For years, cloud gaming has always felt like something for the future, where the idea behind it sounded good, but the lack of good internet in most places made it seem a bit early. Now, with faster home internet, years of improvements to the streaming tech and more flexible ways to access these services, cloud gaming has become a genuinely useful alternative.
Just a few years back, I was adamant that cloud gaming was going nowhere due to annoying latency and visual issues. Not to mention, products like the now cancelled Google Stadia were forcing you to purchase games on their own platforms, making it a hard sell since I couldn’t use my existing library.
However, with services like xCloud and Steam Link, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. xCloud does need a Gamepass subscription to use, but since I use Gamepass for regular online play on the Xbox Series X, it feels like an added benefit. I can play most of the games I own, as well as the Game Pass offerings, allowing me to replay or try out new games conveniently anywhere I want, as long as I have a decent connection. It’s perhaps the most straightforward service amongst cloud gaming, as all you need to do is connect your controller and click on a game to start playing, no installation involved. This makes it much easier to try out a variety of games at the press of a button.
Steam Link on the other hand is completely free, and lets you play your entire library, with the caveat being that you still have to run games installed on your PC which has to be left on. You can either play locally via your home network, or use Steam Remote Play to connect over the internet. I mostly use it locally when I can’t be bothered sitting at my desktop, and want to game from the comfort of my bed with my iPad and a controller. I mainly game on my PC, so it provides me with my complete library.
Anyone unfortunate enough to be in the UK this week, knows about the heatwave we are experiencing, making it hard to sit near gaming PCs. Recent games like 007: First Light look fantastic, but they also make your PC work overtime, causing heat buildup in the room. With how the UK houses are built to retain heat, this can get unpleasant very fast.
Because of that I have been playing multiple games on my iPad and have barely noticed a difference in responsiveness compared to native play. On the Xbox, I have been replaying some of Ezio’s Assassin Creed games which are included in the Gamepass, having finished Brotherhood recently and now playing through Revelations. The games are just as fun as I remember and revelations still looks stunning, something we will talk about more in an article soon.
On the PC, other than the excellent 007 First Light, I have been on a bit of a Yakuza kick, having recently finished Song of Life and now finally starting Judgement, something I have been wanting to play for a long time. Just like xCloud, Steam Link has been performing really well, and I have barely noticed that I am playing it over cloud. A nice benefit with it has been the fact that I can still use most of my desktop without major issues, in case I want to work remotely.
There are some issues of course, as cloud gaming still depends heavily on your connection quality, Wi-Fi stability and if you’ve got data limits. With a 1Gbps internet and wifi 6, I haven’t had any issues with latency but if someone starts downloading something, it does seem to affect it. With general use however, even with my family using video streaming services, or playing online games, it has mostly never been an issue. Though, I do wish Microsoft would increase xCloud’s time out duration, as often I have returned to a “session disconnected” error after leaving my game paused for a few minutes so I can look into other things or even just grab a drink.
I did try the GeForce Now trial, but its limitations on playtime, lacking library support, and an allocation system made the experience confusing. It was never clear what sort of PC it would try to connect me to. I tried playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider to see how it’d work, but it looked horrible since it had put all the graphical settings to the lowest available. When I tried increasing them, the game started lagging, making it abundantly clear that they were making me play on a budget PC. I understand the paid tiers might be better, but they didn’t make a good impression through the trial, something that helps you decide on a service.
It made me realise, Steam Link and xCloud work well because they are not positioned as a replacement for traditional gaming. They give you more ways to access your existing games without forcing you into weird platform-limited ownership issues. This is where I think cloud gaming’s strength really lies, by enhancing someone’s existing experience than locking you in a brand new eco-system.
If you have a decent connection and access to these services, I would genuinely recommend trying them out, as they might be much better than you remember. Whether you are avoiding the heat from a gaming PC, playing from bed, or just quickly trying something without having to download, cloud gaming is finally starting to make sense.
