Unlocked

Now that Halo Infinite's campaign has been out for a little while, it's time to go into full spoiler mode and discuss our thoughts on the story! Find out what we thought of the (Legendary) ending, Cortana, Master Chief, The Pilot, The Banished, and more! WARNING: Do NOT listen to or watch this episode if you haven't finished the Halo Infinite campaign yet/don't want to be spoiled. Or just skip ahead to the 1:14:30 mark to avoid Halo Infinite spoilers and go right to our recap of Xbox-centric announcements from The Game Awards.

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This week's episode is all about Halo Infinite. We can FINALLY talk about it now that the review embargo has lifted. We discuss everything we did and didn't like about Master Chief's glorious return,. but don't worry – this conversation is spoiler-free. We'll do a full Halo Infinite spoilercast on next week's episode.

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Happy holidays! As we push into the final (huge) month of the Xbox year, we discuss Amazon's rumored Mass Effect TV show. Can it work? Who should it focus on? Who should star in it? Plus: Halo Infinite multiplayer impressions, Scalebound's director speaks candidly about the canceled Xbox exclusive, and more!

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Our second episode this week tackles the biggest topic in the Xbox world right now: Halo Infinite. From the surprise early release of the free-to-play multiplayer suite to our impressions of the campaign, we spend a lot of time talking Halo. But we also spend a lot of time talking about the top 5 best original Xbox games ever in celebration of the console's 20th anniversary. Join us!

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Xbox creator Seamus Blackley joins us for a special episode commemorating the 20th anniversary of Xbox. He shares stories from the early days of building the Xbox at Microsoft, discusses what he thinks of Xbox and the gaming industry now, and much more!

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Our Xbox crew spends a ton of time digging into the just-released masterpiece that is Forza Horizon 5, including why we love it, and we feel like it's finally getting its due as a series after all these years. Plus: we're less enthusiastic about Call of Duty: Vanguard, huge games like Diablo 4, Overwatch 2, and Marvel's Midnight Suns get delayed, and more!

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Is id Software moving onto Quake after Doom? Job postings suggest that might be the case, and we discuss what we'd like to see out of what would be Xbox's next major exclusive first-person shooter. Plus: Miranda and Ryan tell you about their visit to 343 Industries to play Halo Infinite, Sega and Microsoft forge a new partnership, and more!

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With six minutes of new Halo Infinite campaign footage to chew on, we spend a lot of time in this episode reacting to the footage we've all been waiting over a year to see. We talk about the open world, the improved graphics, the ray tracing (or the lack thereof), the boss battles (?), and more! Plus: Halo's former art director stars a new studio at EA, and we dream about what he might be making. Also, don't miss Echo Generation and Moonglow Bay on Xbox Game Pass this week!

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A plethora of new details about Avowed emerged this last week from Windows Central's Jez Corden who reports that it's deep into development and will feature destructible environments, and elements Pillars of Eternity fans are familiar with. We brought Jez on the show to discuss his Avowed piece along with Miles Dompier, also of Windows Central. In addition to Avowed, Xbox news has not slowed this week with a livestream planned in November, new options when repairing your consoles, and even a mini-fridge that sold out in minutes. All of that and more this week on Podcast Unlocked!

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It's the busy fall games season and we've got a LOT to talk about, from Forza Horizon 5 preview impressions (spoiler: it's absurdly good) to Back 4 Blood first impressions, the Grand Theft Auto Trilogy remasters being real, Ubisoft's latest uninspiring announcement in Ghost Recon Frontline, and more. Plus a special show announcement!

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