Xbox Game Pass’ new creature-collecting game is a cozy Palworld alternative

By Tomas Franzese Published August 7, 2024

While a lot of the hubbub around day-one Xbox Game Pass games centers around first-party titles (or lack thereof), Microsoft’s subscription service has been surprisingly consistent when it comes to snagging quality indie and AA games for the service the day they release. These are often some of the best, most creative games on the entire service, whether that’s because they experiment with gameplay mechanics or just tell a really good story.

This year alone, games like Another Crab’s Treasure, Dungeons of Hinterberg, and Palworld all were on Xbox Game Pass the day they were released and offered up some of the year’s most memorable experiences. Creatures of Ava from Inverge Studios and 11 bit Studios is the latest enjoyable third-party game that you can add to that lineup, as it uniquely blends several elements from different games to create a special, nonviolent sci-fi adventure.

Inverge Studios calls Creatures of Ava a “creature-saver” game. In practice, that means it’s a third-person action-adventure game in which players tame the creatures of an alien planet, use them and a magical staff to solve environmental puzzles, and then collect them to save them from a dying planet. Players control Vic, who’s part of an expedition to the planet of Ava to save its species from a planetwide infection called The Withering.

Creatures of Ava’s story is nuanced, circumventing a lot of the colonialist tropes that can come with this kind of premise. It offers nuance to its strong message about how we should live in harmony with the environment, as all living things are ultimately connected to the planet we live on. These narrative themes are reflected in the gameplay, which is more about cleansing and documenting rather than destroying.

Early on, Vic finds a staff that allows her to purify Withering that corrupted plants and animals. This is used to open up new pathways to explore and is part of the closest thing Creatures of Ava has to combat. While withered enemies will attack Vic, players must keep dodging as they wait for the staff to purify them. The closest thing I can compare this process to is capturing ghosts in Luigi’s Mansion.

After creatures are freed of the Withering, Vic can then take pictures to document them, as Jade can in Beyond Good & Evil. Vic can also guide them to safety by playing a flute. When creatures are in the flute’s trance, Vic can use “Ava Vision” to control them and do things like claw down an obstruction blocking Vic’s path. While camera control with Ava Vision can get a bit wonky, I liked how Creatures of Ava handled this mechanic more than other animal possession games like Tchia.

These systems interacted with each other to create a constantly captivating adventure. Even between story beats, I was motivated to find and collect any creatures I encountered as I traveled from one objective to the next. Like the best Pokémon games, it understands that the mystery behind wondering what you’ll encounter next is a key part of its sense of exploration. While bits and pieces of Creatures of Ava are clearly taken from other games, the way they are all mixed into a melting pot is its secret recipe to success. It’s an experimental game that might not have gotten a lot of traction on its own but feels like an inspiring addition to the Game Pass lineup.

Add in its vibrant visual design that makes its alien planet feel welcoming and beautiful, as well as a well-written story, and Creatures of Ava is the latest must-play day-one addition to Xbox Game Pass. While first-party releases on the service will heat up this fall with games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, don’t let that make you ignore smaller-scale day-one additions like this.

Creatures of Ava is available now for PC and Xbox Series X/S and is part of Xbox Game Pass.