spacecraft than it was when observed by the Mars orbiters. But astronomers don’t expect to receive the observations until February due to the rate at which the spacecraft is sending data back to Earth.
“We’ve got several more months to observe it,” Seligman said. “And there’s going to be amazing science that comes out.”
X-raying an interstellar visitor
Comets that originate in our solar system emit X-rays, but astronomers have long wondered whether interstellar comets behave the same.
Although previous attempts to find out were made as two other interstellar comets passed through our solar system in 2017 and 2019, no X-rays were detected.
But that all changed with 3I/ATLAS.
Japan’s X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission, or XRISM, observed 3I/ATLAS for 17 hours in late November with its Xtend telescope. The instrument captured X-rays fanning out to a distance of 248,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) from the comet’s solid core, or nucleus, which could be a result of clouds of gas around the object, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. But more observations are needed to confirm the finding.
JAXA/ESA via CNN Newsource
XRISM captured an image of comet 3I/ATLAS in X-ray light.
X-rays can originate from interactions between gases given off by the comet — such as water vapor, carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide — and the continuous stream of charged particles releasing from the sun called solar wind. Comets, which are a combination of ice, rock, dust and gas, heat up as they approach stars like the sun, causing them to sublimate materials. XRISM detected signatures of carbon, oxygen and nitrogen near the comet’s nucleus.
ESA/XMM-Newton/C. Lisse; S. Cabot & the XMM ISO Team via CNN Newsource
The XMM-Newton observatory spotted a red X-ray glow around the interstellar comet on Dec. 3.
The European Space Agency’s X-ray space observatory XMM-Newton also observed the interstellar comet on December 3 for about 20 hours using its most sensitive camera. A dramatic image released by the agency shows the red X-ray glow of the comet.
The X-ray observations, combined with others across various wavelengths of light, could reveal what the comet is made of — and just how similar or different the object is from those in our own solar system.
Northern California storm forecast: Track wind speed, rain amounts for Thursday wet weather
Scroll below to our “Rain” section to find live weather updates.
LIVE AT 8 A.M. AND WE BEGIN THIS HOUR. WE HAVE A LIVE LOOK AT HIGHWAY 50 AT SOUTH RIVER ROAD. IT’S A KCRA 3 WEATHER IMPACT DAY, AND WE’VE BEEN GEARING UP FOR THIS STORM ALL WEEK. ROADS ARE ALREADY WET AND THE MORNING COMMUTE CONTINUES. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. I’M MIKE CHERRY AND I’M DEIRDRE FITZPATRICK. AS YOU CAN SEE WE’VE GOT TEAM COVERAGE. LOTS OF PEOPLE WORKING FOR YOU THIS MORNING IN SACRAMENTO AND THE SURROUNDING AREAS AS WE ARE TRACKING BOTH RAIN AND WIND. LET’S GO RIGHT OVER TO METEOROLOGIST TAMARA BERG NOW TO GET A CHECK OF THAT FORECAST. AND THE RAIN REALLY RAMPED UP HERE WITHIN ABOUT THE LAST HOUR. YOU’LL SEE THAT DENOTED AS YOU LOOK AT THE RADAR SWEEP. AND IT GOES FROM KIND OF A GREEN COLOR WITHIN TWO HOURS AGO. TO REALLY IN THE LAST HOUR, THAT 7:00 HOUR, IT TURNS INTO THAT BRIGHTER YELLOW, INDICATING THE MORE MODERATE TO INTENSELY HEAVIER BANDS OF RAIN PUNCHING THROUGH AS I PAUSE THE FRAME. NOW TO SHOW YOU EXACTLY WHAT YOU’RE HEADING OUT TO TOP OF THE 8:00 HOUR, YOU’LL NOTICE THAT THERE ARE SOME GOOD HEAVY RAINFALL HERE AROUND MUCH OF THE GREATER SACRAMENTO AREA, AS WELL AS EXTENDING HERE IN THROUGH SONORA, WHERE THE RAIN IS REALLY STARTING TO PICK UP TO MORE OF THAT MODERATE TO MODERATELY IMPACTFUL INTENSITY THERE IN TUOLUMNE COUNTY. RAIN’S COMING DOWN PRETTY GOOD. ESPARTO INTO WOODLAND, WINTERS INTO DAVIS, SACRAMENTO, DOWNTOWN, THE METRO AREA. IT IS GOING TO BE A LITTLE SWAMPY IF YOU’RE TRYING TO TAKE OFF AND HEAD INTO DOWNTOWN FOR WORK THIS MORNING. ELK GROVE SHOWING OFF SOME PRETTY GOOD RAIN ALONG WITH GOLD RIVER AND ON UP TOWARDS CAMERON PARK. ROSEVILLE ROCKLIN LINCOLN. EXPECT SOME OF THOSE ROADWAYS TO BE PRETTY WATERLOGGED WITH LIKELY SOME AREAS OF STANDING WATER AT THIS POINT IN THE 8:00 HOUR. ALSO SEEING SOME GOOD SOAKING RAIN FROM COPPEROPOLIS IN THROUGH SONORA AND GOT YOU COVERED HERE ALONG THE 108 STRETCH. RIVERBANK AND MODESTO STARTING TO SEE THE RAIN EASE, BUT HICKMAN AND TURLOCK, IT’S REALLY COMING DOWN, ESPECIALLY ALONG THE HIGHWAY. 132 INTO COULTERVILLE AND HIGHWAY 120 AS WELL. THREE THINGS TO KNOW FOR THE DAY AHEAD. LET ME GET YOU A CAMERA BEHIND ME SO YOU CAN SEE. OH, THAT ONE’S PRETTY MUCH FOGGED IN. HERE’S DOWNTOWN LANDSCAPE FOR YOU. YOU’LL NOTICE THAT THE MORNING COMMUTE IS FILLED WITH STEADY RAIN AND PERIODS OF GUSTY WINDS. IT’S GOING TO BE SOGGY LATER IN THE AFTERNOON WITH PERIODS OF LIGHT TO MODERATE RAIN, AND THEN INCHING OUR WAY INTO THE WEEKEND. I WANT YOU TO PLAN FOR PERIODS OF UNSETTLED WEATHER. IT’S NOT GOING TO BE A COMPLETE BUST OF A WEEKEND BY ANY MEANS WITH A STRONG STORM, BUT THERE WILL BE SOME SHOWERS INTERMITTENTLY INTO YOUR WEEKEND. OUTDOOR PLANS FOR TODAY. PLAN FOR A WET AND WINDY CONDITIONS IN THE VALLEY AND THE FOOTHILLS AND IN THE SIERRA. IT’S PRETTY MUCH GOING TO BE RAIN ALL DAY TODAY AND GUSTY WINDS. THE SNOW NOT ARRIVING LIKELY UNTIL OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. COMING UP HERE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF MINUTES, I’LL BREAK DOWN THE TIMING WITH FUTURECAST AND SHOW YOU HOW MUCH RAIN WE COULD EXPECT TO RECEIVE WHEN THE DAY IS SAID AND DONE AGAIN. THAT’S COMING UP IN TEN MINUTES. RIGHT NOW IT’S 802 WITH THE WET AND WINDY CONDITIONS ON THE ROADS. BRIAN, THERE ARE ISSUES. THERE ARE, AND I’LL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW FOR EACH TRAFFIC INCIDENT THAT I’M MENTIONING, THERE’S 2 TO 3 MORE THAT I’M NOT MENTIONING. THIS TIME ALLOWS. THIS IS A LOOK AT INTERSTATE 80 AS YOU’RE MAKING YOUR WAY OVER TOWARDS HIGHWAY 50. THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE AN OVERTURNED BIG RIG BLOCKING THE TRANSITION RAMP. MIKE TESELLE JUST ARRIVED IN THAT AREA AND HAS A LIVE PICTURE AND REPORT FROM THAT AREA. MIKE. YEAH, AND BRIAN, WE’RE REALLY HERE TO GIVE YOU A VISUAL OF WHAT YOU’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT. WE’RE ALONG WEST CAPITOL. AS YOU LOOK UP. THAT IS THAT TRANSITION FROM 80 OVER TOWARDS EASTBOUND HIGHWAY 50. THIS SPOT IS ALMOST EXACTLY THREE QUARTERS OF A MILE FROM REID AVENUE. SO THAT BACKUP IS SIGNIFICANT TRYING TO GET HERE. THIS IS THAT ELEVATED PORTION THAT COMES UP OVER AND THEN CONNECTS BACK WITH HIGHWAY 50. YOU CAN SEE ALL THE FLASHING LIGHTS AND THE CREWS THAT ARE ON SCENE HERE WORKING TO UPRIGHT AND THEN MOVE THAT BIG RIG. BUT THIS IS THAT ACCIDENT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT, BRIAN. THESE ARE THE EYES WE HAVE ON IT HERE FROM THE GROUND FOR THIS, YOU KNOW, BIG RIG CRASH THAT, AS YOU MENTIONED, JUST ONE OF MULTIPLE INCIDENTS THAT CONTINUE TO KEEP HAPPENING. SO I’M GOING TO GET RIGHT BACK TO YOU TO CONTINUE WITH THAT TRAFFIC COVERAGE. ALL RIGHT, MIKE, THANKS FOR THE LIVE PICTURE FROM THAT AREA. AND AS MIKE INDICATED, IT IS BACKING UP TRAFFIC ACROSS THE BRIGHT BEND BRIDGE ON WESTBOUND 80. YOU CAN GET OVER TO THE CAUSEWAY FROM THERE, BUT IT’S THE TRANSITION RAMP TO EASTBOUND 50 WHERE YOU SEE PURPLE HERE. THAT’S THE AREA THAT’S CLOSED. THIS WAS A BIG RIG AND A CAR INVOLVED IN A COLLISION THERE. BIG DELAYS. WESTBOUND 80. AS YOU’RE COMING DOWN TO THE SPLIT. ONE OF THOSE DELAYS WAS CAUSED BY A CRASH THAT WAS RIGHT NEAR RALEY BOULEVARD. THEY’VE MOVED THAT OVER TO THE RIGHT HAND SHOULDER. IN FACT, THEY ACTUALLY JUST TOOK THOSE VEHICLES OFF AT NORWOOD. SO THAT’S NOW CLEAR. BUT THE DAMAGE DONE, YOU CAN STILL SEE SPEEDS DOWN INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS, NOT ONLY WESTBOUND BUT EASTBOUND AS WELL. 99 NORTHBOUND COMING UP THROUGH MACK ROAD. SLOW TRAFFIC HERE. AS YOU CAN SEE THAT IS GOING TO SLOW PEOPLE DOWN. COMING IN FROM ELK GROVE AND I-5 ALSO DELAYED THERE. 80 A 29 MINUTE RIDE, 50 TO 26 MINUTE RIDE 99 ALSO IN THE RED AT 26 MINUTES, AND I-5, A 20 MINUTE RIDE. THERE’S ALSO A CRASH NEAR 80 IN GREENBACK, WHERE THERE’S AN OVERTURNED VEHICLE ON THE RIGHT HAND SHOULDER THERE AS WELL. SO IF YOU’RE HEADING OUT, USE CAUTION ON THESE WET AND SLICK ROADS. ALL RIGHT, BRIAN, SOME GOOD ADVICE THIS MORNING, ESPECIALLY ON THIS KCRA 3 WEATHER IMPACT. YEAH, IT’S JUST GOING TO BE A ROUGH COMMUTE NO MATTER WHERE YOU’RE GOING. WE’VE GOT METEOROLOGIST OPHELIA YOUNG IN LIVE TRACKER THREE RIGHT NOW. SO WHERE ARE YOU AT THIS POINT? YES. SO I AM STILL ON I-5. I’M HEADED SOUTH THIS TIME JUST PAST THE AIRPORT WE ARE PASSING, I BELIEVE ARENA RIGHT NOW, HEADED DOWNTOWN. LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT I’M SEEING. JUST HIT TRAFFIC NOW. THE RAIN HAS SUBSIDED A LITTLE BIT, BUT IN OUR THREE HOURS OF DRIVING, THIS AREA IS WHERE I SAW THE HEAVIEST RAIN. NOW EARLIER, MY EARPIECE DID DIE, I DID. WE DID PULL OVER SO WE COULD CHARGE THE EARPIECE. AND I’LL TELL YOU, IT IS GUSTY OUT HERE, EVEN THOUGH THE RAIN HAS SUBSIDED A BIT. JUST WALKING AROUND OUTSIDE THAT RAIN IS HITTING YOUR FACE PRETTY GOOD. SO A LITTLE GUSTY. AND EVEN THOUGH THE WIND HAS SUBSIDED, IT’S STILL FEELING REALLY, REALLY WET. BUT RIGHT NOW WE ARE STILL GOING SOUTH. SLOW. AND WHENEVER WE ARE GOING FASTER, THOSE PASSING VEHICLES CAN CERTAINLY PICK UP A LOT OF SPRAY IMPACTING VISIBILITY. NOW, THE HEAVIEST OF THIS RAIN IS COINCIDING WITH THE MORNING RUSH. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT IT IS COMING DOWN IN GOOD INCREMENTS. SO A LITTLE PONDING, BUT NOT TOO MUCH. AND HERE’S SOME BETTER NEWS IS IF YOU HAVE AN AFTERNOON COMMUTE, THOSE SHOWERS SHOULD BE LIGHTER AND MORE SCATTERED. BUT NO MATTER WHAT TIME YOU ARE LEAVING, ALWAYS GOOD TODAY TO LEAVE A FEW MINUTES EARLIER. DRIVE A LITTLE BIT SLOWER AND WE’LL ALL GET TO WHERE WE NEED TO BE. SAFELY BACK TO YOU GUYS IN THE STUDIO. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU. SO YOLO COUNTY CERTAINLY FEELING THE IMPACTS OF TODAY’S STORM AS WELL. LET’S GET TO KCRA 3’S ERIN HEFT THIS MORNING. YEAH. GOOD MORNING GUYS. DRY PERSON AFTER DRY PERSON. HELLO FROM YOUR WET CREW OUT IN YOLO COUNTY. TECHNICALLY. DAVIS, TAKE A LOOK. THIS IS CENTRAL PARK, WHERE ALL OF THE LEAVES ARE COMING DOWN, AND THERE’S A LOT OF WATER ON THE GROUND. WE WERE PROMISED BY OUR METEOROLOGIST ALL MORNING LONG. THAT 7:00 WAS WHEN IT WAS GOING TO GET BAD. NOW, I DON’T WANT TO MISLEAD ANYONE. THIS IS THE LOW PART OF THE PARKING LOT, BUT YOU CAN SEE LOTS OF RAIN. I MEAN, LOTS OF ACCUMULATED WATER IS MORE LIKE IT. YOU CAN SEE THAT LITTLE DRAIN THERE, LOTS OF LEAVES ACCUMULATING AROUND IT. BUT MY GOODNESS, YOU’RE KIND OF LOOKING AT THE ONLY PLACE OF REFUGE IN THE PARK. IF WE WERE SMARTER, WE WOULD HAVE STOOD UNDERNEATH THAT. BUT THAT REALLY DOESN’T TELL THAT. INTERESTING OF A STORY. BUT REALLY, IF YOU ARE IN THIS KIND OF DWELLING AND YOU’RE SHOOTING OUT AND YOU SEE HOW HEAVY THE RAIN HAS GOTTEN OVER THE LAST HOUR, HOUR AND A HALF, IT’S QUITE INTENSE OUT HERE. AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT OUR METEOROLOGISTS HAVE PROMISED ALL MORNING LONG. IT’S ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS IN YOUR CAREER WHERE YOU GO, GOSH, THIS IS JUST A PART OF THE JOB. BUT THIS WATER RESISTANT JACKET JUST AIN’T CUTTING IT AT THIS POINT IN THE MORNING, BECAUSE AFTER ABOUT AN HOUR YOU ARE WATERLOGGED. SO PLEASE, IF YOU’RE SOMEONE GOING TO BE OUTSIDE TODAY AT ANY KIND OF JUNCTURE, BRING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT AND ALSO GIVE YOURSELF SOME EXTRA TIME ON THE ROADS BECAUSE THE PAVEMENT IS VERY, VERY, VERY
A storm bringing soaking rain and gusty winds arrived Thursday in Northern California. KCRA 3’s weather team issued an Impact Day for Thursday because of how wet and windy conditions will affect outdoor activities and travel for the Valley, Foothills and Sierra. RainA few showers began Wednesday evening, but rainfall slightly increased Thursday morning, impacting the morning commute for many. Meteorologist Tamara Berg said some of the steadiest rain could hit after sunrise.Steady rain will taper to scattered showers in the Valley on Thursday afternoon. The Foothills will see a continuous soaking rain all day, with the heaviest rates expected south of Highway 50.The Sacramento Valley will see 1 to 2 inches of rain. San Joaquin Valley totals will be slightly lower. Stockton and Modesto could both see up to 1 inch of rain. Lesser amounts are expected west of Interstate 5. The Foothills will be quite wet, with communities north of Highway 50 seeing 2 to 3 inches of rain Thursday. This includes Nevada City and Placerville. Foothills communities south of Highway 50, including Sonora, could also see 2 to 3 inches of rain. Berg said localized flooding is possible, but it is unlikely that rivers or creeks will be affected by this weather system.SnowThere will be plenty of precipitation over the Tahoe area summits, but most of it will come down as rain with this storm. The snow level will stay above 7,000 feet during daylight hours on Thursday, keeping Donner and Echo summits wet and windy. Cooler air will drain in Thursday night into Friday morning, dropping the snow level to about 6,500 feet, but at this point, moisture will be running out. A couple of slushy inches of snow is expected over the Tahoe summits Thursday night into Friday morning. This could be enough for chain controls and travel delays.Bigger snow totals are expected over the Sonora and Ebbetts Pass. When chain controls are in effect, the speed limit on Interstate 80 is 30 mph. On Highway 50, the speed limit is 25 mph.WindA Wind Advisory will be in effect for the Valley and delta region Wednesday night through Thursday afternoon. Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph are possible during that time, with the peak gusts most likely to occur Thursday morning. Sierra gusts could top 60 mph in wind-prone areas. Gusts around Lake Tahoe will be closer to 45 mph. Wind gusts of 40 mph or more can be enough to bring down weak tree limbs and cause isolated power outages. REAL-TIME TRAFFIC MAPClick here to see our interactive traffic map.TRACK INTERACTIVE, DOPPLER RADARClick here to see our interactive radar.DOWNLOAD OUR APP FOR THE LATESTHere is where you can download our app.Follow our KCRA weather team on social mediaMeteorologist Tamara Berg on Facebook and X.Meteorologist Dirk Verdoorn on FacebookMeteorologist Heather Waldman on Facebook and X.Meteorologist Kelly Curran on X.Meteorologist Ophelia Young on Facebook and X.Watch our forecasts on TV or onlineHere’s where to find our latest video forecast. You can also watch a livestream of our latest newscast here. The banner on our website turns red when we’re live.We’re also streaming on the Very Local app for Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
A storm bringing soaking rain and gusty winds arrived Thursday in Northern California.
KCRA 3’s weather team issued an Impact Day for Thursday because of how wet and windy conditions will affect outdoor activities and travel for the Valley, Foothills and Sierra.
Rain
A few showers began Wednesday evening, but rainfall slightly increased Thursday morning, impacting the morning commute for many. Meteorologist Tamara Berg said some of the steadiest rain could hit after sunrise.
Steady rain will taper to scattered showers in the Valley on Thursday afternoon. The Foothills will see a continuous soaking rain all day, with the heaviest rates expected south of Highway 50.
The Sacramento Valley will see 1 to 2 inches of rain.
San Joaquin Valley totals will be slightly lower. Stockton and Modesto could both see up to 1 inch of rain. Lesser amounts are expected west of Interstate 5.
The Foothills will be quite wet, with communities north of Highway 50 seeing 2 to 3 inches of rain Thursday. This includes Nevada City and Placerville. Foothills communities south of Highway 50, including Sonora, could also see 2 to 3 inches of rain.
Berg said localized flooding is possible, but it is unlikely that rivers or creeks will be affected by this weather system.
Snow
There will be plenty of precipitation over the Tahoe area summits, but most of it will come down as rain with this storm.
The snow level will stay above 7,000 feet during daylight hours on Thursday, keeping Donner and Echo summits wet and windy.
Cooler air will drain in Thursday night into Friday morning, dropping the snow level to about 6,500 feet, but at this point, moisture will be running out. A couple of slushy inches of snow is expected over the Tahoe summits Thursday night into Friday morning. This could be enough for chain controls and travel delays.
Bigger snow totals are expected over the Sonora and Ebbetts Pass.
When chain controls are in effect, the speed limit on Interstate 80 is 30 mph. On Highway 50, the speed limit is 25 mph.
Wind
A Wind Advisory will be in effect for the Valley and delta region Wednesday night through Thursday afternoon. Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph are possible during that time, with the peak gusts most likely to occur Thursday morning.
Sierra gusts could top 60 mph in wind-prone areas. Gusts around Lake Tahoe will be closer to 45 mph.
Wind gusts of 40 mph or more can be enough to bring down weak tree limbs and cause isolated power outages.
Northern California is expected to receive a soaking rain and gusty winds on Thursday.KCRA 3’s weather team is calling Thursday an Impact Day because of how wet and windy conditions will affect outdoor activities and travel for the Valley, Foothills and Sierra. RainA few showers are possible after sunset Wednesday evening, but the heaviest rainfall for the Valley is likely Thursday morning between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m.Steady rain will taper to scattered showers in the Valley Thursday afternoon. The Foothills will see a continuous soaking rain all day, with the heaviest rates expected south of Highway 50.The Sacramento Valley will see around 1.5 inches of rain between Wednesday night and Friday morning. San Joaquin Valley totals will be slightly lower. Stockton and Modesto could both see up to 1 inch of rain. Lesser amounts are expected west of Interstate 5. The Foothills will be quite wet Thursday with communities north of Highway 50 seeing 1 to 2 inches of rain Thursday and Thursday night. This includes Nevada City and Placerville. Foothills communities south of Highway 50, including Sonora, will see 2 to 3 inches of rain. SnowThere will be plenty of precipitation over the Tahoe area summits, but most of it will come down as rain with this storm. The snow level will stay about 8,000 feet during daylight hours on Thursday, keeping Donner and Echo summit wet and windy. Cooler air will drain in Thursday night into Friday morning, dropping the snow level to about 6,500 feet but at this point, moisture will be running out. A couple of slushy inches of snow is expected over the Tahoe summits Thursday night into Friday morning. This could be enough for chain controls and travel delays.Bigger snow totals are expected over the Sonora and Ebbetts Pass.When chain controls are in effect, the speed limit on Interstate 80 is 30 mph. On Highway 50, the speed limit is 25 mph.WindA Wind Advisory will be in effect for the Valley and delta region Wednesday night through Thursday afternoon. Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph are possible during that time, with the peak gusts most likely to occur Thursday morning. Sierra gusts could top 60 mph in wind prone areas. Gusts around Lake Tahoe will be closer to 45 mph. Wind gusts of 40 mph or more can be enough to bring down weak tree limbs and cause isolated power outages. REAL-TIME TRAFFIC MAPClick here to see our interactive traffic map.TRACK INTERACTIVE, DOPPLER RADARClick here to see our interactive radar.DOWNLOAD OUR APP FOR THE LATESTHere is where you can download our app.Follow our KCRA weather team on social mediaMeteorologist Tamara Berg on Facebook and X.Meteorologist Dirk Verdoorn on FacebookMeteorologist Heather Waldman on Facebook and X.Meteorologist Kelly Curran on X.Meteorologist Ophelia Young on Facebook and X.Watch our forecasts on TV or onlineHere’s where to find our latest video forecast. You can also watch a livestream of our latest newscast here. The banner on our website turns red when we’re live.We’re also streaming on the Very Local app for Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Northern California is expected to receive a soaking rain and gusty winds on Thursday.
KCRA 3’s weather team is calling Thursday an Impact Day because of how wet and windy conditions will affect outdoor activities and travel for the Valley, Foothills and Sierra.
Rain
A few showers are possible after sunset Wednesday evening, but the heaviest rainfall for the Valley is likely Thursday morning between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m.
Steady rain will taper to scattered showers in the Valley Thursday afternoon. The Foothills will see a continuous soaking rain all day, with the heaviest rates expected south of Highway 50.
The Sacramento Valley will see around 1.5 inches of rain between Wednesday night and Friday morning.
Hearst Owned
Valley rain totals will likely be over an inch in the Sacramento Valley. Some Foothills communities could see up to 3 inches of rain.
San Joaquin Valley totals will be slightly lower. Stockton and Modesto could both see up to 1 inch of rain. Lesser amounts are expected west of Interstate 5.
The Foothills will be quite wet Thursday with communities north of Highway 50 seeing 1 to 2 inches of rain Thursday and Thursday night. This includes Nevada City and Placerville. Foothills communities south of Highway 50, including Sonora, will see 2 to 3 inches of rain.
Snow
There will be plenty of precipitation over the Tahoe area summits, but most of it will come down as rain with this storm.
The snow level will stay about 8,000 feet during daylight hours on Thursday, keeping Donner and Echo summit wet and windy.
Cooler air will drain in Thursday night into Friday morning, dropping the snow level to about 6,500 feet but at this point, moisture will be running out. A couple of slushy inches of snow is expected over the Tahoe summits Thursday night into Friday morning. This could be enough for chain controls and travel delays.
Bigger snow totals are expected over the Sonora and Ebbetts Pass.
Hearst Owned
A slushy couple of inches of snow may accumulate at the summits on I-80 and Highway 50 Thursday night.
When chain controls are in effect, the speed limit on Interstate 80 is 30 mph. On Highway 50, the speed limit is 25 mph.
Wind
A Wind Advisory will be in effect for the Valley and delta region Wednesday night through Thursday afternoon. Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph are possible during that time, with the peak gusts most likely to occur Thursday morning.
Sierra gusts could top 60 mph in wind prone areas. Gusts around Lake Tahoe will be closer to 45 mph.
Wind gusts of 40 mph or more can be enough to bring down weak tree limbs and cause isolated power outages.
Disney has announced a new way to skip the lines at its parks. But depending on where you go and when, you might have to spend over $400 a day per person to take advantage of the new Lightning Lane Premier Pass.
Disney’s New Post-Apocalyptic Anime Proves The Mouse Has Good Taste
On Wednesday, Disney announced its plans to roll out a new tier of Lightning Lane, a pre-existing program that lets visitors pay extra to skip the lines for certain rides in Disney World and Disneyland. Previously, Lightning Lane Multi Passes, which let you skip the line on multiple rides, cost $32 a day per person, though the price could increase for various reasons. These passes forced guests to select a time to arrive for their “line skip,” which could cause problems if you were late. This newly announced tier of line skipping, Premier Pass, does away with that restriction, but at a steep cost.
As spotted by GameSpot, the new “Premier” pass—which will be available later this month—will cost up to $450 a day per person at Disney World. The price varies depending on the park and when you go, with Disney saying that the highest prices will be found on a “limited number of days over peak travel periods.”
Here are the prices for each park, but keep in mind that you still need to buy a ticket to the park, and at Disney World, only folks staying in Disney World hotels on property will be eligible to buy these new, limited passes.
Disney’s Animal Kingdom: $129 to $199
EPCOT: $169 to $249
Disney’s Hollywood Studios: $269 to $349
Magic Kingdom: $329 to $449
Meanwhile, at Disneyland, the Premier pass will cost $400 per person until December 31. In 2025, the pass will drop to $300 to $400 a day per person, based on what dates you visit.
In 2023, Disney CEO Bob Iger said that the massive company had been “too aggressive” about increasing prices at the parks and wanted to make them more “accessible.” This, uh, doesn’t seem like a good way to do that. And sure, you can argue that people don’t need to buy these passes, that they can just wait in line, but ride queues can get quite long and waiting sucks. Besides, the big appeal of Disney World and Disneyland is the rides! And making it more expensive to actually enjoy them seems like the opposite of making your parks more accessible to more people.
Last week, I posited that the Xbox showcase on June 9 would be the most important in the history of Microsoft’s gaming division. If it wasn’t, that could be because this slick prerecorded show couldn’t possibly compete for historical impact with, for example, the garbage fire that was the 2013 Xbox One reveal event, or the bungled E3 show that followed it. It was confident and smooth in its orchestration, impressive in a way that was almost calming after the awkward anticlimax of Summer Game Fest two days earlier. But it was still immensely significant: for its indication of the seismic publishing power Microsoft now holds, for the questions it answered about Xbox’s future, and for the questions it didn’t.
In fact, the two most telling bits of news emerged outside the boundaries of the show itself. The first was the confirmation, more than a week before the show, that Call of Duty: Black Ops 6will be released on Game Pass on day one. The second, which was not mentioned by Microsoft during its showcase but slipped out in a press release alongside it, is that Doom: The Dark Ages (one of the biggest first-party reveals of the event) is also coming to PlayStation 5.
Between them, these two facts spell out Microsoft’s strategy quite clearly: Game Pass is everything, and Xbox consoles aren’t. Microsoft is doubling down hard on its subscription service, and bringing its new, almost terrifying might as a game publisher to bear on the Game Pass catalog. But the company had little to say about Xbox hardware, and its attitude to console exclusivity for Microsoft-owned games remains ambivalent at best.
Doom: The Dark Ages’ PS5 version was quietly the most significant news of the night.Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks
After the shock release of four former Xbox exclusives on PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch earlier this year, many Xbox fans were looking to Sunday’s showcase for explicit reassurance that Microsoft was still investing in Xbox consoles by getting its vast army of first-party studios to make exclusive games for them. That reassurance did not come. In fact, Xbox console exclusivity was not mentioned once. The words “coming to Xbox Series X and PC” appeared as much at the end of trailers for games in storied Xbox franchises like Fable and Gears of War as they did for multiplatform releases from third-party publishers like Dragon Age: The Veilguard and Assassin’s Creed Shadows. There was no attempt at differentiation on this score.
Reports indicate that Microsoft has “no red line” internally when it comes to which of its games it will consider for release on other platforms, and the wording (or lack of it) used on Sunday shows that the company is keen to keep its options open. It’s striking that Microsoft chose to open the showcase with two heavy hitters that’ll be available on PlayStation: Black Ops 6, which was already slated for PS5 (per Microsoft’s Call of Duty deal with Sony), and Doom: The Dark Ages, which wasn’t.
The Dark Ages’ PS5 release is a clue to how Microsoft intends to handle exclusivity in the short term, at least as far as games from Bethesda, Activision, and Blizzard are concerned. Speaking to IGN after the showcase aired, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said, “Doom is definitely one of those franchises that has a history of so many platforms. It’s a franchise that I think everyone deserves to play. When I was in a meeting with Marty [Stratton, id Software studio director] a couple years ago, I asked Marty what he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to sell it on all platforms. Simple as that.”
Spencer’s explanation — as well as Microsoft’s handling of Minecraft — suggests that Microsoft does not intend to make previously multiplatform game series exclusive. It’s a strong indication that Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls 6, for one, will get a PlayStation release. For everything else, it’s an open question. It might seem unthinkable that Gears of War: E-Day or Fable will come out on PS5, but nothing said (or unsaid) on Sunday indicates that that’s off the table.
Microsoft is keen to ram home Game Pass’ value to subscribers.Image: Xbox
As far as Game Pass goes, however, Microsoft could not have been more emphatic. “Play it day one with Game Pass,” boomed the stinger on the end of trailer after trailer after trailer. Of the 30 games, expansions, and updates featured in Sunday’s showcase, 20 will go straight to Game Pass. Of those 20 Game Pass titles, 13 come from Microsoft-owned studios; nine are scheduled to debut in 2024, eight in 2025, and three have no release windows yet.
Call of Duty, Doom, Gears of War, State of Decay, Perfect Dark, Fable, Indiana Jones, STALKER, Flight Simulator, Avowed… all coming to Game Pass as soon as they’re released. There are blockbuster shooters and role-playing games, strategy and sim games, wistful indies, and, thanks to partnerships with companies like Kepler Interactive and Rebellion, a good helping of AA Eurojank (perhaps the ideal kind of Game Pass game).
In a way, it’s more illustrative to look at what from the showcase won’t be coming to Game Pass. Those 10 titles include big third-party franchises like Metal Gear Solid and Assassin’s Creed; a handful of smaller third-party games; and expansions for Starfield, Diablo 4, The Elder Scrolls Online, and World of Warcraft. Selling DLC for Game Pass-included titles like Starfield, Diablo 4, and TES Online is a big part of the Game Pass business model, so you could still consider those titles under the Game Pass umbrella. (World of Warcraft is the outlier here as the only Microsoft-owned game featured that isn’t on Game Pass at all — and indeed, the only one not available on Xbox consoles.)
If Microsoft has doubts about the commercial viability of console-exclusive releases in the long term, it certainly doesn’t seem to have those doubts about Game Pass. With subscriber numbers seeming to have plateaued (according to Microsoft’s rarely released figures), and with the presumed considerable loss of revenue resulting from rolling a guaranteed seller like Black Ops 6 into a subscription service, many were wondering if Microsoft’s “Netflix for games” approach made economic sense. It’s possible that this debate has been ongoing in Microsoft until recently: Black Ops 6 developer Treyarch told Game File’s Stephen Totilo “it wasn’t that long ago” that the studio was informed that the game would launch on Game Pass. But taken as a whole, the showcase was a resounding vote of confidence in the service, and an indication that it will go on to provide great value to subscribers through 2025 and beyond.
New Xbox console variants with more storage were announced with little fanfare.Image: Xbox
After its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is now the third-biggest gaming company in the world by revenue — and arguably the biggest in terms of intellectual property and publishing might. Sunday’s showcase demonstrated quite convincingly how it intends to fill those massive boots: dozens of solid-looking games in famous, fan-favorite franchises, stretching far into the future. Quality and quantity. The surprise inclusion of a few long-gestating titles that had reportedly been stuck in development hell, like Perfect Dark and State of Decay 3, seemed like a pointed message that Microsoft can be trusted to keep all these projects on track, despite its spotty record in studio management.
But Xbox hardware only got the briefest mention, in the form of three new console configurations and a promise that “we’re hard at work on the next generation.” The rumored handheld announcement did not materialize. And exclusivity remains a glaring open question.
Regarding Microsoft’s position in the broader game industry, it seems we have our answer: It’s now a publisher first, a subscription platform second, and a console hardware platform a distant third.
Arguably the biggest addition, though, is Diablo 4 on March 28, the first new Activision Blizzard title to hit Game Pass since Microsoft’s acquisition of the company was completed last year. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said that players shouldn’t expect all Activision Blizzard games to drop onto Game Pass the moment the deal was finalized, but this signals the start of more additions to come. New Diablo 4 players will also have plenty of time to play this RPG for dozens of hours before the paid DLC Vessel of Hatred releases later this year.
There’s also Supermassive Games’ The Quarry, a previous PS5 console exclusive and spiritual successor to Until Dawn. This time, a group of teenage counselors have to survive a night at an abandoned camp while being stalked by violent creatures and mysterious locals. As the player, you have to make a series of choices on behalf of all the characters to try and ensure everybody makes it out alive. (Spoiler alert: It’s very unlikely you will succeed.)
If none of those games are for you, this is still a very packed list of new titles for the rest of March into April. Here’s the full list:
Lightyear Frontier (Game Preview) (Cloud, PC, and Xbox Series X|S) — March 19
MLB The Show 24 (Cloud and Console) — March 19
The Quarry (Cloud and Console) — March 20
Evil West (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 21
Terra Invicta (Game Preview) (PC) – March 26
Diablo IV (Console and PC) – March 28
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 – Turbocharged (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 28
Open Roads (Cloud, Console, and PC) – March 28
Ark: Survival Ascended (Cloud, PC, Xbox Series X|S) – April 1
F1 23 (Cloud) EA Play – April 2
Superhot: Mind Control Delete (Cloud, Console, and PC) – April 2
As you can imagine, with the release of MLB The Show 24, last year’s MLB The Show 23 will be leaving Xbox Game Pass at the end of the month, along with two other games:
Hot Wheels Unleashed (Cloud, Console, and PC)
Infinite Guitars (Cloud, Console, and PC)
MLB The Show 23 (Cloud and Console)
Xbox Game Pass costs $10.99 a month, while PC Game Pass costs $9.99 a month. PC Game Pass includes EA Play access, which offers another 70 games on PC. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, at $16.99 per month, gives subscribers access to everything — the PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass libraries, EA Play on both console and PC — as well as access to online multiplayer. Xbox Game Pass Core (formerly called Xbox Live Gold) costs $9.99 per month or $59.99 per year.
Palworld, the game that looks like, “Pokémon, but with guns,” was released Friday and is already one of the biggest releases of the year.
According to its developer, Pocketpair, the game has sold over one million copies within “about” eight hours of its release. Pocketpair shared the impressive sales number via X, but did not add any further clarification as to what that sales number included. Palworld launched to both Steam and Xbox Games Pass, so it’s unclear if that number includes copies of the game that Xbox Game Pass subscribers download as part of the service.
Polygon reached out to a representative of Pocketpair and asked the team to clarify what the sales number included. We will update the article as we hear back.
Regardless if the sales number counts the Xbox Game Pass downloads or not, Palworld has had an absolutely massive release day. According to Steam Charts, the game has over 340,000 concurrent players on Steam on Friday afternoon, beating out other popular titles like PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Baldur’s Gate 3.
Palworld has been drumming up buzz for a long time now. Basically it stuck out for the contrast between its cute creatures and brutal conditions — previous trailers have shown its adorable monsters fighting with military-grade machinery and creatures toiling away in factories. It basically looks like a militarized Pokémon game, but with additional survival elements as well.
City-building survival game Frostpunk 2 will put settlers in the same perilous conditions as the first game — in a time of ice age, where the environment becomes bleaker and bleaker. But, according to a new gameplay trailer, it looks like it will up the ante from the original game’s unforgiving, dystopian conditions. The sequel is slated to come out sometime in the first half of 2024 on PC, and will debut on Game Pass.
In Frostpunk, you manage a city of settlers in a town near London during the industrial revolution, weathering a cataclysmic environmental event. Ice storms have ravaged most of humanity; you must find a way to keep the generators for heat, while assigning workers and making constant tradeoffs in order to keep people fed, housed, and, most of all, alive. The game’s motto was “The city must survive” — your citizens believe they are some of the last living humans, and letting the generator die means freezing to death.
Frostpunk 2, which is set 30 years after the original, takes these ideas and runs with them — the city has lasted this long, the motto is now “The city must not fall.” It looks as if each of the core conceits of the original game got a glow-up. The top-down design of the city is just as vivid and picturesque. But the gameplay trailer reveals more sophisticated UI features in the building layout, including what appear to be design elements related to new heating technologies. When Frostpunk 2 was first announced in 2021, the announcement trailer noted generator technology evolved to run on oil — but that these upgrades would come at a price.
In Frostpunk 2, players must navigate political conflict and worker rebellion. It appears workers now have agency to fight back against the Steward’s — that’s you, the player — choices, in the form of voting things down. The gameplay trailer shows the inside of a civic building, in which workers vote on equal pay. The trailer also shows off a few narrative flashpoint moments, where citizens ask for specific things, or voice specific complaints: At one point, a miner named Ian Mactavish shouts “where are the homes you’ve promised.”
That might be the most frightening bit this sequel promises, honestly — being able to put faces and names to the working population. The original game gave you basically no good choices: You’re forcing people to work 18 hours, feeding them sawdust, and attempting to puzzle out whether militarism or religion is the best way to enforce adherence. It looks like in the sequel, you’ll have to face the brutal consequences of your choices.
It’s been more than a decade since Crystal Dynamics, the developer best known for the Tomb Raider series, first introduced players to its reimagined take on Lara Croft. 2013’s Tomb Raider painted Lara as someone capable of adapting and overcoming nearly any situation while maintaining a level of emotional depth and self-awareness, a quality the game’s sequels would go on to further explore.
The original was an excellent game that I’ve completed on no fewer than three occasions, and while her most recent outing, 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider, has its merits, I still stand by 2015’s Rise of the Tomb Raider as the most engaging and interesting version of Lara Croft for how it emphasizes her vulnerability. The result is a story that combines all the hallmarks of what you’d expect from a great Tomb Raider game: suspenseful supernatural elements and a thrilling and romantic notion of archaeology, all tied together with an intriguing and surprisingly emotional story.
Image: Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix
Following the events of the first game, Lara is still traumatized by her trial by fire on the island of Yamatai and her father’s recent disappearance. Her quest to find her father and restore her family’s legacy leads her to the frigid peaks of Siberia and into the path of Trinity, a “Knights Templar meets military contractor” organization with a pseudo-religious goal of world domination. Unfortunately, this places Lara alone in the unique position to foil their plot, by saddling her with a truth that no one else will believe.
Lara fully understands the gravity of the situation, but never lets this inflate her ego. Instead, she’s more preoccupied with the specter of death that inevitably follows her attempts to do the right thing. Lara can never fully atone for how her choices led to the deaths of so many close to her in the past, regardless how well equipped or tough she is. This theme is so pervasive, it even echoes in Rise’s gameplay by presenting us with a Lara who needs to be more resourceful and cunning to overcome her environment.
Image: Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix
Rise of the Tomb Raider doesn’t quite elevate Lara to the level of apex predator we get in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but she’s clearly far more capable than she was in her first adventure. The result is a character in the midst of becoming the Lara Croft known to players around the world, a more confident and prepared protagonist who can still be humbled. This version of Lara shines when she’s on the back foot, and Rise of the Tomb Raider does everything it can to keep her off balance with a more capable foe and a relentlessly adversarial environment.
I’ll admit that on its standard difficulty, Rise of the Tomb Raider doesn’t present much of a challenge. Because of that, I consider Survivor Mode, the hardest difficulty, to be the definitive Tomb Raider experience. While you won’t succumb to starvation or dehydration, at this difficulty, the player’s health doesn’t regenerate, checkpoints are disabled, and foes are far more deadly. As if that wasn’t enough, by default, the game also will not highlight interactable items in the environment. While you can turn on the “Survival Instincts” at any time during your playthrough, dialing down the difficulty isn’t an option, which further reinforces that there’s no going back once the journey starts.
Image: Crystal Dynamics/Square Enix
This dialed-up difficulty has the benefit of making the game more immersive and forcing you to carefully consider and prepare for every encounter. A handful of bad guys normally wouldn’t be an issue, but when just a couple of bullets can put Lara in the ground, things get a little more tense. For an added challenge, I like to rely almost exclusively on stealth kills and Lara’s trusty bow during combat, resorting to firearms only when absolutely necessary.
Rise of the Tomb Raider still keeps some of the Metroidvania elements of its predecessor to guide you along its critical path, while the world feels more open and encourages exploration of its various regions. This is further reinforced by a more robust crafting system, which forces you to scrounge and hunt for many of the materials you need to upgrade your gear. The tomb puzzles hidden throughout the world aren’t quite as challenging as those found in Shadow of the Tomb Raider, but still do a great job at shaking things up between scavenging and combat encounters.
2013’s Tomb Raider did a fantastic job of establishing Lara as a character, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider makes for a fitting capstone to the latest trilogy. But for me, Rise of the Tomb Raider was the peak of Crystal Dynamic’s trilogy. Beyond its challenging gameplay, Rise offers a robust and complex narrative that shows us that the personality archetype of badass archeologist doesn’t have to constantly revolve around snappy one-liners.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is available on Xbox Game Pass.
A decade later, Frozen is still a pretty incredible looking movie. Despite accusations of Disney Face and a slew of movies that have aped its art style, Disney’s landmark 2013 film remains a pretty astounding display of digital animation prowess. Among the many fantastic looking elements, perhaps the most impressive is the snow. But Frozen’s snow has done more than simply look pretty — the technology that Disney used to make it helped solve the decades-old mystery of Dyatlov Pass.
For those who don’t know, the Dyatlov Pass incident is a hiking tragedy that happened in Russia’s Ural Mountains in 1959. A group of nine people were discovered dead a few weeks after pitching their tent in the snowy slopes. What was particularly haunting about the bodies, however, was the state in which they were found [Ed. note: This description is a little graphic]: Several seemed to have been dragged many feet from the campsite, while others were even further away. Some were discovered in various states of undress, injury, and disfigurement, missing eyeballs or tongue, and with cracked ribs and skulls. The bodies were also, bizarrely, lightly irradiated. In other words, it seemed like a graphic and grisly massacre, but no one could provide an explanation that exactly fit the facts.
That mystery made space for decades of fantastical theories to crop up, including Yetis, aliens, wild animals, infrasound, the Soviet military, or (most boring and plausible) an avalanche. But for years, the avalanche theory was considered an insufficient explanation. In the initial investigation, and several subsequent ones, researchers found none of the typical evidence that might suggest an avalanche had been triggered. But in 2019, a group of physicists determined that an extremely small avalanche could technically be possible in that area.
Image: Walt Disney Animation Studios
The next question for researchers was whether or not an avalanche of that size could really cause the kinds of injuries the nine victims were found with — and that’s exactly where Frozen comes into play.
When Johan Gaume, head of the Snow Avalanche Simulation Laboratory at EPFL, a Swiss federal technical institute, saw Frozen, he was immediately impressed with the way the snow in the movie moved. So impressed, in fact, that he met with Disney to talk about the animation technology they used to create it. Gaume then augmented the code slightly in order to create a more realistic model for how an avalanche of that size might look and behave, and more importantly how it might impact and injure a human body.
Between the Frozen code, his own simulations, and some old crash-test data from General Motors, Gaume and his team determined that a small avalanche actually could be enough to create the kind of blunt-force trauma injuries suffered by the victims of Dyatlov’s tragedy. According to their research, an avalanche of that size, in those specific conditions could do things like break ribs or cause serious head injuries, or even enough soft tissue damage to result in death — unlike most avalanche victims, who tend to die of asphyxiation.
Image: Walt Disney Animation Studios
But while Gaume’s model does give some compelling support to the avalanche theory, it can’t quite account for all of Dyatlov’s Pass’ mysteries. For instance, why were the bodies irradiated (possibly due to thorium present in some camping lanterns, but unconfirmed) or what happened to the eyes and tongues of certain members of the group (possibly scavenged by animals, though there aren’t many other signs that point to that on the bodies). Another of the ongoing mysteries is why exactly the bodies were so far from the camp or why they were undressed — though various kinds of panic and hypothermia could potentially account for that.
But at the end of the day, we’re still one step closer to figuring out the answers that have eluded researchers for years, and it’s all because of Frozen.
Honestly, Disney should lean into it. Frozen 3 and Frozen 4 are on the way — what’s keeping the House of Mouse from realistically modeling radiation spread, katabatic winds, and possibly the alpine speed of a Yeti?
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service is having another banner year in 2023, with over 450 games now available for console players and over 400 for PC players.
The service has recently been bolstered with the addition of two huge Xbox Game Studios exclusives, Starfieldand Forza Motorsport, while Cities: Skylines 2 is a big-deal day one addition for the PC crowd. Atlus’ JRPG classics Persona 4 Goldenand Persona 3 Portable made their debut on Xbox consoles earlier in the year, and Tango Gameworks’ surprise release Hi-Fi Rushtold a cathartic rock ’n’ roll story with clever mechanics. Blockbuster titles are well represented with the likes of Assassin’s Creed and Hitman, cult favorites like Lies of P popped up, and Game Pass has continued its strong tradition of curating the best of the indie world with the likes of Cocoon. Even Grand Theft Auto 5 — and its extremely popular online mode — has returned to the service once more. That’s a lot of “free” video gaming to be done!
With the sheer size and the bounty of choice it offers, Game Pass can be a bit overwhelming to digest. But we’re here to help. Here are the 25 PC and Xbox Game Pass games that you should be checking out if you subscribe to Microsoft’s flagship service.
[Ed. note: This list was last updated on Oct. 24, 2023, adding Cocoon, Lies of P, and Party Animals. It will be updated as new games come to the service.]
Assassin’s Creed Origins
Image: Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft
Assassin’s Creed Originshas always been good — but it was only in hindsight, three years after its release, that I began to consider it great.
It’s a phenomenal concoction of historical tourism, sci-fi storytelling, and open-ended combat. It also displays a confidence that the more recent Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla can only partially match. Whereas the two most recent entries embrace the insecure ethos of “content” that has so defined the last decade of open-world games, Origins is content to leave vast swaths of its world empty and to let things burn slowly, in ways both narrative and explorative. Its map unfurls over deserts, mountains, oases, and sun-swept cities slowly being buried in sand, all while its two central figures (Bayek and Aya) navigate one of video games’ most compelling romances.
It’s not completely averse to daily challenges and cosmetic DLC packs. But it’s the rare open-world game that trusts my attention span. It understands that pastoral beauty and tragic storytelling, successfully interwoven, are worth more than any number of distractions its successors can throw at me. —Mike Mahardy
Assassin’s Creed Origins is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Image: Greg Lobanov/Finji
Chicory: A Colorful Tale tells the story of a small dog who accidentally inherits a magical paintbrush. As you travel around the black-and-white open world, you use your new paint powers to bring color back to the environments. Everything is your canvas, and you can color it all to both solve puzzles and customize the setting to your liking.
The gameplay of Chicory is cute and relatively simple, even as you unlock new powers. But the reason it made it to the No. 2 slot on Polygon’s 2021 Game of the Year list is the story it tells about the destructive powers of self-doubt — the way it cruelly infects even the greatest artists out there.
Chicory is a game that’s not about coloring in the lines or even making something beautiful. It’s about making something — painting something, in this case — that you are proud of, that makes you happy. And if that creation also brings joy to those around you? Hey, that’s great too. —Ryan Gilliam
Chicory: A Colorful Tale is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Cities: Skylines
Image: Colossal Order/Paradox Interactive
There’s a reason Cities: Skylines is often held up by literal city planners as the pinnacle of the genre: It doesn’t fall into the trap most city-builders do of treating all its resources and systems as mere data points on a list, gaming by way of a spreadsheet. Cities: Skylines is the real deal, letting you get into the weeds of urban micromanagement and understanding how and why metropolises morph in response to the needs of their citizens. (It’s also proof that planned cities are a crime against humanity.)
Cities: Skylines forces you to grapple with the beautiful, messy truth of what your citizens are: people. In other words, Eric Adams, please play Cities: Skylines! —Ari Notis
Cities Skylines is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Citizen Sleeper
Image: Jump Over the Age/Fellow Traveller
Citizen Sleeper is a hyper-stylized tabletop-like RPG set in space. In a capitalist society, you find yourself stuck on a space station. You’ll need to manage your time, energy, and relationships to survive the collapse of the corporatocracy and the anarchy that follows. You’ll roll dice and make decisions to get paid and help those around you.
Aside from its interesting setting, Citizen Sleeper features a vibrant cast of impactful characters, making each interaction memorable. It follows an excellent trend of table-top inspired games to encourage you to find your own objectives, and to revel in the story when things fall apart. It’s packed with tense decisions, great writing, and striking visuals. —Ryan Gilliam
Citizen Sleeper is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Cocoon
Image: Geometric Interactive/Annapurna Interactive via Polygon
A mysteriously beautiful, exquisitely paced puzzle adventure from some of the minds behind Limbo and Inside, Cocoonshares those games’ wordless delivery and stark aesthetic. But it’s more abstract and contemplative, and perhaps even more involving. It’s a game of pocket universes, one inside another, inhabited by buglike techno-organic life-forms — including the player character, a scurrying little beetle-thing. The conceit is that you can step up out of one reality and move it around another on your back, in a gently glowing sphere that also interacts with the world around it, before diving back in — or swapping it for another entirely.
Like so many puzzle adventures, it’s essentially a game of locks and keys, plus the occasional ingenious boss fight. But like the very best of them — Fez, for example, or Portal — Cocoon plays games with perception and reality that rewire your brain in pleasantly tortuous ways. —Oli Welsh
Cocoon is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Crusader Kings 3
Image: Paradox Interactive via Polygon
Imagine if Succession unfolded between the years 867 and 1453, in the throne rooms, banquet halls, and torchlit back corridors of European castles. Monarchs rise and fall, small-time fiefdoms become bona fide kingdoms, and nonmarital children exact revenge after decades of being shunned. Crusader Kings 3is the story of the Roy family if we could pick any character, see them through to their death, and assume control of their orphaned heir — at which point, we can completely alter the course of the dynasty through petty gossip and underhanded murder attempts.
In Paradox Interactive’s vast suite of grand strategy games with complex systems that give way to thrilling emergent storytelling, none have made me cackle with glee quite as much as Crusader Kings 3. In one playthrough, I wed my firstborn son to the daughter of a powerful neighboring king, only for said daughter to declare a holy war on me one decade later. In another, I strong-armed one of my vassals into remaining loyal, shortly before knighting his cousin and sworn rival; I didn’t want to be a jerk, but my characters were jerks. I was just following the script down the path of least resistance.
Much like Succession, Crusader Kings 3 is at its best when tensions finally boil over between the emotionally stunted members of a dysfunctional family. Unlike Succession, though, Crusader Kings 3 never has to end. —Mike Mahardy
Crusader Kings 3 is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Death’s Door
Image: Acid Nerve/Devolver Digital
Death’s Door is a cute little Soulslike game. You play as a raven who works as a kind of grim reaper for the bureaucratic arm of the afterlife. It’s your job to adventure in the world and claim the lives of a handful of bosses. The world of Death’s Door is charming, as are its characters, with excellent dungeons to explore and puzzles to solve. There are also giant enemies who will test both your skills and patience.
Still, Death’s Door has a friendly air around it. It wants you to succeed, and does a nice job easing you along with easy-to-read enemy and boss patterns. It’s a great, challenging Game Pass game to cut your teeth on before venturing into even more difficult titles. —Ryan Gilliam
Death’s Door is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Doom (2016)
Image: id Software/Bethesda Softworks
2016’s Doom builds off of one of the oldest franchises in gaming history with speed, acrobatics, and an absolutely killer soundtrack. Doomguy moves extremely quickly, swapping between a variety of guns, grenades, melee attacks, and a giant chainsaw to blow up demons off of Mars.
The game is bloody, metal as hell, and surprisingly funny. Doom makes you feel like a god, capable of clearing any hurdle the game could throw at you, and it doesn’t offer a single dull level in its lengthy campaign. —Ryan Gilliam
Doom (2016) is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Forza Horizon 5
Image: Playground Games/Xbox Game Studios via Polygon
Forza Horizon 5 is the latest racing game to land on Xbox and Game Pass. It’s a visual feast filled with some of the most realistic-looking cars you’ve ever seen. But anyone who loves any of these Forza games will tell you that the Horizon series is so much more than its graphics.
Horizon 5 takes place in a fictionalized Mexico, and gives you the freedom to drive around a massive map in whatever car you want. You can drive a nice sports car while off-roading, or drive a hummer off a massive ramp.
Forza Horizon 5 gives you the freedom and choice to drive how and where you want inside a legion of incredible cars. —Ryan Gilliam
Forza Horizon 5 is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Grand Theft Auto 5
Image: Rockstar North/Rockstar Games
Grand Theft Auto 5 is one of the most celebrated games of the last decade. In that time, it has appeared on three different generations of consoles, seen numerous graphical improvements, and gotten new modes, like its sweeping first-person alteration.
The main story focuses on three criminals from three very different backgrounds bumbling their way through numerous heists in the city of Los Santos — a fictional version of Southern California. And in order to tell the stories of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor, the game implements a feature that allows you to swap between the protagonists at will, offering a new perspective on the city and letting you play multiple roles per heist.
Grand Theft Auto games usually live long past their time, but GTA 5 has remained especially relevant due to GTA Online, the sprawling MMO-like experience that Rockstar Games created inside the world of San Andreas. It’s the massive GTA 5 sandbox — plus a little extra — without any of the constraints found in the story mode.
The parts of GTA 5 that annoy — such as the more misguided aspects of its American commentary, or the occasional tailing mission — are distant memories compared to the chaos you can cause every five minutes. If futzing around a semi-realistic metropolitan area is something you really enjoy, it’s hard to imagine anything on this list entertaining you for as long as Grand Theft Auto 5 will. —Ryan Gilliam
Grand Theft Auto 5 is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Halo: The Master Chief Collection
Image: 343 Industries/Xbox Game Studios
The Xbox brand might never have taken off without the Halo series, the first-person shooters that helped to popularize local competitive multiplayer on consoles before taking the party online after the launch of Xbox Live. The Master Chief Collection package includes multiple Halo games, all of which have been updated to keep them enjoyable for modern audiences.
But what’s so striking about the collection is how many ways there are to play. You can go through the campaigns by yourself. If you want to play with a friend but don’t want to compete, there is co-op, allowing you to share the games’ stories with a partner, either online or through split-screen play. If you do want to compete, you can do it locally against up to three other players on the same TV, or take things online to challenge the wider community.
These are some of the best first-person shooters ever released, and they’re worth revisiting and enjoying, no matter how you decide to play them. Sharing these games with my children through local co-op has been an amazing journey, and this package includes so many games, each of which is filled with different modes and options. It’s hard to imagine ever getting bored or uninstalling the collection once it’s on your hard drive.
This is a part of gaming history that continues to feel relevant, and very much alive. —Ben Kuchera
Halo: The Master Chief Collection is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Image: Blackbird Interactive/Focus Entertainment
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is another game poking fun at corporate greed and its general indifference toward the working class — seen in other excellent building games like Satisfactory. But Hardspace takes it further than just tongue-in-cheek poking by asking: What happens when the workers have had enough? Hardspace: Shipbreaker’s pro-union message is a delightful backdrop for an incredibly deep and stress-filled puzzle game.
As a Shipbreaker, your job is to break apart and recycle small spaceships. With your handy welding tools and futuristic gravity tethers, you’re able to carefully carve up these once-great hulks and repurpose them for the future. Sometimes that means throwing all the metal plates into the furnace to be melted down, and other times you’ll need to comb through the skeletons, grab salvageable items, and extract them still intact.
As you improve your skills, the game will test you with harder and larger ships. Suddenly, you’ll have to start worrying about the active nuclear reactors that are still in these vehicles, or pressurized cabins that explode if you open them in the wrong order.
And all of this danger circles Hardspace: Shipbreaker back to the conversation it starts at the very beginning. Hardspace is a game about focus, and how taking your eye off the ball for even a second can end in explosive death, or worse: a career spent toiling under forces that couldn’t care less about you. —Ryan Gilliam
Hardspace: Shipbreaker is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Hi-Fi Rush
Image: Tango Gameworks/Bethesda Softworks via Polygon
Rhythm games, for players who prefer to shoot, dodge, punch, and jump on their own time, can be a tough sell. But such is not the case with Hi-Fi Rush, the action game from Ghostwire: Tokyo developer Tango Gameworks. It provides an array of visual cues to help rhythmically challenged players, but crucially, it doesn’t require that protagonist Chai attacks according to the game’s metronome. Instead, its rhythm elements are an optional layer to interact with, offering score chasers something to aspire to. For everyone else, the game’s vibrant world, rock n’ roll storytelling, and entrancing traversal stand well enough on their own. It’s a cathartic triumph of a game.—Mike Mahardy
Hi-Fi Rush is available via Game Pass on Windows PC and Xbox Series X.
Hitman World of Assassination
Image: IO Interactive
Hitman, Hitman 2, and Hitman 3 are some of the best sandbox puzzle games ever made. As Agent 47, you’ll climb buildings, sneak around parties, and murder spies and debutantes with all manner of tools. Hitman World of Assassination includes the campaigns from all three of the games in IO Interactive’s recent World of Assassination trilogy, giving you more than a dozen maps to play on. Just last week, it also added Freelancer mode, which functions like a roguelike as Agent 47 kills his way through four major crime syndicates, fleshing out his safehouse as he goes.
The Hitman series may be about violence and murder, but it manages to stay lighthearted and fun with its wild physics and silly scenarios. It’s the perfect series to goof around in if you feel like being stealthy, or just want to see what happens when you drop a giant chandelier on a crowd of snobby jerks. —Ryan Gilliam
Hitman Trilogy is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Lies of P
Image: Neowiz
One of 2023’s most delightful surprises, Lies of P is a Soulslike starring a noticeably hot Pinocchio, of all things, from relatively unheralded Korean developer Neowiz. It turns out to be one of the most original and interesting takes on the genre from outside FromSoftware — although more so in its strong storytelling and themes than its gameplay, which is heavily influenced by Sekiro and Bloodborne in its aggressive, rhythmic focus on parry-and-thrust.
As Pinocchio lies and battles his way around a crumbling Belle Epoque town that’s been overrun by its servant class of automatons, Lies of P’s grim tale bends to the player’s choices in ways that convince and intrigue. This works particularly well with Pinocchio’s dual nature as a half-human half-puppet who can be modified with gameplay-altering tools; Lies of P presents an illusory society that you can tinker with and change, just as it tries to manipulate you. —Oli Welsh
Lies of P is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Image: BioWare/Electronic Arts
The Mass Effect franchise was gigantic for the Xbox 360 era, but it didn’t transfer to future platforms well — purchasing and downloading the entire story became confusing and expensive when moving to the Xbox One and Xbox Series X. But 2021’s Legendary Editionfinally made the entire Mass Effect trilogy accessible in one package.
The story follows Commander Shepard, a futuristic military hero, who’s tasked with gathering a collection of alien misfits for a variety of missions. Each game is wonderfully crafted, with stand-alone stories and breakout characters that don’t rely on the series’ wider narrative. As a trilogy, the games build on each other with meaningful choices that carry over to the next entry, giving weight to your choices.
The Legendary Edition is the way to experience Mass Effect, and it’s a must-play whether you’re on your first run to save the galaxy or your fifth. —Ryan Gilliam
Mass Effect Legendary Edition is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, but only for those that have Game Pass Ultimate.
Party Animals
Image: Recreate Games/Source Technology
Look, it’s not rocket science. Sometimes you just want some truly dumb, violent nonsense to play with your friends, and fulfilling that need is just as important for a well-rounded subscription service like Game Pass as serving up expansive RPGs and intriguing indies. Party Animals is a multiplayer party brawler about cute critters knocking the stuffing out of each other. That’s it. It’s not Smash Bros., and nor does it pretend to be; it’s more like an aggressively cute Gang Beasts, or a Fall Guys that’s just about fighting. It’s a little slow, but that just makes it easier to revel in its soft-bellied slapstick. Turn your brain off and enjoy. —Oli Welsh
Party Animals is available via Game Pass on Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
Pentiment
Image: Obsidian Entertainment/Xbox Game Studios
Pentiment is the most immediately striking and recognizable game on this list. Inspired by the art of classic manuscripts, Pentiment sucks you into its beautifully designed version of 16th-century Europe, when books were still being written by hand in monasteries.
You play as Andreas, a young artist looking to make his fortune in an ever-changing world. And as you explore a small village and the grounds surrounding it, and go to work drawing magnificent pictures in custom manuscripts, you’ll meet new people and further flesh out Andreas’ personality and background.
The story will take you through murder, scandal, and a variety of other dramatic events in Andreas’ life. But the plot is secondary to the game’s incredible style and dialogue. —Ryan Gilliam
Pentiment is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Persona 4 Golden
Image: Atlus via Polygon
Persona 4 Golden follows a boy who goes to stay with his uncle and cousin in a small Japanese town. But almost immediately after his arrival, a serial killer starts murdering civilians, all of which have an unknown thread connecting them.
As with all Persona games, Persona 4 Golden allows you to play out your time in school, improving your character’s social stats and friendships before diving into dungeons to help further the plot. But the cast of characters in Persona 4 Golden is unlike any other in the series, offering some of the most memorable party members in any RPG.
Now on Xbox, Persona 4 Golden looks wonderful and plays beautifully. It’s a smart turn-based RPG that’s loaded with conversations to be had and mysteries to solve. —Ryan Gilliam
Persona 4 Golden is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
PowerWash Simulator
Image: FuturLab/Square Enix
PowerWash Simulator is the perfect game to sit on your couch and space off to. As the name suggests, you’re a professional power washer, and your job is to use your washing tools to obliterate grease, grime, and goop off of vehicles, buildings, and even entire playgrounds.
There are some minor upgrade and currency systems, but PowerWash Simulator mostly takes a minimalistic approach — you power wash stuff, no more, no less. Sure, you can take special jobs where you wash something wild like a Mars rover, but it’s really just about making things clean. And while it might sound like boring yard work, it’s actually quite meditative.
Blasting the black film off of a colorful slide provided me with one of the biggest serotonin bursts I’ve gotten from any piece of media in years. It’s a delightful, peaceful game that never fails to relax me after a long week. —Ryan Gilliam
PowerWash Simulator is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Slay the Spire
In Slay the Spire, I play as one of three unique characters, in order to fight my way through a randomly generated map filled with battles, treasure chests, and RPG-like encounters. Combat is similar to that of a turn-based RPG, but instead of selecting attacks and spells from a menu, I draw cards from each character’s specific pool of cards. These cards allow me to attack, defend, cast spells, or use special abilities. Each character has their own set of cards, making their play styles radically different.
I also learned to buck my expectations for the kinds of decks I should build. The key to deck-building games is constructing a thematic deck where each card complements the others. In card games like Magic: The Gathering, this is easy enough to do, since you do all your planning before a match — not in the moment, like in Slay the Spire. Since I’m given a random set of cards to build a deck from at the end of each encounter, I can’t go into any run with a certain deck-building goal in mind. I have to quickly decide on long-term deck designs based on what cards are available to me after a battle. The trick with Slay the Spire is to think more creatively and proactively than the typical card game requires. —Jeff Ramos
Slay the Spire is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
You start the game by inheriting a farm from your grandfather, and you then move to a sleepy town to take over the diminishing acres. For the next 10, 20, 50, 100-plus hours, you work to turn that farm into a modern utopia.
This is easily the most relaxing game on Game Pass. All you do is plant seeds, care for animals, mine some rocks, and befriend the villagers. There’s plenty of drama to be had — with the Wal-Mart-like JojaMart and an army of slimes trying to stop you from mining — but at the end of the day, you’re still going to pass out in your farmhouse and get ready to plant more strawberries the next morning. —Ryan Gilliam
Stardew Valley is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge
Image: Tribute Games/Dotemu
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revengeis already a classic Turtles brawler. If you could’ve overheard a bunch of kids talking about their dream TMNT game while playing the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade cabinet at a local pizza bar in 1989, or Turtles in Time in 1991, this is the Turtles game they’d be imagining.
But over 30 years later, Shredder’s Revenge implements some features that distinguish it from the days of the coin operated arcade. There’s a world map, side-quests, new heroes, experience points, and online matchmaking that help modernize the throwback trappings. Shredder’s Revenge manages to balance itself nicely between the world of retro and revamp.
With only 16 “episodes,” it’s the perfect Game Pass game to jump into with some pals at a sleepover — as long as there’s pizza, of course. —Ryan Gilliam
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition
Image: Bethesda Game Studios/Bethesda Softworks
The Elder Scrolls 5, better known as just Skyrim, is a classic. And while you can play it on almost any console or device known to humankind at this point, it’s still worth playing on Game Pass if you’ve never given it a chance, or are just craving another journey in its sprawling world.
Like most Bethesda RPGs, Skyrim is a first-person game with a giant, living world. There are dungeons to crawl, stories to uncover, and a variety of guilds to join. But you can also go off the beaten path and discover your own fun in Skyrim — it rewards you for being curious. It’s the kind of Game Pass game that you can play for hundreds of hours and never get bored. —Ryan Gilliam
The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim Special Edition is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
The only control you have over the game is what character you select, what items you choose during your run, and where your character moves. Depending on your weapons of choice, knives, whips, flames, magic bolts, bibles, or holy water fly out of your character in every direction, decimating hordes or pixelated movie monsters, earning you cash for your next adventure.
Though extremely simple on its face, Vampire Survivors is one of the best games of 2022. It perfectly walks the line between peaceful and stressful, requiring the perfect amount of attention for success. It also facilitates growth through skill and through roguelite progression, ensuring that each run is a bit different from your last. —Ryan Gilliam
Vampire Survivors is available via Game Pass on Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Indie developer Neal Agarwal, better known as Neal.fun, makes video games that are very small but also very good. His latest, The Password Game, is the perfect example: it takes the hell of coming up with a password for an app or site’s account and somehow turns it into something as far from hell as possible.
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It begins like the worst part of all account-creating processes does: asking you to create a password. Only the password you choose doesn’t have enough upper case letters. Then when it does there aren’t enough special characters. Then it’s not long enough. Then it’s too long. And all the while it never told you any of this in the first place, it just thought you would know.
“Just let Google choose your password then, why are you complaining about this in a blog about a little video game” OK sure but then a lot of the time Google saves it with the wrong username attached, or the weird app URL doesn’t match the name of the company/site and it’s a pain in the ass to find even the saved password again, and basically what I’m saying is that I used to laugh at my parents for writing down all their internet passwords in a literal notebook but now I can see maybe they had a point all along.
ANYWAY, sorry, this game doesn’t have the Google/saving drama attached, but it does definitely cover the password creation process itself in much cleaner and more concise detail than this post has turned out to be managing, so if you’ve got a spare few minutes today—and its playable in a browser so you can do this even if you’re at work—you can check it out here.
Drum Roll Please! Da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-da-dum-dum.
It’s time to kick off Austin Pets Alive’s Human of the Month sponsored by RightWorks’ social impact program, KindWorks. Our relationship with this generous company began when they made a donation during Winter Storm Uri. When we reached out to thank their team, we were thrilled that they wanted to begin an ongoing relationship. KindWorks was born soon after the conversation and is allowing us the opportunity to highlight our amazing humans and the work they put in at APA!. It is our pleasure to launch this feature by introducing you to Patty Alexander, our PASS Program Manager, and Online Adoption Manager.
There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes at APA! — innovative thinking, a spectrum of emotions, and of course, the long hours that go into providing lifesaving care and attention to each and every animal that walks through our doors (or lands in our inboxes or social media channels in Patty’s case!).
Patty has been with APA! for nearly eleven years and has been an extraordinary asset to our team. As the PASS Program Manager and Online Adoptions Manager, Patty is responsible for supporting individuals who are struggling with keeping their pet in their home, and either helping to determine a solution or helping to find a new loving home all while supporting the mixture of emotions that can surface during these delicate times. These roles require a lot of time and attention to detail, as well as challenges along the way, but APA! always cuts a new path. This is Patty’s favorite part of being a member of the APA! family because as she puts it so well, “we are creative, outside the box, problem-solving, innovative team.” Being a part of helping people find solutions is one of the best parts of Patty’s workday.
One of Patty’s prized memories at APA! was when a good samaritan reached out asking for help when he found a dog at his construction site, who had been shot. She helped raise $5,000 via crowdsourcing in order to help save the dog. The construction worker drove the dog to find help and unfortunately lost his job because of his action. Not only did Patty fundraise to provide this sweet pup a lifeline, but she also helped this hardworking, heroic man find a new job. Patty encompasses our APA! motto — helping people help pets.
You may be thinking, “Wow! Patty must be in the office 24/7!” Well, sort of… After becoming obsessed with blogs by people who sold everything to travel the world, Patty followed suit in 2014. She sold her belongings, loaded up her four-legged friends, and set off to work remotely from different locations. Talk about an adventure!
We are so thrilled to choose Patty for our RightWorks’ KindWorks Human of APA! sponsorship. Our team and all our dear animals at APA! thank you for your hard work and constant support!
Be sure to follow along throughout the rest of the year to learn more about some of the amazing people supporting the animals of APA!.
It’s been over a decade since we started the APA! Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender Program (PASS). We began this initiative because we recognized that Austin pet owners were often faced with the terrible choice to give up their pets due to housing issues, life crises, pet medical problems the owner couldn’t afford to treat, and other human problems. The vast majority of these caregivers loved their pets like family, but their only choice at the time was to surrender the pet to the Austin city shelter.
That’s when we created the PASS Facebook group, a safe space for pet caretakers to get resources and support to help them keep their pets, or in some cases, safely rehome their pet to another loving home without that animal having to enter the shelter system. PASS helps people temporarily board their pet, find a short-term foster placement, raise funds for medical care, and more. Today, PASS has 12,000 members and serves thousands of pets and people every year. Though many APA! supporters are not even aware PASS exists, it is among the most impactful programs in the APA! family of lifesaving services.
Last month, APA! hired our first-ever PASS Coordinator. Until this point, PASS has been operated solely with volunteer support, managed by one PASS Manager, Patty Alexander. In this unprecedented time, more people than ever are facing financial challenges and other hardships that, without our help, will result in the separation of human/animal families and we recognize that saving shelter pets has to be augmented with helping people not create more pets in shelters.
The community-centered philosophy behind PASS has helped create the national Human Animal Support Services (HASS) movement, a collaborative project facilitated by our education and outreach division, American Pets Alive! (AmPA!).
This is the second large, national publication to highlight HASS, the first being Fast Company’s September then title article about this big nationwide initiative.
With the international reach of AmPA!, we are now able to help hundreds of other animal welfare organizations around the United States and beyond implement safety net and pet support programs similar to the PASS initiatives that work to keep families together. Please take a moment to read this story and we’d love to hear from you if you have been impacted by the PASS program, either as a Good Samaritan or someone who has received help and support from this community pet help program!
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